English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
In line with a 2001 agreement with US-based rubber multination Firestone, the ICEM-affiliated SUTNA announced on 9 May that 980 members at Firestone received a profit share bonus of 4,000 Argentine pesos (686 euros). It is the fourth time workers have received this kind of bonus since 2001. 
 
SUTNA General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko is now pushing for similar profit sharing to be extended to all workers in Argentina and enshrined in the country&rsquo;s labour law. The agreement was reached between workers and management during a difficult economic period for the tyre and automobile sectors in Argentina. Workers then agreed to take a reduction in wages in line with the downturn in company profits, to ensure the company would recover. Now the tyre and auto sectors are performing well, workers are rewarded with the substantial bonus. 
<img alt="" src="" width="149" height="164" />
Pedro Wasiejko
According to the agreement, workers receive the bonus payment when annual profits reach more than 6%. Workers receive one third of the amount above the 6% mark, whatever that figure is equal to. 
 
See the video of the <a href="http://ejes.com/enc23mc6a2">press conference</a> where the announcement was made here.&nbsp; 
 
Wasiejko, also General Secretary of Industrial Workers&rsquo; Federation FETIA, and Hugo Yasky, General Secretary of the CTA national centre, argue that the Bill currently passing through the consultation phase within Congress ought to formalise the profit sharing bonus, and for those payments not to be taxed. This would encourage investment on the local level, and also from multinationals.

Argentinean Rubber Workers Receive Profit Share Bonus

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM has decided to support the case of the Mexican union, Sindicato &Uacute;nico de Trabajadores de la Empresa Industria Vidriera del Potos&iacute; S.A. de C.V. (SUTEIVP) in a complaint about violations of trade union rights at the International Labour Organization (ILO). 
 
SUTEIVP represents workers employed by Industria Vidriera del Potosi S.A., (part of Grupo Modelo) a manufacturer of glass bottles used by Mexico's famous Corona beer. 
<img alt="" src="" width="125" height="160" />
In early 2008, the company summarily dismissed 220 workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement, including the executive committee of SUTEIVP. The company then entered into &quot;negotiations&quot; with a &quot;union&quot; that they invited in to create a sub-standard agreement and to act as a shield to keep out the real union. Such practices are common in Mexico, and are known as employer protection contracts. The yellow union and its corrupt leadership are generally invisible - often unknown to the workers - until a real union attempts to organize the workforce. 
 
SUTEIVP attempted to file a complaint under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies, using Mexico's OECD National Contact Point. In 2010, the Mexican NCP dismissed their case for &quot;insufficient evidence&quot;. 
 
Manfred Warda, ICEM's General Secretary, will highlight the SUTEIVP situation in a speech to the upcoming International Labour Conference. The case will then be reviewed by ILO's Freedom of Association committee.

ICEM Support Mexican Glass Workers’ ILO Complaint

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The already-limited freedoms of association in Iraq are under further attack. Last month, the Cabinet arbitrarily dismissed the executive board of the country&rsquo;s largest trade union organisation, the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), and established a new committee to take over all union structures and assets, oversee and control upcoming union elections. 
 
Cabinet Decrees 95 and 96 were issued on 17 April, withdrawing recognition of the GFIW and appointing a &ldquo;Ministerial Preparatory Committee&rdquo; (MPC), consisting of un-elected, politically bias officials, mostly from the Sadrist Party. MPC employees have already begun distributing union membership cards, arbitrarily choosing members favourable to their faction. Further to this, union offices have been taken over with support from police and military personnel. Upcoming union elections are expected to be held inside the Sadrist Party offices. 
 
The deeply concerning developments follow a recent distribution of government ministries between the various political factions of the coalition. The carving up of responsibilities saw the labour ministry taken over by the small, Shia sectarian Sadrist movement, followers of Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. 
 
Eight years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, his regime&rsquo;s regressive labour laws have not been replaced, meaning all public sector employees have no right to organise or bargain collectively. The vast majority of workers in Iraq are affected by this law. But this latest attack is even in breach of the Saddam legislation. 
 
