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La agrupación Global Unions, que está integrada por 13 federaciones sindicales internacionales, la Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), y el TUAC de la OCDE, sabe cuán importante es que en EE.UU. se apruebe el Acta de Libertad de Elección de los Empleados (EFCA). Sabemos que para tener una economía fuerte, se tiene que dar a los trabajadores la oportunidad de afiliarse a un sindicato y realizar negociaciones colectivas para que se paguen sueldos justos y se eleven las prestaciones sociales de todos los ciudadanos de la sociedad. 
 
Creemos que éste es el aspecto fundamental del Acta de Libertad de Elección de los Empleados. Nuestro sindicato respalda firmemente a los sindicatos norteamericanos en el trabajo que realizan para lograr que el Congreso de Estados Unidos apruebe este proyecto de ley, que cuenta con el apoyo del Presidente Obama. Rogamos informar a los miembros de su sindicato, como también a sus funcionarios sindicales elegidos, que nuestro sindicato apoya plenamente el EFCA, y que consideramos que es un elemento esencial de una sociedad libre que permita a los trabajadores afiliarse a un sindicato, sin que les pongan obstáculos. 
 
(Firmado … Nombre del funcionario sindical) 
(Nombre del sindicato) 
(País)

Llamada Urgente: EFCA Letter ESP

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A UK Trades Union Congress (TUC) study released 12 May on workers now forced to take involuntary part-time work reveals a sharp increase. On the eve of the UK releasing its first quarter unemployment numbers, the TUC said the number of workers forced into involuntary part-time work had increased to 829,000, the highest figure in 15 years. 
 
One in nine people work only part-time because they cannot find a full-time job, states the TUC. Most of the part-time workers are women, 451,000 compared with 378,000 men. Women who work part-time earn, on average, 36% less than men who work full-time, while men working part-time earn 27% less. 
 
“As unemployment rises, people are doing whatever they can to stay in work,” said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. “But while part-time work is better than no work at all, people will be shocked by the pitiful pay rates on offer – a disgrace that millions of women have suffered for many years.” 
 
Workers in part-time employment are subjected to a double jeopardy, because their rates of pay are low and they are unable to work enough hours to make financial ends meet. UK government statistics cite that in job placement centres across the country, more than one in four work vacancies are filled for fewer than 16 hours per week. 
 
On 13 May, the government released figures showing that the number of jobless had risen by 244,000 for the first three months of 2009. That is the biggest quarterly jump in unemployment statistics since 1981. The 2009 increase in those without jobs raised UK’s official unemployment rate from 6.3% to 7.1%. 
 
Also in the UK, hundreds of construction workers converged on the site of the 2012 Olympics in the east London community of Stratford on 6 May. Workers were protesting the wide use of agency labour by contractors on the £9 billion site, undercutting a promise that contractors would pay union-negotiated pay rates and full-time construction workers.

Involuntary Part-time Work on Steep Rise, TUC Study Shows

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The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada launched a national fight-back campaign Friday, 15 May, in front of the Montréal headquarters of AbitibiBowater, the world’s biggest producer of newsprint. AbitibiBowater is seeking to avoid its pension obligations through bankruptcy filings. 
 
The ICEM affiliate’s main target, however, is the Canadian government. The federal government has done too little to protect the jobs of forestry workers, asserts the CEP. 
 
“Workers are not responsible for the crisis in the forest industry, but we are the ones facing demands for cuts to our wages and pensions,” said CEP President Dave Coles. 
 
“It is totally unfair that a company like AbitibiBowater can use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying severance and making payments to the pension plan,” he added. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0610DaveColes.JPG" width="110" height="145"/>
CEP President Dave Coles
On 7 May, a Superior Court in the Province of Québec issued an order that the paper company could suspend pension payments into its unfunded liabilities account for workers, thus shrinking that account and pushing workers’ pension payments on Abitibi’s creditors list. 
 
