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Chile: Help on ILO Convention 176
Dear Pulp/Paper Sector Activists: 
 
The ICEM is making a major push, together with the IMF, to get Chile to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
We are asking for your participation. The details are in the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/11.ICEM.IMF.Chile176.1March.pdf" type="internal">Joint ICEM/IMF Letter</a> that can be found at this link. 
 
The <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ENGLISH%20ChileModLet%20(2).doc" type="internal">Letter to Chile’s Government</a> can be found here. In this letter are the e-mail addresses, fax numbers and mail address that we are asking unions to send. Please attach this model letter to your union’s letterhead, or your personal letterhead, and send. 
 
We are very grateful for your help on this. And please do not forget to send a copy of your letter to the ICEM, at <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>. 
 
Again, thank you for your help. 
 
In Unity, 
Dick Blin
<hr/>
Chili: Pour la ratification de la Convention 176 de l'OIT
Chers Militants du secteur papier poulpe 
 
L’ICEM a élargi ses forces avec le FIOM dans la lutte pour la ratification de la Convention 176, la sécurité et la sante en Chili. 
 
A ce sujet, nous demandons votre active participation. Les détails concernant la ratification se trouvent dans <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/2.ICEM.IMF.Chile176.1MarchFR.pdf" type="internal">la déclaration jointe de l'ICEM et du FIOM</a>. 
Vous les trouverez dans le lien suivant. 
 
<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FR%20ChileModLet.doc" type="internal">La Lettre au gouvernement du Chili</a> se trouve ici. Dans cette lettre, vous avez les adresses e-mail, numéros de fax et la direction postale des syndicats auxquels il faudra envoyer la documentation jointe. Veuillez SVP, joindre et envoyer la lettre modèle en ajoutant le logo de votre syndicat, ou votre logo personnel. 
 
Nous vous remercions en avance du support et soutien solidaire a ce sujet. Une copie de votre lettre à l'ICEM, à <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a> serait fortement appréciée. 
 
Votre soutien ainsi que vos actions sont fraternellement remercies. 
 
Dans l'unité, 
 
Dick Blin 
ICEM Responsable Information et Communication 
Secteur Poulpe et Papier
<hr/>
Chile, por la ratificación al Convenio OIT 176 
 
Estimados líderes del sector papel y pulpa 
 
ICEM ha unido fuerzas junto al FITIM para luchar por la ratificación del Convenio OIT 176 en seguridad y salud en las minas. 
 
Estamos solicitando su apoyo y participación. Por favor, revise los detalles <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/5.ICEM.IMF.Chile176.1March.pdf" type="internal">en la declaración conjunta ICEM-FITIM</a> que podrá encontrar en este enlace. 
 
<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SpanishChileModLet.doc" type="internal">La Carta al Gobierno de Chile</a> se puede encontrar aquí. En dicho escrito, encontrara las direcciones de correo electrónico, números de fax y dirección postal de los sindicatos para ser enviadas. Por favor, adjunte y envíe esta carta modelo con el membrete de su sindicato, o su membrete personal. 
 
Agradecemos de antemano su participación y apoyo solidario en esta iniciativa. Mándenos una copia de su carta a ICEM, atte. <a href="mailto:Tom.grinter@icem.org">Tom.grinter@icem.org</a> . 
 
Su acción y soporte son fraternalmente reconocidos. 
 
En la Unidad, 
 
Dick Blin 
ICEM Pulpa y Papel Oficial

Chile: ILO Convention 176/Chili: de la Convention 176 de l'OIT/Chile, Convenio OIT 176 

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union (ICEM), a Geneva, Switzerland-based global union federation represented rubber workers across the world, announced today that it would lend its full support to the National Union of Metalworkers’ of South Africa (NUMSA) in its fight to keep Bridgestone South Africa compelled to wage terms negotiated in the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA). 
 
South African management of the Japanese-based company locked out 1,200 members of NUMSA at two former Firestone tyre producing plants, Brits and Port Elizabeth, on 22 March. At issue is Bridgestone South Africa’s defiance of a private arbitrator's award that the tyre manufacturer is bound to certain wage terms contained in a three-year collective agreement that was negotiated between NUMSA and NTMEIA that ended a 30-day strike against four tyre producers on 29 September 2010. 
 
In a 31 March letter to Bridgestone South Africa CEO Kenji Shoda, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “Please know that the current situation in Brits and Port Elizabeth will be communicated to all Bridgestone facilities throughout the world and if your current labour relations conduct is not halted, we will begin to mobilise within these facilities.” 
 
