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U nion members at Imerys in Sylacauga, Alabama, reaffirmed their commitment to ICEM affiliate Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy (PACE) Workers Union 21 January by voting to retain the union. Workers voted 233-108 for union representation in a decertification ballot under US labour law. 
 
Imerys is a French-based producer of building and construction materials. PACE and ICEM took Imerys on in 1999-2000 when the firm purchased a non-union plant adjacent to its PACE-represented one in Sylacauga. The company claimed the combined workforce no longer wanted union representation and orchestrated a petition that allows the US government to conduct a &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; vote. For the second time, workers have now voted for the union. 
 
&quot;It is unfortunate that Imerys has not changed its anti-union position,&quot; said PACE Vice President Don Langham, a member of ICEM's Presidium. &quot;We are prepared to restart the global campaign unless the company's behavior changes.&quot; 
 
PACE and ICEM successfully took on Imerys in 1999-2000 over local management's combined workforce scheme. The two labour unions brought the Alabama dispute before Imerys workers in France, Belgium, Australia and UK. The dispute became the focal point at the company's AGM in Paris. And prior to the June 2000 vote by workers, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs visited Sylacauga and pledged to make &quot;it so hot&quot; for Imerys that it would want a &quot;solution.&quot; The global pressure softened management's resolve, and workers became less burdened and more in tune with making a free and open-minded choice. 
 
Workers then overwhelmingly voted for PACE and a three-year labour agreement was negotiated. 
 
As the contract expired, local Imerys managers used US labour law to revert to their old form. With the three-year contract expiring in early 2004, they bombarded workers with blatant anti-union materials and rhetoric at home and at work. 
 
&quot;Since we have been through the first election and contract negotiations, we have attempted time and time again to build a strong work relationship with Imerys,&quot; said PACE Local 3/516 President Keith Fulbright. &quot;Unfortunately, local management is still intent on destroying any relationship with their employees.&quot; 
 
ICEM and its affiliates throughout the company's global operations will be closely following future developments in Sylacauga.

PACE Again Wins Imerys Election

A week before the Thai government holds a public hearing on privatisation of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the 20-million-member ICEM has again questioned the logic of privatizing an essential service and is asking for specific criteria if the government's plan moves forward. 
 
In a call to all 400 ICEM affiliates in 120 nations to protest the spin-off of the public power industry into shares of a holding company-and in a second letter to Prime Minister Dr. Thaskin Sinawatra-the ICEM has again reinforced the position of Thai affiliate EGAT-LU that it be heard on the matter. The ICEM's Asia-Pacific Region has already urged affiliates comprising the ICEM's Asia-Pacific Electric Power Network to voice opposition. 
 
&quot;It is a matter of public record that our affiliate strongly desires that EGAT remain a state-owned utility with a public mandate to provide a reliable, affordable and accessible service,&quot; wrote ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs to Dr. Sinawatra. 
 
Thailand's government is acting to privatise electric power under its 1999 Corporatisation Act, a measure designed to satisfy an economic reform programme designed by the International Monetary Fund following the Asian economic fallout of the mid-1990s. But the government had refused to meet with leaders of EGAT-LU over the issue until late last year when it set up a tripartite committee. The Finance Ministry's representative to this committee had no real decision-making power, the union quickly learned. 
 
The public hearing set for 25 January is seen as a final effort to appease the union representing the interests of 17,600 workers employed by the utility. The government has set a target date of first quarter 2004 when the holding company will be officially registered and shares of it are listed on Thailand's stock exchange. 
 
Higgs, in reaffirming EGAT-LU's position on the inevitable, said a set of principles must be adhered to in the structural transfer of the power industry: the process must be transparent and democratic; Thailand retain a majority equity of EGAT; domestic investment be encouraged and made a priority; price regulation be stable and affordable to workers and the poor; job security be guaranteed; EGAT-LU be fully involved in the transition; Union leadership be given the facilities to consult freely with workers and to report to workers on negotiations over the transition; and full agreement be reached before the new policy is implemented. 
 
