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Tyre multinational Goodyear must rescind anti-union practices and sackings in its Guatemalan operations, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) insisted today. The ICEM, which organises tyre workers worldwide, runs an international network of unions representing workers in Goodyear operations. 
 
And American Goodyear workers have warned that the Guatemalan situation could &quot;erode the collective bargaining process&quot; with Goodyear in the company's home country, the USA. 
 
&quot;The Guatemalan Goodyear workers' union STGINSA has informed us of serious breaches of trade union rights by Goodyear Guatemala,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;We urge the company to investigate this situation immediately, and to ensure that its Guatemalan management respects both the company's global standards of labour relations and the universal trade union rights enshrined in the Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation. This is essential to the constructive relationship that we are striving to build with Goodyear at the global level.&quot; 
 
The ICEM Goodyear network unions met members of the company's global corporate management in the US this January. &quot;One of the issues raised during those discussions was the working conditions, and particularly health and safety, at Goodyear operations in Guatemala and Malaysia,&quot; Higgs recalled. &quot;The company promised to look into the situation. We trust that it will do so, and that it will take all necessary remedial action without delay.&quot; 
 
The Guatemalan union has told the ICEM that Goodyear Guatemala summarily dismissed 48 production workers and suspended the employment contracts of two members of the union's executive this February. This, the union points out, &quot;breaches our collective agreement, the labour laws of this country and International Labour Conventions ratified by the state of Guatemala.&quot; The company has ignored rulings by the country's labour authorities that it should cease its anti-union action. 
 
The union also says that local management has threatened to close the plant down. Goodyear Guatemala has recently been pressing for union concessions, notably on &quot;labour flexibility&quot;, and STGINSA believes the company's real intention is to &quot;submit workers to a state of slavery, by attempting to undo the gains won at such cost by the working class.&quot; 
 
In a letter to Goodyear corporate management in the USA, the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers of America (USWA) warns that &quot;the harsh actions reportedly being undertaken by Goodyear in Guatemala&quot; will &quot;ultimately erode the collective bargaining process that is critical to the relationship&quot; between the company and the USWA. In his letter, USWA Goodyear Coordinator Ron Hoover says the company must &quot;take the necessary steps to restore the proper integrity to the collective bargaining process and protect the company's 'Good Name'.&quot; 
 
The USWA hosted this January's meeting of the global Goodyear union network, which is chaired by USWA Vice-President Richard Davis.

Unions Press To End Goodyear&#039;s Anti-Labour Practices In Guatemala

A complaint just issued by the official US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the &quot;first step toward possible prosecution&quot; of Imerys, a leading materials, minerals and ceramics multinational. 
 
So says America's Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical &amp; Energy Workers Union (PACE). The new NLRB complaint found merit in several charges lodged by the union. 
 
Imerys is the target of a global trade union campaign launched by PACE and the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Organised labour worldwide is bolstering Imerys workers in Sylacauga, Alabama, as they fight to maintain union recognition there. The employer in Sylacauga is Imerys American subsidiary ECCA Calcium Carbonates, Inc. 
 
&quot;Let there be no doubt - the company's vigorous effort to de-unionise even includes disdainful violation of US laws protecting workers from harassment,&quot; said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. &quot;Our union allies at the company's operations in England and France can now see the stark contrast with the high-road industrial relations it practises closer to home.&quot; 
 
The NLRB complaint names ECCA Vice-President Ray Barker, Sylacauga Plant Manager Randy Sandrik and five other managers. The NLRB alleges that Barker instructed supervisors to maintain records of employees' union sentiments; that Sandrik threatened employees who supported union organising efforts; and that two supervisors interrogated employees about their union activities. All are violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the US National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employer interference, restraint or coercion of employees exercising their rights to organise. 
 
ECCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys USA, Inc., formed by the 1999 merger of Imetal and English China Clays, Inc. Prior to the merger, Imetal and ECC operated neighbouring plants in Sylacauga, with the Imetal facility represented by PACE. On the effective date of the companies' merger, Imerys withdrew recognition from PACE and repudiated the labour contract (collective agreement) signed by Imetal and PACE. 
 
