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Two days ago, on Saturday, 8 March, the world celebrated International Women&rsquo;s Day (IWD). The day was first officially recognised as a day to honour the achievements of women at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1911, but it actually had its origin in a women&rsquo;s march in New York City three years earlier. 
 
Then, in 1908, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York demanding shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights in the US. The first national women&rsquo;s day was declared in the US on 28 February 1909. It wasn&rsquo;t until 1977 that the UN established 8 March as IWD.
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This year, events, reports, and surveys worldwide drew attention to accomplishments by women in both work and in life, as well as highlighting the necessity to continue the fight for gender equality. Perhaps nowhere is 8 March celebrated like it is in Russia, where, in 1917, it was declared a national holiday. 
 
It was in that year that Russian women gained the right to vote. Today, 8 March is a day of tribute to all women of Russia, with flowers presented to them and road police commonly ignoring minor traffic violations committed by women. Two days ago, women of Nizhny Novgorod in the Volga region played chess on a giant carpet in the city square, using men as the chess pieces. Women commanded their every move, as the men were dressed in masks and gowns. 
 
In Latvia, a poll shows that 53% of all citizens consider IWD an important holiday and they celebrate it, despite the government downgraded the day after separation from the former USSR in 1991. In Georgia, women who are beyond the ages of 90 and 100, received special gifts from their government this year.
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But in many countries, actions took a more serious note over the weekend. In Iraq on Saturday, hundreds of women gathered or a rally in front of the Babylon Hotel in Baghdad&rsquo;s central Karada neighbourhood to call for an end to violence toward women in the war-torn country. 
 
The Iraqi call also was for women to be granted the freedom to choose their husbands themselves, as well as their careers. Following the rally, a conference on women&rsquo;s rights was held in a hotel. One of the speakers was the Iraqi Minister for Women&rsquo;s Rights, Nariman Mahmoud Othman, who earlier had led a delegation of women to the offices of Mahmoud Mashhadani, head of Parliament, with a list of women&rsquo;s rights issues. 
 
Also in Iraq, an NGO report, issued two days before IWD, showed that 64% of Iraqi women surveyed say that violence against them had increased since the 2003 invasion by occupation military forces.
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Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas used IWD to give a speech at his Ramallah headquarters, calling for peace between the impoverished nation and Israel. &ldquo;Despite all the Israeli attacks, we call for peace and we are keen on peace built through international legitimacy,&rdquo; said Abbas, in calling for renewed peace talks with Israel. 
 
In the Philippines, over 1,000 women on 8 March marched to the presidential palace of Gloria Arroyo. The march was led by feminist groups, who called on Arroyo to resign over allegations that her husband and a political ally sought financial kickbacks from a Chinese company in a national internet broadband deal. 
 
Arroyo used the day prior to IWD to announce two programmes aimed at giving Filipino women technical training and to assist them in entrepreneur endeavours.
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Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu dedicated the opening of the Taiwan National Women&rsquo;s Hall in Taipei on Saturday. It will serve as a venue for women&rsquo;s groups to hold exhibitions, meetings, and to host international women&rsquo;s delegations. &ldquo;Usually people think history is the story of men, hence the word &lsquo;history&rsquo;,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But in the future, there should also be the story of &lsquo;herstory,&rsquo; and when the two words are combined, they become &lsquo;human story&rsquo;,&rdquo; she remarked. 
 
In Australia, IWD was marked by a celebratory rally in Sydney&rsquo;s Hyde Park in honour of a new domestic violence law that took effect in the state of New South Wales (NSW). The law introduces a specific change regarding domestic violence that allows the state to name and shame offenders. 
 
