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	The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and ICEM have written Peruvian President Ollanta Humala protesting a newly-imposed decree allowing non-traditional industrial producers to hire workers under short-term contracts to fill specific export orders.

	Under Decree 22342 governing non-traditional exports, manufacturers such as garment companies now are allowed to hire precarious workers on short-term contracts to fill specific&nbsp; orders, meaning a worker employed this month to fill a production order for a multinational garment brand has no guarantee of working next month to fill a similar order for the same buyer.

	The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Carta%20FITTVC%20FITIM%20ICEM%20a%20Ollanta%20Humala.pdf">letter</a> by the ICEM, ITGLWF and IMF calls the legislation &ldquo;unconstitutional, in breach of international labour standards &hellip; totally out of date in today&rsquo;s global markets and is just downright wrong.&rdquo;

	Said ITGLWF General Secretary Klaus Priegnitz, &ldquo;This level of flexibility in a thriving industry is frankly obscene. In reality, the term &lsquo;non-traditional&rsquo; is a complete misnomer.

	&ldquo;Thirty years ago, when orders were irregular and exporting companies were just finding their feet, &lsquo;non-traditional&rsquo; might have been an apt description of the emerging garment export sector.&nbsp; But today, the situation could not be more different.&nbsp; The sector has grown exponentially as a result of the free trade agreement with the US, making textiles and clothing one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy.&rdquo;

	Priegnitz added: &ldquo;The average wages of workers in the largest and most profitable textile companies in the sector are among the lowest in Peru. Wages are so low that workers and their families are often forced to live with relatives, and when they can&rsquo;t work double shifts many have to supplement their income by working as street vendors.&rdquo;

	The companies in question are fully integrated operations that do everything from weaving to sewing to finishing. For the most part, the largest companies are the worst offenders, in some cases, employing 100% of the workforce on short-term contracts even though those workers perform permanent functions in the factory. Some workers have worked for the same employer for nearly 20 years on a succession of one- to six-month contracts.

	Priegnitz said, &ldquo;The decree and the way it is being applied represent a gross violation of the labour chapter of the Peru-US Free Trade Agreement and of codes of conduct of the major brands and retailers that drive the success of the country&rsquo;s garment export industry.&nbsp; Peru is in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.&rdquo;

	In the letter, the ICEM, the ITGWLF and the IMF call on Peru&rsquo;s government to vigorously support a proposal to repeal Articles 32, 33 and 34 of Decree 22342, which is currently under consideration in the Congressional Labour Commission. For as long as the decree remains in force, the three organisation have also asked the government to monitor its application more closely, intervening in cases where it is being used inappropriately to convert fixed-term employment contracts to open-ended ones.

ITGLWF, ICEM, ICEM Protest Peru Law Exploiting Short-term Contract Workers

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	French oilfields services&rsquo; giant Schlumberger is continuing to resist attempts by a genuine independent trade union in Egypt to organize workers at its operations.

	ICEM affiliates representing workers throughout the world are continuing to press the company on behalf of workers who were dismissed soon after the founding Congress of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), under which a Schlumberger workers&rsquo; branch is affiliated to.

	The pressure has begun to attract the attention of senior management of the company. While Egyptian management ignored a request by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to meet to resolve the dispute, ICEM has now been informed that the company recently sent a &ldquo;fact-finding committee&rdquo; to Egypt consisting of the legal and recruitment managers of Schlumberger&rsquo;s regional office in Dubai.

	The two company representatives met with the President and the General Secretary of the independent local branch union, both of whom are among the dismissed workers, including some of the workers who were forced to resign from the union.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 213px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Schlumberger demonstration in Cairo

	In this meeting, ICEM was informed that the managers did appear to listen carefully to the whole story, but made no promises. However, they hinted at the possibility of giving them financial compensation, claiming that is was too difficult to reinstate them since this would be seen as Schlumberger admitting its behavior was wrong.

	ICEM supports the dismissed workers who reject any financial compensation, and insist on returning to their work and activities inside the union. ICEM will continue the campaign until this issue has been resolved.

	In an earlier escalation of the dispute, Schlumberger Egypt arranged meetings with workers of subcontractors in in the operations. Numbering some 1,500 workers, they account for approximately half of the company&rsquo;s workforce in Egypt. In meetings at the Kattamia base and the head office, company representatives gave instructions to all subcontract workers that Schlumberger intended changing subcontracting companies, so they demanded that workers resign from their current contracts and then would receive new contracts under new subcontractors later.

