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An agreement was reached 29 September between Lafarge and the French Central Works Council regarding the Frangey cement plant in the L&rsquo;Yonne province of Burgundy. The compromise agreement ended a ten-day hunger strike at Lafarge offices in the Paris suburbs by 12 workers plus the mayor of the nearest town to the plant, L&eacute;zinnes. 
 
Mayor Jean-Claude Galaud joined protesting workers in the hunger strike on 19 September. Workers and community members alike were fighting to reverse Lafarge&rsquo;s decision from last May to entirely close the 74-worker cement plant. In social dialogue on 29 September, Frangey workers submitted three proposals through the Works Council to group management while hunger strikers were visible outside Lafarge headquarters in Saint-Cloud. 
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In the days before, French trade unions CFDT and CGT were also conducting stop-work actions at 14 Lafarge cement plants in support of Frangey&rsquo;s 74 workers. 
 
The proposal that was agreed to includes extending the life of the plant from November 2011 to 31 March 2012, and then maintaining it as a grinding operation thereafter with an employment level of 40. That will include 35 workers plus five others who are within a few years of retirement. 
 
Lafarge will then seek to sell the grinding operation to another company for continued production. The workers who will be made redundant next year will be offered severance packages and jobs at other Lafarge plants in France. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="91" />
The hunger strikers were treated as heroes when they returned to L&eacute;zinnes by bus in the early morning hours of 30 September. Fellow workers and towns-people greeted them with celebratory hugs and kisses. The hunger strikers lost on average between seven and ten kilos, but their day-to-day protests captured the attention of French politicians and many citizens. 
 
Mayor Galaud described the ordeal as a tough battle, but to keep industrial work at the Frangey plant at some level was a victory. &ldquo;This action created strong bonds between the (hunger strikers),&rdquo; said Galaud. &ldquo;I made 12 friends and it was an incredible life lesson.&rdquo; 
 
CFDT union leader Laurent Carrilero said the actions across France, as well as the hunger strike made it possible to guarantee substantial severance deals for workers who will be laid off next year. Previous ICEM coverage of this story can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4676-Hunger-Strikers-Protest-Lafarge-s-French-Cement-Plant-Closing">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4466-French-Unions-Conduct-4-Hour-Strike-at-Lafarge-Today ">here</a>.&nbsp;

Lafarge Closure Deal Reached for French Workers at Frangey

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The Sixth Ordinary Congress of the Norwegian union Fellesforbundet is underway in Oslo with 465 delegates attending. The quadrennial Congress began on 7 October under the banner &ldquo;Organising for Welfare and Wealth Creation,&rdquo; and concludes with votes on a host of resolutions on 12 October. 
 
On the opening day, delegates approved a transfer of 7.5 million kroner (&euro;1 million) to the youth wing of Norway&rsquo;s Labour Party to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya Island. 
 
Deeded to the youth wing by Norwegian national labour centre LO in the 1980s, Ut&oslash;ya is the fateful place where on 22 July a racially motivated person killed 69 mostly young progressive Norwegians. In 2010, Fellesforbundet sold two summer camps in the Nordic nation and delegates moved to donate the proceeds from that to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya. LO Norway is trying to raise at least 15 million kroner to remake the island to reflect the inclusiveness of traditional Norwegian values. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
Arve Bakke, left, with Jyrki Raina, Finn Erik Thoreson, and Liv T&oslash;rres following &lsquo;Trade Unions and the World&rsquo; forum
The Congress is taking up a number of structural changes, including statutory ones. One that was passed is another major step in the evolution of the 23-year-old union from a collection of work-based sectors to a unified and cohesive trade union federation. 
 
Instead of a 12-member executive body of five leading officers and seven federal secretaries heading around work sectors, delegates eliminated the specific occupation sectors and formed a seven-member executive. Early today, Arve Bakke was re-elected President of Fellesforbundet, or the United Federation of Norwegian Workers. 
 
