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In Australia on 5 January, the Tasmanian Supreme Court struck a blow to mining and metals giant Rio Tinto&rsquo;s and delivered a victory to workplace safety and health compliance. The court denied Rio&rsquo;s appeal to block a trade union from entering a worksite to meet with staff over health and safety issues. 
 
The company had filed the appeal with the state high court to prevent representatives of the Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU) from meeting in a lunch area with aluminium workers at Rio Tinto/Alcan&rsquo;s Bell Bay smelter. The AWU represents some 600 workers at the 180,000-tonne-per-year aluminium smelter, located in Launceston in northern Tasmania. 
<img src="" width="150" height="134" alt="" />
In late November 2010, the AWU gave legal notification under the state&rsquo;s Workplace Health and Safety Act to Rio Tinto of its intent to enter break areas to &ldquo;discuss health and safety issues with workers during a meal or other break.&rdquo; Following the company&rsquo;s refusal, both Tasmania&rsquo;s Inspector of Workplace Standards and the state&rsquo;s Solicitor General determined that AWU had that right. 
 
But Rio Tinto appealed the Solicitor General&rsquo;s decision, only to have Tasmanian Supreme Court Justice Alan Blow deny the company&rsquo;s appeal. Within minutes of the judge&rsquo;s decision on 5 January, the AWU was on its way to meet with workers employed in an industry notoriously rife with respiratory hazards. 
 
AWU National Secretary Paul Howes criticised the company for attempting to use its power and money in its litigious way to stop independent health and safety oversight. The AWU &ldquo;has successfully fought what clearly looks like a conspiracy by (Rio Tinto) to act as if Australian workplace health laws do not exist,&rdquo; he said. 
 
The case hopefully will become a precedent for other Australian state inspectors to fulfil safety laws by allowing union representatives to discuss safety issues with workers in break room areas.

Court Tosses Rio’s Australian Appeal on Safety ‘Right-of-Access’

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The spate of horrid flooding in the Australian state of Queensland has brought out the best in Australian trade unionism. Nearly all unions have either dedicated money to one relief agency or another, with some setting up their own benevolent funds to assist those in need. 
 
The Mining and Energy Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union&rsquo;s (CFMEU) Central Council on 12 January authorised A$250,000 to help families caught up in the devastating Queensland floods. 
 
&ldquo;The donation is our first step in providing hands on relief,&rdquo; stated Energy and Mining General Secretary Andrew Vickers, who also serves as Chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Mining Sector. &ldquo;Queensland and all of Australia will be affected by these floods as coal production grinds to a halt. The union will be there every step of the way supporting workers and communities.&rdquo; 
<img src="" width="90" height="90" alt="" />
The Queensland branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) has established a fund and kick-started it with A$20,000 in seed money. The funds will go to the <a href="http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html ">Queensland Premier&rsquo;s Flood Relief Appeal</a>. 
 
&ldquo;This is an important way for our large union membership to show solidarity and make a positive difference to the devastated communities,&rdquo; said State Secretary Andrew Dettmer. &ldquo;The floods have had an impact on tens of thousands of AMWU members, their homes and workplaces in Rockhampton, Brisbane, Toowoombia, and throughout the south-east and Central Queensland. 
 
Donations to the AMWU fund can be made to: AMWU Disaster Appeal Account; Bank: NAB; BSB: 082 057; Account Number: 188 989 948. 
<img src="" width="140" height="73" alt="" />
As of last week, members of the Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU) have collectively donated A$100,000 to the Queensland Premier&rsquo;s Flood Relief Appeal. In addition, the AWU federal office has contributed A$50,000 and the Victorian branch of the union also has donated. The AWU&rsquo;s Queensland branch office was closed for a week due to the floods, and only reopened today. 
 
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has established the Australia Flood Appeal Fund, with both the national office and the Queensland branch each seeding A$5,000 into the fund. The MUA has many port workers and seamen affected since the Port of Brisbane was shut last week, with vessels directed out to sea. 
 
The MUA&rsquo;s Appeal Fund for international money transfers: MUA-General Fund; Bank: Maritime Mining and Power Credit Union, George Street, Haymarket, NSW 2000, Australia; BSB Number: 062-006; Account number: 10001 0464; CBA Swiftcode: CTBAAU2S.

