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The ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) issued an ultimatum on 15 June to the Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board (PEF) over the continuing victimisation of its Branch Chairman and other executive committee members. 
 
The senior staff union warned the PEF management that if victimization of its officials continues, workers would reply through industrial unrest not only in PEF but the entire Nigerian oil industry. 
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PENGASSAN union members hold significant leverage in Nigeria; its members are supervisors at each of the petroleum depots, which transport fuel and diesel throughout the country. The depots are under the control of PEF. 
 
The PEF management has been conducting aggressive interference in union affairs since a recently successful PENGASSAN campaign forced PEF management to promote over 70% of its staff who had stagnated at the same grade for upwards of six years. PEF set up a panel to investigate union member activity in terms of their adherence to union rules, clearly not the jurisdiction of management, and a breach of union independence intended to undermine PENGASSAN. 
 
In a letter to the PEF Executive Secretary, PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile warned that, &ldquo;the management of PEF is given a 14-day ultimatum with effect from the date of our earlier letter of June 15, 2011 to respect the Association&rsquo;s structure, rules, and extant laws on Trade Unions and labour relations or get prepared to face the consequences of full scale national industrial action in the oil and gas industry&rdquo;.

PENGASSAN Threatens Full-Scale Industrial Action in Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry

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A united grouping of six Belgian trade unions, representing all unionised oil workers, picketed at the gates of the Belgian Refining Corporation (BRC) last Thursday, 30 June, in protest of the sacking of three workers, calling for the company to spend their money on better terms in collective bargaining instead of unnecessary severance pay. 
 
A nationwide action is also planned. 
 
Two of the three sacked workers were union representatives of ICEM-affiliated Centrale Generale &ndash; FGTB, making the company even more liable for unfair dismissal. The three are guilty of no misconduct at all, although management have actively spread lies relating to the intimidation of a security guard and his family. 
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The Swiss management of BRC, under CEO Massenhaurer, has shown itself to be staunchly anti union, but inventing misconduct stories in order to sack union reps is new. 
 
The BRC refinery is located north of the Port of Antwerp at the centre of the ARA region, owned by European refiner Petroplus Holdings. BRC has production capacity of 107,500 barrels per day, and sells primarily inside Benelux. 
 
The ICEM joins calls of the six unions involved, five of which are affiliated, for the immediate reinstatement of all three sacked worker.

Belgium Unions Unite Against Belgian Refining Corp.’s Sackings

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&quot;Solidarity and Equal Opportunities: Principles of Trade Union Networks&rdquo; was the motto of the second meeting of this kind conducted by ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate CNQ-CUT, the National Confederation of Chemical Workers which took place on 15-16 June, through the support of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), at the facilities of Sao Paulo Glass Workers&rsquo; Union in Praia Grande, with participation of more than 60 union representatives from 24 companies. 
 
The meeting was supported and attended by ICEM, CUT, Solidarity Center AFL-CIO, FETQUIM, Social Observatory Institute (ISO) and DIEESE. 
 
The opening session of the event was marked with a broad debate on the role of union networks in national and international solidarity in the chemical industries. ICEM&rsquo;s Regional President Sergio Novais highlighted the importance of the meeting and the need for unification of the sectors. Participants dynamically discussed their expectations of the meeting. 
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Later in the meeting a delegates discussed various topics such as solidarity, participation of youth and women, network running, communication mechanisms, network models and statutes, decent work, and training policies. The presentation of research on the situation of trade union networks in the chemical sector with a detailed analysis on multinational participation and trade union activity conducted by ISO gave an overview to the participants. 
 
The participants were then divided into working groups to account for future referrals and deepen the discussions presented. Gender, collective bargaining, network funding, social dialogue, internal and external challenges, and strengthening the networks were among the topics that came up with important resolutions that should strengthen the fight in the upcoming period. 
 
At the end of the meeting participants evaluated discussions by saying &quot;we have to act differently if we want a different life, what we did here was simply to think differently&quot;. Over the next couple of months, a report with the outcomes of the meeting will be publicised. 
 
&ldquo;Networking is one of the major priorities of ICEM sector work. The work performed by our Brazilian comrades in the chemical industry is an excellent model for the rest of the world&rdquo; said ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Our objective now is to widen this drive to the whole Americas region&rdquo;.

Brazilian Chemical Workers Discuss Solidarity Through Union Networking

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The Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU) won a definitive judgment from Fair Work Australia on 24 June that grants the union right of entry to lunch rooms at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Alcan aluminum smelter in Bell Bay, Tasmania. The ruling ends months of legal wrangling and should serve as a precedent against employers from blocking legitimate union access to workers on job sites. 
 
On 1 July, marking the second anniversary of the Fair Work Act of 2009, which makes such access legitimate, AWU National Secretary Paul Howes and three AWU organizers triumphantly met with AWU members in lunch rooms at Alcan&rsquo;s Bell Bay smelter, breaking Rio Tinto&rsquo;s claim that such meetings had to in administrative areas, generally parts of worksites where surveillance and management intimidation is greater. 
 
