English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Spain&rsquo;s two labour confederations, Confederaci&oacute;n Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Uni&oacute;n General de Trabajadores (UGT), have jointly called a 24-hour strike for 29 March in response to labour law reform which is already in force by decree-law of 10 February by the Council of Ministers and is pending of Parliamentarian validation.

	On 9 March, CCOO&rsquo;s and UGT&rsquo;s executive councils, meeting jointly for the first time in history, agreed to the general strike following refusal of the ruling Popular Party to sit down and negotiate some 30 amendments to the draconian labour legislation, as proposed by the confederations.

	The calling of the strike, which CCOO General Secretary Ignacio Fern&aacute;ndez Toxo and UGT General Secretary C&aacute;ndido M&eacute;ndez termed &ldquo;fair, inevitable and necessary,&rdquo; is also aimed at planned austerity measures expected from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 120px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	On 30 March, the government is expected to release its 2012 budget that contains unprecedented public spending cuts of &euro;35 billion as recommended by the European Union.

	But it is the anti-social labour reforms that are chief reason behind the general strike, which was preceded by three days of action, the latest occurring on 11 March. The confederations are calling the reforms the biggest attack on labour law in Spain&rsquo;s post-fascist democratic period.

	Specifically, the legislation weakens collective bargaining on both the national and regional levels by giving precedence to company labour agreements, allows an employer to unilaterally reduce salaries for reasons of competitiveness and productivity, as well as giving bosses the liberty to unilaterally change working hours and labour terms.

	It provides employers with opportunities to use &ldquo;work-experience&rdquo; contracts under which they can dismiss workers who have been employed for less than a year without granting compensation. It also cuts jobless benefits, makes layoffs easier, and promotes other forms of precarious work.

	The general strike is the second in Spain since the advent of the 2008 financial crisis, with the first occurring in 2010 and will be the sixth general strike in Spain&rsquo;s democratic period.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Spain Braced for Mass 29 March Strike over Draconian Labour Legislation

&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	For the first time since the 30 December lockout by Rio Tinto Alcan of 780 union members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma in the Canadian province of Qu&eacute;bec, bargaining got back on track this week. After a half-day delay caused by a different labour dispute at the Montr&eacute;al airport on 19 March, provincial mediators Jean Poirer and Jean Nolan travelled to Alma where United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9490 leaders and six members of Alcan&rsquo;s management met face to face that afternoon.

	Mediation continued throughout the day yesterday, with Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490 President Marc Maltais stating that both sides expressed a willingness to settle the 12-week dispute at the aluminium smelter. By late yesterday, the union and company &ndash; with the help of government mediators &ndash; were establishing a speedy timetable for further talks.

	The resumption of bargaining came five days after a general union meeting and news conference where Maltais and USW Deputy District Five Director Guy Farrell reported on their two-week mission to the US West and Australia and New Zealand in order to ratchet up pressure on Rio Tinto with the company&rsquo;s militant workers and unions.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 345px;height: 161px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Turkish Union Maden-İş Displays Solidarity with Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma

	Maltais said at the news conference that both sides needed to compromise on the single issue that caused the company&rsquo;s lockout, outsourcing. The union seeks to stop the continual erosion of permanent jobs by establishing limits to outsourcing, while Alcan used that issue to lock-out the entire workforce before other bargaining issues were even tabled.

	Farrell told the ICEM that pressure has mounted on the company to settle the dispute because of an escalating global campaign against Rio Tinto, and the realization across Qu&eacute;bec that Alcan is cashing in handsomely during the lockout by selling excess hydro-electric power to the province.

