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Union members of CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC boarded five buses early today and headed to Paris from Alizay in northern France to continue their struggle to keep an M-real paper mill operating. In Paris, paperworkers from Alizay in the Haute-Normandie region will protest at the Ministry of Agriculture where final mediation begins between French authorities, the Finnish papermaker, and two potential buyers. 
 
Some 330 workers began a strike and blockade of the Alizay paper mill on 19 October, the day M-real announced closure of the uncoated printing papers mill. M-real, 40% controlled by the Finnish forestry company Mets&auml;liitto, terminated discussions with Thailand-based Advance Agro Ltd., known as Double A Paper, and the Paris-based investment capital company Fin&rsquo;active SAS due to buy the 48-year-old paper mill. 
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Thierry Philippot
On 20 October, many paperworkers left the front gate of the mill and took to the A13 motorway between Normandie and Paris and gave passing motorists a &ldquo;toll-free&rdquo; handbill describing their plight. 
 
M-real announced on 4 May 2011 that it intended to sell printing paper mills in Alizay and Gohrsm&uuml;hle, Germany, as part of a major restructuring plan to exit the fine paper industry and focus on paperboard used for packaging. 
 
&ldquo;We have prepared for the possibility of closure, but we are not yet ready to accept it,&rdquo; said CGT-Filpac plant representative Thierry Philippot. 
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Paperworkers Block M-Real&rsquo;s Alizay Mill
Philippot, along with fellow CGT representative Jean-Yves Lemahieu and CFE-CGC representative Eric Hogger, traveled to Helsinki on 30 September to meet with M-real CEO Mikko Helander in hopes that a deal could be consummated. 
 
M-real had put two conditions on a sale: maintain the current employment for 24 months, and pour all sales from the 310,000-tonne-per-year mill back into the operation. Although both Advance Agro and Fin&rsquo;active appeared to accept those terms, the deal with favoured Advance Agro broke down when the Thai company demanded other conditions. 
 
The mediation today is with Advance Agro, a company that operates two pulp mills and three paper factories in its home country. Mediation with Fin&rsquo;active, an investment firm specializing in distressed assets, will be held later this week. The talks will be headed by French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire, a UPM party member and member of France&lsquo;s Parliament from the Eure department, where the Alizay mill is located.

French Paperworkers Continue Protest Today to Keep M-real Mill Operating

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Efforts to resolve the six-week Indonesian mine strike by FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (CEMWU) against Freeport-McMoRan continue today on the local level, but agreement is not likely. Meanwhile, 10,000 strikers continue to block the lone access road to the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and third largest copper mine &ndash; Grasberg, operated by PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The company suspended all production one week ago due to the supply road being blocked and a ruptured pipeline that carries copper concentrate from the mine, 4,000 metres high in the Sudirman Range, to the port city of Timika. Production resumed on 19 October, but union sources say it has not exceeded 30%. 
 
On 21 October, dialogue did occur between the SPSI/PT Freeport union, 5 company officials, and the Tinal family, which administers the local Mimika regency, but Grasberg miners of Papua province, New Guinea Island, are no closer to a 2011-12 wage agreement than they were three weeks ago. 
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Family of Petrus Ayamiseba after 10 October Killing
Talks, however, took place today at the Rimba Hotel in Timika, some 200 kilometres from the rich Grasberg gold and copper deposits. 
 
Next week the ICEM will dispatch a team to Indonesia to meet with striking SPSI members of the CEMWU and officials involved in the strike. That team will consist of mineworkers&rsquo; leaders from Australia, Africa, and Europe. 
 
Two weeks ago, on 10 October, one union member was shot and killed and another died five days later after a group of miners tried to enter a transit terminal in Gorong-Gorong at Milepost 28 to board a bus to assist the blockade. Local police shot indiscriminately into their backs as they entered the bus depot. 
 
Killed instantly was Petrus Ayamiseba, while Leo Wandagau died in his home in Timika on 15 October from a wound to his back caused by a rubber bullet. Eight other strikers were wounded. A three-member committee from Indonesia&rsquo;s Human Rights Committee was sent to the area last week to investigate. 
 
