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From 1-3 June, the second meeting of unions organizing in Spanish multinationals was held in Bogotá. It was attended by 25 trade unions from across Latin America. The meeting was organized by ISCOD, the Spanish Trade Union Development Institute that is connected to one of Spain’s national labour centres, the UGT, as well as ICEM and Union Network International (UNI). 
 
The main objective of the meeting was to monitor the activities and to provide for measures to assure trade union rights are adhered to in Spanish multinationals. The activities must be geared to strengthening union organization, promoting unity processes, and reinforcing trade union alliances as well as campaigns for equality. 
 
Representatives were present from the private oil and gas workers’ federation of Argentina, CNQ Brazil, Sintraelecol of Colombia, and UGT delegates from Endesa, Gas Natural-Fenosa, and Repsol in Spain. 
 
One of the aims of holding the meeting in Colombia was to address the issue of murders of trade unionists. Sub-contracting in Colombia as it contributes to union busting is a further concern. The recent passing of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the European Union was one further topic of discussion. The meeting demanded assurances for respecting trade unions, citizens and consumers.
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ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Vice Presdient Sergio Novais 
Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President for the Latin American/Caribbean Region, said, “At this second meeting, we insist that multinationals have the same conduct in Latin America as they do at home. In the specific case of Colombia, there is no guarantee that trade union leaders can perform their duties with impunity. ICEM has seven affiliates in Colombia, and leaders of all of them have to carry out their activities with bodyguards. We have been denouncing this outrage for many years.” 
 
The participants were concerned about the impacts of the crisis in Spain and the possible effects on Spanish multinationals and their employees in Latin America. A more profound exchange of experience was seen to be one way to avoid abuses. This project is on-going through the auspices of ISCOD and ICEM’s Spanish affiliate, the FIA-UGT, who are thanked and congratulated for their support.

Murders, Union Rights Discussed at Observatory of Spanish Firms in Bogotá Meeting

Policy positions differ in the trade union movement, both at national and international levels concerning the use of temporary work agencies. Views vary from total bans on such agencies, to partial bans, to strict regulation. There are also differences as to on what basis workers should be covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, there are certain views shared by all Global Unions. 
 
The first principle is that the primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
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Concerns and challenges 
 
The use of workers provided by temporary work agencies raises concerns and challenges for trade unions. This includes the effect that the use of temporary work agencies has on workers with regular and permanent employment as well as on the conditions under which work is performed by workers engaged through such agencies. The triangular relationship between the worker, the user enterprise and the temporary work agency that supplies the worker can undermine labour and social protection, as well as the effective realisation of the right of all workers to form or join trade unions and to bargain collectively. 
 
Agency workers must be specifically guaranteed the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a way of replacing direct and permanent employment 
 
There may be legitimate demand-driven or business reasons for using temporary agency workers, including surges of work and seasonal employment, although such work can also be performed through direct employment. However, not all reasons for using temporary agency work are related to staff shortages or the “fluctuation of business” and it has become common to use temporary agency workers to fill previously permanent and direct positions and to reduce costs. Increasingly, workers provided by agencies are used to fill “core” jobs but are not given any opportunity to transition to direct permanent employment. In a growing number of instances, entire workforces are provided by temporary work agencies. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to adversely change employment conditions, avoid social responsibilities and evade laws 
 
Employers often use temporary agencies in order to avoid their legal obligations. This can and does lead to abuses such as social dumping and all kinds of discrimination. Work then becomes precarious and workers are denied the employment rights and working conditions to which they would otherwise be entitled. Sometimes these agencies are creations by the company or employer concerned, with the user enterprise becoming the sole client. 
 
Workers provided by agencies frequently receive significantly lower compensation than regular employees performing the same work. Such workers are also often not entitled to the same levels of social protection, such as retirement provision, the right to unemployment compensation, sickness benefits or maternity leave. Employers commonly do not invest sufficiently in the education or training of agency-supplied workers. Inadequate education and training may undermine the quality of service provided by the agency workers, while lack of training on health and safety increases the risk of occupational accidents and diseases. 
 
The cost of downsizing is lower if temporary agency workers are engaged because ending a commercial contract is often less costly than terminating an employment relationship. In various countries and sectors, the financial crisis resulted therefore in massive job losses for temporary agency workers, who are not generally entitled to any of the compensations that are required to be paid in the case of forced redundancies. This experience heightens the danger that as economies recover, employers will increasingly favour temporary agency work as a means to avoid the costs of terminating regular employees. This would add additional instability and volatility to the economy. 
 
