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<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief%201.gif" width="100"/>
Colombian mining union Sintramienergética ended two coal strikes recently that had begun to impact markets. On 22 June, the union agreed to a two-year agreement with US-based Drummond that ended a month-long strike at the La Loma mines in Cesar state. 
 
Sintramienergética, in addition to winning social benefits, achieved an 8% wage increase for this year, and will receive 1.5% above the inflation rate in 2007. Strike-ending mediations took place under the guidance of the Ministry of Social Protection.
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100"/>
Some 2,000 miners struck Drummond on 22 May, and the walkout directly affected another 1,000 contract workers, as well as some 5,000 employees of transport, terminal and other service companies connected to Drummond’s coal export business. The company exports some 22 million tonnes of coal annually from its Puerto Drummond, Colombia, deep-water port. 
 
Non-ICEM-affiliated Sintramienergética also came to terms on 6 June with Swiss-based Glencore International at the Carbones de la Jagua mining operation. About 1,000 miners there began a strike on 17 May. 
 
The settlement gives workers a 7.5% salary increase, and the new agreement also grants social benefits to both Glencore workers and contract employees. Glencore mines some 12 million tonnes annually from this Jagua de Ibirico location in Cesar state.

 Colombian Mine Union Ends Coal Strikes at Drummond, Glencore

<a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?ar=1582&L2=1&L3=106">OUTSOURCING GROWS UP</a> 
 
Written in early 2005 by two partners of the McKinsey’s London office, this article shows that the ICEM views on contract and agency labour are beginning to be accepted by influential Management Consultants. 
 
According to the article, the main objective of the first companies using outsourcing, was purely to reduce costs. That has changed somewhat. It is now generally accepted that companies also use contract and agency labour to improve their operational performance. 
 
The authors’ research shows that, in spite of this change, few companies changed the way they make their deals. They also say that that “up to 50% of outsourcing arrangements fail to deliver the expected value”. 
 
Examples are given of companies experiencing severe problems during the operation of the contract, due to the fact that they did not have a clear strategy at the beginning of the process. Towards the end, the article argues to work with all the internal stakeholders that will be affected by the move, including union representatives. 
The article can be found here: 
<a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?ar=1582&L2=1&L3=106">http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/ 
article_page.aspx?ar=1582&L2=1&L3=106</a>

Useful Background Articles on Contract and Agency Labour

BAE, Kang-wook 
President 
Korean Chemical and Textile Workers Federation (KCTF) 
Third floor, Woosung Building 
94-14 Yeongdeungpo-dong 7-ga 
Yeongdeungpo 
Seoul 150-037 
SOUTH KOREA 
 
by fax: + 82-2-26.32.47.55 
by e-mail: <a href="mailto:kctfim@hanmail.net">kctfim@hanmail.net</a> 

Dear Sisters and Brothers of KCTF-KCTU in Korea, 
 
We are informed by the ICEM that your union has been, since 2004, the victim of an anti-union repression by GS Caltex, and that you now have decided to launch a boycott campaign against GS Caltex products in Korea. This letter is meant to offer our union’s support and encouragement in your courageous fight against the unfair labor practices by GS Caltex. 
 
We understand that some 30 union leaders at GS Caltex have been dismissed in August 2004 and that eight have faced criminal charges for carrying out their legitimate union duties. It is clear that GS Caltex wanted to punish these dedicated trade unionists, as well as the KCFT-KCTU itself, for its trade union actions. This behavior by the company is abhorrent and far from what can and should be expected in developed and civilized nations. GS Caltex needs to start bargaining in good-faith. 
 
It is also deplorable that the South Korean Government has collaborated with the management of GS Caltex by assisting in the suppression of reasonable union demands through dispatching anti-riot police units and arresting union members. 
 
We salute KCFT-KCTU for undertaking this brave struggle in defense of basic trade union rights, particularly the fight for freedom of association. Please know that the members and leaders of our union stand firmly with you in your pursuit of justice and dignity. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
 
(Name) 
(Title) 
(Union)

Model Letter of Support to KCTF

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
ICEM affiliate, the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers’ Federation (KCTF), and its national centre, KCTU, decided to launch a boycott against the products of GS Caltex (formerly LG-Caltex) in Korea. GS Caltex is a joint venture between Chevron and Korean GS Holding, operating mainly on the oil refinery sector. 
The decision to call for a boycott, which was taken earlier this month, comes after years of fruitless negotiations with the company. The origin of the dispute goes back to July 2004, when the GS Caltex union went on strike after negotiations had broken down with the company. Main issues included the union’s demand for a five-day, 40-hour work-week and their call for the non-discrimination of contract workers. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil2.JPG" width="100"/>
Union demands were not only met by an unwilling employer, but also by riot police, sent in by the Korean government, which brutally suppressed the striking workers. After a 20-day strike, the company, while still refusing to give in to any of the union’s demands, displayed its ruthlessness by retaliating against returning workers by selecting, at the gate and with police assistance, who could enter and who could not. 
The company dismissed nearly all union officials. It also harassed families of workers with warnings of dismissal. In addition, eight trade union representatives were arrested and sentenced to two or three years in prison. In total, 650 workers were disciplined with a three-month work suspension. 
In support of the boycott, Brother Bae, President of KCFT, went on hunger strike for an indefinite period on 1 April.