	Under an agreement with Qu&eacute;bec dating to 2006 when Alcan was a stand-along Canadian company, Rio Tinto is selling its unused hydro-electric power back to the province while it operates the Alma smelter at only one-third capacity. Throughout the near four-month lockout, Rio Tinto Alcan has been enriching itself by C$15 million per month at taxpayer expense while holding a community&rsquo;s top-paying jobs hostage. Meanwhile, the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region economy of central Qu&eacute;bec is losing C$1.8 million per week in lost salaries and benefits.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 320px;height: 141px" width="390" /><img alt="" src="" style="width: 320px;height: 141px" width="390" />

	USW&rsquo;s Guy Farrell Speaks at Brisbane Manifestation

	Another driving force that undoubtedly has pushed the company to return to the bargaining table is the current rise of aluminium prices on the London Metals Exchange. After dropping 25% from a high of US$2,500 per tonne in spring 2011 to the end of last year, prices have since rebounded by US$400 per tonne and aluminium is selling this week at US$2,245 a tonne.

	The Alma smelter is one of the world&rsquo;s most modern, low-cost operations and with access to cheap hydro-electric power, the facility is too valuable for Rio Tinto not to run at full capacity. In Europe, Rio Tinto Alcan will permanently shutter its North East aluminium smelter in Northumberland, UK, on 29 March, sacking nearly 500 workers. It also announced on Monday that it would sell or close the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, Savoie, France, smelter because of inability to reach an electric-power rate deal with EDF.&nbsp;

	Maltais said this week that despite talks resuming, a mass rally in Alma slated for 31 March will go ahead. The union is expecting to draw 5,000 to 10,000 at the manifestation, which will occur a day after the ICEM&rsquo;s North America affiliates convene for its bi-annual regional meeting in Alma.

	Protestors will assemble at 13h00 at the Galeries Lac St-Jean shopping mall and march to Parc le Festiv Alma for the manifestation that begins at 15h. (See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/RTA_CARD4ENG_high.pdf">full manifestation flyer</a> here.)

	The solidarity-building trip by Maltais and Farrell through the American West and then on to Australia and New Zealand saw them get support from Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in Southern California. International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 faced its own lockout by Rio Tinto from late 2009 to spring 2010.

	From those late February meetings in both Boron and Los Angeles, California, Maltais and Farrell journeyed to the state of Utah where they met with USW local union leaders at Rio&rsquo;s Kennecott Copper mines. Some 1,000 steelworkers and members of other unions, including the International Association of Machinists (IAM), waged a bitter six-month strike there in 2002-03.

	From 4 to 9 March, the Canadians were in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, their message was heard by hundreds of delegates at separate forums of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) in Brisbane. On 5 March, Australian supporters including members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the MUA, AMWU and Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU) joined Maltais and Farrell in a protest against Rio Tinto on Queen Street in Brisbane.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 87px;height: 155px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Local 9490&rsquo;s Marc Maltais at MUA Forum

	At the mass MUA meeting there on 6 March, the two were surprised to see the MUA selling Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s trademarked orange shirts, emblazoned &ldquo;Australia and New Zealand Mining and Maritime Union Fight War on Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Workers.&rdquo; Proceeds and other donations were given the two for Local 94990 back home, including at a stop at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Bell Bay, Tasmania, aluminium smelter that was hosted by the AWU, the union fighting for a first enterprise agreement there.

	In New Zealand, the visit from 7-9 March sponsored by ICEM affiliate Engineering Printing &amp; Engineering Union (EPMU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), included a meeting with Rio Tinto aluminium producing workers at the Tiwai Point smelter in Invercargill. It also included another demonstration, this time on 9 March in front of Rio Tinto offices in Wellington.

	Throughout the western US trip and the Australia/New Zealand union-building visits, Maltais and Farrell had along a union banner to which trade unionists signed their names and pledged to join the Alma lockout fight. That banner was unfurled and hung in Local 9490&rsquo;s union hall last week.

	While the two were concluding their trip in New Zealand, back home in Alma, on 8 March, International Women&rsquo;s Day, women&rsquo;s-only forum was held attended by 100 spouses and women workers. The event was billed as a unique chance to share experiences of the then 68-day lockout, the hardships, the loss of income and the emotional turmoil inflicted by a rich multinational on citizens of Qu&eacute;bec&rsquo;s Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region.

