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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Release from International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) 
 
The Global Union representing workers in the garment industry is convened a meeting of jeans’ brands and retailers to raise awareness of the need to eliminate the use of sandblasting, a method used to give jeans a fashionably faded look. 
 
Patrick Itschert, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), said, “Sandblasting is an extremely harmful process which can cause silicosis. The meeting on January 20 in Brussels provides an opportunity to hear contributions by experts, to examine best practices, to exchange points of view and to discuss further steps for action. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Patrick Itschert.jpg" width="130" height="106" alt=""/>
ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert
“In Turkey, the world’s third largest exporter of jeans and the only country so far where the impact of sandblasting on the health of workers has come under scrutiny, 550 former sandblasting workers have been diagnosed with silicosis since 2005 and 46 have so far died of the disease. These officially-documented cases are just the tip of the iceberg both in Turkey and globally. 
 
“Clearly, government regulation is needed to ban the process or to enforce existing bans. However, in the absence of effective government regulation brands and retailers urgently need to take voluntary action. 
 
“Even if brands and retailers adopt rigorous standards regarding sandblasting, there will always be suppliers that do not enforce those standards, thus putting unsuspecting workers at risk. Therefore the best policy is to ban sandblasting altogether in the garment industry. Several leading brands have already done so and we believe others should now do the same”. 
 
Speakers at the meeting, entitled “Towards the Elimination of Sandblasting in the Garment Industry,” were trade union health and safety experts as well as brands that have taken the step to ban sandblasting.

ITGLWF Convenes Meeting of Jeans’ Companies on Perils of Sandblasting

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintracarbón averted a strike last week at the world’s largest set of coal mines, and accepted a two-year labour accord with Carbones del Cerrejón, the producer of rich thermal coal from La Guajira state that is owned jointly by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
In a statement, the ICEM praised the new contract, calling it a result of respectful social dialogue, a process set in place with ICEM assistance back in 2004. The economic stakes counting down to a planned 8 February by 4,200 Sintracarbón members were so high that Colombia Vice President Angelino Garzón and Vice Minister of Labour Relations Ricardo Echeverry brokered final talks. 
 
The two-year labour accord between the mining union and Cerrejón calls for a first-year wage increase of 6.5%, retroactive to 1 January 2011, and a 2012 increase of the greater between 5% or 2% above the Consumer Price Index. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.sintracarbon.jpg" width="232" height="174"/>
But more importantly, Sintracarbón continued to make improvements at the bargaining table for the communities surrounding the massive coal complex and tangible gains for over 5,500 contract workers employed at Carbones del Cerrejón and Puerto Bolivar, the company’s deep-water port 150 kilometres from the mine. 
 
The union recorded improvements in health benefits for workers and their families, transportation stipends to reach medical care, education and scholarships for family members, and an increase in the number of housing loans for workers. 
 
Cerrejón stood firm on a first-year wage offer of 6% but following a 27 January strike ballot in which workers voted 96.4% for industrial action, the company first raised its offer to 6.3% and then 6.5% in mediation in Bogotá with the Vice President. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/Manfred Warda PREFERRED.jpg" width="120" height="119"/>
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
“We have witnessed both sides reach the brink of negotiations in the past several sets of two-year talks,” said General Secretary Manfred Warda in the ICEM statement. “The fact that Sintracarbón and Cerrejón have not had a strike in over 20 years is testament to mutual respect and shared responsibility by both the union and management in looking after the welfare of communities, workers, and their families.” 
 
The ICEM congratulates the union members of Sintracarbón for mobilising for job action and then winning a deserved 2011 pay increase of 6.5%, better than double Colombia’s current 3.19% CPI. The ICEM notes that Cerrejón is a highly profitable enterprise for the parent companies, as well as for Colombia, which exported 76 million tonnes of coal in 2010 – 31 million tonnes of which was generated by the members of Sintracarbón.

Sintracarbón, Cerrejón Reach Satisfactory Terms in Colombia

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
from the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) 
 
The meeting is the first joint activity on the organization of trade union networks in Latin American companies organized by the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI) to develop new strategies together with their affiliates. 
 
On 23-24 September, an international seminar on forming union networks in Latin American trans-national companies (TNCs) took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, representatives of the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI), and the ICEM representing workers in metallurgical, chemical, construction and wood sectors took part. 
 
Supported by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), the aim of the meeting was to exchange experiences on existing networking activities and joint planning of actions in these companies. GUFs and unions provided information on several companies, as well as on the relationship (or lack thereof) that currently exists between companies and unions. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.brazil.creditIMF.jpg" width="331" height="189" alt=""/>
Photo: IMF 
 
The companies reviewed were Vale, WEG, Votorantim, Petrobras, and Arauco Odebrecht. All of the companies are involved in more than one sector, and some engage in unacceptable anti-union practices. 
 
