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Stefan L&ouml;fven, President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, IF Metall, was elected today by the Presidium of the Social Democratic Party as Chairman of the resurgent political party. L&ouml;fven was nominated yesterday, 26 January, by the party&rsquo;s Executive Committee to replace H&aring;kan Juholt, who resigned last weekend. 

In a congratulatory note sent by General Secretary Manfred Warda yesterday, the ICEM said, &ldquo;We cannot think of a better, more effective and progressive leader for Sweden.&rdquo; The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf">full ICEM letter</a> can be found here. 

L&ouml;fven has been President of 355,000-member IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall). Previously, he served as Vice President of Metall from 2002. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by that union since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 

&ldquo;With his very long and solid background in the trade union movement, Stefan will be an excellent leader of the Social Democratic Party,&rdquo; said IF Metall and ICEM Vice President Anders Ferbe. &ldquo;He has the power that can give stability and strength to our party.&rdquo; 

The Social Democratic Party had long been the dominant political party in Sweden, establishing the Nordic nation as a model of social fairness and justice both inside Sweden and throughout the world. But in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010, the leftish party was dethroned and a center-right ruling coalition government took control. 

Warda, in his letter, pledged that the ICEM &ldquo;will stand with you in order that the Social Democratic Party once again not only leads Sweden, but continues to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow.&rdquo;
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L&ouml;fven was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He served as shop steward, sector president and branch president. 

Before his nomination was publicly announced by the Social Democrats&rsquo; Executive yesterday afternoon, he addressed staff of IF Metall, and said, &ldquo;I will keep my roots and my ideas about working life and social welfare for the benefit of all workers, not least of all the members of IF Metall.&rdquo;

IF Metall’s Löfven Takes Reigns of Sweden’s Social Democratic Party

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With company after company in the UK private sector seeking to shut off workers&rsquo; final pension schemes, it comes as a relief that one company heeded a union&rsquo;s concerns and cancelled such a plan for now. 
 
ICEM affiliate Unite the Union on 12 January convinced German luxury auto maker BMW to back away from closing its final pension salary scheme to new workers, and to retreat from implementing a loophole in Britain&rsquo;s new Agency Workers&rsquo; Regulation (AWR) that would allow BMW to directly employ agency workers on contracts that pay as much as 20% less than permanent workers of the company. 
 
The loophole, Regulation 10 of the AWR and also known as the &ldquo;Swedish Derogation&rdquo; language, would allow an employer to take workers employed by labour hire firms onto their payrolls, but to avoid the equal-pay for equal-work principal of the AWR. 
<img src="" width="103" height="160" alt="" />
In December when BMW announced its intention to move ahead with the two regressive changes, Unite responded that it would consult workplace leaders towards an industrial ballot. If voted and approved, such possible strike action would have occurred for 7,000 Unite members at four BMW plants, including Swindon, Cowley, Hams Hall near Birmingham, and the Rolls Royce factory in Goodwood. 
 
But talks between Unite, its BMW shop stewards and management two weeks ago convinced UK management to forego closing off the pension scheme to new hires and not to use the &ldquo;Swedish Derogation&rdquo; model. Instead, BMW agreed to engage Unite and its shop-floor leaders from all four plants in dialogue on a positive path forward without the harsh workplace changes. 
 
Unite National Officer Roger Madisson commented, &ldquo;As always we are prepared to have meaningful discussions with companies in the car industry. Unite is determined to protect all the terms and conditions of our members and ensure that agency workers are treated fairly, in the true spirit of the agency workers&rsquo; legislation.&rdquo; 
 
Unite&rsquo;s Cowley plant Convenor Chris Bond told the Oxford Mail, &ldquo;I am over the moon about it. The company has listened to our concerns. (Industrial action) has been averted for now.&rdquo; 
 
As for UK BMW management, it said in a statement, &ldquo;The company and Unite, the union, have jointly agreed to enter into discussions relating to the use of agency staff. We agreed to go back into discussions with the union on the pensions scheme and the AWR.&rdquo;

In UK, BMW Backs Off Closing Pension Scheme, Implementing Temp Work Exception

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A month-long strike by the ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) in the US continues, despite a union proposal put forward in a US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) session on 13 January that would save the company pension costs, while preserving workers&rsquo; health care benefits &ndash; the key issue in the strike. 
 
