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The manufacturing sector in the United Kingdom is under attack from the Tory government and its destructive policy of austerity cuts. ICEM&rsquo;s UK affiliate Unite at its National Sector Conferences last week set out a new strategy to revive and rebuild the industry. 
 
The strategy document, put forward by Unite Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke, underlines the vital importance of the manufacturing sector to the British economy, a sector built on a highly skilled workforce. The strategy paper calls for investment in skills, apprenticeships and for full utilization of modern technologies, for a long-term solution. 
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Tony Burke, Unite
The need for this investment is even greater, according to Burke, as Tory Chancellor George Osborne&rsquo;s austerity cuts are crippling consumer domestic demand. Government policy which seeks to shift the bill for economic failure onto the working men and women of Britain is hitting Unite members across its sectors. At last week&rsquo;s National Sector Conferences, examples were discussed from Aerospace, Shipbuilding, Engineering, Chemicals, Sciences, Print, Paper, IT, Vehicle Building, Motor Components, Steel, Servicing, Communications, Electronics and Electrical Engineering. 
 
In the document Unite proposes ten pillars upon which a manufacturing revival should be based: 
&bull; Build a framework of policies to defend strategically important industries. 
&bull; Continued financial support through interventionist policies. 
&bull; Targeted support for small and medium sized enterprises. 
&bull; Better use of government purchasing power to secure manufacturing jobs in the UK. 
&bull; Maximising the opportunities that the low carbon revolution offers. 
&bull; Delivery of an education and skills framework, which meets all industry&rsquo;s needs. 
&bull; Creating a university structure, which builds on the science base so necessary to secure high skilled jobs. 
&bull; Create right investment environment for research and development. 
&bull; Creation of a level playing field to deliver security and fair pricing for energy. 
&bull; A framework of legislation, which promotes transparency and engagement for all stakeholders in the future of manufacturing. 
 
&ldquo;Manufacturing should be driving our economy, but the government has no strategy for UK manufacturing. This Tory-led government is doing more damage to UK manufacturing than any previous Conservative government,&rdquo; stated Burke, &ldquo;If this government is serious about rebalancing the economy, we need to invest in the UK&rsquo;s manufacturing skills base with a long-term solution.

Unite’s 2020 Vision Calls for Investment in Skills to Protect UK Manufacturing

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Today in Belgrade, the ICEM affiliate Federation of Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy and Mining Trade Union will lead a joint main board meeting with two other Serbian unions on the final stages of a three-way merger. The 40,000-member ICEM affiliate will be joined by the Trade Union of Metalworkers and the Textile, Leather and Shoe Workers&rsquo; Union in an effort to create a single entity with strong growth prospects in the Central European nation. 
 
The new labour organisation is expected to be called the Trade Union of Industry and Energy and an integration Congress will be held in early May 2012. The 2,000-member Metalworkers&rsquo; union was weakened by a split in that organisation in 2010 and the Textile, Leather Union, numbering now only 1,000 dues-paying members, has been plagued by operational difficulties. 
 
Today&rsquo;s meeting is expected to set an agenda in which the two smaller unions will operate as boards of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy and Mining Trade Union until next year&rsquo;s merger. Zoran Stojanovic of the ICEM affiliate said the action plan being developed calls for a merged union to actively organise and provide updated services to Serbian industrial workers, particularly in the different energy sectors.

Serbia’s Chemicals, Metal, Textile/Leather Unions Set Agenda for Merger

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The North American Cement and Building Materials Union Network (NACBMUN) met at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US city of Pittsburgh on 20-21 October. This third network meeting was co-chaired by Steve Brady, Chair of the USW Cement Conference, and Jim Pressley, Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB). 
 
The main activity of the network, created in 2008, is information exchange via a collective bargaining database, which includes full analysis of each collective agreement in the cement and building products sector. The database is updated annually. Six managers from Lafarge, Cemex&rsquo;s St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement, Essroc were invited to receive a report on business trends and human resource issues. 
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Phee Jungsun, ICEM Materials Industries&rsquo; Officer, presented an industry report and explained the new global labour instruments on protection of trade union rights in supply chains, including the revised OECD Guidelines and the UN Governing Principles on Business and Human Rights. Ongoing labour disputes at Holcim Cement in India and in Guatemala, and a global action plan to combat Holcim&rsquo;s unfair labour practices were reported. 
 
