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The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) held a changing-of-the-guard Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 24 &ndash; 27 May. 
 
The Congress unanimously elected Jyrki Raina as the new General Secretary of the Global Union Federation. Raina replaces Marcello Malentacchi, who retired after 20 years as General Secretary. 
 
The IMF Congress adopted a new Action Programme for the period 2009-2013. The policy agenda spells out the main themes of the programme, and Raina emphasized them &hellip; building &ldquo;strong national trade unions, organize the unorganized, invest in union-building, education and training, strengthen collective bargaining, defend trade union rights, improve women&rsquo;s representation, and bring about sustainable development and decent work.&rdquo; 

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Raina has served as General Secretary of Nordic-In since 2006. He is a native of Finland, and worked for the Finnish Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, Kemianliitto, the ICEF and ICEM, before leading Nordic-In. 
 
Raina also emphasized the importance of increasing international cooperation of the labour movement worldwide, so as to more effectively campaign on issues such as the financial and economic crisis, climate change, and sustainable jobs. 
 
Another significant action taken at IMF&rsquo;s Congress was the Executive Committee&rsquo;s endorsement of the Declaration of Intent, signed in March by other Global Union Federations. This document signifies a further step to an eventual unified global union structure for industry and manufacturing. 
 
The IMF Congress also conducted elections for other positions. Berthold Huber, Germany&rsquo;s IG Metall President, was elected IMF President; Thomas R. Buffenbarger, President of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) was elected IMF Vice President; and Hiroshi Kamada of Japan and Fernando Lopes of Brazil were elected as IMF Assistant General Secretaries.

IMF Congress Welcomes New General Secretary

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Jens Bundvad of Danish trade union CO-industri was unanimously elected 11 June as General Secretary of Nordic-In, the five-nation, 22-member Trade Union Federation. The election occurred at Nordic-In&rsquo;s biennial Congress in Stavanger, Norway. 
 
Bundvad succeeds Jyrki Raina, the federation&rsquo;s first General Secretary who was elected to lead the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) last month. 
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Jens Bundvad
Stefan L&ouml;fven remains the president of 1.2-million-member Nordic-In, which effectively covers industrial workers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. L&ouml;fven is also president of the Swedish union, IF Metall. 
 
Nordic-In came into existence in January 2006 with the merger of Nordic Metal and the Nordic Industry Workers&rsquo; Federation (NIF). Its mission is to coordinate policies and actions of the Nordic trade unions, especially within European industry federations European Metal (EMF), EMCEF, and the European Textile, Clothing, and Leather Federation, as well as globally with the ICEM, IMF, and the International Textile, Garment, and Leathers Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).

Nordic-In Elects Jens Bundvad as General Secretary

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Instead of facing testimony in a US federal court over the complicity its Nigerian subsidiary played in the 1995 executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni rights activists, Royal Dutch Shell made a US$15.5 million payout to the nine defendants &ndash; relatives of the martyrs &ndash; and the Ogoni people. 
 
Shell&rsquo;s announcement came at the outset of a federal court case in New York under the US&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act, an effective global instrument to bring social justice and payment damages to non-American victims of crimes or violations committed by companies. Shell said it would pay US$10.5 million to the defendants and US$5 million for an Ogoni trust fund. 
 
Shell termed it a &ldquo;humanitarian settlement&rdquo; and proclaimed innocence over the 1995 complicity with the Abacha regime&rsquo;s round-up and execution of the land and environmental rights activists, who were leading the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. 
 
The civil lawsuit in the US, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and EarthRights International, lingered on for well over a decade. One US writer, labour rights activist Phil Mattera, wrote, &ldquo;It is understandable why the plaintiffs &hellip; would feel a need to settle a case that had dragged on for 13 years and provide some financial assistance to the Ogoni community. Yet it is frustrating to see Shell trying to turn an outrage into an opportunity to burnish its image.&rdquo; 
 
Shell was charged with crimes against humanity, and being complicit with arbitrary arrest, torture, jurisprudence negligence, wrongful death, and emotional distress. Saro-Wiwa and the others faced hasty trials and immediate execution by security forces of General Abacha in November 1995.

