English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A joint Executive Committee meeting of three European trade union federations on 31 January put the final touches on statutes, a political programme, and also nominated candidates for leadership in what is to become a united eight-million-member industrial workers&rsquo; federation. The meeting, held near Mechelen, Belgium, was attended by 150 national union leaders from 25 nations. 
 
The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and the European Trade Union Federation for textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (ETUF-TCL) are now geared to formally merge on 16 May 2012 in Brussels, with dissolution Congresses coming a day earlier. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="74" />
The joint Executive decreed that the new federation will strive to become a fighting force for a dynamic economic framework that allows industry to thrive as the motor for jobs and sustainable growth across Europe. The three current federations vowed that &ldquo;social progress and the European social model cannot be sacrificed at the altar of ultra-liberal dogma.&rdquo; 
 
Although the new grouping has yet to formally adopt a name, its temporary moniker is the European Industrial Workers&rsquo; Federation (EIWF). 
 
Michael Vassiliadis, President of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE, was nominated to serve as President, while current EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann was nominated to be General Secretary. Anders Ferbe of IF Metall, Sweden, Renzo Ambrosetti, UNIA, Switzerland, and Valeria Fedeli, CGIL FILCTEM, Italy, were nominated as Vice Presidents, while Sylvain Lefebvre, EMCEF, Bart Samyn, EMF, and Luc Triangle, ETUF-TCL, were nominated as Deputy General Secretaries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="165" height="140" />
Michael Vassiliadis
The new federation will consist of four policy committees &ndash; Collective Bargaining and Social Policy, Company Policy Committee, Industrial Policy Committee, and Social Dialogue Policy Committee. It will also be composed of eight regions: South, Benelux, Central, South-East, Eastern, British, Nordic/Baltic, and South-West.

Curtain Up on Europe’s New Trade Union Industrial Federation

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

	Oswell Munyenyembe, the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ) President since November 2011, was killed in an automobile crash on the Kitwe-Ndola motorway on 7 February in the southern African nation. The ICEM mourns his passing and recognises Brother Munyenyembe&rsquo;s long service to the MUZ, and expresses deep condolences to the MUZ in this difficult time.

	He was 59.

	His funeral was held in Mufulira on 11 February. Zambia President Michael Sata said the &ldquo;sudden loss is already being felt by both the employees and the management in our robust mining sector.&rdquo; Sata called his &ldquo;bravery, courage and maturity even in crucial moments &hellip; peerless.&rdquo;

	The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMSW) President Mundia Sikufele urged Zambia&rsquo;s labour movement to stop and reflect on the death. MUZ General Secretary Chishimba Nkole said the death leaves a big gap in one of the nation&rsquo;s oldest unions and he urged mourners to look after his children and widow.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 194px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Oswell Munyenyembe

	Munyenyembe is survived by six children and his wife Charity. Born in Muyombe in 1954, he did his secondary education in Malawi and studied architecture at Zambia Institute of Technology, now called Copperbelt University. Munyenyembe worked as a draftsman for the then Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), and continued his union activism while working at Mopani Copper.

	He held various positions in the MUZ for the past 24 years, including one short period previously as president, and since 2006 served as general secretary. He started in 1988 as a shop steward for the MUZ Butondo branch at ZCCM and became chairman for the MUZ Mufulira branch in 1990. He won election unopposed as President of MUZ on 4 November 2011.

	Oswell Munyenyembe was a passenger in a Toyota Prada that was operated by his driver when the vehicle lost control and overturned. He died enroute to the Wusakile Hospital in Kitwe.&nbsp;

MUZ President Oswell Munyenyembe: 1954-2012

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

	from IMF

	From Seoul to Pretoria, Geneva to Mexico City, unions are taking joint action during the week of 19-25 February 19-25 to urge the government of Mexico to stop its attack on independent trade unions and freedom of association.

	International mobilizations kicked off in the main square of Mexico City on 19 February, in remembrance of 65 miners who died in the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion on that date six years ago. On 21 February, actions took place in Mexico, Geneva and London.

