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<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
Workers at Mauritanian contractor El Majabaat El Koubra Tours (MKT) remain on strike due to the oil services firm&rsquo;s sacking of union activists. 
The Energy and Petroleum Workers&rsquo; Union (CGTM) of Mauritania conducted a march and demonstration against MKT on behalf of the strikers on 18 November in the capital city of Nouakchott. The event drew over 1,000 protestors. 
The ICEM brought the dispute to international attention and on the day of the rally, MKT, a transport and logistic provider to Australian-based Woodside Petroleum, directed a four-page letter to the global union federation. The company admitted to the firings, but failed to justify reasons why the workers were sacked. 
In early October, MKT and the union reached a protocol agreement over terms, which included union elections for workers. But within days, the company sacked 16 workers, provoking the start of the strike on 14 October. A day later in efforts to reconcile the dispute, MKT agreed to take back ten workers, but not six others who were counted on by fellow workers to stand for election to union positions. 
The ICEM will continue to press MKT and Woodside for justice and recognition of legitimate trade union rights.

Contract Service Workers Remain on Strike in Mauritania

Led by ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, 3,000 protestors on 23 November demanded that tyre maker Continental rescind its decision to fire 320 workers at its St&ouml;cken plant in Hannover. 
<img height="263" alt="" src="" width="350" />
A day before the rally that occurred at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in Hannover, Conti chief executive Manfred Wennemer reneged on a deal to maintain jobs and production levels by stating growth rates at the plant were not high enough. Despite profitability and cooperation from the IGBCE on workplace matters, Wennemer&rsquo;s announcement stung workers and politicians alike, particularly in view of prior production shifts to plants in eastern European countries. 
IGBCE board member Werner Bischoff, vice president of Continental&rsquo;s Supervisory Board, promised the matter will get full attention at the Supervisory Board&rsquo;s 6 December meeting, and said any further cooperative efforts with the company are now in danger.

German Union Protests Continental Tyre Decision

<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
By way of introduction to the full ICEM background report on the Pulp and Paper Industry, the ICEM prepared a presentation on globalisation in the pulp and paper sector for the ICEM World Conference for the Pulp and Paper Industry, in Brussels, on 15-16 November 2005. 
The presentation builds upon the background document, highlighting the latest sector&nbsp;statistics, unavailable at the time the document went to press. It also provides a few examples of recent labour disputes in the sector, and makes suggestions towards solutions at the global level. 
 
For the presentation, click <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/0511EugenePaper.ppt">here</a>. 
 
For the full report, click <a href="/?id=147&amp;doc=1513">here</a>.

ICEM Presentation on globalisation in the pulp and paper industry

23 November 2005 
 
His Excellency Dr Thaskin Sinawatra 
Prime Minister 
Kingdom of Thailand 
Government House 
Pitsunalok Road 
Bangkok 10300 
Thailand
Dear Sir, 
 
I write on behalf of the 20-million-member ICEM on a serious labour matter affecting your country. It is the unregulated and unceasing use of contract and agency labour by major employers in Thailand. 
 
In assessing a number of labour disputes in Thailand, some of which are in ICEM sectors such as energy and rubber, others in sectors such as metals and food, covered by other, fraternal Global Union Federations, the issue of extensive use of contract labour is at the forefront. I ask you to consider the harm such labour practices bring to the overall social development in Thailand. 
 
I write this prior to a group of trade unionists&mdash;many of whom are members of trade unions affiliated to the ICEM&mdash;bringing this issue forward in a rally outside the Ministry of Labour, and I implore you to hear their voice as it calls forth the ill-effects brought to workers, their families and entire communities when permanent jobs are replaced by contractors and agencies. 
 
I invite you to meet with these trade unionists, and I invite the Thai Government to initiate discussions on this critical issue affecting workers and the communities in which they live. 
 
The ICEM is leading a global campaign on contract and agency labour. We would be quite willing to join a dialogue between your government and trade unionists in Thailand who are recognising the dangers, and rightfully speak out on this issue. The ICEM realizes that it is not practical to call for a total ban on contract and agency labour. 
 
But what we do seek is that contract and agency labour be properly controlled to avoid the unnecessary displacement of direct workers and when there is a need to utilize contract or agency arrangements, trade union representatives be consulted and dialogue occur prior to contracts being signed. The logic to this in terms of productive enterprises, and well-being of workers, families and the communities in which they live is clearly evident. 
 