The 550-worker Alcan smelter has been a test case in Australia over right of entry under a balanced Fair Work Act, a law that reversed many of the management rights provisions in the former Conservative government&rsquo;s WorkChoices Act. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4314-">ICEM Bell Bay article</a> here.) It also stands as a major crossing of a threshold that will lead to full enterprise bargaining between AWU and Alcan. 
 
The AWU, which counts a majority of Alcan workers at Bell Bay as members, also used this Fair Work Australia decision to re-boot an advertising campaign aimed at recruitment of non-union Rio workers to the union fold. The ad campaign, which first ran in March, states that process operators at other, unionized Australian aluminum plants, namely Alcoa&rsquo;s, are paid up to A$20,000 per year more than operators at Bell Bay. 
 
The AWU said it would use the decision to meet union members in similar surroundings at Alcan worksites in Gladstone (Boyne Island) and Yarwun, Queensland. 
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Paul Howes
&ldquo;Make no mistake, the bullies at Rio Tinto are losing the stranglehold they once had over their workforce,&rdquo; said Howes in an Australian newspaper report. &ldquo;The decision is highly symbolic of that, and I know it will be a crushing embarrassment for the company.&rdquo; 
 
That decision, FWA Case 3878, found Alcan&rsquo;s insistence on a conference room inside an administration building was not reasonable. It stated such meetings there meant workers had to travel 8-15 minutes longer from work stations, and this was insufficient time to meet with AWU representatives during average break times. 
 
Fair Work Australia&rsquo;s ruling also rejected Alcan&rsquo;s claim that the meal rooms closer to work areas were too small for such lawful meetings under the Fair Work Act and that worker-union discussions would disrupt other workers in the break areas. 
 
Rio Tinto Alcan said it disagrees with the decision, but this time will not appeal the Bell Bay right of entry ruling. The company said the AWU had made some 20 visits to meet with union members in conference rooms, and it made note of the fact that the 24 June ruling had found that the company did not intimidate or hinder workers from meeting with the AWU in the conference rooms. 
 
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Jeff Lawrence said the Bell Bay decision &ldquo;sends a positive message to other employers that they must respect fundamental workers&rsquo; rights to collective bargaining and union membership.&rdquo;

Australia: AWU Wins Correct Access to Rio Tinto’s Alcan Smelter

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Domestic workers are among the most vulnerable in the world. The 100th session of the International Labour Conference, on 16 June, achieved the adoption of the Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention No. 189, and its accompanying recommendation. 
 
The convention sets out a set of basic protections for domestic workers under law, in countries that ratify. Governments around the world must now be pressured to ratify and implement the provisions. Attention will be on the countries in the Gulf, where an underclass of migrant domestic workers exists. But also countries such as the United States have labour law protections which exclude domestic workers of the &ldquo;informal economy&rdquo;. This must now change. 
 
Domestic work is one of the main locations for slavery and child labour, as well until now very low levels of inspection and regulation, non payment and low payment of wages, and violence, with the work often carried out by migrants, and women. This convention symbolically recognises domestic workers as regular workers, entitled to all the rights enjoyed in other sectors. Domestic workers should be emboldened by this global recognition, into organising collectively across the sector.

ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers

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In a letter to Ukraine&rsquo;s President, Viktor Yanukovych, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda called for the recent escalation of government intimidation and interference into trade union activities to end. 
 
The national centre, Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) has born the brunt of a brutal attack by the Office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, headed by Viktor Pshonka who is said to have &ldquo;declared war&rdquo; on the unions. New teams have been established inside various government ministries charged with combating the FPU, and establishing yellow unions to oppose the FPU. 
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FPU Picket Office of the General Prosecutor
The illegal attack on the FPU has included brazen attempts at manipulating internal union activity. On 23 May the FPU received instructions from the General Prosecutor&rsquo;s office, banning items on the agenda of the union&rsquo;s Presidium meeting the following day. Demands for detailed information of internal union workings are continuing, with FPU leadership being summoned for interrogation to the General Prosecutor&rsquo;s office, including FPU President Vasyl Khara on 3 June. 
 
Also ongoing is a disinformation campaign run through the country&rsquo;s mass media, attempting to discredit the FPU. The lie being disseminated is that the FPU leadership unlawfully sold union assets. Whereas it is a clear fact that no FPU facilities have been sold since November 2008. 
 
The intense interference is in breach of national law, international law, and the constitution of Ukraine. 
 
On 8 June, the FPU conducted a large picket in front of the office of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, demanding an end to the oppression of trade union rights. 
 
See the full text of <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/62.ICEM.Ukraine%20President.FPU.20June.pdf">Warda&rsquo;s letter</a> to President Yanukovych here.&nbsp;

ICEM Protests Crackdown on Ukrainian Trade Unions

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The ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are teaming &ndash; together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg &ndash; to jointly host a conference to explore ways to leverage job growth as a recovery stimulus to the economic crisis. The conference will be held 13 September in Oslo. 
 