There have been two other instances in which gunfire killed at least six people, but the ICEM has been unable to discern if these shootings are related to the strike. A 13-member delegation of Indonesian parliamentarians also visited Timika on 20 October in search of answers to resolve the strike. 
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Leo Wandagau on 10 October; he died 15 October
The ICEM is convinced that a resolve will not happen until US-based Freeport-McMoRan instructs its Grasberg managers to lift its pay proposal for 2011 and 2012. Management&rsquo;s most recent offer &ndash; three weeks ago &ndash; would grant a 15% pay hike in 2011 and 10% in 2012. The company also wants the union to acknowledge that the strike is illegal and issue a formal apology to the company. 
 
FSP-KEP (SPSI) of CEMWU has lowered its demands to an average of US$7.50-an-hour. PT Freeport Indonesia has split unionised miners into non-staff and staff, with non-staff numbering 8,512 and staff 2,574. Non-staff now average earnings of US$2.13-an-hour and US$368 monthly, while staff has average wages of US$3.54-per-hour and US$613 monthly. 
 
The union is also seeking a better savings plan programme than what PT Freeport Indonesia has on the table. In addition, workers are seeking payment of their wages during the strike, which started on 15 September, payment which management made during an eight-day warning strike in July. They also seek the return of all workers to their jobs. Hundreds of miners have been either terminated or &ldquo;relieved from duty&rdquo; since the mid-September strike started. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support FSP-KEP (SPSI) at PT Freeport in its quest for wage justice, dignity, and a proud return to their jobs in the remote highlands of Papua province.

Indonesian Freeport-McMoRan Mine Strike Continues, Two Unionists Shot Dead

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ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, began a first wave of strike action this morning across Finland. Some 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; are on full work stoppages at 45 targeted companies. 
 
If national conciliation again fails next week and the days that follow, metalworkers and salaried staff at another 35 companies will join the strike on 7 November. Overtime bans are now in effect across Finland&rsquo;s metal and technology sector covering 200,000 workers, including 10,000 members of the Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff (YTN). That union of top-level supervisors is expected to join the strike on 1 November if no deal is accomplished. 
 
&ldquo;The strike is running well so far,&rdquo; said Pro Vice President for the Industrial Sector Markku Polokangas, the salaried staff&rsquo;s lead negotiator. &ldquo;The amount of pressure on employers will increase in the coming days, we are certain.&rdquo; Polokangas also said the union is organising support strikes among Pro&rsquo;s membership in other sectors, such as telecommunications and chemicals. 
 
The two unions and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, the employers&rsquo; federation, were in marathon mediation sessions with National Conciliation Esa Lonka throughout the week. The latest session broke off last night and Metalliliitto's 38-member Council gave a near-unanimous mandate to begin the strike.
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Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s membership had earlier given leadership of the union a mandate for strike action. 
 
Although the two sides are in general agreement with the 4.3% wage increase over two years that Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October, major discord in metal and tech negotiations center on how that amount will be split. Finnish employers want discretion on paying some workers far less than the 4.3%, while the unions want the increase given to everyone across the board. 
 
Another difference is over a three-day yearly training and education period. Employers seek the discretionary right to award it, while the unions want it across the board. Tied to that is the manner in which workers age 55 and above will receive the three-day training allocation. 
 
Among just some of the 45 corporations that saw strike action taken against them this morning at 06h00 were ABB, Boliden, Kone elevators and Kone cranes, the mining concern Talvivaara, the Metsa set of engineering companies, iron and steel maker Rautaruukki, Sandvik Mining and Construction, Valmet Automotive, Outotec, Patria aerospace and land companies, and Ruukki Metals and Engineering. 
 
On 7 November, among 35 other companies expected to join the strike will be a large number of workers employed by the Nokia-Siemens joint venture called NS Network.

Strikes Begin in Finnish Metal, Technology Sector

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The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU), or SP KEP SPSI, resumed wage negotiations this morning with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Indonesian subsidiary tomorrow in hopes of getting the 93% owner of the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits to increase its pay offer. 
 
A strike that has crippled all production at the 175,000-ton-per-day mine is now in its ninth week. 
 
From 14-18 November, the union covering 10,000 miners at US-based Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Grasberg mining complex in Papua province did engage in give-and-take negotiations and although some progress was made on wage differences, the two sides remain far apart. 
 