Australian Unions Give Generously to Flood Relief in Country

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Industri Energi (IE), one of ICEM&rsquo;s Norwegian affiliates, announced opening of the nomination process for the Second Annual Arthur Svensson International Award for Trade Union Rights. The prestigious award comes with a cash prize of NOK 500,000 (&euro;65,000) and is awarded to a person or organisation for contributing greatly to promoting trade union rights and the strengthening of trade unionism on both international and national levels. 
 
Nominations are due by 1 March 2011, and can be made by Norwegian trade unions, by trade union affiliates associated with global unions, or the global unions themselves. A nomination must contain a solid justification for the candidate, make clear who is nominating the candidate, and spell out the nominator&rsquo;s relationship with the candidate. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="145" />
Arthur Svensson
In 2010, Wellington Chibebe, the General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), was awarded the prize at IE&rsquo;s Congress in Oslo in October. (See the ICEM news article <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4056-Zimbabwe’s-Wellington-Chibebe-Receives-First-Norwegian-Labour-Prize">here</a>.) The 2011 award winner will be announced on 16 June. 
 
The award is named after Arthur Svensson, a long-time leader of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged in 2006 with NOPEF to create IE. Svensson died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted global peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
He was also a driving force from his union leadership position in developing Norway&rsquo;s environment law, and a strong proponent of clean energy to drive clean industries. But first and foremost, he was a dedicated trade unionist, maintaining membership in LO-Norway for 61 years, the final 48 of those years with the Chemical Workers. 
 
Nominations can be e-mailed or faxed to Svensson Award Committee Chairperson <a href="http://liv.undheim@industrienergi.no">Liv Undheim</a>, fax no. +47 23 06 13 60. Further information on the award, in English, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1101.arthur%20svensson%20flyer%20EN.pdf ">here</a>.

Industri Energi’s Second Arthur Svensson Union Rights Award Opened

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Union members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 in the Canadian province of Labrador / Newfoundland last week voted by 80% to accept the recommendations of a government Industrial Inquiry Commission to end an 18-month strike and return to work. But the conciliatory move won&rsquo;t get the 124 copper and nickel miners any closer to their jobs. 
 
Their employer, Brazilian-based Vale rejects the report&rsquo;s recommendations out of hand, findings that were drawn up by a neutral commission the company actually embraced three months ago. 
 
The independent commission presented the two sides with its first report &ndash; recommendations to settle the dispute &ndash; at the end of 2010. The report&rsquo;s findings caused Vale to initiate a call to Local 9508 for resumption of bargaining, which occurred in remote Goose Bay, Labrador, on 5-6 January. But the company walked away from talks on the second day after disagreeing with the term length of a renewal agreement. 
 
In talks last October, just days before former provincial Premier Danny Willams established the commission, Vale sought a three-year term, while the USW wanted five years from the August 2009 expiry of the last agreement. In its report, the Industrial Inquiry Commission recommended four years. But in this month&rsquo;s Goose Bay talks, Vale changed its position, seeking a five-year term from the date of ratification, proposing a 31 January 2016 expiry. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="200" />
The commission&rsquo;s report on collective bargaining issues does stand as a workable compromise. While it is critical of both sides for prolonging the strike, it cites the Steelworkers with already making &ldquo;significant&rdquo; compromises to end the dispute. The report recommends wage adjustments, a bonus plan based on Vale&rsquo;s Labrador operations, a back-to-work protocol, and sub-contracting rules. The commission does not have the power to impose a settlement, but it has urged both sides to accept the compromise or submit unresolved issues to binding arbitration. 
 
