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Workers at the Bridgestone aerospace tyre plant in Frameries, Belgium, will hit the five-week mark on strike this Thursday, 16 July. The strike was brought on by the Japanese-based company&rsquo;s refusal to negotiate. A company decision on whether or not to close down a 140-worker re-treading factory in Frameries has not been communicated to workers and their majority representative, Belgian affiliate Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB, and the union exhausted all legal means before striking on 11 June. 
 
That strike came when Bridgestone unilaterally decided to dismiss all 8 workers in one area of the factory without proper social talks. Many of those workers had been on the job for over 20 years. One of the dismissed workers is a senior trade union officer and secretary of the Works Council, who has been working at the plant since 1980. 

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Bridgestone has disrupting social harmony in Frameries, despite a formal commitment to protect jobs in the current collective bargaining agreement. Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB insisted that the company exam all options to safeguard employment, including part-time redundancy, early retirement, in-house transfers, time credit, or other such social options. The union also stresses that 14 workers are employed at Frameries on short-term contracts. 
 
Local management at Bridgestone-Frameries has continued its anti-labour practices throughout the strike. Instead of seeking reasonable solutions through dialogue, managers will not even answer telephone calls to address issues. 

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Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB condemns such practices, calling them immoral and reprehensible and also condemns the company for criminalizing its own workers who are only defending their rights. 
 
The ICEM also condemns such social behaviour. &ldquo;At the heart of Europe, in Belgium, a multinational company is deciding on issues of employment outside the lawful prerequisites of the social model,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. He added that ICEM&rsquo;s Bridgestone Global Union Network addressed this strike recently in its deliberations and put the issue forward to Japanese senior management. 
 
Bridgestone on the corporate level has not responded. The ICEM is asking global affiliates to send a solidarity message in your own words and your own language to Bridgestone-Frameries workers by clicking <a href="mailto:alain.denooze@accg.be">here</a>.

Bridgestone Tyre Re-treading Strike Continues in Belgium

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The ten-year existence of the ICEM&rsquo;s BASF Workers' Network in South America was celebrated on 30 June 2009 in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil. The event was attended by more than 100 guests, partners from the trade union movement, employers, workers, and managers from throughout the chemicals industry in Brazil. 
 
As the experiences of the first ten years of the network's operations were recalled from both trade union and company point of view. The network coordinator mentioned the main struggles that occurred and went into the network's future challenges. Those include the issues of subcontracting, health and safety, and unfair dismissals. 

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The ten-year anniversary celebration of ICEM&rsquo;s most successful regional workers&rsquo; network came between two, full working days of the Network, on 29 June and July 1. 
 
The presentation by Wagner Brunini, BASF Human Resources Director for South America, gave evidence to the company&rsquo;s commitment to the network and its appreciation to all forms of workers' representation. Brunini defined one challenge: informing and training all management staff to create a new management culture. 

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Michael Vassiliadis 
Thematic panels were also held during the event on social dialogue, presented by IGBCE Board Member Michael Vassiliadis, and on sustainable enterprises, presented by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
Vassiliadis emphasised that the workers' experience at BASF in South America ought to serve as a social dialogue example for other companies. According to Vassiliadis, society's interest in this labour relations practice has to be awakened. 
 
&quot;We need trade unions and trade unionists who cultivate a sensible relationship with companies,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It is necessary to define our requirements and to know where we need to go with dialogue.&quot; 
 
Warda pointed to important fundamentals for sustainable enterprises: &quot;Listen to what the other side is saying, comprehend its needs, and exercise mutual respect.&quot; 
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At the end of the ceremony, an excellent publication was distributed, entitled, &quot;Rede de Trabalhadores na BASF Am&eacute;rica do Sul: 10 anos de Solidariedade Sindical e Di&aacute;logo Social,&quot; a homage to those who conceived of and founded the network. 
 
ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais coordinated the event, which was also attended by the IGBCE International Officer Michael Wolters, and the President of BASF South America, Dr Rolf-Dieter Acker.