Korean KCTF Calls for Korean Boycott of GS Caltex

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Turkish ICEM affiliate Cimse-Is (Cement, Ceramics, Pottery and Glass industry Workers' Union) announced this week its plan to start a series of strikes at 43 different cement plants throughout Turkey. 
The decision by the union’s Executive Board follows the failure of negotiations with the Turkish employers’ organisation, which had started on March 17. Both parties were unable to reach a consensus, despite various efforts by the union. Actions will start at 23 plants on May Day, with an additional 20 plants being struck as of May 8.

Strikes Announced at 43 Different Cement Plants in Turkey

Paperworkers at International Paper (IP) Co.’s Inverurie Mill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, voted by a three-to-one margin to accept a new two-year accord. The vote is a union victory, preventing the US-based paper giant from imposing harsh and unnecessary contract measures. 
ICEM affiliate Amicus, which successfully negotiated the agreement, credited the solid resolve of workers at the printing and writing papers mill, as well as the ICEM’s IP Global Workers’ Network with the win. 
After a series of industrial actions, which included four 4-hour strikes from 23 March to 6 April, International Paper moved from a pay freeze to agreeing to 2% wage increases, both in 2006 and 2007. The company also backed away from a proposal, inserted late into the negotiations, to only grant the 2% pay hike after workers ratified the agreement, with the 2007 raise kicking in a year later. Amicus succeeded in getting the 2006 pay raise backdated to the standard 1 January, with another 2% awarded on 1 January 2007. 
<img height="131" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMpaper3.jpg" width="129"/>
“Our membership did a magnificent job in standing up to one of the biggest pulp and paper groups in the world,” said Amicus Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke. “We had instant solidarity throughout the world, not only from unions at other International Paper mills, but from paperworkers’ unions everywhere.” Burke added that Inverurie Mill workers were “energised” by such support, and that the industrial actions carved “fierce resistance” among workers, with 40 more workers electing to join the union during the dispute. 
International Paper agreed to the non-concessionary terms on 11 April, two days before workers were set to escalate the dispute into an 8-hour strike. The vote was counted by Amicus in Aberdeenshire today. 
 
Throughout the month-long industrial dispute, Amicus was publicly calling for outside mediation to bring the two parties together but IP management refused, preferring a “negotiations-by-ultimatum” style. Managers finally gave up that approach in day-long talks on 11 April, with the UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) participating. 
 
“We appreciate the effort the ICEM put forward, as well as the efforts of all affiliated trade unions that showed such strong support,” said Burke. “The wage package, with it now backdated to January 1st, is a good result and it runs roughly in line with the current inflation rate in the UK.” 
 
Upon hearing the bargaining result, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs congratulated Amicus and its membership at the Inverurie Mill. “The credit belongs with the workers and with their Union,” he said. “They stood strong and the ICEM is proud to have played a role in this successful outcome.” 
 
For more background information on this dispute: 
 
<a href="/?id=112&doc=1747&la=EN" type="internal">Eight-Hour Strike Next Week at International Paper’s Scottish Mill</a> (ICEM InBrief - 6 April 2006)

UK’s Amicus Union Triumphs in International Paper Settlement

<img height="45" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FinlandFlag.gif" width="80"/>
In Finland on 1 May, a new policy takes effect that will no longer restrict the free movement of labour from the new EU Member States. Over the past two years, since the addition of ten new countries into the EU, Finnish control mechanisms have been put in place through a subscriber liability law. The legislation now makes it harder to abuse foreign workers, and also puts meaningful stops to the grey economy. 
 