Earlier, the union had given PT Freeport Indonesia, the Indonesian government, and local government leaders official notification that the strike would be extended another 30 days to 15 December. The ICEM, which has been directly involved in the dispute, responded to the extension by putting a call out to trade unions to assist the union in feeding striking families. 
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That call can be found in this <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/134.ICEM.Indonesia%20Mine%20Request.10November.pdf ">10 November ICEM letter</a> and trade unions and others are encouraged to send contributions to the union&rsquo;s official name in Papua province, the SPSI Freeport Indonesia Dana Perjuangan, at the bank numbers listed in this letter. 
 
The union has been feeding 10,000 workers and their families from five open-air kitchens in southern Papua province near the port city of Timika. The ICEM was informed by the branch&rsquo;s parent union in Jakarta, as well as by ICEM Indonesian Affiliates&rsquo; Chairman D. Patombong Sjaiful, that food staples are running low and a Solidarity Fund is short of money. Several ICEM affiliates immediately responded to the call, and more financial assistance is needed now. 
 
The union and management also met two weeks ago for four days, from 7-10 November, with management increasing its two-year wage offer to 35% from 30%. The company is offering 24% in 2011 and 11% next year. 
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Prior to the start of the 15 September strike, Grasberg miners earned a wage of between US$2.13 per hour and US$3.54. The union recently lowered its demands from US$7.50 to US$4 for lower-paid workers in 2011-2012, and proposed a US$3.50 wage increase on 1 October 2012. 
 
There are also a number of other issues still in dispute, including a metal bonus, a production bonus, and housing, education and vacation benefits. The major difference in all these issues is the company&rsquo;s insistence that they be based on variable costs, while the union wants them set at fixed costs. 
 
The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union continues to enforce a road blockade at Mile 28 that has hampered Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s ability to produce and caused the company to declare force majeure on 22 October. A ruptured set of pipelines that carry gold and copper concentrate 114 kilometres from Grasberg to Timika, again site of this week bargaining, is now being repaired, with the company using helicopters to ferry construction crews and materials to the damaged portions of the lines. 
 
In late October and early November, police threatened to break the blockade with force. But that threat &ndash; which was certain to have been met by resistance and bloodshed &ndash; is no longer there and police are no longer present at Mile 28. But rather, strikers and their families are forced onto reduced food rations as union funds have dried up. 
 
The ICEM continues to advocate for the union&rsquo;s wage and other demands to be met. Miners work 12-hour shifts some 4,200 metres high in the Sudirman Range and most spend another four unpaid hours each day getting to and from the Grasberg site via buses. Workers of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union also undergo an excruciating roster schedule in which they work five days on, two days off, followed by six days of work and one day off, and then four days on, three days off.

Indonesian Miners Resume Talks Again Today with Freeport-McMoRan

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ICEM and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) President Senzeni Zokwana said the drive for profit by mining companies operating in South Africa was undercutting safety, and corporate executives must prioritize their values in order to save lives. 
 
Zokwana was speaking last week at the Mine Heath and Safety Council Summit, a tripartite forum set up in 2008 to address the mounting deaths and diseases inside South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry. And despite the conference&rsquo;s theme, &ldquo;Zero Harm,&rdquo; it was obvious from the facts, figures and rhetoric presented at the conference that South Africa&rsquo;s mine safety culture is nowhere near zero levels. 
 
&ldquo;The continuation of people dying in the industry is unacceptable,&rdquo; said Zokwana. &ldquo;Unless the CEOs take (the deaths and injuries) as seriously as they do to meet financial targets, we&rsquo;ll always have problems.&rdquo;
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Zokwana also addressed the NUM&rsquo;s habit of taking a day of mourning at a mine site when a fatality occurs. &ldquo;Some companies view the mourning of death by their employers as a strike. But we need a more caring industry,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Zokwana was one of a handful of trade union leaders and government officials who called production bonuses rather than higher monthly salaries as a leading cause of safety lapses. The Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, said there were &ldquo;unintended consequences created by the current bonus incentive scheme. It is time that this industry stops mindless risk-taking. I challenge the employer and employee to really address this matter because it does contribute to fatalities.&rdquo; 
 
Shabangu was also critical of industry for its profit-making, while ignoring the inherent danger of South African mining where mines are some of the deepest in the world and where rock slides &ndash;particularly in gold and platinum extraction &ndash; account for 40% of all fatalities. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="84" />
&ldquo;I do not understand how mining companies that make billions in profit fail even to buy the latest available and proven ground monitoring and detection equipment,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;These can cut down the number of potential fatalities considering the fact that the equipment is widely available and has been used by the civil engineering industry for a number of years.&rdquo; 
 
Shabangu promised that her ministry would increase the number of safety audits through the rest of 2011 and into 2012, and stern action would be taken against companies that do not comply with established standards. The safety council summit, a by-product of the Mine Health and Safety Council that was a statutory requirement from South Africa&rsquo;s 1996 Mine Health and Safety Act, was held on 17-18 November at Kempton Park outside of Johannesburg. 
 
