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The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a key ICEM global affiliate in the Materials Sector, held its quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas, US, from 25-28 July, and re-elected their top office-bearers with unanimous voice approval. The nine officers stood as the Proven Leadership Team. 
 
The convention marked the 32nd Convention of the US-Canadian union that has united boilermakers, cement workers, ship builders, forgers, and blacksmiths for the past 131 years in North America. 
 
Re-elected President was Newton B. Jones; Secretary-Treasurer, William Creeden; and Vice Presidents: Warren Fairley, US Southeast; James Pressley, Industrial Sector; Lawrence McManamon, US Great Lakes Region; Joseph Maloney, Western Canada; Edward Power, Eastern Canada; J. Tom Baca, Western US States; and David Haggerty, US Northeast. 
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Speaking on the closing day of the Convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda sincerely thanked Jones for accepting global responsibilities with the ICEM as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chairman of the ICEM Materials Sector. He also cited the importance of specific sector work, citing ICEM and European trade union influence in blocking Lafarge&rsquo;s attacks on retiree health insurance of IBB Local D-27 members in Sugar Creek, Missouri, in 2008 and 2009. 
 
&ldquo;I assure you the ICEM will always be prepared to mobilise global support and solidarity whenever you call and tell us of the need,&rdquo; said Warda. 
 
The ICEM leader also told of trade union repression by governments in Colombia, Iraq, and Mexico, and he reminded IBB delegates of the shameful deeds by US right-wing politicians in camouflaging deficit-reduction measures as direct attacks on trade unions. 
 
&ldquo;Wisconsin must be stopped before it becomes a virus spreading all around the world,&rdquo; said Warda to standing applause. 
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UMWA President Cecil Roberts
United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts spoke on the convention&rsquo;s opening day and praised the leadership of the IBB. &ldquo;These people are the blood of your blood, the flesh of your flesh, and the soul of your soul,&rdquo; Roberts told delegates. &ldquo;They have shown the way for all of us.&rdquo;

US Boilermakers Hold 32nd Convention

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from International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation 
 
Miners at Cananea, Sonora, Taxco, Guerrero and Sombrerete, Zacatecas, have now been on strike for four heroic years in defence of their labour and trade union rights. On 30 July and the following days, the miners will hold rallies to reaffirm their continued support for the strikes and the struggle of the Mexican Miners' Union. 
 
The National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, affiliated to the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) says it is willing &quot;to negotiate legal arrangements necessary to end the strikes, if a solution can be found that will respect the workers, recognize their collective agreements, definitively establish adequate health and safety conditions, and respect the miners' union led by Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia.&quot; 
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The three strikes continue because there has been no legal ruling to determine a definitive end to the strikes, explained the union. The union added that, throughout this period, the company has stubbornly refused to act peacefully and resolve the strikes in accordance with the law. 
 
During these years, the workers on strike have been persecuted and some judges have ruled that the strikes were invalid. However, the courts have ruled in the union's favour in response to union requests for legal protection. Workers have been subjected to repression in these four years, for example on 6 June 2010 at the Cananea mine, which was occupied by 4,000 armed men who maintained a climate of terror against the miners. 
 
In addition to the rallies that will take place on July 30 to commemorate four years on strike, the union will hold meetings to discuss how to strengthen the strikes and to call on the local communities to continue their support for the miners. 
 
The miners and the local communities are deeply concerned that neither the government nor Grupo M&eacute;xico has taken any steps to resolve the disputes, recognise the collective agreements, and respect the National Miners' Union.

Los Mineros Commemorates Four Years on Strike Against Mexican Mine Companies

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On 14 September, the ICEM will sponsor a two-hour panel discussion on ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in Istanbul, Turkey. The panel is in conjunction with the 19th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (WCSHW) and will be held in the Kasimpaşa-2 Room, Kuleli Building, of the Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre from 14h to 16h. 
 
The panel will highlight the urgent need for Turkey to ratify Convention 176 and will include Dr. Fikret Sazak, Director of Education for Maden-İş, the Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey; Radha Gobinda Mohanty of the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation; Glen Mpufane, ICEM Mining/DJOGP Officer; and Brian Kohler, ICEM Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer. 
<a href="/en/209-ILO"><img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" /></a>
Click here for information on ILO Convention 176
Turkey is notorious for unsafe coal mines, with many of the mines in government hands but operated by contractors utilizing sub-standard equipment and practices. 
 
