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<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Tuesday, 7 February, will mark a full year that US members of United Steelworkers (USW) in Cincinnati, Ohio have been on strike against Cognis, a German chemicals company. 
USW Local 14340 will observe the anniversary by placing further attention on Cognis and its joint-venture partner who are operating the plant at great environmental risk, and with known health and safety deficiencies. 
Workers struck because Cognis would not agree to union recognition through a “successorship” clause in the labour agreement when Cognis and Malaysian Golden Hope Plantations formed a joint venture to run the oleochemicals division of the plant. The company is now refusing to accept strikers back to work even if the strike is ended. 
In a letter to Cognis CEO Antonio Trusi Oliva, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs called this “unacceptable” and urged him to use his “influence inside this new enterprise to assure that a settlement to this strike will include jobs for all USW union members who wish to return to work.”

USW Members in Ohio Seek Justice from Chemicals Producer

More than 1500 trade unionists participated in a torch-lit march in the city centre of Gent, Belgium, yesterday, protesting against the shocking behaviour of the management of Stora Enso’s paper mill in Langerbrugge, near Gent. 
 
 

<img height="178" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602GentDemo3a.jpg" width="390" alt=""/>
 
At the heart of the demonstration were the two Belgian trade union representatives that Stora Enso, a Finnish-Swedish multinational headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, dismissed at the end of last year for their union activities. For the full background see: <a href="/?id=77&doc=1638&la=EN" type="internal">Stora Enso Retaliates Against Union Leaders in Gent, Belgium (3 February 2006)</a>. 
 
 

<img height="265" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602GentDemo2a.jpg" width="390" alt=""/>
 
An ICEM delegation, led by Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary, participated in the protest march. The presence of the ICEM highlighted the international character of the dispute, as the ICEM representatives carried the banner of the Canadian Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), another ICEM affiliate also facing an attack by Stora Enso management. 
 
One similarity between the disputes in Canada and Belgium is the desire of the company to have unchecked freedom in contracting out jobs, thereby seriously jeopardising job security at Stora Enso facilities. Another similarity is the blatantly anti-union behaviour. Stora Enso is becoming increasingly known as a company showing little or no regard for the rights of its workers and their unions in its chase of higher profitability. 
 
 

<img height="230" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602GentDemo1a.jpg" width="250"/>
 
At the march, flags were exchanged between representatives of the ICEM, in the name of CEP, and the Belgian ACCG, in a display of solidarity between the Canadian unionists and the Belgian protesters. Discussions took place between the two unions and the ICEM in Brussels last week. 
 
 

<img height="236" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0602GentDemo4a.jpg" width="380"/>

Protest March Against Stora Enso Behaviour in Belgium

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
An eleventh hour agreement was reached late on Saturday, 30 September, just hours before 800 Canadian members of United Steelworkers (USW) were set to strike the Highland Valley copper mine and operations near Kamloops, British Colombia. 
 
USW Local 7619 and the mine’s owner, Teck Cominco, reached a tentative five-year labour agreement that will now be voted on by union members over the next week. The USW local issued a 72-hour strike notice on 26 September, and the Vancouver-based global mining house began shutting down operations in anticipation of a strike at the expiration of a prior agreement on 1 October. The tentative agreement came with the help of a provincial mediator. 
<img height="50" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CanadaFLAG.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
The Highland Valley operation is Canada’s largest copper producer and generates 1.2% of the world’s copper supply, with roughly 80% headed to Asian manufacturers. 
 
In Eastern Canada, a strike by USW members at Inco’s Voisey Bay nickel operations ended 23 September, after 120 workers ratified a new labour contract. The strike started on 28 July 2006. 
 
The accord gives Voisey Bay steelworkers a 15.5% raise over the three-year contract, as well as a retention bonus of C$6,000. It also allows the nickel miners to gain parity with unionised Inco miners in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.

