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

	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever&#039;s Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world&#039;s third largest consumer products company&#039;s unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner &ldquo;Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits&rdquo;, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers&#039; Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK&#039;s Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman&rsquo;s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled &euro;8 million, while Unilever&rsquo;s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 208px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	At today&#039;s manifestation, led by Unilever&#039;s European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: &quot;We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever&#039;s corporate culture. 
	 
	&quot;We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman&#039;s pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting &#039;sustainable living&#039; but that he says nothing about sustainable employment.&quot;

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever&#039;s Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company&#039;s UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, &quot;We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	&quot;The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into.&quot; 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies&#039; Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever&#039;s Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 95px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

Spirited Rotterdam Rally Calls on Unilever to Save UK Pensions

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	The 20 February shooting at strikers &ndash; mainly women &ndash; of the KaoWay Sports Ltd. footwear factory in Bavet, Svey Rieng province, Cambodia, appears to have been committed by the governor of Bavet region, Chhouk Bandith. Three women were shot and seriously wounded after a man dressed in police-style khakis got out of a vehicle and began firing at people.

	The factory produces shoes primarily for the German apparel company Puma. According to ITGLWF&nbsp; affiliate, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers&rsquo; Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), thousands of the 6,000 employed at the factory engaged in strike action on 17-18 February. When strikes resumed on 20 February, Chhouk Bandith allegedly jumped out of a Lexus 470 with a bodyguard and a policeman after exiting the factory and fired shots from a high-power gun equipped with silencer.

	After firing, he fled in a Toyota Camry and truckloads of police moved in to quell disbelieving and angry strikers. Police have questioned Chhouk Bandith, and C.CAWDU believes he was held for three days, but has since been released.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Choukk Bandith

	The entire incident, occurring about 09h00, was captured by a KaoWay factory security camera. Puma has been conducting its own investigation since the outset, together with an NGO.

	Buot Chinda, 21, was shot through the chest with bullets that narrowly missed her heart and severely punctured her lung. She was near death, but now is in stable but serious condition at a Phnom Penh hospital. The two other women who were shot and injured are Keo Neth, 18, and Nuth Sakhorn, 23.

	A senior ILO official who monitors a programme called Better Factories Cambodia, said in press comments, &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look good for Cambodia when this type of violence is concerned.&rdquo;

	Puma&rsquo;s shoe workers, employed by Taiwanese-based KaoWay, were striking over better transport and food allowances, and better pay and conditions overall. Due to the industrial action &ndash; and Puma&rsquo;s rapid response to the random violence &ndash; the strike has ended and all workers&rsquo; demands have been met in full.

	The strike and shootings had a different scenario at a separate Cambodian dispute, this one at Singapore-based Medtecs, a health textiles and apparel maker located in Kampong Siem district, some 125 kilometres from Bavet. While 2,000 strikers pelted the factory with rocks, police at the scene were unarmed and at stand-down because of the KaoWay shootings.

	The Medtecs strike was over the company failing to live up to decisions handed down by a binding Arbitration Council. It has been resolved due to the strike action.

Local Governor Accused in Shooting of Cambodian Footwear Strikers

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	The third phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry&rsquo;s investigation of the Pike River mine explosions of November 2010 that killed 29 concluded in mid-February in Greymouth, New Zealand, and several experts testified to the inherent weak safety mechanisms in place by Pike River Coal Ltd.

	The latest set of hearings also reveal a company that was 18 months behind on orders to deliver &nbsp;premium metallurgical coal, and in the words of a technical services manager who resigned just days before the first explosion, &ldquo;There was no way the company would delay coal production&rdquo; because of safety concerns.

	The manager, Pieter Van Rooyen, testified that workers had given him notice of inadequate methane drainage pipes, requesting that drilling cease until rectified. Despite passing that on in writing to senior operational managers, nothing was done. Van Rooyen said the decision to begin hydro-mining deep within the shaft without constructing a second exit &ndash; and in areas of high methane gas build-up &ndash; was strictly for &ldquo;cash-flow purposes.&rdquo;

	An electrical engineer who investigated New Zealand&rsquo;s worst mining accident in 100 years said the faulty Pike River electrical systems multiplied chances for disaster since stray currents in many mechanical instruments produced sparks. Pike River&rsquo;s main exhaust fan was located underground, an anomaly to modern mining.

	In late October 2010, the company was warned by a regulatory agency that the stability of an expanded roof in an underground area was worrisome, and again nothing was done. A mine safety expert from Australia testified that the blast was caused by a roof collapse deep inside the mine, causing a massive release of gas. When the underground fan failed, the gas could have ignited from a small spark.