The ICEM event is open to everyone but those interested should visit the <a href="http://www.safety2011turkey.org ">WCSHW website</a> for information on the entire Congress, which runs from 11-15 September. The address for the WCSHW at Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre is S&uuml;tl&uuml;ce Mah. Eski Karaağa&ccedil; Cad., 34445 Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

ICEM to Hold Mine Safety Forum in Turkey This Week

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On 31 August, Finnish paper company UPM announced closure of two mills, the shutdown of a paper machine at another mill, the intended sale of a French mill, and the sacking of nearly 1,300 workers in total. The announcement came within months of the world&rsquo;s third largest integrated pulp and paper company buying Myllykoski, another major European paper producer based in Finland. 
 
The decision does not sit well with the blue-collar and white-collar trade unions representing workers in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro. Specifically, did UPM engage in the proper and correct dialogue with European Works Council (EWC) members in accord with an EWC directive on social dialogue? 
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UPM said the plant closures, machine shutdown, and job losses would occur by the end of the year, leaving little time for workers and their union representatives to obtain re-training funds, seek other job opportunities, and negotiate adequate redundancy packages for the soon-to-be displaced workers. 
 
Strike action is also a possibility. But at a Paperiliitto executive board meeting on 6 September, union leaders put that option on the back burner in order to engage the company &ndash; and Finland&rsquo;s government &ndash; in obtaining the very highest re-training and redundancy packages. The union began that process on the local level at one mill &ndash; the Myllykoski mill in Kouvala County in eastern Finland &ndash; late last week. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro has begun connecting with victimized workers and their unions and EWC representatives on the European level to apply pressure on UPM. 
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Myllykoski mill
At the Myllykoski mill, an operation with three paper machines producing magazine or lightweight coated papers, the planned redundancies amount to 371 full-time blue-collar jobs, 71 fixed-term jobs, and 101 full-time white-collar jobs. In addition, maintenance contractor ABB will see 106 permanent workers leave the rural mill. Also, other Finnish jobs staffed mainly by Ammattiliitto Pro members will be eliminated at UPM workplaces in Lahti and Pietarsarri, bringing the total job loss in Finland to 650. 
 
UPM will also shutter the Albbruck mill in Germany that produces uncoated magazine papers, costing 557 jobs. It will shut one of three paper machines that make uncoated paper and newsprint at Germany&rsquo;s Ettringen mill, as well as temporarily shutting one paper machine producing uncoated fine papers at the Nordland mill. 
 
In France, the company will seek a buyer for its Stracel mill that makes coated magazine papers and specialty newsprint. In total, UPM intends to take 1.3 million tonnes annually of paper out of the marketplace and it is now clear that the company&rsquo;s spring 2011 purchase of the Myllykoski company was all about capacity reductions and job curtailments. 
 
The ICEM will assist the two Finnish unions, as well as German and French unions representing workers at UPM, in all ways possible. A major tenet to ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector work plan, adopted at the Uruguay conference in 2008, is to extend full practical support to paperworkers of the global North who are victimized by the rampant shutdowns or paper operations in developed nations. The priority will now be to exert as much pressure as possible on UPM in order that job losses the company has created through consolidation do not escape correct and ethical social treatment.

Finnish Paperworkers’ Unions Critical of UPM’s European Mill Closures

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From 4-6 September 2011 the BASF South American network met in Sao Paulo for extended social dialogue with the presence of BASF management and IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis. 
 
The meeting opened on Sunday for an internal meeting of the worker representatives from Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The meeting was conducted by Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President. 
 
There had been some turbulence in the relations between the network and the company after 2009. 2009 was the year when the 10 year anniversary of the network was celebrated and at the same time a strike was called causing a breakdown in relations for the following two years. In the meantime both sides admit that they reacted in an exaggerated way to the problems that had arisen. From 2010 on the unions and the company set up a working group to iron out the problems and to get dialogue back on track. The work in the group bore fruit and led to a resumption of dialogue. 
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The first day&rsquo;s meeting agreed to focus on the following 6 points: 
 
1. Unify the company&rsquo;s policy toward the fire brigade and first aid providers across the region 2. Ask the company to provide information on ISO 26000 3. Ask the company to provide information on nanotechnology 4. Work on a pattern contract for outsourcing in the region - outsourcing is a permanent issue in the network 5. Ask the company to provide information on restructuring in the region 6. Ask the company to present its policy on health and safety with a view to creating unified standards in the region 
 
Certain points were still pending because of the suspension of the regional dialogue. The workers felt that points pending at national level should be resolved even though the regional dialogue was stalled. The policies and practices need to be the same for everyone. The company should be prepared to discuss these issues at the next meetings. 
 
