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At the 61st United Nations General Assembly, on 13 September 2007, member nations formally adopted the important Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People, a UN milestone that was marked by 25 years of debate. The vote was 143 nations in favour, four against, with 11 abstentions. 
 
The four nations that rejected the Declaration are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US. 
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The non-binding charter protects the human rights of 370 million native people, and sets out individual and collective rights to protect their lands and resources, as well as to maintain their unique cultures and traditions. The declaration includes provisions on fundamental needs, including food, health, and education. It also prohibits discrimination against indigenous peoples and promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them. 
 
The UN&rsquo;s Human Rights Council adopted the Declaration in June 2006. The General Assembly deferred consideration of the Declaration late last year over member nations&rsquo; objections to language defining self-determination and indigenous people. 
 
The 107th and 108th Meetings of the 61st General Assembly produced the historic passage of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. UN Delegates from Peru introduced the Declaration. The 11 nations that abstained in the vote include: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, Samoa, and Ukraine.

UN General Assembly Adopts Historic Indigenous Peoples Declaration

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Following the lead taken by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the ICEM has registered strong condemnation of the heavy jail sentences given to six labour activists by Burma&rsquo;s military junta. On 7 September, a closed trial inside Insein prison sentenced four of the activists to 28 years in prison, while two others received 20-year sentences. 
 
The ICEM calls the prison terms &ldquo;unjustified and scandalous.&rdquo; 
 
Four of the six were charged with attending a labour rights seminar at the American Centre of the US Embassy on 1 May 2007, and two others were unjustly convicted for bringing attention to the arrests days later. The six were found guilty of sedition and organising an unlawful gathering. 
The six men, all labour activists in their 20s, were among 30 Burmese citizens detained at the Labour Day event. While most of those attending were released within hours, Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Shwe Joe, Wai Lin, Aung Naing Tun, and Nyi Nyi Zaw were held. On 4 May, Shwe Joe and Aung Naing Tun were released. 
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Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min, and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years, while Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw received 20-year prison terms. Kyaw Win and Myo Min were arrested on 10 May for travelling to the Thai-Burmese border to get word out of the country about the May Day arrests.&nbsp;
In the ICEM protest letter to the senior leader of the military junta, the global union federation stated that it &ldquo;learned all six men were found guilty of &lsquo;inciting hatred or contempt for the government&rsquo; during a trial held inside Rangoon&rsquo;s Insein prison, and that some were convicted for being members of &lsquo;illegal associations.&rsquo;&rdquo; 
 
The letter added, &ldquo;&hellip; detaining and sentencing workers who exercise their right to freedom of association is a clear violation of international labour standards, including ILO Convention 87, which has been ratified by your country.&rdquo; 
 
The Burmese junta has a long history of unwarranted attacks on the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB), the legitimate labour organisation that defends workers&rsquo; rights in Burma. 
 
The ICEM demands the immediate and unconditional release of the six. The ICEM protest letter can be found <a href="/en/7-Asia-Pacific/2397-ICEM-protest-letter-to-Burmese-Junta">here</a>.

28-Year Prison Sentences Given to Labour Activists Inside Burma

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North American ICEM affiliate, United Steelworkers (USW), began its largest ever conference of women workers in Toronto, Ontario, yesterday. Over 1,000 trade union women from Canada and the US are expected at the four-day conference, which is entitled &ldquo;Women of Steel: Building Power, Taking Action.&rdquo; 
 
USW President Leo Gerard will address the conference today, 24 September. Also speaking will be Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of US presidential candidate John Edwards, who has won the endorsement of the USW, and progressive American blogger Arianna Huffington. Canadian Member of Parliament Libby Davies, from the New Democratic Party, will also address the conference. 
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Gerard will introduce to delegates the &ldquo;Protect Our Kids/Stop Toxic Imports&rdquo; campaign, which will be unveiled in Canada tomorrow, 25 September. 
 
