English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
ICEM&rsquo;s Colombia affiliate, the National Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (USO), is seeking continued international solidarity in its conflict with British-based BP in eastern Colombia. As reported in an ICEM briefing that can be seen <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3660-Oil-Workers-in-Colombia-Suffer-Police-Repression">here</a>, USO has waged a hard fought campaign for union rights, improved wages, and a new collective agreement, including conducting strike actions between January and April. 
 
They have suffered through police violence and on 15 February, union members were hospitalised at a BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil fields in Casanare. 
 
Workers at the plant deployed new tactics in their struggle last week, blocking the entrance to the facility and curtailing production of the Centro de Producci&oacute;n de Fluidos (CPF) for five days. The peaceful occupation of the Cusiana CPF was misrepresented by local BP management, through a campaign of misinformation in the local town of Tauramena. Faulty company reports claim union intimidation and obstruction of food deliveries and people through the blockade. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="152" />
Access to the gas processing facility is now jointly controlled by USO and BP&rsquo;s private security firm, as USO is wary of industrial sabotage being carried out that would be blamed on the union and used to undermine the negotiation process. The ICEM demands that BP fully recognise workers&rsquo; right to organise and bargain collectively under the guidance of USO. The oil multinational must also implore its contracting firm, SAR Energy, to respect the union and the negotiating process. 
 
The Colombia Solidarity Campaign is organising another picket of BP at its London headquarters, between 14h00 and 18h00 on Wednesday, 2 June, at 1 St James Square. 
 
Protest messages demanding peaceful negotiations with the workers of Casanare can be sent to BP Chief Executive, Tony Hayward at <a href="mailto:tony.hayward@bp.com">tony.hayward@bp.com</a>. Messages of solidarity and support can be sent to the workers at <a href="mailto:movimientoporcasanare@yahoo.es">movimientoporcasanare@yahoo.es</a>. 
 
BP will invest more than US$300 million in Colombia in 2010 and 2011 as it expands its gas and oil production, BP Exploration Colombia President Alberto Galvis confirmed. Colombia has increased its oil production to nearly 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 500,000 bpd in the last three years. According to Galvis, the Cusiana gas facility will be expanded to process 2.8bn cubic metres (bcm) per annum by September 2010. This is in spite of BP&rsquo;s massive clean-up bill for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Oil multinationals are increasing investment in Colombia following corporate friendly fiscal changes by outgoing President Uribe.

Colombian Oil Workers Block Gas Facility, Protesting BP’s Reversal

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The Guyana Bauxite &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (GB&amp;GWU) is seeking corrective measures by the government of the South American nation in order to continue representing 500 miners of the Bauxite Co. of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), which is 90% controlled by the Russian metals company RusAl. 
 
Following six months of intense struggle, which crested in December 2009 when RusAl unilaterally withdrew recognition of the union at the Aroaima and Kwakwani bauxite mines in contradiction to Guyanese labour law, GB&amp;GWU finally got a hearing last week, on 25 May, before Guyana&rsquo;s Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board. 
 
But that hearing proved inconclusive, with the union seeking remedial action by the Labour Ministry before a ballot is put before miners on whether or not they want to retain the longstanding union. Fifty-seven GB&amp;GWU activists remain sacked after they led a strike on 22 November 2009. 
<img alt="" src="" width="256" height="192" />
GB&amp;GWU picketed the offices of Labour Minister Mansoor Nadir on 4 and 5 February 
The union wants redress for the Labour Minister refusing to act or to conduct an investigation that followed the end of the strike. BCGI prepared a de-authorization petition and coerced workers into signing it, denouncing the GB&amp;GWU. In April, it surfaced that BCGI management at both Aroaima and Kwakwani conspired to organise a workers&rsquo; committee for a rival union, one connected with the ruling People&rsquo;s Progressive Party (PPP) in Guyana. (The GB&amp;GWU has been traditionally aligned with the opposition People&rsquo;s National Congress Reform, PNCR). 
 
&ldquo;What we are asking,&rdquo; said GB&amp;GWU Secretary-General Lincoln Lewis, &ldquo;is that the laws of the country be upheld before any ballot at BCGI is held. That means that BCGI&rsquo;s one-sided de-authorization be addressed, victimization of union leaders be addressed, the illegal firings be heard, and its blatant interference over freedom of association rights be addressed. 
 