	For 16 months now, the bodies of the 29 have remained entombed inside the South Island mine, despite efforts by families to recover their loved ones. In this inquiry round, photos of two miners who were sighted dead near self-rescue units were shown. The photos indicate that the miners might have survived the initial blast on 19 November 2010. In the following days, five more major explosions occurred.

	Pike River Coal Ltd. killed 29 miners, including 26 New Zealanders, a miner from South Africa, one from the UK, and another miner who was an Australian national. The mother of this Australian miner named Josh Ufer is currently speaking out in Australia on the necessity to maintain full trade union involvement in all mine safety matters.

	As the Single Bargaining Unit led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) wages a battle against BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi to retain union-mandated safety deputies and open cut examiners inside Queensland collieries, Joanne Ufer is versing the dangers inherent in unilateral management control of safety matters in union advertisements.

	The final phase of the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry will convene next month, with the commission&rsquo;s report and findings to be issued in September.&nbsp; See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4681-Pike-River-s-Royal-Inquiry-Sees-Troubling-Safety-Issues-Inside-NZ-Mine-Disaster">ICEM report </a>following the commission&rsquo;s second phase hearings.

New Zealand: Pike River Mine Inquiry Hears ‘Disaster Waiting to Happen’

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	With 95% approval yesterday, Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) ratified a closure agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, in London, Ontario. The sizeable financial settlement ends a morbid chapter of labour relations abuse by a company, and leaves an economic wound befitting the worst corporate ill-will that can be served up.

	The loss of 465 union jobs is tragedy in London, Ontario. EMD proposed in collective negotiations that CAW members reduce their wages from C$35-per-hour to C$16-18, and give up a 50% equivalent of all benefits. When workers said no, on 1 January Caterpillar and EMD locked workers off their jobs at a rail locomotive assembly plant.

	Thirty-four days later Caterpillar/EMD announced it would close the operation, move production to a start-up plant in the low-wage &ndash; US$12-16-an-hour &ndash; city of Muncie, Indiana, six hours to the south of London, where Caterpillar had already assembled a virulently anti-union management team.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="156" />&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	Angry Canadians could only beg the answer to the question: What are our federal and provincial governments doing on such brazen desecration of our manufacturing base. Caterpillar had bought the London plant in third quarter 2010 and it came with a bed of government tax breaks. Eighteen months later, the plant is shuttered and Canadian-made machinery and technical know-how is now leaving the country.

	CAW President Ken Lewenza said Canada is in desperate need of a manufacturing jobs strategy. He stated that the free movement of global capital from country to country must be stopped because it is undercutting workers&rsquo; wages.

	&ldquo;We have to continue the fight,&rdquo; Lewenza said. &ldquo;Because too many workers are losing their jobs, both union and non-union, because of dead-beat employers &ndash; in everything from manufacturing plants to call centres.&rdquo;

	Severance packages exceeded what were required by law, partly driven by public indignation of Caterpillar&rsquo;s conduct and mostly by CAW&rsquo;s resolve to get the best possible close-out deals for workers. EMD workers will get three weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service and a C$1,500 lump sum payment. (See the <a href="http://www.caw.ca/assets/images/EMC_RATIFICATION_(2).pdf">CAW closure agreement </a>here.)

	For one-third of the workforce, that means severance payments of 60 weeks&rsquo; pay or more, while many will average 20-25 weeks. Workers will gain a measure of extended health care coverage, their pension fund will be fully funded, and EMD agreed to settle all claims and grievances with CAW Local 27. That will amount to a C$350,000 payment to the union within 30 days of yesterday.

	Province of Ontario law says that workers with five years of work service must get one week&rsquo;s pay for each year worked, with a cap of 26 weeks. In a company statement on the closure and severance agreement, Caterpillar/EMD boasted that 75 workers, who would not receive pay-outs under the Ontario minimum, will do so now in the negotiated agreement.

	That hollow boast fades in juxtaposition to the wider swath of economic carnage Caterpillar has left on southwestern Ontario. Besides the 670 union, clerical and management direct jobs lost, CAW expects the plant closure to impact another 2,100 peripheral jobs.

	(See previous ICEM 2012 reports on Caterpillar in London, Ontario, <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4851-15-000-Manifests-for-Canadian-Auto-Workers-in-Lockout-By-Caterpillar">here</a> and <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">here</a>.)

CAW Reaches Severance Terms with Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Diesel

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The ICEM affiliate in Sierra Leone, United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (UMU), stepped in last week to negotiate a partial resolve to a strike by casual workers employed by subcontractors of iron ore producer African Minerals Ltd. That strike, lasting from 17 April to 23 April, was marked by police violence in the north-central Sierra Leone town of Bumbuna that saw one woman killed by police gun fire and at least nine others seriously injured.