Higgs added: &quot;&hellip; our members and the public at large oppose your current policies and are extremely concerned. The ICEM fully shares these concerns and together with our brothers and sisters in the Asia-Pacific Electric Power Network, we are keenly awaiting the outcome of your consultations and negotiations with EGAT-LU. We believe if your government follows the above recommended approach of dialogue, your policies stand a better chance of achieving credibility &hellip;&quot; 
 
EGAT-LU is planning to have over 1,000 workers attend the public hearing. The union and other unions representing public sector employees will conduct a mass rally on 30 January seeking government revision of some 11 economic reform bills in which privatisation aspects are part of. 
 
Higgs is asking all ICEM affiliates to register opposition to Thai privatisation initiatives and voice support for EGAT-LU's position. The global union federation is specifically calling on energy and power affiliates in some 65 countries-representing 9 million workers-to make a stand against privatisation with EGAT-LU.

ICEM Again Protests Thai Electric Privatisation

A global call for support and attention directed at one the world's leading glass producers halted a Colombian labour dispute, giving ICEM affiliate Sintravidricol a new two-year collective agreement with that country's number one glass maker. 
 
Peldar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of leading US glass manufacturer Owens Illinois agreed to the labour contract at its four plants on the eve of a strike and after ICEM and affiliates lodged official protests to the company over negligent labour practices in Colombia. 
 
Sindravidricol had a collective agreement in place with Peldar since 1999 but following Owens Illinois purchases of other glass operations, Peldar refused to negotiate a current contract. The Colombian glass union had continuously requested dialogue on social issues, but the efforts were rebuffed. 
 
Last week, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs contacted Peldar's management urging resolution, and that came after a pointed letter arrived at the firm's Colombian headquarters from ICEM's Latin America/Caribbean regional office. 
 
Simultaneously, the Flint/Glass Industry Conference of the United Steelworkers of America and other US glass unions, meeting in Pennsylvania, protested directly to Owens Illinois co-CEOs Terry Wilkinson and Thomas Young. 
 
&quot;In spite of the company's positive financial results, Peldar refuses to discuss the union's ideas and initiatives to improve working conditions,&quot; wrote Flint/Glass Conference Chairman Timothy Tuttle. &quot;Our respective organizations in North America have always enjoyed a productive and progressive working relationship that has been mutually beneficial. It is beyond my comprehension why you would not embrace the same relationship with Glass Workers in Colombia.&quot; 
 
The attention-plus Sintravidricol members commencing plans for strike actions-convinced Peldar to negotiate. The union lauded the agreement reached 9 January that gives workers a first-year 8.8% wage increase (retroactive to 21 November 2003) and a second-year hike equal to the Colombian consumer cost index plus 1%. In addition, Sintravidricol won bonuses for education and for health. 
 
&quot;We're thankful for the support of the workers, their conviction and their strength to defend their rights in the face of extreme circumstances,&quot; said Sintravidricol's Peldar Unit President Luis Fernando Pel&aacute;ez Montoya. &quot;In the same way, we recognize and thank most sincerely the international and national organizations who brought support. There is not doubt that this agreement is a triumph for workers and for the union.&quot; 
 
Peldar is the leading glassmaker in Brazil, Peru and Colombia, as well the second biggest in Venezuela, Ecuador and Puerto Rico, and its brands comprise the largest supply chain of glassware and tableware in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

<a href="/index.php?id=77&amp;la=PT&amp;doc=1114">Click here for the Portuguese version of this ICEM News release</a>

Glass Affiliate in Colombia Wins Major Victory

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A comprehensive study entitled &ldquo;Temporary Agency Work and Collective Bargaining in the EU&rdquo; expertly lays out the many differences in the 27-member union on laws and regulations, the broad shapes temporary work takes from country to country, and collects vital collective bargaining data on an issue that is the world&rsquo;s biggest threat to decent work. 
 
The study was compiled by surveying 28 national labour centres last March. It was done by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). The research was done by Eurofound&rsquo;s European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO). 
 
