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Also in New Zealand, a chlorine spill 11 June at Carter Holt Harvey&rsquo;s Kinleith paper operations created a huge cloud of gas and caused some evacuations and major traffic tie-ups in the town of Tokoroa. No injuries were reported. CHH, majority owned by US International Paper Co., had just days earlier escaped prosecution over a dam collapse last December resulting in the spill of 5,000 cubic metres of sludge and sediment containing PCPs into nearby waterways. A local regulatory committee rejected court action.

Chlorine Spill at Paper Mill Causes Evacuation in New Zealand

Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union National Secretary Andrew Little said New Zealand&rsquo;s current high growth, healthy company profits, and a tight skilled-labour jobs market make &ldquo;the perfect conditions for wage growth.&rdquo; In calling for more and better levels of collective bargaining, Little said with economic growth nearing 4%, &ldquo;working people should be getting pay raises of at least that much. Instead, they&rsquo;re getting 2.5%.&rdquo;

EPMU Charts Wage Growth Course in New Zealand

Durban Roodeport Deep (DRD), the anti-worker South African gold producer, rejected out of hand affiliate NUM&rsquo;s viable plan to save jobs and create opportunities at the East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM). The union proposed to switch to high volume at the ore-rich mines near Boksburg. The mine operator, citing the high Rand, is intent on phasing out operations over the next ten months, affecting the livelihoods of 2,600 miners. DRD has already reduced pumping operations which could endanger the surrounding area. DRD is the managing partner and 40% ERPM stakeholder in the enterprise called Crown Gold Resources Ltd. With Khumo Bathong Holdings as majority holder.

Durban Deep Rejects NUM’s Plan for Job Preservation

Russian unions took to the streets 10 June in dozens of cities to demonstrate against proposed legislation to replace health care, utility and transportation benefits for retirees and disabled citizens with nonindexed cash payouts. Hundreds of concerned groups, led by the Federation of Independent Unions, fear the proposed added monthly supplement will be eaten away by inflation and price hikes to essential services. The measure will receive a first reading in the State Duma 2 July, and more protests are assured including a possible national strike in September if the proposal isn&rsquo;t defeated.

Russian Unions Protest Social Cutbacks

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The ICEM extended condolences today to its affiliate, the Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU) following this weekend&rsquo;s sinking of the Kolskaya oil rig in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Kolskaya, owned by a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Zarubezhneft OJSC, sank in stormy waters while being towed from off the Kamchatka Peninsula to Sakhalin Island in Russia&rsquo;s Far East. 
 
Fifty-three oil workers went down with the rig, while 14 were rescued by the icebreaker Magadan and the tow ship Neftegaz-55, which were bringing the rig to port. The rig sank in icy waters 1,042 metres deep (3,400 feet) in the Sea of Okhotsk. Only four bodies were recovered and the rig&rsquo;s four rescue boats were found, but with nobody in them. 
 
The Kolskaya had been drilling for Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot on the West Kamchatsky shelf since September before this tragedy in which it was capsized in a storm and sank in 20 minutes. 
 
The ICEM calls immediate attention to this oil rig disaster as another example of the perilous work that offshore oil workers must endure to meet world energy supplies.

ICEM Mourns Deaths of 53 Oil Workers off Russia

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) today signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Petr&oacute;leo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, the world&rsquo;s third largest energy company. The agreement, the 20-million-member ICEM&rsquo;s 16th since 1998, was signed at the Brazilian company&rsquo;s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, and Petrobras Director for Gas and Industry, Maria Das Gracas Silva Foster, Executive Director for Human Relations, Diego Hernandes, and Joao Antonio de Moraes, General Coordinator of FUP (the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified federation of Brazil). 
 
A GFA is a social pact between a multinational company and a Global Union Federation that puts in place the very highest standards regarding trade union and human rights, health, safety, and environmental practices, and quality of work principles across all of a company&rsquo;s global operations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="214" height="160" />
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda signs Petrobras GFA
&ldquo;This is ICEM&rsquo;s fourth such agreement with an oil and gas concern,&rdquo; said Warda, &ldquo;and it embodies many of the social principles that we expect companies in extractive industries to adhere to.&rdquo; The ICEM has previously negotiated GFAs with Statoil of Norway, Eni of Italy and Lukoil of Russia. 
 
