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The privatised water firm United Utilities&rsquo; decision to drop its offshore contract with Accenture and bring its customer service back to the UK was met with applause by Unison, Great Britain&rsquo;s public sector union. 
 
&ldquo;This is good news for United Utilities customers and a much needed jobs boost,&rdquo; said Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis. &ldquo;The company is right in its belief that in-house operations are more efficient than offshoring.&rdquo; 
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Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis
United Utilities told investors on 1 December that it would bring Information Technical services back to the north-east of the country to gain &ldquo;greater control&rdquo; of its technology. Accenture has a contract with the private utility until November 2011 for billing business processes and other services, but United Utilities said it will bring office, income, and collections activities to full-time public workers of the company over the next 12 months. 
 
&ldquo;Right from the start, UNISON campaigned against outsourcing and offshoring in the utilities sector, because permanent staff provides a better service,&rdquo; said Prentis, who predicted it would create hundreds of jobs in the northeast. &ldquo;We hope this decision will act as a good example to other employers, particularly in the public sector, where there in enormous pressure to outsource services.&rdquo;

UK Public Sector Union, Unison, Applauds United Utilities’ Move to End Offshoring

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Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took leadership of the UK government, it has been exploring ways to amend the Agency Workers&rsquo; Regulation, adopted to implement the European Temporary Agency Workers' Directive. 
 
According to the Trades Union Congress&rsquo;s (TUC) head of Employment Rights, Sarah Veale, &ldquo;An agreement was reached between the TUC and the CBI (UK&rsquo;s business grouping) two years ago, after many hours of discussion and compromises from both sides.&rdquo; 
 
The compromises included a clause that agency workers would not receive equal treatment from day one, as per the European directive, but after 12 weeks of employment. Despite this, employers and their representatives expressed a range of concerns over the regulation to the new government, arguing for amendments to be made before its entry into force in October 2011. 
 
The TUC responded by saying: &ldquo;There is no point unpicking that now, after the regulations have been enacted, and business and unions are preparing to work co-operatively with what we have agreed.&rdquo; 
 
Following consultations with both sides, the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer, and Postal Affairs, Edward Davey, announced in October that due to the &ldquo;unique legal situation&rdquo; of the regulation, any amendments proposed which did not have the agreement of the TUC and CBI would &ldquo;face the risk of being set aside in the courts in the event of a legal challenge.&rdquo; He went on to say, &ldquo;Were that to happen, the effect could be to call into question the very foundation of the fundamentals of the implementing legislation, crucially including the 12-week qualifying period itself.&rdquo; 
 
Although he described the outcome as &ldquo;clearly disappointing,&rdquo; Minister Davey confirmed that the Government would not be making any further attempts to amend the regulation.

UK Government Abandons Attempt to Dilute Agency Workers’ Regulation

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The last issue of this Contract and Agency Labour newsletter reported that a draft report on precariously-employed women workers was presented to the European Parliament by Danish Social Democratic MEP, Britta Thomsen. 
 
The report called on the European Commission and European Union Member States to ensure that all employees are granted equal access to social services and benefits regardless of their employment conditions. 
 
On 19 October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution expressing disappointment that the EU employment law package and the directives on fixed-term, part-time, and temporary agency work do not adequately address the precarious nature of employment, and called on the Commission and the Member States to take further specific legislative measures. Those measures include introducing binding minimum social standards for employees and granting all employees equal access to social services and benefits, including maternity leave, health care and retirement pensions, as well as to education and training, regardless of employment conditions. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="126" />
Britta Thomsen, MEP
The resolution recognises that the &ldquo;over-representation of women in precarious work is a key contributing factor to the gender pay gap.&rdquo; It also states that &ldquo;improving job quality for women will reduce the gender pay gap.&rdquo; The resolution calls on the Member States to take legislative measures to put an end to zero-hour contract and to introduce controls to regulate all types of false training, which conceal actual employment without proper payment or protection. 
 
The Commission and the Member States are requested to develop strategies on precarious work in order to emphasize decent work and green jobs, and incorporate gender balance; and to take action in order to reduce the double burden of work on women. 
 
