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The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers and trade unions in the pulp and paper sector, has denounced Stora Enso&rsquo;s attempts to break from the pattern paper agreement in eastern Canada over contracting out work at its mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. 
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The company locked out 600 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada - an ICEM affiliate - on 26 January after members of CEP Local 972 rejected a bargaining proposal that contained provisions giving managers unprecedented rights to outsource unionised work. 
 
&ldquo;Paper companies in Eastern Canada have agreed to a status quo on existing contract-out letters and memorandums with our affiliate,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;Stora Enso&rsquo;s attempt to break from this pattern is unacceptable and the ICEM will support paperworkers at Stora&rsquo;s only Canadian paper mill in every way possible.&rdquo; 
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In a letter to Stora Enso CEO Jukka H&auml;rm&auml;l&auml; in Finland, Higgs urged the world&rsquo;s largest pulp and paper producer to return to bargaining immediately. &ldquo;The ICEM strongly urges you to personally intervene to amicably resolve this dispute,&rdquo; wrote Higgs. &ldquo;We appeal to you to apply the principled custom of Nordic fairness and to direct North American managers to immediately reopen dialogue with the CEP to resolve this dispute.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM received assurances from CEP President Brian Payne that the union is willing to reconvene bargaining immediately. 
<img height="128" alt="" src="" width="90" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="128" alt="" src="" width="100" /> 
Brian Payne, CEP President, and Fred Higgs, 
ICEM General Secretary
CEP Local 972 members in Port Hawkesbury rejected Stora Enso&rsquo;s proposal with better than an 80% vote late on 25 January. The next morning the company began the lockout after issuing a 48-hour lockout notice under provincial labour code on 28 December. The two sides had been in non-stop bargaining for eight days leading up to the company&rsquo;s demands for contracting-out changes on 18 January. Such changes would eliminate jobs and severely inhibit job security, said the ICEM. 
 
Stora Enso and the CEP, which has been without a current labour agreement at Port Hawkesbury since 31 May 2004, have agreed on economic aspects contained in the paper sector pattern agreement reached with all companies with operations in Eastern Canada. 
 
The issue of contract and agency labour has become a central campaign issue for the ICEM on a global basis. The Brussels-based GUF believes the rush to utilise contractors and agencies by multinational companies in place of full-time, directly-employed workers is destructive to communities. 
 

<hr />
To read the ICEM letter to the company, <a href="/index.php?id=19&amp;doc=1636&amp;la=EN">click here</a>.

ICEM Cites Stora Enso for Breaking from Pattern on Contract Labour in Canada

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The contentious dispute between ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and Continental Tyre over 320 job cuts by year-end 2006 at the St&ouml;cken plant in Hannover, Germany, was resolved Tuesday evening, 24 January, in negotiations between the two sides and the Works Council of the plant.
<img height="126" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In the tentative agreement that is expected to be finalised in February, the German tyre-maker has agreed to return to an agreement put in place in May 2005. That agreement called for no job cuts before the end of 2007. Throughout 2007, Continental will offer job opportunities to St&ouml;cken workers in other facilities and also offer early retirement options to eligible workers. In addition, the company will make research and development investments at the St&ouml;cken plant.
IGBCE board member Werner Bischoff said the union succeeded in preserving the future of Hannover&rsquo;s Continental facilities, as well as making a stand that last May&rsquo;s agreement cannot be undermined.

Pact Reached in Germany Between IGBCE, Continental Tyre

For the urgent attention of His Majesty 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 
Narayanhity Royal Palace 
Durbar Marg 
Kathmandu 
Nepal 
 
By fax: +977 14 413577 and +977 14 228235 
 
 
Brussels, 24 January 2006 
 
 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, 
 
I am writing as General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), in the name of the 20 million members that we represent worldwide in over 120 countries, to protest the ongoing repression in Nepal against numerous trade union leaders. 
 
