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<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
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. 
 
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. 
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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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Union members of CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC boarded five buses early today and headed to Paris from Alizay in northern France to continue their struggle to keep an M-real paper mill operating. In Paris, paperworkers from Alizay in the Haute-Normandie region will protest at the Ministry of Agriculture where final mediation begins between French authorities, the Finnish papermaker, and two potential buyers. 
 
Some 330 workers began a strike and blockade of the Alizay paper mill on 19 October, the day M-real announced closure of the uncoated printing papers mill. M-real, 40% controlled by the Finnish forestry company Mets&auml;liitto, terminated discussions with Thailand-based Advance Agro Ltd., known as Double A Paper, and the Paris-based investment capital company Fin&rsquo;active SAS due to buy the 48-year-old paper mill. 
<img alt="" src="" width="242" height="161" />
Thierry Philippot
On 20 October, many paperworkers left the front gate of the mill and took to the A13 motorway between Normandie and Paris and gave passing motorists a &ldquo;toll-free&rdquo; handbill describing their plight. 
 
M-real announced on 4 May 2011 that it intended to sell printing paper mills in Alizay and Gohrsm&uuml;hle, Germany, as part of a major restructuring plan to exit the fine paper industry and focus on paperboard used for packaging. 
 
&ldquo;We have prepared for the possibility of closure, but we are not yet ready to accept it,&rdquo; said CGT-Filpac plant representative Thierry Philippot. 
<img alt="" src="" width="297" height="159" />
Paperworkers Block M-Real&rsquo;s Alizay Mill
Philippot, along with fellow CGT representative Jean-Yves Lemahieu and CFE-CGC representative Eric Hogger, traveled to Helsinki on 30 September to meet with M-real CEO Mikko Helander in hopes that a deal could be consummated. 
 
M-real had put two conditions on a sale: maintain the current employment for 24 months, and pour all sales from the 310,000-tonne-per-year mill back into the operation. Although both Advance Agro and Fin&rsquo;active appeared to accept those terms, the deal with favoured Advance Agro broke down when the Thai company demanded other conditions. 
 
The mediation today is with Advance Agro, a company that operates two pulp mills and three paper factories in its home country. Mediation with Fin&rsquo;active, an investment firm specializing in distressed assets, will be held later this week. The talks will be headed by French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire, a UPM party member and member of France&lsquo;s Parliament from the Eure department, where the Alizay mill is located.

French Paperworkers Continue Protest Today to Keep M-real Mill Operating

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Efforts to resolve the six-week Indonesian mine strike by FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (CEMWU) against Freeport-McMoRan continue today on the local level, but agreement is not likely. Meanwhile, 10,000 strikers continue to block the lone access road to the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and third largest copper mine &ndash; Grasberg, operated by PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The company suspended all production one week ago due to the supply road being blocked and a ruptured pipeline that carries copper concentrate from the mine, 4,000 metres high in the Sudirman Range, to the port city of Timika. Production resumed on 19 October, but union sources say it has not exceeded 30%. 
 
On 21 October, dialogue did occur between the SPSI/PT Freeport union, 5 company officials, and the Tinal family, which administers the local Mimika regency, but Grasberg miners of Papua province, New Guinea Island, are no closer to a 2011-12 wage agreement than they were three weeks ago. 
<img alt="" src="" width="289" height="160" />
Family of Petrus Ayamiseba after 10 October Killing
Talks, however, took place today at the Rimba Hotel in Timika, some 200 kilometres from the rich Grasberg gold and copper deposits. 
 
Next week the ICEM will dispatch a team to Indonesia to meet with striking SPSI members of the CEMWU and officials involved in the strike. That team will consist of mineworkers&rsquo; leaders from Australia, Africa, and Europe. 
 
Two weeks ago, on 10 October, one union member was shot and killed and another died five days later after a group of miners tried to enter a transit terminal in Gorong-Gorong at Milepost 28 to board a bus to assist the blockade. Local police shot indiscriminately into their backs as they entered the bus depot. 
 