Shell Pays Nigeria’s Ogoni People, Avoids Tell-tale US Court Case

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Pakistan'ın İslamabad kentinde on binlerce iş&ccedil;i ge&ccedil;en hafta, 26 Mayıs 2009, sokağa d&ouml;k&uuml;ld&uuml;. İş&ccedil;iler h&uuml;k&uuml;metin gelecek yılki federal b&uuml;t&ccedil;ede &ldquo;ulusal &uuml;cret skalası&rdquo;nın geliştirilmesini ve kamu hizmetlerinin &ouml;zelleştirilmesi planına son vermesini talep ettiler. 21 Mayıs 2009 Perşembe g&uuml;n&uuml; Meclis&ouml;n&uuml;ne y&uuml;r&uuml;yen iş&ccedil;iler burada taleplerini i&ccedil;eren kapsamlı bir belgeyi Meclis Başkanı'na ilettiler. 
Pakistan'da bug&uuml;n elektrik, petrol, doğalgaz, posta, demiryolu taşımacılığı ve demir &ccedil;elik end&uuml;strileri &ouml;zelleştirme riski ile karşı karşıya bulunuyor. 
Kararlı ICEM &uuml;yesi Pakistan WAPDA Sendikası protestonun d&uuml;zenlenmesinde &ouml;nemli bir rol oynadı. Ayrıca Meclis &ouml;n&uuml;nde toplanan iş&ccedil;ilerin taşeron iş&ccedil;iliği konusundaki talepleri eylemdeki bir diğer &ouml;nemli gelişmeydi. Eylemde işletmelerin taşeron iş&ccedil;ilere d&uuml;zenli istihdam edilen iş&ccedil;ilere sunduğu koşulları sunması y&ouml;n&uuml;nde g&uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; bir &ccedil;ağrı yapıldı. Pakistan sendikalarına g&ouml;re tarihi ge&ccedil;miş Pakistan İş Kanunu'nun ger&ccedil;ek bir reforma ihtiyacı var. 
Su ve enerji Bakanı Pervez Aşraf'ın 23 Mayıs 2009 tarihinde WAPDA ile yaptığı toplantı bu konuda h&uuml;k&uuml;metin tavrının umut verici olduğunun bir işaretiydi. Toplantıda ulusal enerji kıtlığı ile m&uuml;cadele ve 2009 yılının sonuna kadar bunun &uuml;stesinden gelinmesi konusundaki stratejiler tartışıldı. Tasarlanan yeni projeler arasında Lahor'da T&uuml;rkiye ile anlaşmalı olarak yeni bir enerji santralinin kurulması ve devam eden Neelum-Jahlum ve Başa Barajı imşası da var. 
Sendika y&ouml;netiminin enerji bakanı ile yaptığı bu g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerde WAPDA &uuml;yesi su ve enerji işkolu &ccedil;alışanlarının g&uuml;nl&uuml;k &uuml;cretlerinde de d&uuml;zenleme yapılması konusunda bir uzlaşmaya varıldı. WAPDA'ya &uuml;ye &ccedil;alışanların ev kiralarının %45'inin &ouml;denmesi ve Larkana'da 50 yataklı bir hastanenin WAPDA &uuml;yelerinin hizmetine sunulması kararlaştırıldı.

Pakistan sendikası WAPDA ücretlerin ve çalışma koşullarının iyileştirilmesi için sokağa çıktı.

