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Restructuring at three Colombian plants of the US-based glass packaging manufacturer Owens Illinois has led to a situation for members of ICEM-affiliated Sintravidricol being dangerously over-stretched to sustain the work load. 
 
There are almost no personnel replacements at the plants in Envigado, Cogua and Soacha, resulting in increased overtime, employees working without rest, and overexertion. Sintravidricol presented a study into the problem to management in September-November 2010, but the unsustainable situation has not been rectified. 
<img alt="" src="" width="95" height="85" />
Instead of working towards a solution together with Sintravidricol, Owens Illinois local management has moved to fill holes with outsourced contract labour, making repeated unilateral decisions to outsource sections of the manufacturing process. These processes of outsourcing have forced workers at various stages of the production line to be relocated. Moving the work away from the directly employed workers, in areas such as machine repair and moulding, is in breach of the collective bargaining agreement. 
 
While Owens Illinois have continuously avoided the union&rsquo;s pleas for dialogue, Sintravidricol has been forced into lodging a complaint at the Colombian Ministry of Labour. 
 
In further breach of the collective agreement, the company has ended the fixed-term contractual status of workers in the cold area, again causing health and safety concerns for remaining staff who have to cover the gaps, causing severe disruption of the operational process. 
 
Sintravidricol are calling on the international management of Owens Illinois to meet with them on a biannual basis, and are seeking avenues with the Colombian government. Social bargaining and mature systems of industrial relations must be employed by Colombian management at Owens Illinois, to work with Sintravidricol towards solving these dangerous issues for workers.

SINTRAVIDRICOL Faces Problems of Dangerous Overwork, Outsourcing at Owens Illinois, Colombia

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From the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation 
 
Dramatic developments take place in Korea at Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard and Yuseong Piston Ring. Private security forces and riot police forced out protesters from the shipyard and the police issued arrest warrants for Yuseong Piston Ring union leaders who in sign of protest have started a hunger strike in the Buddhist Jogye Temple in Seoul. 
 
Following IMF's recently reported visit on June 24 to the Korean National Assembly where a strong demand was forwarded to the Korean government to stop labour repression and solve the conflict at Yuseong Piston Ring (YPR) and Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard new dramatic developments have occurred at both places. 
 
According to the reports of the IMF affiliate Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU) Hanjin workers were flushed out of the shipyard with the exception of some protesters who tied themselves to Crane 85. Private contractors hired by the Hanjin management cut off electricity and tried to limit KIM Jinsuk's possibilities to communicate with the outer world. Ms. KIM Jinsuk is carrying out an aerial sit-in protest on a company crane. The protest has gone on for 175 days now. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="161" />
The KMWU also informed IMF that the police issued arrest warrants for the YPR union leaders who staged an unlimited hunger strike in the Buddhist Jogye Temple in Seoul to bring their unjust situation to the attention of the general public. 
 
On June 29 mass rallies took place in Seoul and Busan to protest against attacks on workers whose only crime is their wish to work under secure conditions and to have their collective bargaining rights respected. 
 
The IMF urgently calls on all its affiliates to send letters of protest to the President of Korea, Mr. Lee Myung-bak (e-mail <a href="mailto:president@president.go.kr">president@president.go.kr</a>) and to demand: 
&bull; To pull back riot police and private security forces occupying the workplaces at Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard and Yuseong Piston Ring YPR factories. 
&bull; To start collective bargaining in good faith in order to withdraw unilateral mass dismissals at Hanjin. 
&bull; To lift the illegal lockout of Yuseong Piston Ring workers and to reinstate union members to their original positions in their original plants (Asan and Yeongdong YPR plants). 
&bull; To stop the persecution of Yuseong Piston Ring and Hanjin Heavy Industries union officials, union members and their sympathizers. 
 
Render solidarity support to the striking workers by sending messages of support to the KMWU international department at: <a href="mailto:inter@metal.nodong.org">inter@metal.nodong.org</a>, with copies to IMF at <a href="mailto:info@imfmetal.org">info@imfmetal.org</a>.

KMWU Calls for Urgent Solidarity Support

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With collective bargaining set to resume in two weeks time, Honeywell Inc. continues to place the residents of Metropolis, Illinois, in the US at risk by operating a uranium conversion plant with inexperienced scab workers. On 28 June 2010, Honeywell Inc. ruthlessly locked 228 American steelworkers off their jobs and nine days ago, on 25 June, those union members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669, together with 800 supporters, held a one-year anniversary rally in the Metropolis town square. 
 
