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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The ICEM-affiliated Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) conducted a heated Congress in Soligorsk on 16 April, resulting in a change of union leadership. After a day-long debate that resulted in a narrow – 32-29 – no-confidence vote for the current leadership, the body elected Nikolai Zimin as chairman. 
 
Zimin, a mineworker, is a machine operator employed at state-owned JSC Belaruskaliy and works in the company’s potash and potassium chloride operations near Soligorsk. He is a ten-year trade union activist and had served as secretary-treasurer, and then deputy chairman of BNP. He defeated incumbent Vasiliy Korobov and challenger Sergei Antusevitch in a three-way race, with Zimin getting nearly three times the vote total as runner-up Antusevitch.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belarus.png" width="140" height="142" alt=""/>
In the ballot for deputy chairman, incumbent Nikolai Novik withdrew his nomination after the no-confidence vote, and Antusevitch and Yuriy Shvets, an oilworker at Gazprom’s Mozyr refinery, were elected co-deputy chairmen. Aleksandr Korolev was elected secretary-treasurer. 
 
BNP is affiliated to the Belarus Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, and both the fledgling national labour centre and BNP face continual suppression and harassment at the hands of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the Belarus Federation of Trade Unions (FPB). 
 
BNP is engaged in serious struggles to gain rightful trade union recognition from Belarusian regional authorities, including at Delta Style, a garment maker (see <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4088-Belarus:-Local-Government-Blocks-Women-Garment-Workers-in-Organising" type="internal">ICEM report</a>) and at OJSC Naftan, a polymer and chemicals operation.

BNP of Belarus Elects New Union Leadership

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Successful industrial relations between ICEM glass workers’ union Sintravidricol in Colombia and the US-based multinational Ross International has now built on the foundations of a first collective agreement four years ago. The union won a renewal agreement with significant improvements for workers. 
 
See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4361-Colombian-Glass-Workers-Seek-to-Build-on-Gains-Made-in-2007" type="internal">ICEM InBrief</a> from last month. Bargaining was finalised on 6 May, months ahead of the expiration of the existing agreement. The scope of the agreement is expanded to cover five plants of Ross International in the two sections of Sintravidricol, La Estrella and Sabanata. 
 
Two divisive other agreements originally signed by the company during a dispute in 2007 which led to the first collective agreement will be scrapped in the new deal. All 250 workers will now be covered by the same governing contract, with slight variations between the sections.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sintravidricol.jpg" width="232" height="174"/>
Salary increases will equal 4.6% in the first year, inflation plus 1.2% in the second year, and inflation plus 1.3% and plus 1.4% for the final two years of the agreement. 
 
Significant improvements also included education allowances for primary, secondary, and university education for workers’ children, also new transport links for shift workers, increased holiday leave, paid leave for union activity, increased housing allowance, and a signing bonus for each worker in each year of the agreement. 
 
All workers will now be employed on indefinite contract status. Prior to the 2007 agreement, 80% or more of the employees were on short-term contracts. 
 
The official signing of the new deal by local management and Sintravidricol’s Section Presidents for La Estrella and Sabaneta, Brahyan Sanchez Henao and Heriberto Giraldo Hernandez, is expected to take place this week. Salary increases will go into effect on 1 September.

Colombia Glass Workers Get Great Gains in Settlement

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
An illegal coal mine in Mexico’s Coahuila state that was operating for only 20 days exploded on 3 May, killing 14 miners. The tragic methane gas blast occurred a short distance from the Pasta de Conchos colliery, where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico perished in a similar underground gas explosion in February 2006. 
 
Beneficios Internacionales del Norte SA (Bansa) was listed as the company operating the mine near Sabinas in the rich Coahuila coal belt of northern Mexico. Immediately after the powerful explosion that saw three of the dead blown completely out of the 60-metre-deep tunnel, officials could not determine the owner because of conflicting data in local registry citings. 
<img alt="ICEM ILO 176" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ilo_small.jpg" width="175" height="247"/>
It was days after the blast that Bansa was determined to be the operator of the 340-acre mine site through a concession from local authorities. A local official defended that concession, telling press that when the federal government awards a concession, generated income goes to coffers in Mexico City, with nothing allocated for the community. 
 
