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The Irish-British luxury china and ceramics company Waterford Wedgewood caused doubt and uncertainly among workers in both Ireland and the UK when it fell into receivership early in January. And now the Irish regional secretary of Unite the Union is calling on the government of Ireland to assume the pension liability of the company, even as the union and receivership administrator negotiate with an American private equity firm to continue production and retain jobs. 
 
Jobs were immediately put in doubt throughout the company and its subsidiaries, including an Irish factory at Killbarry, County Waterford, which has seen a workforce of 900 shrink to 125 over the past year, and at a factory in Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, UK, which employs 1,100 people. 
 
Following the collapse of the group, Unite Irish Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly &ndash; himself once employed by Waterford Crystal in Killbarry &ndash; urged Irish Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin to underwrite the pension liability. She declined, stating the pension was a private investment fund so the government is not responsible. 
 
Ireland&rsquo;s government, however, has failed to implement an EU directive requiring member-states to protect the interests of workers&rsquo; pension entitlements if an employer fails. In the UK, a pension protection scheme was introduced following a European Court of Justice ruled in 2007 that prior British legislation did not constitute proper implementation of the directive. 
 
Since being placed into receivership on 5 January, Waterford Wedgewood&rsquo;s administrator, Deloitte of Ireland, has stopped payments into the pension scheme, although workers still contribute. Last week, the remaining Irish workers at Killbarry, were placed on a three-day work-week. 
 
A potential buyer of Waterford Wedgewood is New York-based KPS Capital Partners, but the equity fund has expressed interest in only some of the company&rsquo;s worldwide assets, and has dismissed the idea of picking up pension liabilities. KPS has expressed only a one-year option on three factories. 
 
Unite the Union claims that since Ireland has failed under the EU directive to put in place appropriate minimum guarantees that protect workers&rsquo; pensions, it is in breach of EU law. Besides the Waterford Crystal brand, the 250-year-old company manufactures Wedgewood pottery and Royal Doulton china. The firm also operates Rosenthal ceramics in Germany, a business unit it has been trying to sell, and operations in Australia.

Waterford Wedgewood Failure Creates Question Mark on Workers’ Pensions

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Last month, an inspiring group of US trade unionists staged a six-day occupation of a manufacturing plant in Chicago, Illinois, a success story that continues to resonate. The sit-in, done by ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers&rsquo; Union of America (UE), sent a potent worldwide message on how to defend jobs when a company is foreclosed by banks. (Read more <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2929-Chicago-Plant-Takeover-Vivid-Reminder-Amidst-American-Banking-Bailout">here</a>.) 
 
Seven weeks after that plant occupation, another, and bigger reward awaits the 300 UE members: they may get their jobs back. A small eco-friendly building materials company that likes the plant, the equipment, but more importantly, likes the grit of the workers, is in serious negotiations to buy the plant, reopen it under a UE collective agreement, and produce energy-efficient building materials. 
 
Serious Materials, a maker of triple-pane windows and soundproof drywall, is attempting to buy the plant&rsquo;s assets from bankruptcy from the creditor, Bank of America. The California-based company, with only three other factories &ndash; all operated non-union &ndash; sees an opportunity with the UE workforce to expand a manufacturing base that likely will flourish in post-Bush America. &ldquo;We saw a great opportunity with a great facility and great workers,&rdquo; said the company&rsquo;s CEO in a published report, who admitted he was inspired by the 5-11 December plant occupation. 

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The good news comes as UE workers from the closed Republic factory travel the US on a &ldquo;Recovery and Resistance&rdquo; tour. They are telling their story and developing a campaign that puts a priority on jobs as the jumpstart to economic recovery. The workers, in hand with their union, are touring some 15 American cities under the broad-based banner of the labour-community coalition group, Jobs with Justice. 
 
An important aspect to the UE&rsquo;s campaigning is its &ldquo;Window of Opportunity Fund&rdquo; for Republic workers, a financial mechanism for the UE that will assure the union a seat at the table to determine the future of the plant. The occupation&rsquo;s success in December rested with the UE winning that seat, forcing a just settlement for Republic workers, who had seen their jobs taken from them with three days notice. 
 