	The agreement reached on 24 April near Bumbuna between the UMU, African Minerals and several Sierra Leone ministry officials &ndash; including ministers of Labour and Social Security and Mineral Resources &ndash; produced several remedial measures to last week&rsquo;s spontaneous strike by some 500 casual workers.

	UMU General Secretary Ezekiel Dyke said he hoped his union&rsquo;s intervention would move the London-based mining company that relies almost totally on subcontractors to finalise a collective agreement with the UMU. African Minerals earlier this year began production at Sierra Leone&rsquo;s Tonkolili project near Bumbana, containing the world&rsquo;s largest reported magnetite iron ore reserves of 12.8 billion tonnes.

	<img alt="" height="140" src="" style="cursor: default" width="123" />

	Ezekiel Dyke

	UMU has been in talks with African Minerals since last year over a collective agreement. Last week&rsquo;s strike by nearly half of the workforce of 1,000 casual workers was caused by delayed salaries to some, meagre pay to all, lack of medical care, and on-going lack of union representation as production ramped up and rail shipments to the capital of Freeport began.

	On the strike&rsquo;s second day, 18 April, violence ensued when Bumbuna towns-people joined strikers and blocked entrances to the Tonkolili project. Riot police then stormed protestors in the village, firing live ammunition, wielding batons and shooting tear gas directly at strikers and their community supporters. The police action created a stampede that tore through a marketplace in Bumbuna.

	Killed instantly was Musu Conteh, a woman in her 30s employed by the catering firm ATS. Some nine others were seriously injured by bullet wounds to their legs, said the UMU&rsquo;s Ezekiel Dyke, while perhaps 20 others were treated in an ill-equipped medical centre in nearby Makena for gas inhalation and police-inflicted wounds.

	Dyke said upwards of 40% of the casual workers employed throughout the Tonkolili project are women.

	The remedial agreement reached will see African Minerals immediately pay owed back salaries of up to two months for casual workers who work on the mine&rsquo;s rail link. It establishes a framework whereby casual workers will become permanent employees of either African Minerals or their subcontracting firm after three months of employment, or in some cases extended to six months.

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

	It also mandates that African Minerals provide a full review of salaries, work conditions and job categories within two weeks. The primary employer also agreed to investigate and pay compensation to the deceased woman&rsquo;s family within two weeks, as well as provide compensation to injured victims in that same period. African Minerals also agreed to pay compensation to market vendors &ndash; mostly women &ndash; for their losses from the 18 April violence.

	There will also be a thorough investigation of the unchecked police force used on 18 April.

	Major contractors for African Minerals in Sierra Leone include the company BCM, doing production work, while UK-based engineering and construction companies Dawnus and Hawk also employ casual workers, as does South African-based Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO). There are scores of Sierra Leone-based companies that reportedly also exploit workers.

	Between the latter half of 2011 and last month, China-based Shandong Iron &amp; Steel Group Co. Ltd. of state-owned Shandong Province Asset Commission purchased 25% of the Tonkolili project from African Minerals, along with the same percentage of related rail and port subsidiary companies for nearly US$1.5 billion.

	UMU currently has collective agreements in Sierra Leone with iron ore miner London Mining, BSG Resources&rsquo; Koidu Holdings, a diamond miner, Cluff Gold, Baomahun Gold Mines, and Sierra Rutile, a miner of titanium dioxide. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Mineworkers’ Union in Sierra Leone Intervene on Behalf of Oppressed Contract Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	ILO Deputy Director General and long-time trade unionist Guy Ryder is receiving full support from the ICEM and its affiliates to be elected as the 10th Director-General of the ILO on 28 May.

	The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates are lobbying their home governments. Write to your government today. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.

	The Governing Body met on 30-31 March for hearings of candidates and the election will be held on 28 May. The outgoing Director-General, Juan Somavia will leave the post on 30 September 2012. The Director-General is elected for a five-year term.

	<img alt="" height="97" src="" style="cursor: default" width="129" />

	Ryder is running on a platform of strengthening the ILO in order to fulfill its mandate of promoting social justice and beating the global jobs crisis, with particular emphasis on youth who are becoming increasingly excluded from society.

	Ryder seeks to concretise the fundamental principle of tripartism throughout the work operations of the ILO and beyond, and to unite the ILO&rsquo;s constituents to deliver on the decent work agenda. Ryder argues that only through consistent technical excellence can the organisation consolidate its authority in the world of work.

	Another important priority of Ryder&rsquo;s candidacy is to seek to reverse the increasing global trend of growth in the informal economy.

