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GLOBAL: A Bangladeshi boy working in a shipbuilding factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh is the subject of the Labour Photo of the Year, announced November 2, 2009.The photo features the destitute face of a young boy near a furnace in a shipbuilding factory and can be viewed here:  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmasad/3951175816/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmasad/3951175816/</a>Taken by K M Asad, the photo profiles the plight of many young boys who are employed by shipbuilding and breaking factories as apprentices with no pay for the first few years. &quot;They work in extreme conditions without safety tools like gloves, goggles, and other protective gears. In exchange, they learn the skills of the trade. But this costs them loss of health and education,&quot; writes Asad.The desperate state of the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh is the subject of a global campaign supported by the IMF calling on world leaders to do more to protect these workers, as reported <a href="../index.cfm?c=20877&amp;l=2">here</a> on the IMF website.Nearly twice as many photos were submitted to this year's Labour Photo of the Year competition as compared with last year (189 vs 118) and 3,203 votes were cast to choose a winner from a shortlist of five photos. The Labour Photo of the Year competition is run by LabourStart, <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/">http://www.labourstart.org/</a> - an online news service maintained by a global network of volunteers which aims to serve the international trade union movement by collecting and disseminating information and by assisting unions in campaigning.Eric Lee, the founder of LabourStart, is one of the speakers participating in the IMF/EMF Communicators' Forum in Frankfurt on November 17 and 18. He will be speaking in a panel discussion on applications of new media.At the Forum, participants will also be looking at union communications in the context of organizing, climate change and trade union campaigns. A copy of the draft programme is published on the IMF website.

Child labourer in the Bangladeshi shipbuilding industry the subject of the labour photo of the year.

EMF IMF Communicators' Forum Programme

Labour photo of the year

ITALY:  Metalworker unions in Italy are divided over the recent signing of a national agreement for the renewal of the national contract set to expire at the end of 2011. The draft agreement, signed by IMF affiliates FIM-CISL and UILM-UIL on October 15, is now being discussed by workers at the local level and will be considered by the National Assembly of workers' representatives of FIM-CISL and UILM-UIL in Bergamo on November 6. A referendum by all FIM-CISL and UILM-UIL members is taking place from November 25 to 27, 2009.The scope of the agreement includes minimum wage increases, income support fund, training, health and safety initiatives and new rules on collective bargaining, subcontracted labour and part-time work.The agreement is not supported by IMF affiliate FIOM-CGIL, arguing that the agreement should be submitted to all workers who will be covered by the agreement.The division between the unions stems from a disagreement on the rules for collective bargaining for a national agreement and on rules for the submission of the agreement reached with the employers to all the workers it will apply to.As FIM General Secretary Giuseppe Farina explains in an interview with the press, this negotiation is being carried out under the new collective bargaining rules set by the agreement signed at the national level by the national trade union centres CISL and UIL and not by CGIL. It is the first time in Italy that a separate agreement provides the collective bargaining structure for workers.FIM General Secretary Farina indicated that FIOM were encouraged to be part of the negotiation, but FIOM refused. FIOM states that before the signature, it requested a stop to the negotiations, with the aim of achieving mediation between the two platforms and to decide together the ballot among workers. Earlier, FIOM and 250,000 metalworkers went on strike in defence of maintaining a jointly negotiated national collective agreement, see previous IMF news item <a href="../index.cfm?id=622&amp;l=2&amp;cid=20956">here</a>.

Italian metalworkers divided over the signing of a national agreement.

Italian unions divided over agreement

GLOBAL: The newly founded International Center for Development and Decent Work, which was established in cooperation with the Global Labour University <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/">www.global-labour-university.org </a>and the International Labour Organization, is offering 20 PhD Scholarships.ICDD is an interdisciplinary and international scientific network of excellence with the head office located at the University of Kassel, Germany and partner universities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The PhD school is organised around three research clusters: <ul><li>Sustainable Value Creation for Decent Work</li><li>Instruments for Promoting Decent Work</li><li>Strategies of Empowerment for Decent Work</li></ul>The course will commence on March 1, 2010 and the deadline for applications is November 15, 2009.For details and an application form see:<a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduate_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf">http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduate_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf</a>

November 15, 2009 is the deadline to apply for a PhD scholarship at the ICDD.