BASF South American Network Celebrates Ten Fruitful Years

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An oil workers&rsquo; trade union, affiliated to Peruvian FENUPETROL, showed its indignation last month at violations of health and safety conditions for workers at ECOPETROL-Knoc, a Colombian/Korean joint venture operating in Peru. The company is guilty of failing to enforce safety standards at its Peruvian subsidiaries called Petro-Tech Peruana SA. 
 
The June National Assembly of FENUPETROL analysed the poor record of safety in the industry in Peru. Petro-Tech Peruana owns numerous petroleum companies, including Diving Del Peru Sac. The union there submitted numerous complaints over failed safety and health protections for members by Jaime Velasco, director of Human Relations, by Luis Navarro Vilela, director of Industrial Relations, and by plant manager Finlay Macdonald. 
 
Twenty-two workers at the company were suspended on 18 April 2009 for refusing to work in unsafe conditions. 

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The company failed to even respond to communiqu&eacute;s by the union to address safety concerns, which include placing inexperienced supervisors in charge of dangerous operations. That has led to two serious accidents in the days preceding the union&rsquo;s National Assembly. In one, a worker lost his air supply while cleaning a suction filter under water at an offshore oil rig. 
 
The dangerous, illegal, and lax attitude of ECOPETROL towards workers&rsquo; safety received international condemnation, with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) speaking out last month. In a letter to ECOPETROL Vice President Lic Navarrete, following an accident which hospitalized a worker with first and second degree burns, LO called for an immediate change in the safety culture. 
 
Other fatal examples by affiliates of ECOPETROL have seen divers die after being trapped under water without supervisors even noticing. 

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Petro-tech Peruana has also come under heavy criticism for its continued refusal to adopt a social development programme, a plan that would install gas connections to homes. Such a plan would create jobs. The company has made pledges on social responsibility, but has repeatedly refused to enter into dialogue with inhabitants in Talara Province. 
 
The ICEM demands swift improvement to the health and safety policies and practices of ECOPETROL and its subsidiaries. The ICEM will work together with new Colombian oil workers&rsquo; affiliate, USO, to improve health and safety within the company.

ECOPETRO-Knoc in Peru Criticised for Lax Health, Safety Conditions

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Following the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee Meetings late in June in Geneva, and the two-day International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Union Network (INWUN) conference, the ICEM held a wider Electric Power Workers&rsquo; Conference on 27 June. 
 
Under the chairmanship of Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Industries Section Chairman, the conference saw participation of trade unions involved in the production and distribution of electric power, regardless of the method of generation used. 
 
A number of presently unaffiliated trade unions from the North America electric industry had been invited and a union representing power workers of British Colombia, Canada, Local 38 of the Canadian Office and Professional Employees&rsquo; Union, was in attendance. 
 
After an opening session where speeches of welcome preceded a detailed presentation of the global industry and recent ICEM work, made by Energy Officer Jim Catterson, a presentation on ICEM&rsquo;s Sustainable Development policy was made by Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler. 

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Michael Langford, Lars Mhyre, Manfred Warda
The conference focused on key priorities of ICEM including Global Framework Agreements, networks, and campaigns. On global agreements, an overview by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda was followed by a detailed presentation on the EDF agreement by Marc Ferron of French affiliate FCE-CFDT. 
 
Ferron is the secretary of the coordinating committee established within the EDF agreement, and his presentation generated much interest and discussion. A second session focused on network building with presentations on the previous two days of INWUN meetings, done by INWUN Chairman David Shier of the Canadian Power Workers&rsquo; Union, and on the Asia-Pacific Electric Power Workers&rsquo; Network, a presentation made by a colleague from Japan. 
 
A third focus of the conference was on campaigning and following an overview of recent ICEM campaigns in the industry by ICEM Information and Campaigns Officer Dick Blin, the meeting heard a report of the ongoing campaign for a first collective agreement at Covanta in the US state of Massachusetts by Michael Langford, President of the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). This presentation focussed on the international aspects of the struggle for justice, and also generated considerable interest and discussion. 
 