The ICEM commends the UE and Republic workers for their success. The ICEM also recognises the need to grow the &ldquo;Window of Opportunity&rdquo; Fund, and encourages trade unions to take part. 
 
On the UE website, the &ldquo;Recovery and Resistance Tour&rdquo; can be found <a href="http://www.ueunion.org/ue_republicworkerstour.html">here</a>. 
The site has a method for making donations to ensure that as many Americans as possible hear the courageous story on how UE members in Chicago are going about saving their factory. The ICEM encourages unions to make a donation to this deserving effort.

Hope Turns Green: Republic Windows &amp; Doors Factory Might Reopen in Chicago

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The International Metal Workers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), in collaboration with the ITUC and other Global Union Federations, last week announced the third annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival, to take place 16 June 2009. The event will &ldquo;explore ways of reaching broader audiences and promote and support the capacity of trade unions to communicate through film.&rdquo; 
 
Started in 2007 as part of the IMF Communicators&rsquo; Forum, the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival has grown over the last two years and has positioned itself as one of the only international film festivals to showcase primarily film and videos made by unions about unions and working people. 
 
The three-hour programme will focus on films that are excellent examples of communicating labour stories and messages and the selection will include a range of different films from different parts of the world. 
 
The IMF asks for copies of films, in English, on DVD with a short paragraph describing the film and why it was produced, by 13 February 2008. Please contact Kristyne Peter (<a href="mailto:kpeter@imfmetal.org">kpeter@imfmetal.org</a>) or Alex Ivanou (<a href="mailto:aivanou@imfmetal.org">aivanou@imfmetal.org</a>).

Third Annual Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival Announced

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Pulp and Paper trade union leaders of the ICEM concluded their World Conference on 10 December in Piri&aacute;polis, Uruguay, with delegates forging a clear and concise solidarity action plan. With that, ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp/Paper Work Group activities will be extended and expanded to other leading affiliates. 

The conference featured a work plan, built around collective bargaining and other important work, and it took on issues of debt collapse, global growth slowdowns in the south, and pricing and labour costs from region to region.
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The conference heard a thorough and first-of-its-kind mapping of Mercosur unions in the pulp and paper sector and the companies that these unions are present at. The mapping came way of Brazil&rsquo;s Instituto Observat&oacute;rio Social, through funding from Finland&rsquo;s SASK, the global solidarity arm of the country&rsquo;s national labour centre. 
Delegates heard comments from Argentine trade union leader Blas Juan Alari, President of FOEIPCyQ, that a cold-war dispute between Argentina and Uruguay over a pulp mill did not take into account the sentiments of Argentine workers. The conference also heard moving presentations about workers&rsquo; rights in Uruguay from leaders of the national labour centre, PIT/CNT. 
They also heard from Ilkka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;, President and CEO of Metsa-Botni&auml; Oy, whose pulp mill in Fray Bentos has brought controversy between Argentine and Uruguyan governments, and from Jeronimo Ruiz, Director of S&atilde;o Paulo State&rsquo;s BRACELPA employers&rsquo; grouping, who also heads collective bargaining for Brazil&rsquo;s pulp and paper employers. 
Workers&rsquo; representatives queried the industry leaders on several things, including wood supply issues; pulping, delivery, and labour costs, and questions on social responsibility records, a sharp challenge that was put forward by ICEM Pulp and Paper Charman Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland. He said the precedence of profits to investors over society&rsquo;s interests is the foremost affront to a company&rsquo;s social responsibility record.
<img height="107" alt="" src="" width="240" />
Trade Union leaders on panel, from left, Jan-Henrik Sandberg, Sweden; Blas Juan Alari, Argentina; and Fred Wilson, Canada 

The conference also heard from Uruguay Industry and Energy Minister Daniel Martinez and Labour and Social Security Minister Eduardo Bonomi. Martinez, a former trade union leader in Uruguay, gave an impassionate speech on the need to uphold high labour and social standards in all industrial development. Bonomi gave a vivid account of a crumbling civilian government giving way to military in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as proclaiming that Uruguay&rsquo;s cuurent plans for industrial growth will better integrate the Mercosur countries. 