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The three-day Congress of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa late last week provided stark reminder that tensions do exist on certain issues between trade unions and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party. One such issue is the contentious matter of labour brokers. 
ANC General Secretary Gwede Mantashe, himself a former NUM General Secretary and ICEM Executive member, argued on the first day that certain actions by labour unions might prove &ldquo;counter-productive&rdquo; with the ANC and the new Zuma government. But earlier, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told delegates that in current wage talks throughout the country, it is wrong to think that workers should pick up a share of the economic burden. 
Vavi called it &ldquo;scandalous&rdquo; that the first response to this economic crisis is for workers to lower their pay demands. &ldquo;I say No to the CEOs who have watched their salaries grow by 150% each year and now say it is workers who must lower their demands,&rdquo; Vavi said. 
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ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana
The NUM&rsquo;s Triennial Congress was held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, near Johannesburg. The union conducted debates, deliberations, and their elections under two banners, &ldquo;Members First Today and Forever&rdquo; and &ldquo;Strengthen Solidarity, Deepen Class Consciousness.&rdquo; Delegates attended from all 11 regions of the 320,000-member NUM to this 12th policy-shaping Congress. 
One of the policies adopted is an outright ban on the use of labour brokers in South Africa. The NUM calls it the biggest threat to decent work in the country today. The NUM stands along side COSATU and other unions on the ban, while the ANC government has said it will introduce laws that more closely regulate contract work, subcontracting, and outsourcing. 
NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, who also is ICEM President, gave a forceful and moving speech to open the Congress on 28 May by stating, &ldquo;Let no one here believe we are going to settle for low wages. We will demand a living wage for mineworkers, construction workers, and energy workers.&rdquo; 
Zokwana called for an end to labour brokering, saying it is the creator of detrimental work conditions and the beginning of slave wages. 
South Africa Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana also criticised labour brokers. &ldquo;These companies send the labour of workers to the highest bidder and then they pay them the lowest possible wage,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is an extreme form of free market labour capitalism. It allows workers to be traded for profit just as if they are meat or vegetables.&rdquo; 
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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda told delegates that the Global Union Federation stands with them in calling for the ban, calling Contract and Agency Labour &ldquo;one of the worst plagues of globalisation.&rdquo; Warda added that &ldquo;the neoliberal model and the greed that it encouraged&rdquo; has led the whole world to the edge of economic disaster. &ldquo;We need a world of equality and regulated financial governance now more than at any previous time.&rdquo; 
Warda paid tribute to the NUM&rsquo;s leading role inside Africa related to trade-union building, and he also mentioned the union&rsquo;s exemplary work in HIV/AIDS prevention and in mine safety. Warda also used the NUM forum to issue a call for unity among the trade unions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 
Zokwana was re-elected President of NUM, while ICEM Executive member Frans Baleni won re-election as General Secretary.

NUM Stands Pat on Ban of Labour Brokers at 12th Congress

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Two fresh law suits under America&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act were filed last week in US federal courtrooms. In the state of Alabama, Drummond Coal was again hauled to the dock for its complicity with right-wing death squads in Colombia, and in New York state, Shell Oil will have to answer to its alleged conspiracy with Nigerian security forces in the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wira. 
 
The Colombian case against Drummond is the second such case against the US-based coal producer. Drummond&rsquo;s alleged involvement in the 2001 assassinations of union leaders Valmore Lacarno, Victor Oracasita, and Gustavo Soler, all leaders of the mining union Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, was the first Alien Tort Claims Act case to reach trial. In 2007, after key Colombian witnesses were prevented from testifying, a federal judge dismissed the case against Drummond and an appeals court failed to reverse that decision in December 2008. 
 
This time Drummond, between 1999 and 2006, is accused of complicity with right-wing paramilitary squads in the murders of 63 men and four women. The suit, filed by a state of Florida law firm on behalf of 252 relatives of the slain, who are entitled to compensatory damages from Drummond if the company is proven guilty. The lawsuit claims Drummond specifically paid millions to the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC), who &ldquo;terrorised&rdquo; women and children &ldquo;in their homes, on their way to and from work, and often murdered&rdquo; others &ldquo;on behalf of Drummond.&rdquo; 

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Ken Saro-Wiwa is a martyr because, as leader of the non-violent Movement for the Survival of the Ogani People (MOSOP), he was among the first Nigerians to stand up against environmental degradation and human exploitation in the Niger Delta. His strong voice earned him a hasty trial and execution by the repressive regime of General Sani Abacha. The New York suit will attempt to prove that Shell was complicit in a campaign of terror undertaken by Abacha&rsquo;s security forces. 
 
