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South Korea’s unions are joining to block an anti-worker Contract Labour Bill expected to come before the National Assembly next month. The legislation, put forth by the government and business groups, was delayed in February. 
Among other regressive measures, it would liberalise contract labour by extending terms of service from two to three years. Some 45% of the country’s workforce is now comprised of contract workers who, on average, receive half the salaries of full-time workers, but oftentimes work 50% more hours. 
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said on 18 March it would return to tripartite labour, management, government dialogue to prevent further liberalization on contract labour. KCTU is working with the country’s other national center— the Federation of Korean Trade Unions—to block the measure. “Our top priority is to protect irregular workers,” stated KCTU General Secretary Lee Soo-Hu.

Korean Unions to Block Labour Reform Bill over Contract Workers

A strike by glass workers of several Belgian unions at Glaverbel’s AGC Automotive Fleurus ended 15 March in a negotiated settlement over a restructuring plan. The strike, begun in December in the southern Belgian town of Fleurus, included ICEM affiliates CG-FGTB and white-collar SETCa-BBTK. Negotiators managed to soften the impact of those being retrenched by gaining additional severance pay, getting early retirement after age 50, and reducing the cuts from 284 to 247 at the 800- worker factory. Glaverbel is owned by Asahi Glass, the world’s second largest glassmaker.

Belgian Unions End Strike at Glass Plant

ICEM affiliate NUM has called for the South African government to revoke the mining license of Durban Roodeport Deep (DRDGold). NUM cites DRDGold’s atrocious safety record, as well as its negative labour relations practices. On 9 March, an earth tremor struck the firm’s North West mine operations at Hartebeestfontein leaving scores of miners trapped for several hours due to DRDGold’s insufficient rescue abilities. Two miners died and 23 were injured. And then a week later the company suddenly closed the Blyvooruitzicht mine near Carltonville without giving the necessary statutory notice. Some 300 women who haul waste rock from that mine for residual gold processing by DRDGold lost their jobs. NUM wants DRDGold to exit the mining business and hand operations off to a company with more integrity and more concern for workers.

NUM in South Africa Seeks License Revocation of DRDGold

A strike by 1,000 members of USWA also in Canada continues at Michelin’s B.F. Goodrich tyre plant in Kitchener, Ontario, despite renewed bargaining that took place in mid-July in Pittsburgh. Despite Michelin net income doubling to C$528 million in the first half of 2004, Kitchener management is seeking wage and benefit cuts amounting to 15%. “This isn’t about being asked to help a company that is in financial difficulty,” stated USWA Assistant Ontario/Atlantic Director Marie Kelly. “This is about feeding a corporate giant that has always been anti-union.” The strike began 1 June. In separate bargaining also in Pittsburgh, the USWA is engaged in hard bargaining with Michelin over the master rubber contract at three US tyre plants.

USWA Strike in Canada Against Michelin Continues

Members of ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintraquim at the pharmaceutical firm Casar Laboratorios S.A. have been on strike because the firm has not paid wages and benefits since last December. Company management now says it will liquidate the factory and workers—nearly all family-supporting women—will be without earning power. Sintraquim President Pastora Rosales and union activist Doris Amanda were employed at the factory. The ICEM is reviewing the situation and action is imminent.

Pharmaceutical Strike in Colombia Over Unpaid Wages

Another pair of ICEM affiliates also is on the road to merger. In Sweden at the congress of Industrifacket, the Industrial Workers’ Trade Union, delegates voted to merge with Svenska Metall. That ICEM affiliate, which includes mineworkers, will now vote at its congress in September on the merger agreement. If passed, the merger is expected to take effect in January 2006.

Swedish Unions Industrifacket, Metall Prepare to Merge

IGBCE in Germany won gains for 60,000 rubber workers in wage negotiations. A one-year contract with the rubber industry will pay workers 1.7% effective 1 October. A payment of €150-per-worker was also agreed to prior to that date, and rubber industry training obligations will remain intact.

IGBCE Negotiates Gains for Rubber Workers in Germany

Some 1,450 American tyre workers who have been on strike for one year have reached a tentative contract agreement with General Tire, a subsidiary of global tyremaking giant Continental. 
 
This was announced today by the US tyre workers' union, the USWA. 
 
At the global level, the USWA is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has been coordinating a major worldwide trade union campaign in support of the US strikers. 
 
The tentative agreement will be voted on by USWA Local 850 members on Sunday, 19 September. This local represents the strikers at General Tire's Charlotte plant. Monday, 20 September, would mark the first anniversary of the start of their strike. 
 