BASF management has a new team. It is very hard for BASF to keep qualified and loyal workers and to compete in the global labour markets. New investments are planned for Brazil. Workers benefit from the company&rsquo;s results, but these benefits need to be standardised worldwide. 
 
The BASF network has been and will continue to be a reference for social dialogue in the region. The company and the unions are proud of what it has achieved and will continue to make the most of the dialogue.

BASF Network Meets for Extended Social Dialogue

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In Chile's northern Region 1, a planned 24-hour strike at the world's third largest copper mine, Dona Ines de Collahuasi, on 2 September did not happen. The 1,500 miners of Sindicato de los Trabajadores, affiliated to the Chile Federation of Miners (FMC), voted the day prior to forego striking when managers extended a satisfactory albeit temporary resolve to the dispute. 
 
That resolve included an adjusted bonus for the last two quarters of the fiscal year, the first half of 2011, of two million pesos (US$4,345) to each miner, and recall of two of the six miners who were sacked for strike activity on 30 July. 
 
The FMC branch Chairman at Collahuasi, Manuel Munoz, told the ICEM that three of the six miners desired not to return to work high in the Atacama Desert, while the union will continue to fight for the rights of the sixth miner. 
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FMC branch Chairman at Collahuasi, Manuel Munoz
Dons Ines de Collahuasi, jointly owned through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata and a smaller share by a consortium of Japanese firms controlled by Mitsui, offered to rehire the sixth miner, but is attempting to deny him several benefit entitlements, including health insurance. 
 
&quot;We will continue to wage a stiff fight for our comrade to ensure that fairness and justice prevails,&quot; Munoz reported to the ICEM. 
 
There are several other issues still to be resolved that were behind the 29-30 July strike. They include housing benefits, bonuses based on weather conditions in the extreme altitudes of the Atacama, and a clocking-in, clocking-out process at the mine and copper processing operation that stands as a regression of miners' working conditions. 
 
Labour relations between Dona Ines de Collahuasi and the Mineworkers' Union of Collahuasi have been frayed since the end of a 33-day strike last December. The company filed a criminal lawsuit against the union a month after the strike ended, charging union with libel over items the union posted on its website during the strike.

Collahuasi Miners Partially Resolve Dispute without Striking

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In a contentious Congress that almost collapsed without being completed, South African ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) re-elected Simon Mofokeng as General Secretary 2 September in Durban. Some 299 delegates represented the union&rsquo;s seven regions at the 4th Congress from 31 August to 2 September. 
 
Mofokeng was the only one of six national office bearers to win re-election, besting former General Secretary Welile Nolingo 178-114 in a secret ballot delegate vote. Thamsango Mhlongo, a shop steward at Mondi&rsquo;s pulp and paper mill at Richard&rsquo;s Bay, KwaZula-Natal, won election as President. He defeated incumbent President Jacob Mabhena by a margin of 200-97. 
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CEPPWAWU President Thamsanga Mhlongo, General Secretary Simon Mofokeng
The Congress was marked by heated debate on the final day over a Secretariat Report that was one day late in distribution per statutory requirements. The union has been mired in a years-long conflict with the investment manager of its investment arm, CEPPWAWU Investments, a conflict now in South Africa&rsquo;s courts that has frozen most of CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s assets. 
 
The final day&rsquo;s debate caused all of the Congress&rsquo;s resolutions to be postponed, as well as proposed constitutional amendments and other important statutory business. Following a recommendation from an officer of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), delegates moved to hold a Special Congress to complete the business of the 4th Congress. That likely will be held in the first quarter of 2012. 
 
The final day&rsquo;s business concluded with election of officers, with all seats being contested. 
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Earlier, the Congress heard from COSATU President Sidumo Dlamini and South African Land and Public Enterprise Minister Malusi Gigaba, who represented the African National Congress (ANC) at the Congress. Gigaba told delegates that the ANC political party &ndash; together with South Africa&rsquo;s trade unions &ndash; must enforce the revolutionary discipline that toppled the apartheid regime in reference to the current split in the party caused by the ANC&rsquo;s Youth League. 
 