Where more and more workers are made “disposable”, many business risks are shifted from employers to workers. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to weaken trade unions, avoid collective bargaining or prevent union organising 
 
Employers are, at times, deliberately using temporary work agencies to reduce the number of workers covered by collective bargaining at their enterprises or to prevent unorganised sections of the workforce from seeking union representation and exercise their right to bargain with the user enterprise, which effectively controls terms and conditions of employment. 
 
One of the principal reasons why workers do not form or join trade unions is fear of discrimination or dismissal. Temporary agency employment increases this fear because it is a way to avoid dismissal legislation, which has the effect of, indirectly, protecting the right to organise. Too often, contracts are simply ended. In addition, temporary agency employment reduces the workers’ stake in an enterprise, as well as the opportunity to participate in trade unions. 
 
The use of workers supplied by temporary work agencies to replace striking workers or to undermine industrial action at a user enterprise is a serious violation of trade union rights. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a means of exploitation. 
 
Where temporary work agencies are permitted to operate, they must be properly regulated and monitored in order to prevent abuses of workers, such as human trafficking or fee charging in cross border placements. When agencies involved in recruiting workers in one country for work in another country charge fees to the workers concerned instead of to the user enterprise, those abuses lead to extreme exploitation, including bonded or slave labour. All recruitment fees, including visa, transportation and hiring fees, must therefore always be borne by the user enterpriser. 
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Fundamental principles on temporary work agencies 
 
• The primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
 
• Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be accorded equal treatment and opportunities, including equal pay for equal work, with regular and permanent employees with respect to terms and conditions of employment. 
 
• Workers employed through temporary work agencies must have a recognised and enforceable written contract of employment, specifying their terms and conditions of employment. 
 
• Where agencies are permitted to operate, they must be strictly regulated, including through licensing. 
 
• Temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships, diminish the conditions under which work is performed, avoid collective bargaining relationships with trade unions or effectively make it impossible for an agency worker to join a trade union. 
 
• Employers should consult trade unions before agency workers are used and negotiate over any effects that the use of these agency workers might have on regular employees, on working conditions or on the collective agreement. 
 
• The use of temporary agencies should be restricted to cases of legitimate need. As a minimum, there should be defined limits on the use of agency workers, as well as restrictions on the duration of such employment. 
 
• Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be guaranteed access to information on health and safety regulations in the workplace and be given the same equipment, induction and training as permanent workers. 
 
• Adequate and continuous social protection for agency workers, including social security coverage, must be ensured by employers and government alike. 
 
• Temporary work agencies must treat workers without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political opinion, nationality, social origin, age, disability or any other form of discrimination. Appropriate regulatory frameworks (governmental, co-regulation or self-regulation) on private employment agencies should include and promote these principles, rights and obligations. These include the minimum standards outlined in ILO Convention No. 111. 
 
• Given the general over-representation of women in agency employment and the disparity in wages between permanent and agency workers, particular attention must be given to ensure that the equal pay provisions of Convention No. 100 are applied, including equal pay for work of equal value. 
 
• The ILO should play a much more active role in ensuring that temporary employment agencies respect basic labour standards, as well as in collecting data on abuses and best practices, while at the same time monitoring and analysing trends in employment in both the private and public employment agency sector. This research should focus on issues relating to the economic crisis and the Global Jobs Pact. The Global Unions should participate in this work. 
 
• Workers supplied by temporary work agencies must never be used to replace striking workers or undermine industrial action. 
 
• Temporary work agencies must not charge any fees to workers for dispatching them. 
 
• The user-enterprise must be held liable for all financial and other obligations with respect to temporary agency workers should the agency fail to honour its responsibilities. 
 
 
Principles of public policy with respect to temporary agency work 
 
• Governments have the responsibility to protect the interests of society in stable employment relationships and to ensure the applicability of labour law, the branch of law developed to protect workers in both public and private sectors, in their unequal relationship with employers. 
 
• Governments can limit or ban the use of temporary work agencies in order to protect these broader societal interests. 
 
• Government must set strict regulations and licensing conditions if agencies are permitted to operate. 
 