The mood at the 25 June rally was somber and angry due to Honeywell&rsquo;s economic stranglehold on workers&rsquo; lives. It was also defiant because the company has dared to risk the safety and well-being of 6,400 residents of this Ohio River city. 
 
When the lockout began, Honeywell assured the union that it would not operate the plant. The company reversed itself a month into the lockout, and now has exhibited the same disrespect in collective negotiations by rescinding contract provisions immediately after agreeing to them. 
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In Metropolis, Honeywell mills yellow-cake uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) that is frozen and then sold to companies for nuclear power applications. For the past nine months, Honeywell has been using scabs provided by a contractor to do this dangerous work. The results show in Honeywell&rsquo;s environmental and health and safety record. 
 
At the 25 June mobilisation, workers and community members took notice once again to the dangers an outside workforce brings to their city: on 22 June, the US Labor Department&rsquo;s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) levied 17 serious workplace safety violations against the company and its scab workers. 
 
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have also cited Honeywell with major violations since the lockout began in June 2010. Three months ago, Honeywell pleaded guilty and was sentenced by the US government to a fine of US$11.8 million for knowingly storing hazardous waste without a permit. 
 
&ldquo;You begin to wonder about Honeywell&rsquo;s credibility when you consider the nearly US$12 million in federal fines Honeywell was forced to pay this past March for violations cited by the EPA,&rdquo; said Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie. 
 
The OSHA violations issued in late June stem from a 22 December 2010 release of hydrogen fluoride (HF) vapors. (See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/USW%20reacts%20to%20latest%20federal%20safety%20citations%20at%20Honeywell.pdf">USW Local 7-669 release</a>.) Honeywell refused OSHA's right to conduct its inspection with an employee representative despite the OSHA inspectors holding a federal warrant to do so.&nbsp; 
 
Honeywell put the city of Metropolis and Massac County, Illinois, at risk just weeks into the lockout when it decided to operate the workplace. On 5 September 2010, two days after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission unbelievably gave approval for Honeywell to re-start the final two steps of a four-step uranium hexafluoride converting process, Metropolis was shook by a loud boom. 
 
Inside the plant, accumulated hydrogen reacted with fluorine gas during a venting process, causing the boom. Fortunately, the accident occurred in a non-regulated area of operation, meaning away from the handling of yellow cake uranium. 
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For workers and community supporters who gathered on 25 June, these incidents have become a daily reminder of the threats posed by a hugely profitable company as it unnecessarily attempts to spiral downward work terms on a skilled and dedicated workforce. 
 
To be sure, USW Local 7-669 and Honeywell would already have a new labour contract and experienced workers would be back on the job if it had not been for the company reneging on a deal. In bargaining on 6 June, the two sides reached a compromise and a tentative agreement was imminent. Honeywell&rsquo;s negotiators said it would draft the agreed-upon language and formally present it the next day in talks. 
 
But on 7 June, the company withdrew the proposed agreement from the day before that would maintain overtime pay after eight and 12 hours worked, and returned to its original and regressive proposal of time-and-a-half pay only after 40 hours had been worked. Local 7-669&rsquo;s bargaining team already had made compromises to end the lockout. But the bad-faith reversal meant Honeywell was not ready for the lockout to end. 
 
The effect was another insult aimed at the community and at steelworkers of Local 7-669, who most assuredly will return &ndash; perhaps soon &ndash; to their jobs but with a bitter taste in their mouths about all things Honeywell. 
 
On Friday, 1 July, the two sides agreed to resume bargaining on 19-20 July. 
 
The overtime issue is now paramount. Other issues to be resolved, but not considered deal threatening, are company insistence that workers who take Family and Medical Leave under the US federal statute, must concurrently take vacation leave; a different pension pan for future new hires; and company-paid meal allowance for staff who work overtime hours. 
 
At the Saturday, 25 June rally, USW District 7 Director Jim Robinson headlined the event. He and steelworkers and retirees from Chicago and northern Indiana travelled seven hours on buses to support Local 7-669. The ICEM calls on Honeywell to stop its hazardous conduct in America&rsquo;s heartland, and to reach satisfactory terms with USW Local 7-669.

