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Kimberly Clark has, after more than three weeks of strike action at its two South African tissue plants, finally settled its industrial dispute with the ICEM-affiliated Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU). 
 
On August 22, when the CEPPWAWU was determined to step up support for their striking Kimberly Clark members by launching a secondary strike that would have targeted the company&rsquo;s raw material suppliers and retailers, Kimberly Clark decided to accept the terms of the Pulp and Paper Employers Association, as negotiated in the Wood and Paper Bargaining Council just before July 30. The terms include, among other things, an 8.5% wage increase and demands for permanent employment of temporary workers. 
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The CEPPWAWU victory in the Kimberly Clark industrial dispute, during which the union received international support from various parts of the world, ended the last of the national strikes which the union launched across its sectors on July 30, after negotiations at the Chemical and Wood and Paper Bargaining Councils became deadlocked. 
 
The ICEM congratulates its affiliate on this resounding success which vividly demonstrated that international solidarity support can effectively augment the strength unions derive from the unity and resolution of their members and leadership.

Kimberly Clark Settles South African Paper Dispute with CEPPWAWU

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US paperworkers employed at International Paper Co., members of ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), voted to accept a precedent-setting master labour agreement with the firm on 23 August. 
 
The four-year accord covering workers at 14 pulp and paper mills in the US contains wage increases on top of negotiated local (or mill-by-mill) agreements, improvements in health insurance benefits, and lays the groundwork for improved health and safety standards, as well as labour-management cooperation on public policy issues. 
 
But perhaps most importantly, the framework pact contains a &quot;successorship clause,&quot; meaning if the company sells any of its unionised mills, the new owner must, as part of the sale agreement, retain all workers, recognise the USW as bargaining representative, and honour the collective bargaining agreement. 
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&quot;The overwhelming support for this agreement shows how united our members are in pursuing master agreements in the paper industry,&quot; said USW President Leo Gerard. 
 
&quot;Successorship clauses protect workers from the unconscionable behaviour of corporations that sell a mill, then disregard the union and the collective bargaining agreement and summarily fire hundreds of people who have dedicated their lives to work there,&quot; added Gerard. 
 
The wage portion of the agreement amounts to a 2% increase upon expiration of local agreements, and another 2% on the second anniversary of the contracts. In addition, workers will receive a US$1,000 lump sum payment on the first and third anniversaries of the contracts. The USW represents 8,200 International Paper employees at mills, paper converters, and packaging plants in the US.

US Steelworkers Ratify Master Framework Agreement with International Paper

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN 25

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With private equity funds in 2006 going on unprecedented buying sprees totaling US$725 billion, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF) has published a 36-page booklet entitled &ldquo;Workers&rsquo; Guide to Private Equity.&rdquo; 

The booklet is aimed at trade unions and their members, and highlights the threat of private equity companies when they take over companies. The IUF says the heavy debt loads that companies often carry following such buy-outs means they pay less in taxes, thus creating a more increased tax burden for individuals and small businesses. 
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The IUF also says cost-slashing following takeovers by private equity funds means that research and development budgets of major companies are cut, so new product innovations go by the wayside. The sole corporate investment strategy by such funds is maximum short-term financial returns to shareholders. 
&ldquo;Workers&rsquo; Guide to Private Equity&rdquo; includes chapters on the Impact to Unions and Undercutting the Public Interest. It also contains two &ldquo;Trade Union Action&rdquo; programmes, one on the &ldquo;organising challenge,&rdquo; the other entitled &ldquo;mobilising and intervening for re-registration.&rdquo; The booklet, in its appendix, lists the top 50 private equity buy-out funds. It also contains an IUF Public Equity Buyout Watch. 
A&nbsp;PDF version of the booklet can be viewed <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/www/documents/A%20Worker's%20Guide%20to%20Private%20Equity-e.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp; The IUF is selling the booklet for CHF 5 each (plus postage), or for CHF 3 (plus postage) each for bulk copies of ten or more. 
The IUF also has a part of its web-site decidated to the private equity problem: <a href="http://www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch">http://www.iuf.org/buyoutwatch</a>.