	And the United Steelworkers (USW) used the eve of the Week of Action to again condemn the actions of Canadian mining company Excellon for its damaging behaviour in Mexico.&nbsp;Excellon&rsquo;s only Mexican operation, the Platosa mine, brings problems for workers, landowners, and the environment.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 227px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The Tri-National Solidarity Alliance, which joins unions from Canada, Mexico and the US held a meeting of Solidarity at the headquarters of the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) in Mexico City.&nbsp; Speakers at the event, including IMF Executive Committee member and exiled leader of the National Union of Miners and Metal Workers of Mexico (SNTMMRM) Napole&oacute;nG&oacute;mez (via video conference), denounced the Mexican government&rsquo;s attacks on fundamental workers&rsquo; rights and called for the implementation of ILO recommendations adopted by the Governing Body in March 2011.

	In Switzerland, a group of 20 ICEM, IMF, UNI and IUF activists held a small action outside of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva. Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina, Philip Jennings, Fernando Lopes, Kemal &Ouml;zkan met with Mr. Juan Jos&eacute; G&oacute;mez Camacho, Ambassador to the Mexico mission.

	Discussions between the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and trade union Fellesforbundet are underway ahead of a planned visit to Mexico by the Foreign Ministry later this month. The union has been briefing Norway&rsquo;s government on the issue of Protection Contracts in Mexico and the ongoing attacks on fundamental worker freedoms.

	Mexico&rsquo;s Embassy in London met with a delegation from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and unions Unite and GMB, and Amnesty International and the Southern and Eastern Regional TUC on 21 February. Similar actions are planned for major cities in the US, including Chicago, Tucson, Boston and Denver, and in Korea, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada.

	Unions around the world are also supporting the global action by sending protest letter to the Mexican government in care of their respective embassies and consulates.

	For more information go to: <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012">www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012</a>

Week of Action Again Shines on Mexico’s Trade Union Abuses

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

	Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, 11-12 February, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.

	The trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri, including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Pivat, in concert with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), set an agenda of wage moderation, instead focusing on winning excellent and precedent-setting job preservation protections such as training, seniority, and reduced work hours at full pay for both old and young workers.

	This industrial social accord now establishes the parameters for other work sectors. The agreement will run from 1 March 2012 to 1 March 2014. The national industrial agreement did establish minimum wage guideposts, but exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 58px;height: 57px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The framework agreement grants training at full pay with business downturns and when reductions in work time occur, and it also allows older workers to reduce their working time within five years of retirement by continuing their income levels through salaries and partial pension benefits. Workers will also have the option to tap into current pension plans as a supplement to salaries.

	A key element in the new agreement is an additional &euro;.05-per-hour worked will be added to the national Industrial Training fund.

	Employee discretion in taking training options increases from two weeks to six weeks, in some cases, and full seniority is granted to workers when they are called back from lay-offs within nine months. Previously, it was six months. As well, paid sick leave occurs after six months on a job rather than the previous nine months.

	The new pact is also kinder to lower-income earners and gives better pay-outs when such workers are laid off. Parental leave was made more flexible and added pension accrual was put in place for weekend, holiday or extra work performed.

	The recommended minimum wage increase is &euro;.18-per-hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year.

	The bargaining, which began in early January, nearly reached dispute when HK/Privat , the Commercial and Clerical Workers&rsquo; Union, sought to drop the 50% benchmark regarding number of staff needed before a collective agreement takes effect. A compromise was struck that gives employers the opportunity to sign labour agreements without the 50% threshold and HK/Privat coverage also was expanded to include administrative staff working as trainees and college students.

	The agreement was widely praised in Denmark as the necessary building block to restore some 80,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the country since the onset of the financial crisis.

Danish Industrial Contract Gives Job Security Prime Seating

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

	Locked-out members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos &nbsp;d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, the United Steelworkers (USW), took their fight against Rio Tinto Alcan to Qu&eacute;bec&rsquo;s largest city, last Friday, 17 February, where Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; was part of a spurious forum on youth in employment, sponsored by the Board of Trade Metropolitan Montr&eacute;al.