Another statutory change that has been debated and will be voted on this week is returning a greater portion of the union&rsquo;s return on equity to local branches. A major policy change also up for a vote is revising the collective bargaining structure to a vertical system in order to strive for a single collective agreement across an entire company covering workers of all unions within a company. 
 
Delegates are expected to turn down a resolution asking the Norwegian government to adopt the European Union&rsquo;s directive on temporary work. Norway is not a member of the EU, but has adopted many of its directives. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
Photo: Morten M. L&oslash;berg
On Sunday, 9 October, the Congress conducted a session &ldquo;Trade Unions and the World&rdquo; that featured the importance of work in the developing world. The session served as a precursor for a resolution in support of creation of a Palestinian state. It included Norwegian Peoples&rsquo; Aid leaders Liv T&oslash;rres and Finn Erik Thoresen, and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation&rsquo;s Jyrki Raina. 
 
Tomorrow, 11 October, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will spend a half day with delegates, addressing the Congress and then fielding questions and listening to debate. 
 
In his opening comments to the Congress, Arve Bakke said the 153,000-member union has taken in 73,000 new members in the past four-year Congress period, but is 7,000 less members than it was in 2007 mostly due to the effects of the global financial crisis. One positive note, he reported, is that 23% of active members are under the age of 30. 
 
Fellesforbundet was born in 1988 as an amalgamation of trade unions from the paper, wood, forestry, building construction, textile, and metal sectors. In 2005, unions from inside the printing and hotel and restaurant industries joined.

Fellesforbundet Takes Meaningful Action to Rebuild Norway’s Utøya Island

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On 6 October, leaders of Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), officially extended a 30-day strike at the world&rsquo;s largest gold and third largest copper mine one more month &ndash; until 15 November &ndash; because of mine management&rsquo;s absence at a provincial forum to address issues in the dispute. 
 
Community leaders also formed a committee and visited different locations of the vast mining complex in order to assess the number of outside workers recruited to break the strike. The committee visits were fired upon, with reports today that one protestor was shot dead. 
 
The Grasberg mine in Papua Province, New Guinea Island, is 91% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU is in dispute with its subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia, over unwillingness to meet the salary demands of 10,000 miners. 
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A two-year labour agreement expired on 1 October. The company is offering only an 11% increase in each year of a new two-year agreement, below that recommended by Indonesian government mediation last month. 

Last week, government officials of West Papua Province, leaders of the province&rsquo;s Parliament, the Papua Peoples&rsquo; Council of seven indigenous groups, a human rights committee, and the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU waited patiently for mine managers to show up to address issues. None did. 
 
This came a week after the ICEM intervened with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s chairman asking him to personally step in to resolve the dispute, which threatens global copper and gold supplies. The ICEM received a response from a senior vice president of Freeport-McMoRan Copper &amp; Gold stating the executive had full confidence in managers of PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The response stated, &ldquo;The union maintains its unrealistic demands for compensation, which are grossly inconsistent with Indonesian wage levels and, substantially in excess of the wages of mining workers in other countries performing similar duties.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Freeport-McMoRan posted a net profit of US$1.37 billion in the second quarter of 2011 and the person ICEM and the CEMWU is trying engage to resolve the dispute, James Moffet, took in a total compensation package in 2010 of US$21.5 million. 
 
The community forum meeting in West Papua took a decision to write PT Freeport Indonesia managers to halt the threats and intimidation of workers in attempting to get them to quit the strike. They also sent a statement to the US embassy in Jakarta encouraging a diplomatic initiative to get Moffet to resolve the bitter strike. 
 
PT Freeport Indonesia managers have broken global labour norms by pressuring strikers to sign statements that they will quit the strike. And they have also removed the job duties of 138 shop stewards, as well as isolating union leaders from workers by posting security guards around them. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU in the union&rsquo;s fight for justice, dignity, and a fair 2011-2012 wage package.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Miners Extend Freeport-McMoRan Strike, One Shot Dead

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A UK defense contractor who reneged on terms contained in a collective agreement last year met industrial action last week. Members of Unite the Union in the London and Eastern Region began an overtime ban and work to rule at the Wattisham Airbase in Suffolk on 7 September against Morson Wynnwith, a contractor for AgustaWestland which manages a fleet of Apache helicopters for the British Ministry of Defence. 
 