“Unfortunately, we have suffered so much abuse by foreign TNCs. But today we see that the Latin American TNCs are no different. Our experience also shows that the anti-union practices and disregard of workers' rights by some companies are even fiercer in the countries where the company has opened new operations than in their home countries,” said IMF Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes. 
 
During the meeting, all participants decided to support the workers struggle at Brazilian Vale's operations in Voiseys Bay, Canada, where 230 workers have been on strike since 1 August 2009, after the company would only accept to renew the collective agreement if the workers represented by USW agreed to a drastic reduction in conditions and increased job insecurity. 
 
The IMF Regional Representative for Latin America and Caribbean, Jorge Almeida said, "This meeting was also a first step in the region. In a few years, we will work on a global scale with the merger of three confederations overall: IMF (metalworkers), ICEM (chemical) and ITGLWF (textiles).” 
 
The meeting included affiliates from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru affiliated to IMF, ICEM, and BWI, and also included were representatives from IG Metall, Germany, and the US Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO.

FES Sponsors Tri-GUF Multinationals Seminar in Brazil

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A joint information campaign by the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is proving successful in alerting trade unions and workers’ representatives to coming deadlines of REACH and the Chemical, Labeling, Packaging (CLP) regulation of the EU. The campaign is aimed at workers inside companies that market or use chemicals in their manufacturing. 
 
REACH is the Registration Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals regulation, an EU statute that took effect in 2007 and which is being phased in over several years. REACH requires industrial operators to register any chemicals they make or import in quantities above one tonne per year with the new European Chemicals Agency. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.emcef.reibsch.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
EMCEF General Secretary Reinhard Reibsch
The deadline for employers to register is 30 November 2010, and the EMCEF/ETUC campaign is asking workers to remind employers of this fact. The accompanying CLP regulation says they have to notify the new agency regarding the classification and labeling of all hazardous substances that go on the market, regardless of production volume. 
 
A 1 December 2010 exists for CLP Reclassification, while a 3 January 2011 deadline looms for CLP notification. 
 
The two European trade union federations see fulfillment of the requirements as job-saving measures in the European chemicals sector. “Workers in this industry are very interested in sustainable development of the sector based on high environmental values, social progress, and economic success,” said EMCEF General Secretary Reinhard Reibsch, adding the joint EMCEF/ETUC campaign is an extension of that.

EMCEF, ETUC Alert European Workers to REACH Deadlines

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) yesterday called on the Government of Chile to radically change the procedural methodology it uses on mine safety once the imminent rescue of 33 miners at the San José mine near Copiapó in northern Chile is complete. 
 
In a letter to Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne Riveros, the 20-million-member global union federation called on the government to streamline workplace safety and health enforcement, now contained in several different ministries, into a single, autonomous agency “that has full powers and full technical capabilities to inspect and correct workplace deficiencies before accidents happen.” 
 
The ICEM is also calling on the government of Chile to begin the process toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the 1995 Safety and Health in Mines Convention. By adopting the global principles contained in Convention 176, Chile ensures that workers and their trade unions have a voice on safety matters and the ability to take action to prevent mine accidents. (The full letter can be seen <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/116.ICEM.Chile.MiningMinister.4Oct.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
“In a mine, when a trade union safety committee is engaged with the respective company and government representatives, the risks in that mine gets reduced dramatically,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “This is basic to Convention 176 but, unfortunately, is woefully lacking inside Chile’s mining industry.” 
 
The ICEM called on Chile’s government to consolidate ministerial safety investigatory bodies into a fully-staffed independent rule-making agency that has judicial and other powers to ensure safe and healthy workplaces. In the letter, the ICEM states that creation of such an agency can also serve as the mechanism to implement and enforce the global mine safety standards contained in Convention 176. 
 
The ICEM commended Chile’s government for the intensive rescue to save the lives of the 33 San José miners, but reminded that massive work awaits both politically and administratively to prevent such disasters from happening in the future. 
 
The Geneva-based ICEM, composed of 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, is the representative global body for some 70 national mining unions in as many countries. The ICEM has a global campaign underway pressing on governments of resource-rich nations to ratify ILO Convention 176. 
 
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>; telephone: +41 22 304 1842 (direct) or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).

Mine Safety Culture in Chile Must Change, Asserts ICEM 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Some 1,600 American trade union and environmental leaders met in Washington, D.C., last week in a historic, three-day BlueGreen Alliance conference that concluded on 10 February with visits to US legislators urging a green industrial future for America. 
 
The BlueGreen Alliance Foundation, formed in 2006 between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club, has now grown to include eight US unions, several environmental organisations, and a handful of trade groups. 
 
