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<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
A 40-day strike in the US state of Massachusetts has ended. Ninety brave members of the ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) backed Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s CertainTeed subsidiary away from severe cuts to their health care plan, and ratified a five-year labour agreement by a 69-0 vote on 29 January. 
 
The workers, who make asphalt roofing shingles, gypsum wallboard and fiberglass products at a plant outside Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, returned to their jobs on 31 January with their heads held high, their pride intact, and most importantly their premium benefits package unsevered. 
 
CertainTeed management came at the members of IBT Local 25 late last year with a proposal to abandon the union&rsquo;s Health and Welfare Fund and replace it with an inferior company-managed plan. Such a plan would have left the workers with far fewer health care benefits, leaving them largely unprotected from illness or injury.
<img src="" width="154" height="160" alt="" />
Workers took strike action on 19 December and when the company refused to move from its regressive proposals in US federal mediation on 13 January, Norwood Teamsters expanded their strike. Besides working with the ICEM and French union CFDT to take the dispute directly to executives of Saint-Gobain in Paris, they began handbilling other non-Teamster and non-represented CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain plants in the US. 
 
&ldquo;Our members would not accept the company plan and made that loud and clear to us,&rdquo; said Local 25 Business Representative George Slicis. &ldquo;We were on the picket line for 40 days, 24/7, through the holidays and in bad weather, and we were not going back unless the Teamster health care plan went back with us.&rdquo; 
 
The 69-0 vote last Sunday made that an affirmative. In bargaining again supervised by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) on 26 January, CertainTeed backed off the takeaways. Although there will be a very slight increase in workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs for continuation of the premium health coverage of US$6-per-week, that will be more than offset with the union negotiating a US$500 bonus each in years one through four of the labour agreement. 
 
In addition, starting in year two, or late in 2012, and continuing in 2013, 2014 and 2015, workers will receive a 2% wage increase. Local 25 also won company-paid increases to the New England Teamsters Pension Fund of 10% in years one and two, and 6% each in the remaining years. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Local 25 members at CertainTeed for their resolve in maintaining their earned benefits package and also commends Jean-Francois Renucci of CFDT, who took the case to preserve the US workers&rsquo; health and welfare insurance to top Saint-Gobain leaders.

US Teamsters at Saint-Gobain Succeed in Retaining Premium Health Care

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A joint Executive Committee meeting of three European trade union federations on 31 January put the final touches on statutes, a political programme, and nominated candidates for leadership in what is to become a united eight-million-member industrial workers&rsquo; federation. The meeting, held near Mechelen, Belgium, was attended by 150 national union leaders from 25 nations. 
 
The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and the European Trade Union Federation for textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear (ETUF-TCL) are now geared to formally merge on 16 May 2012 in Brussels, with dissolution Congresses coming a day earlier. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="74" />
The joint Executive decreed that the new federation will strive to become a fighting force for a dynamic economic framework that allows industry to thrive as the motor for jobs and sustainable growth across Europe. The three current federations vowed that &ldquo;social progress and the European social model cannot be sacrificed at the altar of ultra-liberal dogma.&rdquo; 
 
Although the new grouping has yet to formally adopt a name, its temporary moniker is the European Industrial Workers&rsquo; Federation (EIWF). 
 
Michael Vassiliadis, President of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE, was nominated to serve as President, while current EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann was nominated to be General Secretary. Anders Ferbe of IF Metall, Sweden, Renzo Ambrosetti, UNIA, Switzerland, and Valeria Fedeli, CGIL FILCTEM, Italy, were nominated as Vice Presidents, while Sylvain Lefebvre, EMCEF, Bart Samyn, EMF, and Luc Triangle, ETUF-TCL, were nominated as Deputy General Secretaries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="165" height="140" />
Michael Vassiliadis
The new federation will consist of four policy committees &ndash; Collective Bargaining and Social Policy, Company Policy Committee, Industrial Policy Committee, and Social Dialogue Policy Committee. It will also be composed of eight regions: South, Benelux, Central, South-East, Eastern, British, Nordic/Baltic, and South-West.