• Governments should consult trade unions on issues related to working and employment conditions of the agency workers, as well as on conditions of use of temporary agency work prior to making changes in the regulatory framework. 
 
• The respective roles, obligations and rights of the workers, the temporary work agency and the enterprise using the worker must be clarified when there is an employment relationship between a temporary work agency and a worker. 
 
• Governments must take genuine and concrete measures such as changes in legislation to ensure that workers dispatched by temporary work agencies are able to effectively exercise their right to join or form trade unions. This includes the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
• Governments should strengthen labour inspection, including through providing adequate resources, in order to effectively apply labour law and regulations to employment via temporary work agencies. 
 
• Governments should provide effective mechanisms to protect all workers from health and safety hazards and ensure health & safety conditions of temporary agency workers are the same as of permanent ones. Governments should introduce sanctions for user-enterprises, public and private, not complying with health & safety requirements. 
 
 
Migrant workers dispatched through temporary agencies face specific problems. 
 
• Migrant workers should receive details of their living and working conditions in a language they understand before leaving their country of origin. 
 
• Governments must take active measures to prevent human trafficking and the exploitation of migrant workers by labour intermediaries, both public and private, including temporary work agencies. 
 
• Governments should ensure that immigration legislation governing migrant workers recruited through agencies does not conflict with labour laws by imposing restrictions on migrant workers’ rights to join trade unions or bargain collectively. 
 
• Workers should not be required to pay deposits, visa, transportation and hiring fees. In the case of agencies dispatching workers to other countries, the agencies should be required to repatriate workers in the event that their employment ends or the user company disappears. 
 
• Workers must not be required to surrender their passports or other travel or identity documents. 
 
• Temporary migrant workers should have full rights to legal redress in the country where they work.

Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 17 June 2010 – Two Global Union Federations (GUFs) representing a combined 45 million workers will conduct a two-day conference on economic, environment, and social dimensions of sustainability in Toronto beginning tomorrow, aimed at forging a worldwide workers’ and communities’ declaration for the upcoming G8 and G20 summits. 
 
The “Triple Crisis of Sustainability” Conference is sponsored by Geneva, Switzerland-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Union (ICEM) and International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and will include voices from 270 trade union and other leaders from over 50 countries. 
 
The conference runs from 9h00 to 17h30 on both 18 and 19 June in the Dominion Ballroom of the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West. 
 
“The financial crisis that brought the world’s economy to its knees needs correcting and it needs the resonating voices of those most affected by runaway greed and banking calamities,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “Environmental catastrophes, monetary disparities, and destabilized societies all have related origins, and this is the pivotal time for the world’s economic and political leaders to correct the imbalances.” 
 
Added Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the IMF: “The uncertainties that workers and their families face is now unprecedented. We want guarantees that the G8 and G20 summits address the legitimate concerns of workers for social justice and long-term, sustainable employment, and include the introduction of a global tax on financial institutions.” 
 
The two GUFs believe that the crises of failing economies, environmental inaction, and social disorder are interconnected. ICEM and IMF also believe these crises have been produced by absence of global financial and environmental regulations, as well as inept financial governance of markets. The conference will ensure that the voices of global workers are heard on these issues before the G8 and G20 summits convene. 
 
Jobs, workers’ rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability – both on environmental stewardship and in providing decent work – will serve as the heart of a common declaration from the conference to the G8 and G20. 
 
A keynote speech on 18 June will be delivered by United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, whose union has been victimized by the merciless globalization and one of the world’s largest and most profitable mining companies in Ontario. A panel on the opening day will address the economic crisis. 
 
Other panels will be on topics of sustainable development and climate change, and on corporate governance. On the concluding day, 19 June, David Donnelly, a leading environmental attorney connected with Canada’s Blue-Green Alliance, will speak, as will John Evans, the General-Secretary of the Paris-based Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 
 
The conference’s programme has been built to allow for maximum comments from the 250 participants in order to gain a wide-ranging discourse over the effects of the social, environmental, and economic crises. 
 
The ICEM counts 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, and represents 20 million workers. The IMF represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers from more than 200 unions in 100 countries.
Note to Media Outlets: A Press Briefing will occur at the venue at 12h30, 18 June.)
For more, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer on-site at <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile); or Alexander Ivanou, IMF Communications, <a href="mailto:aivanou@imfmetal.org">aivanou@imfmetal.org</a>, +41 22 308 5033 (land line).