	Some 200 of 780 metalworkers from Alcan&rsquo;s Alma aluminium smelter in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region, Qu&eacute;bec, boarded buses and travelled 460 kilometres to Montr&eacute;al for a noisy protest at this business luncheon, their first manifestation away from the 488,000-tonne-per-year smelter. They were joined by another 100 steelworkers from Montr&eacute;al, and some 100 college students who joined the USW rally in mocking protest to a future of youth theme that now sees business teaming with the Liberal provincial government of Qu&eacute;bec to raise their university tuition fees.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 248px;height: 161px" width="248" />

	17 February Manifestation, Montr&eacute;al

	This &ldquo;Hot Issues@Lunch&rdquo; theme was billed to &ldquo;foster the success of the next generation of Qu&eacute;becers.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma found deep irony in Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; participating, since Alcan in Alma is using a lock-out to replace C$36-an-hour permanent jobs with outsourced and presumably younger workers at C$16-an-hour.

	C&ocirc;t&eacute; was not expected to address the lockout at the hot-plate lunch, but when pressed by reporters on the sidelines, she called the dispute a &ldquo;regional issue&rdquo; and &ldquo;it will be settled in Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean&rdquo; by managers who &ldquo;have my full confidence.&rdquo;

	Earlier last week, when the lockout entered week seven and with the remote mining and manufacturing region starting to feel the economic effects of a lost wage base, one such manager told Reuters he &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t put a timeline to (talks restarting) right now because nothing is scheduled.&rdquo;

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 199px;height: 159px" width="199" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Dan Roy and Marc Maltais

	foto: France Paradis/Le-Lac-St-Jean

	With aluminium prices hovering now at very low, the Alma lockout serves as a convenient strategy to restrict supply to lift prices. It also fits Rio Tinto&rsquo;s strategy of divesting and devaluing Alcan by C$8.9 billion in view of its US$39 billion purchase of the Canadian company in 2007, although the modern and high-tech tooled Alma smelter, with its low-cost hydroelectric supply, will not likely be jettisoned.

	Perhaps this should have been a more apt business theme to the Board of Trade elite last week, and it certainly best explains the anger of metalworkers and students alike gathered on the other side of the barricades. In this vein &ndash; with Rio Tinto&rsquo;s share price dropping &ndash; it is worth mentioning that C&ocirc;t&eacute; herself exhibited a timely corporate mentality last week by shedding 3,671 shares of Rio Tinto to pocket US$213,500, money not likely to find its way to Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean.

	USW District Five Director Daniel Roy addressed the disparity between full-time, family-supporting jobs in the region to the sub-contract and lower-wage jobs that Rio Tinto is trying create with the. &ldquo;Accepting this would cause a dramatic downward spiral not only for the workers but for members of the community, which would see income, local business sales and tax revenues drop precipitously.&rdquo;

	USW Local 9490 President Marc Maltais added, &ldquo;By using subcontractors to do the work of union members, we are asked to concede on behalf of future generations. This is an attack on our children and grandchildren.&rdquo;

	The buses departed Montr&eacute;al late on Friday afternoon for the return trip to Alma, but first stopped at a plant-gate demonstration in Sorel, Qu&eacute;bec, where workers and members of ICEM-affiliated FIM-CSN (Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux) at a Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium metal powders plant lent their support. This stop again depicts the long-erected barriers between Canadian trade unions that Local 9490 are erasing inside this lockout.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 114px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Rio Tinto Alcan CEO, Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute;

	With Canada currently undergoing an unprecedented rash of corporate hostility, it is notable to witness trade unions and other groups galvanising behind victimised union workers.

	Last week, members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2301 at a Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter in Kitimat, British Colombia, voted to take C$1-an-hour of their pay and donate it to &nbsp;Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490. That represents C$60,000 per month.

	On 8 February, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada contributed C$25,000 to the Alma metalworkers, and a day later the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) contributed C$10,000. USW Local 9700, one of the first unions to respond at the time of the 30 December lockout and representing Alcoa ABI workers at B&eacute;cancour, Qu&eacute;bec, voted unanimously to draw C$25-per-week from their paychecks, donating C$25,000 weekly to Local 9490.

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s&nbsp; journey to Montr&eacute;al to confront Rio Tinto Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; is just the first sally outward. This week Local 9490 leaders will visit Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in California, where members of ICEM affiliate International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 defended themselves courageously in a Rio Tinto-imposed lockout. And they&rsquo;ll follow that solidarity visit with to Australia to meet with unions represented Rio Tinto there.

	On March 31, a day after the ICEM North American region meets in Alma, a manifestation will occur there with scores of global trade union leaders attending. And on 1 April, a workshop will occur in Alma to verse an exact fightback strategy against Rio Tinto on the global level.

