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An ICEM affiliate in Finland, the Salaried Workers&rsquo; Union, or Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni (TU), completed a merger on Saturday, 11 December, with Suora and effective 1 January will become the 130,000-member union called Pro, a union for salaried workers in the private sector. 
 
TU covers some 250 member associations across Finland, and negotiates 47 collective agreements, while Suora represents workers in the finance and insurance industries, as well as white-collar workers in the gaming business and alcohol trades. 
<img src="" width="256" height="163" alt="" />
Antti Rinne and Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml; Sign the Merger Document, Creating Pro
Rank-and-file members work in a multitude of sectors as salaried employees, hourly paid employees, foremen or supervisors, and in expert jobs. The new union will organize self-employed professionals as well. 
 
Antti Rinne, the President of the TU, was unanimously elected President of Pro. A 48-year-old lawyer, Rinne describes the current situation among Finnish trade unions as &ldquo;the most critical period in history.&rdquo; 
 
Suora&rsquo;s President, Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml;, will become the new union&rsquo;s First Vice President, while Juha Kivist&ouml; was elected Second Vice President. 
 
The new union&rsquo;s website can be found <a href="http://www.proliitto.fi ">here</a>.

Finnish Unions, TU and Suora, Merge to Become Pro

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Workers mining coal in a sealed-off coal shaft in Henan Province, China, died on 7 December when a methane gas explosion ripped through the mine. Twenty-six miners perished inside a colliery that was operating without authorization following a transfer of assets from a private mining company to a state-owned one. 
 
To make matters worse, the owner of the private company, Suzhuang Coal Mine Co., concealed the number of miners working the illegal operation following the late afternoon blast on 7 December. He first reported 13 miners were killed and actually hid the bodies of a number of miners to lessen the casualty toll. 
 
Regional police arrested seven people in total that were responsible for the falsification, including a local work-safety official charged with concealing the number of victims from investigators. The tragedy and cover-up occurred in Mianchi County, near Sanmenxia city in central Henan Province, at the Juyuan Coal Mine that was supposedly closed and under a safety review while the asset transfer was underway. 
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Bur the prior owner, Suo Younggang, continued to operate parts of the mine after his licensing had been revoked. The mine was being transferred to the state-owned Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, which operates in five Chinese provinces and employs 50,000 workers. 
 
&ldquo;The mining boss had profits all over his mind and has no regard whatsoever for miners&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; said Niu Senying of the investigatory team in the Chinese sate press. &ldquo;Where are the supervising officials? How could the mine be allowed to operate illegally for such a long time?&rdquo; 
 
The mine owner and his collaborators first reported 33 miners were underground, and only 13 had died. Following the initial investigation, it was revealed that 46 workers had been in the mine, with 26 dying and 20 making it to safety. 
 
Also on 7 December, a roof in a shaft at a coal mine in China&rsquo;s Liaoning Province collapsed, killing four miners. The mine was operated by the state-controlled Caitun Coal Mine Co., located in Benxi city. And a week earlier, on 30 November, seven miners drowned 90 metres deep in the Yide Coal Mine in Hunan Province when shafts were flooded. Managers of privately-held Yide had been warned both orally and in writing of safety hazards inside the Xiangtan County mine. They, along with shareholders of the company, are in police custody.

Methane Gas Blast Kills 26 in China’s Henan Province; Bosses Held

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Members of ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), in dispute with management of Visy Pulp and Paper now for two weeks, resorted to peaceful civil disobedience early today at one company facility. Thirty strikers staged a sit-down across the entry to Visy&rsquo;s Dandenong recycled containerboard mill near Melbourne. 
 
They were arrested and charged with undue obstruction and besetting a work premise. 
 
Some 500 AMWU members took a 24-hour industrial action on 29 November over Visy&rsquo;s foot-dragging in reaching a new enterprise agreement. On 3 December, that action became an open-ended strike when 370 paperworkers at two mills, Dandenong in Victoria state and Visy&rsquo;s Smithfield mill in New South Wales, walked out. 
 
