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	from IMF

	From Seoul to Pretoria, Geneva to Mexico City, unions are taking joint action during the week of 19-25 February 19-25 to urge the government of Mexico to stop its attack on independent trade unions and freedom of association.

	International mobilizations kicked off in the main square of Mexico City on 19 February, in remembrance of 65 miners who died in the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion on that date six years ago. On 21 February, actions took place in Mexico, Geneva and London.

	And the United Steelworkers (USW) used the eve of the Week of Action to again condemn the actions of Canadian mining company Excellon for its damaging behaviour in Mexico.&nbsp;Excellon&rsquo;s only Mexican operation, the Platosa mine, brings problems for workers, landowners, and the environment.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 227px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The Tri-National Solidarity Alliance, which joins unions from Canada, Mexico and the US held a meeting of Solidarity at the headquarters of the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) in Mexico City.&nbsp; Speakers at the event, including IMF Executive Committee member and exiled leader of the National Union of Miners and Metal Workers of Mexico (SNTMMRM) Napole&oacute;nG&oacute;mez (via video conference), denounced the Mexican government&rsquo;s attacks on fundamental workers&rsquo; rights and called for the implementation of ILO recommendations adopted by the Governing Body in March 2011.

	In Switzerland, a group of 20 ICEM, IMF, UNI and IUF activists held a small action outside of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva. Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina, Philip Jennings, Fernando Lopes, Kemal &Ouml;zkan met with Mr. Juan Jos&eacute; G&oacute;mez Camacho, Ambassador to the Mexico mission.

	Discussions between the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and trade union Fellesforbundet are underway ahead of a planned visit to Mexico by the Foreign Ministry later this month. The union has been briefing Norway&rsquo;s government on the issue of Protection Contracts in Mexico and the ongoing attacks on fundamental worker freedoms.

	Mexico&rsquo;s Embassy in London met with a delegation from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and unions Unite and GMB, and Amnesty International and the Southern and Eastern Regional TUC on 21 February. Similar actions are planned for major cities in the US, including Chicago, Tucson, Boston and Denver, and in Korea, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada.

	Unions around the world are also supporting the global action by sending protest letter to the Mexican government in care of their respective embassies and consulates.

	For more information go to: <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012">www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012</a>

Week of Action Again Shines on Mexico’s Trade Union Abuses

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

	Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, 11-12 February, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.

	The trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri, including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Pivat, in concert with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), set an agenda of wage moderation, instead focusing on winning excellent and precedent-setting job preservation protections such as training, seniority, and reduced work hours at full pay for both old and young workers.

	This industrial social accord now establishes the parameters for other work sectors. The agreement will run from 1 March 2012 to 1 March 2014. The national industrial agreement did establish minimum wage guideposts, but exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 58px;height: 57px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The framework agreement grants training at full pay with business downturns and when reductions in work time occur, and it also allows older workers to reduce their working time within five years of retirement by continuing their income levels through salaries and partial pension benefits. Workers will also have the option to tap into current pension plans as a supplement to salaries.

	A key element in the new agreement is an additional &euro;.05-per-hour worked will be added to the national Industrial Training fund.

	Employee discretion in taking training options increases from two weeks to six weeks, in some cases, and full seniority is granted to workers when they are called back from lay-offs within nine months. Previously, it was six months. As well, paid sick leave occurs after six months on a job rather than the previous nine months.

	The new pact is also kinder to lower-income earners and gives better pay-outs when such workers are laid off. Parental leave was made more flexible and added pension accrual was put in place for weekend, holiday or extra work performed.

	The recommended minimum wage increase is &euro;.18-per-hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year.

	The bargaining, which began in early January, nearly reached dispute when HK/Privat , the Commercial and Clerical Workers&rsquo; Union, sought to drop the 50% benchmark regarding number of staff needed before a collective agreement takes effect. A compromise was struck that gives employers the opportunity to sign labour agreements without the 50% threshold and HK/Privat coverage also was expanded to include administrative staff working as trainees and college students.

	The agreement was widely praised in Denmark as the necessary building block to restore some 80,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the country since the onset of the financial crisis.

Danish Industrial Contract Gives Job Security Prime Seating

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	Locked-out members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos &nbsp;d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, the United Steelworkers (USW), took their fight against Rio Tinto Alcan to Qu&eacute;bec&rsquo;s largest city, last Friday, 17 February, where Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; was part of a spurious forum on youth in employment, sponsored by the Board of Trade Metropolitan Montr&eacute;al.

