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Recent administrative and other changes regarding health and safety governance in the UK clearly reflects the policies of the governing Tory, Liberal Democrat coalition. In late March, Employment Minister Chris Grayling announced a shift of emphasis from safety and health monitoring by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in order to ease regulatory burdens on business. 
 
The package of proposed changes includes eliminating unannounced workplace safety inspections and placing more emphasis on high-hazard worksites and those with histories of unsafe conditions. The ruling government will also conduct a review of all existing health and safety regulations with the notion to scrap measures that are not needed and those that place an unnecessary burden on business. 
 
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) disagrees with the new mandate, seen as a means to chop government spending out of the HSE. 
&ldquo;The possibility of an unexpected visit from either the HSE or a local authority safety inspector helps keep employers on their toes,&rdquo; said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. &ldquo;Even now, workplaces can go decades without ever seeing an inspector. 
 
&ldquo;If government cuts to HSE funding do result in fewer safety inspections, unscrupulous employers will simply assume they can get away with taking risks, without fear of ever being prosecuted.&rdquo; 
 
Another change in the UK is a Ministry of Justice proposal for reform of local courts structures regarding who is responsible for legal fees in workplace compensation and other cases. The proposed change, which is under public consultation until June 30, would require plaintiffs that win their cases in courts to carry the burden of paying their own legal fees, regardless of damages. 
 
This &ldquo;no win, no fee&rdquo; proposal is seen as means to reduce the number the number of filings against employers by workers who suffer industrial accidents in order to eliminate a so-called &ldquo;compensation culture&rdquo; in the UK. The Ministry of Justice&rsquo;s aim is also to push more cases out of courtrooms and into mediation. The TUC&rsquo;s Hazards Campaigns sees it as a sham since less than 10% of all workers injured at work receive compensation and, as well, free legal counsel for victims seeking workers&rsquo; compensation has been cancelled by the state. 
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On another note in the UK, this one a milestone, the first company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007, which became effective in April 2008, occurred on February 15, 2011. Cotswold Geotechnical Ltd., a small geological company, was found guilty by a jury of Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire, in the negligent death of 27-year-old Alexander Wright. In 2008, Wright was working alone in an unsupported 12-foot pit. He died from asphyxia when soil from the collapsed pit buried him. The court fined the company &pound;385,000.

Health, Safety Changes Mirror Con-Dem Policies in UK

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Ammattiliitto Pro, ICEM&rsquo;s salaried workers&rsquo; trade union affiliate in Finland, is asking that white-collar workers at several paper companies not take on extra work in the coming weeks. The union seeks such global unity as it begins its third wave of lawful strikes next week, and continues ones tomorrow against the intransigent employers of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
The request also comes after government conciliator Esa Lonka today was unable to shape a compromise proposal because of FFIF intransigence in official mediation in Finland. It was the third consecutive week that employers failed to resolve a downward spiralling labour dispute by not recognising the unfair job demands on 4,000 clerical, technical, and front-line supervisory personnel. 
 
Because of redundancies and speed-ups over the past several years in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, Pro members are asked to work more without adequate compensation, or without recognition of higher job competencies. 
 
In addition to an overtime ban across all pulp and paper companies, strikes that began on 26 April by 1,500 Pro members are continuing this week at Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, and Mets&auml; Tissue and a renewed strike will begin tomorrow by 1,000 salaried workers at UPM. 
 
That strike will begin at 06h00 on 4 May and run until 06h00 on 7 May. It is the second strike action against UPM &ndash; the first one running from 6-20 April &ndash; and production at UPM&rsquo;s six mills, as well at an administration centre in Tempere and an export facility at the port of Kotka will again be affected. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro expects employers to try to break the strike by bringing in replacement workers, moving administrative work elsewhere, and to continue to bully Pro members in order to get them to ignore the overtime ban and strike actions. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands">ICEM report</a> here.) 
 
&ldquo;Pro appeals for solidarity from workers of UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, and Sappi in other countries not to perform any extra work of the type covered by the strikes, as the companies seek to break the strike by transferring the work abroad,&rdquo; said the union. 
 