Gigaba also reminded delegates that land reform is still incomplete in South Africa and said the supply of food to the nation&rsquo;s impoverished depends on water development and rural land re-use. Dlamini urged CEPPWAWU delegates to overcome its current stalemated position, and he reminded that the union was the first union in South Africa to won the 40-hour work-week. 
 
Dlamini also praised CEPPWAWU for being the leader in engagement of foreign capital in order to create jobs, affirmative action, and respect for workers&rsquo; rights. Dlamini also said CEPPWAWU must be the leader in forging a state-owned pharmaceutical company in South Africa, a persistent theme throughout the Congress. 
 
Results of elections for other national office bearers: Lucas Mashego, First Deputy Vice President; Eunice Dlodlo, Second Deputy Vice President; Samuel &ldquo;Chief&rdquo; Seathlolo, Deputy General Secretary; and Thulasizwe Nsibande, National Treasurer.

CEPPWAWU Holds Heated 4th Congress in South Africa

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ICEM&rsquo;s trade union affiliate in Peru, the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), has affiliated branch unions undergoing pivotal labour disputes in the South American country in the face of high commodity prices and ever-rising profit margins. 
 
On 31 August, 1,124 miners employed by China&rsquo;s Shougang Hierro Per&uacute; began an indefinite strike at the country&rsquo;s only iron ore mine in southern Peru. And last week, 1,100 union branch members of FNTMMSP undertook a 48-hour strike at the Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde open pit copper and molybdenum mine in Arequipa department over regressive conventions proposals in a proposed five-year labour agreement. 
 
The FNTMMSP branch and managers of Cerro Verde will meet today in efforts to resolve the dispute. If no solution is found, unionized miners will begin an indefinite strike beginning on 14 September. Cerro Verde is Peru&rsquo;s third largest copper mine and is owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan (53.7%), SMM Cerro Verde Nederlands (21%), a unit of the Japanese Sumitomo Corp., and Peru-based Compania de Minas Buenaventura (19.3%). 
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FNTMMSP General Secretary, Luis Castillo Carlos
Cerro Verde management is proposing an initial 2% salary increase, but then seeks to eliminate all future yearly wage reviews in favour of a production bonus defined by the company and based on copper production, the mine&rsquo;s financial results, and copper prices on the London Metal Exchange. 
 
In 2010, Cerro Verde produced 312,336 tonnes of copper in 2010. Notwithstanding an indefinite strike that could begin on Wednesday, 2011 production is expected to exceed the 2010 numbers slightly. The 48-hour strike on 7-8 September saw 100% participation. 
 
At Shougang Hierro&rsquo;s Marcona iron ore pits in the Ica department, the strike by miners in yet another in yearly walkouts against the Chinese steel company over pay that is far lower than any other mining enterprise in Peru. 
 
Iron ore miners earn a miserly &euro;11.18 per day (US$16.10) and are seeking a 25% increase. Shougang Hierro is offering only a US$.47 per day increase. The strike is also over a failure on the part of management to meet a list of 2011-2012 demands on working conditions, which the union submitted in April 2011. 
 
&ldquo;We know that the Chinese company can meet the wage demands of workers at Marcona because of the high price of iron ore and Shougang&rsquo;s large profit margins,&rdquo; said FNTMMSP President Luis Castillo Carlos. 
 
The Chinese company realized a five-fold increase in profit from Marcona in the first half of 2011 from that of the same period in 2010. The first-half 2011 net profit of US$274 million came on higher sales volume and higher iron ore pricing, the company reported to Peru&rsquo;s securities regulator. 
 
Iron ore sales from Marcona totaled 5 million tonnes from January through June this year, up 25% from the 4.02 million tones of refined iron ore sold during the same period of 2010. Because of the strike, Shougang Hierro declared force majeure on 1 September. A provincial government agency is involved in mediation efforts to reconcile the two sides.

Major Copper, Iron Ore Strikes Break Out in Peru

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A UK defense contractor who reneged on terms contained in a collective agreement last year met industrial action last week. Members of Unite the Union in the London and Eastern Region began an overtime ban and work to rule at the Wattisham Airbase in Suffolk on 7 September against Morson Wynnwith, a contractor for AgustaWestland which manages a fleet of Apache helicopters for the British Ministry of Defence. 
 
The 100 engineers belonging to Unite entered into a four-year labour agreement in April 2010 with Morson Wynnwith, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manchester-based Morson Group Plc. Part of that accord called for wage parity to occur over the four years with Unite engineers employed by the same company at Middle Wallop Airbase in Hampshire. 
 