Honeywell Threatens Safety by Extending Lockout of USW Members

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General Electric (GE) workers in America ratified a four-year labour agreement in late June that now sets a pattern for 15,200 unionised GE workers in the US. Members of both ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers&rsquo; of America (UE) and the International Union of Electrical Workers / Communication Workers of America (IUE/CWA), representing 11,500 of those workers, gave approval to the deal in local-by-local voting at some 40 union branches in late June. 
 
The new collective agreement came together on the final expiry day of the past contract, 19 June. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4501-Tentative-Pact-Reached-in-US-for-15-000-General-Electric-Workers">ICEM news article</a> of 20 June here.) The contract calls for adequate wage, bonus, and retirement provisions over the next four years, but it also contains concessions on health care coverage.&nbsp; 
 
The UE said the new contract &ldquo;contains some improvements as well as some major deficiencies,&rdquo; and blamed the deficiencies on a difficult bargaining climate and GE&rsquo;s anti-union tendencies in the US. Nevertheless, the UE-GE Conference Board of America&rsquo;s independent union recommended acceptance of the four-year proposal on 23 June. 
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The IUE/CWA also recommended the agreement. &ldquo;These were difficult negotiations in a difficult economic climate,&rdquo; stated said IUE-CWA GE and Aerospace Conference Board Chairman Bob Santamoor. &ldquo;Members evaluated the package as whole and found it acceptable.&rdquo; Thirty-four IUE/CWA local branches, representing 7,800 GE workers, voted accumulatively by 70% in separate branch referendums for overall acceptance. The UE did not announce its vote tally. 
 
The agreement calls for a first-year bonus due this month of US$5,000, with benefit increases in proportion to that award. In June 2012, workers will get a 2.25% increase, while in 2013 and 2014, wage hikes of 2.5% and 3% will go into effect. GE will outlay US$76 million for the first-year bonuses. 
 
Union members will receive modest pension benefits over the life of the agreement, and will see an improved cost-of-living formula each year. That benefit represents a 12% improvement over the past formula in inflation protection. The unions also won an additional sick day per year and added vacation days. 
 
Modifications were made regarding the Special Early Retirement Option (SERO), with a window reopener in 2011 for 400 applicants ages 55 to 59 with 30 years of service. A Voluntary Retirement Incentive Payment (VRIP) window was also negotiated for workers 60 years or older. 
 
The health care concession is higher yearly deductibles on medical care and benefit reductions to a co-payment system for health care visits and prescription drugs. These regressive contract changes regarding health care costs bring unionized workers down to levels unilaterally imposed by GE for non-union salaried workers. 
 
Of the majority of 11,500 GE workers represented by the IUE/CWA and UE, the IUE/CWA covers workers at GE Appliance and Lighting Division factories in Louisville, Kentucky, Aviation Division plants in Lynn, Massachusetts, and an Energy Division plant in Schenectady, New York. The UE represents GE Transportation Division workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Energy Division workers in Fort Edward, New York. The unions also represent scores of workers at smaller GE worksites that supply products to these bigger factories. 
 
The contract also serves as the template for collective agreements for eight other US unions that represent GE workers.

Four-year GE Pact Takes Effect in USA

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The ICEM-affiliated Brazil Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified Federation (FUP) conducted three days of selected work stoppages from 6-8 July at selected workplaces of state-controlled Petr&oacute;leo Brasileiro, or Petrobr&aacute;s. The protests reflect the union&rsquo;s disgruntlement with the profit-sharing plan of the company, and work slowdowns occurred at some 65 worksites. 
 
FUP is seeking higher profit-sharing payouts than the current and outdated 12% put in place in 2008. The union is demanding that workers receive an amount equal to the 25% dividend payments made to Petrobr&aacute;s shareholders. The company, which ranks in the top of the world&rsquo;s oil and gas producers, saw profits grow last year to R$35.2 billion, or US$22.7 billion. 
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FUP demands also call on the 56% state-owned company to drop special bonus payments to executives. 
 
The strikes began 6 July at 35 offshore platforms in the ultra-deep Campos Basin off Brazil&rsquo;s southeastern coast and spread the next day to exploration and production worksites in northern Bahia and Cear&aacute; states. Reduction of work hours on 7 July also occurred at the Cacimbas gas production plant in Espirito Santo state in southeastern Brazil. 
 
