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General President Jack O’Connor of Ireland’s Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU) welcomed the new EU Directive on Agency Work. 
 
In a statement, he said, “It will improve people’s rights at work in Ireland. Indeed, in the absence of the EU, working conditions in Ireland would still be very primitive. This decision will begin the process of alleviating the plight of tens of thousands of our most vulnerable workers.”
<img height="39" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/affiliateslogo/IRELANDSIPTU.gif" width="115" alt=""/>
Legislation in Ireland to regulate the use of temporary agency workers has been opposed for years by employers. Although not yet fully adopted, once ratified by the European Parliament, the Directive must be implemented through national legislation within three years. It has thus given a considerable push to people’s rights at work in Ireland. 
 
The recent Irish referendum rejecting the Lisbon Treaty would appear to have no effect on the Directive, since existing treaties already cover the details of implementation.

Irish Labour Movement Welcomes EU Directive on Agency Work

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New Zealand’s labour agency workers are hopefully on the road to have minimum wage protection soon. That follows passage of the second reading in Parliament in May of Labour Party MP Darien Fenton's Minimum Wage and Remuneration Amendment Bill. 
 
The bill is intended to give protection to agency workers by fixing an anomaly that allows them to be paid below the minimum wage for their services. 
 
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Secretary Carol Beaumont said that people doing contract work for less than minimum wage deserve the full wage protections that are afforded to other workers.
<img height="72" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/unions/NewZealandCTU.gif" width="160" alt=""/>
“There are people doing (agency) work right now who are paid poverty wages, and these people need the full protection of minimum wage laws,” she said. 
 
“Most (agency workers) in New Zealand should be remunerated at well above the minimum wage. For those that are not, this bill would provide protection against being exploited by companies wanting to unreasonably drive down costs. 
 
“Contracting practices are certainly widespread in industries such as acting, cleaning, and forestry,” she stated.
<img height="58" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealandFlag.gif" width="115" alt=""/>
The bill has the support of the Labour Party, the Greens, and the Maori Party, with opposition coming from parliamentarians in NZ First and the National Party, which argue there is not a need for minimum wage protection. They also argue that the bill will create too many “compliance costs.” 
 
After the second reading met passage, the bill now moved to a Select Committee. From there, it goes to the House for one more reading, before passed into law.

Minimum Wage Bill for Agency Workers Passes Major Hurdle in New Zealand

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Forty-one national mining unions from 37 countries met 9-11 July in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the ICEM’s quadrennial World Conference on Mining and DJGOP. A total of 138 delegates addressed the major changes occurring in the industry. 
 
At the top of the agenda of an ICEM work plan covering the next four years was the continuing health and safety problems occurring at mines throughout the world. 
 
“At a time of unprecedented profits in the mining industry, it is an unacceptable situation that much of this profit continues to be stained with the blood of miners,” said Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM President and also President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa.
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ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana 
Although there are no worldwide figures on mining injuries and fatalities, serious accidents continue to plague mining operations in more developed countries, such as the US and South Africa, as well as in developing nations. South African-based Gold Fields Ltd., the world’s fourth largest gold-mining house, was specifically cited for operating dangerous mines and may be a target of ICEM action. 
 
ICEM affiliates attending the Mining Conference approved a continued global campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 196, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Delegates also approved action to assist uranium miners in Africa in preventing exposure to dangerous radiation. 
 
A further focus to the conference was the continued vertical and horizontal consolidation in the mining and metals industries and the growing power of multinational corporations, including emergent multinational mining companies based in Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Delegates pledged to work together to build networks to confront these companies. 
 
Also designated as part of the work plan was the development of a policy on sustainable development, including support for developing clean coal technologies, challenging the use of contract and agency labour and gaining work rights for such workers, and establishing closer relationships with NGOs that show support for workers. 
 
Featured at the conference was a presentation on the fight between the Mexican mineworkers’ union, known as Los Mineros, and Grupo México and the government of Mexico, which has attempted to destroy the union. ICEM affiliates pledged full support to the miners and a stepped up campaign against this company and the government. 
The ICEM mining report can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/2008ICEMMiningReportEN.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Holds Quadrennial Mining Conference in Russia

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Strategic and rolling strikes by 500 Canadian miners – members of the United Steelworkers (USW) – could occur at any time now within the three mining operations  of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest fertiliser company. 
 