The electric conference then drew together the discussions under a general theme of building and strengthening trade unions throughout the industry. Iraq was clearly focused on as an immediate priority following a moving presentation of the situation there by Hashmeyia Saadawi, the President of ICEM-affiliated General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians (GFIW) and a member of the ICEM Executive. She gave a detailed report on the daily dangers involved in trade union work in Iraq and her presentation centered on the lack of regular electric power supply service there, and on safety and health problems, which has led to an appalling rate of accidents and deaths record in the industry. 
 
Participants also congratulated Hashmeyia Saadawi on her recent award of the prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award presented by FNV, a Dutch national labour centre, which is given to a trade union leader who has worked under difficult circumstances, taken enormous personal risks, but has defended trade union rights in countries where such rights are routinely violated. 
 
The conference marked the first time ICEM has held a meeting devoted purely to Electric Power, and all participants considered it a very worthwhile exercise in building and organising solidarity. Delegates resolved to build a sector-wide communication network to build solidarity to conflicts and to communicate good practice and union success stories quickly and easily.

ICEM Hold First Electric Power Conference

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Just prior to US President Barack Obama&rsquo;s state visit late last week to Ghana, the country&rsquo;s Federation of Labour (GFL) teamed with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to hold a two-day conference on labour rights in America. 
 
The conclusion, as recited by the GFL&rsquo;s Executive Board, is that even though the US preaches democracy and human rights, and makes such principles conditional in the granting of aid to developing countries, workers in the US themselves lack fundamental human and labour rights to association, join a union, or to participate in collective bargaining. 

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A statement from the conference said, &ldquo;Violations of trade union rights occurring in Africa are influenced by the anti-union practices, especially in the USA, where workers are deprived their fundamental rights to organise and bargaining collectively. 
 
&ldquo;Strangely, the USA has not yet ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 concerning freedom of association and the right of workers to bargaining collectively. This is an indictment on the image of the USA as a founding member of the ILO.&rdquo; 
 
The 7-8 July conference specifically examined the hurdles US workers and trade unions are facing currently in trying to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA is a proposed law that would give American workers the same opportunities to organise and bargain that workers in nearly all other developed countries have. Through decades of US labour law precedents, employers have coerced, intimidated, and threatened their staff from joining trade unions, and current US labour laws have allowed them to do so with impunity.

Ghana Labour Federation Lashes Out at Lack of US Work Rights

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The ICEM calls on its members to sign the petition against nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Go to <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/peace">www.ituc-csi.org/peace</a>, and pledge your support. The millions of signatures that will be collected will be presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the next Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in May 2010. 
 
The ICEM believes that the enormous levels of funds spent on these weapons, must be redirected to the social sphere, especially during this period of global economic depression. 

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The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) provides a document for the collection of names of the petition on the link above. All paper signatures must be sent to the ITUC before February 2010. The campaign has a page on Facebook, which can be found by searching &ldquo;No to Nuclear Weapons.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM's worldwide membership includes workers in the civilian nuclear industry, who consistently denounce nuclear weaponry.

ICEM Supports ITUC Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons

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Mexico City &ndash; Trade union and parliamentary leaders from 14 countries are visiting Mexico this week to support the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers, which has been under attack by the Mexican government and the Grupo Mexico mining company. 
 
Yesterday, 28 members of the U.S. Congress wrote to Calder&oacute;n asking him to meet with the delegation. &ldquo;Continued efforts by the Mexican government and Grupo Mexico to repress this democratic union in Mexico have raised serious questions about labor practices in your country,&rdquo; the letter stated.&nbsp; See the letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/LTR.US.Congress.Mexico.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The delegation, organized by the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org">www.imfmetal.org</a>, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM), <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>, and the United Steelworkers (USW), <a href="http://www.usw.org">www.usw.org</a>, is seeking a meeting with President Felipe Calder&oacute;n to discuss his government&rsquo;s handling of the Mineworkers conflict, which has been criticized by the international trade union movement. 
 
&ldquo;Workers around the world are outraged at Mexico&rsquo;s attacks on the Mineworkers union,&rdquo; said USW President Leo W. Gerard. 
 