The ICEM will support NUMSA as it ramps up a campaign against Bridgestone inside South Africa. And it will take that campaign into Bridgestone tyre plants from Japan and throughout Asia, to Europe and in North and South America. The ICEM is adamant that wage rates negotiated by the NTMEIA for 4,000 other rubber workers at Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop factories in South Africa also be instituted at Bridgestone’s two factories. 
 
The ICEM is the global union federation for 20 million workers in the energy, chemical, rubber, mining, and other industrial sectors. It is composed of 467 trade unions in 132 countries. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842, +41 79 734 8994.

Global Union Federation Supports Besieged Tyre Workers in South Africa

<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

Trade unionists of SPPTTEL, part of ICEM affiliate FSP2KI in Indonesia, began a strike today and they need your support. The strike is over bullying and bargaining table intimidation by management of PT Tanjung Enim Lestari, almost totally owned by the Marubeni Corp. of Japan. 
 
The ICEM today sent a <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/87.ICEM.PTTanjungEnimLestari.Indonesia.pdf" type="internal">protest letter</a> to mill managers. Please copy all of the letter or better yet, put your own few words into effect and send to the <a href="mailto:ykanbe@telpp.com; eko.ganefianto@telpp.com; amrodji@telpp.com">mill management team</a>. Tell them how you feel about threats and intimidation of legitimate shop-floor union representatives. 
 
The situation is this: collective negotiations began in late June and continued on 12 July and 15 July. They were done in tripartite fashion with involvement from the local government of South Sumatra. But the company managers named above completely stonewalled any movement toward agreement, instead threatening the union committee with termination if they continued their persistence for a collective contract. These managers also threatened layoffs and stated that if paperworkers went on strike, police force would be used. 
 
Today, 26 July, began the first day of the strike. SPPTTEL is expected to continue the strike through to 30 July. 
 
As well, please cut and paste the following support message and send to the unions involved and SPPTTEL union leader below: 
 
We have heard of your strike at PT Tanjung Enim Lestari and we offer you our full support and solidarity. Please let all the workers know they have the support of out union. (signed) 
 
The solidarity messages should go to <a href="mailto:sppttel@telpp.com; mediacentre.fsp2ki@gmail.com; irzanz@yahoo.co.id">SPPTTEL and FSP2KI</a>. 
 
PT Tanjung Enim Lestari is a market pulp mill that employs about 1,000 workers and produces 450,000 metric tonnes per year of market pulp.

Indonesian Paperworkers On Strike at Japanese Marubeni Pulp Mill

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In South Africa, the 18-day petroleum strike by 70,000 union members mostly from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPWAWU) ended on 28 July, two days after the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) presented satisfactory wage and other terms. 
 
But strikes in three other bargaining councils aligned with the chemical industries continue with some hint that issues in the Pharmaceutical sector will get resolved today when CEPPWAWU and that industry association meet in government mediation. In the Glass sector, the employers’ association and unions representing 6,000 workers came to terms late on 28 July in a one-year settlement similar to the petroleum industry. 
 
In two other sectors of the National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry, Industrial Chemicals and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, the union still awaits dates for mediation as strikes continue. CEPPWAWU represents some 40,000 workers in total in Pharmaceutical, Industrial Chemicals, and the consumer goods sector. Some of the companies affected included Sasol, Adcock Ingram, Aspen Pharmaceutical, Pharmacare, Revlon and Colgate. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.ceppwawu%20use%20this%20one.jpg" width="240" height="160"/>
CEPPWAWU Members March in Johannesburg, 11 July
In the Wood, Pulp, and Paper sector, where workers employed by Sappi, Mondi, and others have been on strike since 14 July, talks mediated by the government’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) will take place this afternoon and an accord is expected. Settlement did come in Timber and Sawmilling on Friday, 29 July, where a nationwide strike began on 18 July. That agreement is now going to membership for their approval. 
 
In Fibreboard and Particleboard, negotiations have yet to be scheduled. A walkout there began on 11 July. 
 
In the Tissue and Allied Products sector, Kimberly Clark has been particularly troublesome. The American company has refused now to bargain. Many weeks ago, Kimberly Clark tabled a measly 4% wage increase for its 400 workers at two paper towel and tissue mills, nearly half the accurate inflation rate in South Africa. 
 
CEPPWAWU National Policy Coordinator John Appolis told the ICEM that Kimberly Clark is firmly set on driving down wages and work standards for competition reasons. The company had bargained jointly with Nampak as part of an employers’ association in the Tissue and Allied Products sector in years past, but Nampak broke from the multi-employer talks due to Kimberly Clark’s bargaining-table recalcitrance. 
 