The 2011 “Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference” featured US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson as keynote speaker, and consisted of many workshops, including one entitled “11 Workers Killed and the Worst Environmental Disaster Ever; How Do We Respond to the Deepwater Horizon Explosion?” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.good jobs green jobs.jpg" width="246" height="71" alt=""/>
A familiar chord throughout the conference was how to compete against trading nations such as China and Germany that have developed better industrial policies concerning green technologies. Participants took that question, demanding legislative solutions, to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington. 
 
USW President Leo Gerard opened the conference by urging delegates to push leaders of both US political parties to act in the long-term interests of the US. Another pair of themes weaved throughout the conference is that clean energy does create jobs, and good jobs and achievement of a safe environment are mutually inclusive. 
 
BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director Dave Foster said the participants at last week’s conference, who represent 8.5 million American workers, “are willing to answer President Obama's call to out-build, out-educate, and out-innovate to win the future. 
 
“Congress,” he added, “must (now) get moving on critical policies that build a healthy and prosperous America.”

USW-led BlueGreen Alliance Champions Job Growth in America

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM applauds the unity and successful coordination of Colombian trade unions, in the launch of a new daily radio programme for workers, called "Contacto Social." Included in the grouping of 12 unions were ICEM affiliates Sintraelecol and USO. The process was supported locally by ICEM’s country coordinator Carlos Bustos. 
 
The daily programme has now been broadcasting since 1 February, Monday to Friday, in the areas around Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Meta, and Tolima, and is also available globally online. The organizers of the project plan to expand its reach in the future and become a major media tool in Colombia, communicating views to workers, and supplying an outlet to those whose voices cannot otherwise be heard. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombiaflag.gif" width="150" height="99"/>
Trade unionists and supporters are encouraged to call and join the on-air debate at +57 4176970 
 
One story that was reported today on "Contacto Social" is the Colombian national Labour center CUT organising a workers' picket at the office of the Vice President, ahead of a high-level meeting with the ILO. 
Unions in the South American country demand that Colombia be re-added to the list of countries evaluated by the ILO's Committee of Experts. CUT President Tarsicio Mora decried the continuing dangers facing trade unionists in Colombia, where 46 were murdered in 2010 and three so far this year. There are currently over 40 labour disputes ongoing, many caused by the erosion of labour rights and working conditions by employers. 
 
Listen to the <a href="http://www.icemcolombia.com/index2.php?option=com_radio">daily radio programme</a> of Colombian workers here.  
See more on the <a href="http://www.icemcolombia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1">ICEM Colombia website</a>.

Trade Unions Coordinate Launch of Daily Radio in Colombia

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The Thai Industrial Gases Labour Union (TIGLU), part of ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemicals Workers’ Federation of Thailand (PCFT), benefited from a two-day training course presented by the German union, IGBCE, in Saraburi province, Thailand. The union achieved a new collective agreement with Linde at 13 Thai worksites immediately after, indicating the success of the workshop. 
 
The agreement, signed last week on 20 April and running for three years, will see Linde pay 50% to the provident fund for workers with one-to-two years’ service, and 100% after two years. It also grants three days of paid paternity leave and increases the number of holidays for more senior workers. 
 
Paid union leave was also won, which will prove valuable for trade union leaders in training and labour education, and health care coverage is now extended to retirees until the end of the calendar year in which they retire. TIGLU has had a rather contentious relationship with Linde Thai management, and the IGBCE training is seen as perhaps a benchmark toward a new, more positive relationship. 
 
The new agreement covers 851 workers at the 13 workplaces.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.tiglu thai.2.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
The 16-17 April training was a follow-up to last year’s founding of an Asia-Pacific Network of Workers for trade unions of Linde, a German-based global producer of industrial gases. 
 
The training was expertly organised by Yoon Hyowon, ICEM Asia-Pacific Project Coordinator, and included IGBCE’s Michael Wolters presenting an explanation of the German system of collective agreements and how to improve relationships with management. ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath also participated.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.tiglu thai.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
The workshop provided information on trade unions, the labour laws and political situation in Thailand, and a writing session to improve the writing skills of TIGLU colleagues. Further, Wolters organised a work group to prioritise bargaining demands and to gather collective arguments related to each demand. 
 
All 18 participants from TIGLU felt secure in their upcoming arguments with management and gained realisation of the German management perspective. TIGLU and Linde’s prior 21-month collective agreement expired on 21 March.