Global Trade Unions Meet in Toronto for Sustainability Conference

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A first-ever, tri-nation forum to unite trade unions struggling for democratic autonomy in Mexico with US and Canadian unions was held in Toronto, Canada, on 20 June. Some 120 trade unionists, NGO representatives, and Canadian civil society activists gathered for the one-day “Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico” conference. 
 
As Dave Coles, President of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada said, the meeting brought together trade union leaders from Mexico who never would be allowed to similarly gather inside Mexico. Those leaders included Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, the exiled President of the National Union of Mine, Metalworkers’, and Allied Workers’ Union (SNTMMSRM), Martín Esparza Flores of the Mexican Union of Electrical Workers (SME), Francisco Hernández Juárez of the Mexican Telephone Workers’ Union (Telefonistas), and others mentioned below. 

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Los Mineros General Secretary, Napoleón Gomez
The conference consisted of presentations by two Mexican-based labour attorneys, who told of the legal and political institutional obstacles to a free and democratic trade union movement in Mexico, and it also detailed the dreaded but common protection contracts, which inhibit true trade union rights. 
 
A central focus throughout the conference was the continuing harmful effects of the now 16-year-old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico, and the US. 

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Ben Davis, US Solidarity Center
Ben Davis of the US Solidarity Center did provide several inspiring examples on how SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, continues to organize workers despite overt suppression by the Mexican government. He also outlined work done at the US federal level to press the Obama administration to take a stronger stance against Mexican trade union repression. And on the global level, Davis told of work being done at the ILO over protection contracts, as well as institutional shareholder pressure against Grupo México, the major corporate protagonist of Los Mineros. 
 
Jorge Robles of the Mexican Authentic Workers’ Front (FAT) addressed inherent deficiencies in current labour law reform inside Mexico, while Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General of the National Union of General Tire/Continental Workers’ Union (SNTGTM), spoke on the harmful effects of the free trade agreement. 

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Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General SNTGTM
Espinosa said NAFTA has been “evil for Mexico” since previous good wages and benefits have eroded. He said in both the tyre industry and auto-parts industry, “year-to-year, employers are taking contractual rights away.” 
 
Espinosa was fired in 2003 for impeding General Tire’s agenda during collective negotiations, but remained a union activist for the three years he was off the job. In 2006, he was reinstated as a maintenance mechanic and in 2008, was elected Secretary-General of SNTGTM. 
 
At the conference conclusion, delegates shaped a strategic plan that includes insertion of strict worker protections in NAFTA, continuation of work on Mexican protection contracts, and solidarity and campaign work on specific Mexican labour struggles. 
 
The conference was sponsored by several North American trade unions, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and Union Network International (UNI).

Mexican Teach-in Charts North American Union Solidarity

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ICEM’s global level company networks now include a new one: Akzo Nobel. Over 20 trade unionists from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil decided to form a global network among the unions organising the Dutch-based chemicals company. 
 
The formation meeting which was held on 31 May-1 June 2010 in Amsterdam, upon invitation of ICEM’s Dutch affiliate FNV-Bondgenoten. The host union considers international networking within multinational companies as a priority, and as a result, the union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
AkzoNobel is the largest global paints and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries. 
The meeting was opened by Henk Van der Kolk, President of FNV-Bondgenoten. 
 
“Organizing labour across borders is difficult and therefore much slower than transferring capital all over the world,” he said. “We all know that. And I wish you fruitful discussions about how we can cooperate in organizing and empowering workers at Akzo Nobel plants all over the world to strengthen our unions.” 

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President of FNV-Bondgenoten, Henk Van der Kolk
After the presentation by Kemal Özkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries’ Officer, on the global chemicals industry and Akzo Nobel’s global picture, trade unionists gave country-based reports on labour relations in their respective countries. 
Ron Vos, FNV Bondgenoten’s National Officer for Akzo Nobel, explained the situation in the company’s homeland, the Netherlands, and he defined employment, pensions, wages, a flexible workforce and use of temporary workers, the health of an aging workforce, and sharing results with the company on a major trade union agenda. 
 