On 23 July, three local branches of the USW in the western Canadian province of Saskatechewan issued the necessary 48-hour strike notice against the company. Management countered by giving the unions a 48-hour lockout notice.  
 
Miners have been without a current contract since 30 April 2008. The USW local unions voted by a 96% margin on 21 July for industrial action. 
 
Workers met again on Friday, 25 July, and ballotted for an overtime ban at mines in Allan, Cory, and Patience Lake, beginning the next day, 26 July. In 2007, Canadian steelworkers worked a total of 147,000 overtime hours for Potash Corp., heavily impacting the company’s bloated profit sheet. 
 
The company, capitalising on high commodity prices, posted its largest quarterly profit margin in second quarter 2008, with C$905.1 million in earnings. Its 2007 net income was C$1.1 billion.
<img height="180" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0605KenNeumann.jpg" width="160"/>
USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann 
USW National Canadian Director Ken Neumann, in an opionion article in a provincial newspaper last week, compared the publicly-listed company’s sales figures, together with other potash producers, with royalty fees paid to Canadian units of government. In a decade between 1997 and 2007, the ratio of sales to royalities has dropped from 13% to seven percent. 
 
“Record potash prices and continuing provincial giveaways allowed the company to collect an after-tax profit of C$566 million in the first three months of 2008,” stated Neumann. 
 
“This quarterly profit amounts to well over C$100,000 for each of the company’s 5,000 employees,” wrote Neumann. “Although the company is reveiving far more profit per worker than most mining companies, it pays wages lower than many major Canadian mining operations.” 
 
USW Locals 7468, 189, and 7689 also are seeking, in a renewal labour agreement, greater controls over use of contract labour, a bonus scheme, and improvements in pensions and vacation time.
If Potash Corp. does not return to the bargaining table by mid-week, the likelihood of a full-scale strike across all three mines is great.

Canadian Steelworkers Commence Overtime Ban Against Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan

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Some 4,000 union members of ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico Trabajores del Neumático Argentina (SUTNA) launched a 48-hour strike on 25 July against three tyre manufacturing companies, Bridgestone-Firestone, Pirelli, and Argentine-based FATE. The union has been deadlocked since April in 2008 wage negotiations with the major rubber makers. 
 
SUTNA had been conducting protests in the cities of the three factories in recent weeks. With tyre production growing in Argentina due to a boom in automotive production, the union is seeking a salary increase of 35%. 
 
“After the employers refused our demands, workers through their asemblies at the factories decided to begin (job actions),” said SUTNA Gen. Sec. Pedro Wasiejko. He added that employers offered a two-phase increase of 28%; 13% at present and a noncumulative 15% in January 2009. 
 
“This was not accepted by our members,” said Wasiejko, citing the fact that the increase would amount amount to only 1,800 pesos (US$600). He said labour costs in the Argentine tyre industry are only 4-to-6% of all production costs.
<img height="93" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ArgentinaFLAG.gif" width="140" border="1"/>
  
Japanese-based Bridgestone-Firestone and Pirelli of Italy each employ 1,400 workers in factories near Buenos Aires, while FATE emplys 1,200 at a plant in San Fernando. 
 
Argentina’s tyre industry will experience a major change this year with Continental of Germany now entering the retail market. Continental’s supply agreement with FATE ends at the end of this year, and the company has established a subsidiary in Argentina in order to import tyres from a factory in Brazil, as well as from Europe. 

Tyre production in the South American country, however, has increased nearly 20% over the first four months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.