	To read further information on this corporate attack on working families, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4908-Locked-out-Alcan-Workers-Take-Dispute-to-Business-Doorstep">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4875-Rio-Tinto-s-Euro-Works-Council-Irate-over-Québec-Aluminium-Lockout">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4837-USW-Affiliate-in-Québec-Locked-Out-by-Rio-Tinto-at-Aluminium-Plant">here</a>.

Negotiations Restart between USW, Rio Tinto Alcan in Canadian Lockout

The repressive Mugabe regime today found six activists guilty on fabricated charges of inciting public violence. They had been arrested a year ago, together with 39 other people for discussing the Arab Spring and viewing video footage on the popular uprising in Egypt. They had initially been charged with treason, but during the course of the court process, the charges were reduced and the other 39 people cleared.

	The six Zimbabwean activists, Munyaradzi Gwisai, Tafadzwa Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and Welcome Zimuto, face jail sentences of up to 10 years, to be handed down tomorrow.&nbsp;

	Three of the six, Munyaradzi, Tafadzwa and Tatenda work with the Zimbabwe Labour Centre a non profit organisation that gives legal support to unions and workers on labour matters and&nbsp; provides educational programmes.&nbsp;

	The right to meet, discuss events in the world, share ideas and speak openly and freely is a basic human right for which activists should not be victimised and vilified.&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Send your SMS text message now to the people who can limit the unfair sentence tomorrow.

	Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena + 263 712 801 172

	Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri + 263 712 808 290

	Police Minister Kembo Mohadi +263 712 605 424

	Security Minister Didymus Mutasa +263 0712 200 532

	Send: &quot;Do NOT send the 6 Harare activists to jail!&quot;

Urgent! Send SMS to Call for Justice in Zimbabwe NOW

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	On 7 March, the US National Mediation Board (NMB) announced that the International Association of Machinists (IAM) won exclusive bargaining status for 16,720 United Airlines employees, staff who work as passenger service, gate agents and reservation workers for the Chicago-based airline.

	In a mail ballot over the preceding seven weeks, 8,305 of the airline&rsquo;s ground workers chose IAM, while 5,865 voted for no union. The ballot, conducted through the auspices of the US Rail Labor Act, became necessary following the December 2010 merger of United with Continental Airlines, the latter a predominately non-union airline.

	The IAM had represented United&rsquo;s passenger services staff since 1998 but with the Continental merger, a new certification election became necessary. The union now represents 31,500 workers at the world&rsquo;s largest airline, including ramp service, baggage handlers, and stock and store workers. The election also included passenger service employees of Continental Micronesia Airlines, which operates between the state of Hawaii and some Asia-Pacific nations and previously had another union.

	The election was marked by fierce resistance by United. Airline management tried to exclude 1,000 fleet service workers from voting but the NMB ruled that those workers have the right to join a union.

	IAM Transportation Vice President Sito Pantoja said the election &ldquo;preserves IAM representation rights for pre-merger United employees and extends that benefit to their new co-workers from Continental and Continental Micronesia.

	&ldquo;The win provides all IAM members at United with the advantages of size and strength that airlines themselves are seeking through consolidation.&rdquo;

US Machinists Win Bargaining Status for 17,000 United Airlines Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Dave Oliver, National Secretary of the ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), this month accepted the nomination of Secretary of the national labour centre, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). He will succeed Jeff Lawrence at May&rsquo;s triennial Congress of the ACTU in Sydney.

	Lawrence, from United Voice, which prior to March 2011 was the Liquor, Hospitality &amp; Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), said on 8 March he would not seek another term at ACTU. Oliver, 48, has headed AMWU since May 2007, and is credited with driving Australia&rsquo;s manufacturing policies since the financial crisis with an agenda of job preservation and job creation.