Most tellingly, however, the report states that Vale&rsquo;s use of scab workers during the strike is reason for the company&rsquo;s intransigence. &ldquo;It is apparent to the Commission that the Employer has an approach that does not contemplate compromise on any basis that might be acceptable to the Union.&rdquo; 
 
Vale &ldquo;maintains that it has a desire to conclude a collective agreement, buts its actions and reactions send the opposite message.&rdquo; The report also cites the company with circumventing &ldquo;a union&rsquo;s right to bargain on behalf of its membership.&rdquo; 
 
Vale is operating its eastern Canadian operations now at full production with the use of replacement workers. But nearly all of those scabs are working in excess of 60 hours per week, creating the obvious safety risks. The Industrial Inquiry Commission&rsquo;s second report will be issued in late February and it will address the integrity of Vale&rsquo;s Labrador operations, the strike&rsquo;s impact on rural communities, the reasons behind the strike, and Vale&rsquo;s international strategies to re-shape Canadian work-life. 
<img alt="" src="" width="134" height="130" />
USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove
The strike by USW Local 9508 began on 1 August 2009, and now has eclipsed by six months a parallel strike by 3,500 steelworkers in Ontario. That strike against Vale, in Sudbury and Port Colborne, went on for 50 weeks and ended on 7 July 2010. 
 
In total, Vale has forced 420 Local 9508 members into strike action in Voiseys Bay and other remote worksites of Labrador. Workers at three of Vale&rsquo;s contractors, including First Nation electrical and pipefitting firm Ushitou Maintenance and security and catering companies, are on strike due to the mining giant&rsquo;s recalcitrant positions. In addition, workers of a logistical transport company, Torngat, also represented by Local 9508, will see a collective agreement expire early in 2011. 
 
Local 9508 this week will call on new Labrador/Newfoundland Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Human Resources, Labour, and Employment Minister Darin King to intervene more assertively to resolve the strike. On Saturday, 15 January, the USW purchased a full-page advertisement in a province-wide newspaper the urgent need for further government action. 
 
&ldquo;It is now clear that Vale is the impediment to a fair settlement,&rdquo; said USW District Six Representative Boyd Bussey. &ldquo;It is also clear that, unless our government takes action to bring about a settlement, Vale will continue to use its scab workforce and prolong the hardship for our working families and communities.&rdquo;

Vale’s Arrogance to Eastern Canadian Miners, Communities, Government Continues

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	Over 140 paper packaging workers have been taking strike actions against the Austrian company Mayr-Melnhof at a food packaging plant in Bootle, near Liverpool. The industrial actions, which began 12 days ago, revolve around management&rsquo;s stubbornness over redundancy terms.

	UK&rsquo;s Unite the Union is leading the strike actions, which last weekend, 18-19 February, took a different turn when management locked workers out of the factory. The purpose evidently was so managers could move products and equipment to another plant. Workers responded to the lockout with a blockade, and demanded to meet with management. Those talks commenced earlier this week.

	The Vienna-based company had sought paring 49 staff at the 180-worker factory, but the union agreed to significant changes to terms and conditions to reduce the redundancy count to 37.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 232px;height: 140px" width="390">&nbsp;

	But talks broke down and workers voted for strike action in a ballot counted on 3 February. Mayr-Melnhof refused to lower the number and became miserly in awarding proper social terms and conditions.

	Unite has called it &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; Workers first took strike action at midnight on 9 February, and then again the following week on 13 and 15 February, with weekend plant-gate demonstrations in between. Those were six-hour rotating strikes from 06h to noon, and then from noon to 18h. Workers were planning further actions last weekend when they faced the lockout.

	&ldquo;This is not the action our members wanted to take, but they felt they had no alternative,&rdquo; said Unite Regional Officer Phil Morgan. &ldquo;The redundancy terms on the able are significantly inferior to terms negotiated on previous occasions.&rdquo; The company had previously laid off about 50 workers and the reduced severance packages this time induced none of the workforce to apply for voluntary redundancy.

	Mayr-Melnhof makes several kinds of food packaging at Bottle ranging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to packaging for pet food. The firm operates another UK facility in Deeside, North Wales.

UK Packaging Workers Face Lockout at Mayr-Melnhof Plant in Merseyside

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	A 90-day strike planned by ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago against state oil company Petrotrin did not go ahead as scheduled on 18 February. OWTU and Petrotrin, in marathon talks mediated by Labour Minister Errol McLeod on 17 February, agreed to a three-year deal for 5,000 oilworkers that covers the years 2008-10.

	The agreement not only grants fair wage and allowance adjustments, but OWTU made great strides contract-wise for temporary workers, and fulfilled job safety issues by getting Petrotrin to agree to fill all job vacancies within three months.