Rubber Workers in Argentina Begin Job Actions to Gain Fair Pay

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Following a precedent-setting master labour agreement achieved last year between ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) and International Paper Co. covering workers at 14 US pulp and paper mills, 2,800 USW members at paper converting plants of the US-based firm ratified a similar four-year agreement late in April.
"Never before have we had a single agreement covering so many converter locations," said USW President Leo Gerard. Added USW Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads the union's paper industry bargaining, "Our members' ratification of this new master agreement is an indicator of the qaulity of the agreement and a sign of progress in our relationship with International Paper."
<img height="140" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0710USWLeoGerard120.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
USW President Leo Gerard
The agreement covers workers at 32 paper converting facilities in 18 US states.
Wages will increase 8% over the term, and the pension scheme will see increases throughout the contract's four years. The new agreement contains a successorship clause, a vital contractual measure that ensures that if the company sells any one facility, the new owner must, as part of the sale agreement, retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective agreement.
<img height="143" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMpaper2.jpg" width="140" alt=""/>
Also contained in the master pact is a pledge by International Paper that it will not change the medical insurance plan, unless the union agrees to it. Local issues and non-economic bargaining will continue to be handled at local branch level bargaining tables, and local unions will still retain their own contract expiration dates.
Separately, in another matter involving International paper in the US, an explosion at a company pulp and paper mill in the state of Mississippi killed one contract worker, and seriously injured four others. A total of 17 contract workers were injured in the 3 May blast of a recovery boiler at the company's Vicksburg mill. The explostion occurred when a boiler inside the pulp mill was restarted following a maintenance shutdown.

USW’s Converting Workers at International Paper Ratify Master Contract

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Today is Day 12 in Harare Central Remand Prison for the two top leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The two, President Lovemore Matombo and Secretary-General Secretary Wellington Chibebe, were denied bail on 12 May, and they await a further hearing on 23 May. 
 
And at that bail hearing last week, a leader of one of the two teachers’ unions in Zimbabwe was detained. Raymond Majongwe, Secretary-General of the Progressive Teachers’ Union, was seized at the Harare High Court. 
Education International (EI) is calling for protest action. For more, <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/en/urgentactionappeal/show.php?id=11&country=zimbabwe">click here</a>. 
 
It is believed that Majongwe is being held for chronicling the number of teachers in his union who have been victims of political violence for failing to contribute to the ruling ZANU-PF’s party vote total in March’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
<img height="160" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805ZCTUCibebe.jpg" width="200"/>
ZCTU's Wellington Chibebe 
Comrades Matombo and Chibebe were arrested on 8 May and charged with “communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state and inciting public violence.” Those allegations came from speeches they made on International Workers’ Day, 1 May, before 1,500 Zimbabweans inside Harare’s Dzivaresekwa Stadium. 
 
The two presented themselves to police on Thursday, 8 May, after armed police turned up at their homes searching for them. Both had been severely beaten when they were last in police custody, in September 2006. 
 
The arrests of the trade union leaders are part of a wider crackdown on civil society defenders inside Zimbabwe in the wake of the 29 March elections. The ruling ZANU party of Robert Mugabe lost those elections, but results showed that Movement for Democratic Change candidate Morgan Tsvangirai did not win the necessary 50% plus one for the presidency, so a run-off election is now required. The Mugabe government has not yet set the date for that election.

Zimbabwe’s Repression, Jailing of Trade Union Leaders Continues

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Some 500 truck drivers of two contract firms attached to Royal Dutch Shell in the UK voted overwhelmingly for industrial action last week. The drivers, represented by Unite and employed by Hoyer and Suckling Shell, haul petrol and other refined products for the multinational across the UK. 
 
Ron Webb, Unite’s National Secretary for Road Transport, said the votes – 95% at Hoyer and 87% at Suckling Shell – reflect drivers’ feelings of increasingly being short-changed. “These drivers are paying a hefty price for Shell’s stratospheric profits,” said Webb, noting they work 48-hour weeks and take home a mere £23,000 after taxes.
<img height="120" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil2.JPG" width="120" alt=""/>
Unite is seeking a minimum gross salary of £36,000 per year, about £2,000 more than Shell drivers’ current gross pay. “Shell would be far better placed if they were to stop stuffing their shareholders’ pockets and ensure their contractor Hoyer had the resources to conclude a deal that is acceptable to our members,” said Webb. 
 
Unite and Hoyer are expected to meet for further negotiations in order to break the pay deadlock. The drivers work out of several UK terminals of the oil giant, and work under Shell fuels distribution contracts.