The colliery employed 25 non-union miners and had no certification or registry regarding safety. The Mexican federal government closed the mine and is now involved in body recovery and investigation. 
 
The underground explosion rocked the surface so strongly that a 15-year-old minor who was picking coal off an external conveyer belt had to have both arms amputated and is in serious condition in a hospital. 
 
The 3 May tragedy in northern Mexico stands as yet another example of safety risks and dangers by unregistered and unreliable mining installations when demand and pricing of a mineral is at a premium.

Mine Blast Near Pasta de Conchos Kills 14 in Mexico

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The sixth meeting of the Mercosur Union Network of Belgian chemical and plastics producer Solvay met 18-21 April in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The meeting saw 25 representatives from all plants of Solvay in Argentina and Brazil, as well as municipality authorities from Bahia Blanca and representatives of CUT Brazil. 
 
The meeting marked the first-ever meeting held in Argentina. This gave an opportunity for more Argentine workers to learn the goals, functions, and actions of the important regional network. Brazilian participants learned of some Argentina processes that do not exist in Brazil, and about union organizing and the collective bargaining process in Argentina. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.solvay.jpg" width="315" height="170"/>
The major issues discussed included health and safety, the ICEM’s Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Rhodia and the future of that GFA now that Solvay has initiated a friendly takeover of Rhodia, and the Horizon Plan, which was put in place by Solvay late last year and is to create 800 dismissals worldwide by the end of 2012. Mercosur network members requested ICEM’s support in linking up with global trade unions and Solvay’s European Works Council in order to soften the effects of this restructuring. 
 
As is regular custom from previous meetings, the participants were welcomed by local management of Solvay. The group after toured the production areas. The meeting was finalized with expectation of a renewed dialogue with the company.

Mercosur Region Meeting of Solvay Meets in Argentina

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Asia Pacific Rubber Workers’ Unions held its second meeting on 22-23 April in Seoul, South Korea. The meeting was attended by 30 trade union representatives from Japan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, and South Korea. 
 
Two affiliates of the ICEM, the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers’ Unions (FKCU) and Korean Chemical and Textile Workers’ Union (KCTF) hosted this meeting of the Network, supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES). The meeting also welcomed the ICEM Secretariat and the Japanese Affiliates’ Federation (ICEM-JAF) to Seoul. 
 
“Given the growing importance of the Asia Pacific region in the rubber industry, our network has a very crucial role in unifying the unions of the sector,” said Toshiaki Hojo, President of Japanese Rubber Workers’ Confederation (GOMU RENGO), who chairs this Asia Pacific workers’ network. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.ap rubber.JPG" width="359" height="164" alt=""/>
“The meeting coincided with a very critical time in South Korea because of modifications to South Korean labour code have potential dangers on rights and freedoms,” said the FKCU Vice President Yoon Jinsoo. “Mobilizations at Kumho Tire’s two plants in South Korea gave us a burning need for solidarity in the rubber industry,” added KCTF General Secretary Im Youngguk. 
 
The meeting also received a detailed report from ICEM-JAF General Secretary Yoshio Sato on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sato thanked all ICEM affiliates who showed solidarity to Japanese unions by sending messages and donations. 
 
ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal Özkan presented major developments and challenges in the global rubber industry and profiles on the multinational companies. The rubber industry did start to recover following the global financial crisis, but such recovery is no cause for celebration due to continued high unemployment and deteriorating pay and work conditions. 
 
Participants then gave country reports. According to the report of GOMU RENGO, the Japanese rubber industry suffered severely from the economic crisis and now from the accident, reflected by automobile production dropping by 600,000 units, which now is causing extreme after-shocks in the global supplier segments. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.ap rubber.2.JPG" width="285" height="162" alt=""/>
In Indonesia and Malaysia, performing union activities is difficult. Representatives of China’s Chemical and Energy Workers’ Union reported that the union at Bridgestone successfully established a collective wage consultation system, in which in 2010 saw salaries increase by 16%. A Sri Lankan delegate spoke on organising against transnationals such as Trelleborg, Ansel, and Loadstar. 
 
