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The ICEM's Asia-Pacific Union Network of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. met in Manila, Philippines, 8-9 August, and attention focused on the American rubber company's fierce resistance to unionisation drives of contract workers in Thailand and Malaysia. Goodyear plant union leaders also discussed the company's retreat from ownership of natural rubber plantations at a time when natural rubber demand coupled with shortages is increasing. Some 21 leaders from Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand took part.

Goodyear AP Meeting Studies Contract Labour Issue

Over the course of the summer, an asbestos scandal hit Japan and has been getting a lot of press attention ever since. According to reports, around 3,000 people die every year from asbestos cancer in Japan and it is feared that these numbers may rise considerably in the coming years. When in 1987, lobbyists began to call for a ban of crocidolite, used, amongst other purposes, in Japanese schools, the government failed to take the necessary action. Similarly in the 1990s, when a move to ban asbestos was blocked after &quot;relentless opposition from within the asbestos industry.&quot;

Asbestos Issue Surfaces in Japan

Following rebel harassment, Unilever Nepal decided on August 17 to close its factory in Basamadi in the Makwanpur district, west of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. The decision to suspend operations indefinitely was taken after threats by the Maoist insurgents in Nepal to &ldquo;close the factory by force.&rdquo; The events come only one month after another multinational, Colgate-Palmolive, was forced to close its toothpaste factory in the same district. Unilever Nepal is one of the country&rsquo;s largest exporters and has been a target for rebel threats before. Bombs already exploded at the factory on several occasions in previous years. The Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Employees' Union, an ICEM affiliate, made an appeal to the National Human Rights Commission, as well as to other rights organisations that have been known to mediate with the rebels, asking to demand the guerrillas to withdraw their threat.

Unilever&#039;s Colgate-Palmolive Factory in Nepal Closed

ICEM oil union affiliates in Nigeria will again oppose any domestic price increase in the cost of petrol. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said earlier this month it would try to enforce price increases even over the objections of stakeholders involved in the public entities, including trade unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG.PENGASSAN said it would mount strong opposition until measures are in place to cushion effects of high fuel prices across all of Nigerian society. NUPENG has called on all Nigerian workers in the country to oppose the hike unless it comes with commensurate increases in social benefit packages for all workers in both the private and public sectors. NNPC and PPPRA assert that increases are necessary due to rising prices of imported refined products. But the unions contend Nigeria's only solution to high global prices of petroleum are major upgrades to local refining and capacity.

Nigerian Unions Will Agian resist Petrol Price Hikes

An ongoing lockout by an investment house against chemical workers of US affiliate International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) has reinforced the ruthlessness capital wreaks on US unions when a manufacturing enterprise changes hands. 
In Meredosia, Illinois, chemicals company Celanese owned by equity trader Blackstone Group locked out workers 6 June, four months after buying the emulsions, adhesives and polymers plant. 
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The crime of the 148 workers: refusal to accept steep concessions to their health care plan, opposing the company's plans to lose 41 jobs to contract labour and dissatisfaction with a three-year wage freeze. When workers again voted down the proposed cuts late in June, Celanese responded by harshly proposing 20-40% pay cuts. The ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates, and trade unions across the world are encouraged to respond to IBB Local Branch 484.

Harsh Lockout of Boilermakers Union in US

German affiliate IGBCE and paper manufacturers in Baden-Wuerttemberg reached a satisfactory one-year labour agreement 27 July for 12,000 paperworkers in the paper-rich area. Terms of the agreement, reached through the conciliation process, will now likely be extended to 45,000 paperworkers throughout western Germany. It calls for a &euro;410 wage increase for all regular workers, and a &euro;100 training stipend for vocational workers inside Germany&rsquo;s paper sector. On 1 March 2006, workers will receive a 2.2% wage increase. IGBCE Governing Board Member Werner Bischoff characterized the negotiations as very difficult and hard, and credited the success of talks to constant pressure on management by workers at mills and converters in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Contract Reached for Paper Sector in Germany

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Protests by long-term electrical workers in Sierra Leone who are classified as casual workers erupted late in July in the country&rsquo;s capital. Members of the Electricity Employees Union protested at the headquarters of the National Power Authority because workers employed as long as 12 years are considered &ldquo;casual&rdquo; and denied entitlements and benefits. 
The union had taken the matter to the Ministry of Labour, but utility managers failed to cooperate with an investigation. The union argues that junior workers can only be considered casual workers for the initial three months of employment.

Sierra Leone Electrical Workers Protest Casual Status

SIPTU, Ireland&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; union, is waging a campaign for recognition, pay gains and work improvements at a Merck KgaA pharmaceutical laboratory in Baldoyle, Dublin. The union has sought and won a determination from an Irish Labour Court under a rare application for indirect representation under the amended Industrial Relations Act. The court ordered Gerard Laboratories, or Merck KGaA, the German firm&rsquo;s European manufacturing arm for generic drugs, to increase rates of pay, introduce a sick-pay plan, and spell out grievance and disciplinary procedures, as well as recognise SIPTU as bargaining representative. The union has the solid backing of Merck&rsquo;s EWC in efforts to bring the company to the bargaining table.

Irish Unions Campaign Against Merck

The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), on behalf of ICEM affiliate Botswana Mining Workers Union, is mobilizing for a march 20 August on the offices of President Festus Mogae in the capital of Gaborone. Botswana&rsquo;s labour leaders are demanding a response on a petition submitted in May in which they demand reinstatement for firedworkers at diamond-money enterprise Debswana and BCL, a copper and nickel operation in Botswana. Mogae has refused to respond to the demand. 
BFTU and its 26 affiliates, along with six associations comprised of teachers and public employees, are seeking also to reform the country&rsquo;s 2004 labour legislation. 
At Debswana, the prosperous joint venture between the government and DeBeers which accounts for 75% of Botswana&rsquo;s total gross domestic product, 461 mostly white-collar workers and technicians became the first victims of the May 2004 law when they were fired for striking in August 2004. Using its new powers, a governmental labour court deemed any strike at Debswana illegal in the days prior to the strike.

Botswana&#039;s Unions Set 20 August for March and Rally

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ICEM affiliate EPS Trade Union of Serbia-Montenegro, the union for the electrical generating industry, elected members to the Presidium of its Women&rsquo;s Committee recently. Elected as president was Ljiljana Vorkapic, Electric Distribution Co., Belgrade; Zorica Rajovic, EPS Central Office, Belgrade, as vice president; and Slavica Stevanovic, PE Elektrosrbija, Kralijevo, as general secretary.

Serbia&#039;s Electric Union Elects Women&#039;s Committee

Archive

Goodyear AP Meeting Studies Contract Labour Issue

Asbestos Issue Surfaces in Japan

Unilever's Colgate-Palmolive Factory in Nepal Closed

Nigerian Unions Will Agian resist Petrol Price Hikes

Harsh Lockout of Boilermakers Union in US

Contract Reached for Paper Sector in Germany

Sierra Leone Electrical Workers Protest Casual Status

Irish Unions Campaign Against Merck

Botswana's Unions Set 20 August for March and Rally

Serbia's Electric Union Elects Women's Committee

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