NSW now places a &ldquo;black mark&rdquo; next to the names of repeat offenders, so that such people are highlighted before the justice system. Previously, domestic violence offenders were tagged only with general assault charges. Meanwhile, the Kevin Rudd government has begun the process toward making Australia a partner to the optional protocol of the UN&rsquo;s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
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In Nepal, women&rsquo;s and human rights groups activists staged protests calling for an end to the statutory 35-day limitation in the Himalayan country for filing rape charges. Jagaran Nepal, an NGO working for women&rsquo;s rights, peace, and governance, also conducted events, as did the organisation Walking for Working Women, which held a march in Kathmandu that culminated in music and performance at Three Kings Monument in the city. 
 
In Pakistan, Working Women Organisation (WWO) organised a seminar on Saturday at the Lahore Press Club. Human rights activists presented their thoughts regarding women&rsquo;s role in building democracy and justice. &ldquo;Even though the situation is extremely gloomy&rdquo; in Pakistan, said a WWO letter, &ldquo;one thing which keeps our hopes alive is that workers, women&rsquo;s organisations, trade unions, lawyers, and media never stop to raise their voices against government suppression.&rdquo; 
 
Also in Pakistan, social service organisations, NGOs, and some political parties paid tribute to the contributions of women in the fields of politics, science, education, the medical profession, and arts and literature. The Pakistan People&rsquo;s Party directed all of its branch offices across the country to hold ceremonies in honour of its slain chairperson, Benazir Bhutto. 
 
In Ireland on 7-8 March, the Irish Council of Trade Unions held a Women&rsquo;s Conference in Tralee that focused on gender pay and the pension gap, support for working families, childcare, equality, and women in leadership. Some 180 delegates attended.
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A motion from the trade union SIPTU to the conference centered on pay inequality. The union stated that traditional ways of measuring the pay gap between men and women does not fully reflect the real disparities. &ldquo;Issues such as pensions and paid leave must be factored in,&rdquo; read SIPTU&rsquo;s motion. 
 
The union called for research to be commissioned in Ireland in order to provide more accurate and holistic statistics for comparing income throughout the life cycle. SIPTU also calls on trade unions to place the pensions disparity between men and women forefront in future collective negotiations. 
 
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) used IWD to release a survey on women&rsquo;s presence in leadership positions inside trade unions. The ETUC survey, the first of what will become an annual poll of member organisations on gender issues, reveals a paradox between women in trade union leadership positions and the fact that women&rsquo;s job growth is sharply curbing the decline in union membership. 
 
Eighteen European national labour centres have reported rises in female union membership, ranging from 0.2% to 2.5% over just the past year. This compares with a general drop in union membership for men. &ldquo;There is significant room for improvement and it is time to implement concrete measures&rdquo; for more women leadership roles in trade unions, states the ETUC.
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Meanwhile, the ITUC last week issued a report on the occasion of IWD, entitled The Global Gender Pay Gap. Using statistics from 63 countries, the report puts the worldwide gender pay gap on average at 16% less for women than for men. 
 
The report does show that collective bargaining by trade unions in some countries swerves to narrow the gap in salaries. But the report cautions that the actual pay gap may be higher than 16% when considering the hundreds of millions of informal workers toiling in low-wage jobs today. 
 
Another report last week was issued by the ILO. Called Global Employment Trends 2008, the report says creation of greater gender equality is dependent on access to decent work and productive employment. The report states that even though women are entering the workforce in greater number, the jobs women get are generally low-paid and vulnerable, leaving them with few social protections or basic rights. 
 
The ILO noted that the most successful region in terms of economic growth over the past 10 years &ndash; East Asia &ndash; is also the region with the highest employment-to-population ratio for women at 65.2%. East Asia is characterized as a region with low jobless rates for both men and women, and relatively small gender gaps in pay and status. 
 
IWD is observed officially as a national holiday by 14 nations. They include: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Global Events Mark International Women’s Day, 8 March

Brussels, 7 March 2008 
 
Dear Colleagues, 
 
Following a decision taken by our Congress, last November 2007, the ICEM will move its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
As from 1st April the new address for ICEM will be: 
54bis route des Acacias 
1227 Geneva, Switzerland 
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The transfer of the headquarters will implement some technical issues with the transfer of the IT server to Geneva. Indeed ICEM will be &lsquo;cut&rsquo; from any internet, e-mail or network communication from 21 March 2008 until most probably 6 April 2008 included. 
 