Attention is brought on the fact that studies have shown that precarious employment, in which minimum health and safety standards often are ignored, carries higher injury rates and a greater risk of disease and exposure to hazards. The Commission and the Member States are requested to enhance their monitoring of minimum health and safety requirements in the workplace, paying particular attention to the specific risks to female workers. 
 
Due to the lack of adequate research on the subject, the resolution calls on the Commission and Eurofound to cooperate with the European Institute for Gender Equality and to initiate targeted research in order to assess the cost of de-skilling and welfare loss resulting from precarious employment, taking into account the gender aspect. 
 
The resolution has been sent to the European Council, the European Commission, and the governments of the Member States.

Precarious Women Workers’ Resolution Passed by European Parliament

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The ICEM Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Campaign has released a new country report focusing on CAL use in the Netherlands. The report, which was developed with the assistance of FNV Bondgenoten, highlights the fact that 1.9 million people in the Netherlands work for temporary employment agencies, are employed by fixed-term or on-call contracts, or are bogusly referred to as self-employed. 
 
See the full report <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1012.cal_netherlands.country%20report.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The Netherlands was deeply affected by the global economic crisis, and the economy shrunk by 4% in 2009. In 2010, the country has seen a weak recovery, with many of the jobs that are being created, for example in the chemical industry, are precarious jobs. 
 
As is the case in many countries, CAL workers in the Netherlands receive lower wages, fewer benefits, and have less social security than permanent, directly-employed workers. In the Netherlands, companies may only hire a worker on three fixed-term contracts of up to one year each before the worker must be offered a permanent position. This regulation is often circumvented by allowing a one month period of unemployment before rehiring the worker on a further fixed-term contract. 
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The report details how Dutch trade unions have been active in challenging CAL, particularly the abuse common to workers hired through temporary employment agencies. This year alone, 12 new collective agreements have been negotiated by the national labour centre FNV, which include provisions that temporary workers may only be deployed in busy times and to cover for absences of other workers in case of illness, and that if they work longer than nine months in one year, they should be awarded permanency. There were also 34 new agreements signed which state that only certified employment agencies can be used. 
 
Dutch unions have also been active in bargaining for improvements for CAL workers at the sectoral level, and this year new collective agreements were signed with the two employers&rsquo; organizations representing temp agencies in the Netherlands: the ABU (ABU (Algemene Bond Uitzendondernemingen) and the NBBU (Nederlandse Bond van Bemiddelings-en Uitzendondernemingen). The most significant improvement in both collective agreements is that the training possibilities of people working through temp agencies have been expanded. Under the ABU collective agreement, workers are entitled to the same wages as employees of the hiring company after 26 weeks of employment. In the NBBU, the agreement states that workers receive equal pay for equal work from day one. 
 
A new foundation (the SNCU) was also established to monitor compliance with these collective agreements. The foundation - a partnership between employer and employee organisations in the temporary work sector &ndash; has the power to decertify temporary employment agencies which fail to respect the terms of the relevant labour agreement. 
 
The report also details the heroic efforts of CAL cleaners, who joined forces this year to assert their rights. Many cleaners in the Netherlands, including those contracted to work for companies such as Shell and Akzo Nobel, went on strike and organised protests for nine weeks. Their efforts ultimately resulted in a new collective agreement that provides better wages and more educational opportunities.

ICEM CAL Campaign Releases Country Report on the Netherlands

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In August, this Contract and Agency Labour newsletter reported that the Supreme Court of Korea had issued a groundbreaking ruling that in-house subcontract workers employed for two years at Hyundai Motor in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang province, must be made permanent employees. 
 
On 12 November, a similar ruling was made, this time by the Seoul High Court. This case was brought by seven former subcontract workers at the Asan Plant of Hyundai Motor. In line with the Supreme Court decision, the ruling states that in-house subcontractors&rsquo; employees, who worked continuously for two or more years, should be treated as the employees of the user enterprise. 
 
The Seoul High Court ruling is particularly significant as it has broad coverage over several production departments at the plant. 
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Shortly after the Korean Supreme Court ruling on 22 July, the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), asked Hyundai to conduct collective bargaining with the union over direct employment for the subcontract workers. But Hyundai Motor refused, stating that it would appeal the Supreme Court decision. 
 
