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Over the past decade, multinational tyre companies considered Central Europe as an investment utopia, shifting production and expanding factories at a rapid rate. Recently, US-based Goodyear invested US$100 million in its existing plant in Debica, Poland, while Bridgestone of Japan moved to construct a second plant in Poland. 
 
In Hungary, Hankook of South Korea, established a production unit, and Bridgestone`s new plant is close to start-up. Apollo Tyre of India is also a plant in Hungary. Similarly, in Romania, Pirelli just started an operation in Slatina, where the Italian company has teamed Continental AG in steel-cord production. 

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This Central European growth, however, brings with it some consequences concerning job conditions and trade-union representation. Wages, working conditions, health and safety regulations also fall short of the level common in West European countries. In some of the new plants, trade union rights are denied or companies prefer plant-level and company-based unions. 
 
This has led the ICEM to boost national trade unions to challenge these circumstances by creating a regional network of rubber unions. Trade union leaders from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Slovenia came together to discusses these challenges, as well as the effects of the economic crisis at a meeting in Budapest on 8-9 April. 

Hosted by ICEM Hungarian affiliate VDSz, the meeting was sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation (FES) of Germany, and was also attended by French and Spanish trade union representatives and ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation, EMCEF. 

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VDSz President Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak
Following presentation by the ICEM on the global picture of the industry, the participants gave reports about individual situations in their countries. Hungary has always been the centre of the rubber industry in the region, but the union organising ratio has fallen since the level is what at before 1990, a VDSz representative reported. Unions are blocked from being freely established in some companies, like Hankook and Bridgestone. 
 
The ICEM was asked to continue to support the struggle at both companies to achieve union recognition. In Slovakia, the financial crisis has substantially decreased production, with work hours reduced and workers&rsquo; typically paid 60% of their normal salaries. Slovenia has just adopted a law for a shorter work-week, which was supported by the trade unions. 
 
The crisis has dramatically impacted the auto and auto-supply industries in Slovenia. Initially, wages were not cut but workers were forced to use their holidays. As the crisis dug deeper, wages and working hours were reduced. Likewise in Romania, the auto industry is in a significant crisis, seriously affecting the tyre industry. One positive note is that the union organising 1,500 workers at the new Pirelli factory in Slatina won 10% wage gains. The meeting also heard EMCEF&rsquo;s presentation on the crisis as well as its activities regarding social dialogue, collective bargaining, and the European Works Councils. 
 
&ldquo;We must not let the crisis destroy our earlier achievements,&rdquo; said VDSz President Gy&ouml;rgy Paszternak. &ldquo;We must be vigilant in not allowing employers to misuse the current conditions. Our entire social future depends on trade union recognition, representation, and increased pay and working standards.&rdquo;

Central European Rubber Unions Form Joint Strategies on Financial Crisis

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The 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok in 2007 mandated that the ICEM develop a policy on sustainability as a basis for future initiatives, including discussions with employers, governments, and other Global Union Federations (GUFs). An initial meeting of a Working Group toward this end occurred early in 2008, and it established some parameters for ICEM positions and created the basis for development of an initial discussion paper. 
 
Last week, on 14 April, this Working Group reconvened in Geneva to review and comment on the discussion paper. Based on their deliberations, the paper will be revised and will become a draft policy for submission to the ICEM Executive Committee on 23 June 2009. 
 
Representatives from all ICEM Sectors and Regions were invited. The meeting was chaired by Lars Myhre of Norway's Industi-Energi (IE). Other participants included Ivan Mokhnachuk and Victor Miachin of Russia's mining union, Rosugleprof; Jan Str&oslash;mme of IE; Dave Shier of the Canadian Power Workers Union (PWU); Alfons de Potter, Belgium's CSC Energie Chimie; Marc Blanc, France's F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie Energie, CFDT; Ralf Bartels of Germany's IGBCE; Anabella Rosemberg, representing the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); and Ana Belen Sanchez of the ILO. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda was also a participant. 

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In general, the Work Group expressed satisfaction with the ICEM's initial discussion paper. The group suggested that the final ICEM policy needs to clearly express the viewpoint of an industrial union federation on all aspects of sustainability. 
 
