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Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/p&acirc;te et de papier/pulp y papel 
Urgent Alert, Sappi/South Africa: Voice Opposition, Support CEPPWAWU 
 
ICEM is calling for immediate action to a union-smashing affront by Sappi at its Enstra mill in Springs, South Africa. Sappi suspended 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers due to their union affiliation with Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), a longtime ICEM affiliate. 
Starting on 6 May, SAPPI systematically and maliciously began taking disciplinary actions against CEPPWAWU leaders inside the 650-worker Enstra sulfate pulp and printing papers mill. The allegations: inciting workers (90% of whom are CEPPWAWU members), harassment, and use of company property for union purposes. At a 28 May meeting, SAPPI said it would start disciplinary hearings on them, hearings that will be one-sided and unfair. The ICEM urges that messages get sent and that this posting gets wide attention: union bashing will not be tolerated in South Africa! 
 
ICEM finds it reprehensible that SAPPI refuses meeting participation by CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s National Coordinator for Sappi branches, and called it &ldquo;a blight on Sappi everywhere,&rdquo; in a letter to SAPPI house in South Africa. The ICEM calls it a blatant violation of basic trade union rights and this union-bashing merits immediate condemnation. Respond! 
 
Take the message below, and send to Enstra manager Dave Glazebrook at <a href="mailto:dave.glazebrook@sappi.com">dave.glazebrook@sappi.com</a> and <a href="mailto:Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com">Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com</a>, <a href="mailto:Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com">Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com</a>, and then pass it to others to do the same: 
 
Sappi: Hands Off Union at Enstra. 
 
NO!!! &hellip; Union Bashing in South Africa! 
No &hellip; no suspending Union Rights in South Africa! This is malicious, anti-democratic, and anti-people &hellip; there is no room for it in economic recovery. Sappi cannot afford disrepute now or ever in its paper businesses. Reinstate the workers&rsquo; representatives and others at Enstra Now. These trade union members have been incriminated because they represent Sappi&rsquo;s biggest trade union in South Africa. It is deplorable labour-relations and employment conduct &hellip; and a cancer inside South Africa. Trade union rights at Enstra &ndash; anywhere at Sappi &hellip; Europe, North America, or in South Africa &ndash; are guaranteed and will never be denied! 
 
 
Please send solidarity messages to CEPPWAWU: <a href="mailto:secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za">secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za</a>

SAPPI: Act Now!!

Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/pâte et de papier/pulp y papel

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Seven sit-ins at rural offices of three MPs and four Ministers &ndash; including Canada&rsquo;s Finance, Treasury, and Inter-Governmental Affairs Ministries &ndash; got Stephen Harper&rsquo;s attention and the question now is will his government listen. Tomorrow, Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union will stage another manifestation on the crisis facing the forest sector, this time a protest and march that will lead to direct face-to-face talks with the Harper team in Ottawa. 
The sit-ins were carried out early last week in an escalating strategy by the CEP to spotlight the mass job and social loss that has overtaken forest-based communities across Canada. CEP is adamant that it is Harper&rsquo;s responsibility to find the answers. And CEP is ready to work with government to ensure the correct measures are found. 
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March and Rally 
Tuesday, June 2
The sit-ins follow mid-May strategy meetings and a protest at AbitibiBowater&rsquo;s headquarters in Montr&eacute;al. That protest was directed more at the Harper government than at the bankrupt newsprint company. Last week&rsquo;s sit-ins at the rural offices of key lawmakers mean this issue will stay focused on rural Canada&rsquo;s very survival and way-of-life. 
Tomorrow, 2 June, at 11h30 in Ottawa, the CEP will rally first at the offices of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Riatt and then march to Prime Minister Stephen Harper&rsquo;s building. They then will meet with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, whose Ontario offices in Whitby-Oshawa were the only CEP-occupied offices not in a rural area. 
Six of the seven sit-ins across four of Canada&rsquo;s provinces produced immediate results. Three sit-ins occurred in rural government offices in Qu&eacute;bec, two in British Colombia, and one each in New Brunswick and Ontario. In British Colombia, an MP, Jay Hill, a lead Tory whip in Ottawa from Prince George/Peace River riding, was the only legislator refusing CEP&rsquo;s invitation to discuss the crisis. At the other occupation in British Colombia, inside the offices of John Duncan, Vancouver Island North riding, the CEP spokesman for the occupying team, promised, &ldquo;We plan to keep on making noise and do whatever we have to do&rdquo; to move this government to action. 
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The CEP is demanding financial support for the industry at the federal level. The union is also demanding iron-clad protections on pensions, something that will not be compromised. And CEP will insist tomorrow that the Harper government must enact industry tax relief for companies&rsquo; converting black-liquor from the wood-pulp process to energy. That set of tax breaks exists for pulp and paper firms in the US and the CEP insists on a level playing field. 
The CEP is also demanding a national summit on the forestry crisis in which key stakeholders will decide on strict guidelines aimed at employment stabilisation and forest regeneration measures. The sit-ins made one targeted politician jump on that idea quickly. In Qu&eacute;bec, the Minister for Inter-Governmental Affairs, said she will convene such a summit. 
ICEM affiliate CEP calculates that 55,000 jobs in the forestry sector have been lost over the past two years alone. Far more were lost in earlier years. The impact of these good-paying jobs on others in rural communities &ndash; when those jobs disappear &ndash; is immense and the ripple effects must be multiplied to get the real economic picture.