The TUC in the UK has been on the front line of a global union backlash, calling on the Iraq government to back down. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber wrote to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki explaining that the TUC will exercise its veto right to block the government-nominated workers&rsquo; delegate to the ILO Annual Conference (ILC) in June, unless the attack is reversed. 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=917">Labourstart campaign</a>, and send your protest message to Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki here. Also send your opposition to this attack on the GFIW to the Iraqi Embassy in your country. International pressure has proved effective in Iraq over recent years. The labour ministry decree has been publicly condemned by the Minister of Civil Society in Iraq. Build the pressure, join the campaign. 
<img alt="" src="" width="210" height="158" />
Basra Oil Workers&rsquo; Protest
Iraqis continue to bravely organise in face of the government attacks. Oil workers in Basra last week, 10 May, walked out and threatened to stop production at the state-run South Oil Corporation, demanding fair salaries and benefits to match those of oil workers at the international corporations operating in Iraq. Foreign workers were to be blocked from entering oil fields yesterday, but Basra Governor Khalaf Abdul Samad Khalaf agreed to meet the unions and averted the escalation of the protest, for the time being.

Repression Continues on Iraqi Trade Unions

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The result of long-running consultations with trade unions, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises have been updated and improved, representing a positive opportunity to force global capital to respect workers. Stronger clarification that companies&rsquo; must ensure compliance throughout supply chains is a significant improvement, as is a new chapter on human rights which requires multinational companies to respect human rights of all workers, in line with the Guiding Principles for Implementing the UN Framework, Protect, Respect, Remedy. 
 
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are a strong international instrument for promoting corporate social responsibility. In practice, however, their implementation has encountered limits. In this regard, the Update will create a number of improvements in the Procedural Guidance including provisions for: indicative timescales for the completion of cases; and stronger cooperation between home and host country NCPs (National Contact Points). 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="126" />
The new developments to the text must now be effectively implemented and respected by national governments. 
 
Other important advances include language on outsourced and temporary work, providing a tool for problematic precarious work to be addressed; and provisions for workers to receive a decent wage or &ldquo;at least adequate to satisfy the basic needs of the workers and their families&rdquo;. 
 
The updated Guidelines will be adopted at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on Wednesday 25 May, and will be immediately in effect. 
 
The ICEM participated in dialogue over the past year with OECD governments. Centrally important in those consultations was TUAC (Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD), with the ITUC, GUFs, BIAC (Business Forum), and OECD Watch also partners. There remains more room for improvement of the Guidelines, and dialogue will be ongoing. 
 
The OECD Guidelines hold the potential to promote corporate social and environmental responsibility worldwide and to make an effective contribution to sustainable development and to the social dimension of globalisation. Potential is increased through this update.

OECD Guidelines Improved

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Better than 99% of 2,400 Greek oil refinery workers ended a four-day strike at three oil refineries this morning, 23 May, sending a strong message that they will not become economic scapegoats inside Greece&rsquo;s financial crisis. It was the second major strike in six weeks against Greek industrial giant Hellenic Petroleum by ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries, and the Chemical Industry (POEPDHV), and its courageous branch union, the Pan-Hellenic Union of Employees in Hellenic Petroleum. 
 
Following a 17-day legal strike from 3-19 April (see <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4368-Greek-Petrochemical-Union-Extends-Refinery-Strikes-until-19-April">ICEM report</a> here), the union was prepared for further industrial action on 6 May. But Hellenic Petroleum gained a court order blocking the strike, something that failed in April. Last week, the company did not seek court action, perhaps speculating that large numbers of oil workers at Aspropyrgos, Thessaloniki, and Elefsina refineries would not honour the strike. 
<img alt="" src="" width="295" height="199" />
19 May: Aspropyrgos Refinery
If so, Hellenic Petroleum guessed wrong. But why would it expect any differently when the company is out to slash salaries by 20-25%? Or different by the way the company disrespects staff by engaging in a public campaign declaring unionised oil workers are overpaid with too many perks? 
 
Besides the steep wage cuts, Hellenic is seeking to abolish a skills recognition or experience value system reached by continuous employment progressions, and an increase in the work-week from the present 38 hours. The company, 35% owned by the Greek state, posted &euro;208 million in net profit in 2010 and is on target for surpassing that in 2011. 
 