IUF Offers ‘Workers’ Guide to Private Equity’

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The Federation of Energy, Geology, and Mining Trade Unions of Mongolia held its Fourth Extraordinary Conference in Ulaanbaatar late in May, and elected a new President for the 15,000-member union. 
Ganbold Sukhbaatar, a mining engineer, was elected to succeed Chultem Baljinyam. Ganbold is a 15-year veteran of the mining industry, and has been active in elected positions in trade unions for the past ten years.

Mongolian Mining Union Federation Elects New President

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ICEM affiliate, the United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers of America (UE), and the IUE-CWA reached tentative four-year agreements with General Electric Co. (GE) yesterday. 
 
The tentative pact, covering over 14,000 workers, will now be reviewed by the two unions&rsquo; conference boards, and then put to ratification votes of all workers by 28 June. A prior labour agreement in the US at GE plants expired at midnight, last night. 
 
The tentative accord reached yesterday includes significant improvements in wages, pensions, and benefits. It also contains agreement to accelerate joint efforts between GE and the unions to address the difficult and costly health care system in America. The unions also won a new holiday in talks, Veterans Day (also known as Armistice Day) in November. 
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&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s an agreement our members will recognise as a good one,&rdquo; stated UE General President John Hovis. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m especially pleased with the provisions that affect (less senior) people at the locations we represent.&rdquo; Both the UE and the IUE-CWA are recommending the tentative contract for approval to their members. 
 
Terms of this accord will now be offered to US-based unions covering another 6,000 GE workers at their locations.

US Union Reach Tentative Contract with General Electric

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The jobs crisis in the paper and wood sectors of Canada has taken further hard blows. Early this month, Finnish pulp and paper company UPM Kymmene announced a temporary 9-to-12 month closure of its paper and groundwood mills in Miramichi, New Brunswick, thus idling 600 workers. 
 
That came just a week after US-based Weyerhaeuser Co. officially announced, on 31 May, the permanent closure of a wood mill in the same town. The closing will cost 150 jobs. Workers at both mills are represented by ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada. 
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While meeting with company officials of UPM Kymmene in Miramichi on 8 June, CEP local union leaders left the meeting not very hopeful. They were told that the odds of re-starting the mill next year stand at only 20% unless investments are made. 
 
Speaking at the New Brunswick Federation of Labour&rsquo;s convention in Edmunston on the day that UPM broke the news, 5 June, CEP President Dave Coles said, &ldquo;These communities are a microcosm of what is going on in more than four dozen communities (across Canada).&rdquo; He said that over the past three years, more than 12,000 pulp, paper, and sawmill workers have lost their jobs in Canada. 
 
What makes matters worst for mill workers, particularly at UPM, is that the Finnish company continues to cut and export raw logs off government forestlands through three leases it holds in the province of New Brunswick. CEP local leaders were told at the 5 June meeting that the company was going to do trial shipments of wood to Finland, something CEP and community leaders oppose while the paper mill is idle. 
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&ldquo;Employers, especially in the forestry sector, have deliberately taken the money they have earned from our publicly-owned natural resources and invested it elsewhere in the world,&rdquo; stated Coles at the provincial labour convention. 
 
The recent bad news hasn&rsquo;t been limited to New Brunswick. On 15 June, forestry company Tembec Inc. announced it was temporarily shutting three wood mills in Quebec and one in Ontario, affecting nearly 900 workers. 
 
That came a day after Commonwealth Plywood announced the closure of 18 mills in Quebec, six of which find workers represented by the CEP. The Commonwealth closures will mean the loss of 1,200 jobs. 
 
The CEP has pressed the federal government of Canada for intervention in the jobs crisis of the nation&rsquo;s forestry sector.