President of the host union, CUOPyC&rsquo;s Walter Silva, reminded trade union guests that any financial crisis inevitably harms workers first and the hardest, and said the most recent economic collapse must be the call for deepening democratic trade unions, opening of workers&rsquo; channels to investment decisions, and an absolute end to &ldquo;any type of social dumping.&rdquo; 

Silva also called the Argentine-Uruguay dispute &ndash; now in the World Court &ndash; regrettable, stating &ldquo;our opinion wasn&rsquo;t taken into account, although we had the ability to offer experience and knowledge&rdquo; to calm the political difficulties of the Fray Bentos mill. The mill has now been operating for one year and produces 100,000 metric tonnes of pulp annually, 70% of which is bought by Metsa-Botni&aacute;&rsquo;s three paper-making owners. 

ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda told delegates the neo-liberal model of economic structures has failed. &ldquo;It is not a time to heal a system that has failed, but rather a time to forge a sustainable future built on justice and equality.&rdquo; 

He said Uruguay was the right place to hold this conference, considering the dark days of repression in the 1970s and 1980s, with the ICEM purposely scheduling the conference on the 60th Anniversary of signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

The three-day ICEM forum was preceded by a two-day conference, 6-7 December, on forest certification programmes sponsored by the global union federation, Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI). That forum proved highly successful and afforded.ICEM affiliates the opportunity to learn about forest certification programmes.

ICEM Pulp/Paper Conference Held in Uruguay

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A six-day occupation of a factory in the US by ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers Union of America (UE) in Chicago served notice that American workers will take militant action to protect their interests, specifically against the US banking industry, which ultimately was responsible for the Chicago dispute. 
 
The occupation at Republic Windows and Doors ended on 11 December when a negotiated settlement came together between UE and a consortium of capital entities. The plant takeover started on 5 December when 200 workers occupied the Chicago factory after being given only three days notice of Republic closing the plant.
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American law requires 60 days pay for workers victimized by plant closures that are the size of Republic. UE Local 1110 members were denied this in the liquidation of their factory, and they were denied accrued and unused vacation time as well. The employer, Republic, pleaded it could not pay because Bank of America had cut off the company&rsquo;s line of credit, while the credit-troubled bank claimed it was the company&rsquo;s responsibility to pay workers. 
 
After six days of living and sleeping inside the plant, UE members and workers won a backpay settlement that included accrued vacation time and job benefits, and they won much more. Bank of America agreed to guarantee pay to cover the lawful plant-closing requirement, JPMorgan Chase &ndash; 40% owner of Republic Windows and Doors &ndash; agreed to contribute US$400,000, and Republic itself agreed to come up with US$114,000 to meet its payroll obligations for the week leading up to the plant takeover. 
 
Also in the negotiated settlement, workers will receive extended health insurance coverage. The victory inspired the UE to open a &ldquo;Window of Opportunity&rdquo; fund in order to find a way to keep the factory operating. 
 
The plant occupation sends a stark reminder regarding civil priorities in this period of bank bailouts, and the circumstances surrounding plant closures in the first place. It caught the attention of US President-elect Barack Obama, who said, workers were &ldquo;right&rdquo; to occupy the plant, because they &ldquo;understand that what&rsquo;s happening to them is reflective of what&rsquo;s happening across the economy.&rdquo; 
 
The UE sent a potent message on how to protect workers&rsquo; benefits during the bailout bonanza. The ICEM commends its US trade union affiliate for taking &ndash; and winning &ndash; this timely workplace action.

