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US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW) intends to file a lawsuit in a federal courtroom in the state of South Carolina over Giant Cement&rsquo;s improper reporting of hazardous wastes emitted from the company&rsquo;s plant in Harleyville, South Carolina.
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USW claims Giant failed to report the identity and quantity of hazardous wastes burned at the plant, as well as hazardous chemicals used and stored on the jobsite of late. The suit will allege violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986
&nbsp;Giant, a subsidiary of Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas, is operating the cement plant with replacement workers and some 50 of the 138 workers who struck the plant in August 2005. The strike ended on 24 September, but the company has refused to take back the majority of unionised workers.

US Steelworkers File Environment Suit Against Spanish Cement Firm

French multinational Saint-Gobain in Thailand is using contract employees as well as logistics and maintenance workers to continue a lockout at an auto-glass assembly plant in Rayong province.
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After Saint-Gobain Sekurit presented, on 5 January, a pay offer that included an inferior bonus payment for 2005, some 300 workers protested outside the plant. The company locked out the workers the next day.
The plant has increased production since Saint-Gobain Sekurit gained auto-glass assembly contracts from General Motors Holden in Australia last year, a move inspired by the Howard government&rsquo;s free-trade agreement with Thailand that cost 120 jobs at two Pilkington auto-glass factories. The plant also fits glass for Toyota and Ford automobiles.
Thai union members at Saint-Gobain Sekurit, affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers&rsquo; Unions, are facing management proposals calling for reductions in Sunday overtime pay, a reduction from five days to three on &ldquo;private leave,&rdquo; and extending the retirement age.

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

ICEM Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have threatened to pull all oil workers from the Niger Delta unless the government moves to improve security and rebel groups cease using violence to gain political ground. Since four expatriate workers were kidnapped on 11 January at the Shell-operated EA offshore field, a spate of attacks at other installations has killed 22 workers.
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In a joint statement, NUPENG and PENGASSAN said, &ldquo;If the restiveness and consequent harassment and violence on workers in the oil and gas industry persist, we shall not hesitate to withdraw our members in the various oil and gas companies operating in the region.&rdquo;
The unions called on the government to urgently resolve tensions in an amicable way and to use peaceful means to secure the release of abducted oilmen. They also called on kidnappers to release the Shell contract workers, and demanded militia groups to stop the &ldquo;violence unleashed in the Niger Delta on our members, leading to the loss of 22 lives, the taking of oil workers as hostages and the shutting down of a flow station in Benisede in Bayelsa State.&rdquo;

Nigerian Oil Affiliates Seek Halt to Niger Violence

Nepal&rsquo;s despotic monarchy ordered a day-long curfew on 20 January, which prevented planned demonstrations in Kathmandu and neighbouring Lalitpur by pro-democracy political parties, including trade union federations GEFONT, DECONT, and NTUC.
Instead, protests sprang up across the capital city on 21 January and were met with excessive force by police using tear gas and brandishing firearms instead of bamboo batons. Some 300 demonstrators were arrested, and many of those remained in custody this morning. In addition, police arrested another 150 political and human rights activists on 19 and 20 January.
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Gefont's Secretary General Binod Shrestha&nbsp;and 
&nbsp;Chairman Mukunda Neupane 
Senior GEFONT leaders&mdash;Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Secretary-General Binod Shrestha&mdash;were arrested on 19 January and remain in police custody. Leaders of a seven-party political alliance not already under arrest have called for a general strike across Nepal on 26 January in protest to King Gyanendra&rsquo;s absolute rule.
More: 
<a href="/index.php?id=7&amp;doc=1630&amp;la=EN">ICEM letter to the King of Nepal</a>

Nepal’s Pro-democracy Groups Call for 26 January General Strike

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The United Steelworkers (USW) kicked off a tour of South African trade union leaders of Sappi&rsquo;s US paper mills by conducting a loud and demonstrative protest outside the company&rsquo;s US offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Leaders from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood &amp; Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa joined workers from Sappi mills in the states of Maine, Michigan and Minnesota at the 8 May demonstration. 
 
USW and Sappi are without current labour contracts at three of the company&rsquo;s four US mills, and a contract at the fourth mill &mdash; Cloquet, Minnesota &mdash; expires today. Late last week, CEPPWAWU trade union leaders employed at Sappi mills in South Africa met with their US counterparts at mills in Skowhegan and Westbrook, Maine; Muskegon, Michigan; and in Cloquet.

Sappi’s South African Unionists Visit US Worksites

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A strike planned for today at two DuPont chemical plants in Spain was averted late last week when the American company significantly increased plant closing benefits. 
 
DuPont announced in March it would close both its Catalonia plants in Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute;, but union members affiliated with CCOO, UGT and USOC (Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Catalonia) voted on 8 May to take strike action due to proposed insufficient severance payments. DuPont&rsquo;s European restructuring plan calls for production from the two plants to be shifted to France and Germany, and offers of jobs to Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute; workers there. The plan also calls for the closure of a plant in Breda, The Netherlands, and the Hellac Lab in Germany.
DuPont opened talks with the Spanish unions in April by offering to pay buy-outs of only 25 days per year of work. The strike threat found the company returning to the bargaining table and offering 59 paid days per year, six less than the unions&rsquo; original demand. Some 246 workers are affected at the two chemical plants near Barcelona.

