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And USW&rsquo;s Gulf Coast hurricane relief fund got another US$50,000 boost when the union announced it would inject that amount to victims of Hurricane Rita. The USW originally placed US$50,000 into a fund immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, and that was matched by $50,000 from USW-Canada&rsquo;s Humanity Fund. The $150,000 has swelled to over $300,000 due to contributions from USW members, local branch unions, and others.

USW Hikes Hurricane Relief Fund in US

US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW) will exert language in its collective agreement with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. to ensure that 2,250 union members at Goodyear&rsquo;s engineered products plants are protected in the event of a sale at any of the seven plants. Goodyear announced two weeks ago that it is exploring such a sale, and the company has acknowledged its contractual commitment with the USW. Under terms of &ldquo;successorship&rdquo; negotiated in 2004, USW must reach agreement with any new enterprise before a Goodyear plant is sold. &ldquo;While the prospect of change always breeds anxiety for workers in these types of scenarios, our members need to know that they will be vigorously represented in the course of any possible transactions,&rdquo; stated USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover.

Goodyear Spinoffs Will Remain Under Contract with USW

German ICEM affiliate IGBCE will hold its Congress 9-14 October in Hannover with 391 delegates taking on 150 resolutions under the banner &ldquo;Strong Enough for New Paths.&rdquo; The Congress will include some 1,100 guests, and one motion to be considered will be the challenges to trade union cooperation in the greater EU economy and globalisation. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt called recent German elections a mandate against radical reforms to labour law and bargaining regulations, issues brought forth by both the CDU/CSU and neo-liberals. Schmoldt said in a newspaper interview that Germany needs new concepts for it&rsquo;s energy market, as well as creation of better terms and conditions for employment in high-tech workplaces.

German Affiliate IGBCE to Hold Congress

ICEM NZ affiliate National Distribution Union (NDU) has elected Laila Harre as national secretary. Harre, an industrial relations attorney who served as former Alliance Party leader in Parliament, had been head of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation. Last year, she won a NZ$380 million pay equity package for the country&rsquo;s nurses, believed to be the largest pay package in public sector history. She has served in ministerial posts for Youth and Women&rsquo;s Affairs, Statistics, and was Associate Minister of Labour. She is credited for winning paid parental leave for working mothers.

NDU in New Zealand Elects Laila Harre National Secretary

Nigerian oil workers' unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG today held a joint press conference in Lagos to vehemently demand nine oil-service contractors be released unharmed immediately.
&quot;We warn the perpetrators of this criminal act to desist from hostage taking as this&nbsp;is entirely against our domestic and international laws and conventions which Nigeria has ratified,&quot; stated PENGASSAN President Peter Esele and NUPENG President Peter Akpatason.
The joint press conference by the ICEM-affiliated unions also produced sharp criticism at the government. &quot;It is sad to mention that a government, which has a good part of its national budget spent in defense, cannot equip its security operations to protect the lives of innocent workers,&quot; added Esele. The joint statement by the two unions said the government's &quot;lukewarm attitude towards job creation and empowering the youths of the Niger Delta&quot; is a major part of the problem.
<img height="105" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="114" alt="" src="" width="110" />
The expatriate employees of US-based Wilbros, a Shell contractor working the Escravos-Lagos pipeline in the Niger Delta, were kidnapped from a barge on 18 February. Renegade militiamen also exploded oil installations in and around the Forcados Oil Terminal platform at the time of the kidnappings.
&nbsp;

Nigerian Unions Cry Out for Peace and Security

Mediated talks will resume today in New Zealand in an effort to end a lockout by regional electric provider Top Energy of 58 members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU).
The lockout began on 4 February and mediation to end it failed last week when the North Island utility continued to seek work-rule changes that would affect the lives of linemen. Top Energy has met the EPMU&rsquo;s demand of a 5% wage increase, but concessionary proposals put in front of workers through mediation undermines that pay increase.
The EPMU is encouraging trade union activists to write letters seeking a fair contract offer to Top Energy&rsquo;s Trustees&rsquo; chairman, Brian Thorburn. His e-mail address is <a href="mailto:b.thorburn@xtra.co.nz">b.thorburn@xtra.co.nz</a>.