Locked-out Alcan Workers Take Dispute to Business Doorstep

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

	From the ITGLWF website

	On the evening of 12 February 2012, the President and General Secretary of the Coats Bangladesh Ltd. Employees Union went to the Coats Head Office at Novo Tower, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka in order to try to meet and discuss with company management with a view to resolving an industrial dispute.

	Instead of negotiating with the union leaders, company officials confiscated their mobile phones and forcibly detained them in their building overnight only releasing them when trade union colleagues alerted the local newspaper media of their disappearance.

	Management at the thread factory called Coats Ltd. in Bangladesh had failed to reach agreement with trade union negotiators. Having exhausted the bargaining procedures, a vote of the workers resulted in 98.12% in favour of strike action.&nbsp;The management somehow obtained a court order declaring the strike illegal.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 180px;height: 83px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The workers at Coats Ltd. are paid poverty wages of only BD TK1,625 (US $18.90). The trade unions in Bangladesh consider BD TK7,000 to be the minimum that could be considered a living wage.&nbsp; During the negotiations, the local trade union negotiators reduced their demand from 100% to 30% pay rise.&nbsp;The union demands also included increases in housing and other allowances all of which were refused by the management negotiators.&nbsp; Despite trade union compromises the employer remained intransigent and refused to bargain in good faith.

	The Coats Employees&rsquo; Union is part of the Bangladesh Garments Textile &amp; Leather Workers Federation (BGTLWF), which is an affiliate of the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).&nbsp; The BGTLWF has called for solidarity from the wider trade union movement.&nbsp; The ITGLWF is preparing a complaint to the OECD Contact Point for the UK over the matter.&nbsp; Coats Plc. is based in the UK and is a leading global company that manufactures thread.

	The ITGLWF has written to Mr Paul Forman, CEO of Coats Plc. demanding that they intervene.

	Klaus Priegnitz, ITGLWF General Secretary, said to the Coats CEO, &ldquo;Your employees have clearly been mistreated and exploited for some considerable time.&nbsp; Theunion hasacted responsibly and with restraint in pursuing their justifiable and moderate demands.&nbsp; We call on you to instruct your local management to engage in constructive dialogue with the local trade union with a view to resolving this dispute on terms which are acceptable to the workers.&rdquo;

	See the joint ICEM-IMF letter to Coats management <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18%20ICEM-IMFletterCoats%20Bangladesh%2022Feb.pdf">here</a>.

Bangladesh Union Leaders Held Captive by Factory Managers

<img alt="" height="39" src="" width="100" />

	Coalminers represented by three Australian unions under the grouping Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) voted late last week to resume strike action against the BMA, the BHP Billiton/Mitsubishi metallurgical coal alliance that operates seven rich mines in the Bowen Basin of central Queensland. 
	 
	After six days of futile bargaining between 16 and 23 January, the SBU held a series of mass meetings on 2-3 February in which workers again decidedly rejected the employer&rsquo;s proposal by better than 1,600 to 2 to turn the clock to the former Howard government&rsquo;s WorkChoices set of laws. 
	 
	Mineworkers will soon stage a simultaneous set of seven-day strikes at dates to be decided. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Queensland District President Stephen Smyth said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be choosing a time which has the least impact on our members and the most impact on the company.&rdquo;

	<img alt="" height="131" src="" width="260" />

	July Picket at Goonyella Riverside Mine

	The SBU is led by the ICEM-affiliated CFMEU and also includes ICEM affiliates Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) and the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU). It represents 3,500 Bowen Basin coalminers. 
	 
	The two sides have been negotiating for 15 months and a prior enterprise labour agreement expired in May 2011. SBU undertook a series of strikes throughout the second half of 2011, and BMA&rsquo;s opportunity to conduct a vote among miners under the new Fair Work Australia law failed with a 92% rejection in October. 
	 
	Yet, management has refused to yield on issues that would compromise work-life balance in terms of shift schedules and mine safety. This includes BMA&rsquo;s refusal to provide fatigue crib breaks for miners working 12-hour shifts on consecutive nights and contract language which permits managers to permanently replace workers performing safety-critical open cut examiner and mine deputy roles. 
	 