	The settlement averted a fuel disruption on the twin-island nation during Carnival and OWTU&rsquo;s filing of strike notice had set off panic buying at the fuel pumps over the past two weeks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="162" src="" width="130" />&nbsp;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget

	The deal includes a 9% wage increase following consolidation of all cost-of-living increases, and it will be allotted with 1% in the first year, 2% the second year, and 6% for 2010. The strike notice came about after Petrotrin refused to move above 5%.

	OWTU represents five bargaining units at the company, and it also won a 10% increase on all allowances, which include working heights, shift work, and excessive heat allowance. OWTU saw to it that full-time jobs will go to temporary workers, and that payment of all severance and gratuity to temporary workers over the age of 55 will be made.

	Earlier this week, the chairman of Petrotrin said the package will cost the company TT$271 million and that was far less than losses that would have accrued because of a strike. &ldquo;It was best for the company in coming to a settlement immediately because we really don&rsquo;t want a strike at this point in time.&rdquo;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget left the Ministry of Labour following the 17-hour talks early on 18 February and was greeted by jubilant union members. At a car park near the ministry in San Fernando, Roget told them it was their &ldquo;militancy and commitment&rdquo; that forced the deal. &ldquo;You made us crack the 5% cap,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We secured a good settlement. We have gone where others said we could not go.&rdquo;&nbsp;

OWTU Reaches Excellent Terms with Petrotrin in Trinidad and Tobago

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	The ICEM cries out in dismay that the 6 February murder of American Platinum (Amplats) employee Pinky Mosiane remains unsolved. She was raped and murdered inside a mine shaft of Amplats&rsquo; Khomanani Mine in Rustenburg, North West Province.

	The ICEM lauds affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who insists that authorities get DNA samples from all staff working that fateful shift on 6 February.

	Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, three days after this despicable assault and murder, the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO) adopted a strong statement denouncing workplace violence against women, specifically in reference to the cold-blooded murder of Mosiane inside this Amplats mine. She was crushed in the face with a heavy rock after the sexual assault.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="221" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The SSARO statement follows:

	&ldquo;On the morning of 6 February, a 28- year-old female worker was violated and murdered underground at Khomanani Mine, which is owned by Amplats, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American.

	&ldquo;This barbaric and neanderthal act against an innocent young worker is the most glaring case of gender-based discrimination against women and abuse of power. Sexual assault is cruel, inhuman, horrible. A mineworker underground on a daily basis has to deal with death or injury that can come from a rock fall or machines. Having to deal with death and violation against your person sexually and otherwise compounds the insecurity of a human being. A fellow worker who was supposed to act as a fellow human being acted as an animal.

	&ldquo;The National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting to enable women to work in mines. This and similar incidents should not be misconstrued to undo the progress that women have made to achieve equal employment rights.&rdquo;

	He who does not love a woman, who does not respect a woman, despises his own mother having come out of a kind womb of a woman.&nbsp;

	&ldquo;As the ICEM African Executive Committee and the ICEM African Women&#039;s Structure, we strongly condemn this atrocious act of barbarism.

	&ldquo;Mines and all workplaces must be safe environments for women and men. It is up to the employer to ensure that the workplace is safe for all. We will be holding the employer accountable for this tragedy.

	&ldquo;We call for a speedy and thorough investigation into these crimes. We are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, whoever they are. We call on the police to do a thorough investigation as the mine has records of who works what shift. We call on them to use all the forensic technology at their disposal to find out who the perpetrator is. We will be following up on this case and checking that justice is done. We also call for a tough sentence for the perpetrator or perpetrators once found.

	&ldquo;This young woman was only 28 years old and had one child, and her future and dreams were destroyed by a barbaric act of violence by a male counterpart. This is the triple oppression that we need to continue to fight against to attain true liberation for African women.

	&ldquo;We call on comrades to rally around this slogan: Not Another Woman Must Be Raped, Not Another Woman Must Be Murdered.

	&ldquo;We call upon affiliates and sister organisations of ICEM to post this statement on their websites and to disseminate it widely to the press.&rdquo;

Ghastly South African Rape, Murder of Woman Miner at Amplats Unsolved

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	Swiss-based cement multinational giant Holcim continues to anger the ICEM with its illegal treatment of contract workers in India. Attempts by contract and agency workers employed at Holcim&rsquo;s subsidiaries, ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cement Ltd., to organise and establish collective bargaining with management are being crushed with intimidation, coercion, and dismissal.