Workshops will centre on engaging women in the work of the union, skills enhancement, work-life balance, political action, and global solidarity. The USW will host global trade union guests from Brazil, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Africa, and the UK. 
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&ldquo;Strong unions need women, and it is clear that women in every nation need strong unions,&rdquo; said USW Assistant to the President Leeann Anderson. USW Women of Steel Director Ann Flener added that union &ldquo;women know that in today&rsquo;s global economic society, solidarity must reach across nations to the furthest regions of the world. We must talk with each other, compare situations, and learn best practices from each other&rsquo;s experiences.&rdquo;

North American ‘Women of Steel’ Convene Largest Ever Women’s Conference

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ICEM affiliate in Mozambique, the National Union of Chemical, Rubber, Paper, and Print Workers (SINTIQUIGRA), has forged a four-union merger with transportation and textile workers&rsquo; unions, in an effort to strengthen the union movement of the country. 
 
The merger is partly in honour of Joaquim Fanheiro, former leader of SINTIQUIGRA, who died unexpectedly in March 2007 while serving as general secretary of the Mozambique Workers&rsquo; Organisation (OTM), the nation&rsquo;s leading national labour centre. The other merger partners are the Union of Textile and Footwear Workers&rsquo; (SINTIVEC), the National Union of Port and Railway Workers&rsquo; (SINPOCAF), and the Ports and Allied Dockworkers&rsquo; Union (SINPEOC).
A name for the union has not yet been determined, but a founding general assembly meeting will occur in November 2007 and will address that and other matters. 
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Union merger discussions in Mozambique began last spring between SINTIQUIGRA and SINTIVEC. They were expanded in the summer to include the transport and dockworkers&rsquo; unions. The combined membership of the four unions will be about 25,000. 
Comrade Fanheiro was a long-time trade union activist and main leader of SINTIUIGRA. He was a strong workers&rsquo; advocate in 1970-era production councils in Mozambique, which were predecessors to the OTM. Later, he became the distinguished leader of the OTM and played a key role in negotiations with the government over issues such as the annual increases to the statutory minimum wage and the revisions to Mozambique&rsquo;s labour code. 
 
Trade unions in Mozambique of late have been burdened by downsizings and redundancies, as many large companies have splintered their businesses off to smaller companies, which have cut staff and attempt to slash social costs. The four-union merger is expected to make the labour movement and the OTM stronger and more efficient.

Four-Union Mozambique Merger to Honour Labour Legacy of Joaquim Fanheiro

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ICEM affiliate in Trinidad and Tobago, the Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU), staged a mass protest on 10 September over delays in bargaining between the union and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. The union members&rsquo; protest came at the electric authority&rsquo;s opening of a customer service centre at the company headquarters in Port-of-Spain. 
 
Management was celebrating the opening of a new automatic meter infrastructure and the utility&rsquo;s award of some TTD700 million in contracts for that system, as well as for a new power station. Much of that money will be used on contractors and contract labourers. 
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OWTU members, meanwhile, have been without a current collective agreement for over a year, and have been frustrated by salaries that are tied to 2005 levels at a time when Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s inflation rate is high. 
 
The last negotiations session was held in July, and the company&rsquo;s chairman said management was waiting for direction from the Ministry of Public Utilities. 
 
Meanwhile, another union in Trinidad and Tobago, the Public Service Association, staged another protest through a series of one-day work stoppages against the Water and Sewerage Authority. That occurred on 14 September, three days after a similar protest following a revised management proposal. Water and sewer workers are also protesting delays and a prolonged negotiations period. They are still attempting to resolve a 2005-2007 contract with the public utility, talks that only started in January 2007. 
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In a related workplace development in the country, five construction workers last week were hospitalised when they were overcome by gas at the state-owned Petrotrin&rsquo;s Point-a-Pierre refinery. All 700 construction workers were forced to down tools by what Petrotrin said was a leak from an alkaline plant. It marked the second time in two months that building workers at the refinery walked from their jobs in protest to health and safety concerns. 
 
