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Workers at the Bridgestone aerospace tyre plant in Frameries, Belgium, will hit the five-week mark on strike this Thursday, 16 July. The strike was brought on by the Japanese-based company’s refusal to negotiate. A company decision on whether or not to close down a 140-worker re-treading factory in Frameries has not been communicated to workers and their majority representative, Belgian affiliate Centrale Générale-FGTB, and the union exhausted all legal means before striking on 11 June. 
 
That strike came when Bridgestone unilaterally decided to dismiss all 8 workers in one area of the factory without proper social talks. Many of those workers had been on the job for over 20 years. One of the dismissed workers is a senior trade union officer and secretary of the Works Council, who has been working at the plant since 1980. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.bridgestone.strike.jpg" width="250" height="171"/>
Bridgestone has disrupting social harmony in Frameries, despite a formal commitment to protect jobs in the current collective bargaining agreement. Centrale Générale-FGTB insisted that the company exam all options to safeguard employment, including part-time redundancy, early retirement, in-house transfers, time credit, or other such social options. The union also stresses that 14 workers are employed at Frameries on short-term contracts. 
 
Local management at Bridgestone-Frameries has continued its anti-labour practices throughout the strike. Instead of seeking reasonable solutions through dialogue, managers will not even answer telephone calls to address issues. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0905.rubber.conf.jpg" width="276" height="183"/>
Centrale Générale-FGTB condemns such practices, calling them immoral and reprehensible and also condemns the company for criminalizing its own workers who are only defending their rights. 
 
The ICEM also condemns such social behaviour. “At the heart of Europe, in Belgium, a multinational company is deciding on issues of employment outside the lawful prerequisites of the social model,” said General Secretary Manfred Warda. He added that ICEM’s Bridgestone Global Union Network addressed this strike recently in its deliberations and put the issue forward to Japanese senior management. 
 
Bridgestone on the corporate level has not responded. The ICEM is asking global affiliates to send a solidarity message in your own words and your own language to Bridgestone-Frameries workers by clicking <a href="mailto:alain.denooze@accg.be">here</a>.

Bridgestone Tyre Re-treading Strike Continues in Belgium

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ICEM affiliate the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), this month, has stepped up its campaign for improved safety and health conditions for its members, working at BHP Billiton’s operations in Western Australia. The concerns follow two rockslides at the Leinster mine in a month. 
 
Workers refused to work in the unsafe conditions until the mine had been officially declared safe. West Australia Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore had “serious safety concerns” for the entire site; the Minister raised the possibility that the Perseverance mine could be closed on safety grounds. “I have asked the state mining engineer to give me his professional advice whether there is reason to stop the Perseverance mine from continuing operations.” 
 
The moral of workers at the site was reported to be low. “The crew are not in a good state of mind and are traumatised,” stated one mineworker. 

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The first rock fall, on 10 June, triggered by a small tremor, brought down 500 tonnes of rock. Twenty-five tonnes of the rock fell close to a worker, Jason Rose, who was trapped more than a kilometre below ground for 16 hours 
 
The July rock fall was triggered by a seismic tremor, up to ten times more severe than that of the previous month. A driller was trapped underground for more than two hours, and another was injured 
 
AMWU secretary Steve McCartney said that these incidents added to a long string of safety problems at BHP mines. He added that repeated calls by the union to local government, to improve mine safety in Western Australia, had been ignored. 

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Five BHP employees have been killed in the last 10 months on the company’s iron ore sites in the Pilbara region, in the north of Western Australia. There are disproportionally more accidents at BHP Billiton mines, in the state, than at mines run by other companies. 
 
Further safety concerns over BHP workers at the Leinster nickel mine have been worrying the AMWU and ICEM. It has emerged that when workers return home for their break, the majority drive long distances after 18 hours without sleep. This is equivalent to taking the road with a blood alcohol level over the limit. The company acknowledge the danger but have refused to change the shift times, or flight times home back to Perth. 
 
“It seems that the workers at Leinster are not only subjected to safety problems at work but this latest information shows they are also at risk on their way home,” AMWU Secretary McCartney said.

Rockslides at Australia’s BHP Billiton, Concerns over Mine Safety

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The ICEM has received information from the Federation of Workers Councils Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) that one of their leading women activists is under attack. The management of the General Company for Leather Industries (GCLI) has punished Sawsan Mahmoud, by transferring her to another company. The decision follows her leadership and participation in a strike at the beginning of April 2009, after protesting against the company's failure to make all outstanding payments due to workers in April. 
 
