Secretariat Report 2011 (pdf) - International Metalworkers' Federation

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Secretariat Report for the Central Committee of the IMF As part of the FairDealNOW campaign an international delegation traveled to Vale offices in Seoul, Korea to voice their protest. Members of the delegation performed a traditional head shaving ceremony. Photo: IMF / 2009 Toshiba Indonesia After four months of intense struggle, 697 locked-out and dismissed workers from PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia, and members of the Federasi Serikat Metal Indonesia (FSPMI), were reinstated. Photo: IMF Southeast Asia-Pacific Regional Office / 2009 - 8 -
Secretariat Report for the Central Committee of the IMF At the time of the IMF Congress 2009 in Gothenburg, a strike launched by the FSPMI after a collective bargaining deadlock had continued for more than a month and turned into a lockout. Following a strong Congress resolution and discussions with the FSPMI and the Japanese IMF-JC, IMF made preparations for a comprehensive campaign including an emergency strike fund, solidarity visits, leaflets for action by IMF affiliates, and letters to the UN Global Compact, Dow Jones and ethical investors whom we had already informed of the conflict. At the same time, IMF-JC approached the parent company through Denki Rengo and the Toshiba Union, to get the company back to the bargaining table. Through affiliate intervention and global pressure, an agreement was reached between the FSPMI and the Toshiba management in Indonesia. All 700 workers, with the exception of 15 local union leaders were immediately reinstated. The union leaders received 40- 50 months’ salaries in compensation. A new local union committee was elected and the continuation of the local collective agreement was secured. The company withdrew the various criminal and civil law suits it had launched. For full details see:http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=20528 Ssangyong Korea In July 2009, dramatic photos spread around the world when 3000 armed riot police using water cannons, ladder trucks and helicopters, stormed a Ssangyong Motor plant in Korea. 800 laid off workers had been holding a sit-in strike at the plant for two months after the company announced mass dismissals without notice or union input. Following considerable intervention by the IMF, several other GUFs, the ITUC and the ILO, an agreement was reached on 7 August. However, the struggle is not over. Many union members who led the action are now imprisoned or face jail time. Others are facing exorbitantly costly lawsuits launched by the company under Korea’s “obstruction of business” law, Penal Code article 314. The IMF, together with the greater GUF community and ITUC are fighting this law at the global level. See Priority Countries report Korea and http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=20349&l=2 for more information. Sinter Metal Turkey Around 350 workers at Sinter Metal near Istanbul were fired in December 2008 after the company had learned they had formed a union and joined the IMF affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is. Despite determined action by the Turkish union and solidarity measures by a number of IMF affiliates, the company has not budged. Very early on it moved a number of machines to another plant which is unorganized. Rather than automotive supplier companies, its main client today seems to be the Turkish army. The IMF and European Metalworkers' Federation are supporting Birlesik’s struggle and court case to declare the dismissals illegal. Their case has moved at a tragically slow pace through the Turkish court system, postponed so far a total of nine times. It wasn’t until IMF brought an outside legal expert to sit in on court proceedings in August 2010 that a ruling in favour of the workers was finally handed down, 2 years and 10 months after the legal deadline for such cases. Still, the company has appealed so the case is pending at the Supreme Court level. The Sinter Metal case is a strong example of Turkey’s failure to enforce the law, OECD obligations and ILO standards, an indication of the limited pressure international instruments provide when defending TUR and a challenge for future IMF work. See: http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?n=692&l=2 - 9 -
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Secretariat Report 2011 (pdf) - International Metalworkers' Federation

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