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FCE-CFDT is challenging Electricit&eacute; de France&rsquo;s (EDF) plan to reduce maintenance services in the utility&rsquo;s hydraulic division. EDF wants to cut maintenance activities 20-30% which would include redundancies of 500 jobs in this 3,700-worker area. FCE-CFDT condemns the decision and calls on EDF hydraulic workers to stand and resist the rationalization.

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

Tomorrow, 22 March, marks a global day of solidarity for Nepal&rsquo;s trade unions. On 1 February, King Gyanendra issued a decree suspending the government and declared martial law. The decree also banned trade union activities. ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates containing a sample letter and urges trade unions to register protests to Nepal&rsquo;s embassies. ICEM affiliate Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers&rsquo; Union had received permission from a district administrator to conduct its national conference 1-2 April, but security forces have now cancelled that written permission.

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

Frank Hanley, president of US affiliate International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) since 1989, retired effective 1 March. Secretary-Treasurer Vincent Giblin will serve the remainder of Hanley&rsquo;s term to April 2008.

Operating Engineers President In US Retires

Canadian nickel mining concern Inco Ltd. has caused a labour dispute at a mine and processing operation at Saroako on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The company sacked 250 workers on 25 January and has refused dialogue with the legitimate union, FSP KEP, the Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union affiliated with the Indonesian Trade Union Congress. Although none of the workers are members of SPSK, a rival, former Suharto-aligned union, Inco contacted this group on the reductions in efforts to undermine FSP KEP. The ICEM will continue to investigate Inco&rsquo;s unfair treatment of the miners and FSP KEP.

Dispute Caused by Canadian Inco Mining in Indonesia

UK&rsquo;s BPB Paperboard announced suddenly 3 March that it was closing a plasterboard liner-paper mill in Aberdeen, Scotland, throwing 276 workers out of jobs. The announcement of the closure, to occur in June, brought sharp rebuke from ICEM affiliate Amicus. The UK union&rsquo;s Graphical, Paper and Media Section recently went through a 90-day consultation period with paper mill management of the building materials company, and no mention of the closure occurred. &ldquo;The decision to close had evidently been made well before the formal consultative period started,&rdquo; said Amicus&rsquo; Scottish Branch Secretary Jimmy Robertson.

Amicus in UK Resists Paper Mill Closure

ICEM Belgian affiliate CG-FGTB has condemned Glaverbel Glass and its Japanese parent Asahi Glass in management&rsquo;s continued refusal to engage in dialogue on irrational restructuring at AGC Automotive Fleurus in southern Belgium. The union, along with white-collar SETCa-FGTB, has been on strike now for three months after the company announced in December 284 job cuts at the 840-worker flat glass factory. Glaverbel has unilaterally said it would relocate some production from Fleurus, drastically rationalize both production and maintenance, insert forced flexibility by use of agency labour, and now has discredited and even blacklisted union delegates in their efforts to achieve dialogue over the restructuring. CGFGTB insists that only through real consultation with workers and their delegates will the operation become &ldquo;liveable, profitable and productive.&rdquo; ICEM is applying maximum pressure on the Japanese company to resolve the strike and begin good-faith dialogue with the Belgian unions.

Belgian Union Resisting Asahi’s Glass Plant Restructuring

An eight-day lockout of CFMEU miners at an Xstrata coal mine operated by Thiess Contracting Pty. ended a week ago when Thiess and the union agreed to a three-year deal. CFMEU won 4% pay hikes for the 250 miners in each year, higher superannuation increases and a payout to workers living in their own homes in Collinsville, Queensland. The miners were locked out after they had planned a four-day strike.

Lockout of CFMEU Members at Australian Coal Mine Ends

In a new self-help move by some of the world's poorest workers, the National Union of Working Women (NUWW) last Friday launched a health protection scheme for its more than 300,000 informal sector workers in Chennai, India. The announcement came as the Asia-Pacific Women's Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) was meeting there. The NUWW is an ICEM affiliate. 
 
Like most newly industrialising and developing countries, India has many &quot;informal sector&quot; workers who earn a pittance from unrecognised jobs on the fringes of the formal economy. The informal sector does not have access to social security or other public services. Nor is it covered by labour legislation. Overall, less than 10 percent of the Indian population have access to social security. 
 
Among the informal workforce are NUWW members working on the bottom rung of society. They do such jobs as making incense sticks, matchsticks and fireworks. Although they are making a contribution to society, they are still neglected. 
 
NUWW members pay 24 Rupees per year in subscriptions to their union. 
 
In 1981, a life insurance scheme was started. But it was discovered that, in fact, medical expenses are the biggest burden for the worst-off women workers in the informal sector. After childbirth, for example, they are heavily indebted. So the NUWW members decided to launch health programmes. They negotiated with an insurance company an annual premium of 70 Rupees, which provides coverage for up to 15,000 Rupees of medical expenses a year. It also provides them with good-quality health services and hospitalisation. 1,000 NUWW members have already registered for the scheme.

