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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="110" height="50"/>
In August, this Contract and Agency Labour newsletter reported that the Supreme Court of Korea had issued a groundbreaking ruling that in-house subcontract workers employed for two years at Hyundai Motor in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang province, must be made permanent employees. 
 
On 12 November, a similar ruling was made, this time by the Seoul High Court. This case was brought by seven former subcontract workers at the Asan Plant of Hyundai Motor. In line with the Supreme Court decision, the ruling states that in-house subcontractors’ employees, who worked continuously for two or more years, should be treated as the employees of the user enterprise. 
 
The Seoul High Court ruling is particularly significant as it has broad coverage over several production departments at the plant. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthKorea.png" width="180" height="83"/>
Shortly after the Korean Supreme Court ruling on 22 July, the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), asked Hyundai to conduct collective bargaining with the union over direct employment for the subcontract workers. But Hyundai Motor refused, stating that it would appeal the Supreme Court decision. 
 
On 4 November, KMWU filed a lawsuit against Hyundai demanding that a total of 1,900 in-house subcontractors with service of two or more years should be made full-time Hyundai workers, moved into regular jobs, and compensated for lost wages. (On average, contract workers at Hyundai earn 50 to 60% less than that of direct employees.) 
 
On 5 November, KMWU submitted an application for mediation of an industrial dispute over collective bargaining with Hyundai Motor to the National Labor Relations Commission. 
 
The Supreme Court’s ruling, and Hyundai’s intransigence in elevating subcontract workers to permanent status, has spurred workers to dramatically disrupt production at the Ulsan city factory in continuous sit-in strikes that began on 15 November. (See the ICEM CAL newsletter article on the Hyundai strike <a href="/index.php?id=73&la=EN&doc=4148" type="internal">here</a>.)

Seoul Court Rules Subcontract Workers Full-time after Two Years 

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Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took leadership of the UK government, it has been exploring ways to amend the Agency Workers’ Regulation, adopted to implement the European Temporary Agency Workers' Directive. 
 
According to the Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) head of Employment Rights, Sarah Veale, “An agreement was reached between the TUC and the CBI (UK’s business grouping) two years ago, after many hours of discussion and compromises from both sides.” 
 
The compromises included a clause that agency workers would not receive equal treatment from day one, as per the European directive, but after 12 weeks of employment. Despite this, employers and their representatives expressed a range of concerns over the regulation to the new government, arguing for amendments to be made before its entry into force in October 2011. 
 
The TUC responded by saying: “There is no point unpicking that now, after the regulations have been enacted, and business and unions are preparing to work co-operatively with what we have agreed.” 
 
Following consultations with both sides, the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer, and Postal Affairs, Edward Davey, announced in October that due to the “unique legal situation” of the regulation, any amendments proposed which did not have the agreement of the TUC and CBI would “face the risk of being set aside in the courts in the event of a legal challenge.” He went on to say, “Were that to happen, the effect could be to call into question the very foundation of the fundamentals of the implementing legislation, crucially including the 12-week qualifying period itself.” 
 
Although he described the outcome as “clearly disappointing,” Minister Davey confirmed that the Government would not be making any further attempts to amend the regulation.

UK Government Abandons Attempt to Dilute Agency Workers’ Regulation

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The Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) Union, at its CAW Council meetings 3-5 December in Toronto, rebuked Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for November. The government agency reported that in November, 26,700 part-time jobs had been created, while 11,500 full-time were lost. 
 
CAW President Ken Lewenza said new job creation based solely on part-time growth is no cause to celebrate. “Workers must be able to realise their goal of having a full-time job, a job you can raise your kids on, and later retire from in dignity,” said Lewenza in his opening day keynote address to the Council, the union’s governing board. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ken.Lewenza.CAW.jpg" width="100" height="145"/>
CAW President Ken Lewenza
Lewenza said that the loss of full-time workers across Canada has put a major strain on provincial budgets, particularly as they work with federal and municipal governments to set up stimulus programmes to support local economies. 
 
Provinces in turn have put pressure on public sector workers to freeze wages, while failing to guarantee and preserve public services or jobs. The effect has meant a downward spiral to social services and on living standards of workers. 
 
The CAW Council also agreed at its deliberations to donate C$10,000 to a trust fund established to help families dealing with the tragedy of the Pike River coal mine disaster last month in New Zealand. That trust fund was set up by ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, Lewenza said, “Know that we are making this donation in full solidarity with your union’s continuing efforts to improve working conditions in safety standards in mines and every other workplace in New Zealand.”

Canadian Auto Workers Reject Government’s November Statistics Stating Job Growth 

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The ICEM has developed a short guide to dealing with Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). The guide, intended to help unions raise awareness of the prevalence and impact of precarious work, outlines what types of employment are included in the ICEM’s definition of CAL, and highlights some of the most common problems associated with such work. 
 