	On 12 January, the ICEM joined a complaint to the OECD submitted by the local union Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS).&nbsp; PCSS is a member of the ICEM global family and represents 1,500 contract workers in the state of Chhattisgarh.

	The complaint focuses on a number of breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim&rsquo;s cement companies. Other than the clear violation of the contract workers&rsquo; right to organise and bargain collectively, Holcim is also cited for refusing to engage in collective bargaining with PCSS, which is officially registered as the trade union representing workers at the cement installations.&nbsp; Further violations are outlined in the complaint with respect to the surrounding communities around the Holcim plants.&nbsp; The companies acquired land from local farmers and went on to destroy living conditions in local communities, namely shoddy water management and destruction of homes by blasting and mining. The subsidiaries also refuse to give permanent jobs to locals.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 245px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Today in New Delhi, ICEM participated in a press conference with the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) and PCSS and their national federation, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI).&nbsp; ICEM Asia-Pacific Representative Phee Jungsun said at the press conference, &ldquo;It is through such practices as these that clearly violate workers&rsquo; basic rights to representation of their choice, as guaranteed by the UN, OECD and ILO, as well as the Indian constitution. That Holcim has doubled its profit margins through Indian operations stand as further disrepute in terms of the rights&rsquo; abuses of contract and agency workers.&rdquo;

	Holcim celebrates its 100th anniversary this week and claims &ldquo;We have placed Sustainable Development at the heart of our business strategy for many years, because we believe it contributes in adding value and ensuring continued success.&rdquo;

	Holcim is in breach of Indian legislation, namely the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act that 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.&nbsp;

	Holcim-ACC last year 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. It was proven 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.

	Between September 2010 and March 2011, 80 members of PCSS were dismissed by Holcim-Ambuja. Management of the plant repeatedly refused to participate in conciliation efforts by the Regional Labour Commissioner in Raipur.

	The Chapters and Paragraphs of the OECD Guidelines in violation are: Chapter II ( General Policies) specifically paragraphs A (1), (4),(9); Chapter IV (Human rights) specifically paragraphs 1, 2; and Chapter V specifically paragraphs 1 (a), (b), (d), (e), 3, 5.

	See the full text of the PCSS OECD complaint <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/OECD%20Complaint%207%201%202012.pdf">here</a>.

	See more information on the BWI Company Monitor webpage <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/category/mnc-info/holcim/">here</a>.

Holcim’s Violations in India Taken to OECD

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	Schlumberger, the world&rsquo;s largest oil services company, has been scrambling to defend actions of local management in Egypt who sacked the entire leadership of a nascent trade union.&nbsp; Pressure has been exerted by the ICEM and its affiliated Norwegian and Canadian unions, IndustriEnergi (IE) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP/SCEP), on senior management to intervene and remedy this unacceptable violation of rights in Egypt.

	Schlumberger employs around 2,500 workers in Egypt, 40% of whom are workers of subcontractors at 10 different worksites.&nbsp;

	In April 2011, the process to establish an independent company-level trade union at Schlumberger Egypt was begun, as part of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), the trade union centre established during the final days of the Mubarak regime. In May 2011, signatures and required documents were collected to complete the legal process of establishing the union.

	On 11 May, local management was informed of the new union structure, at which time management responded with threats leading to the dismissal of General Secretary Mohamed Abd Elrahman. On 3 July, the day of the union&rsquo;s general congress, local management dismissed the union&rsquo;s President, Brother Essam. On 5 July, local management summoned union members to the head office and threatened them with dismissal if they did not leave the union. And then on 7 July, local management followed through on an earlier threat and dismissed the union&rsquo;s Assistant General Secretary, Ayman Abd Elmonem.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 195px;height: 161px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	ICEM&rsquo;s Jim Catterson with Sacked Union President, Brother Essam, at left

	No reason or dismissal letter was given to Abd Elmonem, he was simply blocked from entering the workplace. On 12 July, another union member was dismissed in similar circumstances, Mr. Hossam Al-deed Mostafa, again no written dismissal notice was produced.