We apologies for the inconvenience the situation could cause you and we thank you very much in advance for your understanding. 
In case of emergency situation or issues, you can contact us by fax on +32-2/648-43-16 and we will do our best to help you. 
 
Looking forward to welcoming you in Geneva. 
 
In solidarity, 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary

ICEM is moving to Geneva

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Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. has become an anti-social force blocking workplace solutions to the downstream oil section of Nigeria. And the company&rsquo;s actions last week leave no doubt as to its intentions &ndash; it seeks to operate its technical and white-collar work units in downstream production with non-union staff. 
 
The company, 100% owned by US-based ExxonMobil, refused to attend a mandated mediation meeting called by the Nigerian Labour Ministry, on 3 March 2008, to resolve differences on work practices and severance procedures with white-collar oil workers&rsquo; trade union, PENGASSAN.
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Through much of 2007 and into 2008, ICEM-affiliated PENGASSAN and Mobil Oil &ndash; as they did similarly with other oil refiners &ndash; engaged in negotiations over severance packages. Some intermediate agreements had occurred, but implementing practical application of job separation was elusive. 
 
That process spilled into the Labour Ministry. Senior Nigerian managers of three downstream firms operating in Nigeria did attend the meeting with Nigeria&rsquo;s Labour and Industrial Relations Director a week ago. But Mobil Oil Nigeria failed to show up. 
 
In the days following that 3 March meeting, the American company displayed its prejudice: it unilaterally sacked PENGASSAN branch leaders, including the zonal Financial Secretary and the union&rsquo;s National Treasurer. It now has severed from employment all PENGASSAN bargaining committee members who represent workers in collective negotiations. 
 
It also has fired shop stewards and others identified with the union, rising to over 100 the number of full-time workers sacked. In last year&rsquo;s talks, PENGASSAN and Mobil Oil Nigeria had agreed to staff cuts of just over 40, mostly to accommodate a new data processing system. The company did employ about 400 white-collar staff permanently, but that number has now decreased, with contract and agency workers now taking many of those jobs.
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&nbsp;PENGASSAN Gen. Sec. Bayo Olowoshile 

&ldquo;Mobil Oil Nigeria has betrayed our trust,&rdquo; stated PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile. &ldquo;These recent actions are pre-meditated attempts to victimise and harass union officers, frustrate legal justice, and they amount to a serious breach of our existing labour agreement, national industrial law, and global labour standards.&rdquo; 
 
Olowoshile said Mobil has violated terms of the 2007-2008 labour agreement; breached Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, which grants rights to membership in trade unions; ignored Section 9 of the Nigerian Labour Code; and disregarded ILO Convention 135, the Worker&rsquo;s Representatives Convention. 
 
With the company failing to turn up for 3 March mediation session, the Labour Ministry is now expected to side with PENGASSAN in a National Industrial Court matter over the company&rsquo;s unilateral actions. The three downstream companies that did engage in last week&rsquo;s mediation session included Chevron, African Petroleum Plc., and Oando Plc. The labour relations of Shell Nigeria&rsquo;s downstream operations are not affected in these talks. 
 
The ICEM steadfastly stands behind PENGASSAN and its illegally sacked leaders at Mobil Oil Nigeria, and will work toward reinstatement. The Global Union Federation notes that the company, in 2004, replaced all its permanent blue-collar workers in the downstream sector with agency workers. Those full-time staff had been represented by ICEM affiliate NUPENG.

