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The Thai Industrial Gases Labour Union (TIGLU), part of ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemicals Workers&rsquo; Federation of Thailand (PCFT), benefited from a two-day training course presented by the German union, IGBCE, in Saraburi province, Thailand. The union achieved a new collective agreement with Linde at 13 Thai worksites immediately after, indicating the success of the workshop. 
 
The agreement, signed last week on 20 April and running for three years, will see Linde pay 50% to the provident fund for workers with one-to-two years&rsquo; service, and 100% after two years. It also grants three days of paid paternity leave and increases the number of holidays for more senior workers. 
 
Paid union leave was also won, which will prove valuable for trade union leaders in training and labour education, and health care coverage is now extended to retirees until the end of the calendar year in which they retire. TIGLU has had a rather contentious relationship with Linde Thai management, and the IGBCE training is seen as perhaps a benchmark toward a new, more positive relationship. 
 
The new agreement covers 851 workers at the 13 workplaces.
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="180" />
The 16-17 April training was a follow-up to last year&rsquo;s founding of an Asia-Pacific Network of Workers for trade unions of Linde, a German-based global producer of industrial gases. 
 
The training was expertly organised by Yoon Hyowon, ICEM Asia-Pacific Project Coordinator, and included IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Wolters presenting an explanation of the German system of collective agreements and how to improve relationships with management. ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath also participated.
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="180" />
The workshop provided information on trade unions, the labour laws and political situation in Thailand, and a writing session to improve the writing skills of TIGLU colleagues. Further, Wolters organised a work group to prioritise bargaining demands and to gather collective arguments related to each demand. 
 
All 18 participants from TIGLU felt secure in their upcoming arguments with management and gained realisation of the German management perspective. TIGLU and Linde&rsquo;s prior 21-month collective agreement expired on 21 March.

German IGBCE’s Training with Thai Union Ends in New Linde CBA

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

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Ammattiliitto Pro, ICEM&rsquo;s salaried workers&rsquo; trade union affiliate in Finland, is asking that white-collar workers at several paper companies not take on extra work in the coming weeks. The union seeks such global unity as it begins its third wave of lawful strikes next week, and continues ones tomorrow against the intransigent employers of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
The request also comes after government conciliator Esa Lonka today was unable to shape a compromise proposal because of FFIF intransigence in official mediation in Finland. It was the third consecutive week that employers failed to resolve a downward spiralling labour dispute by not recognising the unfair job demands on 4,000 clerical, technical, and front-line supervisory personnel. 
 
Because of redundancies and speed-ups over the past several years in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, Pro members are asked to work more without adequate compensation, or without recognition of higher job competencies. 
 
In addition to an overtime ban across all pulp and paper companies, strikes that began on 26 April by 1,500 Pro members are continuing this week at Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, and Mets&auml; Tissue and a renewed strike will begin tomorrow by 1,000 salaried workers at UPM. 
 
That strike will begin at 06h00 on 4 May and run until 06h00 on 7 May. It is the second strike action against UPM &ndash; the first one running from 6-20 April &ndash; and production at UPM&rsquo;s six mills, as well at an administration centre in Tempere and an export facility at the port of Kotka will again be affected. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro expects employers to try to break the strike by bringing in replacement workers, moving administrative work elsewhere, and to continue to bully Pro members in order to get them to ignore the overtime ban and strike actions. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands">ICEM report</a> here.) 
 
&ldquo;Pro appeals for solidarity from workers of UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, and Sappi in other countries not to perform any extra work of the type covered by the strikes, as the companies seek to break the strike by transferring the work abroad,&rdquo; said the union. 
 
The ICEM is calling on paperworkers throughout the world to support Ammattiliitto Pro in this critical dispute in Finland, and to monitor the administrative, financial, services workload in these pulp and paper companies in order to comply with the union&rsquo;s request. Also, notes of solidarity should be sent to Pro President <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, and collective bargaining directors <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen</a> and <a href="mailto:Jari.uschanov@proliitto.fi">Jari Uschanov</a>.