Strike Averted at Canada’s Largest Copper Mine

<img height="41" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief.gif" width="100"/>
An agreement in principle has been won by three German unions with Vattenfall Europe for some 20,000 utility workers in Germany to be covered by one collective agreement. 
The unions, ICEM affiliate IGBCE, IG Metall and Ver.di, have been negotiating with the Swedish-based company for two years in efforts to get all workers under a single agreement in order to achieve pay equity and uniform work terms. 
That pledge for agreement came recently when the supervisory board of Germany’s third largest utility changed its position and agreed to a common agreement. Management also agreed to allow workers who are in enterprises that get sold off by the company to remain in the agreement until a new collective agreement is negotiated with that business. 
<img height="62" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyFlag.gif" width="100"/>       <img height="63" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SwedenFlag.gif" width="100"/>
The three unions had joined together in a number of protests against the company’s indifference to a common contract, including a demonstration numbering 5,000 at Vattenfall Europe’s 1 March AGM in Berlin. 
In March, Swedish trade union SEKO began a campaign at home to assist the German unions with achieving a common contract. In Germany, Vattenfall Europe consists of several former utility companies that the Swedish firm has purchased over the past six years, including Bewag, HEW, Laubag and Veag.

German Unions, Vattenfall Come to Terms

<img height="55" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="138"/>
Tomorrow, the Australian labour movement will take to the streets in several cities with hundreds of thousands of protestors aimed at the Howard government’s proposed industrial relations reforms. Introduced into Parliament on 2 November, WorkChoices legislation is draconian workplace reform reminiscent of conditions that produced wholesale class warfare a century ago. 
Howard’s Conservatives, now controlling both houses of Parliament, pushed the reform through the lower chamber on 10 November by initiating “gag and guillotine” rules that prevented opposing MPs from speaking. 
The package of worker restrictions now goes to a Senate committee, and is expected to be brought to the full Senate chamber on 28 November. The reform will extinguish established collective enterprise agreements in favour of individual contracts; restrict trade union rights in representation matters; create unfair workplace dismissals; limit the range of issues unions can bring into bargaining; and will weaken annual leave provisions and remove the right to public holidays enjoyed by some workers, among just a few of the harsh measures. 
Australian trade unions have responded in typical fighting fashion, for example, by countering the affront to the country’s lowest paid workers with introduction of 4% hikes in the minimum wage in five separate states. The proposals were made to state industrial relations commissions, agencies the Howard government want abolished in lieu of federal control over workplace laws. Tomorrow’s rallies, like ones staged 30 June just prior to Conservatives taking control of both houses of Parliament, will show Australian workers are bitterly opposed to turning the clock back on industrial relations.

Australian Lab our Movement Rallies on 15 November

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
The 16-week-old lockout by Stora Enso at a paper mill in Canada will continue into the foreseeable future. The Finnish-Swedish company, which locked 600 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union off their jobs on 26 January 2006, returned to the bargaining table on 8 May. 
 
But the session was short and discouraging. In a return-to-work agreement, Stora Enso demanded a 10% pay cut from workers in mid-April, and the union’s counter-proposal last week was met with bitter rejection. The company then bypassed the union-management process by mailing to each worker its plea for acceptance, including the concessionary “Recovery Plan” that seeks to cut costs inside the Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, mill. With a proposed wage freeze staring at them, workers would actually see an 18% cut in earnings if the proposal were to be accepted. 
 
Stora Enso has brokered C$65 million in subsidies from the province of Nova Scotia, covering seven years. But the aid package is contingent on a new collective agreement between the company and CEP Local 972, and CEP paperworkers in the maritime province will not slash their livelihoods to meet Stora’s outrageous demands.

Stora Enso’s Demands Prolong Canadian Paper Mill Lockout

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Baltic trade union solidarity was at its best last week when the Lithuanian Confederation of Trade Unions picketed and presented a formal letter of protest to the Estonian embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania. At the same time, on 25 May, Estonian trade union federations EAKL and TALO were demonstrating in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. 
<img height="66" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EstoniaFlag2.gif" width="100" alt=""/>     <img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/LituaniaFlag.gif" width="100"/>
The joint protest is over the Estonian government’s proposed Employees’ Representatives Act, put forward by the Social Affairs Ministry. If passed into law, the measure would exclude legitimate trade union representatives from information and consultation procedures inside worksites, as well as give employers the leverage to sack trade union delegates. 
 
EAKL Chairman Harri Taliga said the proposed legislation was shaped only with the narrow interests of employers in mind. The ICEM has written to Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip to express concern with the bill, specifically citing it with violating ILO Conventions 98 and 135, as well as a European Union directive on trade union rights.

Lithuanian Labour Protests Estonia’s Anti-Union Legislation

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
In Russia over the past ten days, three miners were killed and one is still missing in two separate accidents 
in the coal-rich Kuzbass area of central Siberia. The accidents involve the same company, Prokopyevskugol coal mines, a subsidiary of the metallurgical company Novo-Lipetsk. 
 