Contract Tank-Truck Drivers for Shell at UK Vote Industrial Action

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The Canadian province of Quebec’s Labour Relations Board issued a stern reprimand to Petro-Canada over its attempt to circumvent the bargaining committee of the Communications, Energy, & Paperworkers (CEP). In a 4 June ruling, the provincial government ordered the company to cease its intimidation of individual workers, and to begin good-faith bargaining with CEP Local 175 of Montréal in earnest efforts to end the company’s seven-month lockout of 260 refinery workers there. 
 
Negotiations did re-start on 13 June, but there was no immediate indication that Canada’s second largest energy company would meet the CEP’s National Chemical and Energy Bargaining agenda. In prior talks this spring, the company placed further and more severe concessions on the table than what was proposed at the time of the 17 November 2007 lockout.
<img height="213" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0801Canada2.jpg" width="160"/>
CEP Local 175 Members Still Standing Strong
Then in early May, just prior to submitting another in a series of “final offers” to Local 175, managers at the Point-aux-Trembles refinery in Montréal’s east end contacted individual union members. They threatened closure of the refinery, urged an overthrow of the union’s bargaining committee, and intimidated workers in attempting to coax them to accept the company’s regressive proposal. 
 
In the 4 June ruling, Labour Relations Board Commissioner Suzanne Moro ordered the company to “cease attempts to impede the activities of CEP Local 175, attempts to interfere in the activities” of the union and “attempts to dominate” Local 175. 
 
The writ ordered company representatives to cease efforts “to create double negotiations and to negotiate a collective agreement in good faith.” Canadian press reports cited the company with denying the charges. But workers taped the conversations, and presented that as evidence to the labour board. 
 
“The importance of this decision is it demonstrates what has been ongoing since bargaining began,” said CEP Administrative Vice President for Quebec, Joe Gargiso, who also heads the union’s Chemicals and Energy Bargaining Programme. “Petro-Canada has had no intention of bargaining in good faith, only seeking a strategy of imposing a new collective agreement that our members don’t want.”
<img height="119" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703JoeGargiso.jpg" width="200" alt=""/>
CEP's Admin. Vice President (Quebec) Joe Gargiso
He added the locked-out workers are withstanding the pressures “extremely well,” and that they are “united and standing solidly behind their bargaining committee.” He also said the 260 oil workers are receiving strong financial support from the CEP, and from CEP’s energy local unions across Canada. 
 
On 24-25 May, the union’s National Chemicals and Energy local unions met in Montréal, and adopted a strong statement to the company’s president and CEO, Ron Brenneman, saying: 
 
“We find it totally unacceptable that in Montréal, your Company attempts to break the national Bargaining Settlement made with CEP at (Petro-Canada’s) Edmonton refinery in April 2007. This settlement has been followed by Petro-Canada in its other locations, as well as by Imperial Oil, Shell, Husky, Suncor, etc. 
 
“And we find it unacceptable and shameful that your Company is attempting to trash the Montréal collective agreement by trying to impose a host of rollbacks in a clear design to curtail the union’s ability to play its role in the workplace and ensure a safe environment.” 
 
Petro-Canada has further breached Quebec’s labour law by employing 34 replacement workers during the lockout. The inexperienced workers have teamed with managers, who are working 70-hour work-weeks in order to maintain outflow, and the combination has created obvious safety and environmental hazards to the refinery, which is located in a residential area.

 Petro-Canada Breaks Law in Failed Effort to Break Workers’ Resolve

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The global labour community’s upcoming World Day for Decent Work, Decent Life, 7 October, is already marked by activities scheduled in 70 countries, activities ranging from marches and mobilisations to workshops and seminars to media events. The day is intended to draw attention to the urgent need for a new globalisation in the world of work, including stable and quality jobs that broaden social protections, and ensuring that every worker has the right to form and join a trade union and to bargain collectively with their employer. 
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Originating with the late 2006 founding congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the merged national labour centres’ organisations of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour, the day has been in planning stages for well over a year in order to draw public attention to the many shortcomings in the world of work.
Consider these facts: half of all of the world’s workers earn less than the equivalent of US$2 per day; 200 million children under the age of 15 work rather than attend school; 2.2 million people each year die because of work-related accidents or illnesses; and 12.3 million people work in slavery. 
 