Trade Union Industrial Federation Takes Shape for Europe

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The Northern Cypriot state electric company, KIB-TEK, has begun importing workers from the Turkey-based energy company AKSA to break the civil disobedience actions of members of ICEM affiliate EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. That started on 20 January, just hours after EL-SEN had abided by a Council of Ministers decree to halt a day-long strike. 
 
But utility workers then reverted to a stay-at-home strategy as a democratic sign of civil disobedience. 
 
The workers from AKSA, nonetheless, were given a police escort as they arrived in the northern part of the island and were taken to the main Teknecik power plant near the village of Klepini. EL-SEN undertook strike action in the morning of 19 January and the government&rsquo;s decree banning the strike came late that evening. 
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The strike and subsequent protest are over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). EL-SEN and its members strongly believe that the government has failed to consult the union and other stakeholders before pushing forth the draft legislation. The union will also conduct a mass rally in Nicosia on 30 January. 
 
The ICEM has stepped in to support EL-SEN and opposes the rush to privatisation. In an <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4846-ICEM-Protests-Northern-Cyprus-Strike-Ban-in-Energy-Sector ">ICEM news release</a> issued on 20 January, the Global Union Federation said it disagreed with the government of Northern Cyprus&rsquo;s decree, stating Northern Cypriot law to ban a strike runs counter to internationally recognised standards regarding the right to strike. 
 
&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 
 
Under Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend a strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu said the move to import replacement workers was the wrong one. In a news report on 21 January, he said, &ldquo;Our fight is a worthy one; our community&rsquo;s survival depends on it. They think they can resolve this by bringing people in from abroad. It might work in the short term, but in the long term it will fail.&rdquo;

Northern Cyprus Imports Scabs to Break Electric Utility Work Stoppage

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) disagrees with a decree issued by the Government of Northern Cyprus last night that effectively blocks a legitimate strike in the electricity sector by EL-SEN, ICEM&rsquo;s affiliated Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. 

EL-SEN launched the indefinite strike on the morning of 19 January over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). According to Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend any strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 

The ICEM considers the Northern Cypriot law as running opposite to norms contained in internationally recognized standards regarding the right to strike. 

&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 

Although EL-SEN abided by last night&rsquo;s decree issued by the Northern Cypriot Council of Ministers, the union and its members will stay off their jobs as democratic right of civil disobedience. The ICEM communicated its support of that decision to EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu today. A similar strike by the telecommunications union TEL-SEN that began at the same time on 19 January continues. 

EL-SEN and ICEM believe the state-owned utility KIB-TEK is sustainable and can be transformed into a viable public utility with a more efficient management. The ICEM also believes that the Northern Cypriot government must engage more fully with EL-SEN and other stakeholders before pushing forward legislation to privatize KIB-TEK. 

Before the strike, ICEM had sent a letter to Prime Minister Irsen K&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k urging the government to withdraw the draft privatization bill. The ICEM sent a second letter today, 20 January, to the Prime Minister protesting the Cabinet of Ministers decree last night. 

The ICEM is a Geneva-based Global Union Federation representing 20 million workers through 255 trade unions in 94 countries. 
For further information, contact ICEM Information 
Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842, or +41 79 734 8994.

ICEM Protests Northern Cyprus Strike Ban in Energy Sector

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	From the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation

	Trade unionists around the world will mobilize during the week of February 19-25, calling on the Mexican government to stop its attack on workers and implement steps to allow for workers to organize independent democratic trade unions of their choosing. 
	 
	Last year more than 50,000 union members, students and human rights activists from some 40 countries participated in the Global Days of Action, launched on February 14 in Mexico and Australia simultaneously. For six days union members came together in an unprecedented show of solidarity. Thousands of letters were sent to the Mexican government, more than 50 meetings were held at Mexican Embassies throughout the world, and massive demonstrations throughout the week, inside and outside of Mexico, marked the strength and urgency of our message: STOP the attack on workers, we demand Trade Union Rights in Mexico, NOW! 
	 