The Wattisham engineers, most of whom are ex-military personnel, earn &pound;3,000 annually less than Unite members at Middle Wallop, who service and maintain the same military equipment. Last spring &ndash; a year into the agreement &ndash; MorsonWynnwith initially offered a 2% wage increase. The military contractor later increased the offer to 2.6%, the same wage increase accepted at Hampshire, and told the Wattisham unit that service and maintenance work done on Apaches at Middle Wallop is more complicated. 
 
Engineers at Wattisham rejected the 2.6% offer in June and immediately passed a strike ballot with a 71-14 vote. Eighty-one workers then voted for job actions short of a strike. 
 
&ldquo;If these skilled workers had accepted that proposal,&rdquo; said Region Officer Mark Robinson, &ldquo;then they would have fallen further behind.&rdquo; He added that the engineers do not take strike action lightly because they recognize the importance of their work related to the battlefield, but Morson Wynnwith&rsquo;s backtracking over last year&rsquo;s forced the issue. 
 
The dispute is under review by UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation, and Mediation Services (ACAS) and a report is slated to be issued in October. Unite and Morson Wynnwith are expected to talk next week but if there is no movement by the company, job actions could be escalated. 
 
The engineers at Wattisham Airbase are responsible for maintenance on the Apache helicopter, which the UK Army Air Corp is using in Afghanistan. They do complete servicing and maintenance on each unit of the specialized aircraft after 600 flying hours.

UK Engineers Begin Industrial Action against Apache Helicopter Contractor

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ICEM Presidium Members and leaders of major affiliates paid a visit to Japan to convey a message of condolence and solidarity on the occasion of the National Conventions of Denryoku Soren and UI ZENSEN. The delegation was led by President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda, composed of Dave Coles from CEP, Canada, Andrew Vickers from CFMEU, Australia, Michael Mersmann, IGBCE of Germany, David Shier from Canada&rsquo;s Power Workers Union, and Phee Jungsun, ICEM Regional Contact Person. 
 
On 6 September, a meeting was conducted with representatives of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren. President Taneoka of Denryoku Soren and Mr. Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM-JAF facilitated the discussion on the current situation in the Fukushima plants. The chaotic and desperate situation immediately following the Tsunami attack was described, when about 600 workers on the site fought against the melt-down and were also concerned about the safety of their families. 
<img alt="" src="" width="303" height="161" />
International Delegation meets Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren
The delegation paid tribute to those workers who sacrificed themselves in the recovery operations at the damaged power plants. According to the report from Mr. Hasekawa Takahiro, Unit Union Chair of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union and Mr. Yukio Arai, President of the Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union, two reactors out of the three that were destroyed and melted down are now under control in terms of cooling down and recycling radiated water. The level of radiation has been decreased to normal radiation outside of reactors. Robot equipment is being used to check the situation inside the reactors. A total of six workers had been exposed to radiation above the standard levels. The full scale report has just been constructed and submitted to the IAEA Board Meeting, to be held in late September. 
 
Manfred Warda commended workers still under precarious conditions, saying &quot;you are heroes&quot; and offered any necessary solidarity and technical assistance from ICEM and its affiliates. TEPCO has been working on the financial plan for compensation that requires more than US$2.5 Trillion and needs state subsidy. 
<img alt="" src="" width="222" height="160" />
Manfred Warda addresses UI Zensen National Convention
The ICEM delegation then moved to attend the National Convention of UI Zensen in Yokohama, President of which is Brother Ochiai, Vice President of ICEM and Chair of the Asia Pacific Region. UI ZENSEN has worked strenuously on an organizing drive, and now becomes the largest industrial federation in Japan with 1.2 million members. Brother Ochiai congratulated the merger agreement of the three GUFs and confirmed full support for the new organization. Manfred Warda expressed solidarity towards relief and recovery efforts and complimented the firm spirit of the Japanese people. &quot;We have come to express the grief we share with you and again convey to you, all your members and their families, to the Japanese people and to your country, our condolences for the loss of so many people, relatives, friends, neighbours &ndash; and we know that many of your members and their families were among the victims of the disaster. But let me also applaud you for the immediate determination you showed to take tremendous efforts to come to the assistance of all who needed your support and for all the personal sacrifices that you and many of the members of your union devoted during the process of rescue operations.&quot;

ICEM Solidarity, Condolence Visit to Japan

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