Sergio Carasso from Brazil reported national and regional level networking activities within Akzo Nobel and the former British company, ICI, now absorbed by the Dutch company. According to his report, the first network of Akzo Nobel workers in Brazil was formed in 2002, and yearly meetings began at national level. 
 
The range of this national network was later extended to Argentina and Mexico. The network conducted a research for making a comparison between different workplaces on various items. A strategy on communications was also developed through bulletins and a web- blog. 
 
Helmizan Sakrani from Indonesia reported on union activities at an Akzo Nobel plant located Cimanggis-Depok. He reported that his plant has 280 permanent employees and 167 of them are union members. Founded in 1983, the union has good relations with the company through plant level social dialogue with some positive result. 

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Erhan Kaplan and Hokan Koçak from Petrol-Iş of Turkey reported their union’s organizing activities in general and at unorganized Akzo Nobel plants. They reported a constructive cooperation and solidarity with the Dutch union on doing so. 
 
The situation and activities of the company’s European Works Council (EWC) were also discussed by Belgian, Dutch, and German participants. It was agreed to handle the problems and challenges in this context. The meeting also communicated with union representatives from Akzo Nobel in the US, from ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) via teleconference. 
 
Following the presentation by Kemal Özkan on ICEM’s activities of networking, it was unanimously decided to form a global network of Akzo Nobel unions. In this, FNV Bondgenoten takes the lead for coordination of the network. It was also decided to develop an effective communications system among the participating unions, with an aim to enlarge it to non-participating organizations. 
 
“After the successful organizing of this network, our intention is to develop a dialogue and an interaction with the company, hopefully with the goal to ultimately reach a Global Framework Agreement with Akzo Nobel, “said Özkan, who used the company’s motto regarding this: “Today, we find answers of tomorrow.”

ICEM Affiliates Move to Form an Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network

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In an attempt to find common ground in a seven-month dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU) and RusAl’s Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI), the ICEM met in Geneva with the country’s Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister, Mansoor Nadir. 
 
The meeting occurred on 15 June and included Jerry Goolsarran, the representative for the Guyanese employers’ association, who sits on the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, and Lydia Greene, an assistant in the Labour Ministry. 
 
Discussion during the meeting reviewed the deep divisions resulting from a November 2009 strike by GB&GWU and the subsequent unilateral, and what the ICEM believes is illegal de-authorization by BCGI of the union at the 500-worker mine in central Guyana. The government owns 10% of the bauxite operations. 

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Left to Right: Labour Minister Nadir, Manfred Warda, Employers' Representative Goolsarran
Labour Minister Nadir gave the ICEM a thick dossier of events leading into and beyond the strike, and he pledged to facilitate a meeting between the union and management of the company in order to begin necessary dialogue. The ICEM believes that management of the Russian-based aluminum company has a legal responsibility to meet with leaders of the GB&GWU, and also feels it is the duty of the Labour Ministry to arrange such a meeting. 
 
Responding to the entrenched positions of both labour and management in a follow-up letter to the labour minister, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “The hard work of engagement through tripartite voluntary dialogue must now commence, and we were happy to hear of your willingness to facilitate this dialogue between GB&GWU and BCGI. Therefore, as you agreed to in our 15 June meeting, we call on you to immediately call both parties together to start open and honest talks.” (The full letter can be seen <a href="/index.php?id=26&la=EN&doc=3886" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
In the letter, the ICEM also expressed displeasure over the company’s undue coercion and harassment tactics in obtaining signatures by miners following the strike to decertify the GB&GWU. If a de-authorisation ballot is to go before workers by the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, the ICEM is insistent that the government uphold its own law, and global labour standards, ensuring that management of BCGI not interfere in workers’ free choice for or against union representation. 
 
The ICEM has also offered to be part of dialogue in Guyana to assist in resolving the dispute.

ICEM, Guyana Labour Minister Meet to Air Concerns in Bauxite Mine Dispute

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International pressure and attention has been building around the 19-year strike of 340 Fiji Mineworkers Union (FMU) members at the Emperor Gold Mine in Vatukoula, Fiji, as a resolution becomes possible following Government intervention. 
 
Executive member of ICEM’s Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, Robert Reid, also the General Secretary of the National Distribution Union of neighbouring New Zealand, has been particularly vocal, “This is perhaps the longest running strike in the world and it is time it was resolved,” Reid stated. 
 
