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	Some 35 trade union leaders, mostly from Indonesian pulp and paper mills of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), attended a two-day workshop on 28-29 March in Serong, Indonesia, on trade union rights, environmental issues, and the health and safety record of the multinational company that is part of Indonesia&rsquo;s Sinar Mas Group.

	The workshop was intended to kick-start w Global Workers&rsquo; Network around APP, a company within the Indonesia-based Sinar Mas Group that also includes palm oil holdings and the European and North American pulp and paper company Paper Excellence. The workshop was generously supported by the Humanity Fund of the Canada&rsquo;s Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia, and the Solidarity Center of the US.

	The ICEM&rsquo;s Indonesian Council of Unions, headed by D. Patombong Sjaiful, hosted the event and aptly handled all logistics.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 229px;height: 159px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Delegates from multiple Indonesian labour confederations and affiliated trade unions, including the forestry and pulp union Kahutindo, that represent workers at APP owned and partially held Indonesian mills attended, and &nbsp;received valuable training on global labour standards contained in ILO Conventions, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN&rsquo;s Global Compact.

	They also heard presentations on APP&rsquo;s forestry practices in Indonesia, the ways and means of the world&rsquo;s three forest certification programmes, and they participated in a session on community-building that was conducted by Tim Woods of FitzpatrickWoods consulting group of Australia.

	Also participating were union representatives from CFMEU&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Division of its Forestry sector, local union presidents from CEP Local 440 in Nova Scotia &ndash; representing workers of Paper Excellence at the Pictou Mill there &ndash; and CEP Local 1092 in Mackenzie, British Colombia, representing Paper Excellence pulp mill workers there.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 255px;height: 159px" width="390">

	As well, the United Steelworkers (USW) of the US had delegates from a pulp mill in Halsey, Oregon, attend, and the US-based union provided a look at its labour-environmental network called the BlueGreen Alliance. Other representatives came from the Swedish Paperworkers Union, Pappers, which sponsors a pulp and paper project in Indonesia, and the Pulp and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees&rsquo; Union (PPPMEU) of Malaysia.

	The central conclusion formed at the workshop is that intensive work must now start in order to unite the different unions and their respective confederations at APP&rsquo;s Indonesia&rsquo;s pulp, paper and tissue mills. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Pulp, Paper Unions Conduct Workshop on APP in Indonesia

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	Asia-Pacific Regional Chemical Unions of the ICEM discussed union organizing and strong union representation inside workplaces at a seminar entitled Coordination of Trade Union Networks and Implementation of Global Framework Agreements in the Chemical and Related Industries.

	The seminar was held 9-10 April in Shanghai, China, with support and assistance from German-based Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) through its Shanghai Coordination Office for International Cooperation led by Director Catrina Schl&auml;ger.

	Attended by 50 participants from China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and India, the seminar was opened by speeches from Dr. Jiang GuangPing, National Secretary of All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese Affiliates&lsquo; Federation (JAF), and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 240px;height: 160px" width="390">

	Manfred Warda

	ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan introduced global and regional developments in the chemicals industry, which clearly depicted the rapidly growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region. Representatives from Japan, China, India, Thailand and Pakistan presented their experiences with other participants.

	Delegates underscored the importance of a strong union presence at chemical workplaces for getting more shared and added value from the burgeoning industry as it ramps up in the region.

	Another important topic discussed was trade union networking inside the ICEM-represented companies and sectors at the global, regional and national levels. Following ICEM&rsquo;s general overview, trade union representatives from major chemical multinationals such as BASF, Linde and Akzo Nobel put forward their experiences and discussed how to further networks in the upcoming period.

	As an important role, trade union networking was analyzed in supporting union organizing and struggling against precarious employment in Asia Pacific Region. Contributions on this subject were presented to the meeting.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 323px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Shanghai meeting also brought forth discussion on international labour instruments, social dialogue and Global Framework Agreements (GFAs), particularly on activities carried out within ICEM&rsquo;s Project for Multinational Companies and Social Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific Region.

	The meeting heard a number of specific examples on how GFAs have successfully worked for shop-floor improvements, including cases involving French-based company Rhodia. Rhodia&rsquo;s China Country Manager, Michael Zu, presented how the GFA has impacted improvement of labour relations at the workplaces of the company in China.

