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Turkish ICEM affiliate Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is received mass support from two national trade union centers 4 March in its continued occupational of the SEKA paper mill in Izmit. The Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is center, DISK, and TURK-IS mobilized affiliated unions to join the occupation that day. Some 700 paperworkers of Sel&uuml;l&ouml;z-Is plus family members have occupied the mill since 20 January in order to block privatisation of state-run company SEKA. Scores of ICEM affiliates from around the world have registered strong letters of protest to Turkish affiliates in their countries as a result of a 16 February ICEM Circular.

Support for Paper Mill Occupation in Turkey Growing

The ICEM, as part of Global Unions, supports the &ldquo;Global Call to Action Against Poverty&rdquo; (GCAP), which was launched at this year&rsquo;s World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. Backed by a wide range of organisations, the GCAP aims to pressure the world&rsquo;s governments to dedicate the necessary resources and time to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG). These MDGs set world targets to decrease overall poverty. Examples include reducing child mortality by two thirds by 2015, ensure primary education and reduce by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water. Trade unions can play an important role in this anti-poverty campaign, as their support often makes the difference in areas such as fair trade, debt reduction or AIDS. Detailed campaigning material on GCAP, including trade union-related info on MDGs, can be downloaded from the ICFTU site: http://www.icftu.org (in English, French and Spanish). Unions can also get in contact with their national centers for more information on this campaign.

ICEM Supporting Poverty Action Call

ICEM Electric Power affiliate SRPSKA in Bosnia-Herzegovina repledged its commitment against privatisation at its annual Congress last week. Mirko Dukic stepped down as president of the union to accept a position with a newly founded regional public-sector workers&rsquo; confederation. Dusko Vrhovac was elected to replace him.

Bosnia Electric Power Affiliate Pledges Against Privatisation

After Thailand&rsquo;s energy minister rejected a proposal by EGAT-LU that would prevent the privatisation of that nation&rsquo;s electric power system, the ICEM affiliate announced it would resume mass demonstrations to mobilize the public against next year&rsquo;s planned privatisation. EGAT-LU is seeking government backing of the electricity market so private firms will not dominate. The union also called on the government to help finance Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) construction of new power plants and not to use public debt as the excuse to sell EGAT to the private sector.

Thai Government Rejects Logical Plan on Electric Privatisation

French unions again will demonstrate next week, 15 June, the day their government will take up and debate legislation to partially privatise the country&rsquo;s gas and electric industries. The ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee on 27 May resolved to fully support French affiliates FCE-CFDT and F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT FO in their resistance to the measure. On 27 May, 80,000 French workers marched in Paris against the government&rsquo;s bill to remove Electricit&eacute; de France and Gaz de France from state control, a status the utilities have had since 1946.

French Unions Take to the Streets Over Utility Privatisation

Protests continue by affiliate EGAT-LU in Thailand against privatization of the electric industry. A meeting 17 March between union leaders and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not resolve the standoff. Mass public opposition to the sell off of the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has taken hold, and has created equal opposition to privatizing other essential services. EGAT-LU said efforts to block the initial offering of electric stock would continue for the next several months, but that electric supplies during the peak summer season will not be affected. &ldquo;We are protesting in the country&rsquo;s interest and we will not stop until we succeed,&rdquo; said EGAT-LU Gen. Sec. Sirichai Maingam

Thai Affiliate EGAT-LU Resists Electric Privatization

New address for ICEM 
 
54bis route des Acacias 
1227 Geneva, Switzerland 
 
Tel: +41-22-304-1840 
Fax: +41-22-304-1841
&nbsp;

ICEM - where we are

A bitter chrome dispute in South Africa in which security guards fired tear gas at strikers of affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) ended last month. Ferrochrome workers at Rustenburg and Wonderkop won remuneration, leave and attendance bonuses and provident fund benefits. The strike against Xstrata plc. began 29 July and involved over 1,000 NUMSA members. At the strike&rsquo;s outset, guards fired tear gas at 250 protestors in Rustenburg who were trying to preventstrikebreakers from entering the worksite.

Chrome Strike in South Africa Won by Affiliate NUMSA

<img height="55" src="" width="138" alt="" />
The strike by 350 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Local 28 of Canada continues against chemicals producer Invista in Ontario. Workers rejected a negotiated settlement on 19 September due to a regressive back-to-work proposal presented by Invista, a subsidiary of privately-held and US-based Koch Industries. 
The proposed back-to-work protocol called for any worker not recalled within 12 days of the strike&rsquo;s ending to be considered laid off. This would remove seniority and bumping rights under the contract, giving the company motivation to impose job cuts. The strike began on 4 June.

CEP Members in Canada Reject Invista Contract

And USW&rsquo;s Gulf Coast hurricane relief fund got another US$50,000 boost when the union announced it would inject that amount to victims of Hurricane Rita. The USW originally placed US$50,000 into a fund immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, and that was matched by $50,000 from USW-Canada&rsquo;s Humanity Fund. The $150,000 has swelled to over $300,000 due to contributions from USW members, local branch unions, and others.

USW Hikes Hurricane Relief Fund in US

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