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<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />

	Over 8,000 trade unionists and supporters rallied in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec, Saturday, 31 March, on behalf of locked-out workers belonging to Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW). Some 780 workers at an aluminium smelter of Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Alcan subsidiary have been ruthlessly locked out of their livelihoods now for 14 weeks, and the economic stranglehold Rio Tinto has on the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec is clear to all.

	Bus-loads of union militants from across Canada&rsquo;s only French-speaking province converged on Alma, a community of 30,000, to stand with the victimised Alma steelworkers. And the USW organised convoys and buses as well from elsewhere in Canada, including Toronto, Hamilton and other industrial cities in Ontario province.

	Some 50 international trade unionists also attended, representing workers employed at Rio Tinto or Alcan in Australia, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, US, and other nations. A day prior to the manifestation, the ICEM held its bi-annual North American regional meeting in Alma as a global signal to the 780 Alma workers that they are not alone in their struggle for fairness on the job.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 302px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	The well-organised rally started with speeches at an Alma shopping mall, before a march complete with sound truck playing working-class music wound its way through the streets of the city to an amphitheatre. There, political and union leaders continued to chastise the world&rsquo;s second largest resources company for delivering economic devastation to workers&rsquo; doorsteps in central Qu&eacute;bec.

	ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda pledged that global labour will mobilise Rio Tinto workers across the globe in this struggle.

	&ldquo;If the ruthless social agenda of Rio Tinto cannot be defeated here in Qu&eacute;bec, there will be little hope that it can be stopped when others face company attacks,&rdquo; Warda said. Rest assured, &ldquo;we will take the indignities committed by Rio Tinto Alcan here throughout the world until this company agrees to stop the attacks against your community and your union.&rdquo;

	Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), said Rio Tinto must &ldquo;show respect for current and future workers and stop callously cutting labour costs and decent jobs without regard for the local economy.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390">&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390">&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina address Alma rally

	&ldquo;If Rio Tinto wants to prosper, it cannot break the delicate balance that connects it to the community,&rdquo; said Raina.

	ICEM Vice President and USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann had a message for the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in his country, where the federal government has turned a deaf ear to several attacks by multinationals on Canadian workers.

	&ldquo;Stephen Harper clearly fell short of his task by failing to impose conditions on the sale of Alcan to Rio Tinto in 2007 and to protect jobs,&rdquo; said Neumann. &ldquo;For someone who is so bent on involving himself in labour relations, why doesn&rsquo;t he intervene with Rio Tinto to put an end to this abhorrent lockout?&rdquo;

	That lockout was brought about by Local 9490&rsquo;s rightful effort to stop erosion of permanent jobs that pay a living wage of C$34-an-hour against Alcan&rsquo;s labour plan, which is aimed at replacing those jobs with outsourced work that pays half that amount.

	By late afternoon on Saturday, about an hour after the final speeches were given at Parc le Festiv Alma, Rio Tinto Alcan issued a defensive statement criticising the &nbsp;USW event, and saying&nbsp; a &ldquo;calmer climate&rdquo; was necessary in order to carry on with negotiations.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 212px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Turkish mineworkers solidarity for Alma locked-out Steelworkers

	But for nearly three months &ndash; until 19 March when Qu&eacute;bec public pressure mounted primarily because Alcan was capitalising on the lockout by selling excess hydro-electric power back to the province &ndash; the company shunned bargaining, preferring instead to operate the modern and low-cost Alma smelter at reduced capacity while waiting for global aluminium prices to rise. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4943-Negotiations-Restart-between-USW-Rio-Tinto-Alcan-in-Canadian-Lockout">ICEM report</a> from 21 March.)

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos Local 9490 and Alcan did return to talks for two days in March, with the help of provincial mediators, and two more days of negotiations occurred on 28-29 March. The two sides will in all likelihood meet again this week.

	But ever since the company prematurely halted negotiations and imposed the lockout on 30 December before a majority of workplace issues could even be tabled, Rio Tinto has been content to rob the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of C$1.8 million per week in lost salaries and benefits.

	With or without a settlement to the Alma lockout, the 31 March manifestation will stand as the prelude to a global fight against Rio Tinto to resist its anti-social agenda that has become all too common everywhere it does business.