The ICEM is calling on paperworkers throughout the world to support Ammattiliitto Pro in this critical dispute in Finland, and to monitor the administrative, financial, services workload in these pulp and paper companies in order to comply with the union&rsquo;s request. Also, notes of solidarity should be sent to Pro President <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, and collective bargaining directors <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen</a> and <a href="mailto:Jari.uschanov@proliitto.fi">Jari Uschanov</a>.

Mediation Fails in Finnish Paper Strike; Strikes Continue

The Building &amp; Woodworkers' International (BWI), followed by the ICEM, is targeting a message campaign at Holcim Cement, prior to the Swiss company's Annual General Meeting this week.
Please join that campaign by hitting the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN&amp;send=1">BWI link</a> here to register your protest against Holcim and its anti-social labour policies in India.
Thank you.
ICEM Pulp &amp; Paper Sector
&nbsp;

Joint BWI, ICEM Message Protest at Holcim Cement

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The ICEM joined&nbsp;the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), yesterday in launching a global campaign for equal rights of Holcim CAL workers in India.
Join the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN">campaign yourself&nbsp;by sending a&nbsp;message to the Holcim CEO</a> via the BWI website here. 
The Indian Cement Workers Federation (INCWF) an affiliate of both global union federations, has conducted a long-running campaign calling for equal rights, conditions, and salaries for contract workers, as stipulated under Indian law. Holcim India continuously neglects this legislation, specifically at its subsidiaries ACC in Bhilai and Ambuja Cement in Baloda Bazar.
The State High Court of Chhattisgarh ruled in favour of contract workers at Holcim Jamul Unit, instructing the company to regularise CAL employees and replace the &quot;sham&quot; contracts currently in place. Holcim India is yet to act positively on the court ruling. Workers at Jamul have conducted a &quot;sit in&quot; protest since 3 April.
On Holcim's purchase of ACC and Ambuja Cement, both companies were members of the Cement Manufacturer's Association and signatories to the National Wage Agreement for the sector. It is extremely unfortunate that under Holcim's ownership, this has been reversed, removing employee's protection from the National Agreement, blocking their right to bargain collectively.
See a recent <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4245-Finally-Excellent-Wage-Gains-Won-by-Indian-Cement-Workers">ICEM report</a> on the positive national settlement for the Indian cement industry here.
The INCWF, backed by BWI, ICEM, and joint Swiss affiliate UNIA, are calling on the company to enter into dialogue so as to resolve these issues, respect global labour standards, Indian law, and end the discriminatory&nbsp;treatment of contract workers at Holcim.
Holcim is the second largest producer of cement in the world. An average salary for Indian contract workers is US$2.17 a day, and a high amount on limestone are factors moving Holcim to shift production to India from countries such as Spain and the US.
See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Holcim%20Akermann%2028%204%202011.pdf">joint BWI-ICEM letter to Holcim</a> CEO Markus Akermann here.

Global Campaign Launched for Indian Cement Contract Workers

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The ICEM has joined with the 11 other Global Union Federations (GUFs), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD in issuing a joint 1 May statement. That statement follows below. 
Winds of change for social justice and democracy 
 
1 May 2011
Today as trade unionists around the world celebrate the role of workers in the fight for democracy and social justice, the international union movement takes inspiration from winds of change sweeping across Arab countries. 
 
Global Unions salute the courage of working men and women and the independent trade unions in the vanguard of this historic fight for freedom. 
 
We pledge our support to their struggle and we condemn without reservation the tyranny of regimes, in the Middle East and elsewhere, who continue to deny their people fundamental rights and who use violence to silence voices of dissent. We urge the international community to act to end this oppression. 
 
At the same time, in the name of hundreds of millions of working people who yearn for an end to inequality, discrimination and exploitation, Global Unions reaffirm their demand for a full-scale transformation of the world economy. 
We seek an end to the culture of political and corporate neglect that has created a gulf between rich and poor and we call for new commitments to respect workers&rsquo; rights, to create the framework for social justice and to combat the scourge of unemployment. 
 