The Thailand report included review and dissection of problems at Michelin, Goodyear, Sumitomo, and Yokohama companies. Vietnam is also attracting investment in the rubber industry. The country’s national chemical company, Vinachem, operates five rubber factories, including two Vietnamese-Japanese joint ventures, Yokohama and Inoue. The Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) reported on its struggle with Kumho and thanked the ICEM for support. KMWU identified three areas of difficulty in Kumho in Korea, namely wage, bargaining, and disciplinary actions. 
 
The meeting also produced an extensive discussion on the rising trend of Contract and Agency Labour. It was agreed that the network should continue to handle precarious employment issue as one of its main working areas. 
 
Delegates broke into working groups according to their companies, with the Goodyear and Bridgestone working groups establishing details to continue further communications. Korean and Vietnamese participants agreed to closely cooperate on Kumho, since the Vietnamese operations are organized. 
 
The meeting also adopted two resolutions: one to <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.Resolution%20on%20Solidarity%20with%20Japan.pdf " type="internal">support Japanese workers</a> in the aftermath of the great natural accident and the second to <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Resolution%20on%20Keum%20Ho%20Tire.pdf " type="internal">support the KMWU in Korea on its struggle at Kumho</a>. Participants, most of whom are local level union representatives, collected symbolic donations for their Japanese sisters and brothers. 
 
The next meeting of ICEM’s Asia Pacific Network is scheduled in 2013 in Malaysia.

ICEM Asia-Pacific Rubber Workers’ Network Held in Seoul Last Month

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The shocking Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) documentary on conditions facing exploited contract workers in the cement industry in India is now available in French. 
 
Watch the <a href="http://labouredu.blogspot.com/2011/04/salaries-temporaires.html">film</a> on the website of the Thai Labour Education Centre here.  
 
The international campaign, launched by the Building and Wood Workers’ Federation (BWI) and ICEM, for regularisation of CAL workers at Holcim’s subsidiaries in India continues. Hundreds of trade union organisations around the world responded to the call for messages to be sent to Holcim’s CEO, ahead of the multinational company’s annual general meeting on 5 May. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66"/>
On 1 May, an industrial strike was conducted in the industrial area of Bhilai in solidarity with the struggle of contract workers of ACC-Holcim, The following demands were put forward: 
 
• No to Contract Labour 
• The Right to Organize 
• A Living Wage 
• Safety at work 
• 8- hour work day 
 
On 4 May, a cross-sectoral group of local and regional trade unions held a demonstration outside the corporate headquarters of Holcim India, in Churchgate, Mumbai. 
 
See the prior <a href="/en/21-Materials-glass-ceramics-cement/4404-Global-Campaign-Launched-for-Indian-Cement-Contract-Workers" type="internal">ICEM report</a> here, and follow this link to write to Holcim’s CEO Markus Akermann.

ICEM CAL Film on India’s Cement Workers, Now in French

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="120" height="59"/>
The Global Union Federation for the mining industry, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), acknowledges the measures taken by the Government of Chile to reform its antiquated workplace safety and health culture since the successful rescue of 33 miners at the San José mine in northern Region III in October 2010. But the ICEM remains adamant that Chile must ratify and implement procedures under International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
Recently, the Chilean government delivered instrument of ratification to the ILO on Convention 187, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention. This is commendable, the ICEM believes, but Chile must go further by ratifying Convention 176. 
 
“Chile is a nation of rich mineral resources, extracted and sold on global markets,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “If the amazing story at San José taught us anything it is Chile must meet world-class mine safety standards regarding prevention and monitoring.” 
 
Warda added that it primarily is at small- and mid-size enterprises, similar to Campañia Minera San Esteban Primera, the employer at San José, where standardized and current methods of safety compliance is woefully missing. Just as these enterprises grow and produce more to meet the soaring global minerals boom, so too must Chile keep pace by proving it can provide the necessary safeguards for mineworkers. 
 
ILO Convention 187 is a general set of workplace safety standards that does commit Chile to establish a tripartite body to address overall occupational workplace health and safety practices. But it is not specific to mining. 
 