Over the course of the past week, as your regime began preventing planned pro-democracy demonstrations and engaged itself in a brutal and repressive wave against peaceful protests, a large number of trade union leaders were arrested, together with many other leaders and activists from other organisations. 
 
Amongst the trade unionists arrested were GEFONT Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Gefont Secretary-General Binod Shrestha, as well as Ms. Manju Bhattarai, NTUC Central member and Mr Radheshyam Pathak, NTUC District President. 
 
We are calling upon you to ensure the immediate release of all trade union leaders and members that have been arrested over the last few days, as well as for the release of all political leaders and activists that are currently in detention. 
In addition, we understand that the curfew that was in place since 16 January has now been lifted in Kathmandu and its neighbouring city Lalitpur. However, much more remains to be done in order to put your country on the path to democracy. For example, new curfews have been announced, and others remain in place, and these should be lifted. I would like to urge you to rescind these curfews as a matter of priority. 
Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

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A five-day glass plant strike in Bulgaria by ICEM affiliate National Federation of Chemical Workers of Podkrepa ended 19 May. Some 700 workers, the majority of them members of the union, won a 17% increase in their total financial package, including a 10% raise in their basic salary. 
 
The strike action occurred at Turkish-owned Sisecam&rsquo;s Trakya Glass Bulgaria (Shishejam), a new facility that only went into production in February 2006 in the town of Targovishte. The Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union had conducted a one-hour protest outside the factory on 8 May over local management&rsquo;s refusal to address several issues. 
The flat-glass plant is the second of three plants that Sisecam has opened recently in Targovishte. A household glass plant opened for production in August 2005, while a potassium-glass plant and mirror operation will open in the northern Bulgarian town late in 2006.

Glass Strike Ends in Bulgaria with Wage Gains

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ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Īş&rsquo;s efforts to block, through several lawsuits, the 51% sale of state-owned oil refiner Turkiye Petro Rafinerisi AS (T&Uuml;PRAS) produced another court victory on 23 May. 
The Ankara Administrative Court cancelled sale of the 14.76% minority stake to Israeli investor Sami Ofer on the grounds that the sale did not benefit the &ldquo;public good.&rdquo; Ofer&rsquo;s bid of US$446 million last year for a minority stake in T&Uuml;PRAS had ballooned into a potential US$1.2 billion investment due to the revaluation of the state company. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" />
On 2 February 2006, a preliminary ruling by the Council of State judiciary panel blocked the controlling stake in a privatised T&Uuml;PRAS when it ruled against the purchase by a consortium made up of Turkey&rsquo;s Koc Holdings and Royal Dutch Shell. That ruling was issued on the basis that privatisation laws had not been adhered to. 
The ruling, however, was vacated when no further court action occurred by a 29 March deadline. Petrol- Īş will now challenge this privatisation matter before the General Council of Administrative Courts. 
 
The union will also continue its public campaign against the sale of T&Uuml;PRAS, and likely will engage in further industrial actions at the company&rsquo;s four refineries and petrochemical plant. Petrol- Īş has also made application on the matter before the European Court of Human Rights.

Petrol-Īş Wins Yet Another Court Round Involving TÜPRAS Privatisation

Krasimir Krastev 
President 
National Labour Federation of Chemistry and Industry 
1, Macedonia Square 
Sofia 1000 
BULGARIA 
 
Brussels, 24 May 2006 
 
 
Dear Brother Krasimir, 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM has learned of your Trade Union&rsquo;s participation in a national demonstration in Bulgaria on 30 May 2006. 
 
We understand this protest to be over lack of responsible dialogue on the part of the government of Bulgaria and employers to address the real income needs of Bulgarians. We also understand the protest to be over prohibitions that still prevent workers to engage in strikes, a constitutional right in Bulgaria, and also limitations to all citizens of Bulgaria of health care, energy and transport services, and telecommunications. 
 
