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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The ICEM affiliated trade union in Northern Cyprus, EL-SEN, played a central role in organising one of the largest rallies in the history of Northern Cyprus last Friday, 28 January, as well as a general strike on the same day. 
 
The popular demonstration of 30,000 people was organized by the “Platform of Trade Unions” to resist a raft of proposed employment laws that threaten the future for Cypriot workers. The regressive changes to labour law constitute another example of governments manipulating the global economic crisis to justify reducing workers’ rights in the long term. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.EL-SEN.jpg" width="230" height="154" alt=""/>
EL-SEN President, Tuluy Kalyoncu, reported to the Secretariat that the so-called reform package will restrict the practical application of the right to organise and bargain collectively, privatise public institutions (even those turning a profit), legitimise the employment of unregistered foreign workers, cut the salaries of the workers and their pensions, and facilitate the continuation of a damaging black market. Regarding the black market, Northern Cyprus’ government accept that 50% of all economic activity goes unrecorded, creating a budget deficit to be paid for by workers. 
 
EL-SEN turned out close to 100% of all members at the rally. Disappointingly, the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus, İrsen Küçük, dismissed the significance of the popular demonstrations, playing down numbers of participants and arguing that municipalities controlled by opposition parties forced staff to turn out. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.ElSen2.jpg" width="221" height="148" alt=""/>
The admirable popular uprisings currently spreading throughout the Arab world should serve as a wake-up call to the Küçük administration that the legitimate grievances of workers must be heard and acted on. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda expressed full solidarity and support to the demonstrators. In a letter to Prime Minister İrsen Küçük, he said, “A central concern that must be addressed is the right of workers to choose a trade union, and to bargain collectively as a social partner. Too often in TRNC, this principle is not only ignored but real barriers are put before workers, preventing basic freedom of association. We call on your government to adopt decent social conduct by adopting stricter rules and laws, and steeper penalties on employers who abuse workers’ rights.” 
 
Warda’s words of support were distributed widely during the demonstrations, calling on Küçük to adopt global labour standards, and practice those standards with legitimate trade unions, as opposed to encouraging an influx of labour brokers, and a general reducing of regulations, rules and codes essential in a democracy.

Northern Cyprus Resists Ankara’s Reforms 

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ICEM’s Turkish affiliate Petrol-İş, the Petroleum, Chemical and Rubber Workers Union, has been conducting an aggressive organizing campaign now for two years. The main objective has been to strengthen public confidence in unions, and to convey the union's positive message about improving work standards, not only to unorganized workers but also for families and within the local communities. 
 
The campaign adopted an approach which seeks to break down the negative public prejudices and attitudes towards unions. A prior ICEM report on the union’s activities can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3595-Petrol-Iş-Continues-Aggressive-Recruitment-Drives-in-Turkey " type="internal">here</a>. In this context, Petrol-İş has been targeting a number of companies to organise, but the union is confronted by comprehensive attacks by employers. The anti-labour Turkish legislation also does not help. This creates much pain for workers seeking a say in their working lives, as well as for the union. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101 mustafa petrol is.jpg" width="240" height="160"/>
Here are some examples: 
 
Polyplex Europa Polyester Film San. Tic. A.S., located in Corlu province, is a subsidiary of Indian multinational Polyplex Corporation Ltd. It produces thin polyester film with manufacturing facilities in India, Thailand, and Turkey. In Corlu, about 250 workers are employed. The organizing work of Petrol-İş was completed over the latter part of 2010. Then, on 23 December, the employer fired six Petrol-İş members and erected a primitive partition made of canvas between union members inside the factory and the six sacked workers protesting outside. On 7 January, company management, in order to attack the union’s recruitment efforts, went further and dismissed 15 more workers. Today, because workers want the benefits of a trade union, a total number of 21 have been fired. 
 
Now, members of the union are carrying on protest actions in front of the factory with support from friends inside the factory. Union workers outside the factory have set up a tent in order to continue their protest actions under ardous winter conditions. 
 