The work stoppage by 90 members of IBT Local 25 in Massachusetts against Paris-based Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s wholly-owned CertainTeed subsidiary began on 19 December over unreasonable demands to reduce workers&rsquo; health insurance benefits. In the FMCS session, the union showed how CertainTeed could save costs by taking advantage of a new programme offered by the New England Teamsters Pension Fund in exchange for remaining in a joint union-management health care fund. 
 
CertainTeed refused the offer. On 13 January, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote to Local 25 President Sean O&rsquo;Brien and IBT President James Hoffa, stating that the dispute would receive the ICEM&rsquo;s highest priority and would be brought to the attention of French trade unions and senior executives at Saint-Gobain in Paris. That <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1.ICEM.Teamsters%20Local%2025.US.pdf ">ICEM letter</a> can be seen here. 
<img alt="" src="" width="154" height="160" />
Now with the company turning away from a common sense resolve to the dispute, IBT Local 25 will broaden the Norwood, Massachusetts, strike within the US and has begun handbilling workers at other CertainTeed factories there. The company manufactures asphalt roofing shingles, gypsum wallboard, and insulated fiberglass products. 
 
The strike started when CertainTeed, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, sought to remove itself from the joint health care plan and opting for an inferior company-controlled plan that contains far fewer benefits. The cost to the company would be less, but workers would have far fewer health benefits, leaving them largely unprotected financially from illness or injury. 
 
&ldquo;The company has become the epitome of greed, treating its workforce unfairly without regard for health and welfare and job security,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Brien, the principal officer of 11,000-member IBT Local 25. 
 
At this point in the strike, CertainTeed workers would be without health insurance of any kind. But at a strike manifestation rally in front of plant gates on 5 January, O&rsquo;Brien announced that Local 25&rsquo;s Health and Welfare Fund would continue to provide health insurance at a cost to the union. The ICEM commends Local 25 for this social responsibility. 
 
Saint-Gobain increased its stake in CertainTeed from 32% to 57% in 1976, and then gained total ownership in 1988. In 1998, CertainTeed bought the Norwood plant from Bird &amp; Sons. Local 25&rsquo;s so-called Taft-Hartley health care plan &ndash; the union-management plan administered by the union &ndash; pre-dates CertainTeed&rsquo;s ownership of the Norwood plant and Local 25 and CertainTeed&rsquo;s Massachusetts workers are adamant that it be retained.

Saint-Gobain’s CertainTeed Balks at ‘Common Sense’ End to US Teamster Strike

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The major trade union at KGHM Polska Miedź SA, the ICEM-affiliated Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers&rsquo; Section of NSZZ Solidarność, announced last week it would protest against the Polish government&rsquo;s draft legislation to impose an unusually high minerals tax on the partially state-owned copper and silver company. 
 
The union, along with one of the smaller unions at KGHM, the ZZ Copper Industry Workers&rsquo; Association (ZZPPM), are now conducting procedural measures among workers at some 30 enterprises, including KGHM&rsquo;s three mines, two refineries and smelters, a rolling mill, wire rod plant, and other workplaces in order to lawfully carry out the protests. Manifestations could come as early as this week. 
 
The actions are in response to the 17 January draft bill put forward by Poland&rsquo;s Finance Ministry to the Parliament to place a high minerals tax on KGHM. The proposed tax, only on copper and silver, would impose a minimum of 0.5% on the average price of copper, up to a maximum of ZL16,000-per-tonne (&euro;4,000). 
 