&ldquo;Now, that has not happened. We cannot enter a ballot until these complaints are answered. If we do, it opens an unwanted precedent for any union in Guyana &ndash; no matter the political alignment &ndash; for both national laws and international labour standards to be ignored in undermining a legitimate union.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="198" />
GB&amp;GWU Secretary-General Lincoln Lewis 
The dispute is now highly politically charged with PNCR representatives in the National Assembly bringing a no-confidence motion on Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister Mansoor Nadir inside the Legislature. The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy has called for his resignation. 
 
The labour dispute initially started in wage negotiations last November. BCGI submitted three proposals and asked miners to vote and accept one. When they accepted the one least desirable to BCGI, managers began meeting with groups of workers to convince them to change their position. For those who stood by the democratic vote, management made it known they would be the first terminated. 
 
Management&rsquo;s bullishness, thus, caused the strike, a strike in which BCGI terminated union leaders, withdrew recognition, and subsequently has tried to introduce another union. The ICEM did intervene with the Guyanese government, but received only a curt reply that all laws and procedures are being adhered to. The ICEM will continue to stand by the GB&amp;GWU until full justice prevails.

Guyana Bauxite Union Still Seeking Justice from RusAl, Government

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Dutch-Irish pulp and paper company SmurfitKappa withdrew a signed social agreement with ICEM affiliate FGTB on a redundancy package, after claiming managers at the Mettet paper converter in the Walloon region of Belgium were coerced into signing it. The company announced in February that is was closing the Cartomill plant near Namur, thus terminating 69 workers. 
 
Late on 30 April and early 1 May, FGTB representatives and plant managers were negotiating the social package in the plant&rsquo;s offices when, after several hours into the night, an agreement was reached on transition and education terms, as well a &euro;30,000 per worker redundancy settlement. The company had originally offered only the Belgian minimum, &euro;28,000. 
 
But following the signing, plant managers conferred with corporate management and the decision was taken to invalidate the agreement, with Cartomills managers stating they were held against their will throughout the evening and forced to sign. Pascal Vivone of FGTB denies the assertion. &ldquo;I do not understand how they can come up with that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At no point did they indicate they were being held against their will.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="245" height="100" />
The two parties, nonetheless, are now continuing the dialogue to reach a fair and equitable settlement. Both sides have agreed to conduct the negotiations off site. 
 
In another recent European paper dispute, the French unions &ndash; CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC &ndash; won favourable wage terms through industrial action against French paper producer ArgoWiggins. The pay package covers some 2,000 workers at six French mills. The settlement came after several two-hour work stoppages dating back to mid-April. Workers won 2% average pay increases that includes bonus entitlements. ArjoWiggins is owned by the private equity group Sequana Capital.

SmurfitKappa Reneges on Signed Redundancy Package at Belgian Paper Plant

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Some 60,000 trade union members of five Romanian union confederations manifested in Bucharest&rsquo;s Victoriei Square on 19 May, demanding that the government not implement its planned cuts on public-sector wages, pensions, and social services. 
 
Trade unions, civil society groups, and doctors, teachers, and ordinary citizens promise a general strike that could begin tomorrow, 31 May, if the center-right government of Prime Minister Emil Boc moves ahead with its plan to cut public-sector pay by 25%, pensions and unemployment benefits by 15%, and public services by 15% on 1 June. 
 
The cuts were made in a letter of intent to the US-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a US$20 billion loan from the IMF and the EU in order to balance the country&rsquo;s budget. Prior to the 19 May manifestation, the IMF made public its concern against such drastic cuts, expressing a preference for a balance between public curtailments and new revenue sources such as taxes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="188" />
19 May Manifestation in Victoriei Square
Trade unions are calling for a system of progressive taxation, with the right to retain a decent job, the right to education opportunities, and the right to retire in dignity without fear of dire poverty. The trade union confederations propose that Romanian government ministries cut their bureaucracies. 
 
The government&rsquo;s austerity programme includes a 15% cut in child and child-rearing allowances. Currently, women workers receive 85% of their pre-maternity average pay after childbirth. The government&rsquo;s proposed cuts would slash that to 60%. In an already understaffed national medical system in which doctors earn average monthly pay of only &euro;350, the cuts would mean another 10% of doctors would leave Romania for countries that have higher salaries. Education has already been affected. Some 15,000 teachers will be sacked this year because of the austerity plan. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="188" />
For ICEM affiliated trade unions in the public sector, including FSLI-Petrom at the state oil company, Chimie-Petrochimie Lazar Edeleanu, Chimie-Petrochimie CSI, and Centrala Nationala Minera Federation, the cuts could be devastating since some 80,000 public-sector jobs would be lost, and there is sure to be a spin-off effect into private sector employment. 
 
