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	The global tyre industry is driven by four major multinationals &ndash; Bridgestone of Japan, Michelin of France, Goodyear of the US, and German-based Continental A.G. The ICEM has strategically targeted these leaders and as a result, Workers&rsquo; Networks have been formed within Bridgestone and Goodyear.

	Now Michelin is on ICEM&rsquo;s radar screen. It employs 115,000 workers and has 69 production facilities in 18 countries. ICEM French affiliates, along with the Michelin European Works Council (EWC), have traditionally played active and supportive roles during times of labour conflict at factories throughout the world.

	The latest examples include in Colombia, Thailand, and most recently, in Romania. The Secretary of the EWC, Cyrille Poughon, a member of French affiliate FCE-CFDT coordinates relations with all unions organizing Michelin employees.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 271px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	ICEM&#039;s &Ouml;zkan, FCE-CFDT&#039;s Poughon, EMCEF&#039;s Lefevbre&nbsp;

	In the latest meeting of the Michelin EWC, attended by 32 workers&rsquo; representatives from 14 countries &ndash; held 27-30 March in Alessandria, Italy &ndash; the ICEM participated together with sister organization, the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF). The ICEM was invited as a keynote presenter, and participants discussed tyre production strategies, cost-cutting programmes, and current and prospects for the Michelin Group in Europe for 2012.

	During the final session of the meeting, ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan presented the policies and practices of the ICEM, as well as the unification process of new Global Union Federation, IndustriALL.

	&Ouml;zkan also gave an overview about global tyre industry, including overviews of the other three companies, as well as emerging Asian companies and the difficulties and challenges in labour relations in Thailand, South Africa and the US. In addition, &Ouml;zkan gave reports on active solidarity and support extended by the EWC of Michelin over the past several years.

	The ICEM presentation concluded with the functions of Workers&rsquo; Networks in the global tyre and rubber industry, and a series of case studies involving the different companies in select countries and regions.

	&ldquo;This EWC meeting proved very promising for extending union solidarity from European partners to Michelin workers throughout the world, stated &Ouml;zkan.

Michelin EWC Gets Close Look at Global Solidarity in Tyre Industry

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	From the IMF website

	On April 3, 2012, Dorje Khatri, central committee member of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) will leave Kathmandu on a journey to put the flag of IndustriALL Global Union on Mount Everest.

	The flag of the new Global Union, IndustriALL will be put at the top of Mt. Everest by Dorje Khatri. &quot;I will leave Kathmandu on April 3, in a bid to conquer Mt Everest once again,&quot; said Khatri. &quot;I will scale the top of the world, from May 15 to May 25, 2012; through South Col bordering to China. I will be back by June 5 in Kathmandu.&quot;

	In a brief ceremony organized at Kathmandu, GEFONT President Bishnu Rimal handed the IndustriALL flag to Dorje Khatri. Khatri is the central committee member of GEFONT which is an affiliate of the Union of Trekking Travels Rafting and Airline Workers Nepal (UNITRAV), this expedition to Mt Everest will be his eighth attempt. The flag was rolled up in order to keep it secret, as the logo of the new organization will only be launched at the founding Congress in Copenhagen this coming June.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 220px;height: 154px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Cde Khatri has successfully completed seven previous attempts. Last year he had hoisted the International Trade Union Confederation&#039;s (ITUC&#039;s) flag under GEFONT coordinated campaign &quot;Save Climate, Save Himalayas&quot;.

	GEFONT President Rimal expressed his best wishes on behalf of GEFONT NEC and the entire Nepali working class. Khatri will climb Everest with a team from the UK called UK Adventure Peak , the same group that accompanied him last year. He has successfully taken the flags of the International Metalworkers&#039; Federation, GEFONT and the Building and Wood Workers&#039; International (BWI) in past years.