	Two trade union representatives, Lee Daeyong of Rhodia in South Korea and Vadhavkar Sanjay Suryakant from Rhodia in India, shared their respective situations on implementing the GFA in their respective countries.

	On the seminar&rsquo;s second day, participants were divided into two work groups and given the task of devising future cooperation strategies on union networking and GFAs. Specific delegates related to companies BASF, Linde, Akzo Nobel and Rhodia worked in a separate work group. All groups discussed advantages, challenges, and strong and weak points of their tasks, as well as future cooperation opportunities among chemical unions in Asia-Pacific.

	&ldquo;This seminar provided an important opportunity to drive forward union organizing and strong representation through the various instruments that were studied, and to develop networks and resulting Global Framework Agreements,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan in summary.

Asia-Pacific Chemical Unions Decisive in Unity Through Networking

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	Aminul Islam, a trade union activist in Bangladesh who only two years ago was arrested for his role in protests against the garment industry&rsquo;s miserly low salaries, was found murdered on 5 April on the side of a road near Ghatail, 80 kilometres north of Dhaka.

	Islam, 40, was last seen the day before in the textile manufacturing centre of Ashulia, 30 kilometres north of Dhaka. He worked as a senior organiser for the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS), and reportedly closed the NGO office in Ashulia early on 4 April after noting police surveillance outside.

	His tortured body was found half buried with several bruises from the waist down, including his toes and ankles smashed. Police in Ghatail then buried the unidentified body, but a brother identified Islam when his tortured body was shown in a newspaper photograph. His body was exhumed and then re-buried on 9 April in his home village of Kaliakoir.

	He is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter.

	Aminul Islam was arrested in June 2010 along with some 20 other demonstrators after they violated a ban on protests when the government raised the minimum wage for garment and textile workers only a token amount. Those charges were still pending against him and a few other trade union activists.

	Islam and the BCWS had most recently been leading a campaign of liveable wages and fair treatment against the Shanta Group, a garment supplier to Nike, Ralph Lauren and PVH, the latter a maker of garments for Tommy Hilfiger. He had also assisted in arranging news interviews by an American television network with exploited workers in the Ashulia area.

	The International Trade Union Confederation has written Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanding a full and impartial investigation of Islam&rsquo;s death. That letter can be found <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-letter-to-bgd-minister-of.html?lang=en">here</a>.

Garment Workers’ Activist Brutally Murdered in Bangladesh

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	Workers belonging to several unions in Guinea began strike action on 4 April against UC Rusal at the Russian company&rsquo;s Friguira alumina refinery in the city of Fria. The strike by 5,000 workers is termed an indefinite one and started after managers of the company refused to adhere to better working conditions for workers.

	Rusal said the strike is illegal and has urged the Guinean government to intervene. On 10 April, the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow issued a terse statement calling strikers &ldquo;extremist syndicalists,&rdquo; urging the government to take decisive action to end the strike.

	But late last week the government closed the offices of Rusal in the capital of Conakry &ndash; 100 kilometres from Fria &ndash; in violation of environmental regulations at Frigura. In September 2011, Guinea passed a new mining code mandating that a 35% stake of all resource-producing enterprises be placed in state hands. Rusal has resisted that law, even though it bought the bauxite and aluminium operation valued at US$257 million in 2006 for US$19 million.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />

	Since, Guinea&rsquo;s government has found that Rusal has evaded some US$860 in taxes due and non-payment of royalties.

	At the Friguira operation, the only aluminium refinery in the West African country which holds roughly two-thirds of the world&rsquo;s bauxite reserves, workers are seeking a doubling of the current US$200 monthly wage and for Rusal to pay their medical expenses. The Frigura refinery can produce 630,000 metric tonnes early of aluminium.

	Rusal has a long history of exploiting workers in Guinea&rsquo;s bauxite industry. In 2009, following an ICEM Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) workshop attended by government officials, the Russian industrial relations manager of the company, Anatoly Pantchenko, was expelled from the country after exposure to practices regarding the use of casual labour.

	It was customary for Rusal to allow front-line managers to establish phantom labour brokering companies in order to hire casual workers at low pay with commissions going to the font-line bosses. The ICEM considered this practice the perpetuation of abject poverty in a country many consider to be the poorest nation on earth.

