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World action day tomorrow backs Turkish UPS workers

31/08/10

Trade unions in over 40 cities worldwide will demonstrate their solidarity with sacked Turkish UPS workers tomorrow, September 1, in an action day coordinated by the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation).

The international protest is being held in response to reported intimidation and sackings of workers who opted to join Turkey’s TÜMTIS trade union. Since April 2010, 157 employees of UPS Turkey have been dismissed without any application of the procedures specified by Turkish law. All of the dismissed workers are union members or were interested in union representation. On 2 July 2010, the conflict escalated even further when the manager of a sub-contractor fired shots at the office of a notary public in Izmir where, union representatives reported, he had been trying to force workers to resign their union membership (see www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/4662/region/1/section/0/order/1)

TÜMTIS President Kenan Ozturk explained: “UPS workers in Turkey face aggression. International support will send a clear message to UPS that anti-union activity is not acceptable. Global workers' solidarity can help to defeat an attack by employers.”

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft commented: “Trade unionists - especially those working for UPS in other countries - are taking action to show that this type of intimidatory behaviour is not acceptable in the company they work for.”

He continued: “We welcome recent mediation efforts from the UPS headquarters in Atlanta and Brussels to address this ongoing and unpleasant situation, and hope that the managers in Turkey will pay attention to their colleagues’ concerns. If those Turkish managers choose not to do so, then we will prepare for further worldwide action in a second global day on September 15th.”

For further information about the global campaign see www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/ups-justice.cfm

The following is a provisional roundup of the proposed lawful actions being taken by trade unions in support of their Turkish colleagues:

In Turkey, TÜMTİS will lead the mass demonstration in Istanbul to the UPS's headquarters in Zeytinburnu. Public declarations will be made in Gaziantep, Ankara, Balıkesir, Bursa, Mersin and Adana. They will be joined by the wider trade union and civil society movements, including the national labour centre, TÜRK-İŞ and its affiliates. Local NGOs such as TAREM are supporting the campaign.

In the USA the Teamsters union will be part of the global day of protest by organising actions at the company's headquarters in Atlanta and five other cities. The TWU union will lead the event in New York City and the UAW union in Detroit, Chicago and Louisville, Kentucky.

In Australia, a top-level delegation from the RTBU, MUA and TWU will meet with UPS representatives at its facility in Sydney. Further plans are currently under discussion in Melbourne.

In Thailand, leaders of transport unions have already visited the UPS office in Bangkok to deliver the ITF's message that the company must (1) reinstate all dismissed workers; (2) stop further harassment and victimisation at workplaces and (3) enter into a formal dialogue with TÜMTİS to establish a sound industrial relationship. The ITF’s Thai affiliated trade unions warned that if no resolution is achieved by tomorrow, they will join the worldwide actions.

Likewise, led by the railway workers in Chennai and Delhi and by the DHL Employees’ Union in Mumbai, ITF affiliates in India are approaching UPS management. Demonstrations are planned in these cities and other locations on 1 September.

ITF union representatives in Tokyo, Japan and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, will be visiting their respective UPS offices to deliver the message on 1 September. A demonstration is scheduled in front of a UPS office by transport workers of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). In Korea, representatives of all ITF unions will join the protest in Seoul. In Singapore the SMOU message was delivered to the UPS Asia Pacific Region office in Singapore on 28 August. Transport unions in Indonesia and the Philippines have responded positively to the ITF's call and actions are planned.

In South Africa, SATAWU activists in cities including Johannesburg, Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town are coordinating lunchtime pickets on 1 September. Union members will send faxes and call the UPS offices to protest.

The ITF representative in Jordan will visit the UPS office in Amman and the message will also be delivered to the company’s Dubai office.

In Belgium, BTB and BBTK will lead a protest action in Diegem/Brussels from 07.00 to 09:00. Leaflets will be distributed and a workers' assembly will be held at this UPS facility. The BTB will organise a further solidarity action at noon at a separate location.

In the UK shop stewards in the Unite union will be distributing leaflets at UPS depots and a public presentation is planned at the company's head office in Buckinghamshire. The union convenor will have an official meeting with senior management to raise the Turkish dispute.

In Germany, actions are due to take place in Kassel, Herne and Cologne. Members of the Ver.di, NGG, and IG-Metal unions are to participate. Protests in Austria, The Netherlands, Cyprus and Ukraine are confirmed.

In Switzerland, UNIA will be protesting in Basel and are inviting the postal union to join the event. In Norway a demonstration in front of UPS's office in Oslo at 15:00 will be led by the Norwegian Transport Workers Union. AKT will deliver the message to the management in Helsinki, Finland. A recent ITF seminar in Tartu unanimously agreed to support the campaign and unions from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Russia will be actively engaged in the action day.

