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The right wing government of Viktor Orb&aacute;n in Hungary has systematically over the past year and a half dismantled many trade union freedoms and social dialogue relationships. The new Labour Code is not only completely undermining workers&rsquo; ability to fight for just conditions in the workplace, but is now empowering companies to re-open old conflicts and punish trade union activists for actions taken under the previous legislation. 
 
ICEM affiliated unions were shocked to be informed at Congress of Japanese rubber conglomerate Bridgestone&rsquo;s move to initiate a penal procedure against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, president of VDSZ, the Hungarian chemical workers union. The case against the union president is focused on a 2009 report in the union journal &ldquo;Vegyipari Dolgoz&oacute;&rdquo; or &ldquo;Chemical Worker&rdquo; on the treatment of a company employee. 
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VDSZ President Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely
Tibor Skoflek suffered occupational health problems in the spring of 2009 and Bridgestone at the time rejected any responsibility for this. Local management even failed to supply transport to hospital for Tibor Skoflek, and he was taken by a bus driver. 
 
This is the first time in 20 years of Hungarian trade union work that a company initiates a penal procedure against a union leader with absolutely no negotiations or consultation beforehand. 
 
The clear policy of the Orb&aacute;n regime is to create fear among Hungarian workers so that they rescind trade union membership. 
 
The ICEM condemns in the strongest terms this crackdown on fundamental labour rights in Hungary, and specifically in this case against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, and will be exerting pressure at company and government levels.

Bridgestone Hungary forces the President of VDSZ to court

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IG BCE together with Verdi, the service sector union of Germany, reached agreement in bargaining with German energy group RWE on 29 November on a 13 month deal for the company&rsquo;s 25,000 employees in Germany. The new deal provides a 2.7% salary increase from 1 December 2011, and sets out new talks on improving job security and trainee prospects. 
 
European utility provider RWE is the second largest energy producer in Germany. The issue of fair salaries at RWE has caused widespread discontent through the workforce in recent times. In January the ICEM reported on warning strikes of IG BCE members at RWE who were close to full strike action. (See the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4216-German-Power-Workers-Close-to-Full-Dispute-with-RWE">ICEM report</a> here) More strikes were averted in January by a company offer of 3.4% salary improvement. Unions again threatened warning strikes in mid-November in the run up to settlement. This latest deal will see the union negotiating committee push for continued and better salary improvements in the collective agreement for 2013. 
 
A key achievement in this settlement was the binding agreement to open discussions in the second quarter of 2012 on the renewal of the Job Security Agreement, due to expire end of 2012, to safeguard jobs in the group. 
 
The union bargaining committee recommended the deal for adoption by the joint tariff committee.

German IG BCE Secures 2.7% Increase for 25,000 Energy Workers

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Finland&rsquo;s papermaking unions, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro, have new 25-month labour agreements with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) that take effect in March 2012. That was assured one week ago, on 28 November, after the employers&rsquo; association in the transport, ports, and shipping industry signed an accord with AKT, the Transport Drivers&rsquo; and Port Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
Even though the FFIF came to terms with the two ICEM affiliates separately in the pulp and paper sector on 23 November, the FFIF was unwilling to sign off on the agreements until they had a guarantee that strikes would not occur in the transportation and export of pulp and paper products. 
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The agreement in the paper sector follows a framework agreement made between the three national trade union confederations &ndash; SAK, STTK and STTK &ndash; and the Confederation of Finnish Industries on 13 October. 
 
In March 2012, Ammattiliitto Pro members will receive a 1.6% across-the-board wage increase, in addition to an average 0.8% increase that will be negotiated locally and is part of a new salary structure. That amount will reward new work demands, personal skill developments, and greater efficiencies by workers on the local level. 
 
Paperiliitto members will receive a 1.5% increase, with 0.9% to be negotiated locally. 
 