The five labour confederations resisting the government&rsquo;s wide-ranging social cuts comprise unions in the mining, metallurgical, chemicals, agriculture, textile, transportation, and education sectors. They include the Fratia National Confederation of Free Trade Unions (CNSLR-Fratia), the Cartel Alfa National Trade Union Confederation (CNS Cartel Alfa), the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS), the Meridian National Trade union Confederation, and the Democratic Trade Union Confederation of Romania (CSDR). 
 
The trade union confederations have already declared 19 May as a historic day of national solidarity against injustice in the central European country, and vow that any attempt by the government to impose its terms will bring the nation to its biggest social crisis of the past 20 years.

Proposed Austerity Cuts Bring Mass Protests Inside Romania

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM is coordinating with other Global Union Federations, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation, and UNI, as well as with North American affiliates Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada and the United Steelworkers (USW), and the Solidarity Centre in Mexico, to conduct a teach-in event in Toronto, aimed at raising solidarity with and understanding of the struggle by democratic trade unions in Mexico. The event will be held on 20 June, as part of the Peoples&rsquo; Forum events around the G8 and G20 summits. It is an open event. View the agenda <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Mexico%20Forum%20-%20Agenda%20-%20Public%20_EN_.pdf">here</a>. 
 
Entitled the &ldquo;Conference on Building Solidarity with the Democratic Labour Movement in Mexico,&rdquo; the forum is targeted at making an impact in both Mexico and Canada, following Mexican President Felipe Calder&oacute;n&rsquo;s recent visit to the Canadian Parliament, and the continued anti-union strategy of the Mexican government. 
 
The ICEM Executive Committee last week issued a resolution against mining giant Grupo M&eacute;xico and the Calder&oacute;n government following unprovoked violence by federal police against workers in the city of L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas in the Michoac&aacute;n region. Read the complete resolution <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3795">here</a>. 
<img alt="" src="" width="267" height="346" />
This latest attack is an attack on the autonomy of the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), also known as Los Mineros. The violence follows the arrest of Mario Garc&iacute;a Ort&iacute;z, Los Mineros&rsquo; special delegate for the State of Michoac&aacute;n, also the Alternative General Secretary of the union and President of the recent Convention of the union. When a delegation of Section 271 went to the police station to ask the reason for the arrest, they found Ort&iacute;z in the process of being released. Without provocation, the police ordered the mineworkers to lie on the street, and then brutally beat the union members. 
 
Mario Ort&iacute;z was seriously injured in the attack and hospitalised. Following the attack, the Section 271 members were detained by police, only being released when their 3,000 fellow Section 271 members stopped work at the ArcelorMittal steel facility in protest. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s governing body last week demanded that the Calder&oacute;n government respect the democratic decision of the recent Los Mineros Congress, which re-elected Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez as General Secretary. G&oacute;mez is forced to lead the union from exile in Canada, as the Mexican government and Grupo M&eacute;xico continue sham legal processes against him. The treatment of Los Mineros official Juan Linares acts as stark reminder of what Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez risks facing if he returns to his country. Juan Linares was arrested in September 2008 at an airport on his return from Canada, where he was a guest at a Canadian labour conference. 
 
&ldquo;ICEM affiliates in Canada and the US have put fourth extraordinary efforts assisting our sisters and brothers in Mexico to stand up against a repressive government and some ruthless employers,&rdquo; stated Joe Drexler, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs and Coordinator for the ICEM North American Region. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="148" />
(Photo: International Metalworkers Federation)
Mexican union leaders from different sectors will share experiences of repression and their fight for decent work, under the four following agenda items: Legal &amp; Political Framework of the Labour Movement Crisis; The Mexican Labour Movement in Crisis; Organizing Strategies in Response to the Crisis; Solidarity Strategies in Response to the Crisis. 
 
The event will take place at 89 Chestnut St., Chestnut Residence Hotel, University of Toronto, 2nd floor. Registration is at 08h30am. For more information, write to <a href="mailto:mbeauregard@cep.ca">mbeauregard@cep.ca</a>. 
 
There was positive news at Johnson Controls in the Mexican state of Puebla this weekend, when a long-fought struggle came to fruition. Johnson Controls officially recognizing the SNTMMSRM as the representative trade union of its employees, ending its relationship with a yellow union. 
 