Participants also pointed out that opportunities for a new focus and new dialogue between governments, employers, and unions &ndash; as the drive towards sustainability takes shape &ndash; must not be overlooked. In that regard, all agreed that the recent financial collapse has opened opportunities for discussions that might not have been possible a year ago. 
 
The role of energy in development, social security, and sustainable jobs were crucial issues to the Working Group, and the ICEM must demand a balanced energy future that includes cleaner use of fossil fuels (including carbon capture and storage/sequestration), nuclear, and, of course, renewable energy sources. The future of energy must consider questions about access to energy and price fairness and stability. 
 
Pulp and paper, chemicals, rubber, and materials sectors all have their particular sustainability challenges, which the ICEM acknowledges. Finally, the Working Group reiterated that sustainable jobs must be decent jobs that recognize the principles of human rights, labour rights, and particularly the respect for the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups. 
 
Warda closed the meeting by explaining the next steps on sustainable development, which will include a draft policy incorporating input from the Working Group, acceptance of the final paper by the ICEM Executive in June, and a possible multi-GUFs&rsquo; conference on sustainable development sometime&nbsp;in the future.

ICEM Holds Second Work Group Meeting on Sustainable Development

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Every year, on April 28, the world commemorates workers killed, injured, or made ill as a result of their jobs. 
 
How many are there? Collecting good data on occupational injuries and deaths is very difficult. The most credible source of international statistics is the ILO. Their numbers are staggering. The ILO has estimated that globally, there are two million work-related deaths annually. That's more than 5,000 every day, and for every fatality, hundreds more injuries and illnesses occur. 
 
These numbers, as incredible as they seem, are generally believed to be gross underestimates. 
 
Fatalities are under reported by workers and employers. Often, an occupational fatality is not identified as such. Once reported, a fatality must be &quot;accepted&quot; or recognized by a country's regulatory authority or workers' compensation board to be counted among the statistics. In many jurisdictions, large numbers of workers are exempt from workers' compensation coverage. Data for injuries are even less reliable than for fatalities. 

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Worker deaths that are immediate and obvious tend to be recognized. Deaths due to illnesses that have an occupational origin are rarely recognized. Cancer is one of the biggest work-related killers, but rarely is it properly acknowledged. Relatively few occupational diseases are recorded in official statistics. 
 
Injury and illness data are notoriously subject to bias and methodological problems. Many workers' injuries, illnesses, and even fatalities, are simply never recorded. Workers' compensation assessments and insurance premiums are often based on these statistics, creating a huge financial incentive for employers to suppress or discourage the reporting of accidents. 
 
This is done in a number of ways, ranging from schemes that bring injured workers into the workplace so their injuries won't be counted as &quot;lost time,&quot; to sophisticated psychological techniques like &quot;behaviour-based&quot; safety programs. Threats of discipline or discharge following a reported accident are not uncommon. &quot;Post-incident drug-testing&quot; has been highly effective in causing workers to conceal injuries rather than risk a false-positive test result. 
 
In the days leading up to 28 April, many statistics will be quoted. Appalling as the numbers may be, the truth is probably far worse. 
 
In the end, 28 April is not about numbers, it is about people. Next week, on Tuesday, let us pause and remember those who paid for their livelihoods with their lives or their health. Then let us renew the fight for safe and healthy workplaces.

28 April: Day to Renew Fight for Safe and Healthy Worksites

On the eve of World AIDS Day, 1 December, the ICEM leadership recommitted to fight the battle to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS through awareness, education, and poverty eradication campaigns. The ICEM&rsquo;s 4th World Congress, held 22-24 November in Bangkok, Thailand, affirmed that commitment. 
 
&ldquo;As the newly-elected leaders, we reaffirm ICEM&rsquo;s commitment to fight HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; said ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Hundreds of union leaders representing 180 affiliates in 75 countries signed the pledge for World AIDS Day at our Congress.&rdquo; 
 
That pledge, signed by not only the 840 trade unions leaders attending the Bangkok Congress, but taken back to national unions for thousands more signatures, commits the trade unionists to take the fight inside the workplace. 
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It commits to outright rejection of all forms of discrimination and victimisation of people living with HIV/AIDS; it recognises that the gender dimension of HIV/AIDS, and promises to fight for equal gender relations and the empowerment of women; and, in maintaining ICEM&rsquo;s continued work in this area, it encourages voluntary counselling and testing of workers and family members, as well as providing support for those who disclose their HIV-positive status. 
 