Essentially, this new salary structure was recognized by employers through strike actions taken last spring by Ammattiliitto Pro, Finland&rsquo;s white-collar and clerical workers&rsquo; union, which represents about 4,000 staff at some 50 paper enterprises. 
 
In April 2013, the wage increase for Ammattillio Pro will be 1.3%, with a 0.6% award won on the new locally-negotiated salary structure. Paperiliitto's 2013 increase will be 1.2%, with 0.7% awarded locally. 
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Two other important aspects of the pulp and paper agreement include extra protection for workers when mills close. In effect, employers take on more responsibility for re-training and skill development, as well as workers given the flexibility to take new work in another enterprise and still qualify for redundancy benefits. 
Also, shop stewards and safety representatives who receive slightly higher pay for their responsibilities will get a 10% supplement on top of that higher pay. The two unions also won a universal three-day paid leave annually for vocational training and education. 
 
Both Petri Vanhala, President of Paperiliitto, and Markku Palokangas, Pro&rsquo;s Vice President for the Industrial Sector, expressed satisfaction with the 25-month agreement, especially with the gains made through the national framework agreement. Paperiliitto represents some 19,000 blue-collar workers across Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry.

Paper Unions in Finland Make Gains in 2012-2014 National Labour Accord

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The ICEM Brazilian affiliate, Federac&atilde;o &Uacute;nica dos Petroleiros (FUP), or Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Unified Federation, carved important new safety protections for deepwater oil platform workers in a new collective agreement recently approved. 
 
The union twice came to the edge of beginning strike actions, but postponed walkouts when the Brazilian state company agreed to better pay and more FUP and worker involvement in safety matters on the platforms in the Campos and Esp&iacute;rito Santo Basins, as well as across the company nationally. 
 
Following the FUP General Board accepting a revised company proposal that spells out specific safety requirements on 22 November, the contract won favour from 35,000 oil workers in local meetings, many coming on 26 November. 
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The new contract stipulates mandatory union representation of 150 safety specialists on platforms in the Campos Basin, for instance, and it requires three annual inspections per rig. Petrobras is underway with a US$225 billion investment in downstream and upstream projects, including exploration and development of 19 new wells next year in the deepwater Campos Basin off S&atilde;o Paulo state. 
 
FUP leaders throughout seven rounds of bargaining called for the same safety criteria that Norwegian state company Statoil has with ICEM affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Since the 2001 killing of 11 workers in the explosions and subsequent sinking of its P36 platform in the Roncador offshore fields, Petrobras has seen some 80 workplace fatalities, including one in September from a fire on a diesel fuel tanker. 
 
The FUP in 2010 forced suspensions on both Platforms 33 and 35 off Brazil, and the company itself shut operations on different vessels in both January and February this year over safety concerns. 
 
Worker safeguards in the agreement came only after FUP set a second strike deadline of 16 November. Following a first strike threat some weeks before, Petrobras agreed to improve health and pension fund benefits for workers. 
 
The pay package, another key issue throughout talks, will see Petrobras oil workers get a 10.71% pay rise, which represents 3.4% in real wages when factoring in Brazil&rsquo;s inflation rate.

Strike Threat Gets FUP Major Safety Protections for Brazil’s Petrobras Workers

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Workers throughout Britain are scrambling to fight to protect their pensions, as companies follow the government&rsquo;s tactics of attacking pension schemes. Last week members of three joint affiliates of ICEM and the International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) at the food and cosmetics manufacturing multinational Unilever voted to strike. 
 
Unilever is attempting to unilaterally scrap the final salary pension scheme for existing members and replace it with a career-average scheme that would cut as much as 40% of the expected retirement benefits of long serving employees. 
 
The company already blocked the final salary scheme to new entrants in 2008, but this plan to move 5,000 existing members has caused outrage, especially as part of the justification for the 2008 move was to preserve the benefits of existing members. 
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If the company does not act swiftly to avert the strikes, it will be the largest strike action it has faced in its 80 year history, and the first time a FTSE 100 company has faced a strike purely on the issue of pensions. 
 