Petrotrin is currently undergoing a gas optimisation modernisation, as well as a gas to liquids project at the west coast refinery. In early August, the state company dropped production by 15,000 barrels-per-day to 47,000 b/d due to safety concerns. That followed a May 2007 drop in crude production from offshore sites, after a gas explosion on an offshore rig in the Soldado field killed one contract worker, and injured two others.

OWTU Members at Electricity Authority in Trinidad and Tobago Protest

This week, on Wednesday, 26 September, 84 strikers in the Antalya Free Trade Zone of Turkey will mark one year on picket lines at Novamed, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, owned by Fresenius Medical Care of Germany. Eighty-two of the strikers are women. 
 
The ICEM has continued to champion the cause of the strikers and the Turkish union Petrol-Iş that organised this workplace, and stands by them. Judging from the inhumane treatment, it is easy to see why. Workers &ndash; mainly women &ndash; were forced to apply to management if they wished to marry. They were forbidden to talk to one another on the job. And they were forced to undergo breath tests following breaks to enforce a no-smoking ban. 
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Picket sign states: &quot;We decide when we give birth&quot;
Workers at Novamed freely elected Petrol-Iş as their collective representative. Novamed managers did begin negotiations with the union and the workers in April 2006. But when talks broke down, managers quit the negotiations and began a harassment and intimidation campaign aimed at dislodging union support. On 26 September 2006, 84 workers expressed their discontent by striking. 
 
The first anniversary of this just strike has gained a sizeable and significant voice inside Turkey. Through actions and a fortnight of constant press coverage, leading up to the one-year anniversary, civil society across Turkey is acutely aware of the Novamed strike. Handbilling, mass meetings among trade unions, NGOs, and Turkish women&rsquo;s groups, as well as rolling actions in support of the strike have all happened. 
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In Istanbul, a coalition of trade unions, women&rsquo;s groups, and others have formed a &ldquo;Women&rsquo;s Platform for Solidarity with Novamed Strikers,&rdquo; which has carried out a number of actions over the past two weeks. In the cities of Izmir and Adana, actions and forums in support of the strike have occurred.
A petition drive to the National Parliament has also started, aimed at mandating better work conditions for women, thanks to the courage of the Novamed strikers. Various actions for justice at Novamed are backed by all Turkish confederations, trade unions, and, increasingly, by civil society groups. And today and tomorrow, busloads of supporters will descend on Antalya for the one-year strike anniversary. 
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The ICEM called attention to the deplorable conditions that caused the strike from the outset. In May, the strike received firm commitment from the ICEM Executive Committee. Currently, a four-person ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee is in the Antalya trade zone to support the strikers. They will join the strikers and Turkish activists in a forum, documentary film, and a social event on 25 September, and then accompany the strikers to the front of company offices on 26 September for a lively protest. 
 
The delegation is headed by ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee Chair Evgenia Esenina of Russian Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU), and includes Elena Petrovici of the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union of Romania (PETROM), Ramona Parra of the Chemical, Textile, and Leathern Workers of Spain (FITEQA-CCOO), and Carol Bruce, ICEM Women&rsquo;s Officer.

Broad Turkish Attention Given One-Year Novamed Strike

Senior General Than Shwe 
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, 
c/o Attorney General 
Pyinmana 
Burma 

Re : Extremely harsh prison sentences for labour activists
Dear General Than Shwe, 
 
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), representing 20 million workers from 384 industrial trade unions in 118 countries, joins the wide-ranging international protest against the extremely heavy prison sentences that have been imposed, on Friday 7 September 2007, on six labour activists, after these had wanted to organise a seminar at the US Embassy's American Centre in Rangoon earlier this year. 
 
Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Shwe Joe, Wai Lin, Aung Naing Tun and Nyi Nyi Zaw were arrested, on 1 May 2007, after holding a May Day celebration and having plans to discuss labour issues at the American Centre. This event was immediately cancelled after the arrests. Two of the arrested activists, Shwe Joe and Aung Naing Tun, were released on 4 May. On 10 May, two other men, Kyaw Win and Myo Min, were arrested for going to the Thai-Burma border to inform the outside world about these May Day arrests. 
 
The ICEM has learned that all six men were found guilty of &quot;inciting hatred or contempt for the Government&quot; during a trial held inside Rangoon's Insein prison, and that some of them were convicted for being members of &quot;illegal associations&quot;. Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years in prison, and Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw to 20 years. As you and your government know well, detaining and sentencing workers who exercise their right to freedom of association is a clear violation of international labour standards, including ILO Convention 87, which has been ratified by your country. 
 
We have also been informed that the interrogations of the six above-mentioned activists by your country&rsquo;s security agencies specifically focused on finding links with the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB). The FTUB is recognised by the entire international trade union movement, as well as by the wider global community, as a legitimate organisation that defends workers' rights in Burma. 
 
I am therefore urging you to use your good offices and make sure that the relevant authorities within your government do away with these unjustified and scandalous prison sentences and order the immediate and unconditional release of our six colleagues. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary

ICEM protest letter to Burmese Junta

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Despite increased labour and human rights pressure on the Islamic regime, Iran&rsquo;s government is still refusing access and giving misleading reports on the condition of imprisoned transport union leader Mansour Osanloo. The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) is calling recent efforts to reach Osanloo by Indonesian activists a &ldquo;cynical catalogue of dirty tricks&rdquo; by Iran. 
 
The government assured Indonesian trade unionists seeking to visit Osanloo in Tehran&rsquo;s Evin prison the week of 8 October that the he was receiving treatment for a two-year-old eye injury. The Indonesian activists, as well as Osanloo&rsquo;s wife, Parvenah, were told by authorities that they could not visit the 47-year-old trade unionist because he was receiving treatment.
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But a prison doctor admitted to the Indonesians later that, if he is not treated within the next two weeks, he could go blind. The Indonesians that visited Iran were Hanafi Rusrandi, Seafarers' Union president and ITF's national coordinating committee chairman, and Syukur Sarto, the general secretary of national centre FSPSI.
&ldquo;The Iranian government is piling outrage on outrage, digging deeper and deeper into a barrel of dirty tricks,&rdquo; said ITF general David Cockroft. &ldquo;All the evidence we have is that this is a cold blooded and deliberate attempt to weaken and undermine the most significant union leader in Iran today.&rdquo; 
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Osanloo was arrested for the third time on 10 July 2007, following a tour of European labour institutions and labour unions, in which he spoke openly of labour abuses and restrictions on freedom of association in Iran. He has been in prison since. In May 2005, he sustained eye injuries when beaten by Iranian security forces. Osanloo is the leader of Sherkat-e Vahed, the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
The ITF, last week, released a video entitled &ldquo;Freedom Will Come&rdquo; on his story and the story of bus workers&rsquo; efforts to organise in Tehran. It was posted late last week on YouTube and will shortly be available on DVD. The London-based Global Union Federation has also launched a petition campaign in support of Osanloo. It can be found <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/freeosanloo.cfm">here</a>.&nbsp;

‘Dirty Tricks’ Imposed by Iranian Government over Imprisonment of Mansour Osanloo

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A series of rolling strikes will occur at Unilever plants in The Netherlands until the Dutch foods and chemicals company backs away from a restructuring plan that targets as many as 12,000 European workers for the unemployment queue.
Late on the evening of 9 October, Dutch workers &ndash; led by FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Voeding &ndash; struck six plants for 40 hours. The strikes followed a failure of negotiations toward a new contract and Unilever&rsquo;s unilateral decision to initially close three Dutch plants, costing almost 500 jobs.
<img height="199" alt="" src="" width="300" />
ICEM at a Unilever Protest in July 2007

Last week, on 16 October, workers again mounted strikes in the company&rsquo;s home country, the first coming at the Loosdrecht plant, a maker of Knorr food products. The next day, workers at Vlaardingen, where consumer products Lever and Cif products are made, struck. Unilever announced plant closings for those two plants, as well as at its Delft plant, where Calv&eacute; food products are made. 
 