Mediation Fails in Finnish Paper Strike; Strikes Continue

The Building &amp; Woodworkers' International (BWI), followed by the ICEM, is targeting a message campaign at Holcim Cement, prior to the Swiss company's Annual General Meeting this week.
Please join that campaign by hitting the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN&amp;send=1">BWI link</a> here to register your protest against Holcim and its anti-social labour policies in India.
Thank you.
ICEM Pulp &amp; Paper Sector
&nbsp;

Joint BWI, ICEM Message Protest at Holcim Cement

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The ICEM Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), announced on 1 May that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), is the 2011 recipient of the Arthur Svensson International Award for Union Rights. 
 
Sae&rsquo;d becomes the second recipient of the Svensson Award. Wellington Chibebe, the Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions (ZCTU), won the award in 2010, which comes with a NOK 500,000 (&euro;60,000) cash prize. 
 
In selecting Sae&rsquo;d and the Palestinian national labour centre, IE said, &ldquo;PGTU fights for better understanding of the importance of union rights in the Palestinian self-government administration. They also work for Israel to stop the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the illegal settlements.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="253" height="169" />
Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, General Secretary of the PGFTU
Some 30 individuals and organisation were nominated for the award in 2011, which will be presented at a dinner and ceremony in Oslo on 16 June. The award is named after Arthur Svensson, a leader of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged in 2006 with the Petroleum and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF) to create IE. 
 
Svensson died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted global peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
Noting the fact that Shaher Sae&rsquo;d has been imprisoned a number of times, and his own safety and that of his family have been at risk several times, the selection committee said Sae&rsquo;d &ldquo;has shown outstanding leadership of the Palestinian trade union movement, while the political and financial framework has made this work especially difficult. 
 
&ldquo;The Palestinian people have fought against occupation, as well as an independent state for over 60 years. Under the leadership of Shaher Sae&rsquo;d, PGFTU has shown a will for dialogue and has refused to isolate any Palestinian groups, including Hamas. He has been open to a dialogue and cooperation with Histadrut, the organisation of trade unions in Israel.&rdquo;

Palestine’s Shaher Sae’d Winner of Norwegian Arthur Svensson Union Rights Award

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Fifteen United Steelworkers (USW) branches in 11 US states last week ratified a new master agreement with International Paper (IP) by a 73% vote count, the union announced. The four-year agreement covers 6,800 workers at 15 pulp and paper mills, and it now builds on a first master agreement covering multiple workplaces of IP that was achieved in August 2007. 
 
The agreement, to take effect in August, includes wage increases of 1% in 2011, 2% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% effective on 31 August 2014. It also includes improvements in a defined benefit pension plan, and lump sum payments into an existing employee savings plan of US$1,000 each in 2012 and 2014. 
<img src="" width="369" height="151" alt="" />
USW Bargaining Committee
In addition, the agreement spells out stabilisation over health care costs, and provides job security, mainly through a &ldquo;successorship clause.&rdquo; That means that if IP sells any of the 15 mills, the new owner must retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective agreement. 
USW Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads collective bargaining for the union in the pulp and paper sector, said the IP agreement continues a historic achievement. &ldquo;In the past,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;our locals bargained site by site, even though most companies approach bargaining as part of a national strategy.&rdquo; 
 
Geenen added: &ldquo;The success of our local unions here sets a precedent for bargaining in the rest of the industry.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="125" height="165" />
USW VP Jon Geenen
The agreement came together in late March and early April after nearly a year of planning and strategic meetings. It culminated in face-to-face discussions in New Orleans, Louisiana, early last month in which an 80-person USW bargaining committee participated. &ldquo;One of the main benefits of all the locals bargaining together at the same time is that everyone gets a voice in shaping the package,&rdquo; said Geenen. 
 
The USW has a similar master accord with IP in the paper converting industry, covering 2,800 workers at 32 paper-converting plants of the company in 18 US states. The first master agreement in converting came into effect in 2008 and expires in 2012.