Management was brought to the table just three days after a work stoppage, as the union timed a strike to stop production just before shipments to key customers including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chrysler, Nissan, and Volkswagen. Johnson Controls was at risk of large fines if supplier contracts were not met. The settlement also sees 80 contract and agency workers given full employment by the American-based company. The US Solidarity Centre in Mexico reports that international pressure was vitally important in reaching this settlement, serving as a clear indication of the need to continue the overall campaign.

Mexico ‘Teach-In’ Organised to Build Trade Union Solidarity

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In September 2007, the ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly signed a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Belgian-based Umicore, a chemicals, metals technology, and catalysts systems company. This GFA moved ahead with several activities of late. 
 
Following a joint mission to Shanghai, China, in March 2009, another joint mission was accomplished early this year to S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil. The ICEM and IMF were represented there by Luc Triangle from the Belgium Union ACV-CSC METEA, who took the lead in signing the GFA back in 2007. He was accompanied by Jef Peeters, Secretary of Umicore&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC). The company was represented by Guy Ethier, Senior Vice President of Environment, Health, and Safety, and Mark Dolfyn, Human Resources and Development Director. 
<img alt="" src="" width="269" height="195" />
From left, the Umicore Monitoring Committee, Noel Van Den Bossche, Mark Dolfyn, ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Umicore CEO Marc Grynberg, Luc Triangle, Jef Peeters, and Umicore&rsquo;s Geert Bens and Guy Ethier 
Local union leaders and company managers were also present at the meetings. 
 
Umicore&rsquo;s business in Brazil spiraled with acquisition of the Precious Metals Group from the Finnish-American group OMG in 2003. The three Brazilian Umicore operations are former OMG plants, with one located in Guarulhos that employs 450 staff. 
 
The programme of the joint visit covered consultation with trade union delegates over a detailed agenda, and it involved several participants. The delegation also received detailed information on the Guarulhos site regarding performance, production, demographics, gender/age, types of contracts, staff turnover, training and education, local staff survey results, health and safety, environmental issues, social policies, working conditions, social dialogue, relationship with trade unions, and activities with the local communities. 
 
During the different meetings with local and corporate managers, the different chapters of this reporting were used to discuss situations at Guarulhos. 
 
At the end of the visit, both parties expressed their appreciation. The European trade unionists concluded the meeting with proposals to improve functioning of the Health and Safety Committee, to increase the awareness of the GFA&rsquo;s content for all workers, inclusive of further training. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="179" />
Discussions in S&atilde;o Paulo with representatives from Umicore&rsquo;s three operations in Brazil
Following this mission to Brazil, the GFA&rsquo;s Monitoring Committee met in Brussels on 23 April. The ICEM was represented by Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Rubber and Chemicals Industries Officer, while Luc Triangle of Belgium ACV-CSC METEA was present on behalf of IMF. Both Jef Peeters and Noel Van Den Bossche represented the EWC of Umicore. The company delegation was headed by CEO Marc Grynberg, Senior Vice President Guy Ethier, and Mark Dolfyn and Geert Bens. 
 
The meeting heard and discussed a presentation on the annual sustainable development report, the external verification report, an evaluation of the Guarulhos mission, a preview on new sustainable development objectives for 2011-2015, Umicore&rsquo;s new Sustainable Procurement Approach, planning and financing of future site visits, and the mandated review of the GFA. 
 
Grynberg commented openly on the formulation of the next level of sustainable development objectives, which still needs to be approved by the company&rsquo;s Board of Directors and will become part of the &ldquo;Vision 2015&rdquo; communication tool for all employees. According to the CEO, the new objectives will be clustered around three themes: Great Place to Work, which includes safety and industrial hygiene; Eco Efficiency; and Stakeholder Engagement, which includes achieving a sustainable supply chain management. 
 
As a new approach, Umicore&rsquo;s Purchase &amp; Transportation Department reviewed the work that has been done, starting in 2008, to prepare the company&rsquo;s &ldquo;Sustainable Procurement Charter.&rdquo; This approach identifies suppliers who are at risk and sets out the evaluation process. The roll-out of the new Sustainable Procurement Charter will start soon, and will be incorporated in the new sustainable development objectives. The results of the supplier evaluation will be used for further improvements in practices of the supply chain. 
 
Commented &Ouml;zkan on the visit and the Monitoring Committee meeting: &quot;This is an important way forward for Umicore, particularly in comparing the time when we first signed the GFA and in developing and sharing the sustainable development practices of the company. New sustainable development objectives and the Sustainable Procurement Charter will enrich the implementation of the agreement. We offer our full cooperation.&rdquo;

Global Agreement with Belgian Umicore Takes Bold Steps Ahead

The annual ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) seminar took place in Singapore on 18-19 April. The seminar, hosted by the ICEM with the assistance of Germany&rsquo;s Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), brought together 52 delegates, including representatives of the ICEM, the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), Public Services International (PSI), and Union Network International (UNI). 
 
