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Stefan Löfven was elected President of Nordic IN at a Congress held 15 June in Reykjavik, Iceland. Nordic IN is a regional trade union federation, representing 1.2 million workers of 22 affiliated national unions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. 
 
Löfven, who is the president of Swedish ICEM affiliate, IF Metall, the metal and chemical workers’ union, succeeds Kjell Bjørndalen, who retired. Nordic-In’s biennial Congress, attended by 70 delegates, also elected Thorkild Jensen, from Denmark's CO-industri, and Mari-Ann Krantz, from Sweden's Sif, as vice presidents. Jyrki Raina continues as general secretary. 
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New Nordic IN President Stefan Löfven
The federation’s action programme 2008-2009 adopted at the Reykjavik Congress states that Nordic unions will work together to: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>safeguard the Nordic model with a high unionisation rate, strong collective agreements, social security and workers' participation; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>work towards fair globalisation and to ensure the respect of trade union rights in all parts of the world; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>promote proactive trade, energy and environmental policies; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>train union officers and European Works Council members on networking and on how to handle cross-border restructuring cases in multinational companies; and to </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>promote recruitment of new members and stronger union structures in the Baltic states. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
As part of the Congress, a thematic session was held that included participation by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and trade union leaders representing the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), the European Metal Workers’ Federation (EMF), and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF). 
<img height="139" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706JyrkiRaina.jpg" width="98" alt=""/>
Nordic IN General Secretary Jyrki Raina
That session centered on discussion on the future of the trade union movement in the global economy. “The work Nordic IN is doing is a prime example of what can be accomplished when trade unions unite and follow a common agenda,” said the ICEM’s Warda. 
 
Nordic IN, founded on 1 January 2006 with the merger of Nordic Metal and the Nordic Industry Workers’ Federation (NIF), has as a basic mission to coordinate the policies and action of Nordic trade unions, especially within European industry federations EMF, EMCEF and the European Textile, Clothing, and Leather Federation, as well as within ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF. 
 
The Congress confirmed that Nordic unions will continue to work to bring industrial workers into one federation in Europe and in the world, in order to maximise our resources in a globalised world.

Nordic IN Holds Biennial Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland

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A month-long strike by 660 chromium miners in Albania escalated eight days ago as 30 of the striking miners began a hunger strike. Last Thursday, 26 June, five of them were hospitalised due to dehydration. Another four were brought to hospital yesterday, Sunday July 1st, with doctors describing their condition as critical. 
 
The strike at the Italian-based Darfo SRL's mine and one of two ferrochrome smelters at Bulqiza, in north-eastern Albania, where a massive protest was also organised yesterday, is backed by ICEM affiliate Trade Union Federation of Industrial Workers of Albania, as well as by the region's citizens and civil society, in particular the NGO Mjaft. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AlbaniaFLAG.gif" width="100"/>
Also yesterday, the leader of the strikers’ committee, Mr. Dilaver Perkoxha, was arrested. According to the latest information, he remains in the Police Commissariat. A meeting on Saturday between the Minister of Economy, Mr. Genc Ruli, and representatives of the miners failed. 
 
The strike is over safety -- two miners were killed deep in a mine shaft on 11 June -- pay, life insurance, and a bettering of general working conditions. The miners and KSSH placed the demands before Darfo a full six years ago, but neither the mine and smelter management nor the Albanian government officials acted on the pay request or on the abhorrent safety conditions. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Maps/Albania.png" width="250"/>
"We are seeking more information on this dispute," said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, "but what we have learned is that in tripartite negotiations, both the government and Bulqiza mine management have been indifferent. 
 
The striking miners and the Federation of Industrial Workers deserve and will get our full support and solidarity." 
 
The ongoing health and safety deficiencies were manifested when two mineworkers, Hysni Lezni and Avni Duriçi were killed 1,000 metres underground in Darfo's chromium mine. The pay dispute is over the fact that mine and smelting workers receive sub-standard monthly salaries compared to other industrial workers in the central European country.

Albanian Chrome Miners Strike over Safety, Pay, and Work Conditions

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On June 25, 2007, 30 employees of the Russian “State Institute of Organic Synthesis Technology” (or FGUP GITOS) went on a hunger strike for an indefinite period. They were driven to this extreme measure by the inability of the Federal Agency for Industry to settle wage arrears, going back to 2003. 
 