&quot;The issuance of this complaint by the Board puts the authority of the USA government behind the charges made by PACE and the Sylacauga employees beginning last September,&quot; said Attorney Robert Weaver, who filed the charges on behalf of PACE. &quot;For months the company has said there was nothing to the charges, and more recently that the charges were 'insignificant.' The Board's investigation and this complaint show just how high up the corporate ladder the violations go.&quot; 
 
PACE and the ICEM have highlighted the company's hiring of professional union-busters in an aggressive drive against PACE efforts to organise workers in Alabama and elsewhere in the southeastern USA. 
 
The company drive includes obligatory meetings at which employees are shown anti-union videos, while not permitted to ask questions. In a recent trip to discuss the situation with European labour leaders, Sylacauga worker Keith Fulbright said the videos, the interrogation and company threats to cut wages and remove benefits have many workers &quot;scared to death.&quot; 
 
The global labour campaign on Imerys is receiving strong support, notably from unions in France, where the company is headquartered and has production sites; in England, another big Imerys production centre; and in Belgium, where financiers the Frere family are major investors in the company. 
 
&quot;Imerys is a chameleon corporation,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in Brussels today. &quot;It is preaching social partnership on one side of the Atlantic and bashing unions on the other. That is simply not on, and we have made this very clear to Imerys corporate management in Paris. Ultimately, the company's world headquarters bears the responsibility for the actions of its American management. We call upon Imerys to end immediately its anti-union campaign in the USA and to embark on a new, constructive relationship with the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide.&quot;

Imerys Could Be Prosecuted, US Union Says

A new safety culture is urgently needed at the Sellafield nuclear plant, British trade unions insisted today. 
 
Britain's official Health and Safety Executive this morning released three highly critical reports on safety at Sellafield, which is run by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). 
 
&quot;The time has come for all at Sellafield to accept a collective responsibility,&quot; commented Jack Dromey, spokesman for the BNFL industrial trade unions. &quot;We must build a new world-class safety culture, rooting out the remaining vestiges of the old discredited culture of complacency. 
 
&quot;A failure to act will threaten the very future of the 20,000-strong company,&quot; Dromey said. &quot;The reports are a devastating indictment and utterly unacceptable.&quot; 
 
Dromey is National Organiser at Britain's T&amp;G union. Trade unions at Sellafield include the AEEU, GMB, MSF, T&amp;G and UCATT. 
 
The three inspectorate reports examine various aspects of the Sellafield operation, notably the falsification of quality control data on some batches of uranium and plutonium mixed-oxide (Mox) fuel. These nuclear fuels are reprocessed at Sellafield for a number of clients. The main overseas customer is Japan, whose nuclear plants have stopped using the Mox as a fuel since the false documentation was first discovered last year. The inspectorate says Sellafield's Mox facility, now out of operation, will not be allowed to reopen until a number of changes have been made. These include new monitoring equipment; retraining of workers - several of whom were sacked over the incidents; and big improvements in Sellafield's supervision and management. 
 
Another of the reports draws three conclusions about safety at Sellafield: &quot;The first is that there is a lack of a high quality safety management system across the site which is compounded by an overly complex management structure. The second is that there are insufficient resources to implement even the existing safety management system. The third is a lack of an effective independent inspection, auditing and review system within BNFL. Without a vigorous independent inspection, auditing and review system, the Health and Safety Executive does not see how BNFL can make acceptable and timely progress in delivering a high quality safety management system across the site.&quot; 
 
The reports are &quot;a bitter blow to all those who have worked hard over many years, to challenge old complacency and put in place, in 1999, the building-blocks for a bright future for BNFL,&quot; Dromey said. &quot;The unions drove through the most radical pay and change agreement anywhere in the economy for ten years. This was designed to deliver world-class working practices, and end the Sellafield culture of long working hours. The unions also backed the proposed Public/Private Partnership, essential to introducing new commercial and management disciplines. 
 
&quot;But old habits at Sellafield die hard,&quot; Dromey stated. &quot;The company must bear the brunt of the blame for the fragmentation of the management and irresponsible cuts to manning levels.&quot; 
 
&quot;Finger-pointing, buck-passing and alibi-seeking would be wrong,&quot; Dromey insisted. &quot;There is a collective responsibility for what has gone wrong. The workers at Sellafield are determined to play their part in putting that right. The unions fully support the company's recovery plan (launched today). Combined with the unions' commitment to the proposed Public/Private Partnership, this represents the best hope for a strong future for Sellafield and BNFL.&quot;

Urgent Action Needed At British Nuclear Plant, Say Unions

FCE CFDT also said recent financial figures of EDF suggests the company&rsquo;s stated ill health in 2004 was exaggerated in order to prepare the public for partial privatisation of the state-run company. If finances are maintained for two further years at 2004 tax levels, the union contends, the company will be stable enough not to have to deliver any EDF stake into the hands of private capital.