On 4 November, KMWU filed a lawsuit against Hyundai demanding that a total of 1,900 in-house subcontractors with service of two or more years should be made full-time Hyundai workers, moved into regular jobs, and compensated for lost wages. (On average, contract workers at Hyundai earn 50 to 60% less than that of direct employees.) 
 
On 5 November, KMWU submitted an application for mediation of an industrial dispute over collective bargaining with Hyundai Motor to the National Labor Relations Commission. 
 
The Supreme Court&rsquo;s ruling, and Hyundai&rsquo;s intransigence in elevating subcontract workers to permanent status, has spurred workers to dramatically disrupt production at the Ulsan city factory in continuous sit-in strikes that began on 15 November. (See the ICEM CAL newsletter article on the Hyundai strike <a href="/index.php?id=73&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=4148">here</a>.)

Seoul Court Rules Subcontract Workers Full-time after Two Years

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A sit-in strike by contract workers at the Hyundai Motor factory in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang, South Korea, which at times turned violent, ended on 9 December. The 25-day strike ended when three unions, including one representing the contract workers, met and agreed to halt the strike on condition that management would negotiate in good-faith to make the workers full-time Hyundai staff. The strike and blockade of production was over the auto manufacturer&rsquo;s refusal to grant permanent work status, in accord with a July Korean Supreme Court decision. (See related story <a href="/index.php?id=73&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=4149">here</a>.) 
 
The workers, some 550 in total who are members of the Hyundai Motors Irregular Workers&rsquo; Union, began sit-in actions at Ulsan on 15 November and are demanding an end to discrimination in wages and job conditions. The militant strike action was started by some 30 workers after Hyundai sought to replace a terminated seat-assembly subcontracting company called Dongsung with another, and insisted that the contract workers sign individual contracts with the new company. 
 
In the weeks prior, some 1,900 contract workers at Hyundai, buoyed by the 22 July Supreme Court decision stating they must be made permanent and direct workers of the car producer after two years employment, joined the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU). With the change in subcontractors, Hyundai also attempted to coerce the workers to withdraw from the KMWU. 
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The strike had been met by the use of beatings and tear gas by local police brought in by the world&rsquo;s fifth largest car-maker. At the outset on 15 November, Hyundai managers attacked the sit-down strikers with heavy metal fittings and iron frames. Scores of contract workers have been arrested, and the company has filed both criminal and civil lawsuits against the strikers, including a civil one against 419 strikers seeking 16.2 billion (US$14.1 million) for lost production. One contract worker attempted to set himself on fire during a plant gate rally on 20 November. 
 
At times, three assembly lines had been blockaded by angry contract workers, costing Hyundai some 24,000 units of production. As of early last week, contract workers were occupying one line at Ulsan, the world&rsquo;s largest integrated automobile manufacturing facility, thus cutting production of the company&rsquo;s newly-unveiled Accent model, as well as Click and Verna subcompact models. 
 
Union leaders at Ulsan had been seeking dialogue with Hyundai Motor management in order to resolve the ever-growing number of issues, but reportedly senior management would not meet until the strike actions cease. 
 
The strike by contract workers did catch the attention of autoworkers throughout the world. On 6 December, the American United Auto Workers&rsquo; (UAW) Union held a manifestation attended by 150 people at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center in the US state of Michigan in support of the Korean autoworkers.

25-Day Sit-In Strike by Hyundai’s Contract Workers Ends

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The ICEM expressed deep condolences to the families of 29 miners declared dead yesterday at the Pike River coal mine disaster in New Zealand, as well as to their trade union &ndash; affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
 
In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;It is with great sadness that the ICEM has learned of the deaths of 29 miners. Please accept my heartfelt condolences. 
 
&ldquo;We will now support your call for a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this terrible accident, and for all of the bodies to be returned as soon as possible to their families. The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in mines, and moving the New Zealand Government toward ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176, on safety and health in mines.&rdquo; (Full letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/145.ICEM.EPMU.New%20Zealand.24Nov.pdf">here</a>.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="208" height="161" />
Inside Pike River mine, before accident, Photo: NZPA
The miners, trapped since 19 November by a horrid methane gas explosion at Pike River Coal Ltd.&rsquo;s coking coal mine inside the Paparoa Range on the South Island, were declared dead yesterday by police charged with rescue. (See ICEM&rsquo;s initial report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4115-Hope-Still-Alive-for-29-Trapped-Inside-Pike-River’s-New-Zealand-Coal-Mine">here</a>.) The police announcement came minutes after a second massive explosion that lasted 30 seconds occurred inside the company&rsquo;s mine of the Brunner coal seam at 14h37, local time, Wednesday. The Pike River mine is located 50 kilometres from Greymouth. 
 