The 100 engineers belonging to Unite entered into a four-year labour agreement in April 2010 with Morson Wynnwith, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manchester-based Morson Group Plc. Part of that accord called for wage parity to occur over the four years with Unite engineers employed by the same company at Middle Wallop Airbase in Hampshire. 
 
The Wattisham engineers, most of whom are ex-military personnel, earn &pound;3,000 annually less than Unite members at Middle Wallop, who service and maintain the same military equipment. Last spring &ndash; a year into the agreement &ndash; MorsonWynnwith initially offered a 2% wage increase. The military contractor later increased the offer to 2.6%, the same wage increase accepted at Hampshire, and told the Wattisham unit that service and maintenance work done on Apaches at Middle Wallop is more complicated. 
 
Engineers at Wattisham rejected the 2.6% offer in June and immediately passed a strike ballot with a 71-14 vote. Eighty-one workers then voted for job actions short of a strike. 
 
&ldquo;If these skilled workers had accepted that proposal,&rdquo; said Region Officer Mark Robinson, &ldquo;then they would have fallen further behind.&rdquo; He added that the engineers do not take strike action lightly because they recognize the importance of their work related to the battlefield, but Morson Wynnwith&rsquo;s backtracking over last year&rsquo;s forced the issue. 
 
The dispute is under review by UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation, and Mediation Services (ACAS) and a report is slated to be issued in October. Unite and Morson Wynnwith are expected to talk next week but if there is no movement by the company, job actions could be escalated. 
 
The engineers at Wattisham Airbase are responsible for maintenance on the Apache helicopter, which the UK Army Air Corp is using in Afghanistan. They do complete servicing and maintenance on each unit of the specialized aircraft after 600 flying hours.

UK Engineers Begin Industrial Action against Apache Helicopter Contractor

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ICEM Presidium Members and leaders of major affiliates paid a visit to Japan to convey a message of condolence and solidarity on the occasion of the National Conventions of Denryoku Soren and UI ZENSEN. The delegation was led by President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda, composed of Dave Coles from CEP, Canada, Andrew Vickers from CFMEU, Australia, Michael Mersmann, IGBCE of Germany, David Shier from Canada&rsquo;s Power Workers Union, and Phee Jungsun, ICEM Regional Contact Person. 
 
On 6 September, a meeting was conducted with representatives of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren. President Taneoka of Denryoku Soren and Mr. Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM-JAF facilitated the discussion on the current situation in the Fukushima plants. The chaotic and desperate situation immediately following the Tsunami attack was described, when about 600 workers on the site fought against the melt-down and were also concerned about the safety of their families. 
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International Delegation meets Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren
The delegation paid tribute to those workers who sacrificed themselves in the recovery operations at the damaged power plants. According to the report from Mr. Hasekawa Takahiro, Unit Union Chair of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union and Mr. Yukio Arai, President of the Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union, two reactors out of the three that were destroyed and melted down are now under control in terms of cooling down and recycling radiated water. The level of radiation has been decreased to normal radiation outside of reactors. Robot equipment is being used to check the situation inside the reactors. A total of six workers had been exposed to radiation above the standard levels. The full scale report has just been constructed and submitted to the IAEA Board Meeting, to be held in late September. 
 