Union leaders and activists from 14 Asian countries, members of the Western European Team of experts from Denmark and Sweden, and representatives of the ICEM Secretariat and the FES attended the meeting, spoke about the impact of precarious employment in their countries, and shared strategies which they had developed to deal with CAL issues. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda had been scheduled to attend the seminar, but was unable to do so because of the disruption to European flights caused by volcanic ash from Iceland. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="181" />
Participants discussed how CAL is being used to undermine the right to freedom of association, by companies who are letting go of permanent staff and hiring temporary workers in their place. Participants also discussed how the global economic crisis is being used by multinational companies as an excuse to reduce their permanent workforce, despite the fact that CEOs are receiving ever increasing pay packages. 
 
The participants proposed a number of next steps, including that unions should make CAL a priority issue and prioritise organising of CAL workers; that they should cooperate in campaigning at a national level for legislation which would make user enterprises responsible for agency workers;, and that collective bargaining should fully include CAL issues. 
 
Participants also proposed that a workshop be arranged to discuss how dialogue can best be arranged with labour-hire agencies to assure that labour rights and standards are upheld.

Global Union Federations Gather in Asia-Pacific Region to Develop CAL Tactics

ICEM Contract and Agency Labour Newsletter

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Canadian steelworkers forced on strike by Brazilian mining house Vale last summer got another ally late last week. In West Africa, the Forestry, Logging, and Industry Workers of Liberia (FLIWUL) called on their President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, to look closely at Vale&rsquo;s social record before the Liberian government grants Vale a rail and logistics link through the country from newly gained iron ore mines in Guinea. 
 
In the 13 May letter to President Johnson-Sirleaf, FLIWUL said Vale &ldquo;infringes human rights, exploits both male and female workers, imposes precarious working conditions, destroys nature, and disrespects traditional communities&rdquo; in several countries, including Mozambique, Brazil, Canada, Peru, Chile, Germany, Italy, and New Caledonia. 
 
Early in May, Vale bought a 51% stake of BSG Resources, which holds concessions to rich iron ore deposits near Simandou in south-eastern Guinea. Vale paid US$2.5 billion, with an initial payment of US$500 million for the stake and expects to begin production there in 2012. BSG Resources is owned by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
Parts of the deposits near Simandou were once owned by Rio Tinto, but the government of Guinea confiscated the blocks in a development dispute. 
 
The ICEM reacted favourably to FLIWUL&rsquo;s challenge to Vale&rsquo;s investment in Liberia, citing the fact that the world&rsquo;s largest iron ore producer has a forced a bitter strike &ndash; now in its eleventh month &ndash; on 3,500 nickel and copper miners in Canada. 
 
General Secretary Manfred Warda said the ICEM will also raise Vale&rsquo;s new investment in Guinea with trade unions there, as well as with the military government of Guinea, which has shown a willingness to halt worker abuses by multinationals. 
 
In the FLIWUL letter to President Johnson-Sirleaf (seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/fliwul.letter.liberia.1005.pdf">here</a>), Secretary-General David Sackoh said, &ldquo;We are aware of many serious issues surrounding Vale and its mistreatment of workers and communities where it operates around the world. 
 
&ldquo;We are disturbed at the treatment that Vale has given to its workforce in Canada. The company provoked a strike through its demands for deep concessions from its workers despite the fact that the company has made billions of dollars in profit in recent years. 

<img alt="" src="" width="284" height="113" />
&ldquo;Madame President, following many years of civil war and turmoil the Liberian people finally enjoy peace and have a promising future under your leadership. This behemoth Vale with its suspect actions could potentially destroy our fragile economy for the benefit of a greedy few. As key stakeholder in the infrastructural and economic development of Liberia, FLIWUL wishes to urge the government to carefully study the situation and ensure that transitional companies investing in Liberia do so responsibly.&rdquo; 
 
Vale has attempted to break the strike by 3,100 miners in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, and another 400 in Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador/Newfoundland, by using replacement workers to continue production. That practice is outlawed in two Canadian provinces, and generally discouraged in the others. In Sudbury and Port Colborne, where Untied Steelworkers Locals 6500 and 6200 share a common labour agreement, bargaining did resume for the second time since the strike began on 13 July 2009. But those mediated sessions, 5-7 May, broke off when Vale refused to retreat from its intractable demands for steep cuts to living and working conditions.