5,000 workers producing well-known products such as Persil detergent and Marmite voted resoundingly in favour of the strike ballot. 85% of Unite members, and 75% of GMB members, and a large majority of USDAW members all voted on 28 November in support of the strike which will probably be conducted at 12 factories in December. 
 
&quot;The vote also shows that ordinary workers will not stand idly by to watch profitable employers like Unilever jumping on the pensions robbery bandwagon,&quot; stated Allan Black, national officer at GMB and ICEM Executive Committee member. 
 
Union negotiators offered the company alternatives to reduce the risk of the final salary scheme and cap benefits, but were frozen out of discussions by the talks by management. 
 
This month Unilever CEO Paul Polman received shares worth &pound;1,069,986. 
 
Unilever also just announced 600 redundancies in closing the Alberto Culver plant in Melrose Park near Chicago, Illinois in 2013. Workers at the 50 year old factory are members of United Steelworkers Local 9777, most of whom are very long-serving employees. The factory produces well known products VO5, TRESemme and Nexxus shampoos and conditioners, and St. Ives lotions and body wash.

UK Unilever Workers Vote to Strike to Protect Pensions

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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda used his plenary address on 8 June to the 100th session of the ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference to denounce the labour practices of Swiss multinational Holcim, specifically against contract workers at two cement plants in India. 
 
Holcim subsidiaries ACC in Jamul and Ambuja Cement Limited in Rawaan are blatantly violating Indian labour legislation. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act of India stipulates that contract workers may only be hired to perform non-core functions, and that those who perform the same or similar kinds of work as regular workers must receive equal treatment in terms of wages and conditions. However, contract workers in both plants are employed to carry out tasks which are fundamental to production, but receive only one third of permanent workers&rsquo; wages. 
 
Holcim-ACC has refused to respect a Chhattisgarh State High Court ruling that it is using &ldquo;sham and bogus&rdquo; contracts, and should regularise 27 contract workers. A recent report found that contract workers at the plant do not have basic personal protective equipment, such as gloves, boots and masks, and are denied access to medical facilities, including basic first aid, in the factory. 
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Between September 2010 and March 2011, 80 members of Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS), the union representing the contract workers, were dismissed by Holcim-Ambuja. Management of the plant repeated refused to participate in conciliation efforts by the Regional Labour Commissioner at Raipur, and in early March the RLC directed the company to reinstate the workers by 25 March. Two days later, the company filed false criminal charges against leaders of the PCSS through two of its security officers. Addressing the ILO&rsquo;s plenary, Warda said: &ldquo;We demand that such malicious prosecution, which is an instance of union-busting and illegal labour practice under Indian labour law, be withdrawn and the management negotiate with the union on its justified demands, failing which we will be constrained to take action under international law.&rdquo; 
 
Warda denounced as &ldquo;deplorable&rdquo; the refusal of the Labour Minister of the State of Chhattisgarth to meet with 250 Holcim workers who had travelled to Raipur to demand implementation of the High Court ruling and reversal of the criminal charges against the union leaders. 
 
The ICEM General Secretary also made clear that it is incumbent on the ILO to urgently address the trend towards precarious employment relationships that is undermining the effectiveness of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 for workers all around the globe. 
 
The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM_Manfred_Warda_ILC_Plenary_Speech%20_8_June%20FINAL.pdf">full text</a> of the speech is available here. 
More information about Holcim India&rsquo;s practices can be found <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/category/mnc-info/holcim/">here</a>.

ICEM General Secretary Spotlights Holcim as Contract Workers’ Abuser at ILO

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The ICEM, as the global trade union federation representing 20 million workers in the mining, energy, chemicals, and materials industries, together with EMCEF, the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation, are following with concern present discussions towards establishing a Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Colombia. 
 