Through the first ten months of 2011, 116 registered mine fatalities have occurred in the South African industry. That compares with 168 official deaths in 2009 and 127 in 2010, but the unofficial rate is certain to be much higher. 
 
In the days just preceding the summit, four miners were killed in industrial accidents: an engineering contract worker at Eastern Platinum&rsquo;s Crocodile River mine near Brits in North West Province; a Harmony Gold employee at the Kusasaletha mine near Carltonville, western Gauteng province; a miner employed by First Uranium at the Ezulwini mine in Westonaria, Gauteng province; and a miner working at the Consolidated Murchison gold mine near Gravelotte, Limpopo province.

Senzeni Zokwana Calls Out Bosses on South African Mine Safety

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A dramatic month-long occupation of an M-real paper mill in Alizay, France, ended on 18 November after trade unions CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC signed an agreement with the Finnish company to end the blockade and release stockpiled printing papers. The strike began on 19 October after M-real dropped plans to sell the mill to one of two remaining buyers, and announced redundancies for 330 French paperworkers. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4726-French-Paperworkers-Continue-Protest-Today-to-Keep-M-real-Mill-Operating">ICEM report</a> of 24 October.) 
 
The workers voted in front of plant gates at the Haute-Normandie mill by 95% on 15 November to stop the occupation and leaders of the two unions signed an agreement with M-real on 17 November that provides a temporary reprieve to the plant closure, plus financial and other considerations. 
 
Workers receive a &euro;3,000 bonus for ending the occupation, &euro;1,500 immediately and the remainder in January. M-real commits to running the 230,000-tonne-per-year mill until 7 March 2012 and pledges not to remove equipment or machinery prior. In addition, workers will be paid their salaries during the 30-day strike. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="136" />
The negotiated agreement and ending of the occupation came just before French police were to move in and force opening of warehoused paper. The plant closing standoff reached the highest levels of French government, after the unions petitioned the state to expropriate the paper mill assets, and spilled into European Parliament meetings in Strasbourg, France, last week, when French political leaders met with Finnish parliamentarians to complain of intransigence by M-real and its 40% owner, Mets&auml;liitto, a forest products company based in Finland. 
 
&ldquo;No one should believe that we capitulated,&rdquo; stated CGT-Filpac plant delegate Thierry Philippot. &ldquo;We will continue to make sure that this company pays for the moral and physical suffering of workers.&rdquo; Workers filed harassment complaints with French authorities over the psychological effects of M-real changing its plans. 
 
M-real announced on 4 May a major restructuring to exit office and printing paper manufacturing and focus instead on paperboard used for packaging. It meant putting two fine paper mills up for sale, the Alizay mill near Pont-de-l&rsquo;Arche and the Gohrsm&uuml;hle mill in Germany, as well as discontinuing carbon paper production at the Reflex mill in Germany. 
 
After paring a potential 65 bidders for Alizay down to two, M-real last month stopped negotiations with a Thai paper company and a French-based equity company and said it would shutter the mill. 
 
That set off the anger of French paperworkers of CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC and the occupation began, which included placement of large vehicles in front of plant gates that were locked with heavy chains. The unions also brought the case into a French district court in Evreux over failure by M-real to provide the necessary documents on a possible sale. Statutory consultations over the plant closure did start on 8 November but were quickly suspended due to high tensions, and those talks must begin again separate of last week&rsquo;s protocol agreement to end the occupation.

French Paperworkers End Mill Occupation in Deal with M-real

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The prelude to ICEM&rsquo;s Fifth Statutory Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this week will be a day-long conference on the successes and best practices achieved in the longstanding Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) campaign. The event will take place at the Congress venue, the Hilton Hotel Buenos Aires, on Wednesday, 23 November, the day before Congress opens. 
 