Rescue attempts proved prohibitive for six days because of high levels of methane gas and carbon monoxide that were registered inside. News of the secondary explosion&nbsp;yesterday and improbability that the 29 could have survived was brought to grief-stricken family members at 16h00 in Greymouth by Pike River CEO Peter Whittal. &ldquo;Exactly what we said would happen happened,&rdquo; he told reporters in explaining why rescuers had not been sent into the mine. Some 90 skilled mine rescuers, many flown in from Australia, were on standby for those five days. 
<img alt="" src="" width="182" height="173" />
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
EPMU National Secretary Little said: &ldquo;News of this second devastating explosion means there is now no prospect of a successful rescue and the lives of the 29 men trapped inside have been lost. It is time to let the families and the community grieve. 
 
&ldquo;Most of the miners killed were our comrades in the union, including Blair Sims who was an EPMU delegate at the Pike River mine,&rdquo; Little said. &ldquo;The EPMU will now make the practical arrangements to establish a fund to assist the families of the men whose lives have been lost.&rdquo; 
Little added the EPMU now calls on the government &ldquo;to establish an independent inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, including a public hearing in front of a senior judge and leading technical experts,&rdquo; adding the union will do everything possible to assist the investigation. 
<img alt="" src="" width="175" height="175" />
EPMU Delegate Blair Sims 
Sims was a 28-year-old loving husband and father of two small children. He was an exceptional rugby player who for the past two seasons was New Zealand West Coast player of the year. Eleven of the 29 miners were EPMU members. Those perishing included 16 full-time workers of Pike River Coal Ltd., owned 31% owned by New Zealand Oil &amp; Gas Ltd., and 13 contract employees. 
 
Little, who received the news 90 minutes after the blast yesterday, told New Zealand media that &ldquo;miners are special people. They are the foundation rock that much of New Zealand was built on. When you lose special people like that, 29 all in one go, it is a hard thing. I don&rsquo;t think any of us can imagine what the families will be going through tonight.&rdquo; 
The EPMU is assisting by setting up the &ldquo;EPMU Pike River Miners Family Support Trust&rdquo; to collect donations to support the 29 families.&nbsp;See more information on how to give financial support to the families of the dead miners <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1011.EPMU%20Pike%20River%20Miners%20Family%20Support%20Trust%20-%20flyer.pdf">here</a>.
&quot;Miners around the world are grieving their fallen comrades,&quot; said ICEM and South Africa's NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, &quot;our struggle continues to enure our members&nbsp;safety at work.&quot; 
 
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said at a press conference a special commission will be established and that the country&rsquo;s Cabinet, to meet on 29 November, will establish the perimeters of that inquiry.
See photos of all the lost Pike River miners <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-miners/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503001">here</a>.&nbsp;

Together with EPMU, ICEM Mourns Deaths of 29 Miners in New Zealand

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Efforts to end the stalemate in the Canadian nickel strike between the United Steelworkers (USW) and Vale through independent mediation failed yesterday, with the USW giving a practical solution to the 239-day strike: a return to work offer and unresolved issues between the two parties submitted to binding arbitration. 
 
The Brazilian mining company rejected the union&rsquo;s attempt to resolve the dispute, which is marked this Saturday, 13 March, by 3,400 union families being&nbsp;on picket lines for eight months. 
 
Now, global trade unions will ramp up strategic plans on behalf of the USW, first by riding into Sudbury, Canada, in two weeks time to reinforce support to striking nickel miners of the USW. A two-day &ldquo;Bridging the Gap&rdquo; manifestation, 22-23 March, will bring trade union leaders from the Brazilian mining company&rsquo;s world-wide operations to northern Ontario province. 