The guide also gives an overview of what the ICEM and its affiliates around the world are doing to promote permanent, direct employment, and at the same time to promote better conditions for CAL workers. 
 
The guide lists a number of specific attempts unions have made to keep employment permanent and direct, for example, by agreeing to a cap on the number of CAL workers who can be employed in a particular company or sector, or by restricting the number of times a fixed-term contract may be renewed before employment becomes permanent. 
 
In terms of ensuring respect for the rights of CAL workers, ICEM affiliates have sought guarantees that CAL workers will receive equal treatment from the first day of their employment and that those on fixed-term contracts will receive severance fees in the event their contracts are not renewed. Unions have also attempted, and in some cases succeeded, in negotiating collective bargaining agreement clauses, which require the company to consult with the union, and to get their approval, before outside labour is used. 
 
The guide proposes ways in which unions can build relations with CAL workers, suggesting that unions consider altering their internal rules to permit CAL workers to join; create a dedicated precarious workers’ section or representative; or consider introducing different membership fee levels and alternative methods of dues collection. 
 
The guide concludes by encouraging affiliates to initiate a discussion on CAL within their own unions, and suggests a number of questions which may help to get these discussions started. 
 
The ICEM’s Mini Guide to Dealing with CAL is available <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20HQ.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Launches Mini Guide to Dealing with Contract, Agency Labour 

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Members of ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), in dispute with management of Visy Pulp and Paper now for two weeks, resorted to peaceful civil disobedience early today at one company facility. Thirty strikers staged a sit-down across the entry to Visy’s Dandenong recycled containerboard mill near Melbourne. 
 
They were arrested and charged with undue obstruction and besetting a work premise. 
 
Some 500 AMWU members took a 24-hour industrial action on 29 November over Visy’s foot-dragging in reaching a new enterprise agreement. On 3 December, that action became an open-ended strike when 370 paperworkers at two mills, Dandenong in Victoria state and Visy’s Smithfield mill in New South Wales, walked out. 
 
Central among issues in talks has been Visy’s insistence to vastly increase the number of casual workers employed in its mills, converters, and recovered paper worksites. In deliberate moves to frustrate the bargaining process, Visy seeks to create a whole new casual classification rate of A$15-per-hour, less than the current casual rate and about half what full-time workers earn. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.VisyDandenong.jpg" width="180" height="135"/>
The AMWU is seeking a 5% wage increase for each of three years, improvement to the wage base for casuals, and a heat policy for work during the current hot summer months. In a provocative move, the company approved a 15% wage increase to workers over three years in its non-union operations. 
 
The AMWU has been fruitlessly negotiated with Visy for three months and a prior enterprise labour agreement expired 30 September. “We have tried to engage and negotiate with Visy, (but) they have closed the door on the negotiations,” said AMWU National Print Division Secretary Lorraine Cassin. 
 
The company has “tried everything in (its) power to whittle down the job security of our members and introduce a cheaper casual workforce across the country,” she added. Besides the Dandenong and Smithfield mills, the union’s 24-hour stop-work actions occurred at converting and recycling centres in Carole Park, Queensland, and O’Connor, West Australia. 
 
Visy did succeed in gaining a court injunction banning union officials from participating on picket lines. But that did not prevent paperworkers employed at Dandenong from lifting the strike to another level. Today’s peaceful sit-down strike is evidence of union frustration against a company fiercely bent on trying to avoid enterprise collective agreements.

AMWU’s Visy Strike in Australia Escalates; 30 Peaceful Strikers Arrested

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), ICEM’s white-collar affiliate in Africa’s most populous country, halted a strike on 4 December against Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, so that negotiations over breaches to a collective agreement could begin. 
 
The strike was conducted by the Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch of PENGASSAN over the energy company’s sudden and unilateral sacking of 84 Nigerian workers. The union blocked entry at the company’s administrative offices in Eket in Akwa Ibom State, as well as at other Mobil Producing facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt. 
 
The strike began on 30 November and was called off on 4 December when Mobil decided to discuss the issue, stating that it would return the workers to their jobs. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil3.JPG.JPG" width="100" height="99"/>
The company, the operating partner in a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., dismissed 66 offshore workers and 18 office employees employed by various contractors. Under the collective agreement, the workers are covered by provisions of the agreement. 
 
By late last week, negotiations did prove that Mobil had violated the contract, both in terms of failing to meet and discuss the layoffs with PENGASSAN prior to the sackings and failing to establish redundancy pay with the union. 
 
The union and company agreed to establish a working group to calculate the exact remuneration owed dismissed workers but Mobil has not returned Nigerian nationals to their rightful jobs. 
 