DuPont Increases Pay-outs to Avert Strike

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A rare first-contract lockout in the US ended successfully for workers on 2 May when members of ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) came to terms with Stepan Chemical in Fieldsboro, New Jersey. Workers ratified an initial contract with the specialty chemicals company with a 33-2 acceptance vote that backed Stepan away from continuing a wage freeze, and making health care cuts. 
 
The lockout began on 26 January 2006 after workers chose UE for representation last year. Typically in the US, a company that loses a union certification vote will merely stall the bargaining process, sometimes for years. But Stepan responded to a spontaneous plant-site protest by the 40 workers by locking out the workforce, and attempting to run the plant with managers and scabs. 
 
Direct action by UE at Stepan&rsquo;s shareholders&rsquo; meeting on 27 April triggered a 180-degree shift by management, and a first contract. UE produced documents that proved the company had spent US$1.8 million on expenses relayed to the lockout, including sums to clean up chemical spills. CEO F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., was shocked at the documentation, believing the figure to be only US$500,000. 
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Within two days, Stepan called offering a return to bargaining. The company and the UE workers&rsquo; representatives, led by Field Organiser Jim Ermi, then hammered together the initial labour agreement. 
 
&ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t have to endure a 14-week lockout to get a union,&rdquo; stated UE Director of Organisation Bob Kingsley. &ldquo;A courageous group of workers triumphed at Stepan based on protest and perseverance, but their struggle points out the deepening workers&rsquo; rights crisis facing all of us.&rdquo; 
 
Stepan manufactures intermediates for use in consumer products, and has operations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Indonesia and Brazil.

UE Wins First Contract with Chemical Firm Despite Lockout

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Protests occurred both outside and inside DuPont&rsquo;s annual general meeting in the US state of Delaware on 26 April, as labour unions led by the United Steelworkers (USW) and environmental allies pressed the world&rsquo;s second largest chemicals company to phase out production of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The chemical is used to produce coatings for cookware and stain-repellent coatings for carpets, textiles and fast-food wrappers. 
 
USW is part of a coalition entitled &ldquo;Dupont Shareholders for Fair Value&rdquo; that pressed for adoption of a resolution calling on management to produce a report on options to accelerate the phase-out of PFOA. The proxy question put before shareholders garnered a 27.3% vote, considered extremely high on matters of social and ethical responsibility for US-based companies. Further information on the union&rsquo;s shareholder actions can be found through the USW site&nbsp;<a href="http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/2916.php">here</a>.

Protest of PFOA at DuPont’s Annual Meeting

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Strikes in the Turkish cement sector, scheduled to begin Monday, were averted when ICEM affiliate &Ccedil;imse-Iş and the Cement Producers&rsquo; Association (&Ccedil;MIS) arrived at a new collective bargaining agreement covering 5,000 workers at 43 cement plants. 
 
The two-year agreement, retroactive to 1 January 2006, calls for an increase of 12% this year, and an amount equal to Turkey&rsquo;s consumer price index in 2007. Increases were also realised in social benefits in each of the two years. &Ccedil;imse-Iş had planned strikes at 23 cement plants on 1 May, with walkouts occurring at the other 20 plants on 8 May.

Turkish Cement Industry Calm as Settlement Reached

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Nigerian ICEM affiliate PENGASSAN, the white-collar oil workers&rsquo; union, is bracing for a major dispute with ExxonMobil&rsquo;s subsidiary, Mobil Oil, in Lagos over a breach of a collective bargaining agreement. 
 
Mobil Oil in Nigeria has refused to honour a procedural agreement with PENGASSAN. The agreement sets out housing allowances for 300 headquarters staffers in the capital city, as well as pension requirements. The company told the union it would pay one, but not the other. The company is refusing to honour pension entitlements allotted prior to Nigeria&rsquo;s 2004 Pension Act. 
 

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The union gave Mobil Oil a 21-day ultimatum to make good on the entire procedural agreement, but that expired on 14 April with no movement from the company. PENGASSAN succeeded in getting the matter placed before Nigeria&rsquo;s minister of Labour and a meeting of the parties is set for 3 May. If no solution is reached, industrial action is sure to come. 
 
&ldquo;Management has not shown the sincerity to have the matter resolved amicably,&rdquo; stated PENGASSAN Acting President Peter Esele. &ldquo;If industrial unrest is what they want, they better be prepared to face it.&rdquo; 
 
Another matter which finds the US-based supermajor at odds with PENGASSAN, is a planned relocation of company headquarters out of Nigeria. The union discovered that ExxonMobil is planning to close the Nigerian home office and shift downstream operations to Egypt, while upstream office work would go to Houston, Texas. 
 
&ldquo;We have a responsibility not just to our members, but also to the country,&rdquo; said Esele. &ldquo;You cannot have companies making so much money from the resources of our country, and then simply relocating. This is unacceptable to us as Nigerians.&rdquo;

PENGASSAN Ready for Battle with ExxonMobil

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