At a press conference on 19 May, the start of this latest strike, union leaders and branch union militants expressed anger that oil workers were being painted the scapegoats. &ldquo;It is not our salaries that are to blame for the crisis and this is the message voiced by today&rsquo;s strike turnout,&rdquo; POEPDHV President Nikos Orfanes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="137" height="136" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="150" height="136" />
Panagiotis Ofthalmidis, Nikos Orfanes
Panagiotis Ofthalmidis, chairman of the branch union, Pan-Hellenic Union of Employees in Hellenic Petroleum, is also on the company&rsquo;s board of directors representing workers. He told the press briefing that the company has &ldquo;devalued workers through the media&rdquo; and asked: &ldquo;If they cut our salaries where will the savings go? Will it go to social causes? Or will it go in the pockets of shareholders.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Federation (EMCEF) lent the Greek unions support at the press conference in refuting the company&rsquo;s claims that Greek oil workers are the highest paid in Europe. 
 
This past weekend&rsquo;s strike&nbsp;resulted in resumption in bi-lateral talks that will take place next week. The union is seeking only inflation level increases, but also is demanding full staffing (250 jobs) next year at new refining units coming on line at the Elfinsa refinery. The union and Hellenic are five months into a six-month dispute resolution process under Greek labour law. It runs until late June, at which time the contract is terminated. Due to the stalemate and entrenched positions of senior Hellenic management, the union had engaged in 24-hour strikes throughout March. 
 
Late last year, the two sides agreed to a set of social obligations related to impending industrial activity, as required under Greek law. It includes safety maintenance during strikes, ordering shutdowns and start-ups of equipment for operational integrity, and minimal levels of production for emergency public services.

Greek Petro Workers Take Stand in Crisis ‘Blame Game’

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="59" />
The Global Union Federation for the mining industry, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), acknowledges the measures taken by the Government of Chile to reform its antiquated workplace safety and health culture since the successful rescue of 33 miners at the San Jos&eacute; mine in northern Region III in October 2010. But the ICEM remains adamant that Chile must ratify and implement procedures under International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Recently, the Chilean government delivered instrument of ratification to the ILO on Convention 187, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention. This is commendable, the ICEM believes, but Chile must go further by ratifying Convention 176. 
 
&ldquo;Chile is a nation of rich mineral resources, extracted and sold on global markets,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;If the amazing story at San Jos&eacute; taught us anything it is Chile must meet world-class mine safety standards regarding prevention and monitoring.&rdquo; 
 
Warda added that it primarily is at small- and mid-size enterprises, similar to Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban Primera, the employer at San Jos&eacute;, where standardized and current methods of safety compliance is woefully missing. Just as these enterprises grow and produce more to meet the soaring global minerals boom, so too must Chile keep pace by proving it can provide the necessary safeguards for mineworkers. 
 
ILO Convention 187 is a general set of workplace safety standards that does commit Chile to establish a tripartite body to address overall occupational workplace health and safety practices. But it is not specific to mining. 
 
Mine Safety Convention 176, and its accompanying Recommendation R-183, addresses a range of hazards and specific problems faced by miners. Most importantly, it sets forth responsibility to not only remove mine hazards, but to remove the root causes of those hazards. 
 
The ICEM notes that since San Jos&eacute;, Chile has made some progress on mine safety. The National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) has seen an increase in funding and a proposed new law would revise mine regulations, including safety. But only by ratifying and fully implementing Convention 176 will Chile be able to claim that it meets mineworker safety standards inherent to a world-class extractive resources nation. 
 
For further information: ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842.

Chile Needs More Progress to Eradicate Mine Safety Deficiencies

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The ICEM affiliate in Sierra Leone, United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (UMU), stepped in last week to negotiate a partial resolve to a strike by casual workers employed by subcontractors of iron ore producer African Minerals Ltd. That strike, lasting from 17 April to 23 April, was marked by police violence in the north-central Sierra Leone town of Bumbuna that saw one woman killed by police gun fire and at least nine others seriously injured.