Central among issues in talks has been Visy&rsquo;s insistence to vastly increase the number of casual workers employed in its mills, converters, and recovered paper worksites. In deliberate moves to frustrate the bargaining process, Visy seeks to create a whole new casual classification rate of A$15-per-hour, less than the current casual rate and about half what full-time workers earn. 
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The AMWU is seeking a 5% wage increase for each of three years, improvement to the wage base for casuals, and a heat policy for work during the current hot summer months. In a provocative move, the company approved a 15% wage increase to workers over three years in its non-union operations. 
 
The AMWU has been fruitlessly negotiated with Visy for three months and a prior enterprise labour agreement expired 30 September. &ldquo;We have tried to engage and negotiate with Visy, (but) they have closed the door on the negotiations,&rdquo; said AMWU National Print Division Secretary Lorraine Cassin. 
 
The company has &ldquo;tried everything in (its) power to whittle down the job security of our members and introduce a cheaper casual workforce across the country,&rdquo; she added. Besides the Dandenong and Smithfield mills, the union&rsquo;s 24-hour stop-work actions occurred at converting and recycling centres in Carole Park, Queensland, and O&rsquo;Connor, West Australia. 
 
Visy did succeed in gaining a court injunction banning union officials from participating on picket lines. But that did not prevent paperworkers employed at Dandenong from lifting the strike to another level. Today&rsquo;s peaceful sit-down strike is evidence of union frustration against a company fiercely bent on trying to avoid enterprise collective agreements.

AMWU’s Visy Strike in Australia Escalates; 30 Peaceful Strikers Arrested

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Workers at a DuPont chemical plant in the northern Brazilian state of Bahia staged a plant-gate protest on Thursday, 9 December, against the American company&rsquo;s planned redundancies, job cuts that could seriously jeopardize the safety of workers and residents living in the city of Cama&ccedil;ari. The workers and their union, ICEM affiliate CNG-CUT Qu&iacute;micos/Petroleiros, were calling attention to safety concerns to public authorities at the protest. 
 
DuPont proposes to cut up to 45% of the 130 jobs at the agricultural chemical and herbicide plant, which makes the chemical diuron. The ICEM is not convinced local management completed the necessary consultative process with the union in order to limit the redundancies and potential safety hazards. 
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Manifestation on 9 December at DuPont&rsquo;s Cama&ccedil;ari, Brazil, plant
The ICEM expressed its support to the CNQ-CUT branch in Bahia state in its protest. That letter, in English, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/150.ICEM.DuPont%20Brazil.10Dec.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
DuPont prematurely said it would halt two lines of production and speculation is it would shift work to India. The union stated that DuPont intends to cease production of diuron and import it to Brazil. 
 
Jos&eacute; Dias de Miranda, who heads the union in Bahia state and is employed at DuPont, said that even at current employment levels, the plant has experienced fiery chemical explosions that have seen three workers die and two others severely burned.

Brazilian Chemical Workers Reject Deep Job Cuts at DuPont in Bahia State

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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. 
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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. 
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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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EMF, EMCEF ve ETUF:TCL 25 Mart 2010'da Avrupa'da imalat sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde tek bir sendikal federasyon oluşturmak i&ccedil;in &ccedil;alışma programlarını ve kongrelerinde onayladığı &ouml;nergeleri nasıl takip edecekleri konusunu değerlendirdi. 
 
&Ouml;zellikle bazı konular -Avrupa entegrasyonu, k&uuml;reselleşme, kriz ve ulusal federasyonların birleşmesi- &uuml;&ccedil; federasyon arasındaki işbirliğinin daha da gelişeceğine işaret ediyor. Bu işbirliği Avrupa'da imalat sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde istihdam edilen sekiz milyondan fazla iş&ccedil;iyi temsil eden birleşik bir Avrupa sendikalar federasyonunun kurulmasıyla sonu&ccedil;lanabilir. 

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Bu s&uuml;reci Avrupa'daki sendikal federasyonlar arasındaki işbirliğinin geliştirilmesi i&ccedil;in verilecek &ccedil;aba belirleyecek. Bu s&uuml;re&ccedil; aynı zamanda tek bir Avrupa İmalat Federasyonu kurulması konusunda yapısal değişime neden olacak. İlgili federasyonların Genel Başkan ve Genel Sekreterleri olası bu değişimin federasyonların kaynaklarının azaltılmasına y&ouml;nelik neden olarak kullanılmasının aksine bu kaynakların daha etkin ve verimli kullanılmasını sağlayacağının altını &ccedil;izdiler. 
 