With activities now in over 25 countries, the six-year-old ICEM campaign is now operating on all cylinders and has reached a level of maturity not only seen in tangible results, but has produced ICEM project coordinators who possess the skills and have honed the tools to make a difference for irregular workers the world over. 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="140" />
Several of those coordinators will highlight CAL campaign successes at the conference this week. For example, CAL Asian Coordinator Aranya Pakapath will tell how 1,500 contract workers in Chhattisgarh state, India, formed a cement workers&rsquo; union. She will describe how Indonesian outsource workers did the same in that country&rsquo;s paper industry, as well as struggles cement workers in the Philippines face in building unions. 
 
Joseph Toe, CAL Coordinator in Sub-Saharan Africa, will address ICEM campaigns in Guinea, Nigeria, Namibia, Sierra Leone and other countries where major shifts and successful organising have taken place regarding casual employment. Seyni Mbaye Ndiaye, General Secretary of ICEM affiliate SUTIDS in Senegal, will speak on how his union and the ICEM Sub-Saharan CAL project brought about a Presidential Decree in the west African nation for protection of rights of short-term contract workers. 
 
A report will be given by Igor D&iacute;az of ICEM affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n in Colombia on the hurdles that union encounters in organising and bringing collective agreements to workers of sub-contractors at the world&rsquo;s biggest coal mine. 
<img alt="" src="" width="214" height="140" />&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="214" height="160" />
FNV Bondgenoten Message at Eemshaven, Netherlands, CAL Asian Coordinator Aranya Pakapath&nbsp;&nbsp;
And Sascha Meijer of FNV Bondgenoten in the Netherlands will show the tools used by that union in bringing dignity and wage justice to migrant workers from Europe&rsquo;s east at energy plants in the Dutch port city of Eemshaven. 
 
J&oslash;rgen Juul Rasmussen of Dansk El F&ouml;rbund of Denmark will give an overview on the temporary and fixed-term employment situation in Europe, as well as progress on implementing the European Union directive on temporary work. 
 
Sponsored by the German Freidrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), the conference promises to be a wellspring of strategies and best case studies aimed at combating the rampant growth of temporary and short-term employment that affects us all. 
 
The day will conclude with a panel moderated by Council of Global Unions Coordinator Jim Baker that will include General Secretaries from the ICEM (Manfred Warda), the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (Klaus Priegnitz), and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (Jyrki Raina) that will look at future strategies of the campaign within the framework of integrating the three Global Union Federations. 
 
ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President Sergio Novais will chair the day-long session.&nbsp;

ICEM Congress: Contract, Agency Labour Forum to Showcase Achievements

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The ICEM&rsquo;s Fifth and perhaps last ordinary Congress opens in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this week, with some 800 delegates and guests expected to attend. The quadrennial Congress runs from 24-26 November, with the ICEM Presidium to be held today, 21 November, and an Executive Committee meeting to be held on 22 November. 
 
General Secretary Manfred Warda said Argentina was chosen as the venue for this Congress because of eight strong affiliates in the South American nation, including those affiliated to both national labour centres &ndash; the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and the Argentine Workers&rsquo; Central Union (CTA). 
 
&ldquo;With industrial trade union unity taking shape on the global level, we felt it appropriate that our union affiliates from both confederations connect and continue pushing forward on the positive social agenda that has taken root in Argentina,&rdquo; said Warda. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="106" />
The government of President Cristina Fern&aacute;ndez de Kirchner has followed the social plan of her late husband N&eacute;stor Kirchner by building a &ldquo;people first&rdquo; agenda in which public spending and consumer power serve as the fuel for economic growth and prosperity for all. That is reflected in the government enacting a 25% increase in the country&rsquo;s minimum wage this past summer, while at the same time expanding export markets by providing incentives to manufacturers. 
 
Warda said this contrasts with governments in other developed nations which now resort to &ldquo;anti-people, anti-social&rdquo; austerity measures to counter sovereign debt crises. 
 
The Congress quite likely will hear from President Fern&aacute;ndez on the opening day, as well as from the Argentina Minister of Labour and Social Security, Dr. Carlos Tomado. 
<img alt="" src="" width="70" height="60" />
The Congress will also consider a number of motions, including a forward-looking Action Plan that aims to continue the activist culture of the ICEM in future work and several specific motions on current and relevant world topics. Day two of the Congress will feature a panel discussion on Social Dialogue initiatives in Latin America, moderated by ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Regional Vice President Sergio Novais. 
 