PhD Scholarships at International Centre for Development and Decent Work

GERMANY: Around 50 union representatives from IMF affiliates in Australia, Europe, Japan, North America and Singapore met at IG Metall headquarters on October 29-30, 2009 to discuss organising tools and strategies for non-manual workers against the backdrop of the global crisis.  In a key note presentation on structural developments in the metal industry, Professor Volker Wittke from the University of Göttingen highlighted the continuous shift from manual to non-manual work taking place within industry driven by automation, technological innovation, the demand for new products and services, and globalization.  All these changes have a major impact on the composition of the workforce in core sectors of the metal industry, on skill requirements, work organisation and working conditions, in particular a significant increase in workload and work intensification.   Although the crisis alone was not a sufficient reason for non-manual workers to join a union, Dr. Heiner Dribbusch from the Hans-Böckler Foundation pointed out that unions could take advantage of opportunities to demonstrate their relevance, their effectiveness and the benefits of collective action at this time.   Helga Schwitzer, IG Metall Executive Board, noted that this year 13,000 non-manual workers had joined IG Metall , representing a 2.4 per cent increase over the preceding year whereas overall membership had dropped by about one per cent.  Representatives from other countries reported similar developments in their own organisations, arguing that these workers no longer felt immune from restructuring and cost-cutting plans and they were mobilising for the defence of their rights more and more.   The seminar was structured around four panel discussions:  reaching out to young people; organising ICT workers and self-employed; organising engineers and professionals; and building solidarity between manual and non-manual workers.  The presentations on organising strategies in various countries gave rise to lively discussions and an in-depth exchange of views and experience on the problems and challenges facing affiliates in organising non-manual workers.   The main points of the discussions, as summarised by IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina, provided some ideas about future work:<ul><li>Mainstream non-manual workers' issues in all IMF activities and union-building projects</li><li>Update and build content to non-manual section on IMF web site</li><li>Networking and promoting exchange of information, material and ideas</li><li>Communications and visibility: articles on IMF web site, IMF NewsBriefs and Metal World</li><li>Union rights: action on countries with legal restrictions on organising non-manual workers</li></ul>Key topics highlighted by the meeting for ongoing exchange include:<ul><li>Innovative organising methods and cases</li><li>Union rights</li><li>Collective bargaining questions</li><li>Communications and services</li><li>Equal rights</li><li>Young workers</li></ul>Copies of presentations delivered at the meeting will be published on the IMF website.

With continuous shift from manual to non-manual work, unions should look to organizing non-manual workers more effectively.

Programme English

Programme French

DRIBBUSCH Heiner (Eng)

DRIBBUSCH Heiner (Ger)

WITTKE Volker (Ger)

MUREAU Anne-Marie

KOH Chia Ling

LIU Anna

LEVIN Rickard

LAIR Annie France (Fre)

BENNER Christiane (Eng)

BENNER Christiane (Ger)

SELS Werner

SLEVEN Renier (Ger)

JEARY Roger

NICOLAIDES Mike

IMF to mainstream organizing non-manual workers

L'affiliata polacca NSZZ „Solidarność&quot; ha tradotto l'opuscolo in lingua polacca e lo distribuirà a tutta l'organizzazione durante la settimana di azione.<a href="../files/09100109463610005/PW_Poland.pdf">Potete scaricare l'opuscolo polacco in file pdf</a>

POLONIA

CSI-ITUC, ICEM. ITGLWF e FISMI sindacati globali saranno in Turchia giovedì 1° ottobre per incontrare il Ministro del lavoro e degli affari sociali della Turchia, Ömer Dincer ad Ankara.Venerdì 2 ottobre, alle 11.00, la delegazione del sindacato globale terrà una conferenza stampa sul lavoro precario in Turchia.Birlesik Metal-IsBirlesik Metal Is sta organizzando un'azione di solidarietà per la sera del 3 ottobre, che metteranno in relazione con la lotta del Sinter Metal. Inoltre proietteranno il film della FISM e distribuiranno l'opuscolo ed il manifesto della FISM in lingua turca.

TURCHIA

ITUC, ICEM. ITGLWF &amp; IMFDie globalen Gewerkschaften treffen sich am Donnerstag, dem 1. Oktober, in Ankara mit dem Minister für Arbeit und Soziales, Herrn Ömer Dincer.Am Freitag, dem 2. Oktober, wird die globale Gewerkschaftsdelegation um 11.00 Uhr eine Pressekonferenz zum Thema prekäre Beschäftigung in der Türkei durchführen.Birlesik Metal-IsDie Gewerkschaft Birlesik Metal bereitet für den Abend des 3. Oktober eine Solidaritätsveranstaltung vor, die an den Kampf bei Sinter Metall gekoppelt ist. Auf der Veranstaltung sollen der IMB-Film vorgeführt und die IMB-Broschüren und Poster in türkischer Sprache verteilt werden.

TURKEI

GERMANY: In the fourth round of collective negotations a new collective agreement for the 95,000 Volkswagen employees in the plants of the Volkswagen AG (Wolfsburg / Hanover / Emden / Brunswick / Salzgitter and Kassel) was reached and signed.According to this agreement the employees receive a 4.2 per cent wage increase from January 2010. In addition a single payment of 710 Euros was agreed. 510 Euro will be paid out in October 2009 and the rest of 200 Euros in February 2010.Starting in 2011 a productivity bonus of around 100 Euros will be introduced.The program for part-time work for people approaching retirement will be continued. Also the apprenticeship program and the takeover of the apprentices are agreed.The duration of the agreement is 18 months.

Agreement includes 4.2 per cent wage increase and a 710 Euro single payment.

New collective agreement for Volkswagen AG, Germany

SIERSIER intende allestire una riunione speciale di apertura del suo Comitato Centrale, alla quale saranno invitati tutti i media, dedicata all'azione globale contro il lavoro precario. Inoltre, SIER pubblicherà un numero speciale del suo giornale informativo, con in prima pagina il logo del precariato. Si prevede inoltre di organizzare un seminario congiunto con la nuova dirigenza della GSM Nezavisnost il 1° e 2 ottobre, in parte dedicato alla tematica del lavoro precario.

MACEDONIA

SIERSIER kommer att anordna ett öppet möte i sin centralkommitté, till vilket alla medier bjuds in, om den globala aktionen mot otryggt arbete. Dessutom kommer SIER att ge ut ett specialnummer av sin tidskrift med märket för otryggt arbete på första sidan. Det finns också en idé om ett gemensamt seminarium med den nya ledningen för GSM Nezavisnost den 1-2 oktober, då man bland annat skall ta upp frågan om otryggt arbete.

MAKEDONIEN

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