On behalf of our 389 Trade Union affiliates in 122 countries, the ICEM fully endorses and supports this protest and national demonstration on 30 May. We also encourage workers across all of Bulgaria to stand with the Trade Unions of your country on this day of meaningful assembly to ensure real increases in wage levels are met, as well as workers&rsquo; rights and heightened living standards are realized. 
 
As always, the ICEM stands ready to assist your Trade Union in any way possible to meet its important agenda on behalf of Bulgarian workers. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM support letter National Labour Federation of Chemistry and Industry

The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation (GUF) representing workers in the chemical, energy, mining and other industrial sectors, gives full support to the general strike in South Africa tomorrow, 18 May, called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and some 21 trade unions there. 
 
The one-day strike, part of COSATU&rsquo;s &ldquo;Jobs and Poverty&rdquo; Campaign, is in protest at employers&rsquo; continuous retrenchment of workers and failure to create jobs, as well as a demand for government intervention in scaling back a national jobless rate that is now at 40%. 
 
&ldquo;Trade unions in South Africa are justifiably angry over high unemployment, stagnant wages, and increasing use by employers of casual and agency labour,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We fully support the decision by workers to use this day to make a strong statement.&rdquo; 
<img height="124" src="" width="120" alt="" />&nbsp;<img height="122" src="" width="120" alt="" />&nbsp;<img height="120" src="" width="120" alt="" />
At the forefront of the general strike will be trade union members of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood &amp; Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU). 
 
Striking workers will protest in several towns and cities in South Africa tomorrow, with marches scheduled to converge on selective industrial sites, offices of chambers of business organisations, and on governmental buildings.

Strike Warranted: South Africa’s 40% Jobless Rate Unacceptable

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Following results of German Works Council elections this spring, ICEM affiliate IGBCE has raised its representation voice inside companies to 85%. That is 5% better than results reflected in the last overall elections in 2002. 
 
IGBCE Governing Board Member Michael Vassiliadis termed the new number &ldquo;an outstanding result&rdquo; and a &ldquo;clear signal&rdquo; of worker confidence in Germany&rsquo;s most diverse industrial union. 
 
&ldquo;Under difficult conditions, we continue to add,&rdquo; said Vassiliadis. IGBCE has over one million members in Germany, and the union, through its worker representatives, has strong voice on some 3,700 Works Councils.

IGBCE Gains Strength on German Works Councils

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The United Steelworkers (USW) kicked off a tour of South African trade union leaders of Sappi&rsquo;s US paper mills by conducting a loud and demonstrative protest outside the company&rsquo;s US offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Leaders from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood &amp; Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa joined workers from Sappi mills in the states of Maine, Michigan and Minnesota at the 8 May demonstration. 
 
USW and Sappi are without current labour contracts at three of the company&rsquo;s four US mills, and a contract at the fourth mill &mdash; Cloquet, Minnesota &mdash; expires today. Late last week, CEPPWAWU trade union leaders employed at Sappi mills in South Africa met with their US counterparts at mills in Skowhegan and Westbrook, Maine; Muskegon, Michigan; and in Cloquet.

Sappi’s South African Unionists Visit US Worksites

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A strike planned for today at two DuPont chemical plants in Spain was averted late last week when the American company significantly increased plant closing benefits. 
 
DuPont announced in March it would close both its Catalonia plants in Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute;, but union members affiliated with CCOO, UGT and USOC (Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Catalonia) voted on 8 May to take strike action due to proposed insufficient severance payments. DuPont&rsquo;s European restructuring plan calls for production from the two plants to be shifted to France and Germany, and offers of jobs to Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute; workers there. The plan also calls for the closure of a plant in Breda, The Netherlands, and the Hellac Lab in Germany.
DuPont opened talks with the Spanish unions in April by offering to pay buy-outs of only 25 days per year of work. The strike threat found the company returning to the bargaining table and offering 59 paid days per year, six less than the unions&rsquo; original demand. Some 246 workers are affected at the two chemical plants near Barcelona.

DuPont Increases Pay-outs to Avert Strike

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