In the past, FGUP GITOS was involved in technology research and development, including on highly toxic substances. When Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993, the R&D work at the Institute ended. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMchemical3.jpg.JPG" width="100"/>
All conversion schemes subsequently launched at the enterprise have failed. Since June 2004, the FRUP GITOS, the only industrial employer in the town of Shikhany, in the Russian Saratov Region, has been going through a bankruptcy procedure, which has been persistently obstructed by the Federal Agency for Industry. 
 
In June 2005, the Federal Agency set up one of the business units of the FGUP GITOS as a separate entity and transferred production floors, the infrastructure , the State order, and 230 employees of the FGUP GITOS to the new legal entity. In April 2006, the FGUP GITOS itself, with the remaining 200 employees, was declared bankrupt and put into receivership. Currently, all employees of the FGUP GITOS have received redundancy notices. 
 
In July 2006, in an attempt to prevent a hunger strike announced by the FGUP GITOS union, a Joint Commission was formed, with representatives from the Federal Agency for Industry, the Interregional Trade Union Association SODRUZHESTVO, affiliated to Russian Oil and Gas Workers Union (ROGWU, ICEM affiliate), the Government of the Saratov Region, the local authorities of Shikhany, and the workforce. The Commission had the task of determining the amount of wages and social benefits owed to both former and current GITOS employees and finding a way to settle the arrears. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RussiaFlag.gif" width="100" border="1"/>
Some efforts towards financial assistance were arranged. However, most failed, and others were manifestly insufficient. 
 
In February 2007, the FGUP GITOS union announced its decision to picket the Federal Agency for Industry. After they were first told that it was ‘all their own fault’, promises were made to the workers that the enterprise would be reorganised. Those promises were never fulfilled. 
 
More workers are determined to join their 30 striking colleagues if nothing is done. The workers also intend to organise a march to Moscow and file a mass complaint with the European Human Rights Court. 
 
Alerted to the situation by ROGWU, the <a href="/index.php?id=8&doc=2309&la=EN" type="internal">ICEM sent a letter to the Russian Prime Minister</a>, stating its grave concern and urging the Federal Government to ensure an immediate resolution of the dispute and settlement of all social benefits and wage arrears which currently stand at RUB 88 million (€ 2.5 million), including wage arrears, union dues, payments to the pension fund and health benefits.

Russian Chemical Workers start Hunger Strike

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Negotiations in the gold, platinum, chrome, diamond, coal, and iron ore mining sectors of South Africa head into July with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and major mining companies being far apart on wages. 
 
Disputes have been declared in nearly all the talks, with NUM seeking two-year increases ranging from 11% at DeBeer's diamond-mining operations to higher at platinum and gold mining operators. Contracts expired on 30 June but talks are likely to continue throughout July, under the guidance of the CCMA, the governmental agency where NUM has filed for dispute resolution. Such filings are necessary before a union can legally take strike action. 
<img height="103" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthafricaNUM.gif" width="100"/>
This set of negotiations comes amidst an escalating South African inflation rate, especially food and fuel costs. The talks also come when commodity prices are high, and the mining houses are reaping huge profits. 
 
Gold and platinum, two natural resources in which South Africa leads the world in production, have seen rising demand, resulting in higher pricing. Gold was selling for US$420 an ounce in early 2005. In June 2007, it was selling for nearly US$653 an ounce. And platinum, which finds South Africa supplying 75% of the world's markets, has seen price rises of 18% since the beginning of 2007. 
 
NUM is seeking wage increases for the two years in most sectors of about 15%. 
 
"When we talk of double-digit (increases) we mean business and we are not in the business of playing games with our members' mandates," said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. 
<img height="142" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0610NUMFransBaleni1.jpg" width="100"/>
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
To date in talks, the mining companies have put forward wage offers that fall far short of South African inflation. The Chamber of Mines, representing AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields, and Harmony in gold talks, have offered only 6%. DRDGold is bargaining outside the chamber, but its current offer is insufficient. 
 
The same can be said for the chamber's low offer in coal negotiations. In platinum, where AngloPlatinum, Impala Platinum, Lonmin, and Northam are the country's leading producers, the employers' wage offer of between 6-7% falls short of NUM goals. 
 
At Kumba Resources, an iron ore producer, the NUM is seeking 13.5%, while DeBeers offer to diamond miners is 7% next to NUM's demand for 11%. 
 