Mine Safety Convention 176, and its accompanying Recommendation R-183, addresses a range of hazards and specific problems faced by miners. Most importantly, it sets forth responsibility to not only remove mine hazards, but to remove the root causes of those hazards. 
 
The ICEM notes that since San José, Chile has made some progress on mine safety. The National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) has seen an increase in funding and a proposed new law would revise mine regulations, including safety. But only by ratifying and fully implementing Convention 176 will Chile be able to claim that it meets mineworker safety standards inherent to a world-class extractive resources nation. 
 
For further information: ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842.

Chile Needs More Progress to Eradicate Mine Safety Deficiencies

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="120" height="59"/>
ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro advanced more strikes in Finland’s pulp and paper industry to respond to strike-breaking and illegal coercion to a lawful overtime ban by industry management. The escalation by Pro comes after government mediation again failed on Tuesday, 10 May, to resolve the two-month-old bitter dispute. 
 
Seventy-five percent of 4,000 white-collar, technical, and clerical workers in Finland’s paper sector are now on strike. Strikes have been extended at UPM, the Metsäliitto companies (Metsä-Botnia, M-real, Metsä Tissue), and Stora Enso and its contracting company Efora. A strike by Sappi workers at the Kirkniemi mill in southern Finland started a day early this week because of brazen management moves to break it. 
 
The dispute is grounded in principle that reduced workforces must not take on increased workloads without fair compensation. Because of redundancies and speed-ups across Finnish pulp and paper, Pro members have been asked to do more without pay and without recognition of higher job competencies. The dispute sees the employers’ grouping, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF), refusing to agree on a national across-the-board fair wage increase. 
 
But that’s hardly the worst of their conduct. Employers have used threats, bullying tactics, and abuse to break the strike. (See <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens-Strike-Expands" type="internal">earlier ICEM report</a> here.) At Sappi Kirkniemi prior to this week’s walkout, Pro members were pressured to train summer job workers, presumably to train a scab workforce. Ammattiliitto Pro believes UPM will bring workers from Central Europe to Finland to do financial and purchase chain administration. Metsäliitto also is looking at its outsourcing options. 
 
The Pro strike in Finland needs support and attention. The blatant and illegal tactics managers are using to break the strike are unfit for Finland, and unfit in any social economy.

Finnish Paper: Walkouts Intensify Because of Strike-Breaking

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Better than 99% of 2,400 Greek oil refinery workers ended a four-day strike at three oil refineries this morning, 23 May, sending a strong message that they will not become economic scapegoats inside Greece’s financial crisis. It was the second major strike in six weeks against Greek industrial giant Hellenic Petroleum by ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries, and the Chemical Industry (POEPDHV), and its courageous branch union, the Pan-Hellenic Union of Employees in Hellenic Petroleum. 
 
Following a 17-day legal strike from 3-19 April (see <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4368-Greek-Petrochemical-Union-Extends-Refinery-Strikes-until-19-April" type="internal">ICEM report</a> here), the union was prepared for further industrial action on 6 May. But Hellenic Petroleum gained a court order blocking the strike, something that failed in April. Last week, the company did not seek court action, perhaps speculating that large numbers of oil workers at Aspropyrgos, Thessaloniki, and Elefsina refineries would not honour the strike. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.greek strike.JPG" width="295" height="199"/>
19 May: Aspropyrgos Refinery
If so, Hellenic Petroleum guessed wrong. But why would it expect any differently when the company is out to slash salaries by 20-25%? Or different by the way the company disrespects staff by engaging in a public campaign declaring unionised oil workers are overpaid with too many perks? 
 
Besides the steep wage cuts, Hellenic is seeking to abolish a skills recognition or experience value system reached by continuous employment progressions, and an increase in the work-week from the present 38 hours. The company, 35% owned by the Greek state, posted €208 million in net profit in 2010 and is on target for surpassing that in 2011. 
 