	The impact of our global actions were felt around the world. On February 24, just weeks after Global Action Days launched, political prisoner Juan Linares of the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union of Mexico was released from jail after being unjustly imprisoned for more than two years. Building on our 2011 actions, independent unions in Mexico, together with their respective global union partners, have come together as a movement of force, challenging retrogressive labour legislation, Mexico&rsquo;s scandalous &ldquo;Protection Contract&rdquo; system, and exposing corporate and political corruption.

	<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="113" />

	Despite an escalation in action and outcry from unions in Mexico and at the international level, workers continue to be denied fundamental rights, independent unions face violent and political attack, and corporate impunity is at an all time high. 
	 
	During the week of February 19-25, 2012, in honour of the Pasta de Conchos miners who died in a mine blast on February 19, 2006, members of the international labour movement are again asked to take action. 
	 
	POSSIBLE ACTIONS INCLUDE:

	Request a meeting with Mexican Embassy/Consulate representatives to discuss trade union rights in Mexico.
<ul>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Organize a small delegation to deliver a statement or letter to your local Mexican Embassy/Consulate.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Send a letter to your local Mexican Embassy/Consulate.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Engage national policy makers to join meetings with</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Embassy representatives or to send similar letters to the Government of Mexico.</div>
	</li>
	<li>
		<div align="justify">
			Publicize actions taken in defense of trade union rights in Mexico on your union&rsquo;s website and in its publications.</div>
	</li>
</ul>

	Print-ready posters and model letters are available to be used for actions and mobilizations. Posters are available in English, French, Spanish and Russian. The original In design artwork file is also available upon request if you wish to add logos or additional information, contact: <a href="mailto:unionrights@imfmetal.org">unionrights@imfmetal.org</a>. Model letters are available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and German. 
	 
	Please be sure to keep us informed of all actions taken, send photos, letters, and reports to: <a href="mailto:unionrights@imfmetal.org">unionrights@imfmetal.org</a> and <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>.

Mexico Days of Action 2012, February 19-25

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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice-President Sergio Novais, and Regional Contact Person Carol Bruce conducted a mission to Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica from 13 to 20 January 2010 to visit affiliates, make new contacts and attend a Social Dialogue conference in Colombia. 
 
The ICEM mission started the round in Ecuador on 13 January and the next day the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union was visited. This union was instrumental in creating the new confederation of public sector workers, which is made up of 70,000 members in the electricity sector, as well as in health, the oil industry, national telephone, public workers, education and transport. It took three years to build the confederation. 
<img alt="" src="" width="253" height="160" />
The most innovative factor about the confederation is a new approach, moving from protest to proposal. In the meantime, the realization has arisen that tripartite dialogue is necessary. The idea is to develop the state with workers&rsquo; participation. The confederation supports the process of the citizens&rsquo; revolution. It broadcasts a radio program to educate and inform workers. Steps are being taken to limit outsourcing according to the recent legislation. 
 
ICEM can expect to receive an application for affiliation from the Electricity Workers&rsquo; Union of Ecuador in the near future. 
 
The delegation arrived in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, on 15 January. The social dialogue conference was held the next day and the only employer that attended were two managers from the Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n mine, who praised the cooperation with ICEM which has enabled the mine to enjoy labor peace. The unions who participated were Sintraelecol, Sintragasquimed, Sintracarb&oacute;n, Sintravidricol, Sintracarcol, Fenaltec and USO, as well as the IMF affiliate, Sintracerramotoso. 
 
These conferences have been going on since 2004. One recurring theme is sub-contracting. The question is to know whether conflicts are solvable on the basis of dialogue and whether dialogue has contributed to collective bargaining. Social dialogue is an innovative process in a country marked by entrenched violence. The idea is to contribute to peace in Colombia. 
 
Warda explained some of the Congress resolutions, especially concerning the creation of the new Global Union Federation. He stressed that Colombia would continue to be a priority. 
 
