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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" / width="390">

	From the IMF website

	On April 3, 2012, Dorje Khatri, central committee member of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) will leave Kathmandu on a journey to put the flag of IndustriALL Global Union on Mount Everest.

	The flag of the new Global Union, IndustriALL will be put at the top of Mt. Everest by Dorje Khatri. "I will leave Kathmandu on April 3, in a bid to conquer Mt Everest once again," said Khatri. "I will scale the top of the world, from May 15 to May 25, 2012; through South Col bordering to China. I will be back by June 5 in Kathmandu."

	In a brief ceremony organized at Kathmandu, GEFONT President Bishnu Rimal handed the IndustriALL flag to Dorje Khatri. Khatri is the central committee member of GEFONT which is an affiliate of the Union of Trekking Travels Rafting and Airline Workers Nepal (UNITRAV), this expedition to Mt Everest will be his eighth attempt. The flag was rolled up in order to keep it secret, as the logo of the new organization will only be launched at the founding Congress in Copenhagen this coming June.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-gefont.jpg" style="width: 220px; height: 154px;" / width="390"> 

	Cde Khatri has successfully completed seven previous attempts. Last year he had hoisted the International Trade Union Confederation's (ITUC's) flag under GEFONT coordinated campaign "Save Climate, Save Himalayas".

	GEFONT President Rimal expressed his best wishes on behalf of GEFONT NEC and the entire Nepali working class. Khatri will climb Everest with a team from the UK called UK Adventure Peak , the same group that accompanied him last year. He has successfully taken the flags of the International Metalworkers' Federation, GEFONT and the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) in past years.

IndustriALL flag on its way to the top of the world

The framework accord reached in May between South African affiliate NUM and Harmony Gold Mining Ltd. Was broke last week when the firm refused to budge on its initial stand of sacking 5,000 workers at six mine shafts. “Clearly, Harmony is not interested in savings jobs but wishes to wait out the situation by mothballing shafts until the price of gold improves,” said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe. “Their emphasis is more on cost-cutting and efficiency improvement, going against the framework we developed on jobs.” The union has declared a dispute with Harmony through a formal letter to the company and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration

NUM marches over Job Retrenchments in South Africa

German and French unions are teaming up to block the hostile takeover of German-French pharmaceutical Aventis by French rival Sanofi-Synthelabo. Hubertus Schmoldt, president of German IGBCE and Patrick Pierron, general secretary of the French union FCE-CFDT, oppose the hostile takeover. They fear massive job cuts in both countries will result, and jointly expressed disdain over how the takeover was set up. “A hostile takeover such as this is counter-production to the stock market. There are hardly any winners with such actions, but certainly plenty of losers,” the two unions said.

French, German Unions Resist Aventis, Sanofi Chemical Merger

Local unions of the CEP in Canada ratified a five-year labour accord last week with Abitibi-Consolidated, thus giving the union a pattern for 25,000 other paperworkers in eastern Canada. The 2,500 union members at Abitibi’s 13 mills won better pension formulas effective upon ratification and again in 2005 and 2009. In addition, the pact provides for an unreduced pension at age 57 and continues an indexing formula for retirees. Wage gains amount to 11% over the term, and job security provisions protecting CEP members from losing employment due to outsourcing work were achieved.

Paper Pattern Established in Canada by Affiliate CEP

The Philippine Cement Workers Council (PCWC) has joined with the country’s Department of Trade and Industry in efforts to overturn a Supreme Court decision nullifying safeguard tariffs on imported cement. The High Tribunal ruled 12 July against the legal measure put into effect late last year, which guarantees mechanisms protecting industries from cheap imports. Institution of such mechanisms is sanctioned under the WTO. PCWC Gen. Sec. Samuel Eslava said the safeguard measures saved jobs and “paved the way for industrial peace” in the Philippines.

Philippine Cement Workers Council Seeks to Preserve Tariffs

A mining accident at the shuttered Shinkolobwe uranium mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 30 when a roof collapsed. The mine had been closed for decades, but that hasn’t prevented small-scale, illegal mining for colombo tantalite—or coltan, the valuable mineral used in mobile phones and computer chips—from continuing. ICEM Congolese affiliate FENAMICO has condemned the practice and has called for a full-scale investigation of the 9 July tragedy.

Illegal Uranium Mine in Congo Collapses, Kills 30

The GPMU and another ICEM affiliate in the UK, Amicus, officially merged earlier this month following a vote of members at branch levels of the GPMU. The vote tally to merge with the UK’s largest union was 26,709 for and 4,287 against, or 86% to 14%. The two unions will begin joining operations on 1 October with a five-year period expected to fully merge structures. GPMU will become a sector within Amicus.

UK Union GPMU Merges with Amicus

PACE, along with ICEM, has released a testimony of European DuPont workers following a visit to the chemical firm’s US sites last spring. The report contains first-hand experience of the European delegates including DuPont’s inhospitable response to the tour. The report can be accessed at www.dupontcouncil.org.

PACE in US Releases Anti-Worker Testimony at DuPont

The ICEM’s North American Women’s Conference will be held 13 September in Ottawa at the headquarters of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The statutory conference will coincide with a CLC march to protect Canada’s national Medicare system as political leaders will gather that day to debate the future of the healthcare programme. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Minto Place Suite Hotel.

ICEM’s North American Women’s Conference Set for Ottawa

That accident was on the agenda and received discussion at the founding conference of the International Nuclear Workers’ Union Network (INWUN) at ICEM in Brussels 25-26 August. The independent network adopted a fees structure, passed bylaws and statutes, and elected officers. Those elected were Dave Shier, Power Workers Union of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (PWU-CUPE), president; Irina Micu, Energy Trade Union, Romania; executive vice president; Paul Reece, PWU-CUPE, general secretary; and Roland Glibert, Belgian Confederation of Executives and Management Staff at Belgonucleaire, Belgium, treasurer.

Independent Nuclear Network Elects Officers

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