The pledge also makes demands of employers and governments. It demands that companies negotiate policies with trade union that are in sync with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work; it calls on employers to implement awareness-raising and prevention programmes jointly with trade unions; it call on firms operating in remote geographic areas with little or no health services to take responsibility for providing care and treatment; and it promises to undertake efforts to obtain affordable drugs from pharmaceutical companies and production of high-quality generics for those afflicted with the virus. 
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Regarding governments, the pledge advocates access for all to public health, including free or affordable antiretroviral treatments; it promises to promote legislation on discrimination and social protection; and it promises to lobby donor countries for accelerated financial resources for the global fight against HIV/AIDS. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM and its affiliates are strategically positioned in our sectors, and in our thousands of workplaces, to play a direct role in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS,&rdquo; said Zokwana and Warda. &ldquo;On World AIDS Day 2007, we call on all social partners to intensify campaigns in order to reverse the HIV/AIDS pandemic.&rdquo; 
 
The International Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is a 20-million-member Global Union Federation based in Brussels, Belgium.

ICEM Reconfirms Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS Pandemic

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) concluded its 4th World Congress today, 24 November, in Bangkok, Thailand, with sharply worded motions calling for economic sanctions against the military regime in Burma, and on establishment of trade union rights in Iraq. The Iraq resolution also called for the earliest possible withdrawal of occupational military forces from the Middle Eastern country. 
 
A total of 840 trade union leaders from 176 global ICEM affiliates, representing 75 countries, attended the three-day Congress. 
 
The final day was marked by impassioned speeches from the General Secretary of the exiled Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB) and from central leaders of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), a collection of ten oil workers&rsquo; union in southern Iraq, and from the Kurdistan General Workers&rsquo; Syndicate of Unions (KGWSU). 
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FTUB General Secretary Maung Maung at the ICEM Congress
Opening the last day&rsquo;s session was Maung Maung, General Secretary of the FTUB. He said the recent street protests in Burma are not over and Burmese people will carry their struggle for liberation and national democracy to the end. &ldquo;Economic sanctions and international pressure do hurt this regime,&rdquo; Maung said, urging as much international pressure as possible because &ldquo;the regime is cracking.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s motion calls on all global unions to &ldquo;exert their influence&rdquo; and &ldquo;to approach their governments so that the international community can jointly pressurize the military regime to restore democracy.&rdquo; 
 
Two key speakers from the oil and gas sector rose to support the motion. Gary Beevers, a Vice President and Oil Bargaining Chairman for the United Steelworkers in the United States, said his union has taken action against US-based Chevron for its gas dealings with the regime. 
 
And Marc Blanc, of the French trade union FCE-CFDT, announced that his union federation &ndash; together with four other French trade unions &ndash; will host the FTUB in Paris on December 20. The meeting will center on Total&rsquo;s activities in Burma, and will occur in conjunction with the Executive Committee of Total&rsquo;s European Works Council. 
 
On the Iraq motion, Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad al Assadi of the IFTU told delegates the US administration of George Bush came to Iraq with a Hydrocarbons Law that &ldquo;would steal our oil reserves.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The Iraqi people are the only ones who should decide and control their oil wealth,&rdquo; he said. He also called upon the current Iraqi government and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to expedite legislation inside Iraq called the Labour and Social Security Law, which would secure legitimate labour rights for all Iraqi workers. 
 
Siddeeq Ramadhan of the KGWSU told delegates that Kurdistan is a &ldquo;devoted part of Iraq&rdquo; with a desire to live in peace with Iraq&rsquo;s neighbours. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s final session also passed a motion on installing more safety measures in the mining secure, and called for governments to pass ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines. The ICEM also passed a motion support the International Trade Union Confederation&rsquo;s (ITUC) Decent Work Initiative.

ICEM Congress Closes with Strong Motions on Burma, Iraq

The 4th World Congress of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) opened today, 22 November, in Bangkok, Thailand, with a full slate of speakers, as well as pointed discussion on the future course of the 20-million-member Global Union Federation (GUF). Some 840 trade union leaders from 176 national trade unions in 75 countries are attending the three-day Congress at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre. 
 