Chicago Plant Takeover Vivid Reminder Amidst American Banking Bailout

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Some 125 trade union leaders from the pulp and paper sector of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) conclude deliberations today in Uruguay toward shaping strategies for the sector. In the final session of day two of the 8-10 December conference in Piri&aacute;polis yesterday, delegates from 35 countries embarked on a four-point work plan focusing on national collective bargaining schedules in 2009. 
 
Delegates received a thorough mapping of the different trade unions representing pulp and paper workers in the sprawling Brazilian pulp and paper sector, as well as those in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Day two also featured a trade union panel that probed the consequences on workers of the current global recession. 
 
The theme of the conference is &ldquo;North Meets South: Global Unity, Global Strength,&rdquo; and ICEM Pulp and Paper Chairman Jouko Ahonen said networking between trade unions of the North and the burgeoning South &ndash; even with project curtailments brought on by the sudden economic collapse &ndash; is essential. &ldquo;This strategic plan is ambitious and we did get commitment that unions in South America, Asia, and the traditional pulp and paper-producing of the North will come together to forge common a programme,&rdquo; said Ahonen, who serves the ICEM sector as President of Paperiliitto Union of Finland. 

<img height="91" alt="" src="" width="150" />
The work plan, which can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/EN%20PulpPaper2009WkPl.pdf">here</a>, centers on establishment of a global communications and support network for the many national unions that have bargains in 2009. Sector-wide negotiations will occur in the Nordic countries, as well as eastern Canada and several European countries. Major agreements also come due at mills in Australia, the US, and Argentina and union leaders pledged to monitor talks and take global action when requested. 
 
The work plan also addresses strategies aimed at renewal talks of Global Framework Agreements with Norske Skog of Norway and SCA of Sweden, which occur in 2009. And in line with the conference&rsquo;s theme, the plan includes intensive work toward greater harmony and association between trade unions inside Brazil, together with unions in the other Mercosur countries of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. That effort will occur through a proposed project undertaken by Finnish trade unions of the sector and the global solidarity arm SASK, part of Finland&rsquo;s national labour centre. 
 
On Monday, 8 December, delegates heard presentations from Ilkka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;, President and CEO of Metsa-Botni&auml; Oy, and Jeronimo Ruiz, Director of Pulp and Paper for BRACELPA in S&atilde;o Paulo State and also the head of Collective Bargaining for Brazil&rsquo;s employers&rsquo; association. Workers&rsquo; representatives queried the industry leaders on the delivered cost of pulp from the South to the North, and on wood supply issues. 
The conference also heard on day one from Uruguay Industry and Energy Minister Daniel Martinez and Labour and Social Security Minister Eduardo Bonomi. Both spoke on issues related to the country&rsquo;s developing pulp and forestry sectors, and efforts by the left-leaning government to balance environmental and social standards of common Uruguayans with that agenda. 
 
The three-day ICEM forum was preceded by a two-day conference, 6-7 December, on forest certification programmes sponsored by the global union federation, Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI). 
 
Delegates to the ICEM conference also stepped out of their sector and passed a resolution supporting American trade unionists of affiliated union United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers (UE) for its occupation of the shuttered Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago. The resolution specifically commended US President-Elect Barack Obama for his published support of the action. The resolution can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Emergency%20Resolution.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM, the dominant global union federation representing workers in the pulp, paper, and paper converting sector, represents 467 affiliated trade unions in 132 countries on the global level. 
 
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information and Pulp and Paper Officer, +41 79 734 8994, or +41 79 734 9052.

ICEM Pulp/Paper Conference in Uruguay Focuses on 2009 Collective Negotiations

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The ICEM has intervened in efforts to prevent harsh discipline this week against an Iraqi trade unionist, who is being persecuted for leading a protest in order to gain wage arrears for workers at the State Company for Petrochemical Industries (SCPI). (See previous story&nbsp;<a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3024-Iraqi-State-Petrochemical-Company-Uses-Military-to-Bust-Peaceful-Protest">here</a>.) 
 
The ICEM learned over the weekend that Kareem Johi Sahan, a trade union leader for the Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra, is scheduled to be punished Thursday, 26 February, for his role in leading the 28 January workers&rsquo; protest. Following several weeks of interrogation of Johi and three other union leaders, Johi faces the possibility of immediate discharge, or reductions to his salary. 
 