Steelworkers Renew Master Labour Pact with International Paper in US

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	Sintracarb&oacute;n at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n is held up as a strong example of positive industrial relations, with tough collective bargaining achieving considerable protections for 4,000 direct employees at Colombia&rsquo;s largest coal mines, and stable communications channels between workers and management.&nbsp; Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s fight now is over the basic rights of outsourced contract workers at the largest set of coal mines in the world, a joint venture of three multinational mining conglomerates, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and AngloAmerican.

	First adopting a policy to fight outsourcing in 2008, Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s initial research noted the strategic policies of multinational corporations (MNCs) to increasingly outsource employment and weaken workers&rsquo; job security, social benefits, wage levels, and ability to organise and bargain collectively.&nbsp;

	The research also discovered that over 50% of workers at MNCs operating in Colombia are employed through contract companies, and that these workers had considerably lower standards of employment and no collective agreements.&nbsp; Almost every attempt by Contract or Agency Labour (CAL) workers to reach a collective agreement in Colombia prior to 2008 had been met with mass dismissals.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 201px;height: 135px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	At Cerrej&oacute;n, 6,000 of the total 11,000 workers are precariously employed by contractors.&nbsp; In the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, Sintracarb&oacute;n achieved a clause stating that Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management is &ldquo;committed to ensuring respect for the unionisation of all workers, including CAL workers.&rdquo;

	The first attempt to organise CAL workers, in 2010, was at the company that provides transportation to the mine workers, SOTRANS.&nbsp; The effort of 500 members of SINTRANS was crushed with mass dismissals and harassment.

	The second attempt was at Chaneme, a company conducting maintenance of heavy machinery. &nbsp;This effort was successful and 50 workers remain under a CBA as members of Sintrachaneme.

	Through Sinaltrainal, a national union, employees of food supplier Aramark won a collective agreement for 200 workers in March 2011.

	Over recent months, mechanics at EPROFQ and ASEOCOLBA also have won struggles and achieved collective agreements.&nbsp; In the case, of EPROFQ the convention was signed after an eight-day strike.

	ICEM affiliates at glass supplier Ross and at Prodeco have also won victories over short-term, casual employment, bringing the total to 1,560 CAL workers organised in Colombia in ICEM sectors.

Sintracarbón, Colombian Unions Make Big Strides in Organising Against Outsourcing

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	The 20 February shooting at strikers &ndash; mainly women &ndash; of the KaoWay Sports Ltd. footwear factory in Bavet, Svey Rieng province, Cambodia, appears to have been committed by the governor of Bavet region, Chhouk Bandith. Three women were shot and seriously wounded after a man dressed in police-style khakis got out of a vehicle and began firing at people.

	The factory produces shoes primarily for the German apparel company Puma. According to ITGLWF affiliate, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers&rsquo; Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), thousands of the 6,000 employed at the factory engaged in strike action on 17-18 February. When strikes resumed on 20 February, Chhouk Bandith allegedly jumped out of a Lexus 470 with a bodyguard and a policeman upon exiting the factory and fired shots from a high-power gun equipped with silencer at strikers.

	After firing, he fled in a Toyota Camry and truckloads of police moved in to quell disbelieving and angry strikers. Police have questioned Chhouk Bandith, and C.CAWDU believes he was held for three days, but has since been released.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Chhouk Bandith

	The entire incident, occurring about 09h00, was captured by a KaoWay factory security camera. Puma has been conducting its own investigation since the outset, together with an NGO.&nbsp;

	Buot Chinda, 21, was shot through the chest with bullets that narrowly missed her heart and severely punctured her lung. She was near death, but now is in stable but serious condition at a Phnom Penh hospital. The two other women who were shot and injured are Keo Neth, 18, and Nuth Sakhorn, 23.&nbsp;

	A senior ILO official, who monitors a programme called Better Factories Cambodia, said in press comments, &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look good for Cambodia when this type of violence is concerned.&rdquo;

	Puma&rsquo;s shoe workers, employed by Taiwanese-based KaoWay, were striking over better transport and food allowances, and better pay and conditions overall. Due to the industrial action &ndash; and Puma&rsquo;s rapid response to the random violence &ndash; the strike has ended and all workers&rsquo; demands have been met in full.