Global union leaders also addressed the risks to workers of asset-stripping private equity firms, and delegates heard recent examples of job losses caused by such speculative financial tools. The quadrennial Congress, gathered under the banner &lsquo;Global Unity &ndash; Global Equality,&rsquo; continues on Friday, 23 November, with an address by Maung Maung, head of the exiled Burmese labour federation FTUB. 
 

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Italo Rodomonti and Manfred Warda signing ICEM-WFIW integration agreement
The Congress will also consider a host of motions, including one on Burma, labour disputes occurring in the host country, Thailand, a location change of the labour federation from Brussels, Belgium, to Geneva, Switzerland, and one on creating closer cooperation with other GUFs. The election of ICEM General Secretary and President will also occur on 23 November. 
 
Following a welcome by Kyoshi Ochiai of Japanese labour federation UI Zensen, chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Region, delegates heard from Rawi Pupaga, head of ICEM&rsquo;s Thai umbrella of labour unions. He delivered news that a negotiated settlement is near at hand with Thailand&rsquo;s Health Ministry to halt the interim government&rsquo;s plan to privatise the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation. 
Today&rsquo;s session included formal integration of the World Federation of Industrial Workers into the ICEM, a Christian-based network of trade unions. 
 
Featured speaker in the opening session was Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the 168-million-member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Ryder&rsquo;s comments centered on the shifting and real sentiment inside global trade unions of consolidation and closer cooperation. He spoke on the founding in January 2007 of the Global Unions Councils, an action-oriented structure to link the work of the world&rsquo;s 11 GUFs, as well as the ITUC and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of the OECD. 
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ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana
&ldquo;This will not be a dead piece of administration bureaucracy,&rdquo; Ryder promised. &ldquo;We now have the opportunity to work together to identify common priorities, and to design and fund work plans which will benefit from our combined talents, expertise, and strength. 
 
In a keynote speech delivered by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa, he addressed growing trade union concern on the increasing number of deaths occurring in the mining industry. &ldquo;How many more deaths, anguish, and sorrow must be visited upon innocent mineworkers, their families, and the communities in which they live before we can say enough is enough?&rdquo; he asked. 
 
The Congress opened to the sad news that 100 coal miners had perished in a methane gas explosion in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. And Zokwana&rsquo;s own union, the NUM, has now planned a one-day strike for 4 December across the entire mining sector of South Africa to protest the lack of regard for health and safety by mining houses operating in the mineral-rich nation. It will mark the first total shutdown of all mines in South Africa in 20 years. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda presented the GUF&rsquo;s Secretariat Report, and cited several examples on where union action or voter power has changed the agenda for capital markets. &ldquo;We should never agree with any government&rsquo;s argument that they cannot control the so-called invincible forces of globalisation,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Warda highlighted the ICEM&rsquo;s work on helping to stop the spread of the HIV/AIDS around worksites of the extractive industries, as well as giving instances in which engagement with multinational companies on meaningful social dialogue has produced tangible results. 
 
Henk Van Der Kolk, president of the national union FNV Bondgenoten in The Netherlands, addressed the issue of private equity, and how the rapid movement of capital has undermined workers&rsquo; rights and created mass job losses. He challenged the ICEM to examine how private equity funds are violating the code of conduct of the OECD, as well as rules of the WTO. He also suggested the time might be ripe for the ICEM, or the ITUC, to seek Global Framework Agreements with private equity concerns in order to bring a social dimension to such capital funds. 
 
The Bangkok Congress of the ICEM is featuring speeches and appearances by seven Iraqi trade unionists coming from the oil sector as well as the electric power sector.

ICEM Congress Opens with Cry of Better Mine Safety, Curbs to Capital Markets

Throughout a one-day, 21 November, ICEM conference on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), taking place prior to the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, speaker after speaker confirmed that the trend of industry subcontracting is rapidly increasing throughout the world. 
 
Predominant is the continuing trend of subcontracting in developing nations. With few exceptions, the 300 trade unionists attending cited specific problems with agency, temporary, short-term contract, or self-employment labour, relating directly to the lack of a (decent) employment relationship. 
 