	He is also known as a proponent of union campaigning and establishing pattern bargaining throughout AMWU&rsquo;s different sectors. His toughest task will be to guide the country&rsquo;s trade unions during 2013 federal elections and retaining the Fair Work Act. Business groups, as well as Conservative and Liberal politicians, seek to roll back labour legislation to elements contained in the dead-and-gone WorkChoices law.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 110px;height: 110px" width="390">&nbsp;

	As a teenager, Oliver worked as an apprentice mechanic in the lift industry, and got his first taste of trade unionism at the age of 19 when he began work in the construction industry in Sydney. He served as Assistant National Secretary of the 130,000-member AMWU from 1996 to 2001, and from 2002 to his election in 2007 he was the Victorian Branch Secretary of the union.

	Oliver was endorsed two weeks ago by several unions, including the Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU), the Transport Workers&rsquo; Union (TWU), and on 9 March, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union&rsquo;s (CFMEU) National Executive Committee endorsed him.

	With that endorsement, CFMEU National Secretary Michael O&rsquo;Connor paid tribute to Lawrence, calling him &ldquo;a consistent advocate for working people across decades&rdquo; and thanking the 59-year-old Lawrence &ldquo;for his tireless efforts in working for the abolition of the ABCC,&rdquo; the Australian Building and Construction Commission, the body given broad anti-worker powers under the government of former Prime Minister John Howard.

	In a statement to AMWU members upon accepting the nomination as ACTU Secretary, Oliver said a prime focus of his will be &ldquo;the growing threat to jobs and the economy, particularly in those sectors impacted by the mining boom and the high Australian dollar, not only in manufacturing but in finance, tourism and the service sector.&rdquo;

AMWU’s Dave Oliver Tagged as Next Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Following renewal of the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) between ICEM, the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation (IMF), and the Belgian company Umicore last September, the Monitoring Committee conducted a visit to one of the company&rsquo;s US operations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That monitoring mission occurred 6-7 March 2012.

	Umicore is a global materials and technology firm that focuses in four business areas, Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials, and Recycling. The Umicore Group has industrial operations on all continents and serves a global customer base. It generated turnover of &euro;14.5 billion (&euro;2.3 billion excluding metal) in 2011 and currently employs some 14,600 people.

	Umicore Autocat USA Inc.in Tulsa was purchased from Delphi in 2007 andis organized by the IMF affiliate Union Auto Workers (UAW) through its Local 286. Geographically close to major auto assembly plants in the US, the plant produces catalysts used in automotive emission abatement systems for both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 137px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Umicore Monitoring Committee

	Along with the Umicore Monitoring Committee members, Ignace De Ruijter, Senior Vice President of Human Resources; Guy Ethier, Senior Vice President of Environment, Health and Safety; Mark Dolfyn, Director of Corporate Human Resource; Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs (who represented IMF as well); Peter Kamm, Umicore&rsquo;s European Works Council and member of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, the visit was joined by local company managers and UAW local representatives.

	The Monitoring Committee followed the same pattern of work as in three previous missions to China, Brazil, and South Africa. A wide range of information regarding employment, training and education, health and safety, environmental issues, social policies and working conditions, social dialogue, and relations with the local community was delivered and discussed during the visit.

	Since the plant supplies major auto producers, the plant suffered severely during the financial crisis period starting in 2008 with a substantial decline in jobs. However when recovery in the US auto industry started in 2009, Umicore&rsquo;s Tulsa plant began seeing an uptick in business and some jobs were restored, although still far below the level of the pre-crisis period.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 227px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Kemal Ozkan,&nbsp;UAW Representatives

	Local management and UAW local union representatives explained how the crisis period was handled through the industrial relations system at the plant. It was further reported that during collective bargaining negotiations in 2009, a more institutionalised procedure for conducting such periods was defined and agreed.

	&Ouml;zkan and Kamm, together with UAW local shop stewards and James Cyr, Bargaining Chair; Warren McKinley, Co-Chair; Lance Boyd and Curtis Storey, both UAW Representatives, met in a separate union meeting to exchange information and discuss the labour situation at the plant. The union meeting examined current working conditions, the collective agreement and social dialogue at the plant, which was followed by a briefing on the nature and content of the GFA. It was agreed that communication would be continued between the UAW local union and the European Works Council.