The government is looking at the tax as a means to patch deficits in the country&rsquo;s budget. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="159" />
J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski
&ldquo;The tax is extremely high compared to taxes in other copper extracting companies,&rdquo; said NSZZ Solidarność in a statement. The union&rsquo;s leader at KGHM, J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski, said the tax would drain the company of its profitability, thus severely restricting investment and development, and ultimately costing jobs. He said the tax could eat away a full 90% of the company&rsquo;s profits. 
 
The unions at KGHM also oppose the fact that the minerals tax is singly aimed at KGHM. Czyzcerski said the Finance Ministry failed to conduct proper public consultations before approving the draft bill and submitting it to Parliament. 
 
KGHM is 32% owned by the Poland&rsquo;s Treasury Ministry and the unions fought bitterly in the recent past as the government gradually reduced its stake in the company. KGHM employs 18,000 workers and is the world&rsquo;s ninth largest copper company and third biggest producer of silver. The company is based in Lubin, Poland, in the country&rsquo;s copper basin of Lower Silesia.

Miners of Polish Solidarność Oppose Minerals Tax on KGHM Copper

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Unilever workers at UK factories are midway through 11 days of strikes, as the world&rsquo;s third largest consumer products company refuses to talk to unions about alternatives to its unacceptable and unilateral decision to close the final salary pension scheme. 
 
Workers organised by three ICEM affiliates, Unite the Union, GMB, and Union of Shop and Distributive Workers (USDAW), calculate that between 20-40% will be slashed from pensions of thousands of staff, at a time when the multinational corporation posted enormous profits of 4.6&euro; billion in 2010, and awarded CEO Paul Polman a 50% salary increase in a single year. 
 
Well known Unilever brands include PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Dove, Comfort, and Surf. 
<img src="" width="214" height="160" alt="" />
Unilever was founded on positive social principles but has aggressively followed a strategy of job cuts and outsourcing of over 100,000 of its global workforce over the last ten years, removing any semblance of social responsibility over work terms in the production of food and household goods. 
 
In closing the UK final salary pension scheme, Unilever management once again prioritises profits over staff, and breaks a promise to protect pensions for long-serving workers. The UK unions are fighting back. The first ever strike ever at Unilever in the UK started on 9 December and moved management to cancel Christmas parties and bonuses for its staff. 
 
This second wave of strike actions started at 06h59 on 18 January, with 11 days of rolling strikes throughout the company&rsquo;s UK production. It runs until midnight, 28 January. 
 
All 7,000 Unilever workers in the UK will see pension earnings hit by this attack as current final scheme members are moved to the inferior Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme from 1 July 2012, and CARE conditions will be decreased across the board. 
 
On 10 January, Unite dispatched its Battle Bus (see <a href="http://union-news.co.uk/2012/01/video-unions-load-up-battlebus-for-unilever-strikes/">Union News video</a>), taking protesting workers from Unite headquarters in Holborn to Unilever&rsquo;s London office on Victoria Embankment. 
<img src="" width="221" height="159" alt="" />
ICEM joined the noisy Battle Bus and protest on the front steps of the firm&rsquo;s London offices, with the company keeping union leaders from entering. Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey told demonstrators, &ldquo;How dare a company that generates massive profits attack your pensions, which you have saved for. We are not prepared to stand back and do nothing.&rdquo; 
 
The current strike action is hitting the following UK plants, with the products they produce: 
&bull; Purfleet &ndash; Hellmann&rsquo;s mayonnaise, Flora 
&bull; Trafford Park &ndash; PG Tips tea 
&bull; Burton &ndash; Marmite 
&bull; Norwich &ndash; Coleman&rsquo;s mustard and sauces 
&bull; Crumlin, Wales &ndash; Pot Noodle 
&bull; Leeds &ndash; Dove Deodorant, Lynx, Sure 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; fabric &ndash; Comfort, Persil 
&bull; Warrington &ndash; Persil, Omo 
&bull; Gloucester &ndash; Wall&rsquo;s Ice Cream 
 