İlgili federasyonların Genel Başkan ve Genel Sekreterleri ortak bir sendikal &ouml;rg&uuml;t oluşturma konusunda kapsamlı bir tartışma s&uuml;recinin federasyonların kendi t&uuml;z&uuml;ksel organlarında yaşanmasını sağlayacak. Ortak &ccedil;alışma grubu bu tartışma s&uuml;reci ile ilgili bir yol haritası ve &ccedil;alışma takvim hazırlayacak.

EMF, EMCEF ve ETUF:TCL Birleşik bir Sanayi Federasyonu Yolunda İlerliyor

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The page was visibly turned in Turkey on 1 May as 150,000 workers marched from three directions into Taksim Square in Istanbul, marking the first time in 33 years that the historic square was officially open for Workers&rsquo; Day. May Day was officially designated as a workers&rsquo; holiday by Turkey&rsquo;s government in 2009, and with it came reopening of the symbol that marks Turkish worker rights &ndash; Taksim Square. 
 
It was on &ldquo;Bloody May 1&rdquo; of 1977 that 37 workers were killed celebrating May Day in Taksim and a few years later, the military banned demonstrations inside Taksim. Only two years ago, in 2008, small groups of trade union leaders attempted to assemble there. They were met by tear gas and police force. Over 500 were arrested. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="154" />
Photo: Mac Urata/ITF
This year was different. On Saturday, a festive mood prevailed, with many speakers remembering the fallen of 33 years ago. 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&Uuml;RK-İŞ), President of the Turkish Electricity, Water, and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (Tes-İş), and an ICEM Executive Committee member, spoke: &ldquo;We remember the friends we lost from the depths of our hearts. We rejoice in the fact that Taksim Square has been opened, and we thank our friends who struggled for this cause.&rdquo; 
 
A day before the celebration, the global unions came together in Istanbul to discuss the current state of trade union rights inside Turkey and to share experiences. According to ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, the meeting is certain to increase coordination for Turkish trade unions by global union federations. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="159" />
Photo: Mac Urata/ITF 
&ldquo;The global unions explained their strategies for boosting solidarity, while their Turkish trade union affiliates put forward their successful campaigns through the support of the international organizations,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The end result will be more joint activities, more joint campaigns, with the struggle for full workers&rsquo; rights in Turkey defined as a priority by the global union movement. 
 
Participating in the day-long meeting, besides the ICEM, were the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Education International (EI), International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), the International Union of Food and Allied Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), and Union Network International (UNI).

Istanbul’s Taksim Square Reopens on May Day; Global Union Conference Held

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Four members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) will travel from Australia to Zug, Switzerland, this week to make their voices heard before shareholders of Xstrata, the global mining company with a dual base in Zug and London. The CFMEU, to be assisted by the ICEM, will be at Xstrata&rsquo;s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 5 May. 
 
CFMEU will contrast the 41% pay increase given to CEO Mick Davis with the aggressive demands made on coal miners in the profitable collieries of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland. Davis saw his annual salary jump in 2009 to US$7.75 million from US$5.5 million in 2008. 
 
At the Tahmoor colliery in New South Wales, Xstrata used a week-long lockout in February in efforts to force mineworkers to take unfair concessions. Some 300 miners there have been without a collective enterprise agreement for nearly 14 months. Miners are preparing to take further industrial action by mid-May if conciliation efforts by Fair Work Australia do not succeed. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="95" />
The union has also protested against unfair staff cuts at the Ulan and Bulga mines in New South Wales. At Bulga, a three-year enterprise agreement between CFMEU and Xstrata did come into effect this spring, but not without protests and resistance to the company&rsquo;s attempt to rollback language that was consistent with former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s draconian WorkChoices laws. 
 