Free Trade Agreements represent opportunities to improve labour and human rights in more countries around the world, and can increase access to international markets for developing countries. An FTA between the European Union (EU) and Colombia would, however, symbolically endorse the appalling labour rights violations in the most dangerous country in the world for a trade unionist, and also significantly weaken the pressure on the Colombian government to fulfill its human rights obligations. 
 
The EU signing one of its very first FTAs with a government that has been so clearly complicit in the abuse of labour and human rights is an insult to workers everywhere, and to the core principles of freedom and justice. The effect of this FTA on Europe would be political, not economic, as only 0.3% of EU trade is with Colombia.&nbsp; 
 
Norway, and initially the US,&nbsp;blocked their own FTAs with Colombia, citing human and labour rights concerns. The EU must follow this example. 
 
It is important to note that Colombia is already bound by strong language requiring adherence to key UN and ILO human and trade union rights conventions, under the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+). This agreement instructs the European Commission to mount an investigation and ultimately suspend GSP+ status where key UN and ILO rights conventions are breached. Disregarding repeated UN and ILO recommendations, the European Commission renews Colombia&rsquo;s GSP+ status without investigation. 
 
So replacing current &ldquo;binding&rdquo; labour standard provisions with weaker, &ldquo;non-binding&rdquo; provisions in an FTA is not reasonable. Labour rights in the FTA&rsquo;s Sustainable Development chapter are not subject to the FTA&rsquo;s dispute settlement mechanism. If Colombia were to breach a central clause on human rights, there would be no mechanism available to suspend the agreement. 
 
There have been 200 trade unionists killed in Colombia in the past three years, simply for exercising their basic rights. The murders are carried out by the army, police, and paramilitaries. Perpetrators are not being brought to justice, and are free continue to act 
 
with impunity. The death tally this year is already over 30. Activists are also silenced by imprisonment on false charges. 
 
The ICEM and EMCEF are absolutely opposed to the EU-Colombia FTA while our sisters and brothers in Colombia continue to be brutally murdered and violently intimidated. 
 
We support and will work closely together with all trade union initiatives of our affiliates all over the world. 
 
One source to take action against the EU-Colombia FTA, or to learn more about the situation facing workers in Colombia is <a href="http://www.justiceforcolombia.org/?link=3_0_3">Justice for Colombia</a>.

ICEM, EMCEF Totally Oppose EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

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ICEM-affiliated United Mine Workers&rsquo; of America (UMWA) members ratified a front-end loaded and pattern-setting US national coal collective agreement on 17 June. The contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators&rsquo; Association (BCOA) was ratified by 70% of miners voting at 125 UMWA local branches, and comes six months before expiry of an existing national contract. 
 
The five-and-a-half-year agreement replaces the existing one and takes effect on 1 July. It will cover 10,000 miners and preserves the long UMWA tradition of providing excellent salaries, pension benefits, and health care coverage to US miners and retired miners. 
 
The US$6-an-hour wage increases over the life of the contract will now serve as a national pattern in union and non-union mines across North America. More importantly, that pattern is extended to include pension benefits &ndash; including health care benefits &ndash; for tens of thousands of retired miners and for workers and retirees of many coal and energy companies outside of the BCOA. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="139" />
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
&ldquo;Our members will receive the largest pay increase in the 121-year history of our union,&rdquo; said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;In addition, we were able to preserve full health care benefits for active and retired members and their dependants, as well as preserve pensions for current and future retirees with no cuts in benefits.&rdquo; 
 
The national accord includes two US$1-per-hour increases in the first six months of the new agreement, on 1 July and again on 1 January, which is an average 8.2% increase over current wages. Wages will be increased by US$1-per-hour on 1 January in each successive year until 2016. 
 
The UMWA preserved health care benefits for active and retired miners with no cuts. The agreement preserves a pension plan that sees a company-contributed US$5.50-man-hour-worked into a pension fund that ensures the benefits are paid in full. 
 
The UMWA posted several other improvements in the proposed agreement, including pay increases for shift work, increased sickness, accident, vision and dental benefits, and better life insurance terms. 
 