Nampak settled with CEPPWAWU and other unions early in July for an 8% raise without workers striking. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.ceppwawu victory.jpg" width="244" height="160" alt=""/>
In the Timber and Sawmilling settlement, CEPPWAWU successfully negotiating a first-ever maternity leave. That will see women get four months of protected leave, in addition to 12% of their salaries to supplement their mandated unemployment compensation. Also, the minimum wage rate in Timber and Sawmilling will increase from ZAR 1,500 (US$225) to ZAR 1,775 (US$266). 
 
All wage settlements will be backdated to 1 July, including the much-publicized petroleum strike where some fuel shortages and panic buying brought wide, albeit over-stated South African press coverage. 
 
In petroleum, the unions and SAPIA agreed to an 8.5% increase, with a 10% hike gained for lower-waged workers. For them, the minimum salary increases from ZAR 4,000 (US$600) per month to 4,400 (US$660), while the unions maintained a 40-hour work-week. Women in the petroleum sector will receive a first-ever two days of leave for pre-natal maternity care. 
 
“On the wage front,” said Appolis, “our improvements are slightly ahead of current buying power in South Africa, and we showed progress in several other areas.” Besides the majority CEPPWAWU, others unions in these sector talks include the South African Chemical Workers’ Union (SACWU), the General Industrial Workers’ Union of south Africa (GIWUSA), and Solidarity.

CEPPWAWU’s Petrol Strike Ends; Chemical Sectors Close, Kimberly Clark Recalcitrant

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a key ICEM global affiliate in the Materials Sector, held its quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas, US, from 25-28 July, and re-elected their top office-bearers with unanimous voice approval. The nine officers stood as the Proven Leadership Team. 
 
The convention marked the 32nd Convention of the US-Canadian union that has united boilermakers, cement workers, ship builders, forgers, and blacksmiths for the past 131 years in North America. 
 
Re-elected President was Newton B. Jones; Secretary-Treasurer, William Creeden; and Vice Presidents: Warren Fairley, US Southeast; James Pressley, Industrial Sector; Lawrence McManamon, US Great Lakes Region; Joseph Maloney, Western Canada; Edward Power, Eastern Canada; J. Tom Baca, Western US States; and David Haggerty, US Northeast. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.boilermakers holding hands.jpg" width="358" height="144" alt=""/>
Speaking on the closing day of the Convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda sincerely thanked Jones for accepting global responsibilities with the ICEM as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chairman of the ICEM Materials Sector. He also cited the importance of specific sector work, citing ICEM and European trade union influence in blocking Lafarge’s attacks on retiree health insurance of IBB Local D-27 members in Sugar Creek, Missouri, in 2008 and 2009. 
 
“I assure you the ICEM will always be prepared to mobilise global support and solidarity whenever you call and tell us of the need,” said Warda. 
 
The ICEM leader also told of trade union repression by governments in Colombia, Iraq, and Mexico, and he reminded IBB delegates of the shameful deeds by US right-wing politicians in camouflaging deficit-reduction measures as direct attacks on trade unions. 
 
“Wisconsin must be stopped before it becomes a virus spreading all around the world,” said Warda to standing applause. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.boilermakers cecil roberts.jpg" width="327" height="161" alt=""/>
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
United Mine Workers’ of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts spoke on the convention’s opening day and praised the leadership of the IBB. “These people are the blood of your blood, the flesh of your flesh, and the soul of your soul,” Roberts told delegates. “They have shown the way for all of us.”

US Boilermakers Hold 32nd Convention

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Key activists of ICEM’s Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten inside a leading global chemicals company, Akzo Nobel, were welcomed at the ICEM Secretariat on 22 July to reinforce and organise the new global network of workers. 
 
Fons Welters, Chair of Akzo Nobel’s Central Works Council (CWC) and a member of the European Works Council (EWC), with Michael Dekker and Marcel Tesselaar, of the CWC and EWC also, are stepping up the activity of the global network with various tools, including a new quarterly newsletter for the network. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.akzo nobel.jpg" width="278" height="160" alt=""/>
It is normally the case that the union representing workers in the company’s home country assumes responsibility for administering a global network of workers, and FNV Bondgenoten considers international networking within multinationals a priority. The network formed on meeting on 31 May-1 June 2010 and was FNV-Bondgenoten in Amsterdam. The union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
An ICEM Global Corporate Network is primarily a means of communication for those working for the same employer across the world, and for their trade unions, allowing them to cooperate and coordinate. Akzo Nobel employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries.