The 48-page study can be found in pdf <a href="http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/docs/eiro/tn0807019s/tn0807019s.pdf">here</a>. 
The study charts agency work growth, country by country, from 2004 to 2007, both in numbers of workers and in revenue growth and it also graphs male, female ratios, and percentages in young and old workers. 

<img height="79" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Regarding laws relating to agency work, the study includes Norway&rsquo;s 1977 Work Environment Law as the earliest statute on the books in greater Europe. The late 1980s witnessed Belgium, Austria, and Portugal adopting statutes. Eurofound&rsquo;s study finds that today, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Malta are without clear legal frameworks. 
 
In Bulgaria, trade unions and businesses have sought a legal remedy for the triangular employment relationship, but disagreements on content in any proposed law has prevented passage both in 2006 and 2008. In Estonia and Lithuania, legislation is non-existent but there are licensing systems for agency labour firms. The study also points out that in Denmark, uniquely, strict regulation occurs inside the social dialogue process. The Danish model is considered by many to be the most evolved. 
 
In late October 2008, the European Parliament passed the Directive on Temporary Agency Work, premised on the principle of equal treatment for temporary workers. &ldquo;Temporary Agency Work and Collective Bargaining in the EU&rsquo;s&rdquo; value, clearly, can be found in the fact that this Directive allows countries to have exemptions or derogations, specifically with collective bargaining and social dialogue between partners. 
 
The study cites 10 countries that have umbrella employer associations which bargain collectively with trade unions on behalf of temp agency firms. All 10 are original EU member states. The study also says that, nearly without exception, there is not any role defined for collective bargaining in regulating temp work in the new member states. 
 
The survey of labour organisations cites 10 countries with having estimates of trade union density for agency workers. It ranges from Denmark (50%) and Finland (44%), to Slovenia (0.18%), France (0.9%), Italy (1.4-1.7%), to Austria and Luxembourg (5% each), and the Netherlands (17%). In Sweden, a difference is noted between white-collar (17%) and blue-collar (50%), the latter figure, the study says, &ldquo;might reflect higher exposure to trade unions in the user companies.&rdquo; 
 
The study notes that the CGT in France was the earliest to sign a collective agreement with a temp firm &ndash; Manpower in 1968 &ndash; and that all three Italian trade union organisations (CGIL, CISL, UIL) established, in the late 1990s, internal units to represent temporary workers. It says the trend now in most countries is for agency workers to join the trade union closest to their sector or job. 
The study contains scores of useful pieces of information, best characterising the broad effects the issue paints across all worklife in EU countries. In Austria and Germany, for instance, agency work is found more often in the blue-collar jobs of metalworking and manufacturing. In Finland, some two-thirds of agency workers are employed by firms for less than a year, with an average assignment of 94 days. In Denmark, 13% of the government&rsquo;s &ldquo;work and stay&rdquo; permissions since 2004 have been granted to east Europeans hired through labour agencies. Temporary workers in France have the shortest average work lengths, 1.9 weeks, while in the UK, one in five agency workers have been on a single job&nbsp;for an average of&nbsp;18 months. 
 
Eurofound&rsquo;s 2008 study compilation, done by its EIRO research arm, is a valuable document in terms of developing a substantive view on the effects and proliferation of agency labour in Europe.

Temp Agency Work in EU Clearly Defined in Eurofound Study

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Representatives of the ICEM affiliate, Associated Mineworkers Union of Zimbabwe (AMWZ), will meet with the Chamber of Mines on Thursday 15 January, to put forward their demand to be paid in United States dollars instead of local currency. 
 
Workers are ready to down tools if they receive their next salary payment in Zimbabwe dollars. &ldquo;Mineworkers are reeling in poverty and are starving because they are being paid in local currency when almost everything is being charged in US dollars,&rdquo; stated AMWZ president Tinago Ruzive. &ldquo;The situation is quite bad. If we are not paid in United States dollars, we will go on a collective job action.&rdquo; 

<img height="140" alt="" src="" width="140" />
The mining industry in Zimbabwe is in a near-critical condition, especially in the gold sector where the Reserve Bank is said to owe miners at least US$30 million backdated to 2007. Mining industry management has called the union&rsquo;s ultimatum irrational and unrealistic, considering the current crisis. Ruzive responded, arguing that workers have the right to a decent wage. 
 