Canadian Ministry Sit-ins Awaken Stephen Harper to Jobs Crisis

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Australian trade unions have won a first round by stomping on a Rudd government plan to raise the pension age to 67 by the year 2023. This story serves as a global reminder that Australian trade unions will not let down their guard and will prevent a labour government from rolling back into the Howard era. 
 
The plan came inside a Treasury budget proposal to gradually increase the pension age beginning in 2017. Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and other unions, including the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), posted immediate challenges and Kevin Rudd backed down. 

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But the plan will likely re-surface in coming years, and trade unions now are well placed for full engagement. CFMEU, AMWU, and others correctly label the measure, &ldquo;a path to the false economy&rdquo; and point out that the proposed retirement system unfairly affects low-paid, blue-collar workers, particularly those doing physical labour in construction and industrial sectors. The government&rsquo;s plan disregards future health-care disabilities and the needed funds to maintain an effective and inclusive medical social net. 

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ACTU President Sharon Burrow
ACTU President Sharon Burrow aptly stated that workers&rsquo; bodies are &ldquo;broken way before&rdquo; they reach age 67. Research polling showed that 72% of Australians think the Rudd government plan is unfair to labourers, while 61% think it is unfair to trades and crafts workers. 
 
Separately and a fairer proposal,&nbsp;in a joint letter to Rudd by CFMEU National Secretary John Sutton and AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver, they&nbsp;said&nbsp;roll-backs of&nbsp;tax concessions on superannuation accounts should be a priority&nbsp;in order to raise revenue. By raising the eligibility threshold at which tax relief is granted on superannuations, the unions maintain, Australia creates equality and fairness for all. 
 
The ICEM commends the CFMEU and AMWU, and all Australian unions, for leading a rapid vanguard over this issue and supports future efforts of trade unions to block similar regressive and anti-people policies.

Australian Unions Push Back Over Pension Age Issue

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Labour unrest by French, Spanish, Italian, and other workers at French MNC Saint-Gobain continued last week, with the heaviest coming in France. This follows a European-wide manifestation at Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s head office in Paris on 20 May, which occurred during Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s social dialogue meetings. 
 
European trade unions at Saint-Gobain, a glass and building materials manufacturer, are protesting further restructuring, which to them means job loss and social dumping. The resulting industrial actions inside Saint-Gobain factories attest to collective rejection of both. 
 
Strikes inside a factory in the Charente region of France have crimped production and interrupted orders. Workers feel cheated because &ldquo;efficiency bonuses&rdquo; have not been paid as promised, at a time when Saint-Gobain is coming for another round of restructuring. Protests have spread to Vauxrot and Ch&acirc;lon-sur-Sa&ocirc;ne in France in a show of visible frustration and worker rebellion. 

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In Spain, at Sekurit worksites in Avil&eacute;s and Arb&oacute;s, local managers are skittish following a furnace accident and blame the French corporate group for mandating further the social cuts that nobody wants. Spanish unions point to management ineptitude on the part of both local and Paris levels, and worry that research and development in Avil&eacute;s might be in jeopardy. 
 
In Italy, unions in all three federations &ndash; FILCEM-CGIL, FEMCA-CISL, and ILCEM-UIL &ndash; jointly manifested at Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s regional office in Milan, while jointly conducting timely four-hour work stoppages at Italian plants. They reject the company&rsquo;s decision to close a Sekurit plant in Savigliano, northern Italy, cut in half the number of staff at another Cuneo region plant, this time in Cervas, a glass-to-appliance factory, and workers at the Flovetro plant in Chieti, central Italy, have serious concerns over continued production. 
 