IndustriALL flag on its way to the top of the world

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	From the IMF website

	Etehad town, Baldia Karachi is the hub of power looms and towel manufacturing units established by the big textile exporters like Al Karam. Thousands of small and medium size factories have been operating without being registered under the Factories Act. As a result, hundreds and thousands of workers working in theses factories are denied legal protections. They are working under miserable conditions without appointment letters, social security, weakly off and work for long hours with low wages.&nbsp; Workers of power looms and towel industries formed a union Al Etehad Mazdoor Union, which is registered with labour department in Sindh Province and affiliated to National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF).&nbsp; 
	&nbsp; 
	For the past two months the union has started peaceful campaign to register the factories under the Factories Act, increase wages along with other demands to improve working conditions. In response, employers engaged in anti-workers acts and retrenched hundreds of workers and declared unlawful lock-outs.

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	The union launched complaints against the illegal closure of the factories and retrenchments in the labour department. On March 21, 2012 the labour department officials called on the factory owners to a meeting to discuss and resolve the issue. However, employers disregarded the call and started harassing workers through the police. 
	&nbsp; 
	In this backdrop, the police and the Ranger Force came in dozens of vehicles and raided the houses of union activists on March 21 and arrested 6 workers on the charges of terrorist act. All arrested workers were severely tortured and later produced in the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) No.2 at Karachi on March 24. The judge warned the police against the torture of the workers and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to provide proper medical treatment to the tortured workers. The court also ordered the police to produce workers in the ATC on March 29. 
	&nbsp; 
	The police filed first information report (FIR) against a total of 12 workers including office bearers of Al Etehad Power Looms Mazdoor Union out of which, six are under arrest. Union activists allege that the police&nbsp;severely tortured workers in Machko police station and forced them to accept before the media of their involvement in extortion (Bhatta) activities in the industrial area. However, workers stood firm and did not give-in to the pressures of the police. 
	&nbsp; 
	Union representatives met Sindh Labour Minister, informed Labour Department and appealed to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Sindh High Court for their immediate intervention to protect workers&rsquo; rights. On March 23, NTUF workers held a protest demonstration at Karachi Press Club, demanding the immediate release of arrested workers. Nasir Mansoor, Deputy General Secretary of NTUF says that &ldquo;it is an attempt to crush workers&rsquo; struggle for their rights&rdquo;, and called up on the international workers to extend solidarity and exert pressure on the Government of Pakistan to respect workers&rsquo; rights.

Power loom workers arrested on charges of extortion in Karachi, Pakistan

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	The Rubber Workers of Argentina, SUTNA re-elected General Secretary Pedro Wasijko in elections on 20-22 March. With a high turnout in a contested election, the victory for Wasiejko serves as a strong testament to the significant achievements of the union in recent years.

	Important benefits for workers have been achieved such as profit sharing at one major company, the establishment of a Health and Hygiene Committee obliged to meet once a month as stipulated in the new sector-wide collective agreement, a new general clause obliging companies to incorporate women into the production work, and importantly the adoption of the fight against precarious work and outsourcing at a time when almost nobody in the Argentinian unions were prioritising this issue.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 266px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	SUTNA has also made important gains in workers&rsquo; salaries in the sector, increasing the purchasing power of rubber workers. Wasiejko pledged to continue this work, continuing to oversee the democratisation of workplaces and to improve working conditions throughout the sector.

	Wasiejko applauded the democratic nature of the appointment, stating that SUTNA&rsquo;s politically rich, democratic culture stood them apart from many other Argentine unions who often present no choice to members in leadership elections.

Argentina’s SUTNA Re-elects General Secretary Pedro Wasiejko

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	Indonesia&rsquo;s largest coal producer, PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), through its mine services contractor Thiess Pty. Ltd. of Australia, has brutally attacked members of two ICEM-affiliated mine unions through police and military force. The dispute dates to the fourth quarter of 2011 when miners working for KPC, part of Indonesia&rsquo;s Bumi Resources, first took strike action when it became obvious that neither Thiess nor KPC intended to grant a renewal collective agreement.

	But the dispute at KPC&rsquo;s Sangatta mine in Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo turned violent on 24 March when 400 striking workers gathered at the coal company&rsquo;s office in East Kutai district on the counsel of a local citizens group to offer themselves back to work following a second strike dating to last November.