The time has come to turn away from the failed policies of the past. We must abandon programmes of austerity that tear into the fabric of society and that diminish people&rsquo;s lives. We must end the scandal of falling living standards caused by the growth of informal, unprotected and precarious work and, particularly, the grotesque exploitation of migrant workers. There must be action now to rescue a lost generation of young people who yearn for jobs and a decent future. 
But none of this will happen unless governments put their people first by regulating the finance sector and by curbing the excesses of corporate power. 
All governments must invest in job creation, in education and training, in programmes to strengthen investment in quality public services and in providing a universal social protection floor. The largest and most powerful economies, in the G20, must provide the lead for this. 
Governments must put finance at the service of the real economy and reclaim the wealth needed to put the world economy to rights by taxing banks and finance, including urgent action to introduce a financial transactions tax. 
States must confront corporations who profit from scandalous exploitation of vulnerable workers and who fail to respect union rights and global labour standards. 
Unless there is an immediate change of direction in governance and management of the world economy, the noble aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals will not be met and there will be no progress to stop the catastrophe of climate change. 
 
Globalisation can only work if it brings sustainable wealth for all and promotes action for a just transition to a sustainable world built around principles of strong economies, social justice, and green jobs. 
 
Global Unions will work together to expose governments who refuse to change and who are withdrawing from provision of services, imposing fiscal cuts and attacking public sector workers with devastating effect on the lives of all people, particularly women. 
 
We will continue to isolate, condemn and target those companies that are reckless in their disregard for labour standards and who prey upon the weakest in the workforce. 
 
Finally, Global Unions in the Middle East and elsewhere will continually strive for peace in the face of dictatorship and corruption. Exploitation and political instability caused by an absence of the rule of law and democracy and economic injustice means that war and social conflict is a constant risk. 
 
Today the global challenges are as great as we have ever faced, but the union movement is in good heart. Our proud traditions of solidarity are the foundations of 
social progress, democracy and peace, and they give us the strength to make real the dream of a global economy based upon justice, equality, humanity and sustainability.

Global Labour’s Joint 1 May Statement

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The ICEM Secretariat was stricken with grief on 4 April upon learning of the death of Liv Undheim, former Vice President of Norwegian trade union affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Liv Undheim died at 07h00 that morning in an Oslo hospital after a period of illness. She was 61. 
 
She was an ICEM Vice President, representing the Nordic region, and had served on ICEM statutory bodies for the past 20 years, dating to her tenure as an officer of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association. She was the driving force inside ICEM in the development of gender equality and women&rsquo;s activities. 
 
In a letter to IE President Leif Sande, General Secretary Manfred Warda said her advocacy in this regard made the ICEM a leading Global Union Federation on gender issues. 
 
She began working in an industrial setting in the late 1960s at Figgjo AS, a ceramics and pottery manufacturer near Stavanger. She then became a federal secretary of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and served in that capacity for nine years before being elected organisation secretary of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO). In that capacity in 1997, she also became deputy minister with responsibility for energy issues. 
 
In 2001, she became Vice President of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and in 2006, upon the merger of that union with the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemicals Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF), she was elected Vice President of IE. She retired in October 2010 but retained the exemplary role she always performed as IE&rsquo;s head of international affairs. 
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She also had served on a number of boards and public bodies, including the research institute FAFO, Norway&rsquo;s Labour Directorate, the Labour Inspection Authority, and many others. 
 
She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and in February 2011 was stricken and hospitalised with pneumonia, which prevented cancer treatment. The ICEM&rsquo;s Warda said she always delivered a great deal of energy and passion to global trade union work, and &ldquo;we held hope that this same energy and passion would allow her to overcome this illness.&rdquo; 
 
He added: &ldquo;Her passing at the age of 61 is a sad moment for us here. The extraordinary work she performed for the ICEM &ndash; and for all trade unions &ndash; will carry on in her honour. We pledge to re-dedicate the many workers&rsquo; issues that she championed in her memory.&rdquo; 
 
In a statement this week from Oslo, IE President Sande said, &ldquo;Following her long and devoted service to the labour union movement we all felt with all our hearts that Liv had deserved a long and pleasant retirement together with her dear Elisabeth. The holiday to Thailand was booked and she was looking forward to spending her time reading, travelling and generally enjoying life. Instead she was struck down with cancer, having to spend her last days in a hospital. It seems so unfair. She will be deeply missed.&rdquo; 
 
Liv Undheim's funeral will be 14 April in Oslo. Following, a memorial and commemoration of her life will be held at IE's offices there.