	Some 200 of 780 metalworkers from Alcan&rsquo;s Alma aluminium smelter in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region, Qu&eacute;bec, boarded buses and travelled 460 kilometres to Montr&eacute;al for a noisy protest at this business luncheon, their first manifestation away from the 488,000-tonne-per-year smelter. They were joined by another 100 steelworkers from Montr&eacute;al, and some 100 college students who joined the USW rally in mocking protest to a future of youth theme that now sees business teaming with the Liberal provincial government of Qu&eacute;bec to raise their university tuition fees.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 248px;height: 161px" width="248" />

	17 February Manifestation, Montr&eacute;al

	This &ldquo;Hot Issues@Lunch&rdquo; theme was billed to &ldquo;foster the success of the next generation of Qu&eacute;becers.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma found deep irony in Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; participating, since Alcan in Alma is using a lock-out to replace C$36-an-hour permanent jobs with outsourced and presumably younger workers at C$16-an-hour.

	C&ocirc;t&eacute; was not expected to address the lockout at the hot-plate lunch, but when pressed by reporters on the sidelines, she called the dispute a &ldquo;regional issue&rdquo; and &ldquo;it will be settled in Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean&rdquo; by managers who &ldquo;have my full confidence.&rdquo;

	Earlier last week, when the lockout entered week seven and with the remote mining and manufacturing region starting to feel the economic effects of a lost wage base, one such manager told Reuters he &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t put a timeline to (talks restarting) right now because nothing is scheduled.&rdquo;

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 199px;height: 159px" width="199" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Dan Roy and Marc Maltais

	foto: France Paradis/Le-Lac-St-Jean

	With aluminium prices hovering now at very low, the Alma lockout serves as a convenient strategy to restrict supply to lift prices. It also fits Rio Tinto&rsquo;s strategy of divesting and devaluing Alcan by C$8.9 billion in view of its US$39 billion purchase of the Canadian company in 2007, although the modern and high-tech tooled Alma smelter, with its low-cost hydroelectric supply, will not likely be jettisoned.

	Perhaps this should have been a more apt business theme to the Board of Trade elite last week, and it certainly best explains the anger of metalworkers and students alike gathered on the other side of the barricades. In this vein &ndash; with Rio Tinto&rsquo;s share price dropping &ndash; it is worth mentioning that C&ocirc;t&eacute; herself exhibited a timely corporate mentality last week by shedding 3,671 shares of Rio Tinto to pocket US$213,500, money not likely to find its way to Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean.

	USW District Five Director Daniel Roy addressed the disparity between full-time, family-supporting jobs in the region to the sub-contract and lower-wage jobs that Rio Tinto is trying create with the. &ldquo;Accepting this would cause a dramatic downward spiral not only for the workers but for members of the community, which would see income, local business sales and tax revenues drop precipitously.&rdquo;

	USW Local 9490 President Marc Maltais added, &ldquo;By using subcontractors to do the work of union members, we are asked to concede on behalf of future generations. This is an attack on our children and grandchildren.&rdquo;

	The buses departed Montr&eacute;al late on Friday afternoon for the return trip to Alma, but first stopped at a plant-gate demonstration in Sorel, Qu&eacute;bec, where workers and members of ICEM-affiliated FIM-CSN (Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux) at a Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium metal powders plant lent their support. This stop again depicts the long-erected barriers between Canadian trade unions that Local 9490 are erasing inside this lockout.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 114px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Rio Tinto Alcan CEO, Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute;

	With Canada currently undergoing an unprecedented rash of corporate hostility, it is notable to witness trade unions and other groups galvanising behind victimised union workers.

	Last week, members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2301 at a Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter in Kitimat, British Colombia, voted to take C$1-an-hour of their pay and donate it to &nbsp;Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490. That represents C$60,000 per month.

	On 8 February, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada contributed C$25,000 to the Alma metalworkers, and a day later the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) contributed C$10,000. USW Local 9700, one of the first unions to respond at the time of the 30 December lockout and representing Alcoa ABI workers at B&eacute;cancour, Qu&eacute;bec, voted unanimously to draw C$25-per-week from their paychecks, donating C$25,000 weekly to Local 9490.