At a press conference on 19 May, the start of this latest strike, union leaders and branch union militants expressed anger that oil workers were being painted the scapegoats. “It is not our salaries that are to blame for the crisis and this is the message voiced by today’s strike turnout,” POEPDHV President Nikos Orfanes. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.pan hellenic refineries chairman.jpg" width="137" height="136"/>    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.greek petro fed nicos.jpg" width="150" height="136"/>
Panagiotis Ofthalmidis, Nikos Orfanes
Panagiotis Ofthalmidis, chairman of the branch union, Pan-Hellenic Union of Employees in Hellenic Petroleum, is also on the company’s board of directors representing workers. He told the press briefing that the company has “devalued workers through the media” and asked: “If they cut our salaries where will the savings go? Will it go to social causes? Or will it go in the pockets of shareholders.” 
 
The ICEM and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Federation (EMCEF) lent the Greek unions support at the press conference in refuting the company’s claims that Greek oil workers are the highest paid in Europe. 
 
This past weekend’s strike resulted in resumption in bi-lateral talks that will take place next week. The union is seeking only inflation level increases, but also is demanding full staffing (250 jobs) next year at new refining units coming on line at the Elfinsa refinery. The union and Hellenic are five months into a six-month dispute resolution process under Greek labour law. It runs until late June, at which time the contract is terminated. Due to the stalemate and entrenched positions of senior Hellenic management, the union had engaged in 24-hour strikes throughout March. 
 
Late last year, the two sides agreed to a set of social obligations related to impending industrial activity, as required under Greek law. It includes safety maintenance during strikes, ordering shutdowns and start-ups of equipment for operational integrity, and minimal levels of production for emergency public services.

Greek Petro Workers Take Stand in Crisis ‘Blame Game’

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The end to bitter strikes by 4,000 members of Ammattiliitto Pro against Finnish paper producers came to an end last week, 18 May. After six weeks of tension, the union and the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) came to terms over a second-year wage renewal. 
 
The ICEM white-collar affiliate in Finland won an across-the-board national salary increase, something FFIF had denied at the outset, but most importantly they narrowed the pay gap among the clerical, technical, and front-line managerial ranks of the pulp and paper industry. 
 
The 2011 national pay award, effective 19 May, is 1.5%, or €48-per-month minimum, whichever is higher. The effect is to weight the package toward lower-wage clerical workers in order to narrow the pay gap. In the face of rampant administrative redundancies in the Finnish paper sector, these workers are working harder and taking on more responsibilities. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0810PaperRollArt.jpg" width="180" height="109"/>
The government-mediated settlement calls for an additional 1% to be negotiated at the local level by 17 June. If talks on local issues such as training, development, skill requirements, and work tasks do not conclude by then, the 1% will be awarded on 1 July. Pro and FFIF also agreed to address and develop salary structures in the future in a more transparent direction. 
 
The union had been <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4428-Finnish-Paper:-Walkouts-Intensify-Because-of-Strike-Breaking due to strike-breaking" type="internal">increasing strike pressure</a> and threats and intimidation in attempting to break a lawful overtime ban. Since early April, all Finnish-based companies were met with multiple strikes lasting up to two weeks and South-African-based Sappi was in the middle of a two-week strike last week when government mediator Esa Lonka finally succeeded in putting together a compromise. By last week, about 75% of white-collar staff in Finland’s paper industry was on strike. 
 
Following the late night 18 May agreement, shift workers returned to their jobs at 6h00 on 21 May, while day workers returned today, 23 May. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.jukka finland pro.jpg" width="80" height="103"/>
Jukka Hämäläinen
Ammattiliitto Pro paper industry Chief Negotiator Jukka Hämäläinen said the solidarity among Pro members is reflected in the fact that the union was united in closing the pay gap between men and women. He said improved salary equality between men and women was a major accomplishment in the one-year agreement. 
 
Pro received widespread global labour attention to this bitter white-collar dispute and issued this statement: “Pro and its members on strike have received many messages of solidarity during the strike. Pro wishes to thank everyone for these important messages, which served as a significant incentive in this difficult industrial action.” 
 
A day after the Ammattiliitto Pro/FFIF settlement, government mediator Lonka crafted a compromise between the Media Sector of Industrial Union TEAM with Finnish print employers, preventing possible industrial actions.

Ammattiliitto Pro Cuts Gender Pay Gap in Finland Paper Agreement

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