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

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An international campaign for the reinstatement of 50 Mexican rubber workers employed by German-based Continental AG, was successful after 22 months. The illegal dismissals on 18 May 2009 were made under the guise of the global financial crisis. The ICEM-affiliated National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers&rsquo; Union (SNTGTM), led by General Secretary Alberto Espinosa Rocha, launched a full mobilisation of the union for their reinstatement and&nbsp;to&nbsp;support each sacked worker who chose to fight for re-employment. 
 
The struggle, termed to&nbsp;&ldquo;Resist One More Day than Continental,&rdquo; supported especially the reinstatement of union activists Juan Pablo Hern&aacute;ndez Lara and Alfredo Calder&oacute;n and was won one year, ten months, and ten days after the sackings,&nbsp;when 50 colleagues returned to work at the factory in San Luis Potos&iacute;, 430 kilometres&nbsp;north of Mexico City. 
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SNTGTM Secretary-General Alberto Espinosa Rocha
The members of SNTGTM, through the decision of the union's&nbsp;Congress to wage the fight, supported every worker contesting&nbsp;dismissal, and the union&nbsp;paid them the minimum wage for a worker in the sector throughout the&nbsp;legal process. That income is low, but the faith and support from fellow members was vital. 
 
The SNTGTM and reinstated workers gave special thanks to the ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF),&nbsp;the United Steelworkers (USW), and the&nbsp;AFL-CIO, for their solidarity and support internationally. The SNTGTM singled out the IGBCE and European Works Council for their important assistance in forcing the struggle onto the agenda of Conti's management meetings. 
 
In recent months, the union has recovered hundreds of jobs and established conditions for increased factory production in Mexico. The&nbsp;SNTGTM is&nbsp;now fighting&nbsp;the proposed regressive labour law in Mexico, which, if enacted, would&nbsp;jeopardize their hard-won achievements.

Victory for Mexican Rubber Workers, 50 Reinstated

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A strike by the ICEM affiliate, Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries, and the Chemical Industry (POEPDHV), was extended another week until 19 April. The strike began at Hellenic Petroleum&rsquo;s (ELPE) flagship refinery in Aspropyrgos on 3 April, and then spread to Hellenic&rsquo;s two other refineries at Elfsina and Thessaloniki after a judge declared the walkout legal. 
 
Greek oil workers are striking over inadequate staffing levels and safety issues at ELPE&rsquo;s new refinery units at Elfsina and Thessaloniki, as well as resistance to company plans to curb pay gains and link pay with productivity. The strikes, originally of 10-day durations, came with orderly shutdowns to ensure operational integrity of the refineries is maintained, and with assurances that full safety compliance is followed. 
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On Thursday, 7 April, POEPDHV announced another week of strike action, due to occur 12-19 April. Three days earlier, a judge denied ELPE&rsquo;s request for injunctive relief in an effort&nbsp;to declare the strike illegal. POEPDHV President Nikos Orfanos said the extension is in full support of the workers&rsquo; struggle and on demand from refinery workers. Further bargaining between the union and ELPE is scheduled for 13 April. 
 
ELPE operates three of Greece&rsquo;s four refineries and controls 50% of the country&rsquo;s downstream market. The company is 35.5% owned by the Greek government. 
 
The ICEM fully support its Greek trade union affiliate and calls on the company to adequately staff its new refining units for safety reasons, as well as to justly compensate oil refinery workers.

Greek Petrochemical Union Extends Refinery Strikes until 19 April

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Bahrain&rsquo;s authorities and business leaders are retaliating to a general strike led by the national trade union centre General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved. 
 
The general strike was called on 13 March, and ended 22 March, in support of pro-democracy protests in the Persian Gulf island-state. The agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
Estimates suggest over 1,000 workers will be laid-off during the crackdown, including staff at Alba Aluminum Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services, and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. All sackings were due to worker absence during the strike. 
<img height="169" width="140" src="" alt="" />
BAPCO Union President Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain
The president of the union at Bahrain Petroleum (BAPCO), Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, has been fired for his absence during the strike and also for &ldquo;inciting workers to strike.&rdquo; The company has begun legal prosecution of Hussain. BAPCO also fired nine other workers, and is investigating the cases of&nbsp;230 workers&nbsp;who participated in the strike. 
 