At the Voroshilovskaya mine the town of Prokopyevsk, a roof collapsed on 22 May, causing two deaths. Fifteen miners managed to escape. On 18 May at the Ziminka mine, one miner was killed when water broke through a clay wall. One other miner is still missing, while 12 managed to escape. 
 
The accidents prompted the governor of the Kemerovo Region of Russia, Vladimir Lisin, to write to the chairman of the board of Novo-Lipetsk to increase financing of measures to ensure proper industrial safety and mineworker protections.

Separate Mishaps, Same Company in Russian Coal Fatalities

<img height="130" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMwomenBul.JPG" width="350"/> 
 
  Enactment of the unpopular WorkChoices labour reform law in Australia will reverse the course on gender equality in the workplace, said Sharon Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
 Contents<a name="BackUp"></a>
<a href="#A1">1. WorkChoices Act - Australian Women’s Rights Hit Hard</a> 
<a href="#A2">2. Nepal - Equality for Women Goes from Strength to Strength</a> 
<a href="#A3">3. USA - A New Movement for Family-Friendly Policies</a> 
<a href="#A4">4. Canada - C$100 Million Pay Equity Settlement</a> 
<a href="#A5">5. China - Women’s Pay Still a Long Way from Equal</a> 
<a href="#A6">6. Colombia - Court Legalises Some Abortions</a> 
<a href="#A7">7. Finland - 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage</a> 
<a href="#A8">8. Malaysia - Give Women What is Fair</a> 
<a href="#A9">9. Mexico - Women Allege Sex Abuse by Police</a> 
<a href="#A10">10. Switzerland - Work-Life Balance Means a High Return on Investment</a> 
<a href="#11">11. UK - Iraqi Women Visit Trade Unions</a> 
<a href="#A12">12. Resources</a> 

<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A1"></a><a name="1"></a>
1. <a name="1"></a>Australia – Women’s Rights Hit Hard 
 
The Australian government’s industrial relations reforms have set back women’s fight for equal rights at work by decades, according to the national labour centre, Australian Council of Trade Unions. 
 
ACTU president Sharan Burrow told a recent women’s conference that female equality in the workplace was unachievable under WorkChoices. She said, “We were already struggling….now with WorkChoices we’ve lost the tools to do anything about it.” The tools included the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, unfair dismissal laws and equal pay principles. She said the changes had angered many women who had fought hard in the past three decades to try to achieve equality. 
 
But she also predicted the Howard government’s reforms will prompt a new generation of women to rally behind the cause for work rights. Burrow is the first woman ever to serve as president of the ICFTU. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A2"></a><a name="2"></a>
2.<a name="2"></a> Nepal – Equality for Women Goes from Strength to Strength 
 
The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) congratulates all women in Nepal for the new victory in the fight for equality. The House of Representatives made one more landmark declaration guaranteeing the right of women, by providing a 33% requirement in all state bodies. 
 
It will secure women a one-third representation on all security forces, bureaucracy and constitutional bodies, including Parliament. It will be imperative for every political party and mass organisation to follow the same rule. Moreover the declaration put an end to the patriarchal nature of the existing citizenship law and ensured citizenship to all. 
 
Now Nepali citizenship will be awarded on the basis of both mother and father, contrary to the previous practice of citizenship based on the father’s only. By this declaration all discriminatory laws and practices against women will be annulled. The demands were the major agenda of Nepali women’s movement including working-class women, the trade union movement and gender-friendly organisations. 
 
The ICEM congratulates GEFONT and all women in Nepal on this important achievement in the immediate aftermath of the political capitulation of King Gyanendra.
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A3"></a><a name="3"></a>
3.<a name="3"></a> United States – A New Movement for Family-Friendly Policies 
 
Patti Devlin from LIUNA wrote about the new movement for family-friendly policies because of the family crisis in America. Mothers and families are in trouble. A full quarter of families with children under six live in poverty, at least 9 million children have no health care, and far too many parents cannot afford to stay home with sick children. 
 
Working toward common sense, family-friendly policies, like those covered in The Motherhood Manifesto, will help all families. To support common sense family-friendly policies that protect and invest in mothers, children and families. Please sign the petition at: <a href="http://www.momsrising.org/">www.momsrising.org</a>.
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A4"></a><a name="4"></a>
4.<a name="4"></a> Canada – C$100 Million Pay Equity Settlement 
 
BCE Inc., Canada’s largest telephone company, agreed to pay about C$100 million to workers represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ (CEP) Union of Canada. 
 