The company's management, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, has transferred the trade union activist to Elez Company, a subsidiary of the Ministry. Sawsan has appealed to the Minister for the cancellation of the transfer. As a result the Ministry required the company’s reasons for the transfer, which were reported by the company as being her participation and incitement of workers to go on strike at the beginning of last April, “strike instigators are not keen on the stability of the country". The company reiterated its reply to the Ministry that the transfer was due to the recent events, referring to its workers' last strike. Subsequently the management of the company also proceeds now to punish another six workers for the same reasons. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0611Falah.jpg" width="120" height="143"/>
FWCUI President Falah Alwan
The FWCUI has taken up her case and that of the other victimised workers, mounting a media campaign and a legal case against the company and the Ministry. They have called on the international trade union movement to publicise the case and protest the action of the Ministry and the company. ICEM has done so and is in communication with ITGLWF about further support action. 
 
In a letter to Fawzi Franso Hariri, the Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals, ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney expressed his concern over the treatment of Sawsan Mahmoud. Kearney stated that the company’s behaviour “represents a blatant breach of the right of freedom of association which protects the right of workers to strike as a means of defending their interests. This fundamental right is enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution as well as in Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation, which apply to Iraq by virtue of its membership of the ILO”.

Iraqi Labour Federation Protests Attack from Industry and Government Ministry

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The members of ICEM affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) have engaged in a protected strike in companies around the country. The strike began on 20 July. The Union’s 40,000 striking workers are demanding wage increases of between 13-15%, while employers are willing to pay between 8-10%. The negotiations have taken over two months and a dispute was officially declared last month, Skhumbuzo Phakathi, CEPPWAWU’s International Coordinator, informed the ICEM. 
 
A countrywide march is planned for today. Thabane Mdlalose, the deputy general secretary of CEPPWAWU says the pulp and paper section met with employers at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration last Monday, without agreement. “All our members are still picketing,” he added. The labour union also wants six months paid maternity leave and temporary employees to be made permanent staff members. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM.Solidarity.JPG" width="140" height="136"/>
The union’s Bargaining Council for the Wood and Paper Sector (NBCWPS), oversees the strike in the country’s Pulp and Paper industry, focused at SAPPI and Mondi. The wage demand is 13% and the offer from the employer is 7.5%. 
 
CEPPWAWU’s National Bargaining Council for Chemical Industries (NBCCI) has the following sectors currently on strike; Pharmaceutical, where the demand of 13.6% is countered with an offer of 7%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), where the demand is 10% and offer is 8%, Industrial Chemicals, with a demand of 11% versus an offer of 8%. 
 
CEPPWAWU’s compromise position is a rise of 10% across all sectors, for settlement. Employers have offered 8 percent, which was the rate of inflation in May. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaCOSATU2.jpg" width="102" height="111"/>
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has come out in support of the CEPPWAWU mass action, warning that if employers do not better their wage offer, the federation's 2 million members will come out in support of its affiliate. 
 
In the petroleum sector, employers have settled for an acceptable offer covering a two year period, with 40% for maternity leave. 
 
Some of the major companies currently facing strikes are; Adcock Ingram, Air Liquide, Aspen Pharmacare, Barloworld Decorative, Umicore Autocat. Others are Afrox, Johnson and Johnson, Plascon paints, Dulux Paints, Unilever, Colgate/Palmolive, Lake International, Mondi, Sappi, and others across the different sectors. 
 
The ICEM will report developments as strikes continue.

South African Wage Strikes Continue

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ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is, Turkey’s Oil, Chemical and Rubber Workers Union, has started an organising campaign using unconventional methods. The campaign has received special commendation from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. Choosing to target the city of Duzce, near Istanbul, the city was covered in campaign materials, with every billboard showing posters from the union. Banners, brochures, flyers, stickers, TV and radio adverts, newspaper ads, t-shirts, and a campaign website, were all produced, so that the campaign would be impossible to miss. Progressive cinema celebrities also produced films connected to the campaign. 

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The special website and blog for the campaign can be found <a href="http://www.sendikaliol.org">here</a>. The project’s slogan “Sendikalı Ol” or “Be unionised” is accompanied by “Umutlu Ol” (Be hopeful), “Güçlü Ol” (Be Strong), “Güvenli Ol” (Be Secure), “Mutlu Ol” (Be Happy), “Birlik Ol” (Be United) and “Etkili Ol” (Be Effective). The blog has specific sections designed for potential new members, “What is the Union?”, “Why Unionise?”, “What is Petrol-Is?” 
 
The impressive project is the result of long-term research and planning by the union. Following a dramatic decline in membership in early 1990s, organizing became an urgent priority on the Petrol-Is agenda. This extremely visible campaigning technique was chosen, to break the pattern of previous trade union recruitment campaigns. Many companies in Turkey do not recognise workers’ right to organise as a legitimate right. Previous union organising campaigns had come up against repressive union-busting measures from the employers, such as threats dismissals, blacklists, redundancies. Unions had therefore been forced to be conduct campaigns in secrecy. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0907.petrol-is-president.jpg" width="167" height="172"/>
Petrol-Is President Mustafa Öztaşkın
The Duzce campaign was a chance to break a mindset that identifies “union organizing” with “anarchy”. The union’s message was conveyed, not only to unorganized workers at their worksites, but also to their families and local communities. The campaign created an atmosphere full of energy, hope and self-confidence, especially for young workers. 
 