For many of the world&rsquo;s workers, affecting most industries, a prior, normal relationship has been reduced to one of much lesser quality. For others, the relationship has changed to a mere commercial one, with workers&rsquo; taking the job security risks, and an erosion of social benefits affecting both workers and society. 
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The ICEM conference produced several examples in which subcontracting is becoming rampant on several continents. In the mining and diamond sector of India, virtually all miners are contract labourers. In Thailand and Korea, examples were cited where CAL work is omnipresent. 
 
Africa was described as globalisation&rsquo;s play ground. In the mining sector of sub-Saharan Africa, many problems are created by investors who think anything in the employment realm is possible. Other examples came from a wide variety of countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, United States, Japan, Tanzania, Peru, and the UK. 
 
A special contribution came from Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). 
 
The conference also delivered, however, case studies in which unions and trade unionists have succeeded in rolling back the trend. One such example came from Brazil. At the oil firm Petrobras four years ago, there were three contract workers for each permanent worker. Today, after sound bargaining by trade unions, the ratio is one permanent worker to every one-and-a-half contract worker. 
 
Chile, Uruguay, South Africa, Macedonia, and Croatia were also quoted as countries where progress has been made, both legislatively and at the collective bargaining table. 
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Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, President of Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU)
Given the difficult situation in many countries, and the need by many to hear how others deal with temporary or agency labour, the ICEM was called upon to continue and intensify its three-year-old campaign on this employment issue. 
 
A key ingredient of this work is the need to guarantee that all CAL workers - everywhere - are entitled to the same wages, benefits, and work rights as the permanent workers. 
 
Also stressed was the importance of legislation efforts in regard to contract and agency labour, preferably at nation-wide level. The principles of the ILO Recommendation 198, the Employment Relationship Recommendation, will be an important tool in this. 
 
Finally, it was agreed that unions need to reach out to short-term contract or temporary workers. In too many countries, such workers have faced resentment from trade union members. Setting up unions, or union divisions, for CAL workers, or &ndash; by many, the preferred option &ndash; simply bringing CAL workers into existing union structures, is seen as an important and needed accomplishment.&nbsp;

Contract and Agency Labour - a Global and Negative Phenomenon

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Calling South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry &ldquo;the killing fields within our economy,&rdquo; the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) submitted a report on mine safety 14 November to the National Parliament&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy. 
 
The NUM listed eight recommendations needed to reduce the number of accidents and deaths occurring in South African mines. They include obtaining better detection technology on seismic geological events; legislation that will provide steeper fines on mining houses, up to imprisonment for executives when tragedies do occur; enabling legislation to nationalise mines when mining companies are found negligent in death-related accidents; and a mandatory review and heightened training of safety representatives by companies and the government, which must include risk assessment criteria enabling miners to detect and report hazardous conditions. 
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The report cited the number of deaths and injuries per million hours worked in South Africa&rsquo;s mines since the year 2000. And it specifically highlighted the fact that, even though the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 sets forth a procedure for legal prosecution in mine safety negligence, no such prosecution has occurred dating back to the year 2000. 
 
&ldquo;Given the gravity of this situation and the need to send a clear message to employers that profit maximisation must not be pursued at the cost of our members&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; the NUM report concludes, we have no alternative but &ldquo;to embark on a National Strike.&rdquo; 
 
In mid-October, the NUM filed for certification for such a strike with the Commission on Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). That governmental agency, along with the NUM and the Chamber of Mines, is currently in the consultation process that is mandatory before any legal strike can occur.

NUM Recommends Broad Mine Safety Changes to South Africa’s Parliament

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BHP Billiton&rsquo;s hostile bid for mining rival Rio Tinto escalated last week, just prior to a 6 February deadline by the UK Takeover Panel to either increase a November 2007 bid or walk away from the takeover for a period of six months. BHP Billiton increased its share-swap offer by 13%, offering 3.4 shares of BHP stock for one Rio Tinto share. 
 