The network extended full solidarity support to contract workers at Holcim&rsquo;s Ambuja Cement in India, who have long been fighting for the right to join a union and to bargain collectively. 
 
The meeting discussed a plan to regularly conduct social dialogue with human resource managers, and participants agreed to extend the dialogue agenda to cover comprehensive subjects including subcontracting and union work along supply chains. A plan on a common organizing drive at unorganized workplaces is set as the main agenda item for a 2012 network meeting, to be held in Canada.

North American Cement, Building Materials Network Meets in Pittsburgh

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The ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union project called &quot;The Chemical Industry in 2020 &ndash; A New Direction is Possible&quot; launched earlier this year was finalized with an international conference from 26-28 September in Santo Andre with 150 union leaders, government officials, and business and civil society representatives attending. 
 
The project&rsquo;s main goal is to promote sustainable growth in the Brazilian chemical industry through social dialogue and decent work. ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal Ozkan was keynote speaker and the conference fostered many discussions toward achieving 2020 targets by the UN, as well as producing and using chemicals not harmful to human health and to the environment. 
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The event was also an opportunity to prepare the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, together with social partners, for the UN&rsquo;s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) to be held in June 2012. 
 
With topics covering economic, social, and environmental dimensions, the conference deepened and expanded a series of discussions in three parts with participation of workers, entrepreneurs, public authorities, and others. Another highlight was presenting the ILO report called &quot;Restructuring the Brazilian Chemical Industry and its Impact on Employment and Social Dialogue.&quot; 
 
Paulo Lage, President of ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, opened the meeting by citing progress made since the first round of discussions in June 2011, especially a joint agenda between the union and the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (ABRIQUIM). &quot;Our industry has a terrible trade deficit which directly affects the jobs of workers, and only through debate and dialogue we will have a better world for everyone,&quot; said Lage. 
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Kemal Ozkan
At the conference&rsquo;s opening, Ozkan presented a detailed overview of the world&rsquo;s chemical industry, highlighting the prospects of growth in Asia, particularly China, which today is among the leaders in producing specialty chemicals industry. 
 
Yasuhiko Kamakura, senior ILO specialist for the chemical industry, addressed another important topic &ndash; Social Dialogue in the Chemical Industry. He gave worldwide data on restructuring and the effects of social dialogue, contents of which are contained in the ILO study. He also addressed the trend of mergers in the chemicals industry, saying some four million jobs were lost between between 2000 and 2006 due to corporate integration. 
 
The conference&rsquo;s closing was made by Artur Henrique, the president of Brazilian national labour center, Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and following, a proposed document was produced to strengthen the Brazilian chemical industry, which will be delivered by the unions and employers to the federal government.

Decent Work, Social Dialogue to Mark Brazilian Chemical Industry

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Members of the International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers (IAM) Lodge 778 will begin returning to work this week after ratifying a six-year labour agreement last night, 20 November, with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing &amp; Technologies LLC. in Kansas City, Missouri. 
 
The vote by a wide margin ends a 42-day strike by 940 workers against Honeywell at the US government owned Bannister Federal Complex, where the company makes non-nuclear components for the government&rsquo;s nuclear weapons system. 
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Although contract terms were not immediately known following last night&rsquo;s late vote, it is believed much of the American company&rsquo;s original offer was accepted. That includes a two-tier pay scheme for new workers hired after 1 January in which such workers come in at lower hourly rates and fall into slower wage progressions than current workers. It also will see reductions to retiree health insurance coverage for those retiring after 8 October 2017. 
 
The contract also contains higher out-of-pocket health care costs for staff. Current workers will see a 13.5% wage increase over the six-year period, and an 11.7% pension hike also will be realized in that period. 
IAM Lodge 778 had given Honeywell with four different proposals up to 17 November through a US federal mediator, but all were rejected by the company. Finally on 17 November, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) official presented the six-year deal and Lodge 778&rsquo;s bargaining committee recommended it last night to membership. 
 