PENGASSAN has constantly had to defend its collective agreements is the rapid escalation of casualisation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, with Mobil Producing consistently being one of the worst violators.

PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

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The ICEM participated in the Eastern Europe and CIS regional conference of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) on 3–4 December in Moscow. 
 
The conference brought together 150 trade union leaders from newly independent countries, to identify new challenges and search for strategies and solutions to fight the violation of workers’ and trade union rights. 
 
The conference was attended by the ITUC General Secretary Sharon Barrow; European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks:, Mikhail Shmakov, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and President of the PERC: and Igor Kovalchuk, President of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (FNPR). 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.perc.jpg" width="221" height="138"/>
Trade union rights was identified as a vital necessity in Russia and elsewhere in the region in order to develop civil society and democracy under new conditions of economic modernization. 
 
The conference agreed that in the current environment of the post-crisis recovery, a consolidation of the trade union movement is required in order to respond properly to the challenges common throughout the region. 
 
Speaking about the specific rights of trade unions in Russia, the FNPR’s Shmakov drew attention to the need to liberalise the strike law. “In our country, in contrast to Western countries, it is almost impossible to organize a legal strike, so we must strive to reduce the length of time for conciliation.” 
 
Barrow stated that “the attacks on the rights of the workers are a bad recipe for economic development.” She added: “The role of trade unions as defenders of the legitimate rights of the employees by conducting effective negotiations with the employer is extremely important for the future development of economies and societies in general.”

ICEM Participate in Regional ITUC-PERC Conference in Moscow 

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The ICEM expressed deep condolences to the families of 29 miners declared dead on 24 November at the Pike River coal mine disaster in New Zealand, as well as to their trade union – affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
 
In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “It is with great sadness that the ICEM has learned of the deaths of 29 miners. Please accept my heartfelt condolences. 
 
“We will now support your call for a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this terrible accident, and for all of the bodies to be returned as soon as possible to their families. The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in mines, and moving the New Zealand Government toward ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176, on safety and health in mines.” (Full letter <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/145.ICEM.EPMU.New%20Zealand.24Nov.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.epmu.pike.river.jpg" width="208" height="161"/>
Inside Pike River mine, before accident, Photo: NZPA
The miners, trapped since 19 November by a horrid methane gas explosion at Pike River Coal Ltd.’s coking coal mine inside the Paparoa Range on the South Island, were declared dead 24 November by police charged with rescue. (See ICEM’s initial report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4115-Hope-Still-Alive-for-29-Trapped-Inside-Pike-River’s-New-Zealand-Coal-Mine" type="internal">here</a>.) The police announcement came minutes after a second massive explosion that lasted 30 seconds occurred inside the company’s mine of the Brunner coal seam at 14h37, local time, Wednesday. The Pike River mine is located 50 kilometres from Greymouth . 
 
Rescue attempts proved prohibitive for six days because of high levels of methane gas and carbon monoxide that were registered inside. News of the secondary explosion on 24 November and improbability that the 29 could have survived was brought to grief-stricken family members at 16h00 in Greymouth by Pike River CEO Peter Whittal. “Exactly what we said would happen happened,” he told reporters in explaining why rescuers had not been sent into the mine. Some 90 skilled mine rescuers, many flown in from Australia, were on standby for those five days. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/EPMU Andrew Little.jpg" width="182" height="173"/>
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
EPMU National Secretary Little said: “News of this second devastating explosion means there is now no prospect of a successful rescue and the lives of the 29 men trapped inside have been lost. It is time to let the families and the community grieve. 
 
“Most of the miners killed were our comrades in the union, including Blair Sims who was an EPMU delegate at the Pike River mine,” Little said. “The EPMU will now make the practical arrangements to establish a fund to assist the families of the men whose lives have been lost.” 
 
Little added the EPMU now calls on the government “to establish an independent inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, including a public hearing in front of a senior judge and leading technical experts,” adding the union will do everything possible to assist the investigation. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.epmu.blair.sims.jpg" width="175" height="175"/>
EPMU Delegate Blair Sims
Sims was a 28-year-old loving husband and father of two small children. He was an exceptional rugby player who for the past two seasons was New Zealand West Coast player of the year. Eleven of the 29 miners were EPMU members. Those perishing included 16 full-time workers of Pike River Coal Ltd., owned 31% owned by New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd., and 13 contract employees. 
 
Little, who received the news 90 minutes after the blast yesterday, told New Zealand media that “miners are special people. They are the foundation rock that much of New Zealand was built on. When you lose special people like that, 29 all in one go, it is a hard thing. I don’t think any of us can imagine what the families will be going through tonight.” 
 