The agreement was signed with approval from ICEM Brazilian trade union affiliate, the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified Federation (FUP), whose leaders were present at the signing together with ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President Sergio Novais of Brazil. Support from both FUP and Sergio Novais was important in reaching the agreement. 
 
The agreement commits Petrobras to recognizing the right of freedom of association and to bargain collectively for all employees, as well as establishing formal dialogue channels between staff and management. It also promotes working conditions that are favorable to a balance between work, personal, and family life. 
<img alt="" src="" width="315" height="161" />
ICEM, Petrobras, FUP
The GFA states that Petrobras &ldquo;will strive to get all service providers to comply&rdquo; with nine labour relations points contained in the agreement, including health and safety and providing necessary equipment, permanent institutionalization of negotiation channels, and equal opportunities and promotion of training opportunities. 
 
The agreement also recognizes global standards contained in the ILO Tripartite Declaration on Principles for Multinational Corporations and Social Policy, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact. 
 
Warda and Petrobras CEO Jos&eacute; S. Gabriella de Azevedo initiated talks on the ICEM-Petrobras GFA as board members of the Global Compact some three years ago. 
 
Petrobras, 56% owned by the Brazilian government, has 80,500 employees and operates in some 30 countries. The company is a leader in exploration and production of oil, and operates 16 refineries as well as numerous petrochemical, biofuels, pipelines and other installations. The ICEM is composed of 255 national trade unions operating in 94 countries. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM&rsquo;s Dick Blin (+41 79 734 8994, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>) or Tom Grinter (+41 22 304 1842, <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>).

ICEM Signs 16th Global Agreement with Petrobras of Brazil

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Finland&rsquo;s papermaking unions, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro, have new 25-month labour agreements with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) that take effect in March 2012. That was assured yesterday, 28 November, after the employers&rsquo; association in the transport, ports, and shipping industry signed&nbsp;an accord with AKT, the Transport Drivers&rsquo; and Port Workers&rsquo; Union. 

Even though the FFIF came to terms with the two ICEM affiliates separately in the pulp and paper sector last Wednesday, 23 November, the FFIF was unwilling to sign off on the agreement until they had a guarantee that&nbsp;strikes would not&nbsp;occur in the transportation and export of pulp and paper products.
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The agreement in the paper sector follows a framework agreement made between the three national trade union confederations &ndash; SAK, STTK and STTK &ndash; and the Confederation of Finnish Industries on 13 October. 

In March 2012, Ammattiliitto Pro members&nbsp;will receive a 1.6% across-the-board wage increase, in addition to an average 0.8% increase that will be negotiated locally and is part of a new salary structure. That amount will reward new work demands, personal skill developments, and greater efficiencies by workers on the local level.
Paperiliitto members will receive a 1.5% increase, with&nbsp;0.9%&nbsp;to be negotiated locally. 

Essentially, this new salary structure was recognized by employers through strike actions taken last spring by Ammattiliitto Pro, Finland&rsquo;s white-collar and clerical workers&rsquo; union, which represents about 4,000 staff at some 50 paper enterprises. 

In April 2013, the wage increase for Ammattillio Pro&nbsp;will be 1.3%, with a 0.6% award won on the new locally-negotiated salary structure. Paperiliitto's 2013 increase will be 1.2%, with 0.7% awarded locally.
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="46" />
Two other important aspects of the pulp and paper agreement include extra protection for workers when mills close. In effect, employers take on more responsibility for re-training and skill development, as well as workers given the flexibility to take new work in another enterprise and still qualify for redundancy benefits. 

Also, shop stewards and safety representatives who receive slightly higher pay for their responsibilities will get a 10% supplement on top of that higher pay. The two unions also won a universal three-day paid leave annually for vocational training and education. 