On the final day of the Congress, 26 November, discussion will take place over the final integration steps in creating a new Global Union Federation (GUF) together with the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF). That is scheduled to happen in June 2012 in Copenhagen, making the next ICEM Congress a dissolution congress to occur at the same time. 
 
The ICEM union affiliates in Argentina cover nearly all the GUF&rsquo;s industrial sectors, including petroleum (FASPyGP), rubber (SUTNA), pulp and paper (FOEIPCyQ and SOEP), natural gas (STIGAN), nuclear (UOM), electricity (LYF-PAT) and mining (OSMA). The ICEM is grateful for their assistance in arrangements what will prove a memorable and successful Congress.

ICEM Congress Opens This Week in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has launched a nation-wide campaign urging the government to repeal amendments to the Employment Act, which would legalize labour contractors. 
 
The MTUC has been lobbying against these amendments since the bill was originally submitted to Parliament in July 2010. At that time, due to opposition from other political parties and trade unions, the government withdrew the bill. The amendments were re-introduced, with minor changes, in June 2011. Since then, the MTUC has been outspoken against the bill but, despite a picket at the Parliament on 3 October, the bill was passed by the majority Members of Parliament of the Ruling Party on 6 October. 
 
The proposed amendments would introduce &ldquo;contractors for labour&rdquo; into Malaysian legislation and create triangular employment relationships in which workers would be employed and paid by a contractor, rather than by the company in which they work. The amendments would also open the way for unequal treatment of workers with respect to wages and benefits. 
 
The MTUC further opposes deferred payment of overtime which, as laid out in the bill, would mean that contract workers would not receive remuneration for overtime until one month later, so that the principal employer time to pay the contractor for labour that in turn pays the contract workers. 
 
The MTUC is committed to pursuing &ldquo;all avenues available&rdquo; until the amendments to the Employment Act are withdrawn.

Malaysian Nation Labor Centre Decries Legislation Opening Door for Contract Labour

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The Irish union, Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), is fighting attempts by the government of Ireland to dilute the provisions of the European Union Temporary Agency Workers&rsquo; Directive, which comes into force across Europe on 5 December. 
 
The Directive, which was passed in 2008, states that &ldquo;The basic working and employment conditions of temporary agency workers shall be, for the duration of their assignment at a user undertaking, at least those that would apply if they had been recruited directly by that undertaking to occupy the same job.&rdquo; 
 
The Directive applies from day one of an assignment, and further states that temporary agency workers have the right to be informed about permanent employment opportunities in the user enterprise and must have improved access to training and childcare facilities in periods between assignments, in order to enhance employability. 
 
Under the Directive derogation from the principle of equal treatment is permitted provided an agreement can be reached between a state&rsquo;s social partners. In an eleventh hour attempt, Irish Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton has called for a derogation which would mean that an agency worker would only be entitled to equal treatment after six months, rather than from the first day of employment. 
 
In a letter to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), Bruton said, &ldquo;Without the benefit of some leeway in transposing the directive in the shape of a framework agreement, Ireland will be in a position of significant competitive disadvantage, vis-a-vis our European trading partners,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;In the current climate and with the significant challenges that face us on the road to economic recovery, we must avail of the flexibilities afforded by the directive.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="108" height="140" />
Patricia King
Patricia King, Vice President of SIPTU, has made clear that the union is opposed to any attempt by the government to seek a derogation. King said, &ldquo;We do not see any reason for a derogation to be applied. Why would we? If someone is entitled to equality of treatment, they are entitled to it and there is no reasonable argument being put forward, that I can see, for us to agree to the derogation.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;If somebody is employed to do a job, which commands a certain skill, background knowledge and experience, and they put themselves forward for that job and are capable of producing the goods, why would they not get the rate of pay on an equal basis as somebody who was doing the job already and who is going to work alongside them?&rdquo; 
 
Commenting on Bruton&rsquo;s claims that implementing the Directive would have a negative impact on jobs and economic growth, King said, &ldquo;All that is a code for not paying the rate and keeping people in low pay&rdquo;.

SIPTU Fights Attempts to Dilute EU Agency Workers Directive

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