	Under Egyptian law, workers can only be dismissed from their employment following a due legal process and a court ruling. The court procedure cannot even be initiated without justifiably serious reasons. Arbitrary unilateral decisions such as these cannot stand. Four sacked workers have been without income for several months now.

	&ldquo;I write seeking your immediate intervention to remedy shocking violations of labour rights at Schlumberger operations in Egypt. In a vicious attack on workers&rsquo; rights to organise and bargain collectively, Schlumberger employees&rsquo; nascent trade union has been illegally dismantled through the sacking of its leaders,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda in a letter to Schlumberger.

	Register your protest to Schlumberger Chairman Andrew Gould, CEO Paal Kibsgaard, and Egypt Area Manager Amr Essawy by clicking <a href="mailto:gould1@exchange.slb.com; pkibsgaard@exchange.slb.com; AEssawi2@exchange.slb.com">here</a>.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 80px;height: 107px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The company has responded to ICEM and IE calls with an investigation into the sackings.&nbsp; ICEM will continue to monitor the situation closely and will mobilise the next phase of the campaign with Schlumberger&rsquo;s clients, the oil and gas multinationals that use Schlumberger&rsquo;s services, if positive action by the company is not taken soon.

	IE of Norway organises Schlumberger employees, and those workers registered their protest with Norwegian national management and local managers over the last ten days. Local Schlumberger union reps in Norway are meeting today with the ICEM.

	Egyptian activists in Paris on 18 February conducted a picket at Schlumberger headquarters and met with the manager of Schlumberger France, who has also now been mobilised to intervene into the case.

Oil Services Giant Schlumberger Pressured over Egyptian Union Busting

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The European Works Council (EWC) of Rio Tinto last week condemned the global minerals and metal producer for its unwarranted lockout of 780 Canadian members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
The intervention made by Rio&rsquo;s EWC Secretary V&eacute;ronique Roche from Paris comes at a time when the USW along with the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) are ramping up a campaign. Actions have been launched to bring attention and pressure on the multinational in support of aluminium smelter workers of Rio Tinto subsidiary Alcan, who were unjustly locked off their jobs on 1 January in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
A mass protest of Canadian and global trade unionists will take place in Alma &ndash; some 380 kilometres north of Alcan&rsquo;s headquarters in Montr&eacute;al &ndash; on 31 March. That will come a day after the ICEM North America Region holds its committee meeting in the region as a show of support for the victimised members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma, USW Local 9490. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="160" />
photo: lapresse.ca
An initial thrust 11 days ago by ICEM and IMF global affiliates in the form of protest letters to Rio Tinto&rsquo;s President and CEO Tom Albanese saw a company response a day into the action: the company turned off its fax machines to avoid a deluge of written protests. 
 
The EWC intervention, however, is sure to resonate. Roche said the EWC has found that Rio Tinto Alcan management failed to even consider proposals made by the union, a &ldquo;destructive and socially irresponsible position.&rdquo; 
 
The 2 February letter added to Albanese: &ldquo;Please know that our European forum will stand alongside the United Steelworkers in all organised efforts in Europe and elsewhere, and we will participate in actions deemed necessary by the USW to repel this anti-social attack.&rdquo; 
 
The EWC then demanded that Rio Tinto end the lockout and order local management back to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair, equitable and acceptable labour agreement with workers that does not decimate the economic well-being of the community. (The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/lettre%20TOM%20ALBANESE%20ALMA%20FEV%202012%20engx.pdf ">full letter</a> can be read here.) 
 
The chief issue behind the lockout is Rio Tinto Alcan&rsquo;s desire to have unlimited outsourcing rights, something that would eventually half the wage base of the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region. Since Rio Tinto purchased Alcan in 2007 for US$39 billion, Alma management has replaced each worker taking retirement, or in other reductions in force, by outsourcing to sub-contractors who use low-wage staff without full social benefits. 
 
Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma tried to set a floor on full-time, direct employees in collective negotiations. Alcan refused and immediately locked out the unionised workforce on expiration of a prior five-year agreement. There is mounting proof that Rio Tinto Alcan is partially operating the 438,000-tonne facility with the use of scabs during the lockout, a prohibition under provincial Qu&eacute;bec labour statute and something the USW is pursuing through the legal system.

Rio Tinto’s Euro Works Council Irate over Québec Aluminium Lockout

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