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The ICEM was incensed to learn late last week that Iraqi management of the State Company for Petrochemical Industries (SCPI) has levelled discipline against Kareem Johi Sahan, a trade union leader for the Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra. 
He was given compulsory six-month banishment from the chemicals facility, meaning that his salary has been reduced to the minimum level. Kareem Johi was unjustly punished for his role in organising a peaceful workers&rsquo; protest late in January, a protest brought on by SCPI not meeting its payroll. He had been ruthlessly interrogated in the weeks that followed, so much that he developed heart problems. 
SCPI is 100% owned by Iraq&rsquo;s Ministry of Industry and Minerals. 
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Kareem Johi (centre) handling leaflets
&ldquo;We vehemently insist that discipline was not warranted against Kareem Johi Sahan,&rdquo; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said in a letter this week to Iraq&rsquo;s Minister of Industry and Minerals. &ldquo;This is a violation of his basic human rights. He used his internationally-recognised right of free speech and his right to peacefully assemble co-workers in a remuneration claim, and for this his livelihood has been placed in jeopardy. 
&ldquo;We call on you to immediately repeal this order given by your managers of the State Company for Petrochemical Industries.&rdquo; The letter in its entirety can be found <a href="http://The ICEM was incensed to learn late last week that Iraqi management of the State Company for Petrochemical Industries (SCPI) has levelled discipline against Kareem Johi Sahan, a trade union leader for the Petrochemical Workers’ Union of Basra.">here</a>. 
 
The ICEM will continue to press this case until justice is achieved.

ICEM Protests Discipline Given to Iraqi Trade Unionist

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On 6 March, ICEM Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten hosted an international conference on decent work in Utrecht, The Netherlands, attended by 200 activists. 
 
The main topic of the conference was how trade unions globally can work together to respond to and resist the increasing trend of using flexible, contract, and agency workers. The conference featured various speakers from different sectors and regions, discussing union strategies to combat this worrying trend. 
 
As the basis of a now five-year campaign by the ICEM, many corporations throughout the world are increasingly employing workers on temporary contracts, and sometimes use fake employment agencies to avoid labour legislation. The ICEM has documented many instances in which employees remain on rolling, short-term contracts for many years, allowing management to skirt social responsibilities such as health care, welfare benefits, overtime pay, and liveable wages. 
 
The practice of outsourcing allows companies to become extremely flexible in their planning, with improvements in their bottom financial line, while at the same heavily inflicting job security for workers. 

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Manfred Warda
In Utrecht on 6 March, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda chaired the panel discussion on &ldquo;Flexibilisation: What can you do as a union?&rdquo; that included Joseph Toe, ICEM regional coordinator for the Contract and Agency Labour campaign in sub-Saharan Africa. The specific case of Unilever workers in Pakistan was examined, which can be found <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3015-Support-Needed-for-Contract-Agency-Workers-Forming-Union-at-Unilever-Tea-Factory-in-Pakistan">here</a>. 
 
Practical examples of trade union approaches to Contract and Agency Labour were exchanged through workshops. Issues of health and safety brought about by the increased trend were discussed, as well as concrete future steps in the continued fight for decent work.

Dutch FNV Bondgenoten Holds Decent Work Conference on Contract, Agency Work

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The UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC) will host a &ldquo;Put People First &ndash; March for Jobs, Justice, Climate&rdquo; on 28 March in London. The Saturday afternoon event will serve as a mobilisation of civil society prior to the convening in London of the G20 Summit on 2 April. 
 
Although a UK event, the TUC and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are encouraging union delegations from around the world to attend in order to bring to the attention of G20 leaders the imperative need for effective, adequate, and appropriate action to eliminate the hardships caused by the global recession. 
 
&ldquo;The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future,&rdquo; stated TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. 

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Brendan Barber
&ldquo;Recession must not be an excuse for putting off action for global justice or to stop climate chaos,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Creating a just, fair, and sustainable world is the only lasting way out of recession.&rdquo; 
 
The march will assemble at Victoria Embankment at 11h00. (Nearest tube station is Temple.) It will then set off at noon and pass the UK Parliament, wind through central London, before ending up for a rally at Hyde Park. 
 