The NUM knows that no mining settlement has ever been reached without a fight. Now, as negotiations head into July, South Africa's largest and most militant trade union expects just that.

Disputes Declared in South Africa's Mining Negotiations

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Some 30 Central European trade unionists from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia participated in the meeting of the ICEM Regional Conference for Central Europe, which took place in Balatonszemes, Hungary, on 5-6 June 2007. The meeting was hosted by Hungarian ICEM affiliate Federation of Trade Unions of the Chemical, Energy and General Workers (VDSZ). 
 
In spite of the many stories in the mainstream media recently on the positive economic growth in the region, reports at the meeting often painted a bleak economic picture for many of the countries, with delegates reporting on complicated and often difficult situations in their countries. 
<img height="226" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706Hungary2.jpg" width="390"/>
ICEM Regional President Juraj Blahak and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Widespread austerity measures, for example in Hungary and Slovakia, and the effects of years of privatisation and liberalisation, such as what's been happening in Bosnia or Serbia, are taking their toll on trade unions, workers, and ordinary citizens. Even in those countries that are now part of the European Union, economic problems persist. They include problems with immigration of workers to richer countries in Europe, often the result of low national wages. That is the case in Romania and Poland. Another endemic problem is that of high unemployment, for example in the Balkan countries. 
 
There was also good news, however. In several, if not most, Central European countries, unions reported successes, with some winning more and better benefits for workers. Improvements also exist in the area of social dialogue with employers, often after pressure on governments. 
<img height="187" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/HungaryVDSZ1.jpg" width="250"/>
Unions in the region reported on the increased cooperation with other national or industry unions, with some constructive mergers processes now underway. Croatia was listed as one such example. Many participants also mentioned the positive role played by the ICEM/IUF South-East Europe union modernisation project. 
 
Juraj Blahak, President of Slovakian ICEM affiliate OZ Chémia SR, was re-elected as the Vice-President for the Central European region. And Elena Petrovici, from Romanian ICEM affiliate Petrom, was re-elected as the president of the Central European Women’s Committee. She was elected at the ICEM Central European Women’s Conference, which took place just prior to the regional conference.

ICEM's Central European Regional Conference Held in Balatonszemes, Hungary

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The annual meeting of the Steering Committee of ICEM’s Bridgestone Global Union Network of Workers was held in Tokyo, Japan, on 22-23 June. The Japanese Rubber Workers’ Union Confederation (GOMU-RENGO) hosted this seventh annual meeting of the network, and also chairs the Bridgestone network. 
 
As decided at the 2006 meeting of the network, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, participants presented very detailed reports on occupational health and safety. The unions present gave the numbers of accidents occurring in 2006 at their respective factories, and presented their efforts on how they are attempting to prevent accidents. 
 
Along with the extensive safety reports, participants reported on general economic conditions of the tyre industry, as well as on work and economic conditions in their particular plants and respective countries and regions. The Bridgestone Workers’ Union of Japan also submitted substantive information and data on Bridgestone. 
<img height="256" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706Bridgestone.jpg" width="390"/>
Participants at the ICEM Bridgestone meeting
The union representatives on the steering committee include the São Paulo Rubber Workers Union of Brazil (FUB), representing Latin America; the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), representing Africa; the Federation of Related Industries of Spain (FIA-UGT), representing Europe; the United Steelworkers of the US, representing North America; and ICEM’s Japanese Affiliates Federation (ICEM-JAF), representing the Asia-Pacific Region, as well as GOMU-RENGO, which chairs the network. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave participants a Secretariat report, and spoke on the Global Union Federation’s general policies, specifically global union networks and global framework agreements. He referred to motions to be submitted to the 4th ICEM World Congress, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2007, particularly one on “social dialogue and corporate campaigns.” 
 
ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Ozkan, presented a general report on recent developments in the rubber industry, including raw materials, market trends, new technologies, and industrial policies, such as nanotechnology. He also reported on the Strategic Approach of International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and on CO2 emissions. 
 
He pointed to trends in the non-tyre rubber industry and the close links that the sector has with the auto industry. Ozkan also summarised networking activity of the ICEM in the rubber industry and talked about the recent collective bargaining outcomes in the US, Australia, and Argentina. 
 
The steering committee took a decision to hold the 2008 Bridgestone Global Union Network of Workers in the US, upon the invitation of the USW.