Guinea’s Unions Take Strike Action Against Rusal’s Aluminium, Bauxite Operations

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	The campaign to free Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, long-time Thai campaigner for labour rights, is growing as the one-year anniversary of his arrest approaches. Somyot is being held in prison only on remand, facing unproven charges of l&egrave;se majest&eacute;, or daring to &ldquo;defame, insult, or threaten&rdquo; the King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand.&rdquo;

	Brother Somyot, a former ICEM Thailand Coordinator, must be freed immediately and unconditionally, states the ICEM.

	The disgraceful detention and persecution of Somyot is based on two articles published in the journal Voice of Thaksin, but Somyot was not the author of either piece in question and, in fact, the articles do not threaten or insult the king. Brother Somyot was the acting editor of the publication, but was not the legal publisher.

	Indisputably, Somyot is incarcerated purely for his trade union and left-leaning political activism. For those reasons, he also is not receiving a fair judicial process with violations that include hearings being relocated to distant provinces so that key defence witnesses cannot participate.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 88px;height: 178px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Somyot Pruksakasemsuk

	Brother Somyot has been held in inhumane conditions in jail, where cells are overcrowded to the extreme. Through his transfers to distant judicial hearings, Somyot has been transported standing over 4,000 kilometres in a cage on the back of a truck and bound by heavy chains.

	This unacceptable treatment has moved supporters to push hard for Somyot to be released on bail, but the courts have refused such petitions on eight occasions on the grounds that he would flee Thailand, or interfere with witnesses while on bail. Somyot is 50 and suffers from bad health, reasons why he should be released on humanitarian grounds.&nbsp;

	The ICEM joins the large international coalition in condemning the continuing use of the &ldquo;l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law&rdquo; to crack down on legitimate protest in Thailand. The archaic legislation allows for harsh punishment for freedom of expression, an internationally recognised fundamental human right. Brother Somyot faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two articles, if found guilty.

	Send your protest to <a href="mailto:somyot.righttobail@gmail.com">somyot.righttobail@gmail.com</a>. Use the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM%20Somyot%20Protest%20Letter%20April%202012.docx">model letter</a>&nbsp;found here.

	A new trial of Somyot begins today, with prosecution witness hearings every day until 26 April, and defence witness hearings 1-4 May.

	See more on the <a href="http://www.freesomyot.wordpress.com">Free Somyot campaign</a>&nbsp;website here.

	Another labour and human rights defender is also in detention on non-credible charges. Brother Sirichai Mai-ngam of Thailand also has ICEM&rsquo;s full support.

	The ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Conference resolved last week for the ICEM to launch campaigns supporting the two activists in Thailand so that they are released with all charges dropped.

Free Somyot NOW!  Unionists Urged to Send Letters Demanding Thai Justice!

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	Union members, affiliated to Unite the Union in the UK, rejected 5 March a redundancy proposal from Austrian packaging company Mayr-Melnhof that would have ended a 19-day lockout at a plant in Merseyside, near Liverpool. Workers rejected it 138-1 largely because management still insists on its own discretionary powers in disbursing redundancy packages to 49 workers.

	Unite has escalated a campaign against the Vienna-based paper carton and packaging company primarily because Mayr-Melnhof has retracted and reduced buy-out terms in this set of talks, and has substantially broken from redundancy pay-outs and terms commonly established in past consultations.

	In talks on 29 February and again on 3 March, the company proposed a social fund to bridge the difference paid in its 2008 and 2010 layoffs, with lesser packages offered now. But the social fund would be discretionary, based on subjective criteria unilaterally set by the company, which underscores Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s bargaining posture throughout this set of 2012 talks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 160px;height: 97px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Workers at the Bootle, Merseyside, plant began lawful industrial actions on 10 February over Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s intransigence with six-hour &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; &nbsp;Walkouts rotated from 06h to noon, and from noon to 18h. On 18 February, managers locked workers out and began manoeuvring to move equipment and product out of the factory.

	Workers then entered the factory and staged a shop-floor sit-in to prevent removal. Despite several sets of talks since, Mayr-Melnhof has steadfastly resisted any workable compromise proposed by Unite, and the lockout has continued.

	The union has brought the dispute to Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s Packaging Division workers in Germany, and the ICEM has issued a call for <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4918-Packaging-Workers-Need-Support-">Solidarity Action</a>, which can be viewed and acted upon here. Trade unionists inside the company&rsquo;s Karton Division, led by Austrian affiliate PRO-GE, have brought attention to the company&rsquo;s hostile UK labour relations inside Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s eight European paper mills, and PRO-GE has also protested loudly to CEO Wilhelm Hoermansedar.

