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<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />The current propensity by multinationals to lock-out Canadian workers when they refuse cutbacks to their work standards continues. On 5 May, Evraz North America, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Evraz Group, locked out 105 union members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 551 in Camrose, Alberta.The lockout comes three months after expiration of a prior labour agreement and more tellingly, comes during a boom cycle of steel pipe manufacturing, with the Camrose mill residing squarely and profitably inside the booming bitumen oil production fields of western Canada.Evraz is seeking elimination of the defined benefit pension scheme for new employees, cuts in retiree benefits for future pensioners, and has offered pay rates in a new three-year contract that are less than what it agreed to at union-represented tubular pipe factories in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Calgary, Alberta, late last year. The company also seeks to slash vacation benefits in Camrose.Meanwhile, due to an acute shortage of skilled workers in the Canadian tar sands, the Camrose factories have been unable to hire enough metalworkers to operate around-the-clock operations and even before the lockout, the company has been stretched thin in meeting existing orders from oil- and gas-producing firms.&ldquo;It is completely unfathomable that workers in the oil and gas industry working in the hottest economy in North America are being attacked and threated to give back long fought gains,&rdquo; said CAW National Representative Todd Romanow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 157px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;Todd RomanowLast year, the United Steelworkers (USW) set up a global <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4346-Steelworkers-Form-a-98Unity-Councila-for-Evraz-Metal-Mine-Workers">Unity Council</a> for workers and their unions of the Evraz Group. In a message to USW Local 6673 in Calgary and USW Local 5890 in Regina, Romanow wrote:&ldquo;At the heart of this attack is the removal of our defined benefits plan and retiree benefits for future employees but make no mistake, the fight is bigger than that as it is an attack from a multinational conglomerate on working people and the middle class.&rdquo; He added it is &ldquo;all in the name of corporate greed and insatiable profits.&rdquo;The Evraz Group is controlled by holding companies connected to the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, owner of UK&rsquo;s Chelsea football club of the English Premier League. It is Russia&rsquo;s largest steelmaker, operates iron ore and coal mines throughout the world, and is North America&rsquo;s largest producer of tubular pipe and second largest maker of steel plate.In Camrose, a facility Evraz got in 2007 with the US$2.3 billion acquisition of US-based Oregon Steel Mills, the company operates two pipe mills, one making 16-inch piping and casing for drilling and transport of oil and natural gas, the other producing large-diameter pipe used in transmission lines.

Evraz Pipe Shamefully Locks Out Members of Canadian Auto Workers

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Building on their first meeting in 2010, just prior to the historic May Day celebrations in Taksim Square, global unions conducted the second meeting of this kind on defending trade union rights in Turkey. Around sixty participants from centers and Turkish affiliates of ITUC, CGU, ICEM, ITF, IUF, PSI, IMF, BWI, ITGLWF and UNI came together in Istanbul at the workshop held on 8-9 September. The meeting also welcomed international NGOs such as Labourstart and Amnesty International who consistently support labour rights in Turkey. The ICEM was present at the workshop through its Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan as well as its affiliates Tes-Is, Petrol-Is, Belediye-Is, Lastik-Is, Kristal-Is, Cimse-Is, Sel&uuml;loz-Is and T&uuml;mka-Is. 
 
The workshop coincided with a critical time, with Turkish trade union legislation under discussions for modification with a view to harmonise it in line with international standards and norms. Turkey was recently criticised by the International Labour Organization over the lack of genuine union rights in the country. &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of the Collective Bargaining Department of ICEM&rsquo;s affiliate Lastik-Is, who is a part of a working group formed by the government to handle possible modifications, updated the workshop participants in a context of the history of Turkish labour legislation. 
 
Participants were informed of individual organising efforts of Turkish unions in cooperation and solidarity with respective global union federations. Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak, Director of the Organizing Department of ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is, presented his union&rsquo;s widely-publicised national level organizing campaign as well as the ongoing organising drive at Standard Profil with the contribution of the ICEM. The other examples showed the value of solidarity between individual unions and their global union federations in getting success in organising and recognition. 
 