ICEM’s Bridgestone Rubber Workers’ Network Meets in Japan

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The national labour centres of South Africa and Zimbabwe are advising that the world better get ready for a humanitarian crisis, since Zimbabwe’s economy is on the verge of a meltdown. 
 
In a joint statement, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said if current mediation efforts in Zimbabwe by the Southern Africa Development Community fail, the country’s “economy will collapse completely, with dire consequences for the poor of that country and the region.”
<img height="124" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Zimbabwe ZCTU.gif" width="120"/>
The statement came following meetings between COSATU and ZCTU in Johannesburg on 15 July, at which time COSATU committed to begin preparations for a possible humanitarian crisis. 
 
The two national centres agreed that now is the time to mobilize alliance partners and all of civil society for a humanitarian package for suffering Zimbabweans who have fled, and likely will flee in great numbers if Zimbabwe’s current economic reality continues. COSATU Sec. Gen. Zwelinzima Vavi said 5,000 Zimbabweans are arrested each week now as they attempt to enter South Africa.

National Labour Centres in South Africa, Zimbabwe Predict Refugee Crisis

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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) again mourns the deaths of miners in South Africa. On 20 July, two miners perished 3,000 metres underground at AngloGold Ashanti’s Moab Khotsong mine near Orkney in Free State. 
 
The two miners became trapped when the ground around them caved in. Their bodies were recovered on 22 July. A third miner was rescued in the cave-in and was reported in stable condition in a hospital.
<img height="124" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthafricaNUM.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
The two deaths push AngloGold’s death rate in South Africa to 11 this, and the total recorded number of recorded deaths in the country’s mining sector to 110. AngloGold’s sister company, AngloPlatinum, leads all mining concerns in South Africa in recorded deaths with 17.
A day after the bodies at Moab Khotsong mine disaster were found, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica visited the site. She took the unusual step of ordering the mine closed, pending an investigation. Speaking to reporters, she said that her ministry would begin more rigid inspections and that profits must not come before lives. 
 
Because of the rising death toll in South Africa’s mines this year, the NUM has called for an urgent tripartite meeting to rescue South Africa's Mining Health and Safety Summit in order to address the current deficiencies in mine safety.

Two Workers Killed at AngloGold’s Mine in Free State, South Africa

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If any event defined the strength and vibrancy of a great trade union, that event started on the night of 9 August 1987 when the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began the Great Mines Strike of South Africa, or “21 Days That Shook the Chamber,” as it claimed to be called. Although the wage gains the NUM was seeking were not achieved, the strike by 330,000 black miners 20 years ago proved to be a decisive catalyst in the struggle to end apartheid. 
 
The NUM marked the anniversary last week in South Africa as an event that “will be remembered for shaking the industry in a manner that was never seen before.” It also solemnly noted the deaths of nine striking miners at the hands of apartheid police, and the 50,000 miners who were fired by mining companies for actively leading the strike.
<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
During 1987 wage bargaining between the employers’ Chamber of Mines and the Council of Mining Unions, representing white miners and officials, the unions accepted a 15% wage gain. But in separate bargaining with the NUM, the Chamber only offered 17% to black miners, who were paid much lower salaries than whites. NUM had lowered its demands to 24% at the time of the strike. 
 
Despite this, employers – led by the AngloAmerican Corporation, which employed the vast majority of unionised black miners – unilaterally implemented its offer. That caused the NUM to strike the first of some 60 gold and coal mines on 9 August. The Council of Mines thought the NUM too weak to sustain the early strikes, or to call out miners at more sites. 
 
But as the strike spread and more and more mines were idled, that proved to be a fallacy. 
 
A mining trade publication at the time reported: “The union has shown itself to be much better organized, its strike call well supported from the outset. The Chamber appears to have expected the NUM action to last only a few days as in earlier years and was somewhat surprised at the duration and solidarity of the union’s action and by its organisational capabilities, determination, and skill during the strike.”
<img height="101" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector5.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
NUM General Secretary Cyril Ramaphosa, the son of a Soweto policeman who was then only 35, provided strong leadership and staunch resolve. He also proved to be a visionary by calling 1987 the year that black mineworkers “take control … to start controlling our lives in the mines, in the hostels, and the places we live. 
 
