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The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) are calling for a &ldquo;Day of Action&rdquo; on 9 August 2007, demanding the immediate release of two trade unionists locked inside Iran&rsquo;s prisons. The two global federations are calling for pickets, protests, and letter-writing to Iranian embassies or consulates by trade unions in their home countries. 
 
The ICEM joins with the ITUC and ITF in demanding the release of Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Tehran bus workers&rsquo; union, and the release of Mahmoud Salehi, the founding member of the Saqez Bakery Workers&rsquo; Association. The date of 9 August was chosen because it is the one-year anniversary of Osanloo&rsquo;s release from jail in 2006, following mass global trade union protests.
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&nbsp; 
Osanloo was arrested for the third time on 10 July 2007, following a tour of European labour institutions and labour unions, in which he spoke of the labour abuses and restrictions on freedom of association by Iran&rsquo;s Islamic regime. Witnesses said he was beaten as he was hauled off by secret police. Confirmation came two weeks ago that he is being held in Evin prison. 
 
Mahmoud Salehi is in ill-health and has been sent to a distant prison in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province. The ITUC said there is firm evidence that his life is in danger because of inadequate medial care at this prison. 
 
The ICEM strongly encourages affiliated trade unions to take some form of meaningful action on 9 August in support of their releases.

9 August Designated as ‘Day of Action’ for Jailed Iranian Trade Unionists

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Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. Rescinded the suspensions it had imposed on laid-off white-collar oilworkers&rsquo; in bargaining with PENGASSAN on 26 July. Following a terse 20 July letter from the ICEM Nigerian affiliate to the Mobil Oil&rsquo;s managing director, ExxonMobil backed down from full collision with PENGASSAN, and a new labour agreement is now possible if the company meets remuneration demands. 
 
Pay talks will continue early this week, and a settlement with Mobil Oil Nigeria will complete PENGASSAN&rsquo;s 2007-2008 oil sector bargaining. The union had completed satisfactory negotiations with Chevron, Total, African Petroleum Plc., and other energy concerns, but the world&rsquo;s largest one, ExxonMobil &ndash; bargaining last &ndash; attempted to reduce labour standards from those negotiated with the others.
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&nbsp; 
The company committed a serious breach when it contacted and then coerced many PENGASSAN members due to retire to sign voluntary retirement letters. This action in July came while the union and Mobil Oil were in talks, and the issue of early retirement incentives was alive. The voluntary letters were a ploy to reduce the statutory amount of separation benefits that the company would have to pay in restructuring. 
 
PENGASSAN called is &ldquo;repugnant to statutory stipulations, local and international labour conventions, and best practices&rdquo; already in place in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas sectors. The breach flagrantly violated the collective agreement between the two parties as well. 
 
But in Thursday&rsquo;s talks, ExxonMobil apologized to PENGASSAN and to the sacked workers, and reversed itself by rescinding the letters and reversing the firings.
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&nbsp;Now the issue of pay for 2007 and 2008 must be addressed. PENGASSAN Gen. Sec. Bayo Olowoshile said Mobil Oil Nigeria must live up to its market share in the industry and its profit sheet. The conflict now, he said, &ldquo;is on the reluctance of Mobil to pay competitive remuneration that aligns with the company&rsquo;s market share and its own remuneration policy.&rdquo; 
 
PENGASSAN represents over 200 engineers, technicians, accountants, and administrators of Mobil Oil Nigeria at some ten locations. The majority of the white-collar workers are employed at Apapa in Lagos.

ExxonMobil in Nigeria Backs Down from Conflict with PENGASSAN

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North American ICEM affiliate, United Steelworkers (USW), began its largest ever conference of women workers in Toronto, Ontario, yesterday. Over 1,000 trade union women from Canada and the US are expected at the four-day conference, which is entitled &ldquo;Women of Steel: Building Power, Taking Action.&rdquo; 
 
USW President Leo Gerard will address the conference today, 24 September. Also speaking will be Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of US presidential candidate John Edwards, who has won the endorsement of the USW, and progressive American blogger Arianna Huffington. Canadian Member of Parliament Libby Davies, from the New Democratic Party, will also address the conference. 
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Gerard will introduce to delegates the &ldquo;Protect Our Kids/Stop Toxic Imports&rdquo; campaign, which will be unveiled in Canada tomorrow, 25 September. 
 