The ICEM has designated the day as a launching point for its 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries to start earnest efforts to organise into their trade unions contract workers and those employed by labour agencies.
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Elsewhere, national labour centres, trade union federations, and union groupings are embarking on unique and novel – and traditional – means to mark the day. In Canada, for instance, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is sponsoring an event in 13 communities and on university campuses called “Gapzilla,” where youth groups will sell cakes. The cakes will be sold to men for C$1 and to women for C$.68 to highlight the wage disparity in performing equal work.
In Germany, the national centre Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB) will conduct mobilisations, seminars, and draw press attention in several cities to the German federation’s campaign to raise the minimum wage. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the UK will transform its London headquarters to a massive town hall meeting, in which UK trade unions, community groups, and other constituencies will conduct over 50 workshops, films, and exhibits on fair and ethical trade, discrimination and the gender dimension to employment, and on income generation issues. 
<img height="47" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyDGB.gif" width="85"/>
In Ireland, Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) General Secretary David Begg will hold a press conference and the federation will submit articles to Irish newspapers. The ICTU will also engage Ministers of the European Parliament from Ireland over work topics as political issues inside the EU. In Brussels, the ITUC will deliver a “Decent Work/Decent Life” petition to the European Commission on 7 October, while the Belgian labour federation, la Centrale Générale (FGTB/ABVV) will team with CSC/ACV and ACLUB to start a two-year campaign on Decent Work. That will include unique street theatre in cities in Belgium, occurring on the 11th day of each month, on the theme “Workers’ Are No Tools,” in which a replica worker emerges from a giant tool box.
<img height="70" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NorwayFellesforbundet.gif" width="325"/>
In Norway, ICEM affiliate Fellesforbundet, in concert with national centre LO, will conduct a seminar on 30 September in Oslo on the increased use of temporary workers and fixed-term contracts by employers. In Sweden, as well, LO-TCO has planned events for 7 October. 
 
In Spain, national labour federations CC.OO, UGT, and USO will conduct 7 October activities in 13 cities, including manifestations, seminars, and cultural events. In Paris, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), in coordination with French federations, CFDT, CGT, FO, and CFTC, as well as ETUC affiliate UNSA, will hold a rally at 17h00 followed by a concert performed by noteworthy musicians. The event is scheduled for La place des Droits l’homme, behind the Palais de Chaillot near the Trocadéro Metro station. 
 
In Assisi, Italy, the CGIL, CISL, and UILCEM will hold an event. Two events will be held in Russia, a seminar by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) on youth and the direction of work for young persons, and trade unions in Krasnoyarsk will hold a mass meeting on 7 October. A number of labour centres in Central Europe, as well as in Turkey and North Africa will also conduct events. 
 
In Africa, the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions will focus on gender at work and HIV/AIDS in the workplace, while “wage indicator” themes will be featured at media and rally events in other African nations, including South Africa and Zimbabwe. In Latin America, several events are planned in Brazil, as well as in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Activities will also occur in Guatemala, Costa Rico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as well.
<img height="51" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/JapanRengo.jpg" width="206"/>
In Japan, Rengo will use the period 4 to 19 October to focus on a score of international initiatives in the quest for a fairer globalisation. At home, the Japanese federation will press its government to Ratify ILO Convention 111, the Discrimination in Respect to Employment and Occupation Convention, and ILO Convention 105, the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention. In South Korea, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) will conduct a mass rally on 7 October over abolishing precarious work. 
 
Already in Kathmandu, Nepal, the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is underway with a women’s symposium entitled “For Decent Work and a Better South Asia” that has brought together 500 participants from some 14 Asian nations. Conference coordinator and GEFONT Deputy General Secretary Binda Pandey identified common issues relating to Decent Work for women, and the forum pledged to bring the conference’s work plan before the ILO’s 2009 focus on gender equality. The GEFONT conference started on Saturday, 20 September, and concludes today.
<img height="113" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NepalGefont1.jpg" width="120"/>
The ICEM encourages its affiliates, as well as all trade unionists to find an event in their home countries and to participate. A map of country-by-country and city-by-city events can be found <a href="http://www.wddw.org/">here</a>.

Global Activities Mount as World Day for Decent Work, 7 October, Approaches

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