In November, BHP offered a three-to-one share swap, meaning the price of the takeover would be US$120 billion. This latest unsolicited bid raised that price to US$147 billion. If successful, the combined company would dominate world production and sales of bauxite, coal, copper, diamonds, lead, silver, titanium, and uranium. It would also rank a high second, behind Brazilian Vale, in iron ore output, but would control vital markets of Australian ore destined for China. 
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The proposed takeover would represent the world&rsquo;s second biggest corporate takeover. Only Vodafones&rsquo;s US$172 billion buy-up of Mannesmann in the year 2000 surpasses BHP&rsquo;s current bid to Rio Tinto shareholders. Rio Tinto executives said the latest offer still undervalues the assets of the Australian- and UK-based company. 
BHP was pressed to increase its offer following a 1 February purchase of some US$14 billion of Rio&rsquo;s London-traded shares by Aluminium Corp. of China (Chinalco), a state-run mining company. Chinalco put up US$12.8 billion, while US-based Alcoa put in US$1.2 billion. Together, they now own 9% of Rio Tinto, and the share price paid increased the valuation of Rio Tinto by 23%. The premium share purchase was seen as a blocking move by Chinalco that is sure to complicate a further, enhanced bid by BHP Billiton. 
 
According to Sweden&rsquo;s Raw Materials Group, a combined BHP Billiton/Rio Tinto would control a full 17% of world production of mined resources. If constituted under the latest bid, Rio Tinto shareholders would hold 44% of the combined company, an increase from the 36% under terms of the offer posed in early November.

BHP Billiton Raises Stakes in Pursuit of Rio Tinto

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The British labour movement came together last week to push a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill into committee stage of the House of Commons. That bill, authored by Labour MP Andrew Miller, would give labour agency workers the same rights and benefits as full-time, permanent workers. 
 
On 6 February, labour unions, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), held a mass day of lobby at Westminster, spotlighting a second hearing of Miller&rsquo;s bill that saw trade unions produce gruesome testimonies of abuse by agency workers themselves. British work sectors &ndash; from service to foods to industrial &ndash; have been flooded by labour agency firms offering low-wage, no-strings-attached workers to employers.
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&nbsp;Last week&rsquo;s turnout moved the Private Member&rsquo;s Bill to a House hearing, which will occur on 22 February. The day of lobby also came six days after the Labour Party&rsquo;s Executive Committee voted to endorse it, an action that Labour Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown cannot ignore without serious fall-out from trade unions. 
 
&ldquo;The Labour Party committed to introduce UK legislation to protect agency workers before the last election,&rdquo; said Chairman Tony Dubbins of the Trade Unions for Labour Organisation, &ldquo;and now we and 1.4 million agency workers in the UK&rdquo; have been promised it again. &ldquo;Now we need the government to act on that promise by backing Andrew Miller&rsquo;s bill.&rdquo; 
 
But that may not come easy, just like it didn&rsquo;t during the Blair government, despite a Labour Party commitment for equal rights to all workers contained in the 2004 Warwick Agreement. British business groups are opposing the measure, claiming it would hold back achieving flexible labour markets, and often, serve as a means for gaining a full-time job. 

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said, &ldquo;Far from providing a bridge to permanent work, this runs the risk of creating a whole underclass of temporary workers who cannot get permanent work. Many employers are using agencies to replace secure jobs with reasonable terms and conditions with insecure, badly paid agency staff.&rdquo; 
The TUC points out that employer&rsquo; interests will advance when temporary workers gain equal workplace rights, at the same time as receiving fair pay and social benefits. The union federation said there is a disturbing lack of awareness among employers on how maximizing experience and skills of workers out of labour agencies can benefit their enterprises. 
Besides Barber, the day of lobby also featured Tony Woodley, Joint General Secretary of Unite, and Bill Hayes, General Secretary of the Communications Workers&rsquo; Union. Woodley called passage of the agency worker bill a &ldquo;defining moment&rdquo; for the British government &ldquo;because people are looking for equal treatment.&rdquo;
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In Ireland, trade unions are pressuring their government to stop acting as a barrier to a European Directive for equal treatment for contract and agency workers. Blair Horan, representing the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said trade unions will withhold affirmative support to the Irish government for passage of the Lisbon Treaty referendum until the government reverses its agency-worker stand in Brussels. Ireland, Germany, Poland, and the UK have blocked a European Directive on Agency Workers.

UK Push for Law Granting Equal Rights to Temp Workers

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