ExxonMobil Viciously Victimises Union Staff at Nigerian Downstream Operations

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After 14 long months of struggle and dispute with American consumer products company Procter &amp; Gamble, 350 workers represented ably by Sindicato de Trabajadores de Procter &amp; Gamble Industrial Peru (SINTRA P&amp;G) have won their first collective agreement through arbitration. 
 
In the agreement, the union secured fundamental workers&rsquo; rights principles guaranteed under ILO standards, particularly the right of freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. In making the announcement, the Peruvian union thanked the ICEM and other organisations for assistance and solidarity since the new union began organising at the chemicals, soaps, and detergents factory in San Isidro, near Lima, in March 2007.
<img height="105" src="" width="140" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
The contract became viable through arbitration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru management had resisted going to arbitration throughout, despite the fact that it had engaged in previous such sessions with a predecessor union. 
 
SINTRA P&amp;G has now pledged to take up the cause of 39 trade unionists at the factory who had been fired for asserting their right to form a union. SINTRA P&amp;G stated that despite the resistance from management to form a union, &ldquo;It is now time to turn the page and encourage all to move forward on the right path&rdquo; of active trade unionism, referring to organising and collective bargaining. 
 
The union&rsquo;s intention now is work toward an improved second collective agreement, and SINTRA P&amp;G has opened its doors to all workers who seek healthy work lives. Procter &amp; Gamble Peru also utilizes 400 indirect workers in its production and distributions operations. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the recent success of its future Peruvian affiliate!

SINTRA P&amp;G Successful in First Contract at Procter &amp; Gamble Peru

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Prior to IF Metall&rsquo;s First Ordinary Congress in mid-May, ICEM&rsquo;s Swedish affiliate held a charged and enthusiastic two-day conference entitled &ldquo;Decent Working Conditions for All &ndash; Fair and Just Globalization.&rdquo; The conference, held 11-12 May in Stockholm, brought together hundreds of local Swedish trade union representatives with international union leaders. 
 
In opening the conference, IF Metall National President Stefan L&ouml;fven stressed that the 400,000-member union favours global free trade, but only if free trade ensures good and favourable work conditions for all. The conference heard from Jan Eliasson, chairman of Sweden&rsquo;s Social Democratic Party&rsquo;s Foreign Affairs Advisory Committee, and Kari Tapiola, Assistant Director-General of the ILO.
<img height="136" alt="" src="" width="120" />
IF Metall President Stefan L&ouml;fven 
It also featured a number of workshops on day two, including &ldquo;Trade Union Solidarity in a State of Change,&rdquo; &ldquo;Global Cooperation in Practice between Companies and Trade Unions,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Political Platform of the EU &ndash; Today and in the Future,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The State of the International Trade Union Movement &ndash; a Challenge and Need for Change.&rdquo; 
 
Participating on panels across those workshops were ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda; General Secretary Neil Kearney of the Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF); Horst Mund, Head of International Department, IG Metall, Germany; G&ouml;ran F&auml;rm, Swedish Member of the European Parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party; and Ingrid Schullstr&ouml;m, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for H&amp;M, the Swedish department store chain. 
 
Earlier, on day one, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi delivered an address on &ldquo;Activities of the Global Union Federations,&rdquo; emphasizing that today, international trade union work is a part of everyday life on the local level. He shared a session with AB Electrolux President and CEO Hans Str&aring;berg, called &ldquo;The Role and Task of Multinational Companies in a More Global World, Their Contribution Towards a Fairer Globalization.&rdquo; 
 
During IF Metall&rsquo;s Congress proceedings, Malentacchi and the union&rsquo;s International Secretary, Mats Svensson, denounced Swedish multinational Ericsson AB&rsquo;s contract labour practices in Bangladesh. Recently in Bangladesh, a contract worker fell into an unprotected zinc and acid tank. Ericsson manufactures components for telephones in Bangladesh.
<img height="78" alt="" src="" width="66" />
&nbsp;IF Metall International Secretary Mats Svensson

IF Metall and IMF used a press conference to insist that Ericsson go beyond its own code of conduct by engaging in discussions toward a Global Framework Agreement with the IMF. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s clear in this case that (Ericsson&rsquo;s) unilaterally adopted rules for the environment and security of employees is not working,&rdquo; stated Svensson. 
 