The TUC is using three separate themes: Decent Jobs and Public Services for All; End Global Poverty and Inequality; and Building a Green Economy. More details on the TUC&rsquo;s London march and rally can be found <a href="http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk">here</a>. 
 
In addition, during the week of 16 March, the ITUC will release a trade union statement with recommendations to the G20 for a fairer, more sustainable economic system. The ITUC is requesting that this &ldquo;Trade Union G20 London Declaration&rdquo; be sent to respective governments by trade unions everywhere on 23 March. 
 
The document will support the necessity for inclusion of trade union representation on the four working groups established by the G20 governments, a promise that was made to global labour by world financial institutions in November 2008, but one which so far has not been met.

London Manifestation Set for 28 March, Prior to G20 Summit

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Following last October&rsquo;s release of the English version of the &ldquo;ICEM Guide on Contact and Agency Labour (CAL),&rdquo; the Global Union Federation has now released an Arabic version. Further language versions are in the works. 
 
The Arabic version can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/09-02-09%20Word%20version%20ICEM%20CAL%20Guide%20in%20Arabic.pdf ">here</a>. 
 
The CAL Guide describes numerous short-term contract, agency labour, and other precarious work situations from around the world. It contains a number of best practice examples, as well as worrying situations, such as the horrid work terms and working conditions that temporary workers fine themselves in. 
 
The guide also provides an overview of some of the most recent changes in national and international labour laws and standards. It further deals with combating the phenomenon at company level through collective negotiations. Useful and encouraging examples, together with union strategies are also provided. 
 
The English version of the manual, as well as the ICEM&rsquo;s CAL campaign website can be found <a href="http://cal.icem.org/">here</a>.&nbsp;

ICEM Releases Contract and Agency Manual in Arabic

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Effective 24 March 2009, the ICEM will be located in new office space in Geneva. The new offices, located in the Eaux-Vives section of Geneva near the old city, are located at 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva. 
 
The general phone number, fax number, and all individual extension numbers will remain the same. 
 
The new offices have 570 square metres of space spread across two floors of a modern building. It will serve as more functional and accommodating leased office space compared to the 150 square metres of temporary offices that the ICEM occupied since the April 2008 move from Belgium to Switzerland. 
 
We encourage all ICEM affiliates and their representatives, whenever in Geneva, to visit us at 20 rue Adrien Lachenal.

ICEM Relocates inside Geneva, Effective Tomorrow, 24 March

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In efforts to hold the government of &Aacute;lvaro Uribe responsible for prosecuting the real perpetrators behind the murders of trade union activists before a US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is enacted, the US House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee heard vivid testimony last month on several murders. 
 
One was the 2001 assassination of Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos, who was once the Colombian coordinator for the Miners&rsquo; International Federation (MIF), one of the predecessor trade union federations of the ICEM. 

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Yessika Hoyos
Testifying in Washington, DC, was his daughter, 25-year-old Yessika Hoyos. She said that despite police arresting two individuals who actually committed the crime, no effort has been made to apprehend and prosecute those who ordered the assassination. 
 
&ldquo;We know there is evidence of other perpetrators, including members of the national army,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The investigation remains open, but with no follow-up of the evidence as requested, and no identification of other possible perpetrators.&rdquo; 
 
Dar&iacute;o Hoyos, then 61, was gunned down in his home town of Fusagasuga, in central Colombia near Bogot&aacute;, on 3 March 2001.At the time, a paramilitary group called the Block Centaurs was thought to have carried out the killing. He was MIF&rsquo;s national coordinator from 1984 to 1991, and then served as an organiser and collective bargaining advisor to unions representing teachers, bank workers, and telecommunications staff. 
 
At the February 2009 US Congress hearing, the House Education and Labour Committee stated, &ldquo;The Colombian government has not done enough to stem the rising violence against trade union leaders or address the backlog of labor union leader killings.&rdquo; A representative from Colombia&rsquo;s National Labour School testified that 60% of all murders of trade union activists throughout the world occur in Colombia.