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s&nbsp; journey to Montr&eacute;al to confront Rio Tinto Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; is just the first sally outward. This week Local 9490 leaders will visit Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in California, where members of ICEM affiliate International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 defended themselves courageously in a Rio Tinto-imposed lockout. And they&rsquo;ll follow that solidarity visit with to Australia to meet with unions represented Rio Tinto there.

	On March 31, a day after the ICEM North American region meets in Alma, a manifestation will occur there with scores of global trade union leaders attending. And on 1 April, a workshop will occur in Alma to verse an exact fightback strategy against Rio Tinto on the global level.

Locked-out Alcan Workers Take Dispute to Business Doorstep

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	From the ITGLWF website

	On the evening of 12 February 2012, the President and General Secretary of the Coats Bangladesh Ltd. Employees Union went to the Coats Head Office at Novo Tower, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka in order to try to meet and discuss with company management with a view to resolving an industrial dispute.

	Instead of negotiating with the union leaders, company officials confiscated their mobile phones and forcibly detained them in their building overnight only releasing them when trade union colleagues alerted the local newspaper media of their disappearance.

	Management at the thread factory called Coats Ltd. in Bangladesh had failed to reach agreement with trade union negotiators. Having exhausted the bargaining procedures, a vote of the workers resulted in 98.12% in favour of strike action.&nbsp;The management somehow obtained a court order declaring the strike illegal.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 180px;height: 83px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The workers at Coats Ltd. are paid poverty wages of only BD TK1,625 (US $18.90). The trade unions in Bangladesh consider BD TK7,000 to be the minimum that could be considered a living wage.&nbsp; During the negotiations, the local trade union negotiators reduced their demand from 100% to 30% pay rise.&nbsp;The union demands also included increases in housing and other allowances all of which were refused by the management negotiators.&nbsp; Despite trade union compromises the employer remained intransigent and refused to bargain in good faith.

	The Coats Employees&rsquo; Union is part of the Bangladesh Garments Textile &amp; Leather Workers Federation (BGTLWF), which is an affiliate of the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).&nbsp; The BGTLWF has called for solidarity from the wider trade union movement.&nbsp; The ITGLWF is preparing a complaint to the OECD Contact Point for the UK over the matter.&nbsp; Coats Plc. is based in the UK and is a leading global company that manufactures thread.

	The ITGLWF has written to Mr Paul Forman, CEO of Coats Plc. demanding that they intervene.

	Klaus Priegnitz, ITGLWF General Secretary, said to the Coats CEO, &ldquo;Your employees have clearly been mistreated and exploited for some considerable time.&nbsp; Theunion hasacted responsibly and with restraint in pursuing their justifiable and moderate demands.&nbsp; We call on you to instruct your local management to engage in constructive dialogue with the local trade union with a view to resolving this dispute on terms which are acceptable to the workers.&rdquo;

	See the joint ICEM-IMF letter to Coats management <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18%20ICEM-IMFletterCoats%20Bangladesh%2022Feb.pdf">here</a>.

Bangladesh Union Leaders Held Captive by Factory Managers

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

	In calling attention to jobs creation as equivalent economic growth, working people across Europe on 29 February, led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), manifested in a Day of Action against the European Council&rsquo;s adoption of a budget discipline treaty.

	The decentralised mobilisations occurred in scores of cities and worksites with a common theme pointed at EU governments and decision-makers: &ldquo;Enough is enough! There are alternatives to austerity. Employment and social justice are the number one priorities.&rdquo;

	The 29 February ETUC Day of Action took the form of demonstrations, work stoppages and information postings inside workplaces, as well as government institutions and stated that the European summit&rsquo;s Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance is a &ldquo;straightjacket&rdquo; that will plunge the Eurozone into free-fall recession.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 154px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	The actions included two demonstrations in Brussels, site of the European Council&rsquo;s 1-2 March summit where the misguided treaty will intrinsically slash wages and social protections, restrict collective bargaining, and provide even more neo-liberal policies, hardly the remedies for economic growth to assure a sustainable future.

	Union leaders, led by ETUC General Secretary Bernadette S&eacute;gol, met 29 February with Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels, while a mass rally took place at the European Council building. Members of all Belgian trade unions united in protest on 29 February, and targeted their manifestation outside the Belgian National Bank.