	Unite, meanwhile, is preparing an industrial ballot at Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s other UK packaging plant, in Deeside, North Wales, on grounds that the company is worsening redundancy terms and conditions from previously agreed. The Bootle plant produces food packaging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to pet food packaging, with Kellogg&rsquo;s the plant&rsquo;s biggest customer.

Mayr-Melnhof Lockout Continues at UK Packaging Plant

&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 68px" width="390" />

	The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is demanding that labour and regulatory law in the province of Ontario be toughened in the wake of the social calamity perpetrated by Caterpillar Inc. in the recent lockout/closure of a rail electric diesel factory in the south-western provincial city of London.

	With that nearly all labour law in Canada is governed by the provinces, CAW demanded in a 29 February letter to Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey that Ontario toughen its labour statutes as remedy to lax investment regulations. Specifically, the CAW demands that more powers be granted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to stamp out bad-faith bargaining strategies.

	The CAW is campaigning for a stronger and more modernized labour code in Ontario because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, blackmailing workers and a community in choosing between non-liveable wages and a major plant closure. (See prior <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 145px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	In the letter, CAW President Ken Lewenza said, &ldquo;The company&rsquo;s unjustifiable behaviour &ndash; and the resulting devastation now being brought to bear on workers and the community &ndash; has touched a nerve with Canadians and triggered broad public support.&rdquo;

	The CAW is proposing powers of expedited interest arbitration in pitched labour disputes, as well as new provisions to prevent employers from evading collective agreements by using a lockout.

	Also put forward is a ban on scab replacement workers during a dispute, and restoring workers&rsquo; plant closing rights to negotiate adjustment plans. The CAW also says fairness demands the lengthening of time for giving plant closing notice, and a minimum two weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service, with elimination of the five-year service tie-in.

	The CAW letter also calls for an Industrial Inquiry Commission, as stipulated in Section 37, Ontario Labour Relations Act, in order to investigate Caterpillar carnage on workers in the province and the city of London.

	&ldquo;The Caterpillar debacle demonstrates all too well the ease with which an employer can stall out the negotiation process, bargain in bad faith with impunity and manufacture a dispute in an attempt to evade contractual obligations,&rdquo; Lewenza stated.

	&ldquo;Caterpillar did not misjudge or misinterpret Ontario&rsquo;s labour laws; rather, they understood them all too well, and exploited the laws&rsquo; weaknesses as a key part of their overall strategy.&rdquo;

Update Labour Laws, CAW Tells Ontario in Caterpillar Aftermath

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 68px" width="390" />

	If anyone needs further proof to Vale&rsquo;s global social neglect, it comes in a pair of dirty deeds committed by the Brazilian mining company in and after the bitter 2009-10 strike at a major nickel and copper operation in Sudbury, Ontario.

	One involves circumstances surrounding two deaths inside Vale&rsquo;s Frood-Stobie Mine on 8 June 2011 and the other is added legal proof that Vale&rsquo;s strong-arm tactics in firing union activists during the United Steelworkers (USW) strike was meant to hinder legal collective bargaining.

	An extensive report issued 29 February by the USW over the June 2011 deaths of Jordan Fram, 26, an equipment operator, and Jason Chenier, 35, a supervisor, was done because Vale refused the offer of the USW to investigate the accident jointly. USW blames negligent water drainage maintenance directly tied to lax and &ldquo;little experience or training&rdquo; of front-line supervisors.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 347px;height: 138px" width="390">&nbsp;

	USW Local 6500 Union Meeting

	Fram and Chenier were buried 900 metres underground by an overflow of muck, a term for an avalanche of wet rock, gravel, sand, water washing down a mine shaft. Even though USW Local 6500 is the legitimate bargaining representative, the report notes, &ldquo;Vale officials refused to be interviewed by members of the USW team&rdquo; even though union members &ldquo;cooperated fully in management&rsquo;s investigation.&rdquo;

	The <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/exectsum.pdf">Executive Summary</a> and the full 207-page <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/dfinvest.doc">USW Report</a> are here.

	The week before USW issued the report, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) ruled that Vale violated provincial labour law by maintaining a &ldquo;patently unreasonable&rdquo; stance over nine workers Vale fired for strike activity. The OLRB agreed with the USW that the nine trade unionists were denied rights to third-party arbitration by the company, and further cited Vale for &ldquo;troubling&rdquo; labour relations conduct across several areas.