The ICEM termed the new collective accord exemplary on several fronts. &ldquo;This contract again is verification of the tremendous power that UMWA holds for a social America,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It deserves attention and wide applause.&rdquo;

UMWA Wins Excellent Terms in US National Coal Talks

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The ICEM CAL Mini Guide to Dealing with Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) is now available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, and Bahasa Indonesian. 
 
The guide gives an overview of what the ICEM and its affiliates around the world are doing to promote permanent, direct employment and at the same time to promote better conditions for CAL workers. It also suggests ways in which unions can build relations with CAL workers, for example by creating a dedicated precarious workers&rsquo; section or representative, or introducing different membership fee levels and/or an alternate methods of dues collection. ICEM affiliates are encouraged to initiate a discussion on CAL within their own unions, and the Guide suggests a number of questions which may help to get these discussions started. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20French.pdf">French</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20Spanish%20HQP.pdf">Spanish</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Portuguese.pdf">Portuguese</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Hindi.pdf">Hindi</a> is available here. 
 
The CAL Mini Guide in <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20Bahasa.pdf">Bahasa Indonesian</a> is available here.

ICEM Mini Guide to Dealing with CAL now in multiple languages

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On 8 March, to coincide with International Women&rsquo;s Day, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a report exploring the gender dimensions of the increasing move towards contract, agency and other types of precarious work. Entitled &ldquo;Living with Economic Insecurity,&rdquo; the report analyses global employment trends, including the global economic crisis, and concludes that the crisis has had a particularly far-reaching, but under-acknowledged effect on women. This has been exacerbated by the fact that women are over-represented in insecure forms of employment. 
 
There are no global figures regarding the number of women in precarious employment, but the report details a number of studies which illustrate the over-representation of women in insecure employment. In industrialised countries, where the female employment rate in 2009 was 53.1% versus 68.4% for men, women are more likely to be employed in part-time jobs. In Japan, women represent two-thirds of all non-regular workers and 80% of the female workforce are in temporary jobs. In some developing countries, female employment is predominantly in export-orientated manufacturing sectors, characterised by low wages, insecurity and denial of trade union rights. 
 
According to the report women are increasingly working in the outsourced public sector jobs, for example as cleaners and care-workers, where they are denied access to social protections and receive lower wages than their permanent counterparts. Jobs in the care sector are highly precarious and low paid. Many workers in the sector do have contracts that guarantee a set number of hours, and work on an &ldquo;upon request&rdquo; basis. Workers in the cleaning sector suffered due to the cutbacks brought on by the crisis, such as in Belgium where many office cleaning contracts were reduced from once a day to once a week, with negative impacts for the predominantly female, precarious workforce. 
 
According to the ITUC, women suffer from a &ldquo;double pay deficit,&rdquo; firstly from gender discrimination and secondly as a result of lower pay for precarious work. In Korea, for example, 70% of female workers are in precarious employment and earn only 43% of the salaries of regular male workers. 
 
The overrepresentation of women in precarious employment has become a key factor contributing to the global pay gap between men and women, and according to the report &ldquo;Job insecurity, far from being compensated through higher wages, actually tends to go hand in hand with low pay.&rdquo; 
 
The ITUC has prioritised getting women out of precarious and informal jobs in the following ways: 
 
1. Shifting policy focus to the creation of quality jobs, including by ensuring that the employment relationship is legally secure. 
 
2. Implementing the gender equity agenda, including through investment in public services and taking steps to promote the employment of women in all sectors. 
 
3. Providing universal access to social security through the implementation of a social protection floor for all, regardless of their employment situation. 
 
4. Taking up the challenge of organising workers in insecure forms of work by removing legal obstacles and broadening collective bargaining strategies. 
 
The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ITUC%20report%20-%20women%20and%20precarious%20work.pdf">full report</a> is available here.

Gender and CAL: ITUC’s Women in Precarious Work Report

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