<img alt="" src="" width="231" height="127" />
The unionists, to include ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, will join the strikers of USW Local 6500 and their families in a march down Sudbury&rsquo;s main street on 22 March, with a global strategy forum scheduled the next day. That forum will include plans for &ldquo;Global Days of Action&rdquo; against Vale, due to occur 5-11 April. 
 
Delegates from Vale and other worksites affiliated with the world&rsquo;s second largest mining house could come from as far away as Brazil, Mozambique, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, and South Africa to attend the event. The early April days of action are meant to give a visible display of disgust inside Vale operations, as well as in front of Vale offices, over the company&rsquo;s insistence that the USW give it unprecedented contract concession in negotiations with Local 6500 of Sudbury, Ontario, and Local 6200 of Port Colborne, Ontario, two unions that share a common labour agreement. 
 
Vale&rsquo;s bargaining intransigence again stood out, after a flicker of hope late last month when the company agreed to sit down with an independent mediator for exploratory talks to end the strike. Those talks began at month&rsquo;s end, but failed on 7 March when mediator Kevin Burkett declared, &ldquo;I am disappointed to report that agreement is not possible at this time. I have therefore broken off discussions.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="195" />
The mediation did produce an unprecedented offer by the USW to return to work in Sudbury and Port Colborne, with a three-member binding arbitration panel to hear the unresolved issues. The USW proposed that Burkett chair the arbitration panel, with the union and Vale each selecting the other two panel members. Vale adamantly rejected the proposal. 
 
In Labrador/Newfoundland Province, meanwhile, a provincial conciliator will again attempt to reconcile differences between USW Local 9508 and Vale in a return to bargaining on 15-16 March. The union and its 250 members in Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador, began a strike against Vale&rsquo;s copper and nickel operations in Canada&rsquo;s maritime province on 1 August 2009. Local 9508 and Vale did attempt to resolve differences through provincial mediation in late January, but those efforts broke off on 24 January in St. Johns, Newfoundland. 
 
The breakdown of talks between USW Locals 6500 and 6200 and Vale in Toronto yesterday come just a few weeks before a scheduled 30 March hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board on a charge brought by the USW that the company is guilty of bad-faith bargaining. Vale had insisted it would not resume bargaining until USW Locals 6500 and 6200 made a willingness to accede to the concessionary demands of the company. 

<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="151" />
Wayne Fraser, USW District 6 Director
Those concessions &ndash; common before Local 9508 as well &ndash; include retirement decreases, creation of a two-tiered pension scheme, with a defined contribution plan for new hires, steep downgrades to a production bonus, and unilateral company discretion concerning outsourcing. USW has insisted throughout that it wants a return to bargaining under no pre-conditions. 
 
The charge before the Ontario Labour Relations Board claims Vale has prolonged the strike by its refusal to bargain, and USW is asking the agency to order the company to pay lost wages and benefits to workers, as well as reimburse the union for strike benefits. 
 
This strike of 239 days likely now will surpass the longest mining strike in Canadian history. That occurred from September 1978 to June 1979 &ndash; 267 days &ndash; between the USW and Vale&rsquo;s predecessor in Sudbury, Inco Mining. The one distinction between this strike and several skirmishes between the USW and Inco, however, is that Canadian-based Inco never attempted to operate the mines, smelting, and other&nbsp;operations with replacement workers, as Vale is doing&nbsp;now.

Global Support Again Comes to Canada’s Vale Strike; USW Gives Solution to End It

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The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of the UK released a new publication today, on International Women&rsquo;s Day. The magazine profiles, and gives voice to, prominent women trade unionists from around the world, specifically the global south. 
 
The TUC carries out considerable international solidarity work, much of this work in the global south focuses on women, as the publication explains &ldquo;whether they are in paid work or not, women make up an ever growing majority of the world&rsquo;s poor&rdquo;. 

<img alt="" src="" width="175" height="118" />
Hasmeya Muhsin
The ICEM is proud that their Executive Committee member Hashmeya Muhsin is one of the women to be profiled. Hashmeya, President of the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union in Basra, Iraq, has been a key figure in the campaign for a new, fair labour law in Iraq. 
 