Workshops will centre on engaging women in the work of the union, skills enhancement, work-life balance, political action, and global solidarity. The USW will host global trade union guests from Brazil, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Africa, and the UK. 
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&ldquo;Strong unions need women, and it is clear that women in every nation need strong unions,&rdquo; said USW Assistant to the President Leeann Anderson. USW Women of Steel Director Ann Flener added that union &ldquo;women know that in today&rsquo;s global economic society, solidarity must reach across nations to the furthest regions of the world. We must talk with each other, compare situations, and learn best practices from each other&rsquo;s experiences.&rdquo;

North American ‘Women of Steel’ Convene Largest Ever Women’s Conference

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ICEM affiliate in Mozambique, the National Union of Chemical, Rubber, Paper, and Print Workers (SINTIQUIGRA), has forged a four-union merger with transportation and textile workers&rsquo; unions, in an effort to strengthen the union movement of the country. 
 
The merger is partly in honour of Joaquim Fanheiro, former leader of SINTIQUIGRA, who died unexpectedly in March 2007 while serving as general secretary of the Mozambique Workers&rsquo; Organisation (OTM), the nation&rsquo;s leading national labour centre. The other merger partners are the Union of Textile and Footwear Workers&rsquo; (SINTIVEC), the National Union of Port and Railway Workers&rsquo; (SINPOCAF), and the Ports and Allied Dockworkers&rsquo; Union (SINPEOC).
A name for the union has not yet been determined, but a founding general assembly meeting will occur in November 2007 and will address that and other matters. 
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Union merger discussions in Mozambique began last spring between SINTIQUIGRA and SINTIVEC. They were expanded in the summer to include the transport and dockworkers&rsquo; unions. The combined membership of the four unions will be about 25,000. 
Comrade Fanheiro was a long-time trade union activist and main leader of SINTIUIGRA. He was a strong workers&rsquo; advocate in 1970-era production councils in Mozambique, which were predecessors to the OTM. Later, he became the distinguished leader of the OTM and played a key role in negotiations with the government over issues such as the annual increases to the statutory minimum wage and the revisions to Mozambique&rsquo;s labour code. 
 
Trade unions in Mozambique of late have been burdened by downsizings and redundancies, as many large companies have splintered their businesses off to smaller companies, which have cut staff and attempt to slash social costs. The four-union merger is expected to make the labour movement and the OTM stronger and more efficient.

Four-Union Mozambique Merger to Honour Labour Legacy of Joaquim Fanheiro

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ICEM affiliate in Trinidad and Tobago, the Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU), staged a mass protest on 10 September over delays in bargaining between the union and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. The union members&rsquo; protest came at the electric authority&rsquo;s opening of a customer service centre at the company headquarters in Port-of-Spain. 
 
Management was celebrating the opening of a new automatic meter infrastructure and the utility&rsquo;s award of some TTD700 million in contracts for that system, as well as for a new power station. Much of that money will be used on contractors and contract labourers. 
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OWTU members, meanwhile, have been without a current collective agreement for over a year, and have been frustrated by salaries that are tied to 2005 levels at a time when Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s inflation rate is high. 
 
The last negotiations session was held in July, and the company&rsquo;s chairman said management was waiting for direction from the Ministry of Public Utilities. 
 
Meanwhile, another union in Trinidad and Tobago, the Public Service Association, staged another protest through a series of one-day work stoppages against the Water and Sewerage Authority. That occurred on 14 September, three days after a similar protest following a revised management proposal. Water and sewer workers are also protesting delays and a prolonged negotiations period. They are still attempting to resolve a 2005-2007 contract with the public utility, talks that only started in January 2007. 
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In a related workplace development in the country, five construction workers last week were hospitalised when they were overcome by gas at the state-owned Petrotrin&rsquo;s Point-a-Pierre refinery. All 700 construction workers were forced to down tools by what Petrotrin said was a leak from an alkaline plant. It marked the second time in two months that building workers at the refinery walked from their jobs in protest to health and safety concerns. 
 
Petrotrin is currently undergoing a gas optimisation modernisation, as well as a gas to liquids project at the west coast refinery. In early August, the state company dropped production by 15,000 barrels-per-day to 47,000 b/d due to safety concerns. That followed a May 2007 drop in crude production from offshore sites, after a gas explosion on an offshore rig in the Soldado field killed one contract worker, and injured two others.

OWTU Members at Electricity Authority in Trinidad and Tobago Protest

This week, on Wednesday, 26 September, 84 strikers in the Antalya Free Trade Zone of Turkey will mark one year on picket lines at Novamed, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, owned by Fresenius Medical Care of Germany. Eighty-two of the strikers are women. 
 
The ICEM has continued to champion the cause of the strikers and the Turkish union Petrol-Iş that organised this workplace, and stands by them. Judging from the inhumane treatment, it is easy to see why. Workers &ndash; mainly women &ndash; were forced to apply to management if they wished to marry. They were forbidden to talk to one another on the job. And they were forced to undergo breath tests following breaks to enforce a no-smoking ban. 
<img height="150" alt="" src="" width="200" />
Picket sign states: &quot;We decide when we give birth&quot;
Workers at Novamed freely elected Petrol-Iş as their collective representative. Novamed managers did begin negotiations with the union and the workers in April 2006. But when talks broke down, managers quit the negotiations and began a harassment and intimidation campaign aimed at dislodging union support. On 26 September 2006, 84 workers expressed their discontent by striking. 
 