Manfred Warda commended workers still under precarious conditions, saying &quot;you are heroes&quot; and offered any necessary solidarity and technical assistance from ICEM and its affiliates. TEPCO has been working on the financial plan for compensation that requires more than US$2.5 Trillion and needs state subsidy. 
<img alt="" src="" width="222" height="160" />
Manfred Warda addresses UI Zensen National Convention
The ICEM delegation then moved to attend the National Convention of UI Zensen in Yokohama, President of which is Brother Ochiai, Vice President of ICEM and Chair of the Asia Pacific Region. UI ZENSEN has worked strenuously on an organizing drive, and now becomes the largest industrial federation in Japan with 1.2 million members. Brother Ochiai congratulated the merger agreement of the three GUFs and confirmed full support for the new organization. Manfred Warda expressed solidarity towards relief and recovery efforts and complimented the firm spirit of the Japanese people. &quot;We have come to express the grief we share with you and again convey to you, all your members and their families, to the Japanese people and to your country, our condolences for the loss of so many people, relatives, friends, neighbours &ndash; and we know that many of your members and their families were among the victims of the disaster. But let me also applaud you for the immediate determination you showed to take tremendous efforts to come to the assistance of all who needed your support and for all the personal sacrifices that you and many of the members of your union devoted during the process of rescue operations.&quot;

ICEM Solidarity, Condolence Visit to Japan

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A branch of the&nbsp;Indonesian trade union&nbsp;FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), will renew strike action this week, 15 September, with a month-long walkout at a leading global copper and gold mining complex, the Grasberg operation of US-based Freeport-McMoRan in eastern Papua province on New Guinea Island. 
 
The strike by 8,000 Indonesia miners would follow an eight-day strike in July that saw six union leaders sacked, only to be returned to their jobs when mine management relented and agree to re-start pay talks. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4549-Indonesia-Mine-Union-Wins-Strike-Reinstatement-of-Sacked-Union-Leaders ">ICEM news article</a> on that initial strike.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="89" />
4 July March to Kuala Kencana
Those talks did resume in Timika on 20 July but after a number of sessions, no agreement was reached on pay for 2011 to 2013 and negotiations broke off on 5 September. The FSP-KEP branch is seeking a doubling of miners&rsquo; US$1.50-per-hour wage rate, while PT Freeport is offering only an 11% increase, mostly in the form of bonuses. 
 
The Grasberg mine is 91% owned by Freeport-McMoRan and 9% by the Indonesian government, and serves as the American mining company&rsquo;s biggest revenue producer. The mining house, which also faces a copper strike at its 53.7% held Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru, recorded a second quarter 2011 profit of US$1.37 billion. 
 
The FSP-KEP (SPSI)&nbsp;branch of CWMWU, the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers' Union,&nbsp;is reportedly asking now to negotiate directly with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s chairman and non-elective board member James Moffett, who took in a total compensation package last year of US$21.5 million. 
 
Grasberg is the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and second largest producer of copper concentrates, with daily output of 61,000 tonnes of copper and gold ore. The eight-day strike in July cost the company 16,000 tonnes of copper output and 60,000 ounces of gold production.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Union Set to Renew Grasberg Mine Strike

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The ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) renewed a Global Framework Agreement last week&nbsp;with Umicore, the Brussels-based global materials technology group with expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy, operating in four business groups, namely catalysis, energy materials, performance materials and recycling, with some 14,400 employees.
First signed in September 2007, the agreement has been the basis for joint union-management activities for proper implementation of the principles set out in the text. Representatives of the company, both Global Union Federations&nbsp;(GUFs)&nbsp;and the European Works Council conducted joint missions in China in 2008, in Brazil in 2009, and in South Africa in 2010, in addition to the regular monitoring activities defined in the agreement. 
<img alt="" src="" width="332" height="160" />
(left to right) Ignace de Ruijter, Marc Grynberg, Jyrki Raina, Kemal &Ouml;zkan
The four-year renewal was done with&nbsp;a ceremony held on 6 September in the Belgian capital with Umicore&rsquo;s Marc Grynberg, Chief Executive Officer, and Ignace de Ruijter, Senior Vice-President Human Resources, as well as IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina and ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs on behalf of General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
The agreement was also re-affirmed by the Belgian trade unions through the signatures of Marc De Wilde, President of ACV-CVC Metea, Paul Heykants, Secretary of LBC-NVK, Said Zaoudi, Secretary of CNE-GNC, Georges De Batselier, Vice-President ABVV Metaal, Angelo Basile, Deputy General Secretary of MWB-FGTB and Guy Vertommen, Secretary BBTK and Kurt Marysse, National Responsible of ACLVB/CGSLB. 
<img alt="" src="" width="226" height="160" />
(left to right) Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Marc Grynberg, Jyrki Raina
The agreement covers six major chapters, namely Human Rights, Working Conditions, Environment, Implementation of Agreement, Monitoring, and Validity of Agreement. Under Human Rights, Umicore pledges to adhere to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, as well as adherence to ILO core labour standards. The latter specifically includes ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and other Conventions regarding child labour, forced labour, and non-discrimination and equal opportunities' practices. With the renewal, the parties re-confirmed their political decisiveness over their global level commitments within the framework of the agreement. 