Both Petri Vanhala, President of Paperiliitto, and Markku Palokangas, Pro&rsquo;s Vice President for the Industrial Sector, expressed satisfaction with the 25-month agreement, especially with&nbsp;the gains made&nbsp;through the national framework agreement. Paperiliitto represents some 19,000 blue-collar workers across Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry.

Finnish Pulp, Paper Unions Make Gains in 2012-2014 Industry-wide Pacts

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An agreement was signed in Jakarta today between PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union (SP KEP SPSI) and management of the world&rsquo;s largest gold and second largest copper mining complex &ndash; Grasberg in Papua province &ndash; that will end a 94-day strike on Saturday, 17 December. The strike pitted a low-wage but determined and enlightened workforce against a global extractive resource company, US-based Freeport-McMoRan that has Grasberg at top of its massive revenue stream. 

The agreement put together in Jakarta this week, with the assistance of the Indonesian government, falls short of workers&rsquo; wage demands, but union-winning gains were made that will allow the 10,000 striking miners to return to their jobs with heads held high. 

Firstly, striking miners will be paid their lost salaries during the three-month strike. Secondly, in a last minute company concession early today, disciplinary action against a number of strikers has been withdrawn and complete amnesty accorded. Further, a central issue in the dispute was resolved in favour of the union. 

All allowances &ndash; health care, housing, education, shift premiums, service-year bonuses, and a metal bonus &ndash; will be calculated on fixed costs rather than Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s demand of variable cost schemes. Grasberg miners will receive a 24% increase on their back-dated wages to 1 October 2011. In October 2012, they will receive a 13% increase. 

Some 7,000 of the striking mineworkers, PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) employees termed non-staff workers, had earned between US$2.13 per hour and US$2.54. The 37% falls short of the union&rsquo;s most recent demand to increase wages to US$4.50 per hour this year and then by US$3 per hour in 2012. But the resolve of workers and union leaders alike to bring the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits to a grinding halt was a lesson of worker solidarity and unity to trade unions across the globe, and many paid special attention to the developments of this strike. 

&ldquo;We are not entirely happy with the wage deal,&rdquo; said union bargaining committee member Juli Parorrongan. &ldquo;We made the decision to settle due to humanitarian reasons and out of concern for our workers. They have no money, very little to eat, and having no pay checks have pushed them to the brink of poverty. 

&ldquo;But this is not the end, only the beginning. The energy and unity of our struggle now enters the workplace.&rdquo; Much of that energy was concentrated in a fierce blockade by strikers and their families at Mile 28 on the lone road between Timika on the Arafura Sea and Grasberg open-cast and underground mines in the central highlands of Papua.
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Mile 28 Blockade
That pivotal blockade prevented PTFI from getting supplies in and more importantly, it severely hampered the company from making repairs on 114-kilometre slurry lines that carry Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s daily 230,000-tonne output to Timika and global markets. Pipelines were vandalized during the early stages of the strike by people seeking to siphon off small portions of the company&rsquo;s riches for sale on black markets. PTFI declared force majeure on 22 October, five weeks into the strike. 

The 15-member bargaining team of PT Freeport Indonesian Workers&rsquo; Union, part of the national Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU) of SPSI, will return to Timika from Jakarta tomorrow, 15 December. On 16 December, they will hold a mass meeting with strikers to brief them on the agreement, and then hold a ceremonial end to the blockade at Mile 28. 

One outstanding issue concerning the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is local police charges in Timika against 12 union leaders. They are under investigation for disturbing the public order in blocking the Grasberg road and access to the mine and milling operations. 

In months-long involvement in this dispute, the ICEM is convinced that Indonesian labour code asserts that PT Freeport Indonesian Workers&rsquo; Union were within their legal rights to engage in strike activity at blockade points. 