Killed instantly was Petrus Ayamiseba, while Leo Wandagau died in his home in Timika on 15 October from a wound to his back caused by a rubber bullet. Eight other strikers were wounded. A three-member committee from Indonesia&rsquo;s Human Rights Committee was sent to the area last week to investigate. 
 
There have been two other instances in which gunfire killed at least six people, but the ICEM has been unable to discern if these shootings are related to the strike. A 13-member delegation of Indonesian parliamentarians also visited Timika on 20 October in search of answers to resolve the strike. 
<img alt="" src="" width="213" height="160" />
Leo Wandagau on 10 October; he died 15 October
The ICEM is convinced that a resolve will not happen until US-based Freeport-McMoRan instructs its Grasberg managers to lift its pay proposal for 2011 and 2012. Management&rsquo;s most recent offer &ndash; three weeks ago &ndash; would grant a 15% pay hike in 2011 and 10% in 2012. The company also wants the union to acknowledge that the strike is illegal and issue a formal apology to the company. 
 
FSP-KEP (SPSI) of CEMWU has lowered its demands to an average of US$7.50-an-hour. PT Freeport Indonesia has split unionised miners into non-staff and staff, with non-staff numbering 8,512 and staff 2,574. Non-staff now average earnings of US$2.13-an-hour and US$368 monthly, while staff has average wages of US$3.54-per-hour and US$613 monthly. 
 
The union is also seeking a better savings plan programme than what PT Freeport Indonesia has on the table. In addition, workers are seeking payment of their wages during the strike, which started on 15 September, payment which management made during an eight-day warning strike in July. They also seek the return of all workers to their jobs. Hundreds of miners have been either terminated or &ldquo;relieved from duty&rdquo; since the mid-September strike started. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support FSP-KEP (SPSI) at PT Freeport in its quest for wage justice, dignity, and a proud return to their jobs in the remote highlands of Papua province.

Indonesian Freeport-McMoRan Mine Strike Continues, Two Unionists Shot Dead

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ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, began a first wave of strike action this morning across Finland. Some 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; are on full work stoppages at 45 targeted companies. 
 
If national conciliation again fails next week and the days that follow, metalworkers and salaried staff at another 35 companies will join the strike on 7 November. Overtime bans are now in effect across Finland&rsquo;s metal and technology sector covering 200,000 workers, including 10,000 members of the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff (YTN). That union of top-level supervisors is expected to join the strike on 1 November if no deal is accomplished. 
 
&ldquo;The strike is running well so far,&rdquo; said Pro Vice President for the Industrial Sector Markku Polokangas, the salaried staff&rsquo;s lead negotiator. &ldquo;The amount of pressure on employers will increase in the coming days, we are certain.&rdquo; Polokangas also said the union is organising support strikes among Pro&rsquo;s membership in other sectors, such as telecommunications and chemicals. 
 
The two unions and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, the employers&rsquo; federation, were in marathon mediation sessions with National Conciliation Esa Lonka throughout the week. The latest session broke off last night and Metalliliitto's 38-member Council gave a near-unanimous mandate to begin the strike.
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s membership had earlier given leadership of the union a mandate for strike action. 
 
Although the two sides are in general agreement with the 4.3% wage increase over two years that Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October, major discord in metal and tech negotiations center on how that amount will be split. Finnish employers want discretion on paying some workers far less than the 4.3%, while the unions want the increase given to everyone across the board. 
 
Another difference is over a three-day yearly training and education period. Employers seek the discretionary right to award it, while the unions want it across the board. Tied to that is the manner in which workers age 55 and above will receive the three-day training allocation. 
 
Among just some of the 45 corporations that saw strike action taken against them this morning at 06h00 were ABB, Boliden, Kone elevators and Kone cranes, the mining concern Talvivaara, the Metsa set of engineering companies, iron and steel maker Rautaruukki, Sandvik Mining and Construction, Valmet Automotive, Outotec, Patria aerospace and land companies, and Ruukki Metals and Engineering. 
 