False Signals Sent Over EdF’s Finances in 2004

A 12-week strike by iron ore workers in eastern Canada ended after the Iron Ore Co. of Canada (a Rio Tinto subsidiary) sweetened a proposal over the one 1,400 strikers barely rejected in early September. The three-year deal with affiliate United Steelworkers of America (USWA) contains no concessions and gives miners, processing plant workers and dock workers a C$1 increase over the contract&rsquo;s term and a C$500 lump sum payment. Meanwhile, 300 workers at Wabush Mines will vote on a five-year contract this week after a deal was struck with the USWA 8 October to end a 15-week iron ore strike in Labrador, eastern Canada.

Iron Ore Strikes in Eastern Canada Winding Down

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Goodyear&rsquo;s neutrality is not evident in Malaysia, however, where the US firm is busy suspending union officers, violating labour rights, exploiting foreign workers and relying on rampant outsourcing. 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products (NUECMRP) is locked in a dispute with Goodyear Malaysia Bhd. in Selangor with the company. The union is faced with restructuring while Goodyear continues to exceed quotas on foreign workers, namely from Nepal, Burmaand Vietnam. 
The NUECMRP branch at Selangor, numbering about 500 workers, has staged a series of informational pickets to support the suspended officers, as well as nine other workers who have been dismissed or suspended.

Goodyear Violating Union Rights in Malaysia

The USWA again used union-friendly language in it&rsquo;s Goodyear tyre contract to win card-check union recognition for workers. A majority of 158 production and maintenance workers at a textile cord factory in Utica, New York, said they want USWA representation and Goodyear is now obligated to negotiate a first collective agreement. The Utica operation is a joint venture between Goodyear and Sumitomo Rubber Industries. The union has now won four card-check recognitions at Goodyear&rsquo;s US plants since the agreement took effect late last year.

Goodyear Workers in US Win Unionisation with USWA

Multinational Saint-Gobain should get down to bargaining with the union at its abrasives plant in Worcester, Massachusetts, the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled. 
 
The UAW union was notified yesterday that the NLRB has certified it as the bargaining agent for the 850 workers employed at the plant. 
 
French-headquartered Saint-Gobain is one of the world's leading glass, ceramics and materials firms, employing some 171,000 people in 45 countries. The UAW organising drive has received strong support from French unions and from the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
The UAW won an NLRB-supervised election of the workers at the Massachusetts plant last August 24 - the biggest union organising victory in New England's manufacturing sector in many years. However, instead of recognising the union and commencing good-faith collective bargaining, Saint-Gobain filed objections with the NLRB. The company claimed the election should be invalidated because of statements made by Congressman James McGovern that the workers have a right to join a union. The company accused McGovern of improperly interfering in the election process, and argued that members of the US Congress have no right to speak out in support of workers trying to organise. 
 
The NLRB regional director in Boston threw out the company's objections and recommended that the UAW should be certified as the workers' collective bargaining agent. Saint-Gobain appealed that decision to the full NLRB in Washington, which has now upheld the regional director's findings. 
 
&quot;This is a major victory for the workers at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester who have struggled so long against incredible employer opposition to join our union,&quot; said UAW Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler. &quot;It is also a total vindication of Rep. Jim McGovern who spoke out courageously in support of the workers' right to organise. 
 
&quot;Now the company has an obligation to sit down with us and bargain in good faith a first contract,&quot; Wheeler continued. &quot;We look forward to commencing those negotiations very soon.&quot; 
 
Throughout the UAW's organising campaign, the Worcester workers have received the support of two unions representing Saint-Gobain workers in France - the F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT-FO and the FCE-CFDT. The two French unions and the UAW are all affiliated to the ICEM, which has been coordinating international support for the organising effort. 
 