The Executive of the FMU met with Permanent Secretaries of the Fiji Government Wednesday, 16 June, the miners presented a compensation claim of US$8,000 per miner for every year of striking. The Government delegation consisted of Permanent Secretaries for Lands and Mineral Resources, Labour, Defence, and the Attorney General's office, as well as for Prime Minister Bainimarama. 

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Permanent secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, Pio Tikoduadua, said a response on the government's position would be made within the next 10 days. 
 
The strike stems from the Emperor Gold Mine Company choosing to close down the mine, instead of negotiating a settlement over worker grievances of poor labour conditions, substandard housing and environmental damage at the mine. 
 
The FMU moved the ILO’s Committee of Experts to analyse and resolve the dispute, this process was begun in December 2009. However, with those deliberations on-going, the miners’ picket has been removed and workers are now being threatened with eviction from their homes for arrears in rent. 
 
In a letter to Fijian Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged Bainimarama “on humanitarian grounds and in accordance with provisions of the International Labour Organization to reach a fair and equitable resolution of this dispute.”

International Support for Fiji Miners’ 19-Year Strike

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ICEM affiliated trade unions in Central and Eastern Europe discussed challenges in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries with a view to reinforcing representation, industrial relations, and social dialogue in an 8-9 June seminar in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The meetings, hosted by ICEM’s Slovakian affiliate, the Chemical and Energy Workers Union (ECHOZ), were supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), one of the principal project partners in the world. 
 
The meeting was chaired by Juraj Blahak, ICEM’s Vice President for Central Europe, who underlined the importance of the meeting for unions in chemicals who face restructurings, including privatisation that has had severe impacts on employment and trade unions. 
 
Clemens Rode, representing FES in the region, stressed the role of trade unions in shaping economic and social life in Central Europe. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave specific attention to the togetherness of Central and Eastern European trade unions, calling exchanges of information and experience in restructurings as vitally important. Warda also made a specific presentation on precarious employment and ICEM’s global Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) campaign. 

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Attended by around 30 trade union leaders from Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, and Tadjikistan, the meeting received an extensive report from the ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries’ Officer, Kemal Özkan, on global chemical and pharmaceutical trends, with specifics on the Central and Eastern Regions and individual countries. 
 
The meeting also got a presentation from Mr. Roman Karlubik, President of the Association of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry of the Slovak Republic, who drew the overall picture of the Slovak chemical industry and social dialogue with ECHOZ. 
 
The industry in Central and Eastern Europe suffered through the economic crisis in parallel to many economies in the region posting negative GDP growth, with some countries suffering near financial meltdown. Prior to the crisis, the region was seen as a good place to invest. For the pharmaceutical industry, generic medicines represent around half the industry in the region, with a number of number of companies including KRKA, Gedeon Richter, Polpharma, and Zentiva specifically focusing on generics. 
 
Central and Eastern European countries are projected to spend an estimated US$157.1 billion on healthcare in 2015, equal to 6.9% of total GDP. At present, only 30% of spending in the region is private, but over 85% of this is composed of out-of-pocket payments by people. 

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The Bratislava meeting agreed that in Central and Eastern Europe, chemical and pharmaceutical industries are still in the restructuring process, although levels differ from country to country. Restructuring occurs in ownership, particularly with privatisation, production, technology, and labour relations, which brings fear and challenges trade union recognition and survival. The participants agreed that there could an important exchange of experience on privatisation between Central and Eastern Europe, particularly for countries now undergoing privatisation, namely Belorussia. 
 
Another important point stressed was that the region’s chemical industry is still under the dominance of basic chemicals, like fertilizers in Central Asia for example, which brings sustainability problems regarding jobs to workplaces. 
 
Occupational Health and Safety was specifically mentioned since current production systems create serious problems on this issue. A need for capacity building for unions in the region was underlined by the participants. 

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Participants also drew attention to the effects of the standards such as REACH and ETS, which regulates the environment where the chemical industry operates over employment. Outside of the European Union, there are also initiatives in the individual efforts of countries, such as Russia, to be able to harmonise their chemical legislations for survival of the industries. A need for a specific work about this particular area was mentioned by the participants. 
 
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that networking, regular exchange of information and experience, capacity building on industry matters, collective bargaining, and trade union issues should be continued. 
 