The 840 workers will return to Honeywell&rsquo;s payroll this week by undergoing four-hour re-orientation training, and all staff will resume their normal job functions effective 28 November.

US Machinists End 42-Day Honeywell Strike in Missouri

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Five days of bargaining last week failed to resolve the 53-day strike between 1,200 Peruvian miners of ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) and Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, Peru&rsquo;s third largest copper produce that is 53.7% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. 
 
According to the branch General Secretary of the FNTMMSP at Cerro Verde, Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a, bi-lateral talks brought the two sides no closer to agreement, and the legal strike in Peru&rsquo;s southern Arequipa region likely will last another two-to-three weeks while the union waits for the company to give it financial documents related to the operation. 
 
Cerro Verde management has offered a 3% pay increase and a US$735-per-worker bonus in the first year, while the union is seeking a 6-7% increase in the first year and a 5-6% hike in the second. Other unresolved issues include a union demand for proper food distribution, medical insurance, fixed working hours and restructuring of job classifications. 
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While management has offered to submit the dispute to private arbitration, the union rejected that offer because doing so under Peruvian law would mean the FNTMMSP branch would have to suspend the strike during the arbitration process. The union prefers continuation of mediation by the Arequipa Region labour ministry. 
 
The strike started on 29 September and the very next day the government declared the strike legal. Cerro Verde is using some 600 &ldquo;volunteer&rdquo; workers and management staff to continue ore supply to the leaching platform and the mine&rsquo;s concentrator, but use of such scab workers during a lawful work stoppage is illegal. The government of Peru has termed this a &ldquo;serious infraction&rdquo; of the law and the company faces fines of between US$15,000 and US$26,383. 
 
Daily production of copper and its by-product molybdenum averaged 303,000 metric tonnes in 2010. Freeport-McMoRan has reported to markets that the strike will reduce average output this year by one-third, or 200,000 tonnes per day, which likely is a high estimate. The mine produced a net profit of US$1.05 billion last year. 
 
Besides the majority ownership that operator Freeport-McMoRan holds in Cerro Verde, SMM Cerro Verde Nederlands, a unit of the Japanese Sumitomo Corp., owns a 21% stake, while Peru-based Compania de Minas Buenaventura owns 19.3%.

FNTMMSP Continues Copper Strike Against Freeport-McMoRan in Peru

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The ICEM has extended support to Colombian mine union affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n and 1,200 miners who began strike action on 17 November against Swiss-based Glencore International. The strike at Colombia&rsquo;s third largest coal mining company, Glencore subsidiary CI Prodeco, broke out at the firm&rsquo;s Calenturitas mine in northern C&eacute;sar department over management intransigence in coming to a collective agreement that would grant just pay awards, benefits, a promotion schedule and job security. 
 
The La Jagua de Ibirico municipality branch of Sintracarb&oacute;n gave a list of demands to Prodeco on 21 September and the two sides began the legally required bargaining on 3 October. But after the mandatory 20 days of talks ended on 22 October, management cut off dialogue and announced it would unilaterally implement a previous set of work rules as a collective agreement for a five-year period. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4734-Sintracarbón-Fights-Glencore-Subsidiary-in-Colombia ">ICEM report</a> from last month.) 
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Sintracarb&oacute;n then presented workers two options in a vote at the open pit mine: to strike or turn the dispute over to a government arbitration tribunal. Despite Prodeco&rsquo;s harassment and intimidation at polling areas, including trying to block union leaders from conducting the vote, 97.4% of miners voted to strike, while 2% chose arbitration. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s walkout will cripple production by 30,000 tonnes per day. Prodeco was expected to mine five million tons of coal this year from the seven-year-old Calenturitas mine, and another 8.8 million tonnes from the La Jagua open pit mine, an operation that saw a 39-day strike from June to August 2010 by non-affiliated Sintramienergetica. That strike saw miners get a two-year labour agreement. 
 
Glencore has posted excellent results from both thermal coal operations and is on line to increase combined production to 19.9 million tones annually by the end of 2013, and to 20.7 million by 2015. Calenturitas has total deposits of 122 million tones, while La Jagua has contains 133 million tonnes.

Sintracarbón Launches Strike at Glencore’s Calenturitas Mine in Colombia

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The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) has strongly condemned the brutal campaign waged by employers on workers and unions in Faisalbad, Pakistan. 
 