On 7 November, among 35 other companies expected to join the strike will be a large number of workers employed by the Nokia-Siemens joint venture called NS Network.

Strikes Begin in Finnish Metal, Technology Sector

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ICEM Nordic Region Vice President Anders Ferbe was elected 1 February by IF Metall&rsquo;s Executive Board to serve as Acting President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, replacing Stefan L&ouml;fven who stepped down 27 January to head the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. 
 
Ferbe, 57, had been IF Metall&rsquo;s First Vice President since 2008 and has been an ICEM Presidium member since 2007 when he was elected at the Fourth Statutory Congress in Bangkok. He will head the 355,000-member IF Metall going into the union&rsquo;s 2014 Congress, a key year with federal elections slated to occur in September 2014. 
 
L&ouml;fven, President of IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall), was elected to head the country&rsquo;s once dominant Social Democrats by the party&rsquo;s Presidium 11 days ago. 
<img alt="" src="" width="141" height="160" />
Stefan L&ouml;fven
&ldquo;I am both humbled and honoured by the trust shown me,&rdquo; Ferbe said following last week&rsquo;s Board election. &ldquo;Our job to retain and create sustainable jobs is paramount. It means training, hard work and wages that are both fair and equal.&rdquo; IF Metall&rsquo;s board elected Veli-Pekka S&auml;ikk&auml;l&auml; to replace Ferbe as First Vice President. 
 
Ferbe is a native of J&ouml;nk&ouml;ping in southern Sweden and his work in the metal industry began there as an assembler at an industrial fan manufacturer now called Svenska Fl&auml;kfabriken. 
 
He held a number of local branch positions of Metall and in 1984, after six months working inside the union&rsquo;s training center, he took a Metall training and education position in the Stockholm headquarters in environmental education. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="80" />
In 1989, he began a 16-year career as the union&rsquo;s press and communications officer and upon the 2006 merger of Industrifacket and Metall, he was elected IF Metall&rsquo;s Second Vice President. A year earlier, he was elected to the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
Both Ferbe and L&ouml;fven will work to restore the strength of the Social Democratic Party inside Sweden. The Social Democrats were beaten in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010 and the ICEM is confident that with a trade union leader heading the party, &ldquo;the Social Democratic Party once again will not only lead Sweden, but continue to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda in a 26 January letter congratulating L&ouml;fven. (The full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf ">ICEM letter</a> is here.) 
 
L&ouml;fven, 55, served as Vice President of Metall from 2002 until his election as the first President of IF Metall in 2006. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by Metall since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 
 
He was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He started his trade union activism as a shop steward, sector president and branch president.

IF Metall’s Board Elects Anders Ferbe to Replace Stefan Löfven

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The European Works Council (EWC) of Rio Tinto last week condemned the global minerals and metal producer for its unwarranted lockout of 780 Canadian members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
The intervention made by Rio&rsquo;s EWC Secretary V&eacute;ronique Roche from Paris comes at a time when the USW along with the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) are ramping up a campaign. Actions have been launched to bring attention and pressure on the multinational in support of aluminium smelter workers of Rio Tinto subsidiary Alcan, who were unjustly locked off their jobs on 1 January in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
A mass protest of Canadian and global trade unionists will take place in Alma &ndash; some 380 kilometres north of Alcan&rsquo;s headquarters in Montr&eacute;al &ndash; on 31 March. That will come a day after the ICEM North America Region holds its committee meeting in the region as a show of support for the victimised members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, USW Local 9490. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="160" />
photo: lapresse.ca
An initial thrust 11 days ago by ICEM and IMF global affiliates in the form of protest letters to Rio Tinto&rsquo;s President and CEO Tom Albanese saw a company response a day into the action: the company turned off its fax machines to avoid a deluge of written protests. 
 