Forest Sector Jobs Continue to Drop in Wake of Eastern Canada Mills Closings

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After 18 months of negotiations and consultations, workers UK&rsquo;s ICEM affiliate Unite &ndash; the merged union of Amicus and Transport and General Workers Union &ndash; ratified a national agreement on behalf of 3,000 workers in the paper manufacturing industry. 
 
The new accord comes under a framework &ldquo;Partnership Agreement&rdquo; put in place earlier this year between the two unions and UK&rsquo;s GMB trade union, and the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), an employers&rsquo; association of pulp, paper, and converting companies. 
 
&ldquo;I believe this new agreement raises the employment standards for workers in the paper manufacturing industry,&rdquo; said Unite (Amicus section) National Officer Peter Ellis. &ldquo;It reaffirms the commitment of Unite members and those conforming companies of the CPI Paper Sector to a modern and sustainable approach to good industrial relations, so necessary for the security of our members&rsquo; jobs in a stable business environment.&rdquo; 
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The agreement includes significant language regarding temporary and agency work, model information and consultation language, extra personal time, an expanded industry sick pay benefit, up to ten days&rsquo; pay for paternity leave, and up to five days&rsquo; bereavement leave pay. 
 
Unite, the CPI, and the UK&rsquo;s Department of Trade and Industry will formally launch the agreement in the days ahead as part of the new &ldquo;Partnership Agreement,&rdquo; which has as its motto, &ldquo;Work Together, Grow Together, Stay Together.&rdquo;

Paperworkers of UK’s Unite Ratify Partnership Accord with Industry Association

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The revamped ICEM International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Unions Network (INWUN) held its annual meeting on 13-14 June, and some 26 nuclear workers&rsquo; union leaders from ten countries attended. The meeting were held at ICEM headquarters in Brussels. The meeting was the first nuclear network meeting since INWUN became an official ICEM network. 
 
David Shier of the Power Workers Union of Canada was elected as chairman of the network, and delegates also adopted an 11-point &ldquo;Terms of Reference&rdquo; for the network, which will stand as guidelines for the network. 
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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, ICEM Energy Industries Chairman Lars Myhre and David Shier, Chairman of the ICEM INWUN Network
Those include promoting solidarity and cooperation with trade union worldwide, as well as supporting a balanced energy generation policy across all jurisdictions. Objectives also include promotion of effective and thorough national regulatory procedures and practices in the nuclear industry, and seek to ensure that some eight nuclear regulatory agencies and governmental entities are kept informed of the viewpoints of unionised nuclear workers. 
Delegates to the 13-14 June meeting heard a presentation from Hans Riotte, head of Radiation Protection and Waste Management of the Nuclear Energy Agency, which is part of the OECD. They also had a lively exchange on nuclear safety programmes within the various countries represented. Work conditions in those countries were also debated. 
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They also heard a presentation on women in the nuclear industry. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and ICEM Energy Industries Chairman Lars Myhre of Norway&rsquo;s Industri Energi Union addressed the delegates. 
 
Countries from which trade unionists attended included: Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UK.

ICEM’s Nuclear Workers’ Network Meets in Brussels

Today, 12 June, is the World Day Against Child Labour, as designated by the ILO. This year focus is the elimination of child labour in agriculture, and the ILO marks the occasion with an event at its International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
The ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing trade unions in the mining, energy, and process industry sectors, calls for the elimination of all child labour in all sectors. The ICEM calls attention to the great number of children who work in mining in many parts of the developing world. 
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It also cites a coal mine explosion in early February in G&aacute;meza, Boyac&aacute; state, Colombia, in which eight people were killed. One of the eight was a 13-year-old boy. 
 
The ICEM demands that all enterprises respect ILO Conventions 138 and 182 regarding child labour. The World Day Against Child Labour is observed throughout the world each year on 12 June. It serves as a catalyst to halt the growing demand for use of child labourers in all facets of work.

ICEM Calls for End to Child Labour

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