The ICEM is promoting such simple and precise language for employers, governments and inter-governmental institutions to adopt. Again, I respectfully request that your government give this labour issue serious attention, and I and the ICEM stand ready to assist in any manner possible. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 
 
CC Mr Somsak Thepsuthin, Labour Minister, Thailand

ICEM letter to the Prime Minister of Thailand on Goodyear Contract labour problems

French oil refinery workers at Total began partial disruptions to production late on 6 September, successfully making the global oil company modify its disciplinary actions against four workers the next day. The four were exclusively blamed for a fuel leak on 7 August at a refinery in Marseille. The refineries in which job actions occurred included Donges, Saint-Nazaire; Normandie, LeHavre; Grandpuits near Paris; Feyzin, Lyon; and the Provence refinery, Marseille.

French Total Workers Strike over Disciplinary Measures

Eighteen Russian coalminers on Sakhalin Island ended their 11-day hunger strike 142 meters underground 9 September when they won backwages totaling four million roubles for 428 miners for the month of June at the bankrupt Sakhalinugol mining firm. They also won assurances that July and August wages due them will be paid this month through sale of mining equipment. The coalmine shut in August. Separate from the strike, the trustee of the mining enterprise in the Uglegorsk region, Tatyana Dmitriyeva, was arrested in early September and charged with profiteering from sale of mining and earth-moving equipment prior to the mid-August shutdown.

Sakhalin Miners End Strike

Eight trade union leaders of ICEM Malaysian affiliate National Union of Employees in Companies Manufacturing Rubber Products (NUECMRP) are still seeking reinstatement to their jobs at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in Selangor after more than a year&rsquo;s time. The eight were dismissed for various reasons after the union called attention to unfair treatment of workers from Nepal, Burma and Vietnam. The union also has protested strongly against the contract and agency labour practices of Goodyear, which utilizes a firm that deploys workers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to avoid employment responsibility. Efforts at achieving justice for the eight have been blocked by the Malaysian Human Resource Minister&rsquo;s refusal to bring the dismissals before an industrial court. Goodyear has continued to exploit foreign workers at the 500-worker factory with lower pay, and denying them annual leave and medical leave per employment standards. The US-based company has also rebuffed NUECMRP&rsquo;s requests to create permanent, domestic jobs when vacancies occur at the factory.

Malaysian Affiliate Still Sees Problems with Goodyear

In Nepal from 10-12 September, presence of top-level global trade union leaders made a march and working seminar entitled Wider National Workers&rsquo; Conference both peaceful and unprecedented for the Himalayan country. Some 1,800 workers and their representatives from Nepal&rsquo;s three national union centers marched from Dilli Bazaar in Katmandu into a mass meeting at Padmakanya High School in Naya Baneshwore on 10 September denouncing the Nepalese monarchy&rsquo;s autocratic rule and calling for an &ldquo;absolute democracy&rdquo; that ensures workers&rsquo; and human rights. The conference adopted a 15-point resolution and a declaration calling the weekend event a turning point for all Nepal&rsquo;s workers to escape the killings, torture, suppression and harassment imposed on them by both the ruling monarchy and extremist political forces inside Nepal.

Nepal Conference to Challenge Authoritarian Rule

Mass protests rather than a general strike have begun in Nigeria to protest the government&rsquo;s 26 August fuel price hike. ICEM oil workers&rsquo; union affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have joined the rallies, which began 14 September to continue for two weeks. The government hiked the price of gas and diesel fuels by 40% in efforts to reduce subsidies and bring the price in line with global prices. Despite being one of the world&rsquo;s leading exporters of crude, Nigeria depends on imports of refined fuels to meet domestic demand because the country&rsquo;s five refineries under-perform from lack of capitalization. Nigerian unions are using the protests to get the government to roll back the fuel price hikes, as well as to demand higher wages incorporating cost-of-living increases.

Nigerians to Stage Protests Against Fuel Price Hikes

France's five main trade union confederations have issued a call for day-long strikes and demonstrations on 4 October aimed at creating job protection and greater purchasing power from workers&rsquo; wages. Specifically, manifestations on that day will France&rsquo;s five main trade union confederations have issued a call for day-long protest the new and extended terms of temporary job contracts created by Prime Minister Dominque deVillepin, considered a crucial threat to job security. The five unions calling for workers both in the public and private sectors to take strike action are CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT and CGT-FO.strikes and demonstrations on 4 October aimed at creating job protection and greater purchasing power from workers&rsquo; wages. Specifically, manifestations on that day will France&rsquo;s five main trade union confederations have issued a call for day-long protest the new and extended terms of temporary job contracts created by Prime Minister Dominque deVillepin, considered a crucial threat to job security. The five unions calling for workers both in the public and private sectors to take strike action are CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CGT and CGT-FO.

Day of Action in France on 4 October 2005

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