	A sampling of other actions on 29 February included a mass demonstration organised by the Romanian national trade union centres at Victoria Square in Bucharest. In Rome, Italian labour federations CGIL, CISL and UIL demonstrated at Pantheon Place, while Hungarian trade unions held a press conference and manifestation.

	In Greece, trade unions undertook a three-hour work stoppage, while even in Georgia trade unions protested ETUC&rsquo;s Day of Action with a rally at Parliament in Tbilisi. This protest was against their government&rsquo;s utter failure to adopt a fair labour code, all the while developing trade with European markets.

	In the UK, British trade unions used the day to gear up their defense of the National Health Service (NHS), which happens massively today, 7 March, across Britain. Both the ETUC and Trades Union Congress (TUC) denounce austerity measures that &ldquo;fall hardest on the shoulders of the weakest&rdquo; when public services are slashed.

ETUC Holds Day of Protest against Europe’s ‘Straitjacket’ Treaty

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

	With 95% approval yesterday, Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) ratified a closure agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, in London, Ontario. The sizeable financial settlement ends a morbid chapter of labour relations abuse by a company, and leaves an economic wound befitting the worst corporate ill-will that can be served up.

	The loss of 465 union jobs is tragedy enough in London, Ontario. EMD proposed in collective negotiations that CAW members reduce wages from C$35-per-hour to C$16-18, and give up a 50% equivalent of all benefits. When workers said no, on 1 January Caterpillar and EMD locked them off their jobs at a rail locomotive manufacturing plant.

	Thirty-four days later Caterpillar/EMD announced it would close the operation, move production to a start-up plant in the low-wage &ndash; US$12-16-an-hour &ndash; city of Muncie, Indiana, six hours to the south of London, where Caterpillar had already assembled a virulently anti-union management team.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="156" />

	Ken Lewenza

	Angry Canadians could only beg the answer to the question: What are our federal and provincial governments doing on such brazen desecration of our manufacturing base. Caterpillar had bought the London plant in third quarter 2010 and it came with a bed of government tax breaks. Eighteen months later, the plant is shuttered and Canadian-made machinery and technical know-how is now leaving the country.

	CAW President Ken Lewenza said Canada is in desperate need of a manufacturing jobs strategy. He stated that the free movement of global capital from country to country must be stopped because it is undercutting workers&rsquo; wages.

	Severance packages exceeded what were required by law, partly driven by public indignation of Caterpillar&rsquo;s conduct and mostly by CAW&rsquo;s resolve to get the best possible close-out deals for workers. EMD workers will get three weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service and a C$1,500 lump sum payment. (See the <a href="http://www.caw.ca/assets/images/EMC_RATIFICATION_(2).pdf">CAW closure agreement </a>here.)

	For one-third of the workforce, that means severance payments of 60 weeks&rsquo; pay or more, while many will average 20-25 weeks. Workers will gain a measure of extended health care coverage, their pension fund will be fully funded, and EMD agreed to settle all claims and grievances with CAW Local 27. That will amount to a C$350,000 payment to the union within 30 days of yesterday.

	Province of Ontario law says that workers with five years of work service must get one week&rsquo;s pay for each year worked, with a cap of 26 weeks. In a company statement on the closure and severance agreement, Caterpillar/EMD boasted that 75 workers, who would not receive pay-outs under the Ontario minimum, will do so now in the negotiated agreement.

	That hollow boast fades in juxtaposition to the wider swath of economic carnage Caterpillar has left on southwestern Ontario. Besides the 670 union, clerical and management direct jobs lost, CAW expects the plant closure to impact another 2,100 peripheral jobs.

	(See previous ICEM 2012 reports on Caterpillar in London, Ontario, <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4851-15-000-Manifests-for-Canadian-Auto-Workers-in-Lockout-By-Caterpillar">here</a>&nbsp;and <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">here</a>.)

Severance Deal Reached in Stained Caterpillar Rail Diesel Closure

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

	The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is demanding that labour and regulatory law in the province of Ontario be toughened in the wake of the social calamity perpetrated by Caterpillar Inc. in the recent lockout/closure of a rail electric diesel factory in the south-western provincial city of London.

	With that nearly all labour law in Canada is governed by the provinces, CAW demanded in a 29 February letter to Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey that Ontario toughen its labour statutes as remedy to lax investment regulations. Specifically, the CAW demands that more powers be granted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to stamp out bad-faith bargaining strategies.