The participants discussed international instruments in boosting union organising campaigns. Particular attention was given to global unions&rsquo; immediate actions such as protest letters, coordinating global solidarity and visits of picket lines. Opportunities in using the newly revised OECD guidelines, ILO tools as well as international courts were also reviewed. 
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ICEM's Kemal &Ouml;zkan addresses press conference
Towards the end of the workshop a press conference was organized with the participation of television and newspaper journalists. In a joint press release the global unions informed the Turkish media about the objectives and content of the workshop. Read out by Ron Oswald, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation IUF, the press release stressed that &ldquo;Turkish unions, union leaders from Turkey and representatives of those international bodies present at this meeting have pledged to work together actively and in a sustained and permanent way to support workers' efforts to access those universal rights and to have them universally accepted and respected in Turkey.&rdquo; 
 
The participants were later divided into two groups, as Turkish unions and global union federations to discuss ways to build and promote joint work in Turkey as a base for summary, conclusions and way forward from the workshop. Jim Baker, Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions, summed up discussions and conclusions of the workshop with a way forward. Baker underlined consensus on &ldquo;common action by global unions with their Turkish affiliates and among themselves to improve the quality and increase the effect of practical and concrete solidarity action to strengthen workers and their legitimate, democratic trade unions.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Turkey is a highly critical place in the activities of all global unions, this country is a priority for the whole union movement&rdquo; said ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;The two-day workshop reaffirmed our commitment to reinforce solidarity with the Turkish trade union movement.&rdquo;

Global Unions Unite in Defending Trade Union Rights in Turkey

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A work stoppage and hunger strike by non-regular coal miners in Bangladesh ended on 6 September, three days after the 1,145 contract workers took up strike action again against state-owned Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd. (BCMCL) and its extraction contractor, the China National Import and Export Corp. (CMC). 
 
The strike originally began on 23 August, but was suspended on 27 August so miners could celebrate the Islamic Eid vacation. In negotiations between the Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union, BCMCL&rsquo;s parent, the Bangladesh Oil, Gas, Mineral Corp. (PETROBANGLA), CMC, the country&rsquo;s Minister of Land, and Dinajpur Province authorities on 5 September, the union won production bonuses and holiday guarantees, as well as assurances that each year 10% of non-skilled workers will see their employment status regularized. 
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BCMCL, the country&rsquo;s only operating coal mine, guaranteed that production bonuses will take effect when coal output exceeds 70,000 tonnes per month. The contract miners, employed by CMC through an arrangement with the Xuzhou Coal Mine Group of China (XMC), also won a four-fold increase in festival allowances, a paid three-day holiday period each for two Eid vacations, and 20 kilos of rice per miner each month. 
 
Regularisation of employment, however, was the major achievement in the August-September strike action. Since CMC began operating the mine the mine in 2005, the contract miners were without many social protections, insurances, and pension pensions. 
 
Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union President Rabiul Islam called the settlement satisfactory, with BCMCL and the Chinese employer accepting a good share of the union&rsquo;s demands. 
 
BCMCL has a recoverable coal deposit of 64 million tones, of which only 1.13 million tones have been extracted since inception of the mine five years ago. The mine produces thermal coal with the bulk of it transported to Bangladesh&rsquo;s lone 250 megawatt electric generating plant.

Contract Coal Miners in Bangladesh Win Guarantees with Strikes

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A first-of-a-kind collective agreement took root in Germany&rsquo;s solar energy manufacturing industry on 1 September. It was then that a labour contract took effect between IG Metall and three subsidiaries of Bosch in the state of Thuringia, making it the first collective agreement in Germany&rsquo;s solar power industry. 
 