German IGBCE’s Training with Thai Union Ends in New Linde CBA

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM has joined the Swiss union Unia in a community campaign to save 550 paper mill jobs. Sappi, a global leader in the manufacture of coated papers, announced on 31 March that it intends to close its Biberist graphic papers mill, an asset it purchased late in 2008 along with three other European printing and writing papers mills from M-real. 
Unia, with membership numbering only one-tenth of the total Biberist workforce, has taken the lead to preserve jobs. Workers, managers, mill suppliers, and area businesses of Canton Soleure have joined the effort. Sappi’s European Works Council (EWC) also has argued for retaining production. A <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Sappi%20Fine%20Paper%20Europe.pdf" type="internal">Sappi EWC resolution</a> can be found here.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.jpg" width="265" height="149"/>
 Biberist: A Community United to Save Jobs
Unia held a manifestation in Biberist on 16 March that was attended by hundreds of area residents. The ICEM generated some 15 letters from pulp and paper trade unions around the globe supporting Biberist workers and managers who are in the fight to keep the mill open. Those letters were read at the rally. 
Workers also placed a vivid reminder, namely heavy paper rolls, at a round-about in Biberist to remind the public of what’s at stake. A German-language <a href="http://www.papierfabrik-biberist.ch">special website for the workers’ campaign</a> can be found here.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.3.jpg" width="234" height="152"/>
20,000 Motorists Daily Will Get a Stark Reminder
Unia’s campaign asks Sappi to do one of three things, with a priority being the first: maintain operations because production, productivity and sales have been buoyant since Sappi bought the mill; re-think the decision to shutter the mill completely, and sell it to an enterprise that will operate it; if layoffs occur, ensure that superior severance is paid, and job re-training and other social criteria are met to the fullest. 
Sappi will begin consultations with workers’ representatives in mid-May, with the company scheduling a first set of layoffs as early as late May. The mill could close by late summer. 
In a 14 April letter to Unia Co-Presidents Renzo Ambrosetti and Andreas Rieger, General Secretary Manfred Warda said: ICEM finds it “disgraceful that barely two years after Sappi bought four European graphical paper mills of M-real, they intend to close down the second one. To buy enterprises with the intent to shutter them in order to limit competition and maintain high pricing on a product grade is truly despicable.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.2.jpg" width="268" height="151"/>
Unia Manifestation on 16 April in Biberist
The Global Union Federation also intervened at a Sappi EWC meeting on 20 April that was held in Maastricht, Netherlands, and that <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMletters/33.ICEM.SAPPI.UNIA.18April.pdf" type="internal">ICEM message</a> can be found in English here. At that meeting, Biberist was the main topic of discussion, with the EWC expressing dismay over Sappi’s decision. 
The EWC argued that Sappi must try to find other paper product grades for manufacture from Biberist, or find a buyer for the mill. Sappi Europe CEO Berry Wiersum said if a good solution can be found, the company might re-consider. 
The EWC also stressed the importance of a substantial redundancy package for workers and if one is not presented, another special meeting of the EWC would be convened. The company responded that such a plan would be done in accord with Swiss law.

ICEM Joins Swiss Workers’ Campaign to Keep Sappi Paper Mill Open

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
A 24-hour warning strike that started a week ago by Solidarnosc representing the majority of 22,000 workers at Poland’s Jastrzębska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) in Silesian coal mines has produced negotiations with the state-run company. Those talks started last Thursday and will continue tomorrow, 26 April, in Katowice, along with the provincial Committee on Social Dialogue. 
 
Miners took industrial action in resistance to the government’s plan to list JSW, Europe’s largest coking coal producer, on the stock exchange. They are also seeking a 10% wage increase from a state company that has seen hefty earnings, posting net profits of €300 million, or US$422 million in 2010. The government, meanwhile, is anxious to proceed with the listing on 30 June because of current high raw materials costs for steel production. 
 
The government is making the case that listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange will improve JSW’s position in the marketplace because of greater access to funding for mine development and clean coal technology. Government officials were critical of the industrial action, saying that such social action – despite being legal – devalues the company. 
 
The state is offering free-of-charge shares to JSW staff as it intends to float 30% of JSW, while retaining 51%. However, the door has been left open to future sales of shares.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.polish mine.jpg" width="200" height="133" alt=""/>
The warning strike and blockade of coal exiting five JSW mines on 8 April came ten days after miners voted by 95% in a referendum for industrial action. A total of 78.5% of the 22,000 miners participated in the vote. 
 
If JSW is privatised, the mineworkers’ unions seek a 10-year guarantee of employment. Because of the current negotiations, unions cancelled another strike that was to occur tomorrow. The one-day warning strike last week is said to have cost the company PLN 30 million, or €7.6 million (US$11 million). 
 
JSW is the first of the major coal producers in Poland that the government seeks to privatise. In the middle of 2012, it intends to sell Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), a thermal coal producer employing 19,200 workers. Unions there have already agreed to a redundancy scheme that will see about 1,000 miners take early retirement by the end of next year. The government intends to combine KHW with the state-run export company Weglokoks in the 2012 public listing.

Warning Strike Ends, Negotiations Start in Southern Poland Coal Fields

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