	The agreement reached on 24 April near Bumbuna between the UMU, African Minerals and several Sierra Leone ministry officials &ndash; including ministers of Labour and Social Security and Mineral Resources &ndash; produced several remedial measures to last week&rsquo;s spontaneous strike by some 500 casual workers.

	UMU General Secretary Ezekiel Dyke said he hoped his union&rsquo;s intervention would move the London-based mining company that relies almost totally on subcontractors to finalise a collective agreement with the UMU. African Minerals earlier this year began production at Sierra Leone&rsquo;s Tonkolili project near Bumbana, containing the world&rsquo;s largest reported magnetite iron ore reserves of 12.8 billion tonnes.

	<img alt="" height="140" src="" style="cursor: default" width="123" />

	Ezekiel Dyke

	UMU has been in talks with African Minerals since last year over a collective agreement. Last week&rsquo;s strike by nearly half of the workforce of 1,000 casual workers was caused by delayed salaries to some, meagre pay to all, lack of medical care, and on-going lack of union representation as production ramped up and rail shipments to the capital of Freeport began.

	On the strike&rsquo;s second day, 18 April, violence ensued when Bumbuna towns-people joined strikers and blocked entrances to the Tonkolili project. Riot police then stormed protestors in the village, firing live ammunition, wielding batons and shooting tear gas directly at strikers and their community supporters. The police action created a stampede that tore through a marketplace in Bumbuna.

	Killed instantly was Musu Conteh, a woman in her 30s employed by the catering firm ATS. Some nine others were seriously injured by bullet wounds to their legs, said the UMU&rsquo;s Ezekiel Dyke, while perhaps 20 others were treated in an ill-equipped medical centre in nearby Makena for gas inhalation and police-inflicted wounds.

	Dyke said upwards of 40% of the casual workers employed throughout the Tonkolili project are women.

	The remedial agreement reached will see African Minerals immediately pay owed back salaries of up to two months for casual workers who work on the mine&rsquo;s rail link. It establishes a framework whereby casual workers will become permanent employees of either African Minerals or their subcontracting firm after three months of employment, or in some cases extended to six months.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="cursor: default;width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	It also mandates that African Minerals provide a full review of salaries, work conditions and job categories within two weeks. The primary employer also agreed to investigate and pay compensation to the deceased woman&rsquo;s family within two weeks, as well as provide compensation to injured victims in that same period. African Minerals also agreed to pay compensation to market vendors &ndash; mostly women &ndash; for their losses from the 18 April violence.

	There will also be a thorough investigation of the unchecked police force used on 18 April.

	Major contractors for African Minerals in Sierra Leone include the company BCM, doing production work, while UK-based engineering and construction companies Dawnus and Hawk also employ casual workers, as does South African-based Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO). There are scores of Sierra Leone-based companies that reportedly also exploit workers.

	Between the latter half of 2011 and last month, China-based Shandong Iron &amp; Steel Group Co. Ltd. of state-owned Shandong Province Asset Commission purchased 25% of the Tonkolili project from African Minerals, along with the same percentage of related rail and port subsidiary companies for nearly US$1.5 billion.

	UMU currently has collective agreements in Sierra Leone with iron ore miner London Mining, BSG Resources&rsquo; Koidu Holdings, a diamond miner, Cluff Gold, Baomahun Gold Mines, and Sierra Rutile, a miner of titanium dioxide. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Mineworkers’ Union in Sierra Leone Intervene on Behalf of Oppressed Contract Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	ILO Deputy Director General and long-time trade unionist Guy Ryder is receiving full support from the ICEM and its affiliates to be elected as the 10th Director-General of the ILO on 28 May.

	The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates are lobbying their home governments. Write to your government today. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.

	The Governing Body met on 30-31 March for hearings of candidates and the election will be held on 28 May. The outgoing Director-General, Juan Somavia will leave the post on 30 September 2012. The Director-General is elected for a five-year term.

	<img alt="" height="97" src="" style="cursor: default" width="129" />

	Ryder is running on a platform of strengthening the ILO in order to fulfill its mandate of promoting social justice and beating the global jobs crisis, with particular emphasis on youth who are becoming increasingly excluded from society.