Lockout by New Zealand Power Company Continues

A broad-faceted international labour conference was held in New York City, 9-11 February. Sponsored by US trade unions, including ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), and the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, contained at Cornell University, the conference drew 550 global trade union leaders and researchers who networked on a multitude of topics and interest areas.
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One such workshop, stressing the importance of global solidarity, involved ICEM affiliate Russian Chemical Workers Union (RCWU). The union&rsquo;s international secretary, Vladimir Tribunskiy, described how a dispute was averted and a lasting unity programme developed with German union IGBCE when chemicals company Henkel initiated hostile labour relations practices at three Russian plants in 2002. 
RCWU President Alexander Sitnov told of similar links utilizing ICEM and IGBCE when Procter &amp; Gamble sacked full-time Russian staff in favour of workers on short-term work contracts. The pressure forced the American consumer chemicals company to cease using contract workers and instead brought in hiring agencies Manpower and Kelly Services. RCWU is now busy organising workers of those companies.
<img height="162" alt="" src="" width="128" />
The conference paid a special tribute to former USW President George Becker for his leadership and fight in the 1994-95 US strike at five Bridgestone tyre operations. USW Vice President Jim Robinson delivered a moving tribute to Becker. 
USW President Leo Gerard, in a statement on the conference, called attention to ICEM global union networks administered by America&rsquo;s largest industrial union by saying, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve already formed six global alliances with unions in other countries and we are reinforcing our cross-border networks in dealing with employers.&rdquo;

Global Labour Conference in New York Spotlights Solidarity, Union Networking

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Global unions worldwide condemned the government of Iran&rsquo;s brutal suppression of bus drivers in Tehran and surrounding areas on 15 February. The condemnations came from the Global Union Federations, national unions and the ICFTU, but also were heard strongly from transport and oil unions in Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Tunisia. Rail workers and maritime unions in some of those North African and Middle East countries also participated in the Day of Action in support of Iranian bus drivers.
The government&rsquo;s Intelligence Ministry and its security militia, Basij, has deployed brute force since spring 2005 to put down strikes by drivers who have been seeking unpaid wages. And since December, the repression has become more violent with the government using a variety of means to silence drivers&rsquo; protests. 
On 28 January, 30 drivers were seriously injured and up to 1,400 were jailed for demonstrating. A few days later, family members and spouses of the jailed drivers gathered outside Iran&rsquo;s parliament, Majiles, and were met by security forces. The leader of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Co. (Sherkat-e Vahed), Mansour Osanloo, has been held since the government arrested leaders of the union on 22 December.
Because Iranian security teams have used beatings to force drivers out on routes, workers have resorted to a continual &ldquo;lights on&rdquo; protest of buses to draw attention to the violent crack-down of workers&rsquo; rights by Iran&rsquo;s authorities. The ICEM sent a strong letter of protest to the government of Iran on the 15 February Day of Action, which can be found at <a href="/index.php?id=24&amp;doc=1658.&amp;la=EN">/index.php?id=24&amp;doc=1658.&amp;la=EN</a>

Iranian Bus Drivers Given Global Union Support

Nepalese King Gyanendra&rsquo;s statement over the weekend that he has invited political parties for dialogue on democracy will be a hollow promise unless the monarchy frees all trade union and political prisoners. The king yesterday, 19 February, used a new twist to deflect mounting international pressure and growing pro-democracy protests at home, with an offer to the seven-party political coalition &ldquo;to come forth to fully activate, at the earliest, the stalled democratic process.&rdquo;
<img height="201" alt="" src="" width="380" />
The king&rsquo;s first public statement in his now year-long absolute rule that suspended basic rights, came in a state-run newspaper just before 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets in another set of peaceful protests challenging the monarchy. 
Gyanendra&rsquo;s rhetoric is meaningless, the ICEM believes, until all trade union leaders of GEFONT and NTUC are released, as well as other human rights activists who have been imprisoned without cause. Several trade unionists were released last week after weeks of detention, but some leaders of the two labour federations&mdash;plus several leaders of education unions&mdash;remain incarcerated.
<img height="151" alt="" src="" width="160" />
GEFONT, NTUC and another labour federation, DECONT, on 13 February, gave the government a 35-day deadline to act on its and the ILO Actrav&rsquo;s Charter of Demands for both formal and informal work. The Charter calls on the government to strengthen the labour code on wage increments, adopt an integrated social security fund, formalise basic labour rights commitments, and implement non-discrimination practices, particularly regarding women workers.

King’s Rhetoric in Nepal on Democracy Belies Trade Union Arrests

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Tuesday, 7 February, will mark a full year that US members of United Steelworkers (USW) in Cincinnati, Ohio have been on strike against Cognis, a German chemicals company. 
USW Local 14340 will observe the anniversary by placing further attention on Cognis and its joint-venture partner who are operating the plant at great environmental risk, and with known health and safety deficiencies. 
Workers struck because Cognis would not agree to union recognition through a &ldquo;successorship&rdquo; clause in the labour agreement when Cognis and Malaysian Golden Hope Plantations formed a joint venture to run the oleochemicals division of the plant. The company is now refusing to accept strikers back to work even if the strike is ended. 
In a letter to Cognis CEO Antonio Trusi Oliva, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs called this &ldquo;unacceptable&rdquo; and urged him to use his &ldquo;influence inside this new enterprise to assure that a settlement to this strike will include jobs for all USW union members who wish to return to work.&rdquo;

USW Members in Ohio Seek Justice from Chemicals Producer

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