The first anniversary of this just strike has gained a sizeable and significant voice inside Turkey. Through actions and a fortnight of constant press coverage, leading up to the one-year anniversary, civil society across Turkey is acutely aware of the Novamed strike. Handbilling, mass meetings among trade unions, NGOs, and Turkish women&rsquo;s groups, as well as rolling actions in support of the strike have all happened. 
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In Istanbul, a coalition of trade unions, women&rsquo;s groups, and others have formed a &ldquo;Women&rsquo;s Platform for Solidarity with Novamed Strikers,&rdquo; which has carried out a number of actions over the past two weeks. In the cities of Izmir and Adana, actions and forums in support of the strike have occurred.
A petition drive to the National Parliament has also started, aimed at mandating better work conditions for women, thanks to the courage of the Novamed strikers. Various actions for justice at Novamed are backed by all Turkish confederations, trade unions, and, increasingly, by civil society groups. And today and tomorrow, busloads of supporters will descend on Antalya for the one-year strike anniversary. 
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The ICEM called attention to the deplorable conditions that caused the strike from the outset. In May, the strike received firm commitment from the ICEM Executive Committee. Currently, a four-person ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee is in the Antalya trade zone to support the strikers. They will join the strikers and Turkish activists in a forum, documentary film, and a social event on 25 September, and then accompany the strikers to the front of company offices on 26 September for a lively protest. 
 
The delegation is headed by ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee Chair Evgenia Esenina of Russian Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU), and includes Elena Petrovici of the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union of Romania (PETROM), Ramona Parra of the Chemical, Textile, and Leathern Workers of Spain (FITEQA-CCOO), and Carol Bruce, ICEM Women&rsquo;s Officer.

Broad Turkish Attention Given One-Year Novamed Strike

Senior General Than Shwe 
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, 
c/o Attorney General 
Pyinmana 
Burma 

Re : Extremely harsh prison sentences for labour activists
Dear General Than Shwe, 
 
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), representing 20 million workers from 384 industrial trade unions in 118 countries, joins the wide-ranging international protest against the extremely heavy prison sentences that have been imposed, on Friday 7 September 2007, on six labour activists, after these had wanted to organise a seminar at the US Embassy's American Centre in Rangoon earlier this year. 
 
Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Shwe Joe, Wai Lin, Aung Naing Tun and Nyi Nyi Zaw were arrested, on 1 May 2007, after holding a May Day celebration and having plans to discuss labour issues at the American Centre. This event was immediately cancelled after the arrests. Two of the arrested activists, Shwe Joe and Aung Naing Tun, were released on 4 May. On 10 May, two other men, Kyaw Win and Myo Min, were arrested for going to the Thai-Burma border to inform the outside world about these May Day arrests. 
 
The ICEM has learned that all six men were found guilty of &quot;inciting hatred or contempt for the Government&quot; during a trial held inside Rangoon's Insein prison, and that some of them were convicted for being members of &quot;illegal associations&quot;. Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years in prison, and Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw to 20 years. As you and your government know well, detaining and sentencing workers who exercise their right to freedom of association is a clear violation of international labour standards, including ILO Convention 87, which has been ratified by your country. 
 
We have also been informed that the interrogations of the six above-mentioned activists by your country&rsquo;s security agencies specifically focused on finding links with the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma (FTUB). The FTUB is recognised by the entire international trade union movement, as well as by the wider global community, as a legitimate organisation that defends workers' rights in Burma. 
 
I am therefore urging you to use your good offices and make sure that the relevant authorities within your government do away with these unjustified and scandalous prison sentences and order the immediate and unconditional release of our six colleagues. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary

ICEM protest letter to Burmese Junta

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FNV Bondgenoten, the largest trade union in The Netherlands, will resist the coalition Dutch government&rsquo;s plans to erode employment protections, specifically regarding dismissals. The coalition Balkenende government is proposing to make it easier and less costly for employers to discard workers, and without providing adequate or proper rationale or reasoning. 
 
On 31 August, the union held a public forum in The Hague on this planned erosion of workers&rsquo; rights. 
&ldquo;This will affect every ordinary employee,&rdquo; warned FNV Bondgenoten Chairman Henk van der Kolk, saying the current agenda by the government is unacceptable. Further dialogue must occur on the issue, and the current plan must be laid aside, he added. 
<img height="70" src="" width="120" alt="" />
That plan would side-step current Centre for Work and Income (CWI) and court processes in assessing redundancies. It would also allow employers to discard workers with modest severance packages, and it would reduce advanced notice from two and three months to four weeks. The Balkenende plan also would allow employers to deduct re-training costs from severance packages, and places the burden of legal fees for workers daring to challenge dismissals on the individual worker. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten adamantly opposes the Dutch government&rsquo;s plan to make the labour market more flexible through the reduction of statutory employment protections. The union is liaising closely with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) to prevent erosion of such social protections enshrined in law.