The EWC intervention, however, is sure to resonate. Roche said the EWC has found that Rio Tinto Alcan management failed to even consider proposals made by the union, a &ldquo;destructive and socially irresponsible position.&rdquo; 
 
The 2 February letter added to Albanese: &ldquo;Please know that our European forum will stand alongside the United Steelworkers in all organised efforts in Europe and elsewhere, and we will participate in actions deemed necessary by the USW to repel this anti-social attack.&rdquo; 
 
The EWC then demanded that Rio Tinto end the lockout and order local management back to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair, equitable and acceptable labour agreement with workers that does not decimate the economic well-being of the community. (The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/lettre%20TOM%20ALBANESE%20ALMA%20FEV%202012%20engx.pdf ">full letter</a> can be read here.) 
 
The chief issue behind the lockout is Rio Tinto Alcan&rsquo;s desire to have unlimited outsourcing rights, something that would eventually half the wage base of the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region. Since Rio Tinto purchased Alcan in 2007 for US$39 billion, Alma management has replaced each worker taking retirement, or in other reductions in force, by outsourcing to sub-contractors who use low-wage staff without full social benefits. 
 
Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma tried to set a floor on full-time, direct employees in collective negotiations. Alcan refused and immediately locked out the unionised workforce on expiration of a prior five-year agreement. There is mounting proof that Rio Tinto Alcan is partially operating the 438,000-tonne facility with the use of scabs during the lockout, a prohibition under provincial Qu&eacute;bec labour statute and something the USW is pursuing through the legal system.

Rio Tinto’s Euro Works Council Irate over Québec Aluminium Lockout

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
A 40-day strike in the US state of Massachusetts has ended. Ninety brave members of the ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) backed Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s CertainTeed subsidiary away from severe cuts to their health care plan, and ratified a five-year labour agreement by a 69-0 vote on 29 January. 
 
The workers, who make asphalt roofing shingles, gypsum wallboard and fiberglass products at a plant outside Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, returned to their jobs on 31 January with their heads held high, their pride intact, and most importantly their premium benefits package unsevered. 
 
CertainTeed management came at the members of IBT Local 25 late last year with a proposal to abandon the union&rsquo;s Health and Welfare Fund and replace it with an inferior company-managed plan. Such a plan would have left the workers with far fewer health care benefits, leaving them largely unprotected from illness or injury.
<img src="" width="154" height="160" alt="" />
Workers took strike action on 19 December and when the company refused to move from its regressive proposals in US federal mediation on 13 January, Norwood Teamsters expanded their strike. Besides working with the ICEM and French union CFDT to take the dispute directly to executives of Saint-Gobain in Paris, they began handbilling other non-Teamster and non-represented CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain plants in the US. 
 
&ldquo;Our members would not accept the company plan and made that loud and clear to us,&rdquo; said Local 25 Business Representative George Slicis. &ldquo;We were on the picket line for 40 days, 24/7, through the holidays and in bad weather, and we were not going back unless the Teamster health care plan went back with us.&rdquo; 
 
The 69-0 vote last Sunday made that an affirmative. In bargaining again supervised by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) on 26 January, CertainTeed backed off the takeaways. Although there will be a very slight increase in workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs for continuation of the premium health coverage of US$6-per-week, that will be more than offset with the union negotiating a US$500 bonus each in years one through four of the labour agreement. 
 
In addition, starting in year two, or late in 2012, and continuing in 2013, 2014 and 2015, workers will receive a 2% wage increase. Local 25 also won company-paid increases to the New England Teamsters Pension Fund of 10% in years one and two, and 6% each in the remaining years. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Local 25 members at CertainTeed for their resolve in maintaining their earned benefits package and also commends Jean-Francois Renucci of CFDT, who took the case to preserve the US workers&rsquo; health and welfare insurance to top Saint-Gobain leaders.