Nationally in France, similar to union convergence in Italy, the CFDT, CGT, and FO have teamed to pressure the Saint-Gobain Works Council to look first at workers&rsquo; interests. That happened again last week, on 26 May, and the bond between French unions has gotten stronger, providing the needed pressure point on both Saint-Gobain and the WC. 
 
In Liverdun, along the French Moselle, the mayor of that city recently stricken by Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s factory cuts said it strikes fear in him each time he thinks of the difficulties that the discarded workers of Saint-Gobain now must face.

European Labour Unrest Spreads to Saint-Gobain, Glass Sector

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The first collective agreement between nickel miners and smelting workers of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Ontario, Canada, and Companhia Vale do Rio Dice (Vale) of Brazil expired over the weekend, but the two sides have extended the current three-year agreement until 12 July in order to give more time to resolve issues. 
 
The USW represents some 4,500 workers at Sudbury, Ontario, site of one of the world&rsquo;s largest nickel processing operations, and another 180 at Vale&rsquo;s Port Colborne, Ontario, facility. Both USW branches are bargaining jointly on a common labour agreement. It is the first time that the USW and Vale have negotiated in Ontario&rsquo;s copper and nickel belt since the world&rsquo;s biggest iron ore miner bought Inco late in 2006. 

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At that time, USW held talks with Brazilian managers and laid forward a set of social principles that the union expects the company to follow in Canada. USW also crafted a Solidarity Statement called the &ldquo;Sudbury Accord&rdquo; in 2006 between Canadian, Brazilian, and other trade unions, calling for global bargaining power at all Vale worksites. 
 
Speaking on the extension, a company spokesman told the Sudbury Star newspaper that it shows a &ldquo;continued willingness for the two parties to keep working together to achieve an outcome, a successful outcome.&rdquo; The USW is holding membership meetings today and tomorrow, 1-2 June, to inform members on the outstanding issues, and to get direct feedback. 
 
Sudbury area and Port Colborne USW members did vote overwhelmingly for a strike mandate on 21 May. The USW had another collective agreement which was earlier extended with Vale at Voisey Bay, Newfoundland. That contract expired 1 May 2009. 
 
These are the not the first set of collective negotiations in Canada between the USW and Vale. Last September, 1,300 miners in Thompson, Manitoba, ratified a three-year contract with the Brazilian mining company.

USW’s Canadian Miners Extend Labour Agreement with Vale

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Thousands of workers took to the streets of Islamabad, Pakistan, last week, on 26 May, calling for improvements to the National Pay Scale in the next federal budget, as well as demanding that the Pakistani government shelve plans to privatize national utilities. The march last Tuesday arrived at the National Parliament where the assembled workers presented a detailed memorandum, containing their demands, addressed to the Speaker of the Parliament. 
 
Public owned industries that are at risk of being privatized include electricity, rail, postal, oil and gas, and the national steel mills. 
 
The proud ICEM affiliate, the Pakistan WAPDA Labour Union (PWLU), took a leading role in organizing the rally. Also central to the demands of the assembled workers is the issue of Contract and Agency Labour. A strong call has been issued that enterprises must treat these workers on an equal basis with regular employees. Outdated labour laws, including the Industrial Relations Act, are clearly in need of reform, according to unions. 
 
An encouraging sign of government response was the successful meeting of the Federal Minister for Water and Power, Pervez Asraf, with WAPDA on 23 May. The Minister discussed strategies to combat the national energy shortage and pledged to bring a halt to this shortage by the end of 2009. The Minister also discussed new projects scheduled, including a new power plant in Lahore, an energy deal with Turkey, and continued work on hydro projects in Neelum-Jahlum and Bhasha Dam. 
 
The meeting between the ICEM affiliate and the Energy Minister also achieved a regularization of daily wage employees of WAPDA Water and Power, and a grant of 45 percent of housing rent for WAPDA employees, as well as the building of a 50 bed hospital for Wapda employees in Larkana.

Pakistan’s Trade Union WAPDA Demonstrates for Improved Wages and Conditions

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The Spanish union, FIA-UGT, representing chemical, energy, mining, and textile workers of that labour federation held its Fifth Ordinary Congress from 14-16 May in Tarragona, Spain, with some 400 delegates attending. 
 
The theme was Todas y Todos, or Women and Men All Together. The Congress adopted two new departments, Equalities and Union Elections. 
 