&ldquo;We see no need for this,&rdquo; stated FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s Lucas Vermaat, FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s chief negotiator with the company. &ldquo;For Unilever, this is solely about cutting costs in our country. Beyond that, the directors have no strategy to increase revenue. There is no reason to close factories and not to guarantee jobs.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM and the Dutch unions call on European unions to monitor the transfer of production to other plants during the rolling strikes. The ICEM also is calling on all global affiliates to write messages of support to Dutch Unilever workers through Vermaat at <a href="mailto:l.vermaat@bg.fnv.nl">l.vermaat@bg.fnv.nl</a>. 
 
In early August, the company announced that is was embarking on a four-year reorganisation that would cut 20,000 jobs worldwide, the majority of which would come in Europe. It would close or dramatically reduce production at some 50 of its 300 global operations. Regarding the European closures, Unilever did this without consulting with the European Works Council of the company. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
European unions are gearing up for a week of actions against the Anglo-Dutch firm in the first week of December, which will include a mass march and rally on 4 December in Rotterdam.
Meanwhile, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) has asked for protest letters over the company&rsquo;s conduct at a foods and tea factory in Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. Management has called in armed militia and elite police troops to quell workers&rsquo; protests over a plan to replace 950 permanent jobs, out of 1,200, with casual and contract workers. Unions are invited to lodge protests with Unilever Pakistan Ltd.&rsquo;s External Communications manager, Fareshteh Aslan, at <a href="mailto:fareshteh.aslam@unilever.com">fareshteh.aslam@unilever.com</a>.

Strikes Begin as Unilever Takes Wrecking Ball to Workers’ Jobs

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Today, in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, a country-wide network of Freudenberg workers is being launched in the rubber, chemicals, metals, and textile sectors. The meetings today and tomorrow, 23 October, will be attended by six unions and is organised by ICEM affiliate Rubber Workers Union of Brazil (FUB) and ICEM Vice President Sergio Novais. 
 
The conference will include representatives from all six Freudenberg plants in S&atilde;o Paulo state, the Latin American Rubber and Tyre Workers' Federation (FUTINAL), and ICEM affiliate IGBCE from Germany. Also due to play a key role in the formation is Bernd Schneider, the secretary and chief workers&rsquo; representative from the Freudenberg European Works Council. Schneider is an IGBCE member.
<img height="72" src="" width="177" alt="" />
Brazil is the major manufacturing country of Freudenberg in Latin America, where 1,400 company workers are employed. The German company also has manufacturing operations in Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela. The aim of the 22-23 October conference is to establish a workers&rsquo; network in Brazil, and then to expand network activities to the other Latin American countries next year. 
 
Discussion will occur on the ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreement with Freudenberg, as well as on common work aspects and problems inside the six plants. Delegates attending will also visit Freudenberg-NOK&rsquo;s rubber and metals suspension plant in Diadema.
<img height="63" alt="" src="" width="130" />
Worker representatives from that plant, as well as the company&rsquo;s Kl&uuml;bler Lubrificantes plant in Baurueri, its Vibracoustic business in Taubat&eacute;, Brugmann business in Campinas, and textile operations in Jacare&iacute; and Novo Hamburgo will attend. Two other operations in Diadema &ndash; Freudenberg&rsquo;s after-market Corteco production of rubber gaskets and seals and its Simrit auto components business, both also shared partly by Japanese-based NOK &ndash; will have worker representatives attending.
The formation of the workers&rsquo; network is getting major support and participation from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany.

Network of Freudenberg Brazilian Workers Begins Today

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