On 8 July, FUP members delayed the start of their work day at the Campo do Amaro and Rancho da Forquiha on-land oilfields in northeastern Rio Grande do Norte state. And job actions also occurred at several of the company&rsquo;s 11 refineries, bio-diesel plants, and administrative offices. 
 
Petrobr&aacute;s is Brazil&rsquo;s largest corporation, the country&rsquo;s leader retailer of oil and fuel-based products, and operates subsidiaries in 27 countries.

FUP Members in Brazil Conduct Short Strikes at Petrobrás

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The second union-wide Conference for the Electric Power Industry was held in Boston USA on 12-13 July, with 60 delegates from 19 countries attending. The ICEM conference was aptly hosted by the Utility Workers&rsquo; Union of America (UWUA), which turned out delegates from several electric power branch unions. 
 
Delegates adopted a strong statement condemning recent trends in electric power that prioritise profit-making at the expense of the public good. The statement said unions must continue to promote democratic energy policies, and noted, &ldquo;Increased globalisation in the Electric Power sector necessitates increased international contacts between unions in the parent multinational country with unions in the countries subject to new investments by these companies.&rdquo; (The full ICEM Electric Power <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1Conclusions%20of%20ICEM%20World%20Conference%20for%20the%20Electric%20Power%20Industry%20Boston%20July%2012.pdf">Conference conclusions</a> can be viewed here.)&nbsp;
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Denryoku Soren&rsquo;s Manabu Sasaki
A highlight of the event was a thorough presentation on the work done to save the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant station in Japan following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Members of the ICEM-affiliated Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Japan, or Denryoku Soren, gave heart-rendering descriptions of their work to cool down reactors after the tsunami cut power to the northeast Japan power station. 
 
The union&rsquo;s policy officer, Takashi Wakasugi, who hails from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said that no one has died from radiation exposure at Fukushima, although two young workers were trapped and killed by the tsunami in the turbine building basement of the 4th reactor. That reactor was on a maintenance shutdown at the time. Eleven Denryoku Soren members and another 180 family members lost their lives away from the plant and over 6,000 homes of union members have been destroyed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="129" height="161" />
NUM Education Chairperson Helen Diatile Inspired Delegates for Greater Solidarity
Since mid-March, the union has dispatched some 3,500 volunteers from Denryoku Soren in aid and rescue missions. The Japanese unionists, including Kiyoaki Kotabe and Manabu Sasaki, stressed that the natural disaster also affected coal-fired power stations in Fukushima Prefecture, including the Haramachi power plant where some workers were killed. Nuclear power, Sasaki said, accounts for less than 30% of Japan&rsquo;s power mix. With total electric supply decreasing to 55% after the twin natural disasters, the bulk of the loss came from outages at coal- oil- and gas-fired plants. 
 
The unionists were critical of Japan&rsquo;s current government administration for laying blame on the utilities and on workers. They said the government insists on imposing indemnity on the affected utilities, and has submitted a bill to Parliament that ultimately would encourage layoffs of Denryoku Soren members and the lowering of working conditions to the bare minimum. 
 
&ldquo;We at Denryoku Soren will continue to fight to stabilise the situation at Fukushima Daiichi,&rdquo; stated Sasaki, the union&rsquo;s Social and Industrial Policy Officer. &ldquo;We will face all predicaments bravely to secure the safety of the Japanese people and by all and any means, we will restore and revitalize East Japan, which suffered devastating damage. 
 
&ldquo;What has supported us while we fight for this has been the strong solidarity by the member unions of the ICEM.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="151" height="162" />
UWUA President Mike Langford
The Electric Conference also included panels on campaigning and on networking, with the latter including the ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Electric Power Workers&rsquo; Network by Japanese Affiliates&rsquo; Federation (JAF) General Secretary Yoshio Sato, the Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Network by David Shier, and an inspired presentation by&nbsp;Ndlela Radebe of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on the newly created Southern Africa Energy Network. 
 
Campaign presentations were made by UWUA Local 389 President Dave Leonardi on the successful UWUA-ICEM campaign to achieve a first collective agreement with waste-to-energy company Covanta in the US, and on privatisation fight-backs by David Black of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) in British Colombia and by Saffet Asiksou and Huseyln Sonmezoglu of the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Union (El-Sen). 
 