	Ryder seeks to concretise the fundamental principle of tripartism throughout the work operations of the ILO and beyond, and to unite the ILO&rsquo;s constituents to deliver on the decent work agenda. Ryder argues that only through consistent technical excellence can the organisation consolidate its authority in the world of work.

	Another important priority of Ryder&rsquo;s candidacy is to seek to reverse the increasing global trend of growth in the informal economy.

	Guy Ryder&rsquo;s vast experience and knowledge of the mechanisms and work of the ILO, of leadership of complex organisations in transition as General Secretary of the ICFTU and ITUC, and of all issues in the world of work combine to make him clearly the deserved candidate to succeed Somavia as Director-General.

	The candidature of Guy Ryder is formally submitted by ITUC President Michael Sommer and Luc Cortebeeck, trade union members of the ILO Governing Body.

	See Ryder&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175249.pdf">CV</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175250.pdf">Vision Statement</a>&nbsp;for the candidature here.

ICEM Affiliates Rally Behind Guy Ryder to Head ILO

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Some 80 representatives from 20 Turkish affiliated trade unions of the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) came together in a Precarious Employment Conference in Ankara on 25-26 April 2012.

	Generously supported by Germany&rsquo;s Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), the meeting coincided with Turkey government consideration of new employment strategies, policies that have seen wide debated inside the country&rsquo;s union movement.

	Following the conference, General Secretaries of the three Global Union Federations (GUFs) &ndash; Manfred Warda of ICEM, Jyrki Raina of IMF and Klaus Priegnitz of ITGLWF, along with ICEM&nbsp; Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan &ndash; met with Faruk &Ccedil;elik, Turkey&rsquo;s Minister of Labour and Social Security. The meeting surfaced the important conclusions of the conference and the country&rsquo;s record regarding enforcement of trade union freedoms.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 389px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Turkish Union Leaders, from left, Nazmi Irgat, Adnan Serdaroglu, Mustafa Kumlu, Ferudun Tankut

	The trade union leaders demanded that the government take the necessary measures to ease the concerns of Turkish unions on both counts. The global delegation also met with Kemal Kılı&ccedil;daroğlu, Chairman of Republican&rsquo;s People Party (CHP), main opposition party at the National Parliament, on several draft bills modifying labour life regulations on trade union rights, flexible working forms and occupational health and safety.

	The FES conference saw delegates from Turkey and elsewhere define objectives of the government&rsquo;s revamped strategies, including: dissemination of employment of definite periods; legitimization of hiring workers through private employment agencies; inserting different forms of flexible work into the nation&rsquo;s labour code; abolishing the current severance payment system with a new system that will lower employers&rsquo; direct responsibilities; changing minimum legal wage applications, such as lower wages for young workers and different regional minimum wage systems; and workplace security instead of employment security.

	Speakers at the meeting&rsquo;s opening underscored the potential repercussions of the new strategies on work life. &ldquo;Flexible working forms, unlike what we are told, are costly and create problems rather solutions,&rdquo; said Mustafa Kumlu, ICEM Executive Committee member President of both the Turk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş trade union.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1205 Meeting with Turkey Labour &amp; Social Security Minister.jpg" style="width: 239px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Meeting with Turkey Labour &amp; Social Security Minister

	&ldquo;New strategies will claim to bring together flexibility and security, but we know what is waiting us &hellip; unsecured jobs and more poverty, just like what exists now in the textile industry,&rdquo; said Nazmi Irgat, who is an ITGLWF Vice-President, President of Teksif union and Organizing Secretary of Turk-İş.

	&ldquo;The government proposes a new modern slavery system with this employment strategy, and we will never accept it,&rdquo; added Adnan Serdaroğlu, President of IMF affiliate Birleşik Metal-İş, who also serves as General Secretary of DISK Confederation. Ferudun Tankut, President of another IMF affiliate, &Ccedil;elik-İş, and Vice-President of the Hak-İş Confederation, said the government&rsquo;s strategy &ldquo;has been put into place without soliciting opinions, proposals or agreements of social partners. Our country is missing an important opportunity.