US Teamsters at Saint-Gobain Succeed in Retaining Premium Health Care

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The 10th Quadrennial Delegates&rsquo; Conference of ICEM affiliate Ghana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (GMWU) was held in late August in the Brong Ahafo regional capital of Sunyani in late August. GMWU leaders from the West African nation covered a wide range of issues including skills training, mining and sustainability, expatriation, and state investment and regulation in mining. 
 
The Delegates&rsquo; Conference also reiterated its support and continued campaign efforts for ratification and implementation by the government of Ghana of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Meeting under the banner &ldquo;Blending the Interest of Stakeholders in the Mining Industry Towards Operational Excellence,&rdquo; delegates elected Kwarko Mensah Gyakari as National Chairman and Prince William Ankrah, ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Vice President, as General Secretary. 
<img src="" width="150" height="174" alt="" />
General Secretary Prince William Ankrah
Also elected were Abdul Moomin Gbana, First Vice Chairman; Philomena Aba Sampson, Second Vice Chairperson; Eric Kwabena Gyimah, Deputy General Secretary; Fred Aniagyei, First National Trustee; James Ackah, Second National Trustee; and William Bart Plange, National Chaplain. 
 
GMWU also elected an 11-member Finance Committee. All office bearers, including Finance Committee members, were sworn in Ghana Trades Union Congress General Secretary Kofi Asamoah. 
 
The GMWU expressed displeasure with the recent shedding by the government of its 10% stake in certain gold mining companies. With gold extraction a major component in the nation&rsquo;s economy, the union pledged to combine with civil society groups to reduce foreign capital in favour of Ghana private of public investment in the major mining conglomerates. 
 
The union sided with Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor who has protested Ghana&rsquo;s divestiture of 10% stakes in Newmont Gold&rsquo;s Ahafo and Akyem projects, Noble Mineral&rsquo;s Bibiano project, and AngloGold Ashanti development at Obuasi, Iduaprim, and Teberebie. Removal of such state involvement runs contrary to the Mining law of 1986 (PNDC Law 153) and the Minerals and Mining Act 20. 
 
GMWU also made it clear to reporters covering the Conference that with the current high price of gold, now is the time to introduce a windfall tax on the commodity. 
 
General Secretary Prince Ankrah did commend the government for putting in place the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GEITI), but urged the government to adequately fund the body in order to carry out its mission. 
 
A major topic at the Delegates&rsquo; Conference regarded remuneration in mining, and the fact that inequality exists between what is paid expatriates and Ghanaian nationals who are in the same job grades and possess the same skills. 
 
On sustainability, GMWU again expressed displeasure that the major mining houses have allowed a gulf to exist between indigenous communities and their leaders. Ankrah said mining companies in general had failed to honour past commitments regarding infrastructure, and many are non-compliant with environmental standards. 
 
He also criticized mining companies for failing to take into account the input of workers regarding health and safety. 
 
The Delegates&rsquo; Conference pledged that the GMWU would continue to engage with the Ghana Chamber of Mines and its industry captains to ensure that qualified Ghanaians are given opportunities and skills development to take up senior positions in the mining sector.

Ghana Mine Workers Conducts Successful Delegates’ Conference

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Union members of ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) began a strike on 1 September against Anchor Glass Container Corp. at nine US plants. The 140 USW-represented workers are mould makers at Anchor, the US&rsquo;s third largest glass bottle and container manufacturer behind Owens-Illinois and Saint-Gobain Containers. 
 
Workers went on strike immediately after expiration of a prior labour agreement due to regressive and ill-willed contract proposals by the Tampa, Florida-based company. Specifically, Anchor seeks to create a two-tiered health care and pension plan, as well as more excessive out-of-pocket health care costs borne by workers. Wages are also an issue in the dispute. 
<img alt="" src="" width="157" height="136" />
Photo: Mike Perleberg-Eagle 99.3
Privately-held Anchor issued a threatening statement at the outset of the strike saying it would continue glass-bottle mould work without the USW members. The company used high US unemployment and economic uncertainty as a warning against the strike. 
 