Dutch Affiliate, FNV Bondgenoten, Pledges to Protect Unfair Dismissal Laws

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Over 200 jewellery and gem polishers in Bangkok, Thailand -- mostly women -- staged a spontaneous rally outside their workplace on 5 September in protest to a Belgian company's suspension of the union leader and its blatant union intimidating. The workers were angry at the sacking, 3 September, of Wisoot Chomwihok, president of ICEM-affiliated Ornament Industry Workers' Union. 
 
The company is Siam Stars Co. Ltd., which is controlled by Antwerp-based IGC Group, a world diamond cutting and gem polishing enterprise. 
&nbsp;<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Wisoot was fired with a formal suspension order last week, less than three months after he received a series of demotions and another suspension from managers at the 600-worker factory. The suspension order means he will continue to receive a minimum and basic wage while his sacking goes to an employment court. But he is denied other benefits contained in the collective bargaining agreement, including food and transport vouchers and a bonus based on piece rate and production. 
 
The ICEM clearly considers the suspension order and sacking of Wisoot Chomwihok as an unfair labour practice, and an effort by management to intimidate union members and leaders as they prepare for collective negotiations early next year. The spontaneous 5 September rally after working hours, the ICEM feels, is full proof that Siam Stars workers know and recognise the fact the company is out to destroy their union, and they will fight to strengthen it in the months to a June 2008 collective agreement expiration. 
In June, Siam Stars Co. had demoted Wisoot from one department to another, resulting in 30% loss of wages and denial of his ability to carry out union leadership duties. Following the Ornament Workers' Union filing charges with a regional labour ministry on the demotion, Siam Stars retaliated by issuing its first suspension order on Wisoot on 11 June 2007. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
The union took the matter up with the Thai Human Rights Commission, which caused the company to reinstate Wisoot, but at the lower wage and in the inferior job classification. The company cited &quot;no work&quot; in the higher-level department, yet on 20 June it promoted three employees to that department. 
 
The Ornament Industry Workers' Union attempted to negotiate a compromise with managers by offering to keep Wisoot in the assigned department, but at his previous wage and benefit level. The union also sought a commitment that managers would not discriminate against unionised workers. Siam Stars refused to accept. 
 
In November 2006, IGC Group closed a diamond and gem production facility near Bangkok called Thai-Belgium Industrial Co. Ltd., making 230 workers redundant and transferring 70 others to the sister Siam Stars factory in Lak Si. The ICEM will continue to monitor this unfair dismissal, and lend support to workers at Siam Stars as they continue to strengthen their union.

Belgian Gem Employer Sacks Union Leader in Thailand

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A strike by Ukraine&rsquo;s two main coal mining unions last week at a state-owned company accomplished its goal: dismissal of the acting general manager. Some 9,000 coal miners of the Coal Mining Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine and the Miners&rsquo; Independent Trade Union of Ukraine struck four major coal mines of the Krasnoarmeiskugol Company on 4 September, over mis-managed production and salaries. 
 
The strikes started at the Centralnaya, Stakhanov, Dimitrov, and Rodinskaya mines near the eastern city of Donetsk in the Donbass coal basin. The first demand of the strike was met when the government dismissed the company&rsquo;s general manager, Volodymyr Tymchenko. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="250" />
After negotiations with two deputies in the Coal Ministry, Vladimir Fichev and Anatoly Bolotov, who were quickly dispatched to talk with striking miners, the decision was made to sack Tymchenko. At that, the two mine unions &ndash; both ICEM affiliates &ndash; decided to suspend the strike. 
 
Tensions, however, remain high because of the salary issue. The country&rsquo;s Coal Ministry wants to transfer 50% of workers&rsquo; hourly pay into norm-based remuneration. The mining unions are opposed. The mining unions also seek better production means. The strike comes as Ukraine desperately tries to attract investors to tap new seems of coal, namely in the Dnipr basin. 
 
The strike, which could re-start by month&rsquo;s end if the salary scheme isn&rsquo;t resolved, came amidst Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko publicly stating that success in the coal sector cannot come without an increase to workers&rsquo; social status. He said wages and pensions are too low, saying that the current levels are unfair and less than what miners&rsquo; deserve. He also said technical equipment in mines is poor, and Ukraine averages a death rate of one miner for every one million tonnes of coal produced, twice the rate of that in other countries.

Coal Miners in Ukraine Strike; Tensions Still High

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