Akzo Nobel Global Union Network Reinforced

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="120" height="59"/>
Union members of Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida, a branch of Chile’s Federation of Miners (FMC), returned to work Friday night, 5 August, at the world’s largest copper mine, majority owned by BHP Billiton. Some 2,375 miners at the Escondida mine ended a 15-day strike with a 65.5% to 34.5% vote the night before after two days of negotiating with mine management. 
 
The memorandum of agreement provides a remedy to a dispute over a 2010 production bonus but just as important, addresses several grievances and breaches by Escondida management from a 2009 labour agreement. 
 
Sindicato No. 1 said of the memorandum, “the company promises to solve a series of labour issues such as establishing a new attendance policy, regularising a certification system based on competency for promotions, and reformulating the criteria for calculating a production bonus.” These were just some of the issues in dispute inside a four-year labour agreement that was signed in November 2009. 
 
In 2010, Escondida – 57.5% owned by operator BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, and 12.5% by Japanese holding companies – saw profits of US$4.3 billion, up 35% over that of 2009. Last week’s amended bonus to each worker amounts to CHP 2.65 million (pesos), or US$5,800. Miners will receive that on 25 August.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.escondida.2.JPG" width="245" height="161"/>
Sindicato No. 1 Files Papers in a Labour Court in late July
Escondida said the strike was illegal and indicated throughout the walkout that it would not negotiate with the union. But as the days wore on and the company was losing US$30 million per day, that changed. In a statement after signing the memorandum of agreement, the company said workers had ended their “illegal work stoppage” and “this action is due to the success of talks between the parties. 
 
“Minera Escondida reiterates that dialogue and respect are the foundation for maintaining a beneficial relationship with its workers.” 
 
Besides the aforementioned labour issues, that respect includes a more transparent system for the production bonuses; restoration of a housing allocation that lifts restrictions on where miners may use the stipends; safer and higher quality buses for transportation to and from worksites, as well as compensation for tickets; no retaliation, redundancy, or punishment for union activity; and review of company-installed surveillance cameras. 
 
Miners will also be paid their salaries for the 15-day strike. Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida had filed labour court charges on several of the issues involved in the strike. 
 
For its part, the union said it hopes to maintain and deepen channels of communication with management, but also will remain vigilant that the issues agreed to in the memorandum will get resolved. 
 
Minera Escondida consists of two open-pit copper mines some 170 kilometres southeast of Antofagasta, in Chile’s Region II. It also consists of two concentrator plants, Los Colorados and Laguna Seca, which have a combined capacity of 330,000 tonnes per day. The company operates two pipelines and a filter plant at the Port of Coloso. 
 
In 2010, Escondida’s production totalled 1.087 million tonnes, consisting of 786,603 tonnes of copper concentrate and 300,098 tonnes of copper cathodes. It provides concentrates to smelters in Japan, China, Korea, India, and Chile, while the cathodes are sold to markets in France, the Netherlands, Italy, China, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. It provides a total of 7% of the world’s copper supply.

Chile Copper Workers End Strike at Escondida with 65% Vote

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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/></div>
Following an opening meeting in October 2010, the Global Safety Panel of ICEM and French chemicals company Rhodia under the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) held its second meeting at a Rhodia operation called Sertow in Serpukhov, Russia, on 19-20 July.
The safety forum was included in an amendment to the GFA in February 2010. The safety panel has duties to monitor Rhodia’s health and safety policies and practices, as well as to continue ongoing dialogue between the company and its workers and make recommendations on improvements.
The Sertow plant is part of the group’s Acetow company and makes cigarette filters for the global tobacco industry. Operated by Rhodia since 1994, the plant uses cellulose acetate flakes as a key raw material. The plant does stress the importance to health and safety issues since a fatal accident happened on 12 September 2000. The plant since has gone for over ten years without a lost-time accident.
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.SERPUKHOV rhodia.jpg" width="290" height="161"/></div>
The ICEM delegation was composed of Juarez Nogueira of Sindquim, Brazil; Scott Harrington of the United Steelworkers (USW), US; Maurice Tritsch of CFDT, France; Jie Dong from China; and Kemal Özkan and Brian Kohler from the ICEM headquarters. The delegation first met with the elected representatives of the site concerning industrial relations and the health and safety situation.
Local level labour relations were set up using the example of the German Works Council system as it exists at Acetow’s centre, located in Freiburg, Germany. There is close collaboration between the workforce leaders of both operations, and the Sertow Works Council is actively involved in labour-related matters such as collective agreements, personnel health improvement, support of sporting events, and involvement in renovation of the social room. The Works Council has regular meetings with management as part of social dialogue.
Following presentations about Rhodia, Acetow, and the Sertow plant with key figures presented on economic, social, and personnel-related matters, the meeting received a report on Rhodia Way, the company’s integrated management system regarding sustainable development.
The participants also heard a report from Rhodia managers on the five-year plan of personal safety that covered records of 2011, as well as projections for the period of 2011-2015. The report put forward a plan to significantly reduce the number of irreversible and chemical accidents until 2015. The targets cover Rhodia’s temporary and sub-contact employees and its own staff.
Having made comments on the report, the ICEM’s Kohler presented his health and safety recommendations to plant-level and corporate management. A specific discussion was made on Rhodia’s investigatory method named after the “Casual Tree" accident. The meeting also received a presentation from the Sertow management on practices and results regarding safety compliance. The participants later toured the facility.
The meeting was finalized with an assessment of the discussions and future activities. It was agreed to deepen co-operation for reflecting the work of the Global Safety Panel to workplace level in all of Rhodia’s operations worldwide.