Indian Informal Workers Launch Health Scheme

some 30,000 chemical workers in Eastern Germany and East Berlin are to receive a pay rise of 5.6 percent over two years, under an agreement signed by their union IG BCE on Saturday. Wages will go up by 2.8 percent on 1 July this year and a further 2.8 percent on 1 July 2001. 
 
Another agreement last week secured a two-stage 6.2 percent rise over two years for around 5,000 East German paper workers. 
 
West German workers in the same sectors will be receiving a two-stage 4.2 percent rise over roughly the same period under agreements signed earlier last month. 
 
When Germany reunified, wages in the East were much lower than in the West. Under separate bargaining arrangements, the gap is gradually being narrowed. 
 
The East German agreements extend the scope for part-time work by older employees, and guarantee them take-home pay equal to at least 85 percent of their last net full-time wage. There is also provision for expanding the number of apprenticeships available in the East German chemical and paper industries. The aim of both measures is to help reduce unemployment in Eastern Germany. 
 
At the global level, IG BCE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

Pay Gains Achieved in East German Paper, Chemical Sectors

Imerys, the ceramics, minerals and construction materials multinational, must recognise the trade union rights of its American workers without further delay. 
 
That was the message from Fred Higgs when he addressed cheering Imerys workers at a rally in Sylacauga, Alabama, on Saturday. 
 
Higgs is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has been campaigning against the anti-union stance adopted by Imerys at its US sites. The US Imerys workers' union, PACE, is an ICEM affiliate. 
 
PACE and the ICEM will &quot;make it so hot for Imerys that they will be looking for a solution,&quot; Higgs promised more than 250 workers attending the rally. They responded by taunting Imerys with chants of &quot;ICEM&quot; and &quot;PACE Will Be In Your Face&quot;. 
 
The restructuring that led to the formation of Imerys last year included the merger of unionised and non-unionised production plants in the USA. PACE now wants the chance to represent workers throughout the newly merged Imerys operation there, but the company has hired professional &quot;union-busters&quot; to discourage union organising and is blocking all attempts to let its workers decide if they want to be represented by the union. 
 
Imerys is based in France, where unions are backing the American workers' campaign. Support is also coming from unions in England, where Imerys has major production sites and Belgium, where financiers the Frere family hold a substantial interest in Imerys. 
 
In Europe, Imerys recognises trade unions and has taken a &quot;social partnership&quot; approach to industrial relations. Higgs has dubbed Imerys a &quot;chameleon corporation,&quot; accusing it of trying in America what it would not dare to attempt in Europe. 
 
Company tactics in the US so far have included compulsory meetings at which workers are shown videos that equate trade unions with the mafia. At Saturday's rally, Higgs told the American workers that Imerys was using in the States industrial relations methods that would be illegal in Europe. 
 
Higgs also noted the abrupt departure last week of Dennis Rediker. Prior to the sale of English China Clays to Imerys forerunner Imetal, ECC was run by Rediker, who was its chief executive officer and major shareholder. After Imetal acquired ECC, Rediker was made a Vice-President of Imerys-owned Georgia Marble and was put in charge of its Pigment Division. 
 
Rediker has a long history of anti-unionism and PACE believes that he was the main reason why Imerys' attitude to trade unions in America has clashed so markedly with its policies in Europe. 

Little is known about the circumstances of Rediker's sudden departure, but he is understood to have been replaced by Imerys executives from France. 
 
&quot;The fact that Rediker has moved on just now is not coincidental,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;It is symptomatic of the ideological rift between the US management and the centre.&quot; 
 
Speakers at Saturday's rally included Don Langham, PACE Vice-President and ICEM Executive member; Stuart Burkhalter, President of the Alabama State branch of the US labour federation AFL-CIO; Jimmy Colston, the PACE officer who organised the Georgia Marble plant 29 years ago (the Sylacauga plant at which Imerys has withdrawn recognition of the union); and ICEM North American Regional Coordinator Ken Zinn. 
 
All emphasised the need to rid Imerys' American operations of anti-unionism. 
 
A strange little incident shows just how urgent that task has become. 
 
Prior to Saturday's event, management told a number of union members that if they brought in food from the rally, they would be fired. 
 
So Imerys American management is even frightened of union-bought snacks. 
 
Food for thought in Paris.

Higgs Vows at US Rally: &#039;We&#039;ll Make it Hot for Imerys!&#039;

Archive

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

Operating Engineers President In US Retires

Dispute Caused by Canadian Inco Mining in Indonesia

Amicus in UK Resists Paper Mill Closure

Belgian Union Resisting Asahi’s Glass Plant Restructuring

Lockout of CFMEU Members at Australian Coal Mine Ends

Indian Informal Workers Launch Health Scheme

Pay Gains Achieved in East German Paper, Chemical Sectors

Higgs Vows at US Rally: 'We'll Make it Hot for Imerys!'

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