	They were immediately attacked by a regional military brigade serving the interests of Thiess and KPC. Twenty miners were severely beaten and hospitalised. Another 12 were immediately detained and throughout the night of 24 March and into the next day, police and military rounded up yet another four union leaders and jailed them.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 212px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	By last weekend, most of the unionists had been released but police and regional military are still holding two union leaders, the Vice President of the local branch of ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Mines, Oil &amp; Gas Workers&rsquo; Union of FSP-KEP, Sumardi, and the Secretary, Maxi.

	The leader of FSP-KEP, D. Patombong Sjaiful, called the situation now &ldquo;critical&rdquo; and pleaded that global trade union attention is given this grievous repression by brute force. In the second time in a fortnight, Jakarta-based FSP-KEP dispatched a mission last Sunday to east Kalimantan province, this time to win the freedom of the two remaining unionists.

	The other ICEM-affiliated organisation with membership at KPC is the regional mining and energy union FPE, part of the Indonesian confederation SBSI. Some 2,200 miners work at KPC&rsquo;s two open-cast thermal coal mines of Sangatta. FSP-KEP has some 1,400 members, while FPE has 200. KPC also consists of five smaller mines at the nearby Bengalon mine.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 172px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	The dispute began following the expiration of a two-year agreement on 5 October 2011. Thiess Indonesia management foretold its strategy to eliminate the collective agreement by telling the unions a new agreement would not be valid until after negotiations were complete. And then the stalling began.

	The mineworkers&rsquo; only choice was to strike and the first work stoppage occurred from 10 November to 27 December, from which six union leaders were sacked. When the two sides finally did return to bargaining on 28 January 2012, union leaders were summoned to police offices in East Kutai district where they were surprised to see that the police commander representing the company in talks.

	Two days earlier, KPC sent a letter that the status of the six union leaders would not be on the agenda. Miners began a work slowdown resulting in 264 workers getting the sack that, in turn, caused a second strike.

	When Sjaiful and other FSP-KEP leaders visited in mid-March, an agreement was sorted out between the police, a local parliamentarian, and the citizens&rsquo; group calling for the strike to cease, recall of the dismissed workers, and a return to negotiations.

	But Thiesse and KPC rejected that. When strikers came to the company&rsquo;s offices then on 24 March, they were met by police and the mobile brigade wielding batons and other instruments of force.

	The ICEM condemns Thiess, part of Australian Leighton Holdings Ltd. (LEI), whose ultimate parent is the German global construction giant Hochtief AG, for utilising police and military intervention to avert legitimate collective negotiations. It also holds Bumi Resources accountable for this contemptible display of anti-social conduct in its home country.

Thiess, Operating in Indonesia, Uses Police to Bludgeon Striking Coal Miners

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	Over 8,000 trade unionists and supporters rallied in Alma, Qu&eacute;bec, Saturday, 31 March, on behalf of locked-out workers belonging to Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, an affiliate of the United Steelworkers (USW). Some 780 workers at an aluminium smelter of Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Alcan subsidiary have been ruthlessly locked out of their livelihoods now for 14 weeks, and the economic stranglehold Rio Tinto has on the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec is clear to all.

	Bus-loads of union militants from across Qu&eacute;bec converged on Alma, a community of 30,000, to stand with the victimised Alma steelworkers. And the USW organised convoys and buses as well from elsewhere in Canada, including Toronto, Hamilton and other industrial cities in Ontario province.

	Some 50 international trade unionists also attended, representing workers employed at Rio Tinto or Alcan in Australia, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, US, and other nations. A day prior to the manifestation, the ICEM held its bi-annual North American regional meeting in Alma as a global signal to the 780 Alma workers that they are not alone in their struggle for fairness on the job.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 143px" width="390" />

	Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina Address Rally

	The well-organised rally started with speeches at an Alma shopping mall, before a march complete with sound truck playing working-class music wound its way through the streets of the city to an amphitheatre. There, political and union leaders continued to chastise the world&rsquo;s second largest resources company for delivering economic devastation to workers&rsquo; doorsteps in central Qu&eacute;bec.

	ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda pledged that global labour will mobilise Rio Tinto workers across the globe in this struggle.

	&ldquo;If the ruthless social agenda of Rio Tinto cannot be defeated here in Qu&eacute;bec, there will be little hope that it can be stopped when others face company attacks,&rdquo; Warda said. Rest assured, &ldquo;we will take the indignities committed by Rio Tinto Alcan here throughout the world until this company agrees to stop the attacks against your community and your union.&rdquo;

	Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), said, &ldquo;If Rio Tinto wants to prosper, it cannot break the delicate balance that connects it to the community.&rdquo;

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 239px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	ICEM Vice President and USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann had a message for the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in his country, where the federal government has turned a deaf ear to several attacks by multinationals on Canadian workers.

	&ldquo;Stephen Harper clearly fell short of his task by failing to impose conditions on the sale of Alcan to Rio Tinto in 2007 and to protect jobs,&rdquo; said Neumann. &ldquo;For someone who is so bent on involving himself in labour relations, why doesn&rsquo;t he intervene with Rio Tinto to put an end to this abhorrent lockout?&rdquo;

	That lockout was brought about by Local 9490&rsquo;s rightful effort to stop erosion of permanent jobs that pay a living wage of C$34-an-hour against Alcan&rsquo;s labour plan, which is aimed at replacing those jobs with outsourced work that pays half that amount.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 212px;height: 159px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Turkish Mineworkers Expressed Solidarity for Locked-out Steelworkers

	By late afternoon on Saturday, about an hour after the final speeches were given at Parc le Festiv Alma, Rio Tinto Alcan issued a defensive statement criticising the&nbsp; USW event, and saying&nbsp; a &ldquo;calmer climate&rdquo; was necessary in order to carry on with negotiations.

	But for nearly three months &ndash; until 19 March when Qu&eacute;bec public pressure mounted primarily because Alcan was capitalising on the lockout by selling excess hydro-electric power back to the province &ndash; the company shunned bargaining, preferring instead to operate the modern and low-cost Alma smelter at reduced capacity while waiting for global aluminium prices to rise. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4943-Negotiations-Restart-between-USW-Rio-Tinto-Alcan-in-Canadian-Lockout">ICEM report</a> from 21 March.)

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos Local 9490 and Alcan did return to talks for two days in March, with the help of provincial mediators, and two more days of negotiations occurred on 28-29 March. The two sides will in all likelihood meet again this week.

	But ever since the company prematurely halted negotiations and imposed the lockout on 30 December before a majority of workplace issues could even be tabled, Rio Tinto has been content to rob the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of C$1.8 million per week in lost salaries and benefits.

	With or without a settlement to the Alma lockout, the 31 March manifestation will stand as the prelude to a global fight against Rio Tinto to resist its anti-social agenda that has become all too common everywhere it does business.

Mass March, Manifest Lifts Locked-out Steelworkers in Alma, Canada

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	A merger of labour federations in Swaziland has set the stage for a struggle toward democracy and independent political parties in the country. On 10-13 March, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) convened its first Congress and priority number one is to establish a multi-party political system, or to boycott sham elections next year.

	TUCOSWA, formulated last year, was officially launched at its Congress in Matsapha and its first order of business was to demand registration and participation of political parties in Africa&rsquo;s last absolute monarchy, run by despotic King Mswati III.

	The new labour federation amalgamates the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL), as well as the most powerful single trade union, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). The 50,000-member federation vowed that there will either be open and fair Parliamentary elections next year, or Mswati would face a boycott of next year&rsquo;s elections.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Political parties have been banned in Swaziland since 1973 and Mswati and his cronies have mismanaged the economy so severely that public sector salaries have gone unpaid. At this month&rsquo;s founding Congress, TUCOSWA announced it would embark on a nationwide education campaign, and as part of that, major protests likely to occur in April and May.