He added that if decent work conditions are to become real, there must be cooperation between multinationals and employees&rsquo; global union representatives. &ldquo;An agreement signed between a multinational and an international trade union organisation is a tool for social justice,&rdquo; said Svensson. &ldquo;The company puts itself at the negotiating table, and creates a tool that ensures&rdquo; proper and decent work conditions are observed. 
 
At the Congress itself, IF Metall&rsquo;s 300 delegates ratified initiatives supporting Global Framework Agreements and for Sweden to adopt ILO Convention 94, the Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention. Fifty-nine countries have ratified the 1949 Convention, which calls for social and labour clauses to be inserted into public procurement clauses, but Sweden has not.
<img height="160" alt="" src="" width="240" />
&nbsp;Raising of the Flag: Solidarity, Socialism, Equality 

In other Congress business, IF Metall delegates called for a change of government in Sweden&rsquo;s next elections, and criticised the centre-right coalition that currently rules the government for its sharp reductions in unemployment insurance. 
 
The Congress reaffirmed its approach on sustainable development, that an integrated approach must take hold that includes research, innovation, new technology, and lifelong learning and skills development. The Congress also called for a halt to the decommissioning of nuclear power facilities. 
 
President Stefan L&ouml;fven was re-elected President, and Veli-Pekka S&auml;ikk&auml;l&auml; won election as the new National Bargaining Secretary. The Congress featured an address by the President of Colombian ICEM affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n. Jaime Deluquez Diaz thanked the Swedish union for providing strength and knowledge to his 4,000-member coal miners&rsquo; union in Colombia.

‘Fair and Just Globalization’ Workshops Organised by IF Metall in Sweden

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ICEM Turkish trade union affiliate Lastik-İş made good on its 8 May strike notice by calling 4,000 tyre manufacturing workers out at four factories, operated by three multinational tyre companies. The strikes began late on Saturday, 31 May. 
 
Negotiations continued until the early morning hours of that day, with the employers&rsquo; association offering last-minute wage and social payment proposals to avert strikes. Those offers were presented to rank-and-file members of Lastik-İş, but were rejected by an accumulative 80% vote.
<img height="178" alt="" src="" width="180" />
Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan 
 

The strikes then began at factories of Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci and Pirelli, and two plants operated and majority- owned by US-based Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co. The four tyre plants are in the Turkish cities of Izmit and Adapazari. The union and management association has been negotiating since September 2007 on a new labour agreement. 
 
&ldquo;The decision to strike was taken by workers and I believe we shall overcome the employers&rsquo; intransigence,&rdquo; said Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. &ldquo;The salary offer made by employers is far from meeting the work performed by tyre workers. Our decisiveness for gaining our demands is resolute.&rdquo; 
 
The union is seeking a 12% wage increase for the first six-month period of a two-year labour agreement, and the Turkish rate of inflation for each six-month period thereafter. The tyre companies are resisting inflation-rate payments for the three six-month periods. The two sides differ also on various social payments customary in Turkish work schemes.
<img height="240" alt="" src="" width="360" />
Striking Rubber Workers at Pirelli Factory&nbsp;
All agenda items within the 59-article labour contract, save for the wage and social payment items, have been agreed upon by the two sides. 
 
Goodyear operates an auto, light truck, bus, and heavy equipment tyre plant in Adapazari, employing 800 rubber workers, and a truck, bus, and agriculture tyre plant in Izmit, where 500 workers are employed. Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, jointly owned by Japanese-based Bridgestone and Sabanci Group of Turkey, manufactures auto, truck, and heavy equipment tyres in Izmit, employing 1,500, while Italian-based Pirelli has another auto and truck tyre plant in Izmit, in which 1,200 workers are employed.