Hashmeya won the Dutch Human Rights Award, the FNV&rsquo;s prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award, in May 2009. The money awarded with this prize was used to fund the recent Social Security Campaign in Iraq, fighting for land, health, and equality reforms in the war-torn country. 
 
Putting herself under continuing personal risk, Hashmeya Muhsin is the first female trade union leader in Iraq, and one of the very few in the Arab-speaking world. 

<img alt="" src="" width="302" height="149" />
The publication also includes, among others, profiles of project coordinators against HIV/AIDS in Africa, a brave woman trade unionist from Zimbabwe, and of course Su Su Nway, the jailed trade unionist in Burma. 
 
View the publication <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/raisingvoices.pdf">here</a>. 
 
Last week, a multi-GUF plus International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) letter was submitted to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), in New York. The letter, addressed to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon criticizes the process and substance of the Session, which has faced many disruptions and obstacles. View the letter <a href="/index.php?id=71&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3656">here</a>. 
 
International Women&rsquo;s Day was established in 1910, when a Socialist Women&rsquo;s Congress in Copenhagen decided to embark on the annual day. The following year 1911 saw the first events marking the day, in four countries Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark.

UK TUC Releases Excellent Women Empowerment Publication

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The renegade Indian steel company run by Pramod Mittal was made to pay back wages to 1,250 members of ICEM affiliate Independent Trade Union of Chemistry and Non-Metals of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SSHN-FBIH) this month. A deadline of 15 February was met by Mittal&rsquo;s company, Global Ispat Koksana Industtrija Lukavac (GIKIL), which manages and half-owns the sodium carbonate plant, and wages were paid through December 2009. 
 
Workers at GIKIL, also half-owned by the Canton of Tuzla, and SSHN-FBIH&rsquo;s President Kata Ivelijc assured that back wages were paid by the delinquent Mittal through their vigilant strikes and determination. They received assistance outside of Bosnia-Herzegovina from the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF). 
<img alt="" src="" width="338" height="189" />
Manfred Warda (centre) with Central European Project Coordinator Mato Lalic (next to Warda), and Kata Ivelijc, 5th from left
After receiving no pay for work performed over the final quarter of 2009, SSHN-FBIH took a week-long strike action on 6 January. That strike gained them back-pay for October and November, and then the outside intervention and workers&rsquo; actions at the plant and inside Tuzla got them December&rsquo;s pay by the deadline, 15 February, a date in which workers were braced to take another strike action. 
 
The empowerment by workers in highly industrialized northern Bosnia was widely noted across Europe. But it stands as a reminder that such victories can be fleeting against wayward companies like Mittal&rsquo;s. Both the ICEM and SSHN-FBIH pledge unified vigilance on future salaries to be paid on time, justified increases to those salaries, and improved health and safety conditions at GIKIL. (Read the background to this dispute and information on Pramod Mittal&rsquo;s companies <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3588-ICEM-IMF-Decry-Mittal’s-Pay-Delinquencies-in-Bosnia-Herzegovina">here</a>.)&nbsp; 
<img alt="" src="" width="272" height="161" />
GIKIL Factory in Lukavac
On 9 February, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda visited the area and together with workers&rsquo; leaders, met with Tuzla Canton Prime Minister Enes Mujić and three of his ministers. The meeting produced a promise to seriously question Mittal, in a scheduled and upcoming meeting with government authorities, over his management neglect. The trade union delegation also impressed on the Tuzla government that health and safety concerns around the plant&rsquo;s coking ovens must also be addressed. 
 
The government took up the matter at its regular 11 February session and determined that workers&rsquo; strike actions were justified and legitimate. Those and other conclusions favouring the union were then forwarded to the Assembly of the canton on 16 February. 
 
Further, a commission was established to make corrections to salaries in accord with a previous collective agreement. The commission also will be charged with investigating the health hazards inside the plant. The ICEM is confident that the union and GIKIL workers are now well placed to monitor and participate in the commission&rsquo;s full work. 
 
Kata Ivelijc thanked the ICEM, IMF, and EMF for &ldquo;the cooperation and support&rdquo; and said the intervention &ldquo;left a strong impression on the institutions and media&rdquo; in the region.

GIKIL Pays Back Wages to Bosnian Workers; Monitoring Begins

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