Novais clarified that the value of social dialogue is to continue to speak and negotiate regularly with the other side, and not just during wage negotiations. He explained that ICEM is working on multi-Latinas in the region to get workers organized in those companies. One priority in the region is networks, and 12 networks are up and running. It will be up to ICEM to pass our values and experience on to the new organisation. 
 
Philippe Potdevin from the Cerrej&oacute;n mine offered ICEM the possibility to develop an agreement along the lines of a Global Agreement based on the Global Compact. This might be an incentive for other companies in Colombia to take a greater interest in social dialogue, and he also indicated that he would urge other companies to work together with ICEM. 
<img alt="" src="" width="202" height="160" />
Manfred Warda, Rodolfo Vecino, Carlos Bustos
Two conflicts were mentioned in particular. First was the conflict with Rudolfo Vecino, President of USO, which fortunately was solved favourably with his reinstatement just before the delegation arrived in Colombia. The second is still pending and refers to the ex-President of Sintraelecol, Danuil Gomez, who is faced with death threats. His employer Gas Natural has been asked to transfer him to Bogot&aacute;, otherwise his life is in danger in C&oacute;rdoba. 
 
Marcelino Lopez, also from Sintraelecol, is also at similar risk. Some companies apparently work openly or covertly with paramilitaries in the dirty war. 
 
USO and Sintracerramatoso operate in areas that are controlled by the paramilitaries. It is very difficult for them to have access to workers. Union members are harassed and sacked and threatened and even killed, while many multinationals work with security companies that are linked to paramilitaries. The request is to organise a meeting for the unions in the energy and mining sectors to develop joint strategies to confront the government and to design a work plan. 
 
USO considers itself faced with annihilation of the union. Ecopetrol is facing privatization, and in addition, because of sub-contracting, there are six times more contract workers than direct employees, or 10,000 direct workers to 60,000 contractors. 
 
In conclusion, Warda summed up by proposing putting pressure on Endesa and Repsol to join the social dialogue process. His final comment, however, was a criticism of Colombian unions &ndash; something in their structures apparently stands in the way of women&rsquo;s participation. 
 
In the meantime, ICEM is attempting to put a forum together in Madrid where Spanish multinationals would pledge to reject violence in Colombia and to work toward eliminating the killing of trade unionists. The UGT Spanish foundation ISCOD is working with human rights lawyers in Colombia, and ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos will be invited to join them. 
<img alt="" src="" width="334" height="159" />
On 18 January, the delegation met with the board of Sitrapequia in San Jos&eacute;, Costa Rica. The discussion focused on the importance of public-sector unions in Costa Rica and the difficulty of organizing unions in the private sector. One possibility will be the attempt to organise the Bridgestone/Firestone plant in San Jos&eacute;, since there is an opening just now with the company manager for the Americas. This opportunity will be explored together with SUTNA, ICEM&rsquo;s rubber workers&rsquo; union affiliate from Argentina.

ICEM Mission Visits Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica

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Some 360,000 Indian miners, many of them represented by the ICEM affiliate, the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INWF), have a new five-year labour agreement achieved under the National Coal Wage Agreement. The agreement with the world&rsquo;s largest coal company, state-owned Coal India Ltd. (CIL), and five unions calls for 25% wage increases over the term of the agreement. 
 
Signed on 31 January in Delhi, it is backdated to 1 July 2011. The agreement was finalised by the joint bipartite consultative committee (JBCC) on 27-28 January. 
<img src="" width="221" height="160" alt="" />
&ldquo;After discussions, the management agreed to a 25% minimum guaranteed benefits on gross wages,&rdquo; said General Secretary S Q Zama of INMF, affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). Along with Brother Zama, INMF and INTUC leaders Sanjeeva Reddy, Rajendra Prassad Singh, S Panigrahi, GVR Sarma, B Venkat Rao and R Algamkar took part in the signing. 
 
An increase in all basic allowances of 88% will take effect throughout the agreement, and higher housing allowances in non-urban areas and management substitution bonuses were also won for workers filling those roles. 
 