“There is something seriously wrong with a system that puts workers’ pensions in the same category as hedge fund credit,” said CEP Secretary-Treasurer Gaétan Ménard. “When workers go to work to earn a living and a pension, they certainly don’t see themselves as venture capitalists making a risky investment. 
 
Last Friday’s CEP action in Montréal was the first in a string of manifestations that the union will do in attempts to shake the Conservative government of Stephen Harper into taking action on behalf of forest industry jobs. CEP is demanding that the Canadian federal government weigh in with loan guarantees to halt paper and wood mill closures, and to protect jobs and pensions. 
 
“There will be a lot of pressure,” said Coles. “We’re going to take to the streets and we’re going to make noise until we’re heard.” Further actions will target Canadian federal cabinet ministers and a mass rally is scheduled in the capital city of Ottawa on 2 June. 
 
Meanwhile, due to AbitibiBowater’s bankruptcy filing, the CEP and ICEM American affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), have taken a wait-and-see position before entering into bargaining with AbitibiBowater. The CEP and USW have agreed to coordinate bargaining at the newsprint producer’s 12 mills in eastern Canada, where the CEP represents 7,000 workers, and at a USW-represented mill in the state of South Carolina. 
 
A pulp and paper collective agreement covering the entire industry in eastern Canada, with AbitibiBowater expected as the lead negotiating company, expired on 30 April, while a labour agreement in Catawba, South Carolina, covering 1,000 workers expired on 24 April for USW branch locals there.

CEP Launches Canadian Forest Jobs Campaign; Demands Canadian Government Support

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The prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award was given last week to a woman trade unionist from Iraq, Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi, the President of ICEM-affiliated General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians. 
 
The award is presented by FNV, a national labour centre in the Netherlands, and is given to a trade union leader who has worked under difficult circumstances, taken enormous personal risks, but has defended trade union rights in countries where such rights are routinely violated. 
 
Hashmeyia Muhsin, the tenth recipient of the award, was nominated by the ICEM. She was honoured at the FNV Congress in Amsterdam, and presented the award on 12 May. 

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In nominating her, the ICEM said Hashmeyia Muhsin “has dedicated herself to the protection of both trade union rights and wider human rights in a country which remains under occupation … and which continues to apply trade union legislation from the Saddam era.” 
 
She is the first woman to head a national trade union in Iraq, and is believed to be the first woman to lead a union anywhere in the Arabic-speaking world. The ICEM noted her courage in leading marches, demonstrations, and strikes in the Basra area, while under the threat of death. She also is a dedicated advocate for electricity access to all citizens of Iraq. 

<img height="181" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0905.hasmeya.JPG" width="230"/>
First elected to head the Electricity Workers and Technicians in September 2003, she has been re-elected twice since, and also is Vice Chairman of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW). In 2007, she was elected to the ICEM’s Executive Committee. 
 
The Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Award was named after a Salvadorian trade union leader and former General Secretary of Fenastras. Velasquez was killed on 31 October 1989 when a bomb exploded at the offices of the trade union centre. Previous FNV award recipients include Kim You Mee of Korea, Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi of Nigeria, Maria Alieva of Belurus, Dr. Taye Woldesmiate of Ethiopia, and Mansour Osanloo of Iran.

Dutch FNV Trade Union Award to Goes to Iraq’s Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi

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Some 60,000 South Africans filled Absa Stadium in East London on 10 January for unveiling of the African National Congress’s (ANC) 2009 election manifesto. And one of the main pieces of that five-year legislative plan – contained within a pledge to expand employment – is regulating the burgeoning number of labour brokers in the country. 
 
The manifesto cites an ANC mandate now to better regulate labour-hire agencies and short-term contract work. It states, “to avoid exploitation of workers and ensure decent work for all workers as well as to protect the employment relationship, (the ANC will) introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting, and outsourcing, address the problem of labour brokering, and prohibit certain abusive practices.” 
 
The ANC’s election platform is strong on labour and work rights, and clearly reflects the influence of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The platform aims to generate jobs through creation of more labour-intensive production methods, as well as procurement policies that support local jobs. 