	The new contracts would not take into account previous working periods, thus allowing companies to dismiss workers during the first three months without compensation, according to Egyptian law.

	But Egyptian Labour Law is presently uncertain and largely unusable. In theory, the old Mubarak era law, remains in force while there are at least three new proposed labour laws, drafted by different political groups, circulating in Parliament. The last trade union elections of 2007 in the former unitary government controlled trade unions, all part of ETUF, have been invalidated for corruption and the former governing structures of these unions dissolved with appointed oversight committees put in place to run the organizations until new elections take place &ndash; under a new law in the future.

	The situation allows companies such as Schlumberger to take advantage of the situation to prevent genuine trade representation of their workforces.

	Prior coverage of the Schlumberger dispute in Egypt can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4946-Schlumberger-Ignores-ICEM-s-Offer-of-Dialogue">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4899-Oil-Services-Giant-Schlumberger-Pressured-over-Egyptian-Union-Busting">here</a>.

Schlumberger Continues Destruction of Independent Egyptian Trade Union

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	Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto is destroying the community of Alma, Qu&eacute;bec, by the continued lockout of 780 workers, members of the United Steelworkers (USW). The lockout since 30 December 2011 is an economic move in order to increase profits at an aluminium smelter of subsidiary Alcan in Alma.

	Tomorrow in London, protests will occur outside and in the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto by USW Canadian members and their ally in the UK, Unite the Union. The protest will be supported by three Global Union Federations, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF).

	Shamefully, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has contracted with Rio Tinto to produce gold, silver, and bronze medals for this summer&rsquo;s Olympics and Paralympics Games in London. Active protests are currently underway against IOC, stating that the Games are tainted and achievements of the world&rsquo;s best athletes are flawed by a company with a long track record of economic and environmental destruction on the communities where it operates. (Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1365">Labour Start campaign</a> to kick Rio Tinto &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo; with a message to the IOC here, and view the USW&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.offthepodium.org/">Off the Podium</a> website.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 370px;height: 130px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	At tomorrow&#039;s protest, Unite will distribute replica Olympic medals to be passed out to the public at the shareholders&#039; venue, the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre. Unite also has arranged for union-friendly Members of Parliament to submit an Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament.

	Rio Tinto has posted profits of US$20 billion over the past two years and despite the fact that the Alcan aluminium smelter in Alma is one of the most efficient and profitable in the world, it has used a lockout to reap even more profit. Alcan management of late has refused to engage the USW in meaningful negotiations to end the lock-out, predicated on the company&rsquo;s desire to force mass outsourcing by eliminating and full and direct employment

	Alcan seeks to replace each retiring worker with a subcontract worker that will see 50% less than the current average union wage of C$34-an-hour. USW negotiators in early April submitted a proposal in bargaining to end the lockout, but Alcan management walked from the table still seeking the unlimited right to subcontract.

	Alcan has continued to receive special assistance from the province of Qu&eacute;bec in a generous agreement whereby Hydro-Qu&eacute;bec buys back unused electricity from the company while the lockout is ongoing.

	The lockout by Rio Tinto Alcan in Alma has triggered a global campaign against Rio Tinto that took on further dimensions early this week at a special Mines and Metals Networking meeting in Sydney, Australia, as well as at the 17-19 April ICEM World Mining Conference, also in Sydney. Trade unionists resolved to build a long-term global campaign against the world&rsquo;s second largest resource company.

Global Unions, USW Bring Rio Tinto Alcan Canadian Dispute to Shareholders

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	More than 200,000 workers dressed in yellow and red took to the streets in 32 city centres in South Africa in an extraordinary show of worker power against labour brokers.

	A general strike against e-tolling and labour brokers organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on March 7, 2012 was a resounding success.

	Addressing tens of thousands of people that gathered in Johannesburg, COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the protest was not a march, but &quot;an occupation of the city of Johannesburg by the workers&quot;. South African unions are resolved to bring an end to the use of labour brokers. &quot;This is a class battle. This is a class war. Labour brokers do not create jobs - they destroy the agenda of decent work,&quot; said Vavi.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 241px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), Irvin Jim addressed thousands of strikers in East London in the Eastern Cape. &quot;Decent work is a right. Labour brokering is just like slavery and is causing major problems for the working class,&quot; Jim said, &quot;They are taking up jobs from us and I am raising my finger at them. We must take a firm stand and see them banned for good.&quot;

	The strike was also organized to protest e-tolling, a toll road system that is being implemented in Gauteng province in April this year which Vavi called &quot;a new apartheid&quot; as the increased cost to travel would restrict people&#039;s movement, especially the poor working class.