The agreement covers 2,500 workers at factories of Bosch Solar Energy AC, Bosch Solar Wafers GmbH, and Bosch Solar Thin Film in the cities of Erfurt and Arnstadt. IG Metal Hesse and Thuringia Region representatives used the effective date of the three-year agreement to distribute leaflets to workers at other solar product manufacturers in central and eastern Germany highlighting details of the Bosch accord. 
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Those companies include Q-cells, Conergy, and Solon, to name just a few. It is the union&rsquo;s hope that the Bosch accord will spur a national collective agreement in the solar manufacturing industry, a sector now encompassing 130,000 German workers. 
 
Labour agreements in renewable energy industries, said IG Metall Regional Secretary Armin Schild, have been &ldquo;a no man&rsquo;s land. This agreement hopefully will become the standard throughout the industry.&rdquo; 
 
Based on the union&rsquo;s metal sector agreement, this first contract contains a bounty of benefits for workers of the three Bosch subsidiaries. Although it contains no set wage increases over the three years, workers will see their pay increase with regular bonuses, performance-based bonuses, and additional compensation for holiday and night-shift work. 
 
The work week will be reduced with full pay from 40 to 38 hours in increments over the three-year term, and overtime work will either be paid in full or employees have the option to convert that overtime to paid time off. And apprentices completing training are assured of at least a one-year fixed-term period of employment. 
 
The three Bosch worksites are relatively new in Thuringia, with Bosch Solar only opening the massive cell and panel plant in Arnstadt a year ago. The agreement is a trendsetting pact within Germany&rsquo;s former eastern states and IG Metall deserves high accolades for achieving this milestone.

IG Metall Breaks New Ground with First Accord in German Solar Energy Sector

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Key activists of ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten inside a leading global chemicals company, Akzo Nobel, were welcomed at the ICEM Secretariat on 22 July to reinforce and organise the new global network of workers. 
 
Fons Welters, Chair of Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s Central Works Council (CWC) and a member of the European Works Council (EWC), with Michael Dekker and Marcel Tesselaar, of the CWC and EWC also, are stepping up the activity of the global network with various tools, including a new quarterly newsletter for the network. 
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It is normally the case that the union representing workers in the company&rsquo;s home country assumes responsibility for administering a global network of workers, and FNV Bondgenoten considers international networking within multinationals a priority. The network formed on meeting on 31 May-1 June 2010 and was FNV-Bondgenoten in Amsterdam. The union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
An ICEM Global Corporate Network is primarily a means of communication for those working for the same employer across the world, and for their trade unions, allowing them to cooperate and coordinate. Akzo Nobel employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries.

Akzo Nobel Global Union Network Reinforced

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A common pattern of union-busting in Turkey is being conducted against ICEM-affiliated Belediye-İş in Istanbul, and two international federations and a European union federation are calling for action by Turkey&rsquo;s new Minister of Labour and Social Security, Faruk &Ccedil;elik. 
 
Metropolitan municipality workers in Istanbul have been pressured to rescind their membership in Belediye-İş, the Municipal and General Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey, and to instead join a different &ldquo;trade union&rdquo; preferred by management. In a 26 July joint letter, the General Secretaries of ICEM, Public Services International (PSI), and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), united in condemning treatment of workers solidly aligned with Belediye-İş, an affiliate of all three federations. 
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Threats and intimidation exerted on workers by managers of the Metro Istanbul government have forced a number of workers to quit the union. Now, as many of them return to Belediye-İş, workers are being punished with forced relocation to other jobs elsewhere inside the municipality. This is especially the case for municipality employees in parks, gardens, social facilities, and municipal police services. 
 
The ICEM, PSI, and EPSU reminded Labour Minister &Ccedil;elik of the Turkish government&rsquo;s responsibilities in protecting freedom of association, the right to organise with the union of their choice, and to bargain collectively with that union, as stipulated under the Turkish Constitution and Core ILO Conventions. 
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Belediye-İş President Nihat Yurdakul
&ldquo;Under these circumstances, we urge you to use your authority over the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to stop all the methods and means used against Belediye-İş members to resign their membership,&rdquo; the letter states.