FIA-UGT&rsquo;s traditional international mission was an important focus at the Congress, with three videos highlighting major efforts undertaken by the union in Latin America. One of the most important decisions taken by the Congress was to start talks with the agricultural and food workers&rsquo; union, FTA-UGT, toward a merged union. 
 
The President of ICEM-affiliated Colombian trade union, SINTRAELECOL, Danuil Gomez,&nbsp;addressed the Congress and thanked FIA-UGT for its continuing solidarity efforts with Colombian workers, as well as in building an effective ENDESA workers&rsquo; network. 

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FIA-UGT General Secretary Antonio Deusa Perazo
FIA-UGT General Secretary Antonio Deusa Perazo was re-elected to lead the union, and an Executive Committee also was elected. 
 
They Executive Committee includes: Paula Guill&eacute;n Lerma, Secretary of Organisation and Communication; Ram&oacute;n Ruiz D&iacute;az, Secretary of Trade Union Action; Bego&ntilde;a Abdelkader, Secretary of Administration; Montserrat L&oacute;pez Garc&iacute;a de la Torre, International Secretary; Francisco Ligero Pozo, Secretary Health and Safety; Eugenia Mart&iacute;n Abdrada, Union Elections Secretary; Paula Alv&eacute;s Da Silva, Equalities Secretary; Francisco Durb&aacute;n Mart&iacute;n, Secretary of Training; Victor Fern&aacute;ndez V&aacute;zquez, Mining Secretary; Jos&eacute; Carlos Ru&iacute;z Palacios, Chemicals Secretary; Manuel Garc&iacute;a Sanchez, Energy Secretary; and Jos&eacute; Emilio Mesa Ortega, Textile Secretary. 
 
The ICEM looks forward to continued cooperation with FIA-UGT&rsquo;s Antonio Deusa and members of the union&rsquo;s Executive Committee.

FIA-UGT Hold Congress in Spain, Re-Elect Antonio Deusa General Secretary

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The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) continues to work closely with the EU to implement the Registration, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. ETUC pro-actively submitted a list of 306 chemicals of high concern to workers for inclusion on a candidate list of substances for authorisation under REACH rules. 
 
The list was derived from a list of dangerous chemicals identified by the European Risk Ranking Method (EURAM). A total of 191 of those 306 chemicals are proven to have caused industrial diseases. ETUC&rsquo;s methodology is aimed at encouraging industry to develop safer substances in a competitive manner, with maximum protection of workers, consumers, and the environment. 

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In releasing the list in recent months, ETUC is hopeful the 306 substances will be clearly identified for professional users, particularly those who work with these chemicals, and that more information will be generated on them so that safer alternatives can be developed.

ETUC Prioritises 306 Chemicals for REACH

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On 18 May, Grafiska Fackf&ouml;rbundet, Sweden&rsquo;s Graphical Workers&rsquo; Union, and Skogs-och Tr&auml;facket, the Forest and Wood Trades Union, held their last Congresses in Stockholm. On 19 May, the two Swedish national unions held a successful merger Congress, reports the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI). 
 
Per-Olof Sj&ouml;&ouml; was elected the new President of GS, the Forestry, Wood &amp; Graphical Workers&rsquo; Union, numbering now 70,000 union members. Three Vice Presidents were elected, Tommy Andersson, Kenneth Johansson, and Erik Georgii. 
 
Sj&ouml;&ouml; said an immediate priority for the union will be the continued and unrelenting struggle to protect jobs, ensuring that it is not workers who foot the bill for the current economic crisis. He promised peace with the LO family of unions, but said it will not be a peaceful Swedish labour movement until the fight for justice has been won. 
 
The ICEM extends its best to GS and knows it is ready to face the struggles that will re-shape Swedish social life and work.

Swedish Graphical, Forestry Unions Merge

Archive

SAPPI: Act Now!!

Sappi: pulp & paper/pâte et de papier/pulp y papel

Canadian Ministry Sit-ins Awaken Stephen Harper to Jobs Crisis

Australian Unions Push Back Over Pension Age Issue

European Labour Unrest Spreads to Saint-Gobain, Glass Sector

USW’s Canadian Miners Extend Labour Agreement with Vale

Pakistan’s Trade Union WAPDA Demonstrates for Improved Wages and Conditions

FIA-UGT Hold Congress in Spain, Re-Elect Antonio Deusa General Secretary

ETUC Prioritises 306 Chemicals for REACH

Swedish Graphical, Forestry Unions Merge

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