Demonstrations are set to take place front of diplomatic missions in Vilnius, Lithuania and Tallinn, Estonia. Unions will be sending protest messages to the company and an awareness raising campaign will begin. In Sweden, the Swedish Transport Workers Union has convened a meeting with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprises, of which UPS is a member, where the Turkish dispute will be on the agenda. The Nordic Transport Workers’ Federation (NTF), which represents 50 trade unions from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, has already written to the UPS CEO.

On 1 September, the Argentine Camioneros truck drivers’ union will be backing the Turkish workers. The Barbados Workers’ Union has already sent its protest letter to UPS.

Since June, international delegations have visited the picket lines in Istanbul and Izmir, including representatives from the ITF, ETF, UNI-Europa, ABVV-FGTB (Belgium), FNV Bondgenoten (Netherlands), VIDA (Austria), NGG (Germany), Swedish Transport Workers Union, CFDT, France and many more. The ETF has made a financial contribution to the workers at the picket lines. In conjunction with the adoption of an emergency motion supporting the workers and TÜMTIS at the recent ITF Congress in Mexico City, five Norwegian transport unions announced that they will continue their financial support until the dispute is settled. Unions including the Spanish ELA and Belgian SETCA have also made donations.

Contact persons for tomorrow’s actions

Argentina
Mariela Dilema (Camioneros) derechoshumanos@fedcam.org.ar
Dina Feller (AAA) dfeller@aeronavegantes.com

Australia
Richard Priest (TWU) Richard.Priest@twu.com.au
Zoe Reynolds (MUA) Zoe.Reynolds@mua.org.au
Michelle Myers (MUA) michelle.myers@mua.org.au

Austria
Harald Voitl (VIDA) harald.voitl@vida.at

Barbados
Wilma Clement (BWU) clems@caribsurf.com

Belgium
Frank Moreels (BTB) Frank.Moreels@BTB-ABVV.BE
Hendrik Vermeersch (BBTK) HVermeersch@bbtk-abvv.be

Estonia
Peep Peterson (ETTA) peep.peterson@etta.ee

Finland
Jussi Koivunen (AKT) jussi.koivunen@akt.fi

ETF (European Transport Workers’ Federation)
Eduardo Chagas e.chagas@etf-europe.org

Germany
Selahattin Yildirim (NGG) Sel.Yil@web.de

Hong Kong
Yu-Loy Wong (HKCTU) loy@hkctu.org.hk

India
Mahendra Sharma (ITF) sharma_mahendra@itf.org.uk
India (Chennai)
L.Bhaskaran (GCEU) globalcourierempunion@in.com

ITF
Mac Urata urata_mac@itf.org.uk
Sam Dawson dawson_sam@itf.org.uk

Japan
Yuji Iijima (ITF-JC) yiijima@koun-itf.jp

Jordan
Bilal Malkawi (ITF) malkawi_bilal@itf.org.uk

Korea
HK Kim (KTF) orizozo@yahoo.co.kr

Latvia
Janina Malinovska (ITF) malinovska_janina@itf.org.uk

Lithuania
Janina Malinovska (ITF) malinovska_janina@itf.org.uk

Mongolia
Erdenebat Sukhbaatar (TCPWU) mtcp_tu@yahoo.com

The Netherlands
Jan de Jong (FNV) Jan.deJong@bg.fnv.nl

Norway
Lars Johnsen (NTU) lars.johnsen@transportarbeider.no

Russia
Victor Mokhnachev (MTRWU) profavtodor@mtu-net.ru
Mikhail Lyakhov (ITF) lyakhov_mikhail@itf.org.uk

Singapore
Mary Liew (SMOU) maryliew@smou.org.sg

South Africa
Tabudi Abner Ramakgolo (SATAWU) abner.ramakgolo@nbcrfi.co.za

Sweden
Jonny Fransson (STU) Jonny.fransson.fk@transport.se
Peter Lövkvist (NTF) peter@nordictransport.org

Switzerland
Nick Bramley (UNIA) nick.bramley@unia.ch

Thailand
Su-angcana Tungworachet (ITF-Thai) itfthai@asiaaccess.net.th

Turkey
Demet Dinler (TUMTIS) info@tumtis.org Tel: +90 505 861 7992
Molly McGrath (TAREM) mollymcgrath@tarem.org Tel: +90 554 557 4669

Ukraine
Sergii Ivansky (RCTWU) foreign.affairs@zalp.org.ua

United Kingdom
Dave Williams (UNITE) dawilliams541@btinternet.com

United States of America
Tim Beaty (IBT) tbeaty@teamster.org
Roger Toussaint (TWU) rtoussaint@twu.org
Mark Haasis (UAW) MHaasis@uaw.net

ENDS

For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk

International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org

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