&ldquo;We believe that this agreement offers benefits for all stakeholders. All parties have benefited from the constructive relationship fostered by the original agreement and we look forward to this continuing in the coming years,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Raina, speaking on behalf of both GUFs. 
 
&ldquo;We are so proud of this international agreement with IMF and ICEM. This gives a big value in our policies towards the issues of sustainable development,&rdquo; said Umicore&rsquo;s&nbsp;Grynberg. &ldquo;This agreement supports Umicore&rsquo;s global vision on social issues and reflects our diversity and international presence. It will help us in our journey towards sustainability and in being considered a great place to work,&rdquo; added Umicore Vice-President&nbsp;de Ruijter.

ICEM and IMF Renew Global Agreement with Umicore

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The strike by 32,000 Finnish metalworkers that began on 21 October could end tomorrow following a new proposal presented by National Conciliator Esa Lonka last night, 23 October. ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, will consider the proposal later today in separate meetings. 
 
The two unions began a first wave of strike actions last Friday against 45 metal and engineering companies that was to run until 7 November, with a second wave of strikes against another 35 firms to begin on that day.
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="93" />
Lonka&rsquo;s new proposal addresses the unions concerns on a wage package over the next two years, while Finland&rsquo;s government is expected to legislate the other key issue in the dispute &ndash; a three-day annual training and education leave in which employers sought to use its own discretionary control. 
 
Metalliliitto&rsquo;s 38-member Union Council will consider the proposal at 16h today in Helsinki, while Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s Executive Committee will meet at 17h to take up the government conciliator&rsquo;s proposal. If both bodies accept, the 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; will be back to work tomorrow, 25 October. 
 
The major discord was over a 4.3% wage increase for two years, an amount Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October. Metal and technical employers, under the auspices of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, sought to structure that pay rise whereby many metalworkers and white-collar workers would not get the full amount. The new proposal given by Lonka last night, 23 October, proposes that it be granted across the board to all 200,000 workers in the country&rsquo;s metal and engineering sector. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s industrial actions also included an overtime ban across all employers in those industrial sectors. An <a href="/en/23-Nordic-Countries/4723-Strikes-Begin-in-Finnish-Metal-Technology-Sector">ICEM report</a> on the start of the strike from last week can be found here.

Conciliator’s New Proposal Expected to End Short Finnish Metalworkers Strike

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The 55-week lockout by US manufacturing and technology company Honeywell Inc. on 228 unionised workers appears to be over. United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669 in Metropolis, Illinois, and the US company came to tentative terms for a new three-year contract on 20 July, which likely sets in motion a return to work for USW members beginning on 15 August if union members ratify the tentative accord next week. 
 
The workers convert yellow-cake uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which is used in nuclear fuel enrichment. USW Local 7-669 members have been locked off their jobs since 28 June 2010 and in the weeks following, Honeywell inexplicably re-started operations at a worksite utilising dangerous chemicals with inexperienced replacement workers. 
 
Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie said the union is currently in the process of sorting out job re-classifications; Honeywell has created 21 new jobs and with the union retaining its seniority provisions in the tentative new agreement, job scheduling and job bidding must take place for returning workers.
<img alt="" src="" width="154" height="169" />
USW Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie&nbsp; 

Lillie said that should be complete today and the union will conduct an explanation meeting of the new contract early next week, with voting on the tentative agreement expected to occur by mid-week. 
 