&ldquo;The ICEM applauds the resourcefulness of Grasberg miners in carrying out this strategic strike,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, &ldquo;and it is now in the best interests of both the company and workers for local authorities to drop recriminations over what we know to be legitimate strike activity.&rdquo;

Proud Indonesian Miners End Strike with Freeport-McMoRan

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The ICEM Brazilian affiliate, Federac&atilde;o &Uacute;nica dos Petroleiros (FUP), or Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified Federation, carved important new safety protections for deepwater oil platform workers in a new collective agreement recently approved. 
 
The union twice came to the edge of beginning strike actions, but postponed walkouts when the Brazilian state company agreed to better pay and more FUP and worker involvement in safety matters on the platforms in the Campos and Esp&iacute;rito Santo Basins, as well as across the company nationally. 
 
Following the FUP General Board accepting a revised company proposal that spells out specific safety requirements on 22 November, the contract won favour from 35,000 oil workers in local meetings, many coming on 26 November. 
<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="110" />
The new contract stipulates mandatory union representation of 150 safety specialists on platforms in the Campos Basin, for instance, and it requires three annual inspections per rig. Petrobras is underway with a US$225 billion investment in downstream and upstream projects, including exploration and development of 19 new wells next year in the deepwater Campos Basin off S&atilde;o Paulo state. 
 
FUP leaders throughout seven rounds of bargaining called for the same safety criteria that Norwegian state company Statoil has with ICEM affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Since the 2001 killing of 11 workers in the explosions and subsequent sinking of its P36 platform in the Roncador offshore fields, Petrobras has seen some 80 workplace fatalities, including one in September from a fire on a diesel fuel tanker. 
 
The FUP in 2010 forced suspensions on both Platforms 33 and 35 off Brazil, and the company itself shut operations on different vessels in both January and February this year over safety concerns. 
 
Worker safeguards in the agreement came only after FUP set a second strike deadline of 16 November. Following a first strike threat some weeks before, Petrobras agreed to improve health and pension fund benefits for workers. 
 
The pay package, another key issue throughout talks, will see Petrobras oil workers get a 10.71% pay rise, which represents 3.4% in real wages when factoring in Brazil&rsquo;s inflation rate.

Strike Threat Gets FUP Major Safety Protections for Brazil’s Petrobras Workers

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Workers throughout Britain are scrambling to fight to protect their pensions, as companies follow the government&rsquo;s tactics of attacking pension schemes. Last week members of three joint affiliates of ICEM and the International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) at the food and cosmetics manufacturing multinational Unilever voted to strike. 
 
Unilever is attempting to unilaterally scrap the final salary pension scheme for existing members and replace it with a career-average scheme that would cut as much as 40% of the expected retirement benefits of long serving employees. 
 
The company already blocked the final salary scheme to new entrants in 2008, but this plan to move 5,000 existing members has caused outrage, especially as part of the justification for the 2008 move was to preserve the benefits of existing members. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="90" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="175" height="70" />
If the company does not act swiftly to avert the strikes, it will be the largest strike action it has faced in its 80 year history, and the first time a FTSE 100 company has faced a strike purely on the issue of pensions. 
 
5,000 workers producing well-known products such as Persil detergent and Marmite voted resoundingly in favour of the strike ballot. 85% of Unite members, and 75% of GMB members, and a large majority of USDAW members all voted on 28 November in support of the strike which will probably be conducted at 12 factories in December. 
 
&quot;The vote also shows that ordinary workers will not stand idly by to watch profitable employers like Unilever jumping on the pensions robbery bandwagon,&quot; stated Allan Black, national officer at GMB and ICEM Executive Committee member. 
 
Union negotiators offered the company alternatives to reduce the risk of the final salary scheme and cap benefits, but were frozen out of discussions by the talks by management. 
 
This month Unilever CEO Paul Polman received shares worth &pound;1,069,986. 
 
Unilever also just announced 600 redundancies in closing the Alberto Culver plant in Melrose Park near Chicago, Illinois in 2013. Workers at the 50 year old factory are members of United Steelworkers Local 9777, most of whom are very long-serving employees. The factory produces well known products VO5, TRESemme and Nexxus shampoos and conditioners, and St. Ives lotions and body wash.

UK Unilever Workers Vote to Strike to Protect Pensions

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