Participating in the conference will be Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreau, Spanish Prime Minister Jos&eacute; Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, British Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith, and Sharon Burrow, the new General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
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Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the ILO, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director, will co-chair the conference. 
 
The conference occurs at a time the outlook for global employment continues to worsen. According to current ILO estimates, recorded global unemployment is at 210 million people, an increase of 34 million since the outset of the most recent global financial crisis. 
 
Prime Minister Stoltenberg termed the conference an opportunity to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis.

ILO, Monetary Fund to Host Jobs, Sustainability Conference in Norway

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The most dangerous country for trade unionists saw yet another assassination, 12 August, when Luis German Restrepo Maldonado, President of the Colombian packers&rsquo; union Sintraempaques, was shot in the head outside a caf&eacute; in public, in the city of Medellin, by a hit man who evaded arrest. 
 
Prominent trade union leader Maldonado was 58 years old and had spent 40 years representing workers in the central Colombian district of Antioquia. 
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Assassinated Luis German Restrepo Maldonado
Maldonado also served the Colombian national centre CGT, as treasurer of the Antioquia region. The National Executive Committee of the CGT, led by Julio G&oacute;mez Esguerra, condemned the brutal attack, and expressed its solidarity to the family. The CGT added that it &ldquo;will not be cornered by these acts of violence&rdquo;. It has become expected in Colombia that crimes against trade unionists are not properly investigated, with the perpetrator almost never brought to justice. The CGT has demanded that this trend does not continue. 
 
This latest murder again brings into question the decision to remove Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses, by the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on the Application of Standards, in June this year. 
 
The murdered trade unionist is survived by five children, Freddy, Lisette, Veronica, Juan Carlos, and Luis Herman.

Colombian Trade Union President Assassinated

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Mexico&rsquo;s Los Mineros won a legal victory on 11 August, in their struggle at Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Cananea copper mine, as the Ninth District Judge in the state of Sonora ruled that the strike is still in legal existence. The Cananea strike, three years old last 30 July, was attacked with police force on 6 June, forcibly evicting strikers from the installations, where 3,000 federal police remain now. The large police presence protects strikebreakers at Cananea, as Grupo Mexico seeks to reopen the mine by the end of 2010. 
 
The constitutional appeal of Los Mineros resulted in admissions of both the Mexican Attorney General&rsquo;s office, and the Federal Secretary of Public Security that police had been deployed to the mine on 6 June to carry out inspections under a ministerial order. As the mine inspection had already been completed, police had no legal right to enter the mine facilities, or remove strikers. An eviction order from the judicial authority never existed. 
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Federal police violently take control at Cananea, 6 June 
Photo - IMF
The United Steelworkers&rsquo; (USW) President Leo Gerard announced on 20 August solidarity action for Los Mineros in Cananea, with the USW placing a rotating team of international observers in the city to monitor the illegal police presence, who are intimidating strikers and protecting scabs. Gerard added that American volunteer workers arrived this weekend as observers. The rotating team will join the picket line, which is often 800-strong. 
 
Government support for the strikebreakers continues, with local authorities accused of cutting electric power to some of the strikers&rsquo; homes, in an effort to intimidate them. 
 
Grupo Mexico and Mexico&rsquo;s Labour Ministry have refused to accept the appeal ruling, stating that the union&rsquo;s contract remains suspended, and that the District Judge&rsquo;s decision has no effect as the eviction of the strikers has already occurred.

Pressure on Mexican Authorities as District Judge Rules Cananea Strike Legal

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European trade unions, led by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), will stage a mobilization in central Brussels on 29 September protesting job loss and resulting service cuts due to austerity measures being imposed by governments. The date will coincide with a meeting of Europe&rsquo;s Finance Ministers in Europe&rsquo;s capital. 
 
In addition, Spanish trade union federations UGT and CC.OO have called a one-day strike across Spain on 29 September in protest to massive public-sector cuts and attacks on pension formulas and social services by the ruling Partido Socialista Obrero Espa&ntilde;ol (PSOE). 
 
The ETUC&rsquo;s Day of Action, entitled &ldquo;No to Austerity, Priority for Jobs and Growth,&rdquo; will manifest against proposed &euro;200 billion in overall cuts, which could result in 200,000 further job losses. The manifestation will take the side, for example, of Romanian trade unions which have futilely resisted pay cuts by as much as 25% on state workers. 
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The Day of Action is to resist European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet&rsquo;s call for an end to economic stimulus programmes and rigorous imposition of austerity measures across Europe. European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) General Secretary Carola Fischbach-Pyttel warned that &ldquo;as governments swing the austerity axe, they risk chopping off any green shoots of recovery, leaving workers, pensioners, and communities to face the prospect of an even longer recession.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM calls on its European affiliated trade unions to heed the ETUC&rsquo;s call and manifest on 29 September against the socially destructive austerity measures. In Brussels, some 25,000 trade unionists are expected to assemble that day at Gare Du Midi, the city&rsquo;s south railway station, at 11h30 and march to Parc du Cinquantenaire where a rally will be held beginning at 15h.

Trade Unions in Europe Plan 29 September Manifestation to Resist Austerity Measures

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