Salaries in the local currency do not represent a decent wage as it is no longer being accepted for commercial purposes. This near total dollarization of the economy has rendered the local currency virtuously worthless. 
 
Should the miners decide to strike, they will join the country&rsquo;s teachers and nurses who have been on strike since late 2008.

Zimbabwean Miners Demand Payment in US Dollars

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Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union&rsquo;s (CFMEU) fight to preserve mining jobs against a MNC&rsquo;s callousness, making workers the victims of an economic downturn, got a ruling in the Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) last week. That ruling, delivered on 8 January, calls for a one-week consultation period &ndash; beginning today &ndash; in which Xstrata must justify its ill-taken decision to sack 230 coal miners at Oaky Creek No. 1 Mine in Queensland. 
 
The case stands as a key test in Australia regarding a company shifting the burden of the recent economic collapse onto workers. CFMEU is not alone at present in fiercely resisting job cuts because of a failed neo-liberal economic agenda. From Russia to Chile, at Europe&rsquo;s largest zinc deposits in Ireland&rsquo;s County Meath, where 670 were retrenched by Tara Mines, to the hundreds of thousands of migrant miners across the world who are out of work with no place to go, it is workers who are paying the unjust price of capital&rsquo;s failure. 
 
The CFMEU fightback is just one example of the necessary, the pivotally necessary response that is needed to re-shape a social agenda. 
 
In Bolivia, the FSTMB mine union federation staged protests on 9 January calling on the country&rsquo;s leftist government to allow no layoffs. That came just after Xstrata&rsquo;s holding partner &ndash; Swiss-based Glencore International &ndash; announced job cuts of 700 zinc and lead mines, and at the Sinchi Wayra smelting plant. Workers threatened to take over the operations if the sackings came. 

<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="140" />
In Brazil, iron ore miners of Vale stopped work last Thursday, 8 January, at a mine in Itabira over the mining company&rsquo;s decision to retrench 1,300 jobs. Itabira, in Minas Gerais state, is where Vale was founded. Mining union Metabase says that as many as 10,000 miners could lose their jobs in Brazil because of economic cuts. 
 
In South Africa, estimates say that 40,000 miners could be out work through 2009 because of the economic meltdown. Many will be migrant workers. ICEM and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) President Senzeni Zokwana predicted the social impact of such sudden and unprecedented joblessness will be far-reaching and disturbing. 

<img height="117" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM President Senzeni Sokwana
In Australia on 16 December, Anglo-Swiss Xstrata levelled a surprise on the 1,800-person town of Tieri, central Queensland, by announcing that the jobs of miners at one part of Oaky Creek&rsquo;s rich coal seams would be indefinitely suspended. 
 
ICEM-affiliated CFMEU took the matter to the AIRC to prevent the sackings. In arbitration hearings on 22 December, and again from 6-7 January in Brisbane, CFMEU argued that Xstrata&rsquo;s price drops are a speck in comparison with its recent coal pricing history has reverted only to early 2008 thermal coal prices to meet slowing demand from the steel industry. Xstrata has an industry-wide reputation, especially over Oaky Creek&rsquo;s high-quality coking coal, of driving prices upward in tight markets, thus making it the industry&rsquo;s price-setter during boom times. 
 
The CFMEU sought a four-week period for the consultative process. The AIRC gave the process a week to work. The CFMEU seeks to get Xstrata to place retrenched workers in its other Queensland operations, specifically Oaky Creek North, a separate longwall operation. The company resists. The union has charged Xstrata with stonewalling the AIRC process, relying on former Howard government work laws to justify its privilege to inflict social degradation on workers. 
 