Companies are now obligated to investigate the handling of taxation, social security payments and work practices of their subcontractors. The Finnish government will also seek to tighten control over foreign agency labour through a new policy that requires foreign workers from EU states to register at an employment bureau within two weeks of arrival. Finnish trade unions have fully endorsed the policy changes. 
<img height="42" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAFlag.gif" width="80"/>
In the United States on May Day, a day that bosses in the late 19th century stripped of significance so that American workers would not have the same Labour Day, immigrant workers will wage a general strike as well as a consumer strike. The strikes are further protests against restrictive measures against immigrants that have surfaced in the US Congress. 
The day will vividly illustrate not only the jobs that immigrants fill in America, but also the purchasing power they have in the marketplace. Leading up to the twin strikes, businesses and companies in several large US cities have fired thousands of migrant workers who participated in marches in March and April. 
<img height="52" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belgium.gif" width="80"/>
In Belgium on 1 May, trade unionist Paul Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain will unveil their new book, Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle. The book depicts the aftermath of Belgium’s worst mining tragedy in history, a fire that raged inside a coal mine near the Wallonian town of Marcinelle, killing 262 miners. 
<img height="134" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/paullootens.jpg" width="120"/>
The tragedy occurred on 8 August 1956 and the book marks the 50th anniversary of the devastating loss of so many lives. The book’s title, Tutti Cadaveri, comes from an Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, “All corpses.” 
The book is available from Aden Publishers for €22 and can be ordered from Aden by contacting editionsaden@skynet.be, or calling +32 2534 46 61. The ICEM will bring further attention to the 50th Anniversary events as the August date draws closer. 
<img height="49" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyFlag.gif" width="80"/>
On Monday, 1 May, German IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt will deliver a major speech in Osnabrück on some fundamental issues affecting Germany and its trade unions, including joblessness, health reform and an energy policy. 
<img height="136" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/hubertusschmoldt.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
The trade union leader will warn against the notion that the German economy can be strengthened by lowering wages, or through increasing the number of hours in the work week. IGBCE also calls for minimum standards, including wage levels, to be maintained for all sectors of the economy. 
<img height="53" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ArgentinaFLAG.gif" width="80"/>
From Argentina on May Day comes a greeting from ICEM affiliate SUTNA. The union reminds us of the origins of International Workers’ Day—the fight for an eight-hour workday in the US city of Chicago, which produced a mass general strike that was met by brutal repression and then execution of those leading the strike by the state. “SUTNA salutes, on the occasion of this International Workers’ Day, all workers who continue the excellent work that was started by the martyrs of Chicago.” 
<img height="53" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/PakistanFlag.gif" width="80"/>
The All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, which has organised huge May Day rallies for Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Quetta, sends this message: “The growing economic might of multinationals and transnational corporations, and the imposition of policies of globalisation, have led to an unprecedented large-scale offensive against the democratic and social achievements of working people, and against the trade union movement.” 
<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AzerbaijanFLAG.gif" width="80"/>
And from Azerbaijan, Jahangir Aliyev, chairman of the Oil and Gas Industry Workers Trade Union (OGWU), expresses “health, happiness and great progress for the welfare of all labour people.”

May Day Actions, Greetings from Around the World

The 19 February gas explosion that killed 65 miners at Grupo Mexico’s Industria Mineral Mexicana subsidiary proves again the immediate necessity to improve safety and training in underground mining, particularly during times of high pricing and high demand for coal. 
 
Twenty-five of those killed at the Pasta de Conchos No. 8 mine near San Juande Sabinas, northern Coahuila State, were members of Section 13 of Mexico’s Miners & Metalworkers Union (SNTMMSRM), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF). 

<img height="73" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/MexicoFlag.gif" width="120"/>
Many others were short-term contract workers who were given no training, insufficient oxygen supply devices, and were sent deep into shafts within a day of being hired. Mexican government and company statements on safety precautions and equipment on this mine disaster contradict with what miners actually had available to them. 
 
The United Steelworkers of the US, which signed a strategic alliance with SNTMMSRM in April 2005, pledged financial and technical support to the union in the immediate aftermath of the blast. The IMF underscored the Mexican union’s charge that this was “industrial homicide” and must be investigated and denounced as such. 
“Grupo Mexico shareholders and directors and whoever is responsible for this crime, caused by greed, repression and insensitivity should be charged and punished accordingly,” said SNTMMSRM and the IMF.

Mexican Coal Mine Blast Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
The ICEM has responded to a call issued by Industrianställda I Nordic (Nordic IN), the new five-nation trade union federation of industries, to protest Estonia’s proposed changes to their labour code. The proposed Employees’ Representatives Act, which would weaken trade union protections, was the main focus in meetings today between Estonia’s trade unions and the Ministry of Social Affairs. 
 
The ICEM’s disapproval of the proposed changes, in a letter to Estonia Prime Minister Andrus Ansip is at <a href="/index.php?id=23&la=EN&doc=1702" type="internal">/index.php?id=23&la=EN&doc=1702</a>.

ICEM Responds to Estonia’s Proposed Labour Law Changes

<img height="41" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
South African and North American members of the Sappi Workers’ Network attended the paper company’s AGM in Johannesburg on 6 March to protest lack of fruitful negotiations at mills in the US, and broken promises on education and over promotion opportunities in South Africa. 
Representatives of the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood & Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa and United Steel Workers (USW) of the US learned at the meeting that CEO Jonathan Leslie would resign, and the USW issued a statement the day following the meeting that it would welcome a change in course of industrial relations. 
 
“Sappi now has an opportunity to take a new direction if it chooses,” said USW Vice President Dick LaCosse, leader of the union’s Paper Division. “We would welcome a new approach to our talks with the company to better secure our jobs, our communities and our future."

South Africa, US Unions Attend Sappi’s Annual Meeting

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