UWUA President Mike Langford also directly addressed the &ldquo;virus&rdquo; of the US that is slowly permeating both developed and developing nations of the world, and said trade unions must rise up to unite against such &ldquo;anti-people, anti-society practices.&rdquo;

ICEM’s Electric Conference Condemns Profiteering by Private-Sector Providers

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The two-week strike by 120,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers&rsquo; of South Africa (NUMSA) ended over the weekend when union members accepted a three-year contract from the Steel and Engineering Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA), the main metal employers&rsquo; federation in South Africa. 
 
NUMSA members will receive a first-year pay rise of 10% effective 1 July 2011. In the second and third years, metalworkers will receive no less than 8% in each year. If the consumer price index (CPI) is less than that percentage, the 8% increases will take hold; if it exceeds 8%, workers will receive 2% above the CPI. 
 
&ldquo;We ran a successful action,&rdquo; NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim said of the strike that began 4 July. &ldquo;We applied excellent pressure, workers were firm in their determination, and the timing for settling was good before the country&rsquo;s economy was bruised.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="159" />
NUMSA Manifestation on 12 July
Jim said another fundamental issue resolved concerned labour brokers. Contract language was improved whereby labour brokers are allowed to deploy workers for only a four-month period. If a labour broker is retained for more than that period that broker&rsquo;s workers will win full-time, permanent positions with the primary employer inclusive of all social benefits. Workers will begin returning to jobs today and tomorrow, 19 July. 
 
Meanwhile, talks between the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) and several employers&rsquo; federations resume today. Some 70,000 CEPPWAWU members have been striking since 11 July against scores of employers in the petroleum, pharmaceutical, glass, plastics, industrial chemicals, fast-moving consumer goods, and pulp, paper, and wood products sectors. 
 
By far the biggest impact of those strikes has been in petroleum distribution businesses. The CEPPWAWU strike there has created panic buying and fuel shortages, with the seven members of the South African Petroleum Industry Association unable to move supplies to market from the country&rsquo;s 130 fuel depots.
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
CEPPWAWU Members March in Johannesburg, 11 July
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s strikes were joined last week across several sectors by 14,000 members of the South African Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (SACWU) and 10,000 members of the General Industrial Workers&rsquo; Union of South Africa (GIWUSA). 
 
The unions are seeking wage increases ranging from 11% to 13%, while respective industries are offering only 6.5% to 7%. ICEM-affiliated CEPPWAWU seeks a complete ban on labour brokers, a minimum month wage of R6,000 (&euro;615), six months paid maternity leave, and a 40-hour work-week. 
 
The strike, specifically in regard to fuel shortages and transport, is expected to be exacerbated starting today with the start of the third trimester of school in South Africa. Some of the companies affected are petrol giants BP Southern Africa, Chevron SA, Engen Petroleum, PetroSA, Shell SA, and Total SA; pharmaceutical companies Adcock Ingram, Aspen Pharmaceutical, and Pharmacare; consumer companies Revlon and Colgate; the industrial chemicals company Sasol, as well as Nampak Glass and paper companies Sappi and Mondi. 
 
South African strikes were amplified this winter by a PricewaterhouseCoopers&rsquo; report showing that executive pay trends of the 40 top-listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange saw median pay increases of 23.3%, while executive bonuses rose 56%.

Metal Strike Ends in South Africa; CEPPWAWU Resumes Talks Today

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A branch of ICEM Indonesian affiliate FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), ended an eight-day strike on 13 July against US-based Freeport-McMoRan at the Grasberg copper and gold mine in eastern Papua province on New Guinea Island. Some 10,000 of the mine&rsquo;s 18,000 workers downed tools on 4 July after management refused to hear wage demands of the PT Freeport branch of FSP-KEP, instead firing six trade union leaders. 
 
In the negotiated end to the strike that included the union, managers, and local government representatives, Freeport-McMoRan agreed to reinstate the six with backpay for duration of the strike and to also pay the 10,000 strikers their wages over the eight days. 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="89" />
4 July March to Kuala Kencana
Grasberg Managing Director Armando Mahler also agreed to fully recognise the democratically-elected leaders of PT Freeport, and to commence full negotiations toward a new collective agreement on 20 July. Union miners are seeking a doubling of their pay from the equivalent of US$1.50 per hour to US$3. Of Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s eight global mining enterprises, Grasberg is the company&rsquo;s biggest profit contributor, but also pays the lowest salaries. 
 