	Their proposal, said Smyth, &ldquo;seeks to take mine safety out of the pit and into the office.&rdquo; 
	 
	The SBU is also seeking restoration of rights and pay taken from labour hire workers and sub-contractors during the WorkChoices era. &ldquo;Australia has moved on from WorkChoices, but it appears BHP hasn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said Smyth. 
	 
	The ICEM will continue to track this critical Australian labour struggle that has become a bellwether for restoration of trade union rights under the two-and-a-half-year-old Fair Work Australia law. ICEM reports from 2011 can found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4731-Australian-Miners-Reject-BMA-s-Contract-Proposal-by-92">here</a> and <a href="-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a>.&nbsp;

Queensland Coal Strikes to Resume against BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Disappointed with a draft of the UN Global Compact document &ldquo;Corporate Sustainability Leadership: A Framework for Action at Rio+20 and Beyond,&rdquo; global labour&rsquo;s two representatives on the body &ndash; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings &ndash; worked to get stronger trade union language adopted by the Global Compact for the UN&rsquo;s June 2012 World Summit on Sustainable Development, dubbed &ldquo;Rio+20.&rdquo; 
 
That effort succeeded last week when the Global Compact accepted inclusion of a better accounting of the social dimension of sustainability. All UN agencies, including the Global Compact, have been preparing their input to that summit. 
 
At the insistence of Warda and Jennings, the document now calls on businesses fully respect human rights, including the rights of workers. Governments are called on to guarantee a high standard of social protection, and to establish programmes that support a Just Transition to a future with sustainable jobs and decent work in both existing industries and in new and greener ones. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="86" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="51" height="100" />
ICEM and UNI worked to get reference to fairness, equity, justice, social dialogue, and Global Framework Agreements in the document. 
 
The document, while a compromise, is a significant step forward that will allow further elaboration on these ideas at future Global Compact meetings. In addition, these words will support and strengthen other trade union inputs for Rio+20. 
 
The <a href="http://unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/9.1_news_archives/2011_11_1/UNGC_Rio+20_Submission.pdf ">full document</a> can be read here. 
 
The Global Compact was started by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the year 2000 to motivate businesses to work towards a sustainable future and now includes ten principles. 
 
Among the ten are two related to basic human rights, four regarding labour rights (freedom of association/right to collective bargaining; abolition of child labour; elimination of forced and compulsory labour; and elimination of employment discrimination), three on environment (businesses supporting a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; undertaking initiatives for greater environmental responsibility; and to encourage the development and diffusion of environmental friendly technologies), and an anti-corruption principle.

Explicit Trade Union Language Adopted by UN’s Global Compact for Rio+20

<img alt="" height="39" src="" width="100" />

	It was a two-and-a-half-hour high speed drive on chaotic Egyptian roads to travel from 6th of October City, an industrial zone of Cairo, north to El-Mahalla El-Kubra, a large industrial and agricultural city in the middle of the Nile Delta. It is known for its dominant textile industry and is home to the largest public-sector Egyptian textile company, the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company. 
	 
	El-Mahalla El-Kubra is also famous for industrial and political struggle. On 6 April 2008, the city held mass demonstrations protesting the election results of President Hosni Mubarak. The citizenry claimed election fraud and demanded better wages. Security forces were ordered to crackdown on the dissidents.

	<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="263" />

	The movement that called for the 25 January 2011 demonstrations adopted the name &ldquo;6th of April&rdquo; in reference to these earlier struggles in Mahallah. On 3 February, last week, the city became the venue for another major trade union event, the first Congress of the Independent Union of Workers in Electricity and Energy. 
	 
	With a membership of 50,000 workers, including both skilled and unskilled workers as well as technicians, the Congress took place after a year of struggle to establish an independent and democratic trade union throughout the country. And democratic it certainly was! 
	 
	Votes were called for every two or three minutes. Proposals, counter proposals and amendments were shouted from the floor with the Congress appeared to be on the verge of chaos constantly. Over 200 delegates crammed into a room that would have been full with only half that number. They travelled from as far as Alexandria to Aswan, with representatives from the state-owned electric power structures of every governate in Egypt said to be present.

	<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="306" />

	&ldquo;Long live workers in the Electrical Sector! Long Live their Struggle!&rdquo; was the cry from both the platform and the floor of the hall. As passionate and loud as the Congress was, it was also good humoured and effective. They debated and agreed on a constitution and statutes. 
	 