The EPMU is assisting by setting up the “EPMU Pike River Miners Family Support Trust” to collect donations to support the 29 families. See more information on how to give financial support to the families of the dead miners <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.EPMU%20Pike%20River%20Miners%20Family%20Support%20Trust%20-%20flyer.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
"Miners around the world are grieving their fallen comrades," said ICEM and South Africa's NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, "our struggle continues to ensure our members safety at work." 
 
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key today will name a High Court judge along with two other high-level people to a Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine accountability for the Pike River tragedy. One of those members is expected to be an international mine safety expert. 
 
As well, other investigations will be conducted by Kiwi governmental agencies, and the EPMU will assemble its own team of legal and technical experts. Little welcomed Key’s announcement after a Cabinet meeting today that a Royal Commission will convene. 
 
“This is a huge disaster by any account and what we do in response will be scrutinized around the world, especially in other Commonwealth countries whose nationals were among those killed,” Little said. 
 
Besides 24 New Zealanders who perished inside the Pike River mine, two Australians, two UK nationals who were Scotsmen, and one South African also died. 
 
See photos of all the lost Pike River miners <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-miners/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503001">here</a>.

Together with EPMU, ICEM Mourns Deaths of 29 Miners in New Zealand

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The ICEM is calling on its affiliates to mark World AIDS Day. 
 
First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day on 1 December has served to raise awareness about the epidemic, focus attention on issues that are key to a successful response and inspire positive action. The theme of World AIDS Day for 2009 and 2010 is “Universal Access and Human Rights”. 
 
This year, a global “Lights for Rights Commemoration” is organised in 100 cities. When lights are turned off, darkness represents how stigma, discrimination, and criminalisation forces people to die alone in fear and shame, while switching the lights on symbolises the human rights of all people, which allows one to walk in the light of information, treatment and care. 
 
HIV/AIDS is a social disease. HIV transmission mainly takes place along the fault lines caused by poverty, gender inequality and social injustice. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.world_aids_day_poster_non[1].gif" width="132" height="171" alt=""/>
HIV/AIDS is a workplace issue. The workplace is crucial for successful action to combat the pandemic. 
 
HIV and AIDS funds are in recession due to the impact of the global financial crisis; HIV and AIDS are not in recession. Still for every three people put on treatment five more become infected. That is why awareness and prevention as well as advocacy for voluntary counselling and testing are crucial in the fight against the epidemic. These are also cornerstones of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project. 
 
HIV is also a human rights issue, closely related to workplace non-discrimination laws and regulations. The ICEM calls on its affiliates to negotiate and adopt HIV/AIDS workplace policies, which are rights-oriented, non-discriminatory and do not victimise people living with HIV and AIDS. 
 
An important development in 2010 was the adoption by the 99th International Labour Conference of the new ILO Recommendation 200 on HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. The ICEM is committed to support the implementation of this strong new instrument on HIV and AIDS. 
 
The ICEM calls on its affiliates to join campaigners and organisations in their country to highlight universal access and human rights.

1 December – World AIDS Day

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ICEM Nigerian affiliate the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is demanding the immediate release of its 10 members who were aggressed and arrested at work at 10.30am last Thursday, 25 November. 
 
The employees of oil multinational Halliburton did not know who the armed men were who arrived at company offices in Lagos, after attacking the security guards at the entrance. The men were officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), investigating the bribery and corruption scandal around Halliburton and the multi-million dollar bribes paid to top government officials in exchange for the contract to build Africa's first liquefied natural gas plant in Bonny, Rivers state. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805BanatundeOgunPengPres1.jpg" width="100" height="150" alt=""/>
PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun
It is widely suspected that the bribery and corruption reached the very top levels of government and the establishment in Nigeria, including three former presidents. This is another reason why PENGASSAN are angered by the arrests of their members. 
 
PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun said, “Many Nigerian names appeared on the Halliburton investigating list in the United States and Nigeria. Names of three former heads of states, Late Gen. Sani Abacha, Gen.Abdusalami Abubakar (rtd) and President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as the ministers of Petroleum under their regimes were implicated as recipients of bribes. Why is it that it is only innocent Nigerians that the EFCC picked?” 
 
Those arrested and brutalised by the EFCC are Jarvis Peter, Hans Kempeneers, Liliy Adiogu, Lawal Yakubu, Iseoluwa Ogundele, Efe Collins, Isa Saibu, Barnabas Iroegbulem, Chi-Ukpai, and Theodore Okonkwo. 
 
The association also condemned the barbaric nature with which the anti-corruption agency carried out its operations at Halliburton office on November 25, 2010, by beating the workers and molesting the female staff, which have been reported by Branch Chairman of the union Abel O. Agarin.

Police Brutally Arrest Innocent PENGASSAN Members

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