ICEM, Public Sector Unions Call on Turkey’s Labour Minister to Intervene in Istanbul

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Three separate mine tragedies last week caused the deaths of 36 miners in eastern Ukraine, with the death toll likely to climb with rescue efforts still incomplete and some miners in life-threatening conditions in hospitals. The worst occurred in the early morning hours of Friday, 29 July, when a methane gas explosion in a Metinvest B.V. coal mine in Lugansk Region killed 18. Eight miners are still missing. 
 
On the same day, hours later and in adjoining Donetsk Region, seven miners were instantly killed when a headframe at the state-owned Bazhanova mine near Makiyivka collapsed. The collapse sent an elevator hurling downward, killing the seven. Another three miners are unaccounted for and four were rescued and are hospitalised in serious condition. 
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Families of the lost miners
The third tragedy occurred in another state-run mine in the Donbass of Donetsk Region on 26 July. Three miners are dead, another three are missing and feared dead when a roof collapsed 520 metres underground at the Rodynska colliery. 
 
The Metinvest gas blast at the former state-owned Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine near Krasnodon, Lugansk, happened at a depth of 915 metres and stands as Ukraine&rsquo;s worst mine tragedy since 101 miners were killed in a series of explosions in November 2007 at the privately-held Zasyadko company mine in the Donbass. 
 
Demitry Kalitventsev, the branch leader of the Ukrainian Coal Industry Workers&rsquo; Union (PRUP) in Lugansk, feared the death toll could exceed 30 because another nine miners who were rescued have extreme burns and their conditions are not good. It&rsquo;s been reported that the mine had modern safety equipment and detection devices, but consistently languished under high gas methane readings. 
 
Families of the victims are to receive UAH 1 million (US$125,000), it was reported. Metinvest is 75% owned by Rinat Akhmetov&rsquo;s System Capital Management Group (SCM) and 25% by Smart Holding Group. Akhmetov, Ukraine&rsquo;s richest individual, is a Party of Regions bankroller and a member of Ukraine&rsquo;s Parliament, the Rada. Metinvest of late has grown into one of Ukraine&rsquo;s largest steel producers with a number of acquisitions. Smart Holding has major interests in shipbuilding, construction, port management, and metallurgy and mining.

Three Coal Mine Accidents Kill at Least 36 in Ukraine

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The ICEM was angered and shocked by the madness in Norway late last week, expressing disbelief to its Norwegian affiliated unions that such xenophobic lunacy could occur in such a model democratic social nation. General Secretary Manfred Warda, who was in the US at the time attending another affiliate&rsquo;s convention, said in a message to Norwegian trade unionists that it was with &ldquo;deep shock and sadness that I received the horrible news of the shootings and murders of so many young people and the losses from the terrible blast in Oslo. 
 
&ldquo;I am sure all over the world ICEM-affiliated trade unions feel the sadness and extend sympathies to the families who lost loved ones. We all feel deep solidarity with the people of Norway, we offer our condolences, and these tragic events show how much we need to be on alert to right-wing extremism and intolerable fundamentalism.&rdquo; 
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Norwegian Fellesforbundet President Arve Bakke, in a letter to global trade unions on the massacre of young Labour Party activists at Ut&oslash;ya and the Oslo bombing on 22 July, said: &ldquo;We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your solidarity and support following the shocking, violent and cowardly attacks that took place at Ut&oslash;ya and in Oslo. 
 
&ldquo;Our thoughts are now with the families, relatives and friends of the victims and everyone affected by this tragedy. 
 
&ldquo;It is with great shock and grief we were witness to the blackest day in Norwegian labour movement history. In just a few hours many union and political activists from the Norwegian labour movement were brutally deprived of their lives. Also democracy was hit at its core. The centre of national government was bombed beyond recognition and an important part of our future was massacred. 
 