The union filed suit in 1992 to seek equal pay for Bell’s largely female operators, and dining and housing-service employees. About 2,000 people who work or have worked full time as operators would each receive between C$25,000 and C$30,000, plus an adjustment to their pensions. 
 
“People have waited a long time for this settlement,” said CEP President Bryan Payne. The settlement covers current and former employees who worked for Bell between 1993 and 1999. Most of the people covered by the proposed agreement no longer work for Bell because their jobs were cut in the 1990s.
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A5"></a><a name="5"></a>
5. <a name="5"></a>China – Women’s Pay Still a Long Way from Equal 
 
While more Chinese believe both genders are equal, a recent national survey by the All-China Women’s Federation found women were still in a passive and disadvantageous position in the workplace. 
 
According to the survey, the employment rate of women age 18 to 49 has decreased by more than 16 percentage points compared to 1990. More than half of all laid-off workers are women. For working women in cities, their average income is roughly 70% that of men, representing a disparity of about 7% wider than a decade ago. This could be based on the fact that far fewer women want to have a voice in the managerial affairs of their units, even though China has many more women leaders in every aspect of social life than ever before, said survey analysts. 
 
According to the survey, only about 42% of women staff are concerned with the politics of their organisations, in contrast with more than 58% of men. 
 
While most men surveyed said their suggestions had been taken on board, most of the women said their suggestions had only brought “negative” results. It is this attitude towards the ability of women that freezes almost 65% of women in low-ranking positions, said Deng Li from the federation. “While gender equality is widely recognized in China, the social tradition and climate promoting a subordinate female role in relation to the male role persists,” Deng said. 
 
Consequently the survey found 20% of the men had promotion opportunities in the past three years, while only a little more than 16% of their female counterparts had the same opportunities. 
 
In addition, fewer women have been protected by proper unemployment and retirement pensions, which Deng said will prompt the federation to suggest that the National People’s Congress write “safeguarding equality in employment” into the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests. 
 
“Discrimination against women has become the most severe problem in the employment market in China, ranging from higher recruitment requirements for women to scarce promotion opportunities and humiliating workplace abuse,” Deng said. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A6"></a><a name="6"></a>
6. <a name="6"></a>Colombia – Court Legalises Some Abortions 
 
Colombia’s highest court has legalized abortion under limited circumstances. The decision is expected to embolden women’s rights groups across Latin America to use courts in their countries to try to roll back some of the world’s most stringent abortion laws. 
 
The court overturned Colombia’s complete ban on abortion and ruled that the procedure would be permitted when the life of a mother was in danger, or the foetus was expected to die or in cases of rape or incest. 
 
The lawyer in Bogotá who brought the case fought on the grounds that Colombia was violating its own commitments to international human rights treaties ensuring a woman’s right to life and health. The court, explaining its decision, said the life of a foetus could not be put ahead of the life of the mother, and called the complete ban “disproportionate” and “irrational.” Advocates of abortion rights say the arguments are applicable to other Latin American countries as well. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A7"></a><a name="7"></a>
7. <a name="7"></a>Finland – 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage 
 
Finns are celebrating a century of being the first country to grant women full political rights. On the First of June, 1906, a law was enacted giving all citizens the right to vote and full political rights for women, the first country in the world to do so. A year later, 19 women were elected into the 200-member single chamber. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country permitting women to vote, but it initially did not allow them to compete in elections. 
 
Finland’s Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja, said the country was among “the most advanced nations in gender equality. We’re not perfect, we have a lot to do still, but we are an example for the rest of the world,” Tuomioja said in an article distributed by the Associated Press. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A8"></a><a name="8"></a>
8. <a name="8"></a>Malaysia – Give Women What is Fair 
 
Referring to the complaint that salary should not be the basis for maternity pay, companies still treat women indifferently, especially when it comes to maternity leave. Employers could be charged in court if they sack a female employee just because she is pregnant, as provided by the 1955 Employment Act. Many companies give two months’ paid maternity leave (up to the fifth child), even though their salaries are above RM 1,500. 
 