Anchor produces glass for the beverage and foods industries. The largest plant that has been hit by the USW industrial action is in Zanesville, Ohio, where 65 workers have struck due to the company&rsquo;s radical rollback proposals. Other Anchor glass plants where work stoppages are in effect include Jacksonville, Florida; Warner Robins, Georgia; Shakopee, Minnesota; Salem, New Jersey, Elmira Heights, New York; Henryetta, Oklahoma; and Lawrenceburg and Winchester, Indiana. 
 
USW negotiators reached a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1109.ross%20usw%20agreement.pdf">settlement with Ross International</a> on 31 August, achieving wage gains for each year in a three-year agreement, protecting pensions and preventing a two-tier benefit plan for new hires. Among other improvements achieved was enhanced language on subcontracting at the company.&nbsp;

USW Glass Workers at Anchor Begin Strike Action

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Building on their first meeting in 2010, just prior to the historic May Day celebrations in Taksim Square, global unions conducted the second meeting of this kind on defending trade union rights in Turkey. Around sixty participants from centers and Turkish affiliates of ITUC, CGU, ICEM, ITF, IUF, PSI, IMF, BWI, ITGLWF and UNI came together in Istanbul at the workshop held on 8-9 September. The meeting also welcomed international NGOs such as Labourstart and Amnesty International who consistently support labour rights in Turkey. The ICEM was present at the workshop through its Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan as well as its affiliates Tes-Is, Petrol-Is, Belediye-Is, Lastik-Is, Kristal-Is, Cimse-Is, Sel&uuml;loz-Is and T&uuml;mka-Is. 
 
The workshop coincided with a critical time, with Turkish trade union legislation under discussions for modification with a view to harmonise it in line with international standards and norms. Turkey was recently criticised by the International Labour Organization over the lack of genuine union rights in the country. &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of the Collective Bargaining Department of ICEM&rsquo;s affiliate Lastik-Is, who is a part of a working group formed by the government to handle possible modifications, updated the workshop participants in a context of the history of Turkish labour legislation. 
 
Participants were informed of individual organising efforts of Turkish unions in cooperation and solidarity with respective global union federations. Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak, Director of the Organizing Department of ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is, presented his union&rsquo;s widely-publicised national level organizing campaign as well as the ongoing organising drive at Standard Profil with the contribution of the ICEM. The other examples showed the value of solidarity between individual unions and their global union federations in getting success in organising and recognition. 
 
The participants discussed international instruments in boosting union organising campaigns. Particular attention was given to global unions&rsquo; immediate actions such as protest letters, coordinating global solidarity and visits of picket lines. Opportunities in using the newly revised OECD guidelines, ILO tools as well as international courts were also reviewed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="259" height="160" />
ICEM's Kemal &Ouml;zkan addresses press conference
Towards the end of the workshop a press conference was organized with the participation of television and newspaper journalists. In a joint press release the global unions informed the Turkish media about the objectives and content of the workshop. Read out by Ron Oswald, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation IUF, the press release stressed that &ldquo;Turkish unions, union leaders from Turkey and representatives of those international bodies present at this meeting have pledged to work together actively and in a sustained and permanent way to support workers' efforts to access those universal rights and to have them universally accepted and respected in Turkey.&rdquo; 
 
The participants were later divided into two groups, as Turkish unions and global union federations to discuss ways to build and promote joint work in Turkey as a base for summary, conclusions and way forward from the workshop. Jim Baker, Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions, summed up discussions and conclusions of the workshop with a way forward. Baker underlined consensus on &ldquo;common action by global unions with their Turkish affiliates and among themselves to improve the quality and increase the effect of practical and concrete solidarity action to strengthen workers and their legitimate, democratic trade unions.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Turkey is a highly critical place in the activities of all global unions, this country is a priority for the whole union movement&rdquo; said ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;The two-day workshop reaffirmed our commitment to reinforce solidarity with the Turkish trade union movement.&rdquo;

Global Unions Unite in Defending Trade Union Rights in Turkey

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