Thousands March, Manifest in Alma, Canada, for Locked-out Steelworkers

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	Indonesia&rsquo;s largest coal producer, PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), through its mine services contractor Thiess Pty. Ltd. of Australia, has brutally attacked members of two ICEM-affiliated mine unions through police and military force. The dispute dates to the fourth quarter of 2011 when miners working for KPC, part of Indonesia&rsquo;s Bumi Resources, first took strike action when it became obvious that neither Thiess nor KPC intended to grant a renewal collective agreement.

	But the dispute at KPC&rsquo;s Sangatta mine in Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo turned violent on 24 March when 400 striking workers gathered at the coal company&rsquo;s office in East Kutai district on the counsel of a local citizens group to offer themselves back to work following a second strike dating to last November.

	They were immediately attacked by a regional military brigade serving the interests of Thiess and KPC. Twenty miners were severely beaten and hospitalised. Another 12 were immediately detained and throughout the night of 24 March and into the next day, police and military rounded up another four union leaders and jailed them.

	By this weekend, most of the unionists had been released but police and regional military are still holding two union leaders, the Vice President of the local branch of ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Mines, Oil &amp; Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of FSP-KEP, Sumardi, and the Secretary, Maxi.

	The leader of FSP-KEP, D. Patombong Sjaiful, called the situation now &ldquo;critical&rdquo; and pleaded that global trade union attention is given this grievous repression by brute force. In the second time in a fortnight, Jakarta-based FSP-KEP today dispatched a mission to east Kalimantan province, this time to win the freedom of the two remaining unionists.

	The other ICEM-affiliated organisation with membership at KPC is the regional mining and energy union FPE, part of the Indonesian confederation SBSI. Some 2,200 miners work at KPC&rsquo;s two open-cast thermal coal mines of Sangatta. FSP-KEP has some 1,400 members, while FPE has 200. KPC also consists of five smaller mines at the nearby Bengalon mine.

	The dispute began following the expiration of a two-year agreement on 5 October 2011. Thiess Indonesia management foretold its strategy to eliminate the collective agreement by telling the unions a new agreement would not be valid until after negotiations were complete. And then the stalling began.

	The mineworkers&rsquo; only choice was to strike and the first work stoppage occurred from 10 November to 27 December, from which six union leaders were sacked. When the two sides finally did return to bargaining on 28 January 2012, union leaders were summoned to police offices in East Kutai district where they were surprised to see that the police commander representing the company in talks.

	Two days earlier, KPC sent a letter that the status of the six union leaders would not be on the agenda. Miners began a work slowdown resulting in 264 workers getting the sack that, in turn, caused a second strike.

	When Sjaiful and other FSP-KEP leaders visited in mid-March, an agreement was sorted out between the police, a local parliamentarian, and the citizens&rsquo; group calling for the strike to cease, recall of the dismissed workers, and a return to negotiations.

	But Thiesse and KPC rejected that. When strikers came to the company&rsquo;s offices then on 24 March, they were met by police and the mobile brigade wielding batons and other instruments of force.

	The ICEM condemns Thiess, part of Australian Leighton Holdings Ltd. (LEI), whose ultimate parent is the German global construction giant Hochtief AG, for utilising police and military intervention to avert legitimate collective negotiations. It also holds Bumi Resources accountable for this contemptible display of anti-social conduct in its home country.

Thiess, Operating in Indonesia, Uses Police to Bludgeon Striking Coal Miners

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The ICEM expressed outrage and condemned the cold-blooded assassination on 26 September of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in the Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off the back of a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="130" />
In a press statement on the killing, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights. We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO&rsquo;s call that Colombia&rsquo;s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia&rsquo;s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children.

Leader of Contract Workers Struggle in Colombia Assassinated

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
An agreement was reached 29 September between Lafarge and the French Central Works Council regarding the Frangey cement plant in the L&rsquo;Yonne province of Burgundy. The compromise agreement ended a ten-day hunger strike at Lafarge offices in the Paris suburbs by 12 workers plus the mayor of the nearest town to the plant, L&eacute;zinnes. 
 
Mayor Jean-Claude Galaud joined protesting workers in the hunger strike on 19 September. Workers and community members alike were fighting to reverse Lafarge&rsquo;s decision from last May to entirely close the 74-worker cement plant. In social dialogue on 29 September, Frangey workers submitted three proposals through the Works Council to group management while hunger strikers were visible outside Lafarge headquarters in Saint-Cloud. 
<img alt="" src="" width="284" height="160" />
In the days before, French trade unions CFDT and CGT were also conducting stop-work actions at 14 Lafarge cement plants in support of Frangey&rsquo;s 74 workers. 
 