ICEM, as well, has taken initiative by writing a letter to the management of the company in India. Petrol-İş Is has met with the General Consulate of India in Istanbul to intervene on the issue. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.petrol is polyplex.jpg" width="228" height="171"/>
In July 2009, Petrol-İş Is organised workers at BERICAP Kapak San. Ltd. Sti., located in the Gebze district of Turkey. The enterprise is a subsidiary of BERICAP GmbH & Co. of Budenheim, Germany, and produces plastic caps and covers. When management heard about the organizing, they dismissed six workers. Workers then staged a series of protest actions. The union, Petrol-İş, signed a collective agreement on 26 January 2010. But the employer has never fully recognized the existence of the union at the workplace. 
 
A systematic and hostile attitude and behavior by company management towards the union workers have escalated tensions at the workplace. And recently four of the union members were dismissed without any compensation on 25 December 2010. Ninety-eight of the total 120-member workforce are Petrol-Is members and they support co-workers. Recently, they started a protest action in front of the BERICAP factory. But this time the employer terminated the contracts of 98 Petrol-İş members without compensation. The industrial action still goes on. ICEM also visited Petrol-İş members via its Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan, who gave solidarity messages of ICEM to the striking workers. 
 
Petrol-İş has recently organized Demo Plastik, a subsidiary of the French-based company AFE Plasturgie, which is located in the city of Bursa and employs 109 employees. Petrol-Is recruited 53 members in the plant. But when local managers learned of the union organizing, they immediately dismissed ten trade union militants. All the dismissed people then started to picket outside of the plant. The management continued to exert pressure on union members to resign from their membership, and the situation grew worse. The employer dismissed all the workers who refused to quit the union. 
 
The plant’s management has established a subcontracting company which does all the business inside the plant. The workers who resigned from the union by force are now employees of the company-related sub-contractor company. The company also does not pay severance payments of the dismissed workers although labor law requires it. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.petrol is Kemal.jpg" width="240" height="160"/>
ICEM immediately communicated with its French affiliate FCE CFDT, who contacted and met with senior leaders of the company. But so far there is no result. ICEM is now prepared to file a complaint before the OECD. 
 
Petrol-İş organised Sa-ba Endüstriyel Ürünler İmalat ve Tic. A.S.,which is a auto-parts supplier to multinationals such as Ford, Isuzu, Fiat, and Renault. It produces plastic-based finished and semi-finished goods for industry. 
 
About 210 workers are employed at the workplace in the Istanbul area. But on 20 December 2010, four of the union workers were dismissed without cause and the whole workforce started protest actions in front of the factory. Then, Sa-ba management terminated the contracts of 95 union workers who supported their fired co-workers. Protest actions went on by the 99 fired union workers in front of the Sa-ba factory the next month. The ICEM send a protest letter to the Turkish-based company, as well as alerting the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) on the dispute. 
 
After a series of meetings with management, Petrol-İş has been recognised as bargaining partner and the dismissed workers, those wishing to return, have been reinstated. 
 
To send solidarity messages to Petrol-İş over their ambitious organising efforts in Turkey, click <a href="mailto:petrolis.international@yahoo.com">here</a> to send support.

Organising Campaigns of Petrol-İş of Turkey continue, but with Pain 

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In early January, the ICEM learned of a major workers’ protest in al-Ferdous Square in Baghdad by Iraqi public employees and civil servants. More details are now available on that 4 January manifestation, thanks to the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). This legitimate protest was held to uphold work rights for Politically Dismissed Workers. 
 
An inquiry commission is about to wrongly verify documentation acknowledging the sackings of hundreds of workers from ministries and agencies within Industry, Commerce, Agriculture, Irrigation, and other departments of government over political allegiances.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.Monadhil of Leather Industries.JPG" width="231" height="155" alt=""/>
Public Workers Carry a Symbolic Coffin in Baghdad
The demonstration was vocal and visual, by all accounts. 
 
The manifestation’s first demand called for the cancellation of all decisions by the inquiry commission. Secondly, the 4 January rally and march demanded that sacked workers’ dismissal periods count as actual employment and thirdly, the 500 protesters demanded a stop to proceedings of verification against the politically dismissed workers. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.Falah Alwan - talking to the Media.JPG" width="230" height="173" alt=""/>
FWCUI President Falah Alwan
After trade union activists spoke at al-Ferdous Square, demonstrators carried a coffin as a death symbol to government officials destroying any semblance of global labour standards in this particular case. The march wound its way in central Baghdad to Square Wiz and then back again to al-Ferdous Square. 
 