The other sites involved in strike action &ndash; Unilever UK (Central Resources) Ltd are: 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; R&amp;D site 
&bull; St David&rsquo;s Park (Near Ewloe in Wales) &ndash; IT site 
&bull; Colworth, Bedford &ndash; R&amp;D site 
<img src="" width="251" height="159" alt="" />
Unite National Officer, Jennie Formby said, &ldquo;Unilever needs to clean up its act, get back to the table before it ruins its business&rsquo; reputation for good.&rdquo; 
 
The unions have calculated alternative business options for Unilever to make the same savings without cutting pensions. For more information on the campaign and to <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/unilever_-_hands_off_our_pensi.aspx">send a message</a> to Unilever CEO Paul Polman, go to the Unite website here.&nbsp; 
 
Watch Unite&rsquo;s excellent three minute film &ldquo;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Theeovq1c&amp;feature=youtu.be">Unilever &ndash; not as clean as it claims</a>&rdquo; here.&nbsp;

UK Strikes at Unilever Continue; Company Refuses Talks

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The ICEM has responded with anger and outrage over the latest cold-blooded murder of a trade unionist in Colombia. Mauricio Redondo, 36, and his wife, Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez Carlosama, were murdered in their home in the village of Tetey&eacute;, in the southern department of Putumayo, on 17 January at 19h30 by two gunmen. 
 
Mauricio Redondo was a provincial leader of ICEM Colombia affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) and both he and his wife were activists in a community group that advocated for better working conditions, environmental stewardship, and labour and human rights in the booming oil and natural gas fields of the Putumayo basin in southwest Colombia. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="141" />
In fact, four days before the killings at a meeting in the municipality of Orito, at a forum called Primer Foro Petrolero por el Derecho al Trabajo, la Reivindicaci&oacute;n Social y Econ&oacute;mica de Orito, Redondo was an active speaker in talks to open public protests over these issues. According to initial reports, the two gunmen were wearing work uniforms of the local oil contracting company Empresa de Energ&iacute;a del Bajo Putumayo, EEEP (Energy Company of Lower Putumayo) and fired multiple gunshots into the couple. Redondo and Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez are survived by five young children. 
 
&ldquo;Once again we witness the price that dedicated trade unionists in Colombia pay when they attempt to stand up for a dignified way of life,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda, who was in Colombia when the murders happened. 
 
&ldquo;Along with USO, we mourn the grisly deaths of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez and we call on Colombia&rsquo;s federal and provincial prosecution teams to extend all efforts in apprehending and bringing to justice those responsible.&rdquo; 
 
Mauricio Redondo was employed by Medellin-based P.E.I. Energy, an upstream oil and gas drilling company. He was a leader of the 220-member USO committee in Orito, in which 40% are employees of Ecopetrol and 60% employed by contract companies of the state-held energy company. 
 
The deaths of the couple came just days after three other USO Orito leaders &ndash; Manuel Coronado, Jos&eacute; Socimo Erazo and Julio Vargas &ndash; were threatened by calls made to their mobile telephones. It also came after a bomb threat was directed at the USO regional office in Orito. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="105" />
Said Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) Human Rights Director Alberto Vanegas, the worst aspect of the 17 January heinous crimes are that &ldquo;five children were left as orphans. This is what we leave with such murders: orphans and widows throughout the country.&rdquo; 
 
The killings of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez mark the first murders of trade unionists in Colombia in 2012. In 2011, at least 29 trade union leaders were killed in calculated and cold-blooded political assassinations.

ICEM Condemns Assassinations of USO Leader, His Wife in Colombia

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Some 80 buses and numerous car caravans converged on London, Ontario, Saturday, 21 January, in boisterous disagreement to <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division ">Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s hardened lockout</a> of 650 members of the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. Fair estimates placed the number of people attending the CAW and Ontario Federation of Labour&rsquo;s (OFL) Day of Action at 15,000. 
 
Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of its Progress Rail Services Corp., makers of train locomotives, locked out members of CAW Local 27 on New Year&rsquo;s Day in an egregious exhibition of corporate might and spite to wrest C$30 million from a single workforce in collective negotiations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="160" />
The Day of Action at Victoria Park across from the town of the south-western Ontario saw the OFL distribute red scarves to the throng as a symbol of resistance. A rock group warmed up the protestors with Buffalo Springfield&rsquo;s Something&rsquo;s Happening Here and following a dozen or so speeches, a good portion of those assembled marched to factory gates in east London to join picketers. 
 