Tentative agreements with Continental General were simultaneously reached by USWA locals at two other US plants and will also be the subject of ratification votes by workers at these plants. Before these tentative agreements were reached, contracts at the other two plants were not due to expire until late in the year 2000. 
 
Details of the agreements, which if ratified will expire in 2006, will not be available until USWA members at the three plants have voted on them.

Continental Tyres: Tentative US Agreement

Imerys, the ceramics and construction materials multinational, has just given itself a new name and a new image. But it already risks seeing them tarnished by an international dispute over its anti-union stance in the USA. 
 
Known until recently as Imetal, the company claims to be the world leader in refractory raw materials, paper pigments, white pigments and high-purity graphite. 
 
Imerys is headquartered in France, and trade unionists there have pledged their support to American workers who are resisting the company's attempts to destroy their union. 
 
The US Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers union (PACE) is fighting deunionisation campaigns by Imerys at its plants in Georgia and Alabama. At the global level, PACE is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Last week in France, PACE and the ICEM met with Pierre Gaudin of the ICEM-affiliated chemical and energy union FCE-CFDT; Josette Mehat, National Secretary of the construction and wood workers' FNCB-CFDT; and Eliane Petit, chief shop steward at Imerys for the ICEM-affiliated mining union FGMM-CFDT. They promised active support for an international campaign on the issue, to be coordinated by the ICEM. 
 
"Imerys has changed from a company which once sought stable relations with PACE to one which appears dead-set on destroying unions in the US," said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. "We are informing European unions about the company's actions." 
 
Imerys withdrew union recognition of PACE at its plant in Sylacauga, Alabama, after the company acquired English China Clays (ECC) and merged its Georgia Marble plant with a much larger non-union ECC plant, which stands next to the Georgia Marble facility. The company's withdrawal of union recognition was based on former ECC non-union workers' outnumbering union members at the combined plant. 
 
PACE offered to hold a new election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at the combined plant, provided Imerys would be neutral in the election and let workers decide without company interference. The company rejected the union's offer, and instead has launched a union-busting campaign aimed mainly at non-union ECC workers, who outnumber union workers at the Georgian Marble plant by a 2 to 1 margin. 
 
The union charges that Imerys, through its hired union-buster, is: 
 
Showing unionised workers anti-union films at mandatory meetings 
Arranging for its supervisors to meet individually with workers, in order to discourage support for the union 
Recruiting higher-paid workers to carry its anti-union message 
Using scare tactics by associating union membership with plant closings, strikes, violence, and union dues in order to keep workers from supporting the union. 
 
PACE has filed several charges with the NLRB alleging illegal activity by the company. 
 
PACE believes Imerys has laid off all but 5 of its union workers at it Jeffersonville, Georgia plant and moved production to its non-union operations as part of its campaign to destroy the union. The union contract [collective agreement] at the Jeffersonville plant expires in mid-November. 
 
PACE attributes much of the anti-union actions to Dennis Redeker, former CEO of ECC and an American, who was offered over 1.2 million US dollars for his ECC stock and was given a board seat and top-level job with Imerys. Redeker has a history of conducting union-busting campaigns in the US to prevent unionisation of ECC plants. 
 
"Our European union colleagues have been shocked by the barbarism of Imerys's actions, since these things just don't happen in Europe," said Drexler. "European trade unionists understand that being a union member should be an individual decision and should not require an act of courage." 
 
PACE has approximately 600 members at three Imerys plants in Alabama and Georgia. The union is also making other contacts with trade unionists in Britain and Canada. 
 
"Imerys has got off to a bad start with its new identity," commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. "We hope that justice and common sense will prevail and that the company will abandon in the USA an attitude that it would not dare to adopt in France. The ICEM has considerable experience of mobilising global campaigns against anti-union multinationals. In the case of Imerys, we would prefer not to use that experience, but we will do so if necessary."

Imerys Faces Global Labour Action Over US Union-Busting

ICEM Vice President and Women’s Vice-Chair Binda Pandey was arrested 10 April in Katmandu, Nepal, for protesting with the pro-democracy masses against the country’s absolute monarchy. Early April in Nepal spawned several mass protests that resulted in some 4,000 arrests with royal troops and security forces using tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges to disperse protestors. Nepal became a total monarchy in October 2002 when King Gyanendra dissolved Parliament and took absolute powers. Pandey, a leader of the Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers’ Union, was released following her 10 April arrest and she thanks the ICEM and all affiliates for support. She also reports that unionists from GEFONT that were detained were also released.

Nepal Arrests ICEM Women’s Leader Binda Pandey

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