The proposal that was agreed to includes extending the life of the plant from November 2011 to 31 March 2012, and then maintaining it as a grinding operation thereafter with an employment level of 40. That will include 35 workers plus five others who are within a few years of retirement. 
 
Lafarge will then seek to sell the grinding operation to another company for continued production. The workers who will be made redundant next year will be offered severance packages and jobs at other Lafarge plants in France. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="91" />
The hunger strikers were treated as heroes when they returned to L&eacute;zinnes by bus in the early morning hours of 30 September. Fellow workers and towns-people greeted them with celebratory hugs and kisses. The hunger strikers lost on average between seven and ten kilos, but their day-to-day protests captured the attention of French politicians and many citizens. 
 
Mayor Galaud described the ordeal as a tough battle, but to keep industrial work at the Frangey plant at some level was a victory. &ldquo;This action created strong bonds between the (hunger strikers),&rdquo; said Galaud. &ldquo;I made 12 friends and it was an incredible life lesson.&rdquo; 
 
CFDT union leader Laurent Carrilero said the actions across France, as well as the hunger strike made it possible to guarantee substantial severance deals for workers who will be laid off next year. Previous ICEM coverage of this story can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4676-Hunger-Strikers-Protest-Lafarge-s-French-Cement-Plant-Closing">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4466-French-Unions-Conduct-4-Hour-Strike-at-Lafarge-Today ">here</a>.&nbsp;

Lafarge Closure Deal Reached for French Workers at Frangey

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The Sixth Ordinary Congress of the Norwegian union Fellesforbundet is underway in Oslo with 465 delegates attending. The quadrennial Congress began on 7 October under the banner &ldquo;Organising for Welfare and Wealth Creation,&rdquo; and concludes with votes on a host of resolutions on 12 October. 
 
On the opening day, delegates approved a transfer of 7.5 million kroner (&euro;1 million) to the youth wing of Norway&rsquo;s Labour Party to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya Island. 
 
Deeded to the youth wing by Norwegian national labour centre LO in the 1980s, Ut&oslash;ya is the fateful place where on 22 July a racially motivated person killed 69 mostly young progressive Norwegians. In 2010, Fellesforbundet sold two summer camps in the Nordic nation and delegates moved to donate the proceeds from that to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya. LO Norway is trying to raise at least 15 million kroner to remake the island to reflect the inclusiveness of traditional Norwegian values. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
Arve Bakke, left, with Jyrki Raina, Finn Erik Thoreson, and Liv T&oslash;rres following &lsquo;Trade Unions and the World&rsquo; forum
The Congress is taking up a number of structural changes, including statutory ones. One that was passed is another major step in the evolution of the 23-year-old union from a collection of work-based sectors to a unified and cohesive trade union federation. 
 
Instead of a 12-member executive body of five leading officers and seven federal secretaries heading around work sectors, delegates eliminated the specific occupation sectors and formed a seven-member executive. Early today, Arve Bakke was re-elected President of Fellesforbundet, or the United Federation of Norwegian Workers. 
 
Another statutory change that has been debated and will be voted on this week is returning a greater portion of the union&rsquo;s return on equity to local branches. A major policy change also up for a vote is revising the collective bargaining structure to a vertical system in order to strive for a single collective agreement across an entire company covering workers of all unions within a company. 
 
Delegates are expected to turn down a resolution asking the Norwegian government to adopt the European Union&rsquo;s directive on temporary work. Norway is not a member of the EU, but has adopted many of its directives. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
Photo: Morten M. L&oslash;berg
On Sunday, 9 October, the Congress conducted a session &ldquo;Trade Unions and the World&rdquo; that featured the importance of work in the developing world. The session served as a precursor for a resolution in support of creation of a Palestinian state. It included Norwegian Peoples&rsquo; Aid leaders Liv T&oslash;rres and Finn Erik Thoresen, and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation&rsquo;s Jyrki Raina. 
 
Tomorrow, 11 October, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will spend a half day with delegates, addressing the Congress and then fielding questions and listening to debate. 
 
In his opening comments to the Congress, Arve Bakke said the 153,000-member union has taken in 73,000 new members in the past four-year Congress period, but is 7,000 less members than it was in 2007 mostly due to the effects of the global financial crisis. One positive note, he reported, is that 23% of active members are under the age of 30. 
 
Fellesforbundet was born in 1988 as an amalgamation of trade unions from the paper, wood, forestry, building construction, textile, and metal sectors. In 2005, unions from inside the printing and hotel and restaurant industries joined.