The Alien Tort Claims Act, on US law books since 1789, allows non-Americans access to US civil court action in order the hold accountable US-based or other corporations to violations of international law. Because of the US&rsquo;s historic economic power throughout the world, Alien Tory Claims cases are seen as a leading way in which human rights conduct gets heard in America.

Drummond, Shell Called to US Courts to Answer on Human Rights Charges

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On 12 June, civil society across everywhere will mark World Day Against Child Labour, this year coming on the 10th anniversary of adoption of ILO Convention 182, the convention that condemns the worst forms of child labour. In step with this year&rsquo;s International Labour Conference gender theme, the ILO will focus 12 June on the exploitation of young girls in child labour. 
 
The ILO estimates that 100 million girls are involved in child labour. The ICEM believes that the first and most important instrument toward decent work is education. A child and young adult&rsquo;s education is the surest and securest way to escape poverty, and to grow as an adult into a decent and secure livelihood. 

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On this World Day Against Child Labour, the ICEM draws attention to our trade union affiliate at the Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia, a union that still must carry the fight to leave behind the scars of child labour. Despite a new collective agreement, Firestone has not implemented parts of it, including reductions on quotas for rubber tapping. It was these quotas that demanded children be used in order to fulfil production. 
 
The ICEM calls attention to the rescue of 37 children in New Delhi, India, last week, who were restrained and bonded while performing needle-stitch work. For every such rescue, there are scores more illegal worksites that cheat and exploit children. The ICEM also makes note of a report from an NGO in Uzbekistan that the use of child labour in cotton fields is growing and becoming an even bigger menace. In Thailand, we know, it is common to abuse Lao and Burmese children while at work in sweatshops. 
 
There are countless stories that certify child labour as the number one obstacle to decent work. The ICEM encourages everyone to acknowledge 12 June, but also to use it as the day to make a year-long commitment to expose and eradicate all forms of child labour.

12 June, Day Against Child Labour, Another Bold Reminder

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A strike deadline in Nigeria has been extended through this week in order that talks can continue between ICEM&rsquo;s two oil and gas union affiliates &ndash; NUPENG and PENGASSAN &ndash; and the Ministers of Labour and Petroleum on the urgent need to guarantee security and safety for workers and their families in the Niger Delta. 
 
A deadline by the unions to pull their workers out of Niger Delta oil and gas installations was due to expire today. But on Friday, 6 February, after a meeting with Rivers States Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the unions agreed to more talks this week. Leaders of the two unions will meet in Abuja beginning today with Minister of Work and Productivity Adetokunbo Olyukayode and Minister of Petroleum H. Odein Ajumogobia on viable solutions to the security situation. 
 
Port Harcourt, other parts of Rivers State, as well as neighbouring Niger Delta states have been hit by a rash of kidnappings against family members of PENGASSAN and NUPENG members in the past few weeks. Armed groups are calling for ransoms of up to US$100,000 after grabbing at gunpoint innocent family members of oil and gas workers. 
 
Another incident occurred Friday, 6 February. An ambush at a Shell Petroleum Development Corp. (SPDC) gas plant in Utorogun, Delta State, resulted in three militants being killed. First reports cite that no workers were harmed, although that has not always been the case in such attacks. 
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Earlier in the week, a Nigerian worker of Agip, a subsidiary of Italian ENI, was kidnapped. He was released without the company acknowledging whether or not a ransom was paid. On 29 January, the 11-year-old daughter of a PENGASSAN member, SPDC employee Samuel Awolesun, was murdered when she and her nine-year-old brother were kidnapped on their way to school. The young girl was shot while resisting the kidnap. 
 