US Congressional Committee Hears Testimony of Slain Colombian Mine Union Activist

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Yao Fuxin, a Chinese labour activist who led a 2002 peaceful protest against the corruption that drove a steel mill into bankruptcy, was released from prison 16 March. He served a full seven-year term for &ldquo;subversion of state power.&rdquo; 
 
In March 2003, after a hasty four-hour trial two months earlier, Yao Fuxin and Xiao Yunliang were sentenced to prison terms for leading worker protests demanding back wages and pension payments at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy mill in northeastern Liaoning Province. 

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In March 2002, some 15,000 workers at five metal-working operations protested against government and management corruption at state-run enterprises in China&rsquo;s steel belt. At the Liaoyang Ferroalloy facility a year earlier, workers there alleged that 2,000 tons of iron ore disappeared, leading to bankruptcy and non-payment of wages and benefits. 
 
Xiao Yunliang, a retired metalworker, was released just three weeks before his four-year prison term was up in March 2006. 
 
But Yao Fuxin persevered through harsh conditions at Lingyuan No. 2 prison where he suffered two heart attacks, a stroke, and was consistently placed before an open window in the cold of winter. He also suffered from sleep depravation. Prison officials ordered other prisoners to step on him when he fell asleep. 
 
Upon his release last week, Yao Fuxin, now 63, expressed no remorse. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with what I did,&rdquo; he said in a telephone interview with a news wire service, adding he and others were only exercising their rights under China&rsquo;s constitution. &ldquo;I feel no regret at all. What I did was protect the interests of the country and the interests of the people, the law-given interests of the workers.&rdquo;

After 7 Years, China Releases Metalworker Labour Activist

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The ICEM supports the actions of its Ukrainian affiliate, the Coal Mining Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), as it announced a series of mass rallies throughout the country, protesting the situation facing miners in an industry in crisis. 
 
The decision to commence with mass protest actions on 25 March was taken by the union&rsquo;s Shop Stewards at the 3rd Plenary Meeting of PRUPU&rsquo;s Central Committee, held on 27 February. Delegates resolved to launch the mass protest actions, starting this Wednesday, including the picketing of the seats of the state authorities in Kiev and other major coal-mining towns in the eastern Donbass region. 

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PRUPU President Victor Turmanov
Ukrainian miners face ongoing violations of their right to timely remuneration, significant wage arrears, and a reduction of 4.6 times of the budgetary allocations for the industry in 2009 over that of 2008. 
 
The Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions, in a statement released 11 March, accused the country&rsquo;s leadership of &ldquo;ignoring the interests of the people to please international financial magnates.&rdquo; 
 
In exchange for a US$2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the Ukrainian government agreed to restrictive conditions for the loan. Notable promises were the cancelling of social utility discounts for poor families, raising the retirement age by five years, and a six-fold increase in gas prices for Ukrainians.