	Vavi warned that labour was prepared to take action again on the issue. &quot;If they say they will go ahead with the tolling, we will take all the people here, and more, and put them on the highways of Joburg,&quot; he said. &quot;If they insist we pay for public roads then, just as we made the apartheid system unworkable, we will make this system unworkable.&quot;

	The protest against labour brokers and e-tolling had wide popular support and many civil society groups and ordinary South Africans spoke out in support of the strike. (Story provided by the IMF).

Strike Against Labour Brokers in South Africa

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	As the use of CAL continues to grow around the world more and more unions and their members are taking to the streets to protest against the degradation of employment relationships.

	An all-India general strike was held on 28th February which brought together workers from various sectors to oppose the neoliberal policies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh&#039;s government. One key demand of the action was to ensure that contract workers are award the same rights and protections as permanent workers.

	The Indian Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act stipulates that contract workers who perform the same or similar work as permanent workers will be entitled to the same wages and conditions. Under this Act, contract labour ought not to be permitted for permanent or core functions.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 245px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	However, as regularly reported by the ICEM, this Act is widely violated and contract workers in India habitually receive inferior terms and conditions of employment despite performing core tasks. On 12 January, the ICEM joined a complaint to the OECD submitted by its local affiliate Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS) regarding the illegal treatment of contract workers in India by the Swiss multinational cement company Holcim. Further information on the complaint is available <a href="/en/7-Asia-Pacific/4900-Holcim-s-Violations-in-India-Taken-to-OECD">here</a>.

Indian Workers Mobilise to Protest Against Neo-liberal Policies Including CAL

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	IndustriALL Global Union, which will be established in June 2012 and will bring together affiliates of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), will prioritise the fight against contract and agency labour, and other forms of precarious work.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 125px" width="390" />

	IndustriALL will build on the work which has been done through the ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour campaign, the IMF&rsquo;s &lsquo;Precarious Work Affects Us All&rsquo; campaign and the ITGLWF&rsquo;s work on insecure employment in countries such as Peru, Cambodia, India and Turkey.

	The campaign against precarious work will be launched by IndustriALL at its founding congress in June, and the new Global Union will call on all affiliates to mobilise around this issue on the World Day for Decent Work on 7thOctober.

IndustriALL to Prioritise Fight Against Precarious Work

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	The ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) project publishes a quarterly newsletter intended to bring the latest news, developments, and trade union initiatives against the growing use of precarious work.