	In January, the OLRB <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4838-Ontario-Labour-Board-Rules-Discharged-USW-Sudbury-Leader-has-Worksite-Access">cited Vale with union interference</a> for denying entry onto company property for one of the nine discharged workers is the elected head of Local 6500&rsquo;s Grievance Committee. The USW is now confident that arbitrated decisions will prevail and the nine workers will return to their rightful jobs.

	The USW District Director for Ontario and the Atlantic Region, Wayne Fraser, said the OLRB&rsquo;s 24 February ruling &ldquo;should give Vale pause to consider the hardship inflicted on families,&rdquo; adding that the unlawful conduct &ldquo;prolonged the suffering and uncertainty for families in our community.&rdquo;

	Vale&rsquo;s safety record in Canada was tarnished again on 29 January 2012 when 47-year-old Stephen Perry, an explosives worker, was crushed to death when a rock face collapsed on him while he was working in a lift basket. This death occurred 1,300 metres inside Vale&rsquo;s Coleman nickel mine near Sudbury.

	A fourth Canadian Vale death in 2011 occurred on 19 October when 51-year-old scooptram operator Greg Leason was killed when his machine fell 40 metres into a cavern inside the T-3 Mine in Thompson, Manitoba.

	Historically, the four 2011 deaths at Vale in Canada are atypical because the USW is a vigilant proponent of joint labour-management process safety procedures that prevent workplace accidents. But with Vale&rsquo;s hostile labour relations still simmering some 20 months after the strike, no cooperation with the union over health and safety issues is proving detrimental to workplace safety.

Safety, Union Busting Haunts Vale inside Sudbury, Canada, Mines

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 110px;height: 50px" width="390" />

	The Global Unions have released an updated set of joint principles on temporary agency work. Although there are varying approaches taken by trade unions in different countries and sectors to dealing with temporary employment agencies, ranging from total bans to partial bans to strict regulation, all Global Unions agree on a number of key principles. They include: &bull; the primary form of employment should be permanent, open-ended and direct; &bull; agency workers should be covered under the same collective bargaining agreement as other workers in the user enterprise: &bull; temporary agency workers should receive equal treatment in all respects; &bull; the use of temporary agencies should not increase the gender gap on wages, social protections, and conditions; &bull; temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships; and &bull; the use of agency workers should never be used to weaken trade unions or to undermine organising or collective bargaining rights.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 253px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Speaking about the revision of the joint principles Jim Baker, Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions, explained &ldquo;The major reason why the Work Relationships Group recommended amending the principles on temporary work agencies is that it was clear in ILO meetings that private employment agencies were being treated as a &ldquo;sector&rdquo; even though they supplied, and in many cases, employed workers in multiple economic sectors. In that context, &ldquo;sectoral&rdquo; collective bargaining might divide them from the sectors in which they were working; resulting in significant differences in salaries and conditions of temporary and permanent workers, who might be performing the same tasks and working side by side.&rdquo; The updated Principles make explicit that temporary work agencies do not constitute an economic sector and state that agency workers must be specifically guaranteed their right to negotiate the terms and conditions of employment with the user enterprises which effectively control them.

	Continued Baker: &ldquo;Another change is to make it clear that Global Unions are concerned about the effect on the rights of workers in triangular situations, where the worker does not have an employment relationship with the real employer, regardless of whether the workers are employed on a temporary or permanent basis&rdquo;.

	The updated <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/10-03-31%20Amended%20draft%20version%20of%20the%20Global%20Union%20Principles%20on%20Temporary%20Work%20Agencies%20as%20updated%20PR.doc">Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies</a> are available here.

Updated Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />

	Over 8,000 trade unionists and supporters rallied in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec, Saturday, 31 March, on behalf of locked-out workers belonging to Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW). Some 780 workers at an aluminium smelter of Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Alcan subsidiary have been ruthlessly locked out of their livelihoods now for 14 weeks, and the economic stranglehold Rio Tinto has on the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec is clear to all.

	Bus-loads of union militants from across Canada&rsquo;s only French-speaking province converged on Alma, a community of 30,000, to stand with the victimised Alma steelworkers. And the USW organised convoys and buses as well from elsewhere in Canada, including Toronto, Hamilton and other industrial cities in Ontario province.