ICEM Affiliate in Liberia Balks at Vale Rail Link Through Country

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Strike actions in April and a flurry of trade union activities over the past two weeks have succeeded in bringing formal recognition to the ICEM affiliate, Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia. Some 5,800 workers at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines, some 40 kilometres from Zestafoni in Chiatura, now have a free and democratic trade union to call their own. 
 
That was reinforced on 13 May after the union, backed by the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), and top managers met for a second conciliation commission session and made headway towards resolving a host of demands put forward by workers. 
 
Miners and metalworkers were buoyed massively when, ten days after a three-day strike ended on 25 April that got management&rsquo;s rapt attention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan travelled to western Georgian to meet with workers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="225" />
(LtoR) Irakli Petriashvili, President of GTUC, Manfred Warda, GTUC interpreter, Kemal &Ouml;zkan
Bringing pledges of solidarity from the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), Warda told Georgian workers they were not alone. And speaking before regional news media and to workers directly, Warda assured all that the combined strength of the two federations was ready and willing to take this fight beyond central Asia if that was needed. 
 
The message underscored a resolve borne through several months of struggle, culminating in a series of April incidents, including grievous intimidation tricks (see prior ICEM report here) by management that served only to bring more staff into the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; fold. 
 
Initially in last week&rsquo;s second conciliation session, managers and their attorneys sought involvement of an existing but dying &ldquo;yellow&rdquo; union in the talks. But the seven union members of the joint, bilateral commission threatened to walk out and lead renewed strike actions. The union and GTUC representatives then showed managers a large number of power-of-attorney statements by workers that expressed their allegiance to the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union. 
<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="142" />
Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union Members
Recognition was achieved. The numerous petitions that workers demand to improve their working lives were then open for discussion. Foremost among them were wages. In the hours leading up to the talks, the ICEM and IMF scrambled to gather and succeeded in delivering wage rates from associated ferroalloy plants in Ukraine, owned by the metals arm of PrivatBank. 
 
Miners at the Georgian Manganese complex are paid an average monthly wage of GEL (lari) 450, or US$238, &euro;192. Metalworkers at the ferroalloy plant in Zestafoni earn a monthly average of GEL 562, or US$298, &euro;240. With both sides having already agreed to 1 May as the effective date for salary adjustments, management proposed a 15% increase for shift workers and 8% for day workers. 
 
This is unsatisfactory to the union side of the commission. But they are confident that further negotiations today and tomorrow, 17-18 May, and again on 20 May, will bring the long overdue percentage increases higher. The union did get a commitment at the 13 May set of talks that the enterprises will begin to comply with Georgia labour law regarding sick leave payments, including retroactive compensation for those workers who have been denied such pay. 

<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
&ldquo;It is a big step forward,&rdquo; said Gocha Aleksandria, Vice President of the GTUC, who is a member of the 14-member conciliation commission. &ldquo;The administration now accepts our union, but the hardest part is still ahead. We intend to achieve the obvious, meaningful, and tangible results for our members and that is permanent labour contracts that address all issues.&rdquo; 
 
Some of those issues include raising the number of yearly paid leave days from 30 (metal) and 32 (mining) to 35; creation of a joint contributory pension fund to supplement a miserly state pension; better safety and health conditions; and an upgrade to medical facilities. 
 
Even prior to the first commission negotiations, on 7 May, management reacted to workers&rsquo; militancy and ICEM&rsquo;s mission statement of that week by agreeing to permanent work contracts, as well as reinstatement of two union leaders who were discharged for strike activities. (At the 13 May session, management agreed to pay the two their full April salaries.) 
 
Another accomplishment in the recent bargaining is that union leaders will bring their demands directly to Georgian shareholders of the enterprises. The complex ownership of the ferroalloy plant and manganese mines has stock ownership by privately-held Stemcor Holdings of the UK. Shares are also traded publicly on the Georgian bourse with Georgia entrepreneurs and the Ukrainian oligarch Gennadiy Boholyubov and his manganese empire that is tied to PrivatBank holding vast sums. 
 
For now, 3,600 miners and 2,200 metalworkers have a free and democratic union they can call their own &ndash; the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region. But as Aleksandria states, the journey now begins in earnest: erstwhile dialogue to gain the wage levels, benefits and work conditions that they justly deserve.

Free Trade Union Recognised for Miners, Metalworkers of Georgia

Archive