CAW President Ken Lewenza concluded the speeches with an impassioned oratory on the current state of collective negotiations in Canada, where multinationals hide behind a Conservative government and gouge working families of their livelihoods to booster profit sheets. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;This struggle started three weeks ago,&rdquo; said Lewenza. &ldquo;But in the last five years, 450,000 manufacturing workers in Canada were asked to go home and say to their young children they lost their jobs through no fault of their own.&rdquo; 
 
He demanded that EMD quit the lockout and return to the bargaining table, something the company has refused to do so far in the cold of this Canadian winter. CAW Local 27 President Tim Carrie reminded those protesting that &ldquo;Caterpillar has a history of beating down workers and getting away with it. 
 
&ldquo;Not this time!&rdquo; 
 
Another speaker was President Bruce Klipple of the ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers&rsquo; of America (UE), whose union also represents workers in family-supporting jobs at an EMD competitor in the US &ndash; General Electric. He said the obvious; that a downward swing in wages and benefits in electric diesel manufacturing in London cannot and will not be tolerated. 
<img alt="" src="" width="178" height="159" />
Bruce Klipple
Other speakers included Sid Ryan, OFL President, Ken Georgetti, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President, and CAW Local 27 Chairman of the EMD bargaining unit, Bob Scott. London Mayor Joe Fontana had sharp words for Canadian Premier Stephen Harper, who used the diesel locomotive factory as a backdrop to tout jobs and investment when Caterpillar/EMD bought it in 2010 but has been silent and absent since the lockout began. 
 
In bargaining that began in May 2011 and carried through a seven-month contract extension, the vile American company did not move once from its stand of reducing average wages of C$35-an-hour to C$16.50, and cutting all benefits by 50%.

15,000 Manifests for Canadian Auto Workers in Lockout By Caterpillar

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The Northern Cypriot state electric company, KIB-TEK, has begun importing workers from the Turkey-based energy company AKSA to break the civil disobedience actions of members of ICEM affiliate EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. That started on 20 January, just hours after EL-SEN had abided by a Council of Ministers decree to halt a day-long strike. 
 
But utility workers then reverted to a stay-at-home strategy as a democratic sign of civil disobedience. 
 
The workers from AKSA, nonetheless, were given a police escort as they arrived in the northern part of the island and were taken to the main Teknecik power plant near the village of Klepini. EL-SEN undertook strike action in the morning of 19 January and the government&rsquo;s decree banning the strike came late that evening. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
The strike and subsequent protest are over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). EL-SEN and its members strongly believe that the government has failed to consult the union and other stakeholders before pushing forth the draft legislation. The union will also conduct a mass rally in Nicosia on 30 January. 
 
The ICEM has stepped in to support EL-SEN and opposes the rush to privatisation. In an <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4846-ICEM-Protests-Northern-Cyprus-Strike-Ban-in-Energy-Sector ">ICEM news release</a> issued on 20 January, the Global Union Federation said it disagreed with the government of Northern Cyprus&rsquo;s decree, stating Northern Cypriot law to ban a strike runs counter to internationally recognised standards regarding the right to strike. 
 
&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 
 
Under Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend a strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu said the move to import replacement workers was the wrong one. In a news report on 21 January, he said, &ldquo;Our fight is a worthy one; our community&rsquo;s survival depends on it. They think they can resolve this by bringing people in from abroad. It might work in the short term, but in the long term it will fail.&rdquo;

Northern Cyprus Imports Scabs to Break Electric Utility Work Stoppage

<img alt="" src="" width="320" height="38" />
The ICEM today vehemently condemned the deepening trade union repression occurring in Iraq. In recent days, a youth leader of the Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) and three others were rounded up and presumably jailed, and Jamal Abdul-Jabbar, President of the Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of the GFIW in Kirkuk was forcibly transferred from his job at Northern Oil Company to a remote location due to his union activities. 
 