Fellesforbundet Takes Meaningful Action to Rebuild Norway’s Utøya Island

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On 6 October, leaders of Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), officially extended a 30-day strike at the world&rsquo;s largest gold and third largest copper mine one more month &ndash; until 15 November &ndash; because of mine management&rsquo;s absence at a provincial forum to address issues in the dispute. 
 
Community leaders also formed a committee and visited different locations of the vast mining complex in order to assess the number of outside workers recruited to break the strike. The committee visits were fired upon, with reports today that one protestor was shot dead. 
 
The Grasberg mine in Papua Province, New Guinea Island, is 91% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU is in dispute with its subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia, over unwillingness to meet the salary demands of 10,000 miners. 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="160" />
A two-year labour agreement expired on 1 October. The company is offering only an 11% increase in each year of a new two-year agreement, below that recommended by Indonesian government mediation last month. 

Last week, government officials of West Papua Province, leaders of the province&rsquo;s Parliament, the Papua Peoples&rsquo; Council of seven indigenous groups, a human rights committee, and the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU waited patiently for mine managers to show up to address issues. None did. 
 
This came a week after the ICEM intervened with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s chairman asking him to personally step in to resolve the dispute, which threatens global copper and gold supplies. The ICEM received a response from a senior vice president of Freeport-McMoRan Copper &amp; Gold stating the executive had full confidence in managers of PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The response stated, &ldquo;The union maintains its unrealistic demands for compensation, which are grossly inconsistent with Indonesian wage levels and, substantially in excess of the wages of mining workers in other countries performing similar duties.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Freeport-McMoRan posted a net profit of US$1.37 billion in the second quarter of 2011 and the person ICEM and the CEMWU is trying engage to resolve the dispute, James Moffet, took in a total compensation package in 2010 of US$21.5 million. 
 
The community forum meeting in West Papua took a decision to write PT Freeport Indonesia managers to halt the threats and intimidation of workers in attempting to get them to quit the strike. They also sent a statement to the US embassy in Jakarta encouraging a diplomatic initiative to get Moffet to resolve the bitter strike. 
 
PT Freeport Indonesia managers have broken global labour norms by pressuring strikers to sign statements that they will quit the strike. And they have also removed the job duties of 138 shop stewards, as well as isolating union leaders from workers by posting security guards around them. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU in the union&rsquo;s fight for justice, dignity, and a fair 2011-2012 wage package.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Miners Extend Freeport-McMoRan Strike, One Shot Dead

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="54" />
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) condemns the cold-blooded assassination of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home at 16h on 26 September in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
 
&ldquo;This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO&rsquo;s call that Colombia&rsquo;s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia&rsquo;s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

Contract Workers’ Leader at Ecopetrol in Colombia Assassinated

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The three-month-long wage dispute between a branch of ICEM Indonesia affiliate Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas (FSP2KI) and managers of a pulp mill on Sumatra Island owned by the Japanese Marubeni Group was resolved recently. Along with settlement, the Human Resource director that exhibited rude and coercive behaviour toward the union&rsquo;s bargaining committee in July was sacked. 
 
SPPTTEL, the branch union of FSP2KI at the PT Tanjung Enim Lestari pulp mill near Muaraenim, and Marubeni were able to reach a 2011 wage accord with help from the provincial Manpower Ministry office. The two sides reached a compromise on wages, but it was the company&rsquo;s dismissal of Eko Ganefianto that perhaps is the biggest triumph for paperworkers of SPPTEL. 
 
In collective negotiations, this boss threatened worker layoffs and termination of all bargaining committee members when the union put forward its wage demands. Ganefianto also threatened to call out police to forcefully break any strike that SPPTTEL called. 
 
Mostly due to the manager&rsquo;s words and tone, SPPTTEL did strike for three days in late July (see <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4573-Paperworkers-Strike-Indonesian-Pulp-Mill-Pressure-Brings-Marubeni-to-Table ">prior ICEM report</a>). Although a police presence was nearby, the walkout by 1,000 paperworkers was peaceful. 
 
In pursuant bargaining, the union retreated from monthly wage demands of IDR 632,000 (US$74) and the company moved upward considerably. The agreement reached just over two weeks ago calls for a monthly increase of IDR 240,000 (US$27) per month. The average median salary at Marubeni&rsquo;s pulp mill is IDR 2 million, or US$235-per-month. 
 