BAPCO union President Hussain was central in the creation of the GBFTU. All employees at BAPCO are now fearful of losing their jobs in the coming days. Absenteeism of BAPCO employees on 16-17 March was 60%. 
 
(See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/27.ICEM.Bahrain.6April.pdf ">ICEM's letter to the King of Bahrain</a>.) 
 
Last week, security forces&nbsp;closed down the GBFTU headquarters and are expected to soon call the organisation&rsquo;s president, Salman Mahfooz, in for questioning. Roads leading to the union office were closed and workers were blocked from reaching the headquarters. Most of those workers had been seeking guidance from their union following their sacking. 
 
The GBFTU website has been shut down. Parliament is calling on the government to immediately refer trade union leaders involved in the strike to the public prosecutor&rsquo;s office. 
 
All members of the GBFTU executive, spanning all industries, have been suspended from work pending investigations. On top of this cynical multi-faceted attack on Bahrain&rsquo;s independent trade unions, companies are now planning legal cases against the unions in a further attempt to permanently end their activities. 
 
Over 300 activists have been arrested with many missing and at least 20 killed since protesters took to the streets in February, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The violent suppression of the Bahraini people&rsquo;s reform protest has been facilitated by armed forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. 
<img height="126" width="108" src="" alt="" />
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia
This disgraceful attack on core human and trade union rights of the Bahraini people must end immediately, global trade unions say. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia issued a statement on 6 April calling&nbsp;repercussions to the strike &ldquo;extremely alarming, in particular as the GFBTU had called on workers to return to work and had been given assurances by State officials that they will not face any punitive measures for their participation in strikes.&rdquo;

Kingdom of Bahrain Retaliates Against Trade Unions for General Strike

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The European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and Areva, the Paris-based nuclear power and nuclear service provider, signed a protocol agreement on 1 April intended to facilitate career enhancement and employee competencies within the 13 European countries that Areva operates in. 
 
Entitled &ldquo;Memorandum of Agreement on Professions and Competences Forecast,&rdquo; the protocol framework is the second that EMF and Areva have adopted, the first being a 2006 Equal Opportunities pact that a European Commission (EC) project now oversees. 
 
The new agreement is intended to forecast and manage career development of Areva staff by providing training, work-life balance, mobility, transfer of knowledge throughout the company, as well as giving a positive work environment across a person&rsquo;s entire employment career with Areva. 
 
(See the <a href="http://www.emf-fem.org/Areas-of-work/Company-Policy/News/EMF-and-Areva-sign-important-agreement ">EMF announcement and the 12-page agreement</a>.) 
<img height="100" width="112" src="" alt="" />
The three-year agreement will be tracked under a separate EC project called Forecasting and Anticipating Competencies in Europe through Social Dialogue (FACES). The protocol calls for an annual appraisal that will &ldquo;articulate the positioning of the employee in such a way that their qualifications and their payment is in relation to their level of competencies and performance.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement states that such assessments will not conflict with existing national collective bargaining agreements. 
 
It commits the company to develop a training policy in step with the needs of workers &ldquo;to both preserve and renew competencies in order to have the best possible career evolution.&rdquo; Each of Areva&rsquo;s 35,000 workers in Europe will have access to 30 hours of training per annum, which can be allotted over three years. 
 
The agreement&rsquo;s overall monitoring device is a committee of Areva management and the European Works Council Select Committee, which will evaluate and present the results yearly to the EMF. 
 
Areva is a ten-year-old company that was formed through a three-way merger between CEA-Industrie, COGEMA, and Framatome to combine the French Government's interests in several nuclear power and information technology businesses. CEA-Industrie, (Commissariat &agrave; l'&Eacute;nergie Atomique or French Atomic Energy Commission) owns about 80% of Areva. The company globally operates in 43 countries and employs 48,000 staff. 
 
Areva designs and builds nuclear reactors and components for nuclear power plants, and it also supplies nuclear fuel, engineering, maintenance, and inspection of nuclear facilities.

EMF, French Nuclear Group Areva Sign Worker Training, Evolution Accord

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