&ldquo;Overall, we&rsquo;re not entirely happy with the proposed contract but we are glad that several of the key issues that the company was trying to take from us will remain in place,&rdquo; said Lillie. &ldquo;We preserved most provisions that are at the heart of what trade unionists value.&rdquo; 
 
Those provisions include the seniority provisions, which allow senior-most workers to accept more favourable jobs when they become open; retention of a defined benefit pension plan for existing workers; retiree medical care under that same pension scheme; and retention of overtime pay for time work after eight and 12 hours per day. Honeywell workers in Metropolis work both eight- and 12-hour work shifts. 
 
Another important provision kept by workers was time-and-a-half pay on the sixth consecutive day in a week worked, and double-time for the seventh. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4538-Honeywell-Threatens-Safety-by-Extending-Lockout-of-USW-Members-">ICEM news piece</a> from earlier this month.) 
 
Regarding wages, the proposal contains no increase for the first year of the contract, 1% effective 15 August 2012, and 2% due on 15 August 2013. It should be noted that at the outset of the lockout, Local 7-669 proposed a freeze on wages and continuation of all terms and conditions from a previous three-year contract, but the company was set on gutting many benefits and union-protection provisions. 
 
In the proposed agreement, new hires will fall into an equity fund scheme rather than the defined-benefit AlliedSignal Pension Benefit Thrift Fund, and workers on leave under the US Family and Medical Leave Act must take vacation time concurrently. A handful of janitorial and laundry jobs will be contracted out, and more worrisome in such a dangerous worksite, a single safety operator job will be outsourced. That position is responsible for maintaining all safety equipment throughout the plant, such as fire extinguishers, emergency breathing devices and other safety equipment. 
 
Lillie said 150 workers will return to training and re-orientation as mandated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 15 August, 40 workers two weeks later, and the remainder two weeks after that. The unionised workforce will number about 220 workers when the experienced and qualified USW members are&nbsp;fully back to work.&nbsp; 
 
&ldquo;Local 7-669 is highly appreciative of the tremendous support we have received from trade unions, those in the community and others throughout this long lockout,&rdquo; said Lillie. &ldquo;The donations, the international support, and the recognition by many here and abroad on what we were up against will never be forgotten.&rdquo;

USW Union at Honeywell Reaches Tentative Labour Agreement

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
from International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation 
 
Some 10,000 workers and citizens from every part of Korea participated across the night of 9-10 July in the &quot;Hope Bus&quot; march to the Hanjin shipyards in Korea to protest against dismissals in breach of contract and precarious work, and to make a solidarity visit to hunger-striking protester Kim Jinsuk. After a culture festival at Busan, the participants started a candlelight march to the shipyards. One kilometre from the yard riot police blocked the road and opened fire on marchers with water cannons and liquid tear gas. 
 
Kim Jinsuk has been denied access to medical treatment since 5 July, when her doctor was physically prevented from seeing her. The company has also stopped her from getting necessities and a recharged mobile phone. 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="161" />
Marchers attacked with tear gas
The president of a national trade union centre, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), planned on taking part in the hunger strike on 13 July to call on the Hanjin Corporation to bargain in good faith. 
 
The Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU) will hold a press conference on 14 July to announce protest letters to the Korean president Lee Myung-bak to the press. 
 
The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) sent a letter to the Korean president on 4 July, calling for the Korean government to stop all violence against the workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard and Yuseong Piston Ring factories, to push the companies to start collective bargaining and lift the lock-out, stop the persecution of union officials, members and sympathizers, and to respect the ILO Conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. 
 
The IMF, KMWU and LabourStart have launched a campaign calling on the Korean government to end the violence immediately. Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1046 ">LabourStart campaign</a> through this link.

Korean Metal Workers’ Continue Struggle at Hanjin Shipyards

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