	The CAW is campaigning for a stronger and more modernized labour code in Ontario because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, blackmailing workers and a community in choosing between non-liveable wages and a major plant closure. (See prior <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 145px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	In the letter, CAW President Ken Lewenza said, &ldquo;The company&rsquo;s unjustifiable behaviour &ndash; and the resulting devastation now being brought to bear on workers and the community &ndash; has touched a nerve with Canadians and triggered broad public support.&rdquo;

	The CAW is proposing powers of expedited interest arbitration in pitched labour disputes, as well as new provisions to prevent employers from evading collective agreements by using a lockout.

	Also put forward is a ban on scab replacement workers during a dispute, and restoring workers&rsquo; plant closing rights to negotiate adjustment plans. The CAW also says fairness demands the lengthening of time for giving plant closing notice, and a minimum two weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service, with elimination of the five-year service tie-in.

	The <a href="http://www.caw.ca/en/10986.htm">CAW letter</a> also calls for an Industrial Inquiry Commission, as stipulated in Section 37, Ontario Labour Relations Act, in order to investigate Caterpillar carnage on workers in the province and the city of London.

	&ldquo;The Caterpillar debacle demonstrates all too well the ease with which an employer can stall out the negotiation process, bargain in bad faith with impunity and manufacture a dispute in an attempt to evade contractual obligations,&rdquo; Lewenza stated.

	&ldquo;Caterpillar did not misjudge or misinterpret Ontario&rsquo;s labour laws; rather, they understood them all too well, and exploited the laws&rsquo; weaknesses as a key part of their overall strategy.&rdquo;

CAW Demands Change in Ontario’s Labour Laws

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

	If anyone needs further proof to Vale&rsquo;s global social neglect, it comes in a pair of dirty deeds committed by the Brazilian mining company in and after the bitter 2009-10 strike at a major nickel and copper operation in Sudbury, Ontario.

	One involves circumstances surrounding two deaths inside Vale&rsquo;s Frood-Stobie Mine on 8 June 2011 and the other is added legal proof that Vale&rsquo;s strong-arm tactics in firing union activists during the United Steelworkers (USW) strike was meant to hinder legal collective bargaining.

	An extensive report issued 29 February by the USW over the June 2011 deaths of Jordan Fram, 26, an equipment operator, and Jason Chenier, 35, a supervisor, was done because Vale refused the offer of the USW to investigate the accident jointly. USW blames negligent water drainage maintenance directly tied to lax and &ldquo;little experience or training&rdquo; of front-line supervisors.

	Fram and Chenier were buried 900 metres underground by an overflow of muck, a term for an avalanche of wet rock, gravel, sand, water washing down a mine shaft. With USW Local 6500 the legitimate bargaining representative, the report notes, &ldquo;Vale officials refused to be interviewed by members of the USW team&rdquo; even though union members &ldquo;cooperated fully in management&rsquo;s investigation.&rdquo;

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 347px;height: 138px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	USW Local 6500 Union Meeting

	The <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/exectsum.pdf">Executive Summary</a> and the full <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/dfinvest.doc">207-page USW Report</a> are here.

	The week before USW issued the report, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) ruled that Vale violated provincial labour law by maintaining a &ldquo;patently unreasonable&rdquo; stance over nine workers Vale fired for strike activity. The OLRB agreed with the USW that the nine trade unionists were denied rights to third-party arbitration by the company, and further cited Vale for &ldquo;troubling&rdquo; labour relations conduct across several areas.

	In January, the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4838-Ontario-Labour-Board-Rules-Discharged-USW-Sudbury-Leader-has-Worksite-Access">OLRB cited Vale with union interference</a> for denying entry onto company property for one of the nine discharged workers is the elected head of Local 6500&rsquo;s Grievance Committee. The USW is now confident that arbitrated decisions will prevail and the nine workers will return to their rightful jobs.

	The USW District Director for Ontario and the Atlantic Region, Wayne Fraser, said the OLRB&rsquo;s 24 February ruling &ldquo;should give Vale pause to consider the hardship inflicted on families,&rdquo; adding that the unlawful conduct &ldquo;prolonged the suffering and uncertainty for families in our community.&rdquo;

	Vale&rsquo;s safety record in Canada was tarnished again on 29 January 2012 when 47-year-old Stephen Perry, an explosives worker, was crushed to death when a rock face collapsed on him while he was working in a lift basket. This death occurred 1,300 metres inside Vale&rsquo;s Coleman nickel mine near Sudbury.