On 27 May, plainclothes Iraqi security police in a civilian ambulance grabbed the four young activists as they were on their way to demonstrate in Tahrir Square, the central Baghdad flashpoint this year for protests. Taken away were Jihad Jalil, 27, a worker and Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union activist; Ahmed Alaa al Baghdaddi, 19; Moyaid Fasil al Taib, 29; and Ali Abdul-Khaliq, 24. 
 
They were on their way into Tahrir Square near the Green Zone to manifest for trade union rights, jobs, basic services, political reform, and an end to corruption when police apprehended them for merely attempting to express their internationally recognised human rights, as well as rights under the Iraqi constitution. 
 
In Iraq&rsquo;s north, Jamal Abdul-Jabbar was forcibly transferred from his position at major Northern Oil installations in Kirkuk to a remote and isolated company site. He had led a walk-out in defence of contract workers at Kirkuk about a month ago. The transfer of elected union leaders away from any mass concentration of workers has been commonplace in Iraq over the past several years. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM is angry that the Al-Maliki government is escalating trade union repression,&rdquo; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said in a letter to the government. &ldquo;Rather than persecuting Iraqi citizens for engaging in their fundamental human rights, the government must institutionalise free and independent trade unions in a modern labour law for peace and prosperity of all Iraqis.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM expressed disheartenment that Iraq&rsquo;s government is moving away from democratic reforms. It noted the implementation of Cabinet Decrees 95 and 96 in mid-April, which in part stripped away recognition of the GFIW and replaced it with a committee of non-elected and politically-biased officials from the Sadrist Party. The GFIW is affiliated to the ICEM. 
 
Eight years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, his regime&rsquo;s prohibition against trade unions not officially connected to the Baathist regime continues, only with a different political covering. &ldquo;By restricting trade unions and the right of workers to freely engage in democratic assemblies that will benefit their work lives, and Iraqi society as a whole, your government appears to be stepping back in time,&rdquo; wrote the ICEM to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. 
 
The ICEM also notes that last week&rsquo;s apprehension of a Mechanics&rsquo; and Printers&rsquo; Union leader is not something new. On 27 March 2007, the union&rsquo;s leader, Najim Abd-Jasem, was abducted from his home and three days later his body was found with clear signs he had been tortured before his murder. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

ICEM Demands Release of Iraq Mechanics’ Union Leader

The Pulp and Paper sector of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) elected Jan-Henrik Sandberg, President of Sweden&rsquo;s Paperworkers Union (Pappers), as chairman of the global sector. Sandberg replaces Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland, who will become the head officer for the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) on 1 June. 
 
Sandberg&rsquo;s nomination came from a work group meeting of Geneva-based ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper sector on 23 May, and the election came on 25 May by the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
Sandberg, 52, has been President of 18,000-member Pappers since 2006. Prior to that, he worked for 17 years as a recovery boiler operator in the pulp mill of Korsn&auml;s AB in G&auml;vle, Sweden. He served as Pappers local branch chairman at Korsn&auml;s in G&auml;vle from 2001 to 2006 and previously served as education director of the branch union. 
 
Ahonen had served as President of Paperiliitto since 2003. In his new duties with TP, he will oversee collective bargaining and industrial policy for 14 Finnish trade unions. 
 
Both Ahonen and Sandberg steered their respective trade unions through pivotal and successful labour disputes in their countries, Ahonen in a 2005 industry-wide lockout in Finland and Sandberg in a 2010 strike by paperworkers across industry in Sweden. 
 
The ICEM Pulp and Paper sector serves as the global coordinating and support-giving body for 90 trade unions across the world in the pulp, paper, and packaging industries. The ICEM is a global trade union federation representing 20 million workers in 132 countries. 
 
For further information: Dick Blin, ICEM Pulp and Paper Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

ICEM Pulp and Paper Sector Elects New Global Chairman

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