	Guy Ryder&rsquo;s vast experience and knowledge of the mechanisms and work of the ILO, of leadership of complex organisations in transition as General Secretary of the ICFTU and ITUC, and of all issues in the world of work combine to make him clearly the deserved candidate to succeed Somavia as Director-General.

	The candidature of Guy Ryder is formally submitted by ITUC President Michael Sommer and Luc Cortebeeck, trade union members of the ILO Governing Body.

	See Ryder&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175249.pdf">CV</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/correspondence/wcms_175250.pdf">Vision Statement</a>&nbsp;for the candidature here.

ICEM Affiliates Rally Behind Guy Ryder to Head ILO

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Some 80 representatives from 20 Turkish affiliated trade unions of the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) came together in a Precarious Employment Conference in Ankara on 25-26 April 2012.

	Generously supported by Germany&rsquo;s Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), the meeting coincided with Turkey government consideration of new employment strategies, policies that have seen wide debated inside the country&rsquo;s union movement.

	Following the conference, General Secretaries of the three Global Union Federations (GUFs) &ndash; Manfred Warda of ICEM, Jyrki Raina of IMF and Klaus Priegnitz of ITGLWF, along with ICEM&nbsp; Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan &ndash; met with Faruk &Ccedil;elik, Turkey&rsquo;s Minister of Labour and Social Security. The meeting surfaced the important conclusions of the conference and the country&rsquo;s record regarding enforcement of trade union freedoms.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 389px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Turkish Union Leaders, from left, Nazmi Irgat, Adnan Serdaroglu, Mustafa Kumlu, Ferudun Tankut

	The trade union leaders demanded that the government take the necessary measures to ease the concerns of Turkish unions on both counts. The global delegation also met with Kemal Kılı&ccedil;daroğlu, Chairman of Republican&rsquo;s People Party (CHP), main opposition party at the National Parliament, on several draft bills modifying labour life regulations on trade union rights, flexible working forms and occupational health and safety.

	The FES conference saw delegates from Turkey and elsewhere define objectives of the government&rsquo;s revamped strategies, including: dissemination of employment of definite periods; legitimization of hiring workers through private employment agencies; inserting different forms of flexible work into the nation&rsquo;s labour code; abolishing the current severance payment system with a new system that will lower employers&rsquo; direct responsibilities; changing minimum legal wage applications, such as lower wages for young workers and different regional minimum wage systems; and workplace security instead of employment security.

	Speakers at the meeting&rsquo;s opening underscored the potential repercussions of the new strategies on work life. &ldquo;Flexible working forms, unlike what we are told, are costly and create problems rather solutions,&rdquo; said Mustafa Kumlu, ICEM Executive Committee member President of both the Turk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş trade union.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1205 Meeting with Turkey Labour &amp; Social Security Minister.jpg" style="width: 239px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Meeting with Turkey Labour &amp; Social Security Minister

	&ldquo;New strategies will claim to bring together flexibility and security, but we know what is waiting us &hellip; unsecured jobs and more poverty, just like what exists now in the textile industry,&rdquo; said Nazmi Irgat, who is an ITGLWF Vice-President, President of Teksif union and Organizing Secretary of Turk-İş.

	&ldquo;The government proposes a new modern slavery system with this employment strategy, and we will never accept it,&rdquo; added Adnan Serdaroğlu, President of IMF affiliate Birleşik Metal-İş, who also serves as General Secretary of DISK Confederation. Ferudun Tankut, President of another IMF affiliate, &Ccedil;elik-İş, and Vice-President of the Hak-İş Confederation, said the government&rsquo;s strategy &ldquo;has been put into place without soliciting opinions, proposals or agreements of social partners. Our country is missing an important opportunity.

	The participants listened to Erhan Batur, Deputy Undersecretary of Ministry of Labour and Social Security, who gave an overview on the legislative efforts of the government for bettering work life in Turkey. Warda, Raina and Priegnitz briefed the assembled on the foundation of the new GUF, IndustriALL Global Union, and defined the struggle against precarious employment that the organization will undertake as a global priority.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 364px;height: 128px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The three strongly cited the difficulties Turkish workers have in being able to exercise fundamental trade union rights such as freedom of association because of poor labour legislation.

	ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan, IMF&rsquo;s Jenny Holdcroft and ITGLWF&rsquo;s Ashling Seely gave specific examples from their respective sectors on the rise of precarious employment throughout the world. Participants also welcomed union representatives Horst Mund from IG Metall of Germany, Sascha Meier from FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, Berivan &Ouml;ng&ouml;r&uuml;r from Unionen and Mats Svensson from IF Metall, both of Sweden, and all shared their experiences and union policies on precarious employment in their countries.