The protest was widely covered by Baghdad television, radio, and print media outlets. 
 
The ICEM gives global support to Iraqi workers who exercise their legitimate rights under international labour standards.

Public Sector Workers Demand Justice for Sacked Workers in Iraq

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A ten-day mission across three countries of South America by the ICEM President, General Secretary, and Regional Vice President covered much ground and different issues from Chile to Argentina to Brazil. The visits were made from 9-18 January. 
 
In Chile, Senzeni Zokwana, Manfred Warda, and Latin America/Caribbean Contact Person Carol Bruce met with leaders of both ICEM affiliated and non-affiliated unions. The meeting with Chilean chemicals union affiliate, FENATRAPECH, was highly successful, and the ICEM met with different mineworkers’ federations on recent events and in particular ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ilo_small.jpg" width="128" height="180"/>
The ICEM leaders also met with Chile’s Minister of Labour Minister and Social Welfare, Camila Merino, who was sacked just days after the 11 January meeting by President Sebastián Piñera in a government shake-up. Despite Piñera’s late 2010 pledge to the world after the rescue of 33 miners at the San José copper mine late Chile would ratify Convention 176 “within 90 days,” Merino told the ICEM the country’s emphasis is on the more general ILO Convention 187, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Health and Safety Convention. 
 
The ICEM reminded the now-ousted minister that on the global stage, Chile is firstly a resource-rich mining country. 
 
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the ICEM delegation met with Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Security, Dr. Carlos Tomado, who was briefed to date on arrangements for ICEM’s Fifth Statutory Congress in Buenos Aires from 24-26 November 2011. He was also given information on ILO Convention 176, and he pledged his ministry’s support for ratification of the convention. 
 
The ICEM also met on the afternoon of 14 January with General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko and leaders of the ICEM affiliate, Único de Trabajadores del Neumático Argentino (SUTNA), as well as with leaders of other Argentine unions. 
 
Finally, the ICEM mission travelled to Rio de Janeiro to further ongoing talks with Brazilian state oil company Petrobrás on a Global Framework Agreement.

ICEM South American Mission Covers Mine Safety, Congress, Global Agreement Talks

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The ICEM directed criticism at Advanced Chemical Industries Ltd. (ACI) of Bangladesh last week over 22-23 January protests inside a pharmaceutical factory in Siddhirganj, central Narayanganj district, that left one worker dead. The ICEM believes that both full-time and temporary workers were pushed to their limits by ACI Plant Manger Ishtiaque Ahmed, who exhibited notoriously cruel behaviour to workers with constant threats of dismissal. 
 
Following peaceful worker protests on 22 January, ACI management responded by calling for armed police action against nearly all 400 workers inside the plant on the following day. The ICEM learned that management refused several times in recent months to engage in earnest discussions over workers’ grievances. 
 
The ICEM’s protest to ACI can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/2.GDFSUEZunitedwatLet.pdf " type="internal">here</a>. Police fired rubber bullets and 30 canisters of tear gas on 23 January to break up the in-plant protests. One worker, 25-year-old temporary worker Enamul Huq, died from wounds suffered by he police assault. Over 100 others, including some police officers and the plant manager himself, were hospitalised. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.bangladesh.jpg" width="123" height="151"/>
Arrest Warrant: Beaten Worker
In the early days of last week, local Narayanganj police issued arrest for 30 named workers and another 300 whose names were not listed. 
 
The ICEM finds that the mayhem is attributable to ACI, which for too long neglected the pleas of workers and their plant-level trade union to address issues. Those issues include extended temporary work status to deserving workers, denying those workers union representation, and employing temporary workers at a sub-par level of benefits. Some temporary staff at ACI Pharmaceutical in Siddhirganj have worked as long as 12 years in unsecured job postings. 
 
The ICEM noted that nearly 400 of the plant’s 407 workers took part in last weekend’s protests. The ACI plant employs 167 full-time and 240 temporary workers. 
 
The ACI plant produces drug aids for human use. The plant employs 167 full-time workers and is a major Asian manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of drug aids, agri-chemical and pesticide products, and basic consumer products.