Next steps for the campaign will be a comprehensive recruitment drive in the coming months, similar publicity campaigns in other Turkish cities and at the national level.

Turkey’s Petrol-Is Launch Creative Organising Campaign

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Contract workers at a Petrobras refinery called Getúlio Vargas, in Araucaria, Paraná state, achieved considerable advances in working conditions and salaries, following a strike. The 17-day work stoppage ended Monday, 27 July, after agreement was reached between the Central Única dos Trabalhadores do Paraná (CUT-PR) and the state-run company. 
 
The talks chaired by the National Ministry for Labour. 
 
Gains achieved by the unions include a minimum monthly salary of US$726, a 10% increase, a new food and housing allowance of US$150, and improvements to overtime. Overtime from Monday to Saturday will be paid at 60% above regular work rates, and on Sundays and holidays, 120%. Workers will now also receive a hazard allowance, health and life insurance, and bonuses linked to profits made by Petrobras. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.cut.president.jpg" width="205" height="202"/>
Roni Anderson Barbosa 
"The negotiation has fulfilled its purpose. We gained a good collective agreement for most workers," stated Parana State President of CUT, Roni Anderson Barbosa. 
 
There are 31 contract companies operating at the two plants in Araucaria, employing around 10,000 workers. The CUT Parana mobilised support and solidarity, nationally and internationally, for the workers of Repar Fosfértil, during negotiations.

Agreement Ends Oil Workers’ Contract Strike in Brazil

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Seventy-seven Russian electric utility workers are dead following a massive explosion at a hydroelectric plant 17 August in the Khakassia Region of south Siberia. Workers at the site, Sayano-Shushenskaya, owned by the 60% state-run company RusHydro, are organised by ICEM affiliate Electroprofsoyuz. 
 
Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry warned in 1998 that the country’s largest hydroelectric plant was desperately in need of major repairs, but little work had been done. The explosion occurred in the turbine hall of the dam, reportedly when a faulty turbine combined with a rise in pressure inside pipes caused the horrific explosion. 
 
On Saturday, 22 August, rescuers recovered 19 more bodies, bringing the death count to 66. Another 11 workers are thought to have perished, perhaps swept down the Yenisei River. 

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A day earlier, on 21 August, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the scene and announced families of the dead will each receive one million rubles (US$31,450) in compensation from RusHydro. Putin said the Russian government will match that amount. 
 
Workers were killed by drowning and crushed by crumbling debris. Some 40 tonnes of transformer oil spilled into the Yenisei. Five of ten turbines were destroyed as the explosion blew out walls and flooded the turbine hall. It is expected that reconstruction will take up to four years, at a cost of US$1.2 billion. 
 
The accident is expected to hike energy prices in the region by as much as 30%. The facility generates one-fourth of RusHydro’s total power output and the plant supplies power to two aluminium smelters of RusAl. The company’s director of corporate strategy said that 500,000 tons of annual aluminium production capacity is under threat, bringing expected production this year down from 4.4 million tonnes to 3.9 million. 
 
Last Wednesday, 19 August, was designated as an official day of mourning in the Khakassia region, some 3,000 km east of Moscow.

Blast at Russian Electric-Power Dam Kills 77

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The Solvay workers of Brazil met for the fourth time under the auspices of the Solvay Network. The conference met 11-13 August, in Salvador de Bahia, on the northeast coast of Brazil. A new website was launched by the conference, as well as a new Action Plan for 2009-2010. See the new website <a href="http://redesolvaybrasil.ning.com">here</a>. 
 
The new website is designed to assist communication and coordination, and also participation of workers at the 14 Brazilian locations of the Belgian-based company. 
 
The new Action Plan lays out the Network’s intentions to consolidate a new database of the different conditions and working relationships currently affecting members, a study into the inclusion of workers in the profits made by the company, and analysis of the commitment made by Solvay to the Charter on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.solvay.JPG" width="306" height="176" alt=""/>
That was signed in November 2008 between the company and the European Works Council (EWC). 
 