	Such manifestations will no doubt be met forcefully by Swazi police loyal to Mswati. In fact, at a meeting in Lubombo in January by leaders of TUCOSWA to discuss the monarch&rsquo;s introduction of a value added tax, police broke it up after the unionists refused a demand to call off the meeting.

	&ldquo;Workers are more prepared now to go to grassroots levels and into the communities to shed light on what the government should be doing,&rdquo; said TUCOSWA President Barnes Dlamini.

	TUCOSWA General-Secretary Vincent Ncongwane used his speech at the end of this initial Congress to rally civil society &ndash; including faith-based groups and cultural entities &ndash; to frustrate next year&rsquo;s scheduled electoral farce.

	In Swaziland, Mswati operates with what is called a tinkhundla regime, an undemocratic system whereby all power is vested in him with administrative matters put in the hands of tribal chiefs dependent on his patronage. The Swazi Parliament has few powers, with Mswati making appointments to many of the seats in the House of Assembly and Senate.

Merged Swaziland Labour Federation to Advance Cause of Democracy

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	In an astonishing development, the Bavet town governor in Cambodia has admitted to shooting three young women who were striking last month at a shoe factory in Svey Rieng province, but he was only questioned and then released.

	Chhouk Bandith appeared before a provincial prosecutor on 16 March and said he fired shots on 20 February into a crowd of thousands of mostly women strikers at the KaoWay Sports Ltd. footwear factory. But despite the confession, no arrest warrant was issued and he was allowed to go free. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4926-Cambodian-Public-Official-Accused-in-Shooting-of-Footwear-Strikers">ICEM report</a> on story.)

	When questioned by the Cambodian press in what has now become a serious stain on Cambodia&rsquo;s judicial system, the Svey Rieng prosecutor said it was his right not to order the arrest of Chhouk Bandith. He also called the incident unimportant.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Chhouk Bandith

	A majority of 6,000 workers at KaoWay, a supplier of shoes for the German company Puma, were in their second wave of strike action when Bandith exited the factory and fired a high-powered weapon equipped with a silencer at them. The shooting was caught on the factory&rsquo;s security cameras before he fled in a car accompanied by a bodyguard and a uniformed police officer.

	The three women, ages 23, 21 and 18, were seriously injured with one &ndash; Buot Chinda &ndash; near death. She has recovered and after filing a criminal complaint against Bandith, is now in hiding. Reportedly, the three were offered sums of money for their silence ranging from US$500 to US$1,000. None have accepted the bribes.

	Because of the shootings, Chhouk Bandith was terminated from his duties as town governor on 6 March by a special decree from Prime Minister Hun Sen.

	Led by the union representing the striking workers, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers&rsquo; Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), an affiliate of the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), some 27 civil society groups issued a joint statement urging &ldquo;this case become an example of rule of law, not another reflection of impunity.&rdquo;

	The statement continued: &ldquo;Recognizing that the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has identified the suspect of the shooting as being Bavet town governor, Chhouk Bandith, we strongly urge the Royal Government of Cambodia to make the suspect&rsquo;s arrest an utmost priority. We also urge a proper trial and judgement in accordance with the law.

	&ldquo;We remind the Royal Government of its obligation to ensure that human rights throughout Cambodia be respected. We also remind the Royal Government of its obligation to ensure that every Khmer citizen shall be equal before the law, regardless of rank, title or association.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Cambodian Governor Confesses to Shooting Strikers, but No Arrest Made

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	All eyes are on the Rotten Row magistrates&rsquo; court in the Zimbabwe capital Harare today, 21 March, as six political activists will hear their sentences after being found guilty of &ldquo;conspiring to commit public violence.&rdquo;

	The five men and one woman face up to a decade in jail simply for screening a video of the Arab Spring during an innocent academic meeting on 19 February 2011.

	The repressive Mugabe regime is manipulating the judiciary to stamp out and persecute any opposition; in this case by sentencing activists, and in many other cases by indefinitely dragging out court cases based on fabricated charges.

