On October 31, members of the IUF-affiliated SBNIP rallied against the mass dismissal of union members at the Panjang, Indonesia Nescafé factory, where the union has struggled for more than 5 years to affirm its right to collectively bargain the terms and conditions of Nestlé workers.

Companies and agencies are jointly profiting from an opportunistic clause in the EU's Directive on temporary agency work, whose transposition into national law in the UK in October is already having a negative impact, reports IUF affiliate Unite.

Australia's National Union of workers has stepped up its poultry organizing efforts and launched a "Better Jobs 4 Better Chicken" campaign aimed at winning permanent work, safer workplaces and the production of better chicken.

Representatives of unions, governments and the private employment agency lobby came together for a tripartite meeting on "The role of private employment agencies in promoting job creation and decent work in the private services sector" at the ILO in Geneva from October 18-19. The meeting failed to reach agreement on consensus points - a not unsurprising outcome for an exercise which vividly demonstrated the gulf between unions seeking to defend workers against the destructive impact of agency work and an agency lobby seeking to enlist the ILO in their drive for growing market share.

Management of the Jan Sobieski III hotel in Warsaw, where union chairperson Malgorzata Sokalska was illegally dismissed in June, has been transferred from Vienna International to Rezidor hotels. With support from the Norwegian hotel union and their shop stewards, Solidarnosc has approached the new management to urge that her case be resolved. As consultations are pending, Solidarnosc has suspended their protest campaign. The IUF support campaign is therefore on hold pending the outcome of talks with the new management.

Over 100 representatives from trade unions around the world took part in a symposium on precarious work organized by the ILO's Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) held in Geneva from October 4-7. Over 3 days, unions described the role of precarious employment relationships in undermining worker rights, the scope and coverage of collective bargaining and wages and working conditions around the world.

Following two 24-hours strikes organised by the Vitasoy workers under NUW membership at the factory in Wodonga, Victoria, the union reached an agreement with the company on October 14. VITASOY factory workers accepted the new collective bargaining agreement after their union NUW gained some important benefits and rights from management. These gains included:

We are pleased to announce that a new agreement on Health, Safety, Working Conditions and Stress has been signed between IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald and Danone CEO Frank Riboud in Paris.