ICEM Says Bangladesh Chemical Company Provoked Riot that Killed One

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Actions around the world have begun, marking the Global Days of Action for trade union rights in Mexico, 14-19 February. Support the campaign now by writing to the Mexican government through the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=863">LabourStart campaign</a> here.  
 
Today, an international trade union delegation met with the Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Gomez Camacho, to deliver the demands of the global campaign. Some 60 labour activists turned out. 
<img height="182" width="201" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.mex geneva.4.jpg" alt=""/>
Adriana Rosenzvaig, Manfred Warda, Fernando Lopes
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, Fernando Lopes, Assistant General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and Adriana Rosenzvaig, SCORE Director at UNI, met inside with the Ambassador while a demonstration continued outside the Mission. 
Warda said the one-hour-and-twenty-minute meeting proved that Camacho had been briefed on the manifestation's purpose. "The only issue he was not familiar with is protection contracts in Mexico," said Warda. "We had to explain how these contracts infringe on genuine trade union rights."
A 50,000 strong march in Mexico City on 31 January saw trade unionists protest shoulder to shoulder against the repressive policies of the Calderón regime. The National Union of Miners marched with the Electricians Union, Pilots’, Teachers’, and farmers’ organisations, calling for social, political, and economic change. 
<img height="190" width="189" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.mex geneva.3 police unia luis blanco.jpg" alt=""/>
Geneva police question ICEM's Tom Grinter and UNIA's Luis Blanco over rally permit
The Calderón government must heed the warnings of this global movement, and end abuses of trade union rights in Mexico. 
 
Rallies and meetings with Mexican Ambassadors will be conducted simultaneously in over 30 countries this week, in a coordinated effort by unions affiliated to the ICEM, IMF, UNI, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, and the ITUC. 
Where demonstrations are not possible, unions are sending written protests and demands to the Mexican government from around the world. 
<img height="163" width="368" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.Mexico City.JPG" alt=""/>
Mexico City
Australia: The global campaign will hold a launch event with the support of Australian trade unions on 15 February. Co-ordinated by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), with support from the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), and others, a rally and meeting with the Mexican ambassador is planned for 18 February. At the biennial delegates’ conference of the AWU tomorrow, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina will address the global campaign on Mexico. 
 
Canada: With coordinating support from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW), Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), and the United Steelworkers (USW), leading actions will occur in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. These will include a meeting with the Mexican ambassador in Canada, and demonstrations, depending on the local circumstances. 
<img height="150" width="200" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.Mex Toronto.jpg" alt=""/>
Toronto, Canada
France: Unions in France are organizing for a delegation to visit the Mexican Embassy in Paris. In addition, through their existing relationship with managers, French unions are also contacting French transnationals on situations of companies’ production plants in Mexico regarding unions, collective bargaining, and wage and working conditions. 
 
Mexico: Unions in Mexico are planning to take action over the entire week, including a press conference in the capital, rallies at embassies of countries where others are taking action, and a march and seminar on 19 February. The Mexican Miners’ Union is also planning a series of events in Pasta de Conchos, Puebla, and elsewhere where the union has strong presences. 
<img height="210" width="279" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.mex Jakarta Indonesia.JPG" alt=""/>
Jakarta, Indonesia
The Netherlands: FNV Bondgenoten will continue its trade union freedom campaign during the global week of action, including media work and asking five Dutch multinationals with protection contracts in Mexico to start dialogue with the trade union. Those companies are AkzoNobel, Heineken, ING, Philips, and Unilever. For more go to: <a href="http://tradeunionfreedom.fnvcompanymonitor.nl/">http://tradeunionfreedom.fnvcompanymonitor.nl/</a>  
<img height="203" width="242" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.mex brussels.jpg" alt=""/>
Brussels, Belgium
Russia: Unions in Russia were awarded the right to protest at the Mexican Embassy and are preparing a letter to give to the Mexican ambassador and articles and press coverage on the issue. 
<img height="192" width="252" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.Embassy of Mexico Moscow.jpg" alt=""/>
Moscow, Russia, -25°C
Turkey: Unions in Turkey will mobilize members to visit the Mexican embassy, present a protest letter, and take picket action in front of the embassy. 
<img height="185" width="336" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.mex geneva.jpg" alt=""/>
Geneva, Switzerland
US: AFL-CIO and affiliates, including USW are holding events in 14 cities. The ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) is organising actions also in many cities. The priority is to meet with Mexican embassy/consulate officials, supplemented by demonstrations and press work where appropriate. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usyexGRbDgI&feature=autoplay&list=ULOqVyVe-7Clo&index=2&playnext=2">Washington D.C. picket</a>. 
 