&ldquo;This is a time to stand firm to our ideals and we condemn the forces that want to destroy everything we believe in. I will make Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg&rsquo;s words mine: &lsquo;We must never give up our values. We must show that our open society can pass this test too. That the answer to violence is even more democracy. Even more humanity. But never naivety. This we owe the victims and their families.&rsquo; 
 
&ldquo;Again, thank you for your concern and solidarity.&rdquo;

Senseless Murders in Norway Met with Anger, Disbelief

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Swiss union UNIA is mobilising its forces in defence of 560 jobs at Swissmetal, as the company moves dangerously close to bankruptcy. Some 150 Swissmetal staff in Dornach in north-western Switzerland assembled in the factory car park on 21 July in a sombre demonstration, demanding that production continues after the two-week scheduled holiday break. Resumption of all work activities should occur 8 August. 
 
Workers at the plant are refusing to halt production, in the knowledge that it would result in mass redundancies. UNIA and local staff have proposed a raft of alternative measures to improve efficiency, which would ensure profitability for Swissmetal. 
 
Pending a solution, local management must not issue redundancies or dismantle production equipment, as operations may still be purchased by another company. One prospective buyer is France-based Le Bronze Industriel. 
<img src="" width="216" height="161" alt="" />
Other union demands include for management to provide fully transparent financial documentation of the company, and a joint review of union proposals on efficiency improvements. A period of consultation has been extended to 19 August. 
 
UNIA is calling on the Canton of Soleure to mobilise its powers to safeguard the jobs. It is the same Canton where pulp and paper multinational Sappi last spring announced closure of its Biberist graphic papers mill, in a brutal loss of 341 jobs. Despite UNIA and Sappi European Works Council (EWC) efforts to find a buyer for the Sappi mill, the South African company recently said those efforts have failed and the mill would close. 
 
Swissmetal manufactures high-quality copper products, mainly used in the electronics, telecommunications, aviation, petroleum, and automotive industries. Based in Dornach, ten kilometres south of Basel, the company&rsquo;s other foundry in Switzerland is in Reconvilier, where another 560 jobs are at risk.

UNIA Continues Fight to Keep Swissmetal Jobs

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A major textile brand has come out against the sandblasting of jeans and said that it will not, has not, and now will join a global front led by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) to stop the practice by suppliers and retailers in giving jeans a trendy, faded look. 
 
Italian-based Gianni Versace fashion house responded to a cyber campaign by change.org and announced on 20 July that it is in agreement with CCC and ITGLWF &ldquo;that it is appropriate to take a proactive stance, and stand against the practice of sandblasting. 
 
&ldquo;Versace has specifically asked every supplier (and will ask any new supplier as a condition to work with Versace) to certify that they are not using sandblasting.&rdquo; The apparel marketer said any supplier using sandblasting in production &ldquo;will be considered in breach of contract and dismissed accordingly.&rdquo; 
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Sandblasting releases silica dust which, when inhaled, causes infection and scarring in the lungs. Continued exposure can cause silicosis. Textile and clothing manufacturing in developing countries is notorious for long working hours, cramped and unventilated work spaces, and lack of safety or health protection. High pressure blasting of sand severely compounds health risks on workers. 
 
Versace now joins some ten other retailers in action to totally eliminate the practice throughout the world. The others include Hennes &amp; Mauritz (H&amp;M), Levi Strauss, Karen Millen, Espirit, Aurora Fashions, Bestseller, Inditex, New Look, Carrefour, and C&amp;A. 
 
The ITGLWF welcomed the news from Versace last month. Spokeswoman Laura Carter, quoted in the Independent newspaper of the UK, said the company&rsquo;s decision sends a huge message to the influential fashion names of Italy. The ITGLWF hopes more companies will join the campaign and ban the practice at a scheduled meeting next month. 
 
CCC said the decision by the Milan-based brand came after a long a campaign. &quot;After many months of silence, Versace now say they agree that the sandblasting operators who make the finishings on the jeans run unacceptable health risks. Previously they had refused to join the call.&rdquo;

Versace of Italy Responds to Pressure, Joins Anti-Sandblasting Campaign

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