Further gains will be made when reports are submitted and agreed to on retirees&rsquo; medical benefits, and on aspects pertaining to contract workers. 
 
The other unions involved in this ninth set of National Coal Wage talks are affiliates of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), and the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The new accord will cost CIL US$788.6 million over the five-year period.

India’s Mine Unions, Coal India Reach 5-Year Labour Agreement

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ICEM Nordic Region Vice President Anders Ferbe was elected 1 February by IF Metall&rsquo;s Executive Board to serve as Acting President of Sweden&rsquo;s largest industrial union, replacing Stefan L&ouml;fven who stepped down 27 January to head the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. 
 
Ferbe, 57, had been IF Metall&rsquo;s First Vice President since 2008 and has been an ICEM Presidium member since 2007 when he was elected at the Fourth Statutory Congress in Bangkok. He will head the 355,000-member IF Metall going into the union&rsquo;s 2014 Congress, a key year with federal elections slated to occur in September 2014. 
 
L&ouml;fven, President of IF Metall since the union was formed on 1 January 2006 with the merger of the Swedish Industrial Union (Industrifacket) and the Swedish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (Metall), was elected to head the country&rsquo;s once dominant Social Democrats by the party&rsquo;s Presidium 11 days ago. 
<img alt="" src="" width="141" height="160" />
Stefan L&ouml;fven
&ldquo;I am both humbled and honoured by the trust shown me,&rdquo; Ferbe said following last week&rsquo;s Board election. &ldquo;Our job to retain and create sustainable jobs is paramount. It means training, hard work and wages that are both fair and equal.&rdquo; IF Metall&rsquo;s board elected Veli-Pekka S&auml;ikk&auml;l&auml; to replace Ferbe as First Vice President. 
 
Ferbe is a native of J&ouml;nk&ouml;ping in southern Sweden and his work in the metal industry began there as an assembler at an industrial fan manufacturer now called Svenska Fl&auml;kfabriken. 
 
He held a number of local branch positions of Metall and in 1984, after six months working inside the union&rsquo;s training center, he took a Metall training and education position in the Stockholm headquarters in environmental education. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="80" />
In 1989, he began a 16-year career as the union&rsquo;s press and communications officer and upon the 2006 merger of Industrifacket and Metall, he was elected IF Metall&rsquo;s Second Vice President. A year earlier, he was elected to the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
Both Ferbe and L&ouml;fven will work to restore the strength of the Social Democratic Party inside Sweden. The Social Democrats were beaten in consecutive elections in 2006 and 2010 and the ICEM is confident that with a trade union leader heading the party, &ldquo;the Social Democratic Party once again will not only lead Sweden, but continue to serve as the stellar social model for all the world to follow,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda in a 26 January letter congratulating L&ouml;fven. (The full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/9.ICEM%20Stefan%20Lofven.26Jan.pdf ">ICEM letter</a> is here.) 
 
L&ouml;fven, 55, served as Vice President of Metall from 2002 until his election as the first President of IF Metall in 2006. The 55-year-old L&ouml;fven had been employed by Metall since 1995, first as a national bargaining officer, then as Secretary, and from 1999 to 2002 as head of the Organising Department. 
 
He was born in Stockholm but grew up in &Aring;dalen, &Aring;ngermanland, Sweden. His first industrial job was at a sawmill in Domsj&ouml; in 1979, but he then went to work that same year as a welder at the military and all-terrain vehicle manufacturer H&auml;gglunds and S&ouml;ner AB, now part of UK-based BAE Systems. He started his trade union activism as a shop steward, sector president and branch president.

IF Metall’s Board Elects Anders Ferbe to Replace Stefan Löfven

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
ICEM&rsquo;s Swiss affiliate UNIA is celebrating a great success in its campaign to save the 320 jobs at the pharmaceutical giant Novartis. The decision to reverse a plant closure at the Prangin production site near Nyon was announced on 17 January, following an extremely strong campaign effort that dated to last November. 
 
The 17 January announcement included a pledge to protect jobs at the site in the long term. Job cuts at Novartis in neighbouring Nyon have also been reversed. 
 