	A fourth Canadian Vale death in 2011 occurred on 19 October when 51-year-old scooptram operator Greg Leason was killed when his machine fell 40 metres into a cavern inside the T-3 Mine in Thompson, Manitoba.

	Historically, the four 2011 deaths at Vale in Canada are atypical because the USW is a vigilant proponent of joint labour-management process safety procedures that prevent workplace accidents. But with Vale&rsquo;s hostile labour relations still simmering some 20 months after the strike, no cooperation with the union over health and safety issues is proving detrimental to workplace safety.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Continued Canadian Contempt by Vale to Sudbury’s USW Miners

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

	The Australian High Court recently refused to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto over the company&rsquo;s illegal non-union collective agreements imposed on iron ore miners in West Australia. The denial is a victory for ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which took the case forward, and a victory for legitimate collective bargaining rights.

	It also stands as a rebuke to Rio Tinto in its efforts to avoid 2009 changes in Australian labour law.

	The 10 February ruling not to hear Rio&rsquo;s appeal to a 25 July 2011 determination by the full bench of the country&rsquo;s Federal Court means Rio&rsquo;s sham labour agreement from July 2008 is not a genuine collective agreement. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4571-Australia-s-CFMEU-Wins-Major-Bargaining-Ruling-Against-Rio-Tinto">ICEM report</a> on Federal Court decision from 1 August 2011.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 145px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	It also serves as an invitation for iron ore miners &ndash; and others &ndash; in West Australia&rsquo;s rich Pilbara region to take membership in the CFMEU, with the aim to negotiate real enterprise labour agreements through the union.&nbsp; The High Court ruling will also negate other mining firms such as BHP Billiton, which also converted individual work agreements into non-union labour agreements that were intended to keep trade unions away from workers and workers without a union voice.

	In Rio Tinto&rsquo;s case, it brought ten new hires of its Pilbara Iron Company Pty. Ltd. subsidiary into a bogus Pilbara Iron Employee Agreement for a five-year duration that was meant to include all other new hires during that time. The ploy was done to avoid changes in law that took effect with the July 2009 effective date of the Fair Work Australia law.

	Some 20 such delusionary labour agreements are said to have been put in place to avoid the Fair Work law, and Rio Tinto&rsquo;s legal failure last week is expected to strike the ones that are still in effect null and void.

	&ldquo;Rio Tinto made a cynical attempt to circumvent their obligations under the Fair Work laws,&rdquo; said CFMEU Mining General Secretary Andrew Vickers. &ldquo;It has tried to dodge its obligation to recognise the rights of its workers to genuinely collectively bargain for future pay increases and improved conditions.

	&ldquo;It has been a long legal battle, but it&rsquo;s been worth it to safeguard the rights of our members in the Pilbara and demonstrate that Rio Tinto is not above the law,&rdquo; added Vickers.

Australian High Court Denies Rio Tinto’s Appeal to Evade Union Contracts

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	The ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, &nbsp;Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) on Monday rebuked the government of Egypt over a 26 February court decree there that sentenced labour activist Kamal Abbas to six months imprisonment for comments he made last June at the ILO Conference in Geneva.

	The Helwan Misdemeanour Court sentenced him in absentia for insulting a public official, a former leader of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation. Abbas is General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers&rsquo; Services (CTUWS) of Egypt.

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	ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF demanded that the Egyptian government vacate the sentence and withdraw the charges, and expressed extreme concern on the &ldquo;implications for Freedom of Association as well as Freedom of Expression within the confines of the ILC (International Labour Conference).&rdquo; Read the letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Egypt--Judgement%20against%20Kamal%20Abbas.pdf">here</a>.

	Abbas attended last June&rsquo;s ILO conference as a representative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). &ldquo;We cannot accept this judgement,&rdquo; said ITIC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. &ldquo;Following the Egyptian revolution in February 2011, the ITUC gave the authorities every chance to respect fundamental workers&rsquo; rights. Our patience has run out.&rdquo;

	Abbas said that the six-month prison sentence amounts to return of practices of the ousted regime. During the Mubarak era, Kamal Abbas faced a similar one-year prison term over a confrontation with a state-sponsored union official.

ICEM, IMF, ITGLWF Protest Jail Sentence on Egypt’s Kamal Abbas

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