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The ANC intends to make the creation of decent work the central focus in all of the party’s economic policies. The central points contained in the manifesto call for more public investment in infrastructure projects; expanding public employment; establishing assistance programmes in the fight against poverty; and introduction of a state-funded health insurance system. 
The manifesto was unveiled by ANC President Jacob Zuma, who called it a product of 15 years of ANC experience in governing South Africa. Zuma told those assembled in the stadium that South Africa would work earnestly to find solutions to the African continent’s major flashpoints, from Zimbabwe to Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 
Parliamentarian elections in South Africa must be held by April, although no date has yet been set.

Curbing Labour Brokers Main Tenet of ANC Manifesto in South Africa

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The ICEM was saddened to learn comrade Vitaly Ivanovic Butko, Vice-President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR), passed away on 4 January 2009. He was 59, and died from complications of an illness. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda sent a letter of condolence to Ivan Mohnachuk, President of the Russian Independent Coal Employees’ Union (Rosugleprof). “We honour his important role in the establishment of democracy after the fall of the Soviet Union. We also remember him as a brilliant leader who made sure that the interests of the mineworkers were not neglected in the difficult years and many struggles of economic transition,” stated Warda. That letter is <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Letter%20of%20condolence%20Vitaly%20Butko.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 

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Born in the city of Kemerevo, in the major coal mining region of the Kutnetsk Basin, 2,164 miles east of Moscow, Butko worked as a drift miner, a foreman, the trade union convener at the Kuzbas mine, and then as Chair of the Kuzbas Territorial TU Committee of the Coal Industry Workers’ Union of the USSR. From 1991 until 1998, Budko held the elected position of President of Rosugleprof. In 1998, he headed the Russian Federal Agency for Regulation of Natural Monopolies in Transportation. Since March 1999, he had worked as Vice President of FNPR. 
 
He will be remembered as an outstanding trade union leader, who dedicated his strength, experience and work to workers’ struggle.

ICEM Mourns Passing of Russian Trade Union Leader, Vitaly Butko

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Calling for an immediate “return to social and economic reason,” the deputy chairman of Continental AG’s supervisory board has called on the bitter stakeholder dispute between the tyre and auto-components company and Schaeffler KG – its new controlling shareholder – to cease. 
 
Werner Bischoff, also a senior leader of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, said the bickering has severely impacted the reputations of both companies, with erosion of staff confidence the result. Bischoff said the persisting public conflict was harming future perspectives for 100,000 Conti workers. 

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IGBCE's Werner Bischoff
The dispute turned ugly recently when privately-held Schaeffler boldly asserted that Continental’s Chairman Hubertus van Grünberg had “systematically sabotaged all mutual solutions” since agreement was reached with the bearings maker to acquire 49% of Conti stock last summer. That agreement called on Schaeffler, as controlling partner, not to exert undue influence over Conti, or to disrupt Continental’s worker participation platforms. 
 
But in Schaeffler’s public anger last week, the company threatened to dissolve the 10-member supervisory board of Continental and to vacate the negotiated settlement that ended the hostile takeover battle last summer. 
 
Bischoff and the IGBCE contend that the investment agreement reached in August 2008 serves as sound footing for the company, and that Schaeffler should take up its designated role on the supervisory committee. “The overall economic situation demands reasonable and trusting cooperation,” stated the IGBCE, citing risk of failure to the company if the volatile public dispute persists. 
 
The IGBCE was a major pillar inside last summer’s €75-a-share, €12.1 billion investment deal, winning pledges of no asset sales, no job losses, and no structural changes in Conti’s operations by Schaeffler acquiring a 49% interest.

German Union, IGBCE, Calls for End to Corporate Bickering Between Continental, Schaeffler

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The ICEM fully supports the work of the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan, an affiliate of the International Union of Food Workers’ Association (IUF). The 723 contract labourers at Unilever’s last directly-owned and operated Lipton Tea factory in Pakistan have organised to form the Unilever Mazdoor Union Khanewal. The newly organised workers, with the support of the IUF and ICEM, are preparing a new round of public action to press their case. 
 