&ldquo;Xstrata has chosen to take advantage of John Howard&rsquo;s WorkChoices laws and argues heartlessly that they are not required to afford workers natural justice in the redundancy process,&rdquo; said CFMEU Mining and Energy Vice President Stuart Vaccaneo. &ldquo;This really is corporate cowboy stuff.&rdquo; 
 
For the company&rsquo;s part, in December, a spokesman called CFMEU guilty of political posturing by wasting the AIRC&rsquo;s time in bringing the legal case. Vaccaneo called that the &ldquo;height of arrogance,&rdquo; given what 230 Queensland families face. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about politics&mdash;it&rsquo;s about the future of (these) workers and their families.&rdquo; 
 
Following the 8 January AIRC ruling mandating this week as the week for labour-management consultation, a company spokesman said Xstrata will talk to the union, but &ldquo;we have appropriately managed those people&rdquo; affected. 
 
Some 450 job cuts were announced in December in Queensland. Although the Xstrata Oaky Creek case is the most high profile one, other mining enterprises in the region like Macarthur Coal Ltd. and Oz Minerals, a zinc producer, have also fired miners. 
 
Oaky Creek, first starting production in 1983, was bought by Xstrata when it took over MIM Holdings in 2003. Xstrata owns 55% of Oaky Creek, while Japanese companies Sumisho Coal, Itocho Coal, and ICRA OC Ltd. hold remaining ownership. Oaky Creek exports 11 million metric tonnes annually to steel mills in Europe, Japan, and North and South America.

Xstrata, CFMEU in Australia Battle Over Mining Jobs in Economic Downturn

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Find this article in Arabic <a href="/index.php?id=78&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=2994">here</a>.
The first cargo plane full of humanitarian supplies for the people of Gaza landed last week, 8 January, at Al-Areesh, Egypt, courtesy of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF). Both the ITF and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are actively engaged in trade union relief operations to deliver food, water, and medical assistance to Gaza, following nearly three weeks bombing by Israel.
The supplies, collected from transport trade unions and other across the Middle East, were passed to the Red Crescent in Gaza. ITF Representative for the Arab World, Bilal Malkawi, also chief leader of Jordan&rsquo;s General Trade Union of Workers in Air Transport and Tourism, supervised a cargo that included mostly vital medical supplies purchased by the ITF. 

<img height="141" alt="" src="" width="130" />
Bilal Malkawi was aboard the aircraft as it landed in Egypt late last week. The ITF-affiliated union has headed up the collection of essential supplies that were transported on Royal Jordanian planes, donated by the airline for the cause. Further relief flights will follow. 
 
&ldquo;We hope that this will be the first of several mercy flights carrying humanitarian supplies,&rdquo; said ITF General Secretary David Cockroft. &ldquo;Vital though these medical supplies are, they do not lessen in any way the need for an immediate cease fire in Gaza.&rdquo; 

<img height="90" alt="" src="" width="150" />
The ICEM called for an immediate cease fire in a statement issued on 31 December. &ldquo;The loss of innocent Palestinian lives is deplorable, and an immediate and fully respected ceasefire by both Israel and Hamas is now clearly the only way forward,&rdquo; the&nbsp;ICEM statement read.&nbsp; 
 
Labour groups worldwide, particularly in the Middle East, have condemned Israel&rsquo;s disproportionate attacks on Gaza. Late last week, the ICEM-affiliated General Trade Union of Public Utilities of Egypt issued a call for the international community &ldquo;to exercise and exert pressure on Israel to bring an end to Palestinian suffering, and to stop the violent and atrocious aggression on the armless people of Gaza.&rdquo; 

<img height="95" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ITUC is working in cooperation with national labour centres in Palestine and Jordan (the PGFTU and GFJTU) to bring trade union aid for Gaza&rsquo;s citizens. The ITUC has set up an account called &ldquo;Trade Union Aid for Gaza.&rdquo; Information on bank transfer donations can call +32 2 224 0211 for information. 
 
Union wishing to contribute to the ITF, Jordanian Air Transport Workers Union efforts can do so by contacting Bilal at <a href="mailto:malkaw_bilal@itf.org.uk">malkaw_bilal@itf.org.uk</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Relief Aid Begins Reaching Gaza through ITF and ITUC Efforts

Calling it a &ldquo;complete and total victory,&rdquo; ICEM Vice President and Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union President Dave Coles said today that CEP Local 175 ratified a three-year labour agreement yesterday with Petro-Canada, ending a 57-week lockout at a refinery in the Canadian province of Quebec. 
 