	In evaluating the visit, the parties jointly committed to quality labour relations and social dialogue at the plant. Particular attention and appreciation was expressed for high quality health and safety practices conducted by joint union-management committee for safety inside the workplace. The Monitoring Committee will finalize its report at a meeting scheduled for the end of May.

Umicore Monitoring Committee of Global Agreement Visits US Plant in Oklahoma

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	The ICEM is following with concern the implementation process of the new Industrial Relations law in Pakistan, a process which should include trade unions. Writing to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani on 13 March, the day before the Industrial Relations Bill went before the National Assembly, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged against further delays to the process

	&ldquo;The five ICEM affiliated trade unions in Pakistan have the support of an influential network of trade unions in 132 countries. These unions and all workers in Pakistan are entitled to proper legislation protecting their basic human and labour rights, legislation that provides proper industrial dispute adjudicating mechanisms, and most importantly the right for trade unions to exist,&rdquo; stated Warda. (See the full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/27.ICEM%20Pakistan%20Labour%20Legislation.pdf">ICEM letter</a> here.)

	The urgency was due to the pending expiration of the promulgated Industrial Relations Ordinance 2011 on 17 March. In a legal vacuum following earlier expirations of labour legislations, labour issues were devolved to the provinces by the subsequent 18th Amendment to the Constitution. A 2 June 2011 ruling by the country&rsquo;s Supreme Court abolished the role of the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC) because the relevant federal legislation no longer existed.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="185" src="" width="246" />&nbsp;

	Leaders&nbsp;of ICEM&#039;s&nbsp;Pakistan Affiliates

	The legal existence of trade unions in Pakistan was thus threatened. Encouragingly, the new bill was passed by the National Assembly on 14 March without amendment, as it was by the Senate on 7 March. The Pakistani government announced the new legislation as a landmark achievement that will promote harmonious employer-employee relations and protect the rights of the labour community. Politicians across political parties agreed that mature systems of industrial relations in Pakistan will contribute to industrial and economic growth.

	The ICEM hopes that the new law will effectively rationalise the labour law in Islamabad and at the trans-provincial level with regards to formation of trade unions, trade union federations, and to regulate employer-worker relations.

	A key stipulation of the bill instructs the government to constitute a NIRC with the power to adjudicate and rule on industrial disputes in the capital and at the trans-provincial level, also on industrial disputes of national importance. Local level industrial relations will remain covered by provincial labour governance.

	Elsewhere in Pakistan, yesterday, 20 March, the Labour Appellant&nbsp;Tribunal dismissed appeals of local Syngenta management and ruled in favour of the ICEM-affiliated Pakistan Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union (PCEM) in declaring all 50 workers of a factory as permanent&nbsp;employees of Syngenta Pakistan. The ICEM salutes the PCEM in its victory in regularising these workers to permanent employee status.

	Shockingly, the Swiss-based agrichemicals multinational Syngenta has ignored past court rulings in favour of the contract workers&rsquo; right to full time employment. The Syngenta Employees Union Pakistan, belonging to PCEM, has faced serious violations, including unjustified dismissals of its leaders. See last year&rsquo;s <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4219-ICEM-Fights-for-Reinstatement-of-Union-Leader-in-Pakistan-">ICEM report</a> here.

Pakistan Enacts New Labour Legislation with Pressure from Unions

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Patience is running thin for a trade union alliance demanding proper labour rights for Holcim Cement workers in India. Management at both Indian subsidiaries of Holcim are flouting Indian law by employing contract workers in the core production process.

	Contract workers there receive only one-third of the salary paid to permanent employees, and efforts to organise and bargain collectively are met by intimidation, a yellow union&rsquo;s corruption, and bribery of local officials.&nbsp; During the struggle for recognition, three union members have been shot dead by police while protesting for the legitimate rights of Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) workers.

