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Photos of the march and rally can be found <a href="/index.php?id=21&amp;doc=2038&amp;la=EN">here</a>.
A march and mass rally against Imerys&rsquo; rash restructuring in the UK'S&nbsp;South West was held on Saturday, 18 November, in St. Austell.
Sponsored by UK trade unions Transport &amp; General Workers Union (TGWU), Amicus, and GMB, the colourful march&nbsp;featured French, American and global union representatives, who reminded Imerys workers in the Cornwall and Devon region that the company will grant nothing without a fight. The march culminated with the rally and speeches at Polkyth Carpark. 
 
The march and rally, in which 450 people participated,&nbsp;was part of a build-up to an industrial ballot that the UK unions will take in the South West Imerys, a Paris-based multinational that produces building materials. Imerys is targeting some 610 jobs to be made redundant at its kaolin mine and processing operations in the South West by the end of next year.
<img height="50" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The restructuring has gained global attention through the TGWU&rsquo;s outreach to other unions representing Imerys workers around the world. 
Speakers at Saturday&rsquo;s event included Serge Gonzales, from the French trade union F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Force Ouvri&egrave;re (FO) Mat&eacute;riaux, C&eacute;ramique et Thermique, who is Secretary of Imerys&rsquo; European Works Council; Keith Fulbright, a shop-floor leader at Imery&rsquo;s Sylacauga, Alabama, calcium carbonate mine and plant, who is President of Local Branch 3-0516 of the United Steelworkers (USW) of America; and Dick Blin, a representative of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers' (ICEM) Unions, the Brussels-based Global Union Federation, which includes Imerys&rsquo; trade unions worldwide. 
 
Also speaking were&nbsp;Jennie Formby, TGWU National Secretary, and Laura Lamprell, TGWU Regional Industrial Organiser. 
 
&ldquo;Imerys has exhibited utter contempt in regards to workers, their families and, indeed, the entire well-being of communities built by the labours of English China Clay,&rdquo; said Formby. &ldquo;That contempt has stretched from the manner in which they made the announcement last July, to the manner in which they&rsquo;ve conducted the consultation process with the workers&rsquo; representatives.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;We have told Imerys that their anti-social policies in the UK will affect their reputation globally,&rdquo; said Serge Gonzales. &ldquo;We demand of Imerys a reversal to the anti-worker conduct that it is displaying in various countries throughout Europe.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="62" alt="" src="" width="113" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="70" />
In Sylacauga, Alabama, Imerys also has demonstrated a record of union-busting and non-adherence to its social obligations. The USW has fended off two de-unionisation efforts by the company since the turn of the decade, and it is only now, through renewed strength of the USW among the 500-member workforce, that the company has tempered its anti-worker agenda. 
 
&ldquo;The lesson that I bring about Imerys from America to workers of the South West is this: &lsquo;Stay united, stay focused,&rsquo;&rdquo; said the USW&rsquo;s Keith Fulbright. &ldquo;Our experience is that Imerys will attack when they know the union is weak. It was only after we signed nearly every worker into the union that everyone began displaying that fact on the shop floor. It was only then that Imerys backed off.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Imerys must begin making real commitments to workers and communities of the South West,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;The ICEM guarantees that unless fairness and respect are granted, we will do everything in our power to bring this dispute into all the company&rsquo;s global workplaces.&rdquo;

Anger at Imerys Expressed at Rally in UK&#039;s South West

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Another Colombian trade unionist was murdered, continuing a trend that labels the South American country as one of the worst in the world with respect to trade union rights and human rights. 
 
Jes&uacute;s Marino Mosquera, an activist in the rural workers&rsquo; agricultural union of SINTRAINAGRO, was murdered last month while returning home from the farm that he worked at in Carepa, Urab&aacute; state. He served as a union representative for SINTRAINAGRO on a joint labour-management committee for the past 12 years. 
 
Following the mid-October assassination, two members of the union&rsquo;s national executive received death threats. On 26 October, masked gunmen broke into the home of one of those members, Medardo Cuesta, who was not there, and left a death note for him.
<img height="80" alt="" src="" width="80" />
SINTRAINAGRO, an affiliate of the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; (IUF), and of the Colombian national labour centre CUT have denounced the murder and death threats, and have called on the government to provide all necessary protective measures for SINTRAINAGRO officers and members. 
 
Far more trade unionists are murdered in Colombia each year than in any other country in the world. Last year, the count was listed at 70, although it is believed another 25 trade union leaders were victims of death squads. 
 
The IUF provides further information on this latest instance of trade union killings in Colombia, as well as a link to send a message of protest to the government on its website. To get there, click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&amp;uid=default&amp;ID=3823&amp;view_records=1&amp;ww=1&amp;en=1">here</a>.