“The Bratislava meeting has clearly shown to us that Central and Eastern Europe is still the area where the ICEM needs to focus its activities in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry,” said Kemal Özkan. “Coming just months before ICEM’s World Chemical Conference in October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, the meeting has given us a great overview on what to do for having genuine global union activities in this industry.” 
 
On 7 June 2010 a regional ICEM Central Europe Council meeting took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. Trade Union representatives from Hungary, Macedonia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia took part in the meeting. The meeting was headed by Juraj Blahak, ICEM Vice-President and President of the Central European regional Council.

Challenges to Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals Focus in Central, East Europe Forum

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The second world congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), meeting in Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, 21-25 June, elected Sharon Burrow to become the first woman to head the global trade union body. Burrow succeeds Guy Ryder as the second General Secretary of the ITUC, which was created in Vienna in 2006, and leaves her position as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a post that she has held since 2000. She has been President of the ITUC and its predecessor the ICFTU, since 2004. 
 
In her acceptance speech, Burrow described herself as a "warrior" for women and committed the ITUC to continuing to champion women's rights. 
 
Hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over 1,400 delegates assembled in Vancouver under the theme, ‘Now the People, from the crisis to global justice’, as the main focus was around issues related to labour’s demands for restructuring and reform of the global economy. Delegates criticised the recent trend of governments, especially in Europe, introducing deficit control and austerity measures, under pressure the same banks that caused the economic crisis to begin, instead of keeping jobs at the centre of the recovery. This, according to Burrow, is turning the possibility of a double-dip recession into a probability. 

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ITUC General Secretary, Sharon Burrow
Among the 13 resolutions passed by the congress, were strong declarations on democracy, peace, gender equality, fighting HIV/AIDS, and on sustainable development and a just transition. See those resolutions in full at the link below. 
 
The congress called on G20 governments to increase economic stimulus to create more jobs. On Thursday, 24 June, over 1,000 Congress delegates conducted a rally outside the Vancouver Convention Centre, calling on world leaders to move towards global justice. 
 
Michael Sommer, DGB (Confederation of German Trade Unions), Germany, was elected ITUC President. Jaap Wienen was elected Deputy General Secretary. Luc Cortebeeck, CSC (Confederation of Christian Trade Unions) Belgium, was elected ITUC Deputy President. Nair Goulart, Força Sindical (Brazil), was elected ITUC Deputy President. 
 
View the ITUC second world congress web page <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/+-congress-+.html">here</a>.

ITUC Congress Elects Sharon Burrow General Secretary

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Canada-based mining house Gammon Gold ‘suspended indefinitely’ operations at the El Cubo mine, in Guanajuato State in southern central Mexico, in a bid to end union demands on profit sharing and shift length. It is predicted that management aim to re-open the mine via a contractor, and therefore block union organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The mine closure sees 397 workers sacked, while the company has filed criminal charges against 7 union leaders. Workers are represented by Section 142 of the Mining Union of the Mexican Republic (El Sindicato Minero de la Republica Mexicana). The dispute was addressed by Napoleón Gomez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, at the recent ICEM / IMF “Triple Crisis of Sustainability Conference” in Toronto. 
 
The miners’ only demand is that they receive their legally entitled share of the company’s profits, a condition agreed to by Nova Scotia-based Gammon when management lengthened miners’ working day from 8 to 10 hour shifts. In the absence of a profit-sharing arrangement, union leaders are demanding a bonus of 50,000 pesos (US$3,968) per worker. 

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As is often the case in Mexico, the government has been criticised for siding with the company, against workers. Another familiar problem was seen earlier in the dispute, as workers were physically attacked by the company’s private security firm on 18 June. 
 
Gammon Gold recorded US$207 million in revenue from gold and silver mining operations in 2009. The company operates exclusively in Mexico, with a large gold-silver complex in the northern state of Chihuahua, known as Ocampo, exploration work is on-going at the neighbouring Guadalupe y Calvo gold-silver mine, and Gammon recently acquired the El Mezquite and Venus projects in the states of Zacatecas and Chihuahua, respectively. 
 
The union is studying the legal options for keeping El Cubo open, and have strongly stated that they will block operations re-starting with contracted scabs. The potential at the mine corresponds to 14% of the overall company net assets as well as 24% of overall gold production for 2010, and is therefore too valuable for the company to close completely.

El Cubo Mexican Mine Shut in Attempt to Crush Union

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