Xstrata also has tried to weaken working conditions at its Newlands, Oaky Creek, Rolleston, and Togaro North coal mine in Queensland. In NSW, the CFMEU is also resisting Xstrata and its attempt to return to Howard&rsquo;s individual work agreements at the Liddell and Glendell mines. 
 
CFMEU Mining and Energy Vice President Wayne McAndrew said Xstrata&rsquo;s coal mining operations in Australia are some of the company&rsquo;s most profitable worldwide. &ldquo;Yet one quarter of Xstrata&rsquo;s Australian coal mining operations currently face industrial disputes or unrest because of the company&rsquo;s anti-worker stance.&rdquo; 
 
McAndrew, who will be accompanied to Zug by Tahmoor miner Lee Webb, Newslands miner Ben Davison, and CFMEU Northern NSW District President Grahame Kelly, added, &ldquo;Xstrata is a company that is engaging in activities that are harming the future profits of the company and this has the potential to affect its overseas mergers and acquisitions.&rdquo;

CFMEU to Take Australia Coal Dispute to Xstrata’s AGM

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The ICEM this week will be on-site to investigate freedom of association and trade union violations in Georgia on behalf of the ICEM affiliate, the Metallurgical,&nbsp;Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of the Central Asian country. The union and its national labour centre, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), are in a serious confrontation with managers at Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines in nearby Chiatura. 
 
A representative&nbsp;majority of the 6,000 workers at the Chiatura mines and&nbsp;ferroalloy smelter in the western Georgian city of Zestafoni staged a three-day&nbsp;strike from 23-25 April. Their demands are for recognition of the free and democratic Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region, a branch of the Tbilisi-based union, and a halt to horrid working conditions and blatant management harassment and intimidation of scores of trade union members. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan will meet with union leaders on 5 May to get a listing of a multitude of work rights infractions and intervention with the parent company and Georgian government likely will follow. A majority of the stock ownership of both enterprises is held by privately-held, London-based Stemcor Holdings, a global steel-producing, marketing, and distribution firm that has its roots in the Oppenheimer family of businesses. 
 
Managers at Zestafoni Ferroalloys refused to renew labour agreements after 31 March, in part because the union has won the allegiance of an overwhelming number of miners at Georgian Manganese in Chiatura, who seek to replace a company-dominated &ldquo;yellow&rdquo; union. The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union was democratically established at the set of eight open cast and underground mines in October 2009. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="120" />
Workers' strike, 23-25 April
In the days leading up to the warning strike, off-site meetings between smelting-plant workers and miners in both Zestaponi and Chiatura were watched over by managers, with photos taken and threats of violence made against those attending. At one meeting, attended by Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union President Tamaz Dolaberidze and leaders of the GTUC, the company&rsquo;s security director attempted to provoke a melee by grabbing a union activist outside the meeting hall. 
 
And at the Itkhvisi mine, manager Nugzar Jokhadze physically attacked Merab Yakobidze, one of nine strike committee leaders. Despite these blatant and cowardly acts, the involvement of workers and miners has steadily increased as the dispute escalates. 
 
The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region demands immediate recognition, resumption of meaningful bargaining, and permanent work contracts. Strike committee Chairman Goga Bregvadze said the union&rsquo;s demands also include improvements to occupational safety and health equipment and updating of medical facilities; transparent rules on hours of work, days off, public holidays; protective clothing and boots; and sanitary break areas and safe food to eat. 
 
The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union demands a sizeable salary increase, and establishment of a minimum salary at the mining complex. The union also demands reinstatement and back compensation for two union activists, Giorgi Giorgidze and Shakro Bregvadze, who were sacked for their trade union activities. 
 
Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, together with the GTUC, is prepared to launch further and extended strike actions if these demands are not met. Such a strike would receive global labour support. 
 
The GTUC has filed a complaint with the ILO Committee of Freedom of Association over the blatant violations at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines, a petition supported by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
 
The ICEM will join the fight for the legitimate workplace rights of staff at these two combined enterprises. Before departing for Georgia early today, Warda contacted International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina to inform him of the situation. Raina extended the full support and solidarity of the IMF to the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union.

Miners, Metalworkers Not Intimidated by Georgian Manganese Managers

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