He also said, “In the next few years, we are also going to take control of the work process, which dates back 100 years, when gold was discovered, during which the black workers have been like captive labour.” Ramaphosa also said of the 1987 strike, “The struggle we are involved in on the mines is a training ground for our people, for the ultimate goal which is liberation.” 
 
The need for struggle was epitomised in May 1987, shortly after the NUM adopted the South African Freedom Charter, began a coalition with the United Democratic Front, and marched with the slogans of the banned African National Congress. On the night of 7 May 1987, with NUM’s offices headquartered in the COSATU House in Johannesburg, special security police used explosives to blow the building up. A short three weeks later, NUM declared dispute with the mining houses over disparate wages, deficient health and safety practices for black miners, overcrowded hostels, and other grievances. 
 
Two weeks into the August mass strikes, realising that the NUM’s resolve could not be broken, mining companies used a quirk in South African industrial law that allowed employers to dismiss workers even when they are engaged in a legal strike. Some 50,000 NUM members were fired. That and the very survival of the NUM caused regional strike committees to decide to end the strike, and on 30 August black mineworkers returned to work with their heads held high. 
 
The mining journal said the NUM “has gained considerable stature as a result of its action,” adding that the union’s “influence is now widespread throughout the mining industry and that unionisation of black miners is likely to increase.”
<img height="95" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
About half of the 50,000 mines were eventually re-hired to mining jobs over the next few years, and many proved to be key organisers and effective trade union leaders. The strike also taught the NUM something about self-reliance. As an outgrowth of it, the NUM formed non-profit organisations that mitigated job losses in mining with skill development, as well as labour cooperatives and welfare funds for dependants of miners. 
 
Today, that influence is evident. With roughly two-thirds of NUM members regularly attending union meetings and a shop-steward structure second to none, the NUM stands as a beacon of light for safe, sustainable jobs in South Africa’s mining industry.

9 August: 20-Year Anniversary of NUM’s Great Mines Strike in South Africa

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At a spirited rally at the Rotterdam portion of Unilever’s AGM on 15 May, ICEM Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten issued a stern warning to the giant food and chemicals concern: focus more on long term stability and the concerns of all stakeholders, rather than on a current call by investors to restructure for quick profits. 
 
Union members and their allies, namely the 40,000-member Association of Shareholders, a collection of institutional and individual shareholders, called on the company to resist the break-up, the closure of certain businesses, or the selling-off to private equity funds, or other market capital funds. 
<img height="199" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0705Rotterdam1.jpg" width="300"/>
ICEM's presence at Rotterdam rally, including Chemical officer Kemal Ozkan and ICEM Vice-President Ben Roodhuizen (centre)
The rally preceded Unilever’s general meeting at Rotterdam’s World Trade Centre. The following day, 16 May, the company held the London portion of its annual meeting, at which time Mike Treschow was installed as Unilever chairman. Treschow is a noted master of retrenchments, having previously maximized quick profits at the expense of jobs at Ericsson telecom and Electrolux. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten warned that the strategy of creating excessive shareholder value at Unilever is now playing too large a role. “I fear that in the short term, Unilever will become prey to activist hedge funds,” stated Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk. “In the eyes of these funds, Unilever is a company from which more profit can be squeezed.” 
 
“Unilever has always been a company with a good name, a company that has looked out for the interests of its workers,” van der Kolk added. “Now workers are only seen as a cost factor. The less you have, the better. That now appears to be the thinking at Unilever.” 
<img height="232" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0705Rotterdam2.jpg" width="200" alt=""/>
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk
On 1 June, the union will submit a work plan to senior management of Unilever. FNV Bondgenoten is asking shareholders to support that plan, which couples social responsibility with curtailment of the power of shareholders. Jobs and job security are high on its agenda, as is upcoming collective bargaining in The Netherlands. Bondgenoten said that the first part of the work plan applies to Dutch operations of the multinational, but that the plan could also be applied more broadly to the company’s 200,000 workers worldwide. 
 
Also speaking at the rally were a member of parliament and workers from Mumbai, India, which are members of the Hindustan Lever Employees Union. Their situation depicts Unilever at its worst. In order to avoid social dialogue with that union, which is an affiliate of the International Union of Food & Allied Workers’ Association (IUF), management sold the operation to a shell company in order to avoid its lawful social obligations.

FNV Bondgenoten Warns of Unilever Break Up

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