The Mineworkers are one of the few unions in Mexico that continues to strike for higher wages. The union has won a series of strikes this year with wage increases above 8 percent, well above the 4.5 percent limit imposed by the government. The union has also criticized the government&rsquo;s labor law reform proposals and the lack of health and safety protections for workers. 
 
In response, the government has twice removed the leader of the union, Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, from office. The Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labor Organization (ILO), ruling in a complaint brought by the IMF, found that &ldquo;the labour authorities engaged in conduct that is incompatible with Article 3 of Convention No. 87, which establishes the right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom.&rdquo; 
 
The government has repeatedly filed criminal charges against the union leadership, although these have been thrown out by the courts. The government has also tried repeatedly to declare illegal a strike at three Grupo Mexico mines which has run for nearly two years, but the courts have rebuffed these efforts. The government has also supported Grupo Mexico in establishing company-dominated unions at eight other facilities. 
 
Four union members have been killed in the conflict. The government has not investigated or prosecuted these cases. 
 
&ldquo;We are concerned that the Calder&oacute;n government, which claims to be fighting for rule of law, practices impunity when it comes to the rights of the mineworkers&rdquo; said IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina. 
 
In Mexico City, the delegation will meet with Congressional and union leaders and will visit Mineworkers&rsquo; official Juan Linares Montufar who has been jailed by the government. 
 
The delegation will attend the Mineworkers&rsquo; 75th anniversary in L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Michoac&aacute;n and will visit the Pasta de Conchos mine where 65 workers were killed in an explosion in 2006. An ILO report this year concluded that &ldquo; the Government of Mexico did not do all that was reasonably expected of it to avoid or minimize the effects of the accident which had such devastating effects with the loss of life of as many as 65 miners.&rdquo; 
 
The delegation is headed by Jack Layton, leader of Canada&rsquo;s New Democratic Party (NDP) and includes parliamentarians from Australia and Peru. The delegation includes trade union leaders from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. 
 
&ldquo;We intend to let our governments and employers know what is going on in Mexico, and to discourage them from further investments until it is clear that workers&rsquo; rights are being respected&rdquo; said Manfred Warda, General Secretary of the ICEM.

PARLIAMENTARY, UNION LEADERS VISIT MEXICO TO SUPPORT MINEWORKERS UNION

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Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni TU, the ICEM-affiliated Salaried Workers&rsquo; Union in Finland, is calling on both the Finnish government and the chemicals company Kemira to resist cutting jobs in the company&rsquo;s recently announced cost-reduction programme. 

On 4 August, the Finnish chemicals company announced a global restructuring aimed at paring costs totaling &euro;50 million to the group's structure, organisation, and current operating models. Some &euro;20 million of that is slated to come from Kemira&rsquo;s Finnish operations.
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On 5 August, 30 salaried staff at the company&rsquo;s Vaasa plant staged a one-day walkout. The Vaasa unit is one of five of Kemira&rsquo;s 12 Finnish facilities in which job cuts are targeted. The company is looking to reduce its workforce in Finland by 300, with most of the job losses scheduled for the salaried ranks. 

TU President Antti Rinne criticised the plan because Kemira intends to transfer much of its research and development activities out of Finland. TU Industrial Sector Bargaining Secretary Markku Palokangas said the Finnish government, which holds a 16.52% stake in Kemira, must do more to preserve the chemical industry in Finland. 

ICEM Finnish affiliate Kemianliitto, the country&rsquo;s Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, also expressed dissatisfaction with Kemira&rsquo;s 4 August announcement. &ldquo;The company has had a clear strategy,&rdquo; said President Timo Vallittu. It should place trust in that strategy and create a climate &ldquo;where investments, long-term production, and better earning capacities&rdquo; ensure stability in Finland.
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Besides Vaasa, a community in western Finland, Kemira said redundancies could occur at businesses in Oulu, Espoo, Aetsa, and Helsinki. Mandatory co-determination negotiations with the unions are scheduled to begin today, 11 August. 

Kemira operates in 40 countries and has a global workforce of 10,000. The company&rsquo;s 2007 revenues stood at &euro;2.8 billion.