The union also won payment for the three days of strike action, and partial payment on salaries for the post-fasting Ramadan days of Eid ul-Fitr.

Indonesia Pulp Dispute Settled; Human Resource Director Sacked

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The European Mine, Chemicals, Energy Federation (EMCEF), the European Chemical Employers&rsquo; Group (ECEG), and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) signed on 6 September a declaration to jointly encourage policymakers to implement the recommendations by the High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry. 
 
The agreement was signed at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels with Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Commissioner L&aacute;szl&oacute; Andor participating. 
 
The three-pillared blueprint, entitled &ldquo;Framework conditions for a sustainable chemical industry in Europe,&rdquo; centers on positive environmental, economic, and social principles. Under the environmental principal, the three social partners share the view that the voluntary Responsible Care programme offers the best possibilities to make continual improvements in safety, health and the environment. 
<img alt="" src="" width="134" height="160" />
Bottom, Cefic President Giorgio Squinzi and Commissioner L&aacute;szl&oacute; Andor; top, ECEG&rsquo;s Jean Pelin, EMCEF&rsquo;s Michael Wolters and representative from German chemical employers&rsquo; grouping, BAVC
The social component specifies good working conditions, life-long learning, and improving employability through skill development, retention and re-employment. The social partners also emphasize opportunities here for young people, and they say this social framework serves so far as the main contribution to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs under the Euro 2020 strategy. 
 
The economic pillar is built around competitiveness and innovation, and striving to maintain Europe&rsquo;s strong position in global chemicals. The declaration states that the High Level Group&rsquo;s recommendations do &ldquo;form a strategic agenda for areas such as innovation, intellectual property, regulation, energy and climate change, logistics and trade policy.&rdquo; 
 
EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters said the declaration &ldquo;highlights the urgent need to see sustainability as a way to safeguard and expand high-skilled, high value-added jobs in Europe through a comprehensive EU industrial policy.&rdquo;

Europe’s Chemical Social Partners Sign Sustainability Pact

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
By a 61% vote on 15 October, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 in Hamilton, Ontario, ended U.S. Steel&rsquo;s total chokehold on the livelihoods of 900 Canadian workers. Union members accepted a three-year labour agreement that ends a 49-week lockout at the steel mill. 
 
The agreement means workers will begin returning to jobs tomorrow, 18 October, for week-long health and safety training. The new pact is not altogether satisfactory because it creates a two-tier pension scheme with new hires placed in an inferior plan, and it ends cost-of-living indexing for 9,000 retirees, a key issue in the 14-month dispute.
<img src="" width="218" height="163" alt="" />
U.S. Steel pressured steelworkers into submission by first imposing the lockout on 7 November 2010, and then supplying its Canadian customers from the former Stelco mill in Hamilton with finished steel from American mills. In the end and after nearly one year, most of Local 1005&rsquo;s members were on the verge of losing unemployment insurance funds, which coupled with the USW&rsquo;s C$200-a-week strike benefit gave workers about two-thirds of their normal income. 
 
The agreement contains a C$3,000 ratification bonus, to be paid within 60 days of Saturday&rsquo;s vote, and it also includes a lump sum pay-out of C$1,000 to retirees taking in less than C$1,500-per-month in lieu of annual pension indexing. Active workers will also see reduced cost-of-living annual increases. 
 
A profit-sharing plan for active employees will be implemented in the fourth quarter 2011. It will come from a pool of money totalling 6.5% above C$25 million in earnings from the Hamilton Works and could mean an added C$3,500 in income per worker. Union members will receive credited service for the 11 months of the lockout, meaning some workers will be closer to taking retirement. 
 
All workers will be recalled and they will be guaranteed 26 weeks of employment at 40 hours per week. That countered a U.S. Steel proposal from mid-September in which the company sought call-back language that would have left many workers without jobs long after ratification and the end of the lockout. 
 
In the new agreement, which takes effect today, new hires will not be included in the existing defined benefit pension scheme and placed in a union-administered plan that will see U.S. Steel contribute C$2.50-per-hour worked. 
 
On USW Local 1005&rsquo;s website, union leaders said, &ldquo;We have made a huge effort so that the members can make an informed vote on whether to accept or reject this contract. We wanted to ensure that they are fully aware of the situation they face and of the responsibilities towards not just themselves and their families, but also towards the retirees, the future generation of workers, their union and their community. This whole process has shown that there are serious challenges facing us going forward.&rdquo;

Canadian Steelworkers Ratify U.S. Steel Pact, Lockout Ends

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