Prior to the election, the French unions urged the Worcester workers to join the UAW and pressed senior management in France to halt the anti-union campaign in the US. On December 19, following a meeting with UAW officials in Paris, the French unions publicly urged Saint-Gobain to &quot;stop its anti-union actions in the United States and thus demonstrate its will to recognise the union and begin collective bargaining with the union in conformity with the ILO Conventions.&quot; The core Conventions of the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) protect basic trade union rights, such as freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Saint-Gobain Told To Bargain With US Union

The Finnish Government has cancelled the planned sell-off of Kemira, the state-owned chemical and fertiliser group. Following a heavy lobbying and media campaign against the deal by Finnish unions, it became apparent that the Finnish parliament would not have accepted the plan to reduce the state's holding in Kemira from 56% to zero. Faced with a humiliating defeat, the government retreated. 
 
The Finnish unions involved are affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
At the end of August, the government reached a deal to sell Kemira to Dynea, which is controlled by the Swedish private equity investment firm Industri Kapital. The idea was to form a major pan-Nordic industrial chemicals group with 16,000 employees around the world. It would also have included SSK, another chemical company controlled by Industri Kapital. 
 
However, an independent analysis commissioned by the Finnish unions revealed that the buyer candidate Dynea was making a loss, had almost no own capital and was heavily indebted. Its owner, Industri Kapital, was in reality based in the tax haven island of Jersey and used complex structures to minimise taxation, despite the official government and European Union policy not to have dealings with such companies. 
 
The Finns contacted Swedish unions, which reported that Industri Kapital was a pure money-maker and did not have any industrial interest. Its philosophy was to buy companies cheaply, &quot;refine&quot; them and then sell them in pieces or list them on the stock exchange at a considerable profit. Dynea shop stewards confirmed that restructuring and job losses had been a feature of the company's operating style in recent years. 
 
In October, the employee representatives of Kemira's European Works Council expressed their concern about the arrangement. This European-wide consultation body encompasses members from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the United Kingdom. The Nordic Kemira unions met at the end of October to discuss future action. 
 
With all this information, five Finnish ICEM affiliates representing Kemira workers launched a concerted media and lobbying campaign against the deal. Television and newspapers were supplied with analysis and details on the buyer candidate. Union leaders, officials and Kemira shop stewards were in constant contact with key members of parliament. Non-governmental organisations and environmental groups were also involved in the campaign. After the parliament's Agricultural Committee declared itself opposed to the deal, criticism grew also in the Finance Committee. Finally the government had to back off and withdraw its proposal. 
 
The Kemira unions were obviously happy about the decision. The Chemical Workers' Union said that financial aspects, notably Dynea's heavy debt load and Industri Kapital's use of tax havens, were central elements in the case against the proposed deal. However, the union President Timo Valittu stated, unions are not against change as such. Kemira has gone through a major programme of restructuring, reorganisation and international expansion. It is obvious that this trend will continue in the chemical industries, and more viable partners will be sought for Kemira, too. 
 
Kemira's 10,000 employees produce industrial chemicals, fertilisers and paints in more than 30 countries around the world.

Finnish Unions Halt Kemira Sell-Off

Global collective bargaining took a step forward today. 
 
For the first time, a major industrial dispute has been resolved by union-employer negotiations over a phone hook-up spanning three continents. And a global trade union federation played a pivotal role in the settlement. 

<img height="266" alt="" src="" width="349" />
&nbsp;A first for global bargaining. 
Tense faces in Bangkok as ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs reported back to the Thai Almond workers on Wednesday's stalled negotiations. But three days later, a phone hook-up across three continents brought a good settlement. 
(photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM) 

The agreement between multinational jewellery maker Almond and its Thai workers was negotiated over the past few days in a series of conference calls linking Bangkok, Brussels and New York. This morning, the Thai Almond workers unanimously voted to accept it. 
 
The main points of the settlement: 
 
- 40 Thai workers dismissed by Almond about a year ago, including union leaders, will get their jobs back and will receive full compensation. 
 
- Their union will now have full bargaining rights at Almond. &quot;Within 3 days of receiving a list of demands from the Union on behalf of its members, the Company will in good faith enter into meaningful negotiations with the Union.&quot; 
 
- Almond will drop all lawsuits connected with the dispute. 
 
- The ICEM, the Thai union and other labour organisations involved will publicly state that all issues related to the dispute have been satisfactorily settled and that the relationship between the company and the union has now been regularised. 
 