CAL Newsletter March 2012

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" /><div>In this last issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we cover aspects of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project, which comes to an end in December 2012.&nbsp;A new project proposal for sub-Saharan IndustriALL affiliates is being developed. Since 2005, the ICEM HIV/AIDS project has covered much ground. But without question, there is still much work left to be done.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />Dear Readers, Friends, ComradesAs announced in the May issue, this is the last issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin. We thank all readers for their interest and hope that we have succeeded in making a contribution to the dissemination of useful information over almost seven years.Next week, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) will hold their dissolution congresses in Copenhagen. Immediately after that the Founding Congress of the new Global Union Federation, IndustriALL, will take place. </div>Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />HIV/AIDS is a Workplace Issue; Unions Have Central Roles to PlayThis has been the leading message of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project, which has been running since 2005. The first phase of the project was sponsored by LO/TCO Biståndsnämnd, Sweden, and FNV Mondiaal, Netherlands, and ran from 2005 to 2008, with an additional project year in 2009. After a thorough internal assessment in 2008, a new project was approved, running from 2010 to 2012, sponsored by SASK of Finland and FNV Mondiaal. ICEM affiliates in these countries gave strong support and contributed financially to the project.Throughout the project periods, national HIV/AIDS coordinators were trained in regional workshops. At national level, activities started off with peer education and awareness and prevention campaigns. Increasingly, however, VCT campaigns were organised and thousands of workers, their families and members of the community queued up to know their status.Some progress has also been made on the adoption of workplace policies and the insertion of HIV/AIDS clauses in collective bargaining agreements. Despite a sometimes adverse relationship over conventional bargaining issues, companies must be seen as partners in the fight against the epidemic since an effective HIV/AIDS policy cannot be implemented without the participation of employers.HIV/AIDS workplace policies should also draw on the resources of companies for skills training, awareness and prevention campaigns and for VCT and ART services. Cost-benefit analyses have shown that even small expenses by companies for HIV/AIDS activities result in reduced costs for medical schemes, higher productivity, and reduced expenditure for training. Unions must continue to convince employers that it makes business sense to invest in the fight against HIV/AIDS.At the heart of the ongoing HIV/AIDS project are annually-approved national HIV/AIDS programmes that run in each of the 11 project countries. These &ldquo;projects-within-a-project&rdquo; are applied for by the national coordinators to the Sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS project coordinator, who discusses, approves and monitors all these individual national plans for action.Women issues in relation to HIV and AIDS also received a boost with two women-only sub-regional workshops in 2010 and 2011. Women&rsquo;s empowerment in taking control of their reproductive rights and dealing with issues such as violence at home and sexual harassment at the workplace were at the heart of these workshops. The use of female condoms was also promoted. The sub-regional workshops in turn led to women activities organised at national level. Several of these were not only relevant with respect to HIV/AIDS, but also strengthened unions by integrating more women in their union work and by recruiting more female members.Fighting HIV and AIDS is a national policy matter. All target countries have national policies to fight the pandemic and a National AIDS Commission, which coordinates the efforts of all stakeholders. It is important that trade union activities fit into this general framework. For this to happen, unions must be recognised as partners in national policy implementation and, subsequently, they have to actively seek contacts with national HIV/AIDS bodies.As part of the fight against the pandemic, trade unions should also seek the participation of NGOs in their activities and build alliances with them. NGOs often have more expertise and experience as they concentrate on one issue. Of utmost importance is the involvement of organisations of People Living with HIV/AIDS to reduce stigma and to demonstrate that HIV and AIDS should be treated like any other condition or disease.From its adoption by the International Labour Conference of the ILO in June 2010, ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, was promoted at in regional and national ICEM HIV/AIDS events. This is the first international human rights instrument to focus on HIV and AIDS and the world of work. All workers are protected by the new labour standard, including those in informal economies. As Recommendation 200 becomes more widely known and accepted, it has the potential to develop into a tool for unions to use.The Global Action Plan for the implementation of R200, as adopted by the ILO Governing Body in March 2011, seeks three outcomes for the period 2011 to 2015: reduction of stigma and discrimination, increased access to services, and scaled-up action by world of work actors.In our work, we also made a link to the broader ILO Decent Work Agenda, which is central in efforts to reduce poverty and to make occupational health and safety an integral part of the Decent Work Agenda. Important in this, as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned, is often not so much the job itself, but the conditions around it that can lead to behaviour that puts workers and their dependents at risk of acquiring HIV, such as working and living conditions of workers in remote mining areas, which contribute to an increasing infection rate.At global level, good cooperation was established with ILO/AIDS. Technical cooperation was not only extended by the ILO Head Office in Geneva but also by country offices where activities were organised. Special mention must be made of the cooperation with the ILO Delhi office, which greatly contributed to the success of the HIV/AIDS project in India, and of the collaboration with the ILO Pretoria office, which gave a boost to work on the ILO Decent Work Agenda and Recommendation 200.Work was initiated with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank (WB AIDS Campaign Team for Africa) and the World Bank&rsquo;s International Finance Corporation (IFC against AIDS) with the objective to promote the concept of public/private partnership and co-investment with the involvement of unions. The dictum has been that the private sector is business and organised labour, i.e. trade unions. When skills training, knowledge transfer and other assistance are extended to management, it should also be offered to unions. No HIV and AIDS interventions at the workplace are effective if workers and their representatives are not included. Unfortunately, these organisations have not been responsive to such legitimate demands.An HIV/AIDS e-bulletin has been published monthly since October 2005. A dedicated HIV/AIDS website provided access to useful materials and links to other websites. Materials have included a leaflet, a manual for collective bargaining on HIV and AIDS issues, and a guide for resources and finance for HIV/AIDS activities. Very important for union work at the national level, a model union policy and a workplace policy on HIV/AIDS were developed.Another element of the work at global level has been the successful acquisition of additional funding to expand the project beyond Africa. Corporate partnership and solidarity contributions from affiliates made it possible to run HIV/AIDS projects in India, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, Mongolia, and Colombia. Supplementary funding was also obtained for Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly earmarked for VCT campaigns in Tanzania and Nigeria. The Danish LO/FTF supported a three-year project (2009-2011) in the mining sector in Ethiopia.While a lot has been achieved in the past years, much more still needs to be done. It was therefore decided to seek a continuation of the HIV/AIDS project and look at developing a new project proposal for sub-Saharan African IndustriALL affiliates for the years 2013-2015. Discussions are ongoing with the donor community on this.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 81, June 2012