	The contract workers are organising into the ICEM-affiliated Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS) but after 16 years of existence, the union only achieved dialogue with management following victory in a six-year-long court case.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 115px;height: 183px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Global pressure has forced Holcim to pay attention to the violations of contract workers in India, but when Holcim Executive Paul Hugentobler visited ACC Jamul recently, contract workers were all moved to a different shift and workers&rsquo; representatives were banned from taking part in the meeting with him. Instead, representatives of the sham company union, OP Banchore, were involved.

	The leader of this yellow union is the brother of the president of the local municipal authority, Rekhram Banchore. Together they have built a loathsome alliance, including allegedly settling local community violations by out of court settlements for issues such as failure to pay full taxes to the local Nagar Panchayat Jamul body, and encroachment onto government land.

	This yellow union at the plant repeatedly certifies management violations of contract workers who attempt to organise into the PCSS union. Management has forced a total of 200 contract workers into &ldquo;voluntary&rdquo; retirement by denying them wages and work during litigation processes for the regularisation process.

	This is illegal under Indian national law, but legitimised by the company union that signed these workers&rsquo; voluntary retirement scheme documents.

	Every contract worker active in the union is currently facing five-to-eight phoney criminal cases registered by management. PCSS leader Bhagwati Sahu has been in jail for ten months on spurious charges.

	Holcim&rsquo;s international management has undisputedly been aware of these abuses since 2008. One worker found guilty of informing Holcim&rsquo;s international management of violations was punished with a forced relocation to a different worksite hundreds of miles away.

	India is the second largest cement manufacturer in the world with capacity predicted to continue growing and Holcim is the largest producer of cement in India.

	Solidarity for the PCSS Holcim workers is being led by ICEM and the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), Swiss union affiliate UNIA, and continues to grow throughout the world. Thai affiliates of the two Global Union Federations plan a solidarity picket at Holcim in Thailand in early April.

	PCSS activists will visit Switzerland 10-18 April and hold a series of meetings and demonstrations.

	See more on the <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/">BWI Company Monitor</a> page here or the ICEM&rsquo;s Report &ldquo;<a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/Cement%20Report.pdf">Contract and Agency Labour in Asia&rsquo;s Cement Industry</a>&rdquo; here.

ICEM Again Calls on Holcim Cement to Stop Exploiting Indian CAL Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The ICEM affiliate in Sierra Leone, United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (UMU), stepped in last week to negotiate a partial resolve to a strike by casual workers employed by subcontractors of iron ore producer African Minerals Ltd. That strike, lasting from 17 April to 23 April, was marked by police violence in the north-central Sierra Leone town of Bumbuna that saw one woman killed by police gun fire and at least nine others seriously injured.

	The agreement reached on 24 April near Bumbuna between the UMU, African Minerals and several Sierra Leone ministry officials &ndash; including ministers of Labour and Social Security and Mineral Resources &ndash; produced several remedial measures to last week&rsquo;s spontaneous strike by some 500 casual workers.

	UMU General Secretary Ezekiel Dyke said he hoped his union&rsquo;s intervention would move the London-based mining company that relies almost totally on subcontractors to finalise a collective agreement with the UMU. African Minerals earlier this year began production at Sierra Leone&rsquo;s Tonkolili project near Bumbana, containing the world&rsquo;s largest reported magnetite iron ore reserves of 12.8 billion tonnes.

	<img alt="" height="140" src="" style="cursor: default" width="123" />

	Ezekiel Dyke

	UMU has been in talks with African Minerals since last year over a collective agreement. Last week&rsquo;s strike by nearly half of the workforce of 1,000 casual workers was caused by delayed salaries to some, meagre pay to all, lack of medical care, and on-going lack of union representation as production ramped up and rail shipments to the capital of Freeport began.

	On the strike&rsquo;s second day, 18 April, violence ensued when Bumbuna towns-people joined strikers and blocked entrances to the Tonkolili project. Riot police then stormed protestors in the village, firing live ammunition, wielding batons and shooting tear gas directly at strikers and their community supporters. The police action created a stampede that tore through a marketplace in Bumbuna.