Ukrainian Miners’ Union, PRUPU, to Launch Government Protest Rallies This Week

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On 10 March, the labour-backed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was introduced in both houses of the US Congress. If passed, the legislation &ndash; which has the support of global labour &ndash; would remove many of the advantages an employer now routinely uses to avoid unionisation in the US. 
The proposed law would entitle a union to be authorised to represent workers&rsquo; interests if a simple majority signed cards or a petition requesting union representation. Currently, as mandated under the 1935 US National Labor Relations Act, union recognition can occur either through such a &ldquo;card check&rdquo; measure, or through a government supervised election. 
But it is an employer that chooses which of the two methods is used and in nearly all instances, a government ballot is the bosses&rsquo; choice. This gives an employer the necessary time on a jobsite to implant fear and counter the merits of unionisation. 
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Statistics reveal that in 25% of all US organising drives, employees with pro-union sympathies or those who openly support a union are sacked. Further, in 78% of all campaigns leading to a government ballot, employers use intimidation by delivering harsh anti-union messages on the shop floor, including threats of plant closure, layoffs, and other negative impacts if a union is elected. 
The EFCA would grant workers, not employers, the right to choose the method for union representation, either through a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret-ballot election or through a majority card-check or petition. (Business interests in the US are now engaged in an intense lobbying effort against EFCA, saying it absolutely denies secret-ballot elections, a falsehood.) 
Secondly, the proposed law contains mandatory government arbitration so that a collective agreement can become effective if the two parties cannot reach one after a period of time. Similar to industrial relations in many developed countries, both labour and management submit proposals to a government panel, which then would put in place a collective agreement for a two-year period. 
Currently, after a union is certified, many employers in the US practice what is called &ldquo;surface bargaining,&rdquo; meaning they adhere to the 1935 law which states they must engage in bargaining, but do so without ever intending to enter into a collective agreement. In such practices, the result is to delay the process and to frustrate the legitimate desire of workers to be part of a collective labour agreement. 
Another major US labour law reform contained in the EFCA is a financial penalty on employers who discriminate against workers exhibiting lawful union activity. Now, there is no risk to an employer who fires union activists during organising campaigns. A worker must prove such bias, with the NLRB sometimes taking years to determine a case, including inevitable employer appeals. Even when a case is concluded in favour of a worker, the award is mere back pay, minus wages and other compensation the worker may have received following the discharge. 
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The EFCA contains triple back pay damages for workers found to have been illegally sacked. 
This is the fourth time the EFCA has been introduced in the US Congress. The last time, in March 2007, it passed the House of Representatives by a 241-185 count, but died three months later in the 100-member US Senate, where an archaic rule mandates 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture, or the required number needed in a vote to halt a filibuster. The measure then had 51 US Senate supporters, although President George Bush promised a veto. 
This time the EFCA has the support of President Barack Obama. Two weeks ago, when introduced, the EFCA had 223 of 565 House members signed on as co-sponsors, while the Senate side had 40 co-sponsors. 
In this session of Congress, sponsors will attempt a different strategy by first bringing EFCA forward in the Senate. It is expected to begin receiving committee hearings in late April, with the bill brought to the Senate and then House floors during the summer. 
Global labour, through the Council of Global Unions, is encouraging national unions to bring the American EFCA to the attention of their respective governments, as well as to employers who have operations in the US. More can be learned about this important US legislative proposal by clicking <a href="http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/">here</a>.

Employee Free Choice Act Again Introduced in US Congress

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Fair Work now will replace former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s draconian WorkChoices as the industrial relations law of the land in Australia. That was assured this past Friday, 20 March, when Parliament&rsquo;s Senate passed the Labour Government initiative.
But it didn&rsquo;t come without a political struggle. A compromise was struck between Labour and its allies and the Liberal Party, most notably over the definition of a small business and the inter-connected protection against unfair dismissals. 
The compromise sets the small business definition at 15 full-time workers, part-time workers not included for the first 18 months, or until 1 January 2011. But thereafter, workers with one year of service &ndash; no matter; full-time, part-time, or casual &ndash; will have protection. Under Howard&rsquo;s WorkChoices, businesses with fewer than 100 workers were exempt from the unfair labour dismissal statute. 
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The Labour Party also compromised on some restrictions to union access to worksites and union access to certain types of information. In all, 231 Senate amendments were submitted to a Fair Work House version, which passed in December 2008. But the new law is fairer and gives workers far better protections in an economic downturn than what was on the books under Howard. 
It creates ten national job standards, charters collective bargaining as the main tenet in labour-management relations, and creates a national industrial umpire with enforcement powers, the Fair Work Commission, thus replacing six Howard-era agencies that essentially were charged with removing workplace regulations. 
It also spells out workers&rsquo; rights to representation; access to arbitration; establishes a 38-hour workweek; grants four weeks annual leave; and allows the practice of flexible work schedules and conditions to take hold. Additionally, it sets out a standard process for regularly raising the minimum wage. 
The unfair dismissal statute, plus implementation of good-faith enterprise bargaining takes effect 1 July 2009, while the remainder of the provisions take effect 1 January 2010. 
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Sharon Burrow
Sharon Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trades Unions (ACTU), called the Senate passage a &ldquo;major step forward for working Australians,&rdquo; marking &ldquo;a historic moment in restoring workers&rsquo; rights. After a decade of attacks on working people by the Liberal and National Parties the tide has turned,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We can take pride in what we have achieved.&rdquo;

Australia’s Senate Hammers Final Nail into WorkChoices Coffin

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