	Subscriptions were set at three Egyptian Pounds a month, with 10% of income to be sent to the union headquarters, the remaining 90% to remain in the hands of local union structures. All members must have access to the services of the union with no discrimination. There was a lengthy debate on worker control of any major projects or investments the union may make in the future, and no wages or special benefits will be paid to union board members. All Congress delegates were to have the right to full access to the accounts of the union at any time. 
	 
	ICEM Contact Person for the Middle East/North Africa Region, Jim Catterson, attended part of the Congress and spoke at the event. He found the enthusiasm and debate incredible &ndash; it really was the birth of a new organisation. The union confirmed its membership of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), which had itself held its first Congress in Cairo only a week earlier.

Electricity, Energy Workers’ Union Re-Born in Egypt

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Rather than bargain in good faith, Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) dropped a bombshell 3 February on locked-out Canadian workers: the company announced it was closing its train locomotive plant in London, Ontario. The US-based heavy equipment maker now leaves no doubt that it was playing a vile game of economic blackmail through collective negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. 
 
The announced shutdown comes five weeks after Caterpillar&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, the corporate entity of EMD, locked out 465 CAW Local 27 members after trying to slice their pay to C$16.50-per-hour from C$34 in collective bargaining. EMD also sought to eliminate a defined benefit pension plan and reduce overtime pay and holiday time. 
 
Friday&rsquo;s announcement comes only 18 months after Caterpillar bought the plant and was awarded C$5 million in tax breaks from the Canadian government to promote industrial development. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;Caterpillar had no intention of keeping this plant open,&rdquo; said CAW President Ken Lewenza. &ldquo;From day one, we believed that Caterpillar was trying to provoke a crisis, by forcing deep cuts that were not possible.&rdquo; 
 
This sting to Canada&rsquo;s industrial base comes seven days after Caterpillar reported record annual reports of US$4.9 billion in 2011, an 83% jump over 2010 earnings of US$2.7 billion. The closure announcement also came a day before Progress Rail Services was to hold a jobs fair in Muncie, Indiana, where the company opened a similar diesel locomotive plant in October 2011 and is now one-third toward a staffing level of 650. 
 
Average salaries in the start-up Muncie plant range from US$12-16-per-hour. (See prior <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">ICEM report</a> on this dispute.) On 1 February, Indiana became the first US state since 2001 to adopt a right-to-work (for less) law, meaning companies and trade unions are forbidden from entering into union security clauses in collective agreements. This means workers have the choice whether or not to pay union fees, yet are entitled to representation if their workplace has union certification. 
 
Caterpillar lobbied the Indiana state legislature ardently for passage and in full likelihood will zealously resist unionisation of the Muncie facility, a former ABB manufacturing site. This comes amidst Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman enjoying 2011 salary and perks of US$10 million, while his company was out to gouge C$30 million from the 465 CAW members in London. 
 
In Caterpillar&rsquo;s announcement to close the 62-year-old Ontario plant, it cited London&rsquo;s cost structure and the fact that assembly of locomotives will be shifted to plants in North and South America. Besides Muncie, EMD operates locomotive diesel plants in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil; Sahag&uacute;n, Hidalgo state, Mexico; and in the US city of LaGrange, Illinois, where members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) continue to work without a current collective agreement. 
 
The 1 January lockout and forthcoming plant closure in London has been met with complete indifference by the Tory-led Canadian federal government of Stephen Harper, as well as the Liberal Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty. Only three days before the closure announcement and a month into this extortionist lockout, McGuinty urged EMD to return to the bargaining table. &ldquo;So far the owners of Electro-Motive have failed to live up to Ontarians expectations,&rdquo; he said in a speech to the London Chamber of Commerce. 
 
Within days, his words became hollow. The CAW&rsquo;s Lewenza pointed at government inaction and stated these job losses are casualties of an outdated and dysfunctional Investment Canada Act that attaches no commitment between Canadian jobs and corporate takeovers. 
 
&ldquo;The Stephen Harper government is entirely in the pocket of the corporate elite,&rdquo; Lewenza said. &ldquo;I am disgusted at this government and its indifference towards the suffering of workers and the unemployed.&rdquo;

Raging Insult to Final Injury: Caterpillar to Close Canadian Train Locomotive Plant

Archive