Agricultural Trade Unionist Slain in Colombia

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The former battery workers at two Gold Peak Industrial Holding plants in China who had been diagnosed with excessive levels of cadmium had their case heard in a Chinese court on 3 November. Some 146 workers &ndash; mostly young women &ndash; are being victimised by the Hong Kong-based company.
In 2004, some 400 workers at two of Gold Peak&rsquo;s battery plants in China engaged in strike action to overcome the company&rsquo;s refusal to carry out health tests. Now, Gold Peak is arguing that the 146 workers have no legal basis for claims to compensation, claims for lost working time, or re-employment. 
<img height="98" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The 146 employees, 95% of whom are women between ages 20 and 30, worked at the Gold Peak battery plants of Huizhou Xianjin and Huizhou Chaoba in Guangdong province. In documents, the workers said they were terminated from employment and given little compensation when high levels of cadmium were found in their bodies. The Huizhou city government had certified that a total of 177 Gold Peak workers had been tested and that excessive levels of cadmium had been found in their blood systems. 
 
The Chinese court, after hearing the case on 3 November, adjourned without issuing a verdict. 
 
Investor-based Gold Peak operates several battery-producing factories in China, and sells the batteries under different brand names worldwide.

Gold Peak Battery Workers Have Their Day in Court in China

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 16

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The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) filed, at the request of the All-India Council of Unilever Unions, a complaint last week with the OECD National Contact Points in both the UK and The Netherlands. Unilever, the third largest global food company, is an Anglo-Dutch conglomerate. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The OECD complaint is on the appalling behaviour by Hindustan Lever, an Indian Unilever subsidiary, who, as described in a prior ICEM InBrief article, last year sold its Mumbai factory in order to have it closed down by another enterprise. In doing that, the company not only wanted to avoid paying taxes, the effort was also meant to escape duties to its own workforce. 
<img height="361" src="" width="350" alt="" />
The ICEM, together with the IUF, seeks the major global corporation to set things right, and calls on Unilever to respect both the relevant international standards, as well as the national law in India. The two GUFs believe that Hindustan Lever must immediately start fair and honest negotiations with the Hindustan Lever Employees&rsquo; Union (HLEU), the trade union representing its workforce. 
 
More on the dispute can be found on the IUF&rsquo;s web-site <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&amp;uid=default&amp;ID=3745&amp;view_records=1&amp;ww=1&amp;en=1 ">here</a>.

OECD Complaint Filed on Unilever India

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The ten-month dispute between ICEM affiliate Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) and the Trinidad and Tobago state oil company Petrotrin ended early this month when a new three-year agreement was agreed to.
Agreements were reached for all five Petrotrin bargaining units, covering 5,000 workers in total. The different labour agreements are similar, sharing many of the advances reached, for example a 15% salary increase over three years. 
<img height="93" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Differences between the five agreements can be found in the periods that the agreements cover, with some going back to 2005, and others to February 2006. The 1,500 refinery workers, for example, will receive a 6% wage increase backdated to February 2006. They will be given a 5% increase in 2007 and a further 4 % in 2008. 
 
Agreement was reached on a wide set of issues, includes on health and safety topics and on cost of living allowances. According to an OWTU Spokesman, the union regards the agreement as a good agreement, given the circumstances. 
 
The dispute was marked by several industrial actions by the refinery workers at the Pointe-a-Pierre set of plants, as well as by marches on the company's corporate offices by OWTU members of all the bargaining units.

Trinidad&#039;s State Oil Company Comes to Terms with Workers

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The second Trade Union Seminar for Repsol-YPF trade unionists took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 9-11 October. Repsol-YPF, a Spanish-Argentinean multinational, employs 16,000 workers worldwide and ranks in the top ten of oil and gas companies. 
 
ICEM affiliate Fiteqa, with the active support of CC.OO&rsquo;s Paz y Solidaridad Foundation (FPS) was again leading this initiative. Trade unionists from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba met to debate around their common concerns and to create a union network. ICEM was represented at the event by its Latin-American Vice-President and its Energy Officer. 
<img height="81" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The seminar gave participants the ability to compare their industrial, economic, social and political realities as well as to reinforce their unity and solidarity. For Isidor Boix, International Secretary of Fetiqa, &ldquo;the level of discussions and the commitment shown by all the colleagues who participated constitutes a very sound basis for the future work of the network&rdquo; 
 
The Repsol-YPF unions have also decided during this meeting to set up a web site to extend and deepen the information resources of the workers they represent. At the end of the sessions, representatives of the union network met representatives of Repsol-YPF to introduce their future work plan. 
 
The next meeting will take place in Peru in October 2007, while the webpage should be launched over the coming months.

Repsol Union Representatives from 9 Countries Meet in Argentina

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The dispute in Argentina between ICEM affiliate Sindicato &Uacute;nico de Trabajadores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentino (SUTNA) and the F&aacute;brica Neum&aacute;ticos de Avanzada (NA), a competition tyre making company in C&oacute;rdoba, is going from bad to worse. Over the last few weeks, trade unionists have been harassed and intimidated, including many of the dismissed workers at the tyre plant, their family members, SUTNA union representatives, and the union&rsquo;s attorney. 
 
The house of Ignacio Ferrer, a lawyer working for SUTNA, was turned upside down during a break-in by unknown aggressors. A clear sign that the burglary was only meant to intimidate, is the fact that nothing was taken. 
 