Finnish Toimihenkilöunioni Protests Chemical Job Cuts at Kemira

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The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) last week announced that the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and Israel&rsquo;s national labour centre, Histadrut, have entered into a landmark agreement to ensure the protection of rights of Palestinian workers employed by Israeli employers. 

The accord, based on developing future relations based on negotiations, dialogue, and joint initiatives to advance &ldquo;fraternity and coexistence between the two peoples,&rdquo; includes the reimbursement by Histadrut to the PGFTU of union representation fees. Those fees were paid since 1993 by Palestinians working for Israeli employers.
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In the future, at least 50% of representation fees paid by Palestinians working in Israel will be transferred to the PGFTU. The Palestinian federation, according to its constitution, will have sole discretion as to how the funds, past and present, will be spent. 

The agreement advances on one occurring between the two national centres in 1995. That agreement had been found difficult to implement. 

The recent agreement was negotiated under the umbrella of the ITUC, and will be implemented and overseen by a joint committee of the two national centres.
&ldquo;This agreement is tremendously significant, at a time when the political authorities in Israel and Palestine and the international community are failing to find just and lasting solutions to the political impasse,&rdquo; stated ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. 

Ryder added that the agreement will ensure more effective representation for Palestinian workers, &ldquo;while those working for Israeli employers will also benefit.&rdquo;

Israeli, Palestinian National Labour Centres Reach Agreement on Union Fees, Job Rights

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Despite week-long efforts to reach a new labour agreement, 500 members of three United Steelworkers (USW) local unions in Canada began a strike against the world&rsquo;s largest potash mining company on 7 August.
Workers took up picket line duty at three underground mines and milling operations of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan in western Canada due to the company&rsquo;s refusal to share portions of its record profits. 

&ldquo;The company simply refuses to move away from the offer that our members soundly rejected,&rdquo; stated USW Western Canada Director Stephen Hunt, following four days of mediated talks last week.
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&nbsp; 

&ldquo;The company is making enormous profits, and it is time to reflect those profits with fair wages, pensions, and benefits,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;In other words, share the wealth.&rdquo; 

During last week&rsquo;s talks, the USW presented a counter-proposal to the company&rsquo;s unacceptable three-year wage offer. That proposal asked for a commodities-based bonus scheme similar to other agreements in the mining industry. A prior labour agreement expired 30 April. 

USW Locals 7458, 7689, and 189 in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan also seek wage, benefit, and pension increases that correspond to Potash Corp.&rsquo;s record profits. The branch unions also want greater controls over the use of contract labour in the renewal agreement, an item the company has tentatively agreed to. 

But the major sticking point is wages, bonuses, and benefits. 

The company posted its largest quarterly profit margin in second quarter 2008, a whooping C$905.1 million in earnings, 220% better than the same quarter in 2007. In 2007, Potash Corp.&rsquo;s net income was C$1.1 billion, and the USW cites company CEO Bill Doyle with holding stock options now worth C$600 million.
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&nbsp; 

On 23 July, the USW issued the necessary 48-hour strike notice against the company. Management countered by giving the unions a 48-hour lockout notice. Five days later, the 180 USW members at the Cory mine and milling operation began rotating strikes. 

Those departmental strikes ended the next day when the company agreed to return to the bargaining table. On 31 July, the unions demonstrated at Potash Corp. headquarters in the city of Saskatoon, presenting the company with a petition asking Doyle to address a meeting of all three local branches. Doyle had previously and very publicly stated that USW members should accept the inferior pay agreement. 

A provincial mediator from Ontario then entered talks on 4 August but the company walked away from talks in the mid-afternoon of 7 August, refusing to consider the commodities-based bonus plan. A full strike began a few hours later at Cory, and the two other mines and processors, Allan and Patience Lake. 
 
On news of the strike, prices for potash, one of the major nutrients used in fertilisers for farming, shot to over C$1,000-per-tonne, a record. The Cory, Allan, and Patience Lake mines and plants account for 18% of all Canadian potash supply and six percent of the world&rsquo;s capacity. The three operations produce a combined 3.1 million tonnes of potash per year.

Full Strike Begins for 500 USW Canadian Members at 3 Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Mines

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