	The conference heard extensive reports from Turkish participants through three panel discussions on precarious employment in Turkey. The panels had themes of economic, social and legal settings; the ggovernment&rsquo;s employment strategy and possible repercussions to work life; and fighting against precarious employment through union organizing. Luc Demaret from ILO-ACTRAV gave a report on international labour standards and protections of precarious employment.

	In the summary and conclusions, Turkish and global unions underlined the importance of solidarity and active campaigning against all forms of precarious employment. Turkey has been defined as one of the countries where IndustriALL will embark on a campaign against precarious work. Delegates mandated the global unions to take action, vis-&agrave;-vis the government for overcoming potential challenges arising from its strategies.

FES Turkish Confab Defines Precarious Work as Priority for New GUF

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 59px" width="390" />

	A two-day strike by ICEM Indonesian affiliate KSP2KI at one of the world&rsquo;s largest paper mills this week produced sizeable salary increases for over 13,000 workers. With strike support from nearly all workers at Asia Pulp and Paper&rsquo;s (APP) PT Pindo Deli&rsquo;s twin mills in Karawang, West Java, the union achieved substantially more than the minimum government-mandated increase that APP was at first willing to distribute.

	The two-year accord becomes retroactive to 1 April and grants workers, in some cases, a doubling of that provincial government minimum. KSP2KI, or &nbsp;Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas, the Pulp and Paper Union of Indonesia, announced a three-day strike on 7 May but by yesterday, management had resumed talks and agreed to across-the-board increases.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 249px;height: 150px" width="390">

	Last month, managers of the 900,000-metric-tonnes-per-year paperboard, writing papers and tissue mills had unilaterally decided on the minimum increase while still in bargaining. The strike and yesterday&rsquo;s bargaining lifted the wage increase from 9.14% to 18% for most workers, with increases to 14.14% and 11.14% in other job classifications.

	That translates to an average IDR (Indonesia Rupiah) monthly increase of 139,363 (US$15.12). The minimum monthly pay at PT Pindo Deli in Karawang had been IDR 1,450,000 (US$157), so the pay grid for most workers will climb to above US$180-per-month.

	The ICEM commends the KSP2KI &ndash; a union with 7,650 members at the twin Karawang mills &ndash; for the well-organised strike action and subsequent result, and encourages all workers at Karawang, including workers of outsource companies operating inside the mills, to take up union membership.

	APP is part of Indonesian Sinar Mas Group and operates some ten paper machines and 14 paper-coating machines in the Karawang No. 1 and No. 2 mills in West Java. It also operates wholly-owned or majority-controlled pulp and paper mills &ndash; some nine in total &ndash; in other parts of Indonesia.

Short Strike Wins Big Pay Gains at APP Paper Mills in Karawang, Indonesia

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 80, May 2012

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Join the fast growing online <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1383&amp;src=icem">Labourstart campaign</a>&nbsp;calling for freedom for Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a trade unionist, activist and journalist in Thailand. Somyot has been in jail since April 2011 on charges of l&egrave;se majest&eacute;. The charges allege that he has defamed the King of Thailand by publishing two articles in the magazine he edited, The Voice of Thaksin. Brother Somyot faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two articles, if found guilty.

	Somyot is innocent of these charges, a position supported by expert witnesses and human rights organisations. An international campaign has been underway for the last 12 months to secure his release, which has included demonstrations across the region and a hunger strike by Somyot&#039;s son, Tai, for 112 hours earlier this year. Somyot is charged under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. The campaign is supported by a number of international and national trade unions and human rights organisations, including the ICEM, IFJ, Article 19, and the National Human Rights Commission in Thailand.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 332px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	30 April Protests outside Thai Parliament 

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

	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.

	Somyot is now in the last week of hearings and we are concerned that a fair trial takes place. He has been denied bail nine times and is experiencing extraordinarily harsh conditions. Thai trade unions held a demonstration outside Parliament and the UN delegation in Bangkok on the 30 April.

	The final stage of Somyot&rsquo;s trial began two weeks ago, with prosecution witness hearings ending 26 April, and defence witness hearings 1-4 May.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 104px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	See more on the&nbsp;<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.

	In a significant development today, a verdict to a separate case on l&egrave;se majest&eacute; which was due today for Ms Chiranuch Premchaiporn was delayed by one month. This is likely to be connected to the large international attention on these archaic rulings.

	Somyot is one of the few remaining defendants to refuse to plead guilty. Help maintain the international pressure in these last few days of his trial.

URGENT: Join the Labourstart Campaign, Justice for Somyot!

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