	Some 50 international trade unionists also attended, representing workers employed at Rio Tinto or Alcan in Australia, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK, US, and other nations. A day prior to the manifestation, the ICEM held its bi-annual North American regional meeting in Alma as a global signal to the 780 Alma workers that they are not alone in their struggle for fairness on the job.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 302px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	The well-organised rally started with speeches at an Alma shopping mall, before a march complete with sound truck playing working-class music wound its way through the streets of the city to an amphitheatre. There, political and union leaders continued to chastise the world&rsquo;s second largest resources company for delivering economic devastation to workers&rsquo; doorsteps in central Qu&eacute;bec.

	ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda pledged that global labour will mobilise Rio Tinto workers across the globe in this struggle.

	&ldquo;If the ruthless social agenda of Rio Tinto cannot be defeated here in Qu&eacute;bec, there will be little hope that it can be stopped when others face company attacks,&rdquo; Warda said. Rest assured, &ldquo;we will take the indignities committed by Rio Tinto Alcan here throughout the world until this company agrees to stop the attacks against your community and your union.&rdquo;

	Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), said Rio Tinto must &ldquo;show respect for current and future workers and stop callously cutting labour costs and decent jobs without regard for the local economy.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390">&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390">&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina address Alma rally

	&ldquo;If Rio Tinto wants to prosper, it cannot break the delicate balance that connects it to the community,&rdquo; said Raina.

	ICEM Vice President and USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann had a message for the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in his country, where the federal government has turned a deaf ear to several attacks by multinationals on Canadian workers.

	&ldquo;Stephen Harper clearly fell short of his task by failing to impose conditions on the sale of Alcan to Rio Tinto in 2007 and to protect jobs,&rdquo; said Neumann. &ldquo;For someone who is so bent on involving himself in labour relations, why doesn&rsquo;t he intervene with Rio Tinto to put an end to this abhorrent lockout?&rdquo;

	That lockout was brought about by Local 9490&rsquo;s rightful effort to stop erosion of permanent jobs that pay a living wage of C$34-an-hour against Alcan&rsquo;s labour plan, which is aimed at replacing those jobs with outsourced work that pays half that amount.

	By late afternoon on Saturday, about an hour after the final speeches were given at Parc le Festiv Alma, Rio Tinto Alcan issued a defensive statement criticising the &nbsp;USW event, and saying&nbsp; a &ldquo;calmer climate&rdquo; was necessary in order to carry on with negotiations.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 212px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Turkish mineworkers solidarity for Alma locked-out Steelworkers

	But for nearly three months &ndash; until 19 March when Qu&eacute;bec public pressure mounted primarily because Alcan was capitalising on the lockout by selling excess hydro-electric power back to the province &ndash; the company shunned bargaining, preferring instead to operate the modern and low-cost Alma smelter at reduced capacity while waiting for global aluminium prices to rise. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4943-Negotiations-Restart-between-USW-Rio-Tinto-Alcan-in-Canadian-Lockout">ICEM report</a> from 21 March.)

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos Local 9490 and Alcan did return to talks for two days in March, with the help of provincial mediators, and two more days of negotiations occurred on 28-29 March. The two sides will in all likelihood meet again this week.

	But ever since the company prematurely halted negotiations and imposed the lockout on 30 December before a majority of workplace issues could even be tabled, Rio Tinto has been content to rob the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of C$1.8 million per week in lost salaries and benefits.

	With or without a settlement to the Alma lockout, the 31 March manifestation will stand as the prelude to a global fight against Rio Tinto to resist its anti-social agenda that has become all too common everywhere it does business.

Thousands March, Manifest in Alma, Canada, for Locked-out Steelworkers

Archive

Pulp, Paper Unions Conduct Workshop on APP in Indonesia

Asia-Pacific Chemical Unions Decisive in Unity Through Networking

Garment Workers’ Activist Brutally Murdered in Bangladesh

Guinea’s Unions Take Strike Action Against Rusal’s Aluminium, Bauxite Operations

Free Somyot NOW! Unionists Urged to Send Letters Demanding Thai Justice!

Mayr-Melnhof Lockout Continues at UK Packaging Plant

Update Labour Laws, CAW Tells Ontario in Caterpillar Aftermath

Safety, Union Busting Haunts Vale inside Sudbury, Canada, Mines

Updated Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

Thousands March, Manifest in Alma, Canada, for Locked-out Steelworkers

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