	The strike and shootings had a different scenario at a separate Cambodian dispute, this one at Singapore-based Medtecs, a health textiles and apparel maker located in Kampong Siem district, some 125 kilometres from Bavet. While 2,000 strikers pelted the factory with rocks, police at the scene were unarmed and at stand-down because of the KaoWay shootings.

	The Medtecs strike was over the company failing to live up to decisions handed down by a binding Arbitration Council. It has been resolved due to the strike action.

Cambodian Public Official Accused in Shooting of Footwear Strikers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Trade unions from around the world agree on plans to establish IndustriALL Global Union in June 2012, a new global union to represent workers in manufacturing, energy,&nbsp;mining,&nbsp;and textile sectors at the global level.

	Meeting at the ILO in Geneva on 29 February, more than 200 trade union leaders from around the world spoke of the serious challenges working people face in the current political and economic climate. Having greater strength and building power across the supply chain at the global level is the motivating force for the creation of the new global union.

	The new organization will bring together affiliates of International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF).

	The joint executive committee meeting of the ICEM, ITGLWF and IMF discussed the draft Statutes and Action Plan for the new organization and agreed on the proposed new name IndustriALL and logo.

	The joint meeting noted the proposed candidates for the political leadership of the new organization. The importance of including women in both the political leadership and representative structures of the new global union was argued for and included in the proposed Statutes.

	A founding Congress of the new organization will take place in Copenhagen, 18-20 June 2012. The proposed name, Statutes and Action Plan will be decided on at the founding Congress.

IndustriALL Name of New Global Union Federation

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 59px" width="390" />

	Union members, affiliated to Unite the Union in the UK, rejected 5 March a redundancy proposal from Austrian packaging company Mayr-Melnhof that would have ended a 19-day lockout at a plant in Merseyside, near Liverpool. Workers rejected it 138-1 largely because management still insists on its own discretionary powers in disbursing redundancy packages to 49 workers.

	Unite has escalated a campaign against the Vienna-based paper carton and packaging company primarily because Mayr-Melnhof has retracted and reduced buy-out terms in this set of talks, and has substantially broken from redundancy pay-outs and terms commonly established in past consultations.

	In talks on 29 February and again on 3 March, the company proposed a social fund to bridge the difference paid in its 2008 and 2010 layoffs, with lesser packages offered now. But the social fund would be discretionary, based on subjective criteria unilaterally set by the company, which underscores Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s bargaining posture throughout this set of 2012 talks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 160px;height: 97px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Workers at the Bootle, Merseyside, plant began lawful industrial actions on 10 February over Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s intransigence with six-hour &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; &nbsp;Walkouts rotated from 06h to noon, and from noon to 18h. On 18 February, managers locked workers out and began manoeuvring to move equipment and product out of the factory.

	Workers then entered the factory and staged a shop-floor sit-in to prevent removal. Despite several sets of talks since, Mayr-Melnhof has steadfastly resisted any workable compromise proposed by Unite, and the lockout has continued.

	The union has brought the dispute to Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s Packaging Division workers in Germany, and the ICEM has issued a call for <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4918-Packaging-Workers-Need-Support-">Solidarity Action</a>, which can be viewed and acted upon here. Trade unionists inside the company&rsquo;s Karton Division, led by Austrian affiliate PRO-GE, have brought attention to the company&rsquo;s hostile UK labour relations inside Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s eight European paper mills, and PRO-GE has also protested loudly to CEO Wilhelm Hoermansedar.

	Unite, meanwhile, is preparing an industrial ballot at Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s other UK packaging plant, in Deeside, North Wales, on grounds that the company is worsening redundancy terms and conditions from previously agreed. The Bootle plant produces food packaging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to pet food packaging, with Kellogg&rsquo;s the plant&rsquo;s biggest customer.

Mayr-Melnhof Lockout Continues at UK Packaging Plant

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