&ldquo;The pattern agreement for the CEP&rsquo;s National Energy Bargaining Programme has been achieved, the employer has recognized this programme, and we can now truly call this a major victory for both the international and national labour movements,&rdquo; said Coles. 
 
The 260 members of CEP Local 175 at the Montr&eacute;al refinery voted on 23 December by 94.6% to approve the retroactive contract.
<img height="266" src="" width="200" alt="" />
CEP Local 175 Members Were&nbsp;Solid in&nbsp;Their Resolve to Achieve the Canadian Oil and&nbsp;Gas Pattern Agreement&nbsp;
Coles said the mediated settlement contains a commitment by both sides to undertake measures to improve the labour relationship between CEP and Petro-Canada at all locations across the country. The two sides began private mediation early in December with Special Mediator Lucien Bouchard, Premier of Quebec from 1996 to 2001, in efforts to resolve the lockout, which began on 17 November 2007. 
 
The mediated settlement preserves the pattern labour agreement in Canada&rsquo;s oil, gas, and petrochemicals industry, thus granting Local 175 members a basket-full of wage and benefit improvements at year end 2008. 
 
They will receive a retroactive pay increase of 5% dating to 1 February 2007, with further increases of 4.5% in 2008, and 4.5% on 1 February 2009. In addition, each worker will receive a C$4,000 bonus, an accrued holiday or vacation payment averaging C$6,000, and a 2007 profit-sharing payment of C$3,800. 
 
Petro-Canada dropped a demand to eliminate the refinery&rsquo;s health and safety prevention officer; its proposal to accelerate a training programme that would place safety at greater risk; and backed away from plans to alter shift schedules and job assignments.
<img height="160" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&nbsp;CEP President Dave Coles 
 

The settlement provides for an automatic extension of the collective agreement when it expires on 1 February 2010 based on the CEP&rsquo;s National Energy Bargaining agreement with the company at its Edmonton, Alberta, refinery. 
 
Coles credits the start of a nationwide boycott against Petro-Canada&rsquo;s retail products, as well as vast support both from CEP members, and from union members throughout the world, with bringing the company to terms of the pattern agreement. 
 
&ldquo;It was clear that the world&rsquo;s trade unions were pulling in behind our courageous members of Local 175,&rdquo; said Coles. &ldquo;We had international support from energy unions around the globe organized by our international federation, ICEM. There is no doubt that this outcome owes much to this watershed of labour solidarity that was organized in support of our members.&rdquo; 
 
The other message, Coles said, is that boycotts work. &ldquo;Canadians from all trade unions had begun executing a flawless boycott, and the company took notice.&rdquo;
<img height="263" src="" width="350" alt="" />
ICEM's Manfred Warda, left,&nbsp;in Ottawa with CEP members&nbsp;
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, who had walked the picket line at the Montr&eacute;al refinery, as well as protested at company petrol stations in Ottawa, extended the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s congratulations to the CEP and Local 175. 
 
&ldquo;This is a tremendous victory. The perseverance and resolve of the 260 refinery workers to protect 40 years of pattern bargaining &ndash; backed by CEP members across Canada &ndash; is an inspiration to us all,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;This will be acclaimed by energy trade unions across the world.&rdquo; 
 
The back to work agreement calls for CEP Local 175 members to return to their jobs and begin ramping up production to the refinery&rsquo;s 130,000 barrel-per-day capacity on 12 January 2009. The CEP agreed to drop all legal charges and complaints arising from the dispute.

CEP’s Montréal Refinery Workers Victory ‘Total and Complete,’ Lockout Ends

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With less than 18 months in existence, the Latin American trade union network of Belgian-based Solvay has taken important steps in expanding to other employees in the region. 
 