ICEM, Rhodia Global Safety Panel Hold Second Meeting in Russia

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The ICEM has joined trade unions of Australia, New Zealand, and the UK in protesting flagrant trade union abuses by the military dictatorship in Fiji. On Saturday, 13 August, just two days after dictator Josaia Voreque Bainimarama tried to assure a high-level ILO delegation, including Deputy General Director Guy Ryder, that trade union rights in Fiji were being upheld, police showed up at the opening of Fiji Trades Union Congress’s (FTUC) national council meeting and revoked the national centre’s meeting permit. 
 
That came ten days after Daniel Urai, formerly of the ICEM-affiliated Fiji Electricity Workers’ Union, who is President of the FTUC, and union activist Dinesh Gounder were arrested under Fiji’s new Public Emergency Regulation for meeting with trade unionists without a permit. They were charged with unlawful assembly in meeting with hotel workers over a pending collective agreement. 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.fiji daniel urai.jpg" width="120" height="120"/>      <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.fiji Dinesh Gounder.jpg" width="120" height="120"/></div>
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Daniel Urai, Dinesh Gounder</div>
 
Both were released on bail on 4 August and are due to appear in the Nadi Magistrates Court on 2 September on those charges. (See <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/98.ICEM.Fiji%20Prime%20Minister.10August.pdf" type="internal">ICEM protest letter</a> here.) 
 
The arrests, along with broader trade union repression, specifically against FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony, are seen as recrimination against Fiji union leaders visiting Australia and New Zealand to speak out against the military dictatorship of Commodore Bainimarama. 
 
Australian unions, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), have begun a number of direct actions against Fiji, which have raised the stakes against Bainimarama’s strong-armed tactics. For example, the Australian Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has threatened to not load or refuel Qantas air flights headed to Fiji, which would severely impact the Pacific country’s tourism trade. The blockade would also include Air Pacific, a Qantas partner and Fiji’s flag carrier. 
 
On 2 September – the date that Urai and Gounder will be in a Fiji courtroom – the ACTU will organise two manifestations in front of Fiji consular offices in North Sydney and in Deakin near Canberra. 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.ilo fiji.jpg" width="160" height="160"/> 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Dictator Bainimarama with ILO Representatives Last Week</div>
 
On 8 August, UK’s Trades Union Congress and ICEM affiliate GMB called on British sugar multinational Tate & Lyle to challenge the Bainimarama regime’s abusive tactics. Tate & Lyle purchases 100% of Fiji’s sugar exports and the illegitimate Fijian ruler has a controlling stake in sugar production. 
 
On the same day that Urai and Gounder were arrested, 3 August, a dictum was issued by Bainimarama – Fiji’s self-appointed Prime Minister following a 2006 coup – called the Essential National Industries Employment Decree. It bans all industrial actions, will ban workers from being covered by collective agreements in 60 days time, and restricts wage and benefit growth. 
 
Despite this, Bainimarama told the ILO delegation last week he was not trying to ban unions or take away workers’ rights. Not many in the international community believe this, least of all the government of Australia, which has recalled its envoy from Fiji. 
 
On 4 August, the day Urai and Gounder were released, Australian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Martin Ferguson, issued a statement saying: “Since 2006 the Bainimarama regime has abrogated the constitution; detained political leaders; sacked the independent judiciary; censored the media; and restricted meetings of civil society, including church groups. 
 
“Despite commitments to hold elections in 2014, it is not clear the regime intends to make good on its promise. 
 
“The restriction of labour rights is part of a concerted campaign to curtail the human rights of the people of Fiji. The rights of workers in Fiji have been targeted through a series of decrees restricting labour rights, the most recent of which was aimed at essential industries.”</div>

Trade Union Repression in Fiji Mounting

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