The ICEM and IUF call for international support for the cause of these contract workers to form their union. To support their struggle click <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=396">here</a> to send a message to Unilever. Tell corporate management that the Lipton Khanewal temporary workers must be given permanent employment status - and the way to implement this is through direct negotiations with the affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan. 
 
Unilever's Khanewal factory employs 22 permanent workers, union members who are covered by a collective agreement. But another 723 workers are hired through six contract labour agencies. The union is assisting contract agency workers to file petitions in the Labour Court to secure their right to permanent employment. 

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The permanent workers receive a monthly base wage of PKR 18,000 - some US$226. The basic wage for non-permanent workers is PKR 6,000, if they are lucky enough to work a minimum 26 days per month. Otherwise the daily wage is PKR 232 - less than three US dollars a day. Where permanent workers receive double for overtime/holiday work, agency workers simply receive the basic hourly wage. Disposable workers have no annual or medical leave. From one week to the next, they do not know their assignments or work schedules - or whether they will have work. Through exploiting workers in this way, Unilever was able to send CEO Niall Fitzgerald into retirement with a £17 million golden handshake. 
 
Unilever employees at the site are illegally blocked from becoming permanent workers, as national legislation states that after nine consecutive months employed under a temporary contract, an employee must be offered a permanent contract to stay. The majority of agency workers at the Khanewal site have been on the job for more than 10 years, with some there for as long as 30 years. But since they are not formally employed by Unilever, they are barred from joining a union of Unilever workers and bargaining with Unilever as their employer. The labour agencies who supply the temporary employees to the factory do not have any other client, and operate their offices inside the Unilever factory itself, clearly a false way of flouting labour law. 
Two Lipton workers dismissed in August after 30 years of working at Unilever's Khanewal tea factory at minimum wage and received no social security, medical benefits or pension. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146"/>
The Lipton workers are fighting for the right of workers everywhere to decent work - secure employment, a living wage, health and retirement benefits, and the right to join a trade union with a collective bargaining relationship to their real employer. 
 
Copies of your messages will be sent to Unilever corporate and Pakistan management, to the union, and to the IUF secretariat. 
 
You can give additional support by taking a moment to visit <a href="http://www.unilever.com/sustainability">http://www.unilever.com/sustainability</a>. Scroll down the page to a section on the lower right entitled "Sustainability during the credit crunch" There you can "vote" yes/no to the question, "Do you consider sustainability in your product purchasing decisions?" This is followed by "Please tell us what actions you are taking to make the world more sustainable," with fields for name/message. Please take a moment to send the following response, or a message of your own: 
 
"Sustainability is about investing in sustainable jobs - over 700 workers at the Khanewal Lipton factory are disposable workers hired through labour hire agencies, with no employment security and inferior wages and benefits though many have worked continuously for decades. Make the Khanewal workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan!"

Support Needed for Contract, Agency Workers Forming Union at Unilever Tea Factory in Pakistan

Contract and Agency Labour Newsletter

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The 2008 collective agreement covering 30,000 rubber workers in Germany was put in place, following agreement on 30 October between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and the rubber employers’ association. The 15-month contract, from 1 September 2008 to 30 November 2009, was accepted by a large majority. 
 
The agreement calls for a 1 November 2008 wage increase of 2.5%. On 1 July 2009, another wage increase of 1.3% will be put into effect. The yearly training allowance per worker was increased by €25.00 effective on 1 January 2009. 

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Rubber employers in Germany have committed €4 million to the Association of Employment Promotion (VzB), which assures a flexible transition to retirement, including part-time work and other benefits for workers nearing retirement, particularly during times of redundancies. 
 
The agreement commits the union and employers to handle issues of demographics and work life in conjunction with framework negotiations during the first quarter 2009, with the aim of reaching accord by 30 September 2009.

German Rubber Workers Agree to 15-Month Labour Agreement

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