In a PENGASSAN communiqu&eacute; of 6 February, the union announced the boy had been released last week. 
 
PENGASSAN and NUPENG count 12 kidnappings of oil and gas staff, their spouses, or family members since 24 January in Port Harcourt alone. Reports say that there have been at least ten attacks on vessels in waters off the Niger Delta since the first of the year. 
 
&ldquo;The insecurity in the delta has taken a new dimension,&rdquo; NUPENG National President Peter Akpatason told the ICEM. &ldquo;The government is not doing enough to protect staff and their families and this now has become a very serious industrial relations matter.&rdquo; 
 
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile said it is up to the government and state-run petroleum companies to prove why &ldquo;our services should not be withdrawn from all upstream facilities until security is improved in the region.&rdquo; 
 
In the joint announcement Friday to all NUPENG and PENGASSAN zonal chairmen and branches, in which a new strike deadline was set for 13 February, the unions said, &ldquo;We wish to inform (all workers) to await further directives as we engage the Federal and Rivers State Governments at this trying moment.&rdquo; 
 
Separately, the unions are also pressing the government and oil companies to address gaps in pay, working conditions, and social welfare benefits for casual workers and workers on fixed-term contracts. They are also building a case for better empowerment and employment opportunities for Nigerian nationals in the oil and gas industry, as well as support for liberalisation in the downstream sector if the existing private-sector employers commit to investments.

PENGASSAN, NUPENG Give Government Week to Rectify Recent Rash of Niger Delta Kidnappings

Contract and Agency Labour Newsletter

The leading trade union federation covering the social interests of Pulp and Paper Workers world-wide will convene a global conference outside Montevideo, Uruguay, from 8-10 December. The conference will have 120 trade-union leaders participating from some 35 major pulp and paper-producing countries. 
 
The conference of Geneva-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is entitled: &ldquo;North Meets South, Global Unity/Global Strength.&rdquo; The sector-based conference will include participants from Finland, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, France, Romania, Turkey, Spain, Canada, United States, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, as well as paper industry union leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and elsewhere in Latin America. 
 
The venue is the Argentino Hotel in Peri&aacute;polis, Uruguay. The host union is ICEM Uruguay affiliate CUOPYC. 
 
&ldquo;We think we will have a good conference, with good discussion,&rdquo; said ICEM Pulp and Paper Chairman Jouko Ahonen, also President of Paperiliitto Union of Finland. &ldquo;With the financial collapse, if there is any industry that has seen the storms and the economic swings, it is this one. It is this industry that must have new and fresh ideas for the future.&rdquo; 
 
Uruguay Cabinet Ministers from Finance and Labour and Social Security will open the conference, and then the programme will feature two paper industry executives, Mets&auml;-Botnia Oy President/CEO Ilkka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml; and Bracelpa S&atilde;o Paulo State Director Jeronimo Ruiz. They will speak, field questions, and hear discussion from workers of the industry on Monday, December 8. Day two will include a trade union panel, discussing network potential and collective bargaining issues. That discussion will develop a work plan, which includes a major project to enhance north-south trade union networking. Uruguay President Tabar&eacute; V&aacute;zquez is expected to speak to the trade unionists on day two, December 9. 
 
Third day activities will be taken up with festivities commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948. 
The ICEM is a global union federation that represents 20 million workers in the Oil, Gas, Energy, Chemicals, Rubber, Pulp/Papermaking, Mining, Cement, and other manufacturing sectors. It has 467 national trade-union affiliates in 132 countries. 
 
For more: Dick Blin, ICEM Pulp and Paper Officer, +41 22 304 1840, or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile), or <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>.

Global Pulp, Paper Trade Unionists Convene in Uruguay

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