Speaking in Brussels, ITGLWF General Secretary Klaus Priegnitz said, &ldquo;In July this year workers in Faisalabad were forced to go on strike to secure a 17% pay increase that was adopted by government but which employers refused to pay. Over 100,000 workers went on strike in Faisalabad and the surrounding areas. 
 
&ldquo;The employers responded by launching a brutal campaign of violence and intimidation seeking to silence workers and deny them their fundamental rights. As part of this campaign workers have been attacked by armed men employed by factory owners, and some have been shot while others have been badly beaten.&rdquo; 
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The Labour Education Foundation Director Khalid Mahmood highlighted the severity of attacks on workers. &ldquo;The owners and their henchmen resorted to violence by throwing stones and bricks on the peaceful march of workers from one side of the protest, while police used tear gas shells on the workers from the other end. Twenty-five workers were injured including Mr. Tahir Rana, the president of LQM Faisalabad district, who was critically injured. Around 100 workers were also arrested.&rdquo; 
 
The ITGLWF&rsquo;s Priegnitz continued, by stating, &ldquo;This vicious campaign has now culminated in a decision by the Anti-Terrorism Court to sentence six trade union leaders from the Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) to a total of 490 years in jail on falsified charges. The involvement of the police and the judiciary in this process shows that Pakistan&rsquo;s state agencies are actively working with employers to assist in the repression of fundamental human rights.&rdquo; 
 
Priegnitz concluded by calling for &ldquo;the immediate release of the union leaders and respect for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.&rdquo;

ITGLWF Condemns Jailing of Pakistani Power Loom Union Leaders

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The ICEM was saddened to learn of the passing of Madhav Neupane, a co-founder of affiliate General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT). Comrade Neupane, 51, unexpectedly died on 29 October from tuberculosis, leaving his wife and two children behind. 
 
GEFONT released a statement on that day, saying, the &ldquo;entire trade union movement of Nepal is now under deep grief. We have lost an always active leader of the movement.&rdquo; 
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Comrade Neupane was one of many democratic activists who were arrested during the autocratic Panchayati period of King Mahendra in the 1970s and beyond. It was then, as leader of the Nepal Independent Hotel Workers&rsquo; Union, that the NIHWU and three other unions formed GEFONT. He was currently a member of GEFONT&rsquo;s Veterans&rsquo; Network. 
 
Following his funeral on 29 October, GEFONT&rsquo;s National Executive Committee met and adopted a resolution of mourning that calls for lowering of the union federation&rsquo;s flag to half-mast for three days throughout the country, as well as to organise a mass meeting to pay tribute to Madhav Neupane on the 13th day following his passing.

ICEM Mourns Co-Founder of Nepal’s GEFONT Federation

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Spain&rsquo;s ICEM-affiliated Confederaci&oacute;n Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO) announced the passing of its first General Secretary, Marcelino Camacho, last Friday, 29 October. 
 
Marcelino Camacho, 92, a symbol for trade union rights and democracy in Spain, dedicated his life to the fight for those most in need, for justice and solidarity. 
 
The son of a railwayman, Camacho was a fighter for freedom and workers&rsquo; rights since his youth. Fighting Franco&rsquo;s 1939-1975 fascist dictatorship, and spending a total of 14 years in prison and concentration camps, as well as several years of political asylum in Algeria, Marceline Camacho was a true working-class hero. 
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Marcelino Camacho
In the late 1950s, Camacho and his comrades founded the CC.OO, now Spain&rsquo;s largest trade union confederation. He was elected General Secretary at its first congress in June 1978, and was re-elected at the second and third congresses. 
 
He was a member of the Spanish Communist Party, and was elected to the Spanish Parliament during the first democratic elections in 1977 following the defeat of the Franco regime. He resigned from the Parliament in1981 to devote himself to trade unionism. 
 
On resigning from the post of General Secretary at the 4th Congress of CCOO, Camacho was elected as President, a post he held until 1996. 
 
His important role was acknowledged with numerous honours and awards, in Spain and abroad.

Labour Movement Mourns Death of Spanish CC.OO’s Marcelino Camacho

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