Efforts are being made to amend the Employment Act for the definition of workers to include those who earn more than RM 1,500. The Malaysian government has not ratified ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection, which sets a requirement for 14 weeks’ paid maternity leave, parenting leave for the spouse, breastfeeding breaks for nursing mothers and provision of childcare centres. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A9"></a><a name="9"></a>
9.<a name="9"></a> Mexico – Women Allege Sex Abuse by Police 
 
Mexico’s human rights agency said on 30 May it has filed complaints with prosecutors after nearly two dozen women claimed they were raped or sexually abused by police following a violent protest. 
 
The allegations are the most serious to arise against police, frequently accused of corruption and violence, during the administration of President Fox, said Guillermo Ibarra, coordinator-general of projects and communication for the Mexican National Human Rights Commission. He said seven women reported that they were raped and 16 others, including three foreign nationals, said they were sexually abused by police who detained them after violent clashes last week in the town of San Salvador Atenco. 
 
Ibarra said his panel has filed criminal complaints with the attorney general’s office in the central state of Mexico, where local, state and federal police officers have been accused by the women in the alleged abuses. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A10"></a><a name="10"></a>
10. <a name="10"></a>Switzerland – Work-Life Balance Means a High Return on Investment 
 
The Swiss union UNIA has found that work-life balance is profitable for companies; that it provides an 8% return on investment. 
 
A government study proves this figure for three reasons. Mothers come back to work after their maternity leave, which lowers the rate of fluctuation and reduces costs for new hiring. New hiring costs for bringing low-paid workers (CHF 4,000 to 90,000) on to payrolls is significant, and making better use of part-time workers means that companies use their human resources more efficiently. And finally, work-life balance makes it possible for mothers to have qualified careers in spite of their family responsibilities. Motivation and company image were not taken into account in these figures. 
 
In addition, in the chemical and pharmaceuticals industry in the Basel region, UNIA managed to boost maternity leave from 16 to 18 weeks. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="11"></a>
11.<a name="11"></a> United Kingdom – Iraqi Women Visit Trade Unions 
 
Iraqi and Kurdish women trade unionists visited the UK in March with the support of the Trades Union Congress, and unions Unison and Amicus. 
 
The delegation consisted of Nazanin T. Ali, Head of Women’s Affairs at the Kurdistan Workers Syndicate, member of the Service Workers Union; Hoda S Rafiq, member of the Kurdistan Journalists’ Union, who works for the Kurdistan Workers Syndicate newspaper; Hassana Abdulsatar, member of the Mechanics, Metal and Printing Workers Union, and a member of her union’s women’s committee; and Violet Issa Qalaab, President of the Oil and Gas Workers Union Al Zubair Branch and member of the Iraqi Women’s League. 
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>
<img height="25" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="20"/><a name="A12"></a><a name="12"></a>
12. <a name="12"></a>Resources: 
 
The EU’s Responsibility at the WTO: Environment, Gender and Development, written by Women in Development Europe and Friends of the Earth Europe, 2006. 
 
This publication aims to contribute to a constructive dialogue between civil society representatives from the North and the South, and representatives from the EU that could contribute to an EU trade policy consistent with social and gender justice and environmental sustainability. 
The first part reports on the public hearing, entitled “The EU’s Responsibility at the WTO: Environment, Gender and Development,” highlighting issues such as the commoditization of natural resources under the WTO, the importance of people’s food sovereignty, the gender dimension of the trade agenda and biosafety. 
The second part consists of an analysis of the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting, from a feminist and environmentalist perspective. Available online at: 
<a href="http://www.eurosur.org/wide/Globalisation/WTO06.pdf">http://www.eurosur.org/wide/Globalisation/WTO06.pdf</a>
<a href="#BackUp">Back Up</a>

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 12

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Three French unions will join together on 20 June in a strike aimed at backing the government from its proposed merger of state-operated Gaz de France with Suez, a French-Belgian water and power company. Energy sections of CGT, FO and CFE-CGC have planned work stoppages and mass demonstrations for that day. 
 
The government-brokered merger, proposed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in order to block a hostile takeover of Suez by Italian energy company Enel, would break a pledge contained in a 2004 French law stating that at least 70% of Gaz de France would remain in state hands. If the €72 billion merger with Suez does occur, only 34% of the combined enterprise would remain under state control.
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMelectricity.JPG" width="100"/>
Trade unions in France received a boost last week in their efforts to block the merger when French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the proposal was losing support among lawmakers and government leaders. The day-long strike and demonstrations are timed to coincide with debate beginning this week in Parliament over legislation to authorise the merger.

French Unions to Stage 20 June Strike Over Planned Gaz de France, Suez Merger

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