The company said it was losing US$23 million per day due to the strike. In the opening day of the strike, thousands of miners marched from Timika city to Kuala Kencana, the company&rsquo;s mining town complex, where they were met by hostility from company security teams. 
 
Grasberg is the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and third largest copper mine. The open-cast mining operations sit atop a peak of the Puncak Jaya, Indonesia&rsquo;s highest mountain. The company has a history there of providing only a small fraction of revenues for development, which in part has caused political friction between ethnic Melanesian Papuans and the Indonesian provincial and federal government authorities. 
 
In non-related Indonesian news regarding the 2004 Social Security law, a key ruling was made by the National Court of Central Jakarta on 13 July. The court found the Indonesian President, Vice-President, eight Ministers, and the Head of Parliament all guilty of failing to implement the national law. The court called on the defendants to implement the legislation immediately. 
<img alt="" src="" width="255" height="160" />
National Court, Central Jakarta
The law represents a significant step towards improving the lives of ordinary people in Indonesia. However, the government of General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has failed to properly implement the legislation. The Social Security law demands programmes to cover five major policy areas: health insurance, employment injury, old-age, pensions, and death benefits. Employers are obliged to enroll their employees in the Social Security schemes and to jointly pay the contributions. 
 
The three large national trade union confederations KSPI, KSPSI, and KSBSI are united in support of this important reform legislation. A final decision is expected to be made on 22 July.

Indonesia Mine Union Wins Strike, Reinstatement of Sacked Union Leaders

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The global ICEM family last week congratulated the victory by South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to block Brazilian mining group Vale&rsquo;s efforts to invest in the country, and to operate elsewhere in the region. Vale&rsquo;s anti-union behaviour throughout the world, most notably against the United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada, led NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni to describe the company as &ldquo;one of the world&rsquo;s leading labour exploiters.&rdquo; 
 
The base-metals mining company Metorex, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, had been a long-term acquisition target for Vale. The South Africa-based miner has extensive copper and cobalt mining operations, and prospective growth projects, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Zambia. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="142" />
Frans Baleni
The announcement that Vale were pulling out of the Metorex bid, due to strong pressure from the union, was welcome news on 12 July. If the mining multinational had continued its pursuit, NUM was set to challenge the takeover in the South African Competition Commission. 
 
The alternative bidder for Metorex, the Chinese company Jinchuan, also has a negative labour relations history and is not being welcomed by the NUM. The defeat of Vale will give a stark warning to Jinchuan of the NUM&rsquo;s strength. Baleni warned Jinchuan that &ldquo;when in South Africa, do as South Africans do.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated Baleni on the victory, describing it as &ldquo;another example of the strength of Africa&rsquo;s predominant trade union.&rdquo; 
 
Jinchuan has offered R 9.1 billion (&euro;930 million) for Metorex, and the company&rsquo;s board has recommended that shareholders accept the offer.

NUM Succeeds in Blocking Vale’s Bid for Metorex in Southern Africa

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The funeral was held on 4 June for 22 year old worker Roshane Chanaka in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka. Chanaka was killed on 30 May, when police opened fire on workers protesting in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone, against the government&rsquo;s proposed &ldquo;Employees Pension Benefit Fund&rdquo; Bill. Hundreds of workers were injured, 60 seriously, at the hands of the police. 
 
Police repression in the Export Processing Zone escalated to the point that workers were blocked from leaving factories, and women were beaten. Police have now handed over security in Katunayake to the army, meaning workers can not exercise their right to assemble and protest. 
<img src="" width="130" height="137" alt="" />
The huge worker outcry forced the government to withdraw the controversial bill, but reserves the right to reintroduce it following further discussions. While the 26 Sri Lankan trade unions of the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) welcome improved pension legislation, they insist on tri-partite discussions at the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) before such an important change in the law is made. 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Free Trade Zones &amp; General Services Employees Union (FTZ &amp; GSEU) played a central role in the establishing of the JTUA, and together with the textile workers, were forefront in the fight to block the bill.

Unionists Mourn Sri Lankan Protester Killed by Police, Continue to Fight Government on Pensions

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