4,000 Turkish Rubber Workers Strike Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Pirelli

The ICEM, a 20-million-member Global Union Federation covering trade unions in the Mining Sector, welcomes the settlement reached today between the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN) and Skorpion Zinc, a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based Anglo American PLC. 
 
The two parties came to terms today in Windhoek in mediation successfully completed by the head of Namibia&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare&rsquo;s Labour Commission, Bro-Mathew Shinguadja.
<img height="120" alt="" src="" width="120" />
The settlement ends a lockout by Skorpion management that started 23 May at the mining and smelting operation in the country&rsquo;s southern Karas Region. It also resolves the central issue behind that lockout &ndash; the company&rsquo;s insistence that the MUN drop its claim to overtime pay in a to move to continuous shift operations, daily work shifts of 12 hours, with seven days on and then seven days off. 
 
MUN will support Skorpion&rsquo;s application to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare for a labour code exemption, which, if granted, will allow the longer work shifts. But the issue of overtime pay was resolved by the company agreeing to comply with a pending court case brought by the MUN regarding overtime pay for work performed beyond nine hours per day. 
 
&ldquo;We believed throughout that Skorpion must honour Namibian labour code regarding payment of overtime for additional work,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, &ldquo;and we shared that belief with mining unions across the world. We commend the MUN, Skorpion, and Anglo American for reaching this agreement, and thank the many trade unions around the world who promptly responded to our call. 
 
&ldquo;We now ask miners and Skorpion management at this important Namibian enterprise to seek reconciliation and move forward from what has been a bitter labour dispute.&rdquo;
<img height="193" alt="" src="" width="140" />
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Skorpion agreed to lift the lockout immediately, with miners returning to work on Monday, 2 June. The agreement will be jointly presented to the 600 miners on Monday by MUN local branch leaders and Skorpion management. 
 
The one-year labour agreement will be backdated to 1 April 2008, and contains a 12% pay increase for miners. 
 
The ICEM drew global attention to the dispute when Skorpion reversed terms of a near settlement on 19 May, an agreement then that would have ended an 11-day strike by miners. The next day, MUN suspended the strike but three days later &ndash; on 23 May &ndash; Skorpion management imposed its lockout, seeking a waiver on all overtime pay. 
For further information, contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, +41 22 304 1842, +41 79 734 8994 (mobile), or <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>

Skorpion Zinc Lockout Ends with Global Mine Union Pressure

<img height="68" src="" width="140" alt="" />
An expected conclusion to the 11-day strike in Namibia at Skorpion Zinc yesterday did not occur, due to company insistence that wages be tied to ICEM affiliate Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN) withdrawing a pending court case. During negotiations yesterday &ndash; talks that were expected to finalise a new labour agreement and end the strike &ndash; management &ldquo;took a full u-turn&rdquo; on many issues resolved over the weekend, according to MUN President Andries Eiseb. 
 
The MUN has suspended the strike, but has given no guarantee that a further walk-out by its 450 union members at the zinc mining and smelting operation near Rosh Pinah in southwestern Namibia will not occur. 
 
In talks yesterday, management linked a 12% pay offer to Skorpion, owned by major mining house AngloAmerican, gaining an exemption from Namibia&rsquo;s Labour Ministry to move to continuous operations. MUN gave the company a promise that it would support such an application to the government, but that pledge hinged on workers immediately gaining the pay hike 
 
Also, Skorpion management changed the effective date of any new agreement, from 1 May 2008 to the effective date of signing.
<img height="66" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The court matter, dating to 2004, involves compensation &ndash; specifically, overtime pay &ndash; on the operation&rsquo;s shift to continuous operations. MUN has argued that overtime pay be tied to the basic requirements contained in Namibia&rsquo;s labour code. 
 