	The six Zimbabwean activists, Munyaradzi Gwisai, Tafadzwa Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo, and Welcome Zimuto, face jail sentences of up to ten years. They confessed to plotting to overthrow the 88-year-old Mugabe, but these confessions were made while being tortured in custody. They were beaten with wooden planks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The verdict was delivered on 20 March in a packed courtroom with riot police in position, after magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini rejected the group&rsquo;s claim that last year&rsquo;s meeting had meant no harm to Mugabe&rsquo;s regime.

	&ldquo;Watching a video like the one in question is not a crime. But the manner of watching had no good intention,&rdquo; the court was told by magistrate Jarabini, a relative of President Mugabe.

	They were arrested last year, together with 39 other people and initially were charged with treason, which carries the death penalty. But during the course of court proceedings, the charges were reduced and the other 39 people cleared.

	Three of the six, Munyaradzi, Tafadzwa and Tatenda, work with the Zimbabwe Labour Centre a non-profit organisation that gives legal support to unions and workers on labour matters and&nbsp;provides educational programmes. Gwisai is a law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. Chakuma is a trade union leader.&nbsp;

	The right to meet, discuss events in the world, share ideas and speak openly and freely is a basic human right for which activists should not be victimised and vilified.&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Send your SMS text message &quot;Do NOT send the 6 Harare activists to jail!&quot; now to:

	Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena + 263 712 801 172

	Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri + 263 712 808 290

	Police Minister Kembo Mohadi +263 712 605 424

	Security Minister Didymus Mutasa +263 0712 200 532

Global Indignation over Jail Time That Faces Zimbabwean Activists

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Schlumberger, the world&rsquo;s largest oilfield services company, has sent a clear indication of its unwillingness to seek solution to a damaging labour relations situation at its Egyptian operations.

	Management of the French-based company in numerous locations and levels throughout the world responded over the past month to letters of different trade unions and activist organisations with a similar response each time, outlining their supposed readiness to solve the dispute in Egypt and launch an investigation.

	However, when ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda offered to come to Egypt to meet Amr Essawi, the Area Manager for Schlumberger in Cairo on 8 March, the offer was ignored.

	In May 2011, the process to establish an independent company-level trade union at Schlumberger Egypt was finalised, as part of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), the trade union centre established during the final days of the Mubarak regime.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="263" />&nbsp;

	EFITU Founding Congress, February 2012

	On 11 May, when local management was informed of the new union structure, it responded with threats and dismissed the union branch&rsquo;s General Secretary Mohamed, Abd Elrahman. On 3 July, the day of the union&rsquo;s founding general congress, local management then dismissed the union&rsquo;s President, Brother Essam.

	On 5 July, local management summoned union members to the head office and threatened them with dismissal if they did not leave the union. And then on 7 July, local management followed through on an earlier threat and dismissed the union&rsquo;s Assistant General Secretary, Ayman Abd Elmonem.

	No reason or dismissal letter was given to Abd Elmonem. He was simply blocked from entering the workplace. On 12 July, another union member was dismissed in similar circumstances, Mr. Hossam Al-deed Mostafa, again with no written dismissal notice.

	ICEM affiliates who represent Schlumberger employees in Europe and North America have approached management at their prospective national level, each have been promised that the company is committed to find a solution and establish mature systems of industrial relations throughout the company&rsquo;s operations and specifically in Egypt.

	But the leaders of the nascent company-level union for Schlumberger workers in Egypt remain sacked from their positions and refusal to discuss the situation with the ICEM is concerning.

	The ICEM, therefore, intends to expand its campaign with the next phase targeting Schlumberger&rsquo;s clients, the major oil and gas multinationals. Schlumberger employs 2,500 workers in Egypt, 40% of who work for subcontractors at 10 different worksites.&nbsp;

	Register your protest to Schlumberger Chairman Andrew Gould, CEO Paal Kibsgaard, and Egypt Area Manager Amr Essawy by clicking&nbsp;<a href="mailto:gould1@exchange.slb.com;%20pkibsgaard@exchange.slb.com;%20AEssawi2@exchange.slb.com">here</a>.

Schlumberger Ignores ICEM’s Offer of Dialogue

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