IndustriALL Global Union will be founded on 19 June in Copenhagen, Denmark.&nbsp;Uniting 50 million workers along global supply chains, uniting the history, expertise, and passion of three proud international organisations, IndustriALL will fight for workers everywhere.<div class="rte">Over&nbsp;1,200 trade union delegates from every corner of the globe are meeting in Copenhagen&nbsp;18-20 June, 2012 to form IndustriALL Global Union, representing workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors.&nbsp;&quot;Among the delegates are heroes who have been on the front-line of the fight for democracy and workers&#039; rights,&quot; stated Jyrki Raina, the in-coming general secretary of IndustriALL Global Union.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 280px;height: 292px" width="390" />&quot;Workers and their unions, members of IndustriALL, have been at the forefront of the Arab Spring fight for democracy, the struggle against despots.&quot;In Copenhagen we will form a new union family of heroes, with strong bonds, ready to stick together through thick and thin - a new force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.&quot;IndustriALL will challenge the power of multinational companies like Rio Tinto and BHP,&quot; Jyrki Raina said. &quot;We will negotiate on a global level with the global giants.&quot;IndustriALL will fight for a new model of globalization, a new economic and social model that puts people first, based on democracy and social justice.&quot;IndustriALL will be founded in Copenhagen on 19 June 2012. The new organisation will bring together affiliates of the former global union federations: International Metalworkers&#039; Federation (IMF), International Federation of Chemical,&nbsp;Energy, Mine and General Workers&#039; Unions (ICEM) and International Textiles Garment and Leather Workers&#039; Federation (ITGLWF).IndustriALL Global Union will represent workers in a wide range of sectors from extraction of oil and gas, mining, generation and distribution of electric power, to manufacturing of metals and metal products, shipbuilding, automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering, electronics, chemicals, rubber, pulp and paper, building materials, textiles, garments,&nbsp;leather and footwear and environmental services.The new website, <a href="http://www.industriall-union.org/">http://www.industriall-union.org/</a>, will go live at 14:00 on 19 June 2012.</div>&nbsp;

IndustriALL Global Union to be New Force

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

	ILO Deputy Director General and long-time trade unionist Guy Ryder is receiving full support from the ICEM and its affiliates to be elected as the 10th Director-General of the ILO on 28 May.

	The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates are lobbying their home governments. Write to your government today. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.

	The Governing Body met on 30-31 March for hearings of candidates and the election will be held on 28 May. The outgoing Director-General, Juan Somavia will leave the post on 30 September 2012. The Director-General is elected for a five-year term.

	<img alt="" height="97" src="" style="cursor: default" width="129" />

	Ryder is running on a platform of strengthening the ILO in order to fulfill its mandate of promoting social justice and beating the global jobs crisis, with particular emphasis on youth who are becoming increasingly excluded from society.

	Ryder seeks to concretise the fundamental principle of tripartism throughout the work operations of the ILO and beyond, and to unite the ILO&rsquo;s constituents to deliver on the decent work agenda. Ryder argues that only through consistent technical excellence can the organisation consolidate its authority in the world of work.

	Another important priority of Ryder&rsquo;s candidacy is to seek to reverse the increasing global trend of growth in the informal economy.

	Guy Ryder&rsquo;s vast experience and knowledge of the mechanisms and work of the ILO, of leadership of complex organisations in transition as General Secretary of the ICFTU and ITUC, and of all issues in the world of work combine to make him clearly the deserved candidate to succeed Somavia as Director-General.

	The candidature of Guy Ryder is formally submitted by ITUC President Michael Sommer and Luc Cortebeeck, trade union members of the ILO Governing Body.

	See Ryder&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175249.pdf">CV</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175250.pdf">Vision Statement</a>&nbsp;for the candidature here.

ICEM Affiliates Rally Behind Guy Ryder to Head ILO

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