The third meeting of Brazilian Trade Union Network of the chemicals, pharmaceutical, and plastics multinational was held in S&atilde;o Paulo on 1-3 December, with trade union participates coming from Argentina, Belgium, and the European Works Council of the company, as well as from five Brazilian unions. The meeting was also attended by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan. 
 
The participants discussed the importance of international trade union networking, especially in the face of the global financial crisis and its possible consequences in the world of work. The precariousness of labor relations, such as outsourcing and subcontracting, and the need to ensure the health and safety of workers in all localities were priorities at the meeting. 
 

<img height="148" alt="" src="" width="300" />
&quot;This network has shown a great willingness to grow, adding strength of colleagues from different Latin American plants, so that together we can initiate dialogue with Solvay in order to improve working conditions and the lives of workers,&rdquo; said Juvenil Youth Nunes da Costa, coordinator of the network. 
 
&rdquo;I am very happy to take part in such an important initiative, which is becoming a model for workers&rsquo; solidarity,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;This network has become a success in a very short period of time, and it is clear that we must unify our efforts to combat common problems.&quot; 
 
Among the major decisions taken at the early December meeting was to strengthen the role of representation of the network, along with the role of workers in Solvay&rsquo;s direction in Brazil; disclosure of the network in Argentina so that further extension can occur in other Mercosur countries; dissemination of the commitments on &quot;Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility,&quot; as made by the company to workers in Argentina and Brazil; and drafting a proposal related to a Communication Policy Network. 
 
The next meeting is scheduled to be held in July 2009. The Network of Workers at the Solvay-Brazil Group was created in September 2007, and representation covers the 14 units of the group in the country.

Brazilian Network of Solvay Eyes Latin Expansion

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ICEM South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was joyous with the news that the country&rsquo;s Parliament elected Kgalema Motlanthe as President of the country two weeks ago. Motlanthe, a former NUM staffer and General Secretary, was sworn in on 25 September, replacing Thabo Mbeki who resigned. 
 
He will serve as South Africa&rsquo;s third president in post-apartheid era until at least next year&rsquo;s elections.
<img height="94" alt="" src="" width="140" />
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe 
Considered a master educational strategist and a voice of reason within the now tumultuous landscape of the African National Congress (ANC), Motlanthe stepped into a prominent NUM role in 1987 immediately after serving a 10-year prison sentence for activities within the then-outlawed ANC. He became the union&rsquo;s Education Secretary then, and was the prime architect in shaping the union&rsquo;s strong shop steward system. 
 
In January 1992, he was elected by the NUM&rsquo;s Central Committee to succeed General Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa when Ramaphosa was elected Secretary-General of the ANC. In 1997, he again succeeded the great Ramaphosa at the helm of the ANC, a position held now by former ICEM&nbsp;Executive Committee member&nbsp;and NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe. Motlanthe, now 59, was elected Deputy President of the ANC late last year after Jacob Zuma defeated Mbeki as leader of the ANC. 
 
Motlanthe&rsquo;s tenure at the NUM &ndash; besides building lasting rank-and-file political education programmes &ndash; included negotiating two-year bargaining periods opposite the Chamber of Mines, negotiation terms still intact today. He also pioneered trade union investment mechanisms and was a leading and early proponent on laws vesting mineral rights with the state.
<img height="78" alt="" src="" width="170" />
At age 23 in 1972, Motlanthe when to Mozambique where he joined the banned ANC. He was arrested for 11 months in 1976 for his efforts to organise students, and then a year later began his 10-year prison term at Robben Island, where he was imprisoned with anti-apartheid stalwarts Nelson Mandela, Harry Gwala, Mac Muharaj, and Walter Sisulu, who became his mentor inside the famed lock-up. 
 
At the NUM&rsquo;s Congress in 2004, speaking during his second term as ANC Secretary-General, Motlanthe urged delegates to &ldquo;use the union&rsquo;s structure to enhance the struggles&rdquo; to deal with poverty and to transform a society that defends the rights of workers in order to overcome an economic divide.

NUM Welcomes ‘One of Its Own’ as Acting President of South Africa

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