The ICEM salutes a spirited campaign of strikes, mass mobilisations and mass support from the local public and area politicians in Canton Vaud, which culminated in bad press and huge pressure on Novartis management to reverse its decision. The planned closures were undeniably based on corporate greed as profits were huge, and the facilities were widely regarded as top quality. 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="161" />
ICEM marched with UNIA colleagues on several demonstrations, with the Nyon-based UNI Global Union. 
 
Staff at the Prangins facility took the concession of increasing weekly work hours from 37.5 to 40 in negotiations. 
 
Management&rsquo;s shock decision to close &ndash; announced at a 25 October press conference &ndash; significant sections of the Nyon and Basle plants came only weeks after Novartis showed third quarter net sales up 18% to US$14.84 billion from US$12.58 billion in the same period in 2010. Net income increased 7% to US$2.49 billion, third quarter 2011, from US$2.32 billion in the quarter, 2010. 
 
Novartis had planned to cut 2,000 jobs internationally, with 760 at its Basle headquarters and 320 in Nyon. Job cuts were greatly reduced at Basle as well, with only a third of the initially planned job cuts in Basle to now occur. 
 
It was predicted 2,000 related jobs in Nyon would go if the company closed the plant, ending over 90 years of drug production in Nyon. 
 
UNIA&rsquo;s role in mobilising the support of local and federal politicians in the process was important, especially since a major factor in the decision to cut Swiss jobs was a retort at Swiss authorities&rsquo; price-cutting of pharmaceutical drugs. 
 
Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella is the highest paid person in Switzerland, with an annual salary of CHF 40 million.

UNIA Jobs Saved at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
With company after company in the UK private sector seeking to shut off workers&rsquo; final pension schemes, it comes as a relief that one company heeded a union&rsquo;s concerns and cancelled such a plan for now. 
 
ICEM affiliate Unite the Union on 12 January convinced German luxury auto maker BMW to back away from closing its final pension salary scheme to new workers, and to retreat from implementing a loophole in Britain&rsquo;s new Agency Workers&rsquo; Regulation (AWR) that would allow BMW to directly employ agency workers on contracts that pay as much as 20% less than permanent workers of the company. 
 
The loophole, Regulation 10 of the AWR and also known as the &ldquo;Swedish Derogation&rdquo; language, would allow an employer to take workers employed by labour hire firms onto their payrolls, but to avoid the equal-pay for equal-work principal of the AWR. 
<img src="" width="103" height="160" alt="" />
In December when BMW announced its intention to move ahead with the two regressive changes, Unite responded that it would consult workplace leaders towards an industrial ballot. If voted and approved, such possible strike action would have occurred for 7,000 Unite members at four BMW plants, including Swindon, Cowley, Hams Hall near Birmingham, and the Rolls Royce factory in Goodwood. 
 
But talks between Unite, its BMW shop stewards and management two weeks ago convinced UK management to forego closing off the pension scheme to new hires and not to use the &ldquo;Swedish Derogation&rdquo; model. Instead, BMW agreed to engage Unite and its shop-floor leaders from all four plants in dialogue on a positive path forward without the harsh workplace changes. 
 
Unite National Officer Roger Madisson commented, &ldquo;As always we are prepared to have meaningful discussions with companies in the car industry. Unite is determined to protect all the terms and conditions of our members and ensure that agency workers are treated fairly, in the true spirit of the agency workers&rsquo; legislation.&rdquo; 
 
Unite&rsquo;s Cowley plant Convenor Chris Bond told the Oxford Mail, &ldquo;I am over the moon about it. The company has listened to our concerns. (Industrial action) has been averted for now.&rdquo; 
 
As for UK BMW management, it said in a statement, &ldquo;The company and Unite, the union, have jointly agreed to enter into discussions relating to the use of agency staff. We agreed to go back into discussions with the union on the pensions scheme and the AWR.&rdquo;

In UK, BMW Backs Off Closing Pension Scheme, Implementing Temp Work Exception

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