Download the <a type="internal" href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP">campaign materials</a> here.

Mexico Days of Action Begin

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Another methane gas blast inside a Colombian coal mine killed five workers, and seriously injured one. This time it occurred on 1 February at the semi-legal La Escondida colliery in Cunduinamarca department, in a community called Sutatausa, 100 kilometres north of Bogotá. 
 
Last time was only a fortnight ago when 25 miners died 600 metres inside the La Preciosa Ltda. coal mine in Norte de Santander department. That 26 January tragedy now stands as Colombia’s second worst mine disaster in less than a year, behind the San Fernando mine blast on 16 June 2010, where 73 perished in North-West Colombia state. 
 
Following the recent mine deaths, both Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Mines and Energy Minister Carlos Rodado Noreiga admitted the country’s Institute of Geology and Mining (Ingeominas) is ill-equipped to handle mine safety and compliance in the nation’s burgeoning mining industry. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/04miningsafety.jpg" width="200" height="146"/>
Ingeominas has 17 mine inspectors to handle some 6,000 mines that are currently licensed. Roughly 19% are coal operations, with the vast majority of them underground mines operated by small- and medium-sized businesses. The ICEM reminds that Colombia has many illegally operating mines, with estimates that of every 100 mining enterprises, 51 are operated illegally. 
 
The Escondida mine is in an area called Peñas de Boquerón in the central department of Cunduinamarca and was operating under a temporary permit granted by Ingeominas. A day before the tragedy, miners had complained that the ventilation system was not operating adequately and gas levels were rising. 
 
The San Fernando mine blast in June 2010 was Colombia’s worst mining accident in 30 years. A preliminary investigation found breach of existing safety regulations, faulty monitoring and detection devices, lack of training and qualification, and unfamiliar explosives used inside the mine. 
 
The list was even more extensive, with all contributing factors listed as preventable. Colombia’s underground mine safety regulations fall under the out-dated Decree 1335 of 1987, a regulatory code that is easily breached by small- and medium-size companies. The problem is complicated by the fact that Ingeominas has been too quick to award mining licenses without the proper safety culture or safety equipment. 
 
Colombia has become the world’s fifth largest exporter of coal, behind Australia, Russia, South Africa, and Indonesia. There are reported to be 5,800 new mines in various phases of exploration and development and unless the government revamps its internal mine safety structure, and adopts global mine safety standards as outlined in ILO Convention 176, more tragedies are certain to occur.

Colombia’s Second Mine Blast Brings More Alert; 5 More Dead

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A ten-day strike by the ICEM North American affiliate Teamsters Union against a subsidiary of Swiss-based Holcim ended 25-26 August when 130 union members at two branch locals ratified a three-year collective agreement with a 90% vote. 
 
The strike in the US state of Massachusetts was highlighted by Teamsters members from three other local branches blockading some 20 cement plants and terminals in Massachusetts and neighbouring New Hampshire. Those locals have contracts that expire in the future, making the show of support to truck drivers and plant operators of Locals 25 and 170 an exemplary example of solidarity. 
 
The strike and rolling actions came against Aggregate Industries, a wholly-owned Holcim subsidiary in the US and UK. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.teamsters.harrington.jpg" width="130" height="143" alt=""/>
Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, Mark Harrington
The Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 25, Mark Harrington, described terms of the new agreement as satisfactory, with the union solidly protecting wages, pensions, and health care coverage, while compromising with American management over some work rules. 
 
“The strategy worked,” said Harrington. “By extending picket lines we were able to impact the company economically.” 
 
Harrington himself extended gratitude to Swiss trade union Unia for its intervention in the strike. He said company negotiators made note of that fact – with some surprise – at the US federal mediation session on 25 August that produced the settlement. The ICEM also intervened with Holcim during the strike. 
 