 

<img height="266" alt="" src="" width="354" />
Now, they can get their jobs back. 
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 
The package was negotiated by the Almond workers' union in Bangkok, Almond's owner and President Jonathan Mandelbaum in New York and, in Brussels, Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Signed copies of the agreement were exchanged by fax between Brussels and New York on Saturday night, Brussels time. Within hours, the settlement was unanimously approved by the union's members in Bangkok. 
 
Almond is a leading international jewellery producer, based in New York. The Brussels-headquartered ICEM represents more than 20 million workers worldwide, including those in jewellery production. 
 
 

<img height="271" alt="" src="" width="359" />
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 
The dispute began in December 2000, when workers at the Almond Company (Thailand) Ltd. organised a labour union. The Thai Ministry of Labour granted the union recognition on 16 December 2000. However, Almond immediately dismissed 40 union members, including the leadership of the union. 
 
But the union elected new leaders and actually increased its membership. This April, Thailand's Labour Relations Committee ruled that the 40 employees had been unlawfully dismissed and should be reinstated. The company lodged an appeal with the Central Labour Court. On 13 November, the court upheld the previous ruling that the 40 workers should be reinstated, with full back pay. But Almond management in Thailand still refused to take them back, and said it would take its appeal all the way up to Thailand's highest court. 
 
The Almond workers' union, meanwhile, launched an international campaign on the issue and sought help from the ICEM. 
 
 

<img height="265" alt="" src="" width="351" />
photo: Yamina De Laet/ICEM 

Negotiations began last Wednesday, with talks at the company's plant in Bangkok between Almond's Managing Director Somchai Sahachaiseree and Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
At Higgs' insistence, he was accompanied in these negotiations both by the current President of the Thai Almond Workers' Union and by the union's former President, who had been among the workers dismissed last December. 
 
However, the talks collapsed when the Bangkok management refused to take back all of the 40 workers. 
 
Fred Higgs reported back to the Thai Almond workers on this stalemate. They resolved to continue their action, and he pledged that the ICEM would launch a full-scale global campaign unless a last-minute settlement was reached with Almond. 
 
Higgs then flew back to Brussels, where the ICEM is headquartered. On Thursday, he received a call from Jonathan Mandelbaum in New York. A series of negotiating sessions followed - by phone conference between the three continents. 
 
On Saturday afternoon, Brussels time, a settlement was reached. Higgs and Mandelbaum immediately exchanged signed copies of the agreement by fax. Just a few hours later, the Thai union held a meeting on Sunday morning, Bangkok time. There, the union members unanimously approved the agreement. 
 
To bring the agreement into legal force in Thailand, it will now be signed between the Thai union and the local management. 
 
&quot;This is, first and foremost, a great success for the Thai Almond workers and their new union,&quot; commented the ICEM's Fred Higgs today. &quot;Their resolve and their endurance have been crucial to this outcome. I am very proud of our Thai Almond members, who this morning voted for the 'all back' option, rather than the 'buy-out' option proposed by the company. Now, they rightly deserve to return to work in dignity. 
 
&quot;This is also a significant advance for global industrial relations,&quot; Higgs added. &quot;The ICEM is proud to be part of that process. Union-employer bargaining across three continents was a novel experience, and one that involved some unsocial hours for all concerned. I would like to thank our Thai trade union colleagues, the Thai Labour Campaign and Mr. Mandelbaum for the spirit in which they approached these negotiations. 
 
&quot;It is part of the agreement that the ICEM should publicly state that all issues related to the dispute have been satisfactorily settled and that the relationship between the company and the union has now been regularised,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;I am happy to do so. We hope that this is the beginning of a fruitful new relationship between Almond and the trade union movement.&quot;

Global First: Bangkok-Brussels-New York Link Solves Almond Jewelry Dispute

Archive

Unions Press To End Goodyear's Anti-Labour Practices In Guatemala

Imerys Could Be Prosecuted, US Union Says

Urgent Action Needed At British Nuclear Plant, Say Unions

False Signals Sent Over EdF’s Finances in 2004

Iron Ore Strikes in Eastern Canada Winding Down

Goodyear Violating Union Rights in Malaysia

Goodyear Workers in US Win Unionisation with USWA

Saint-Gobain Told To Bargain With US Union

Finnish Unions Halt Kemira Sell-Off

Global First: Bangkok-Brussels-New York Link Solves Almond Jewelry Dispute

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