Further aggravation came when the provincial police refused to take action, arguing that they could do nothing since nothing was taken. Failure by the police to do something seems to be endemic in C&oacute;rdoba as none of the other intimidation complaints have been investigated by the police either. 
<img height="112" alt="" src="" width="129" />
Union representatives, as well as union members, have been threatened on at least five different occasions, mainly through bullying by unknown individuals. Similar things happened to their family members. 
 
The Union&rsquo;s Assistant secretary, Rub&eacute;n Silva, for example, was approached by the company&rsquo;s security people while he was talking to the strikers in front of the plant. He was told by a company security guard that the man &ldquo;would break all his bones so that he could never **** again.&rdquo; Another tactic used against the same man is to drive around in cars without license plates in the area where he lives, asking neighbours where his house is. 
 
NA refuses to participate in mandatory reconciliation efforts, thereby turning down any possibility for a dialogue. As part of that, the company&rsquo;s security personnel refused entry to an officer from the Department of Justice, accompanied by, among other people, the union&rsquo;s lawyer and two police officers. They were refused entry in spite of the fact that they had a warrant issued by a court. The group later managed to get in by jumping a gate. 
 
The conflict started in early August when NA, in a clear violation of trade union rights, started to dismiss staff members for becoming SUTNA members. Things escalated when the company became openly hostile to SUTNA&rsquo;s industrial actions, which occurred in support of the 25 sacked SUTNA members. The dispute follows the signing, for the first time in 31 years, of a national agreement for the Argentinean rubber sector with the employers&rsquo; association.

SUTNA Rubber Dispute in Argentina Hardens

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The modus operandi by US multinational Ross International on human rights reads like the script of &lsquo;how to behave badly in a globalised world.&rsquo; The company, which manufactures moulds for the glass container industry, appears to follow a handbook on how to subcontract and outsource work, while eliminating trade unions at the same time. 
<img height="66" src="" width="100" alt="" />
In a letter to the company last week, ICEM took on the company&rsquo;s anti-union techniques in Colombia. ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintravidricol is running a campaign in that country to get the company to deal responsibly with its workforce. 
 
Ross International owns one facility in Colombia where a collective bargaining agreement exists, called Moldes Medellin Ltda. Reportedly, this modern facility operates at only 50% capacity and is constantly reducing its number of workers, with a prohibition in place on hiring new ones. The company also owns four other factories in Colombia, which all are enlarging their capacity. 
 
New jobs at these facilities come with far less job security and at lower salaries, with most workers being hired through temporary work agencies. On top of that, Ross International ignores union requests in the one plant with an agreement. It also refuses to comply with earlier agreements in that plant. 
<img height="71" src="" width="130" alt="" />
In the US, where the company is headquartered in the state of Pennsylvania, ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) faces very similar problems. There as well, union members are the victims of Ross efforts to downsize mould shops, and outsource work that has, for years, been performed by USW members. The serious reductions in staff at Ross International&rsquo;s US operations affect three of the four company plants in the US: Penn Mould, Ross Mould, and Brockway Mould. 
 
Another sign that the company is not taking its obligations towards its workers seriously is that representatives of the USW have had seriously difficulties to even get a meeting with the management of the company to discuss the issues of downsizing, layoffs and possible solutions. 
 
As a mould manufacturer, Ross International serves both Owens-Illinois and Saint Gobain Container, Inc.

Ross International: Labour Problems in Colombia and US

&nbsp;<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Manfred Warda was appointed to fulfil the final year, 2007, of Fred Higgs' term as General Secretary of the ICEM. The decision was made by the ICEM's Presidium at its 5 October meeting in Brussels. 
 
Higgs has been diagnosed, along with other health-related issues, with pleural plaques of the lungs, a condition brought about by industrial exposure to asbestos while working, near London, at Chloride Battery, where he got his start in the trade union movement as a shop steward in the 1960s. 
<img height="182" alt="" src="" width="300" />
From left to right: Manfred Warda, ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Fred Higgs
Higgs, who will turn 60 in December, will remain ICEM General Secretary until the end of the year. 
 
Warda, 59, is currently Head of the International Department of the German trade union IGBCE. A 43-year member of the IGBCE and before that, Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), the German Mineworkers' Union, Warda began working in the industrial sector in 1963, in his home city of Bochum, North Rhine Westphalia. 
 
He began his career inside IGBE in 1971, and after serving as an assistant and then Head of the President's Office, he became Head of IGBE's International Department from 1990 to 1997. Following the 1997 merger that created IGBCE, he continued as Head of the IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department.

Manfred Warda to Replace Fred Higgs as ICEM GS in 2007

Archive

Anger at Imerys Expressed at Rally in UK's South West

Agricultural Trade Unionist Slain in Colombia

Gold Peak Battery Workers Have Their Day in Court in China

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 16

OECD Complaint Filed on Unilever India

Trinidad's State Oil Company Comes to Terms with Workers

Repsol Union Representatives from 9 Countries Meet in Argentina

SUTNA Rubber Dispute in Argentina Hardens

Ross International: Labour Problems in Colombia and US

Manfred Warda to Replace Fred Higgs as ICEM GS in 2007

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