Teamsters Locals 42, 633, and another unit of Local 25 that has a different expiration date with Aggregate Industries not only honoured roving pickets at the company’s New England operations, but members of those local branches joined the pickets. 
 
Regarding those solidarity actions, the ICEM considers it heroic deeds in defending and winning a new labour agreement because the Holcim subsidiary was readying the hire of replacement workers as its strategy to break the strike.

US Teamsters Union Settles Holcim Cement Strike in US

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ITF’s (International Transport Workers’ Federation) Turkish affiliate TUMTIS’ (the union of road transport workers) ongoing dispute with UPS, was the centre of a global day of action, attracting solidarity and support from throughout the world, on 1 September. Those participating in the day of action called upon UPS in unison to “Deliver Justice not Abuse”. 
 
Local management of UPS, the global messenger company based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, has reacted disgracefully to an organising drive of its workers by TUMTIS. While management have used physical intimidation on workers not to join the union, 157 employees of UPS and its contractors in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir have been sacked since April 2010 when the drive began, because of their support for TUMTIS. 
<img height="195" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.tumtis.itf.png" width="137"/>
(Photos: ITF)
Out of the 157 total, 126 were sacked at 3 UPS facilities in Istanbul, and 27 in Izmir. In Izmir one manager fired gunshots near the TUMTIS picket line, while other protesting workers were attacked by riot police. This is in direct breach of Turkish labour legislation, and certainly not in line with the company’s pledges on corporate social responsibility, in which UPS promises to never obstruct its employees from joining a union. 
 
The day was organised following a unanimously adopted emergency resolution at the ITF Congress in Mexico City 5-12 August, reported InBrief No. 163 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3970-42nd-ITF-Congress-in-Mexico-City-Elects-MUA's-Paddy-Crumlin-President" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The global day of action saw trade unionists protesting in front of national UPS offices in Australia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia, among others. See more about the day of action <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/ups-justice.cfm">here</a>. 
<img height="113" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.tumtis.itf.2.png" width="170"/>
TUMTIS’ national labour centre, TURK-IS has supported the union’s daily picket since the start of the conflict. 
 
The ITF urges supporters around the world to contact their local UPS management and transfer this <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Model_letter_UPS_CEO.doc">model letter</a> condemning the union busting in Turkey. Locate your nearest UPS office <a href="http://www.ups.com/content/corp/worldwide/index.html?WT.svl=SubNav">here</a>.  
 
Workers at the 80% UPS-owned subsidiary ‘Unsped Global Logistic Ticaret AS’ receive a monthly wage of 382 euros, while contract and agency (CAL) workers earn far less. The vast majority of UPS’ 5,000 employees in Turkey are CAL workers, often working over 70 hours per week. 
 
The ICEM supports demands of the ITF that all 150 sacked UPS employees are reinstated unconditionally, and that anti-union harassment is stopped immediately and fully at UPS and its subcontractors in Turkey. 
 
There will be a second global day of action on 15 September if the workers are not reinstated. 
 
Support the LabourStart campaign <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=750">here</a>.

Day of Action for UPS Workers in Turkey 

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The military junta ruling Burma have handed employers increased powers in their efforts to eliminate trade union rights in the country. New legislation passed on 20 August will enable employers to sack any worker involved in industrial protest of any kind. The sacked workers will also be blacklisted. “If they don’t want to be jobless, they won’t protest” a military official was quoted as saying. 
 
Previously Burmese authorities have dealt with industrial action by imprisoning protest organizers. The change in tactic of the military government is said to be due to increasing criticism from the international community. Now it will be impossible for workers to conduct protests of any kind, for better rights or conditions. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/burmamap.gif" width="120" height="120"/>
The new law was decreed at a meeting in the capital Rangoon, and was drawn up by industry employers, government ministers and Burmese military officials. 
 
March 2010 saw workers’ protests, in industrial zones Shwe Pyi Thar, Taung Dagon and Hlaing Thayar, demanding time off during public holidays and increases in overtime pay and salaries. 
 
In March, workers at industries such as launched protests demanding employers give them time off during public holidays and increase their salaries and payments for working overtime hours. 
 
Burmese industrial workers earn between US$20-US$40 per month, far less than a living wage.

Burmese Junta Pass New Decree Banning Industrial Action

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