	The participants listened to Erhan Batur, Deputy Undersecretary of Ministry of Labour and Social Security, who gave an overview on the legislative efforts of the government for bettering work life in Turkey. Warda, Raina and Priegnitz briefed the assembled on the foundation of the new GUF, IndustriALL Global Union, and defined the struggle against precarious employment that the organization will undertake as a global priority.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 364px;height: 128px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The three strongly cited the difficulties Turkish workers have in being able to exercise fundamental trade union rights such as freedom of association because of poor labour legislation.

	ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan, IMF&rsquo;s Jenny Holdcroft and ITGLWF&rsquo;s Ashling Seely gave specific examples from their respective sectors on the rise of precarious employment throughout the world. Participants also welcomed union representatives Horst Mund from IG Metall of Germany, Sascha Meier from FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, Berivan &Ouml;ng&ouml;r&uuml;r from Unionen and Mats Svensson from IF Metall, both of Sweden, and all shared their experiences and union policies on precarious employment in their countries.

	The conference heard extensive reports from Turkish participants through three panel discussions on precarious employment in Turkey. The panels had themes of economic, social and legal settings; the ggovernment&rsquo;s employment strategy and possible repercussions to work life; and fighting against precarious employment through union organizing. Luc Demaret from ILO-ACTRAV gave a report on international labour standards and protections of precarious employment.

	In the summary and conclusions, Turkish and global unions underlined the importance of solidarity and active campaigning against all forms of precarious employment. Turkey has been defined as one of the countries where IndustriALL will embark on a campaign against precarious work. Delegates mandated the global unions to take action, vis-&agrave;-vis the government for overcoming potential challenges arising from its strategies.

FES Turkish Confab Defines Precarious Work as Priority for New GUF

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Join the fast growing online <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1383&amp;src=icem">Labourstart campaign</a>&nbsp;calling for freedom for Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a trade unionist, activist and journalist in Thailand. Somyot has been in jail since April 2011 on charges of l&egrave;se majest&eacute;. The charges allege that he has defamed the King of Thailand by publishing two articles in the magazine he edited, The Voice of Thaksin. Brother Somyot faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two articles, if found guilty.

	Somyot is innocent of these charges, a position supported by expert witnesses and human rights organisations. An international campaign has been underway for the last 12 months to secure his release, which has included demonstrations across the region and a hunger strike by Somyot&#039;s son, Tai, for 112 hours earlier this year. Somyot is charged under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. The campaign is supported by a number of international and national trade unions and human rights organisations, including the ICEM, IFJ, Article 19, and the National Human Rights Commission in Thailand.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 332px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	30 April Protests outside Thai Parliament 

	Brother Somyot, a former ICEM Thailand Coordinator, must be freed immediately and unconditionally, states the ICEM.

	Indisputably, Somyot is incarcerated purely for his trade union and left-leaning political activism. For those reasons, he also is not receiving a fair judicial process with violations that include hearings being relocated to distant provinces so that key defence witnesses cannot participate.

	Somyot is now in the last week of hearings and we are concerned that a fair trial takes place. He has been denied bail nine times and is experiencing extraordinarily harsh conditions. Thai trade unions held a demonstration outside Parliament and the UN delegation in Bangkok on the 30 April.

	The final stage of Somyot&rsquo;s trial began two weeks ago, with prosecution witness hearings ending 26 April, and defence witness hearings 1-4 May.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 104px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	See more on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.freesomyot.wordpress.com/">Free Somyot campaign</a>&nbsp;website here.

	Another labour and human rights defender is also in detention on non-credible charges. Brother Sirichai Mai-ngam of Thailand also has ICEM&rsquo;s full support.

	In a significant development today, a verdict to a separate case on l&egrave;se majest&eacute; which was due today for Ms Chiranuch Premchaiporn was delayed by one month. This is likely to be connected to the large international attention on these archaic rulings.

	Somyot is one of the few remaining defendants to refuse to plead guilty. Help maintain the international pressure in these last few days of his trial.

URGENT: Join the Labourstart Campaign, Justice for Somyot!

Archive