	Killed instantly was Musu Conteh, a woman in her 30s employed by the catering firm ATS. Some nine others were seriously injured by bullet wounds to their legs, said the UMU&rsquo;s Ezekiel Dyke, while perhaps 20 others were treated in an ill-equipped medical centre in nearby Makena for gas inhalation and police-inflicted wounds.

	Dyke said upwards of 40% of the casual workers employed throughout the Tonkolili project are women.

	The remedial agreement reached will see African Minerals immediately pay owed back salaries of up to two months for casual workers who work on the mine&rsquo;s rail link. It establishes a framework whereby casual workers will become permanent employees of either African Minerals or their subcontracting firm after three months of employment, or in some cases extended to six months.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="cursor: default;width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	It also mandates that African Minerals provide a full review of salaries, work conditions and job categories within two weeks. The primary employer also agreed to investigate and pay compensation to the deceased woman&rsquo;s family within two weeks, as well as provide compensation to injured victims in that same period. African Minerals also agreed to pay compensation to market vendors &ndash; mostly women &ndash; for their losses from the 18 April violence.

	There will also be a thorough investigation of the unchecked police force used on 18 April.

	Major contractors for African Minerals in Sierra Leone include the company BCM, doing production work, while UK-based engineering and construction companies Dawnus and Hawk also employ casual workers, as does South African-based Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO). There are scores of Sierra Leone-based companies that reportedly also exploit workers.

	Between the latter half of 2011 and last month, China-based Shandong Iron &amp; Steel Group Co. Ltd. of state-owned Shandong Province Asset Commission purchased 25% of the Tonkolili project from African Minerals, along with the same percentage of related rail and port subsidiary companies for nearly US$1.5 billion.

	UMU currently has collective agreements in Sierra Leone with iron ore miner London Mining, BSG Resources&rsquo; Koidu Holdings, a diamond miner, Cluff Gold, Baomahun Gold Mines, and Sierra Rutile, a miner of titanium dioxide. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Mineworkers’ Union in Sierra Leone Intervene on Behalf of Oppressed Contract Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	ILO Deputy Director General and long-time trade unionist Guy Ryder is receiving full support from the ICEM and its affiliates to be elected as the 10th Director-General of the ILO on 28 May.

	The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates are lobbying their home governments. Write to your government today. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.

	The Governing Body met on 30-31 March for hearings of candidates and the election will be held on 28 May. The outgoing Director-General, Juan Somavia will leave the post on 30 September 2012. The Director-General is elected for a five-year term.

	<img alt="" height="97" src="" style="cursor: default" width="129" />

	Ryder is running on a platform of strengthening the ILO in order to fulfill its mandate of promoting social justice and beating the global jobs crisis, with particular emphasis on youth who are becoming increasingly excluded from society.

	Ryder seeks to concretise the fundamental principle of tripartism throughout the work operations of the ILO and beyond, and to unite the ILO&rsquo;s constituents to deliver on the decent work agenda. Ryder argues that only through consistent technical excellence can the organisation consolidate its authority in the world of work.

	Another important priority of Ryder&rsquo;s candidacy is to seek to reverse the increasing global trend of growth in the informal economy.

	Guy Ryder&rsquo;s vast experience and knowledge of the mechanisms and work of the ILO, of leadership of complex organisations in transition as General Secretary of the ICFTU and ITUC, and of all issues in the world of work combine to make him clearly the deserved candidate to succeed Somavia as Director-General.

	The candidature of Guy Ryder is formally submitted by ITUC President Michael Sommer and Luc Cortebeeck, trade union members of the ILO Governing Body.

	See Ryder&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175249.pdf">CV</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175250.pdf">Vision Statement</a>&nbsp;for the candidature here.

ICEM Affiliates Rally Behind Guy Ryder to Head ILO

Archive