The meeting included visits to Solvay plants at Simões Filho, and brought together workers and trade unionists from organisations such as the Sindicato dos Quimicos do ABC, and Confederacão Nacional dos Ramos Quimicos (CNQ/CUT), as well as from CUTMulti Project, Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Indústria Química, Petroquímica, the Chemicals and Plastics Union of São Paulo, the BASF Camaçari, and the Petrochemical and Allied Workers of Bahia Blanca (Argentina). 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.solvay.JUVENIL.JPG" width="170" height="214" alt=""/>
Network Coordinator, Juvenil Nunes da Costa
ICEM Vice-President for the Latin America/Caribbean Region, Sergio Novais, informed the Network that there will be a meeting next month with company management in Brussels, and called for meetings of the Network on training and exchange of experiences, in the month of November, in São Paulo. 
 
There is a strong prospect of a new process of social dialogue with the company. One priority of the Network is to make the Solvay management formally recognise the Solvay Network. 
 
The coordinator of the Network, Juvenil Nunes da Costa, described the meeting as a great success.

Solvay Workers’ Network Meets for Fourth Time in Brazil

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Upwards of 30,000 trade unionists manifested in the streets of Switzerland’s capital, Bern, Saturday, 19 September, in what the national general workers’ union, Unia, billed as a day in which workers declare, “We Will Not Pay for the Crisis. The manifestation, sponsored by all Swiss trade unions, was intended to serve notice to a Parliament that it must adopt new policies to secure work, wages, and pensions in the face of the global economic crisis. 
 
The manifestation, in terms of sheer numbers, exceeded the expectations of Unia organisers. The union made plans for 20,000 demonstrators. Marches began in three different locations in Berne, and then converged at the Parliament House.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0909Unia3.jpg" width="330" height="220"/>
©Thierry Porchot  

The battle cry heard throughout the afternoon was the Swiss working class will not double-pay on a crisis it did not cause; meaning job reductions and the dismantling of social safety nets will not be tolerated. Speaker after speaker said the economic crisis was caused by greed and a blind faith that markets could regulate themselves. Speakers called for an end to erosion of social security systems and instead called on the government to restore safety nets to all people living in Switzerland. 
 
We are against a policy in which CHF 68 billion in government money is invested in UBS,” said Paul Rechsteiner, President of the Swiss Trade Union Confederation (SGB), adding that the bank last week refused to implement effective measures against the crisis. 
 
The unemployment rate in Switzerland has now climbed over the 4% mark, which is considered high by Swiss standards.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0909Unia2.jpg" width="260" height="173"/>
 ©Thierry Porchot
Now is the time, asserts Unia, that effective measures must be undertaken to inject money into jobs and training, including programmes on youth employment, and extending options for shortened work hours at full pay. Unia also calls for adequate wage increases across Switzerland in 2010 in order to spur purchasing power. 
 
The manifestation culminated a week of action aimed at instituting a Swiss social order that focuses on people, not profits and greed. On Monday, 14 September, Rechsteiner told a press conference that Swiss workers demand decent wages and decent conditions of work, as well as a functioning system of social security.

30,000 Take to Streets in Bern Demanding Fairness in Economic Crisis

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The ICEM conducted regional meetings in both Central Europe and Eastern Europe/Caucuses of late in line with the statutory obligations of the two regions. On 12 September, the Central European meeting was held in Sibenik, Croatia. 
 
Trade union representatives attending came from Bosnia/Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. Juraj Blahák, President of OZ Chémia of the Slovak Republic, chaired the meeting, and he was re-elected to continue his role as ICEM Vice President for the region. Blahák was also re-elected chairman of the regional committee structure for Central Europe.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0909CentralEurope.jpg" width="300" height="225"/>
 Delegates from eight countries at the Central Europe meeting
Delegates gave country reports, deliberated on regional activities, and compared the economic situations country by country, while discussing the harsh effects of the global economic crisis. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda also discussed ICEM’s global activities and reviewed actions taken – including debate on that economic crisis – from the ICEM’s June Executive Committee meetings in Geneva. 
 
In Kiev, Ukraine, on 16 September, trade unionists from Azerbaijan, Belorussia, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan gathered for the day-long Eastern Europe/Caucuses regional meeting. ICEM Vice President and Regional Chairman Ivan Mokhnachuk of the Russian miners’ union Rusugleprof convened the meeting.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0909EasternEurope.jpg" width="280" height="210"/>
Ivan Mokhnachuk (left) chairing the Eastern Europe/Caucuses Region, with interpreter Eugene Kuprin and ICEM’s Manfred Warda 
A discussion occurred over affiliated unions’ membership fees to the ICEM, with a recommendation on this issue to be submitted to next month’s ICEM Presidium meeting. Country reports also were heard and the ICEM’s Warda delivered a Secretariat report that contained highlights from the Executive. 
 
A Women’s Committee report was also given by Mavjuda Khalilova of the Fuel, Energy, Chemicals, and Geology Union of Uzbekistan.

ICEM Regional Meetings Held in Central Europe, Eastern Europe/Caucuses

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