&ldquo;The company&rsquo;s demand that the wage issue can only be settled once the court action has been withdrawn has crippled the whole negotiation process,&rdquo; said Eiseb. &ldquo;We feel we are being kept at ransom to a pending court case, said Eiseb, adding that the company&rsquo;s negotiation posture has been one of &ldquo;bad faith, intimidation, harassment, and arrogance.&rdquo; 
 
The strike by 680 miners at one of the world&rsquo;s richest zinc operations began on 9 May. The ICEM believes that the MUN and its membership has been a steadfast partner in an operation which has provided the London-based company with its largest profit contribution of late. Since Skorpion came fully on line in 2005, zinc prices on global markets have risen more than 300%.

Skorpion Reneges; Deal to Settle Zinc Dispute in Namibia is Scuttled

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A US-based company has provoked a strike in New Zealand because it has refused to join Multi-Employer Collective Agreement for the Metals Industry. Members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) struck Ecolab in Hamilton, New Zealand, in March. 
 
Despite mediation efforts to resolve the dispute, 16 EPMU members continued to picket outside the plant last week. Workers voted to enter joint negotiations for the Metals Industry earlier this year, but local managers declined to abide by the decision.
<img height="170" src="" width="320" alt="" />
Ecolab, a chemicals company, is a manufacturer of cleaning and sanitizing products for institutional and industrial companies. The state of Minnesota-based company also makes infection-control products for health care customers. 
 
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little stated the Metals Industry&rsquo;s bargaining platform provides a benchmark for wages and conditions, and that Ecolab workers have a right to expect a collective agreement that is not sub-standard. &ldquo;These workers have made a democratic decision to negotiate a deal which is consistent with industry standards, but their employer has a policy of refusing all industry negotiations,&rdquo; said Little. 
 
The publicly-traded, multi-national company, 29% owned by German chemicals producer Henkel, provides its Australian workers with higher pay and extra shift leave, the EPMU states. Besides achieving industry standards, Ecolab workers stand to gain an extra week&rsquo;s leave if they can bring Ecolab into the fold. The Multi-Employer Collective Agreements for Metals covers more than 100 general manufacturing companies in New Zealand.

New Zealand Chemical Workers On Strike Against US-based Ecolab

<img height="39" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Nuclear workers in the UK &ndash; members of three trade unions &ndash; are currently meeting to consider whether or not to conduct industrial action. If taken, job actions could affect 11,500 workers at several nuclear sites just as the British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority prepares to sell the last of the country&rsquo;s state-owned nuclear assets.
<img height="112" alt="" src="" width="89" /><img height="90" src="" width="90" alt="" />
Meetings this week by trade unions Unite, GMB, and Prospect will discuss a proposed 2% pay offer by employers, a proposal considered inferior and below inflation. Bosses did present an extra 2% bonus, but union negotiators say too many strings are attached to the bonus. 
 
A consultative ballot is expected at this week&rsquo;s meeting over the 2% pay proposal, and the unions will then move that an industrial ballot be taken if the pay offer is refused. The nuclear sites that are affected are Sellafield in Cumbria, its technical facility in Risley, and Capenhurst, a former uranium enrichment plant in Cheshire.

UK’s Nuclear Workers Consider Industrial Action

Archive

Global Events Mark International Women’s Day, 8 March

ICEM is moving to Geneva

ExxonMobil Viciously Victimises Union Staff at Nigerian Downstream Operations

SINTRA P&G Successful in First Contract at Procter & Gamble Peru

‘Fair and Just Globalization’ Workshops Organised by IF Metall in Sweden

4,000 Turkish Rubber Workers Strike Bridgestone, Goodyear, and Pirelli

Skorpion Zinc Lockout Ends with Global Mine Union Pressure

Skorpion Reneges; Deal to Settle Zinc Dispute in Namibia is Scuttled

New Zealand Chemical Workers On Strike Against US-based Ecolab

UK’s Nuclear Workers Consider Industrial Action

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