The ICEM also has learned that the severe interrogations have inflicted Johi with heart problems. 

<img height="200" alt="" src="" width="223" />
Kareem Johi (centre) handling leaflets at an October 2008 demonstration
SCPI is 100% owned by Iraq&rsquo;s Ministry of Industry and Minerals. In a letter dated today to MIM Minister Fawzi al-Hariri, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged the ministry to intervene directly with management of the enterprise to prevent any form of discipline this week. (See that letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/16%20letter%20to%20Petrochem%20Iraq%20-%2023%20Feb09.pdf">here</a>.) 
 
Kareem Johi, 51, is a recognised trade union leader of the Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra at SCPI, who, since the end of 2006, has used internationally-recognised free speech and assembly to draw attention to remuneration claims, cuts in fuel subsidies to workers, and other regressive policies by SCPI management. 
 
SCPI is Iraq&rsquo;s only petrochemicals complex, employing 5,000 workers, and its six plants produce ethylene, polyethylene, vinyl chloride, and other chemicals.

ICEM Seeks Halt to Discipline of Iraqi Trade Union Leader at Petrochemicals Complex

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the Boehringer Ingelheim project in India; how HIV/AIDS affects the mining sector in Guinea; on the Swedish Workplace Programme and on the policy speech by the new UNAIDS Executive Director. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant 
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Progress in India 
 
The HIV/AIDS workplace project in India, which is sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, is making good progress. After the planning workshop in July 2008, master trainers were trained in August with technical assistance and expert input from the ILO/AIDS office in Delhi. 
 
Up to the end of 2008, six peer educators&rsquo; programmes were conducted by the master trainers in different parts of India, covering coal mining as well as the chemical and cement sectors. With 151 peer educators trained, the project is on target to train 500 peer educators in 20 programmes. The fact that management takes an increasing interest in the project is a positive sign and bodes well for a continuation of HIV/AIDS interventions at the workplace after 2009. 
 
A second master trainers&rsquo; course will be organised in Kolkata in early April 2009. In the meantime, peer educators have organised education and campaign activities in their places of work. 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
Extension of the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project to Guinea 
 
Discussions are under way to extend the ICEM HIV/AIDS project to Guinea (Conakry). With an HIV infection rate of 5.2 per cent, the mining sector in Guinea is particularly at risk from the epidemic. Some mining companies have begun setting up their own programmes in view of the lack of HIV/AIDS services from the public health sector. 
 
Guinea has large deposits of bauxite, iron, gold diamonds and other minerals which make it potentially one of the richest countries in West Africa. Yet it is one of the poorest countries of the world; over 53 per cent of its nine million inhabitants live on less than one dollar a day. 
 
Mine workers are generally better paid than those working in other sectors. Internal migration and separation from families leads to a lot of risky behaviour in remote mining areas. 
 
Mining companies and the Guinea Chamber of Mines (CMG) have realised how much HIV is costing the companies and have been working with international partners to set up public-private partnerships which can offer HIV/AIDS services not only to the workers but also to their families and to the wider community. An active involvement of the ICEM affiliated FSPMCICA (national union of mine, quarry and chemical workers) would ideally supplement these activities. 
 
(Source: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (INRI) as reported in Africa News, 28 November 2008) 
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Namibia: AIDS Funding under Threat 
 
Namibia could run out of money for AIDS programmes funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria after the country was once again refused funding of its projects for the next five years. So far, Namibia only had one grant approved in 2002. Two subsequent applications were not found to be of the required quality by the independent Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund. 
 
Namibia ranks among the top five worst affected countries in the world. Government agencies and NGOs were hoping to address HIV prevalence among commercial sex workers and youth between the ages of 20 to 24. Part of the money was also to be used for strengthening the health system by training more nurses, pharmacists and other medical staff as well as providing more support to orphans and vulnerable children. 
 
(Source: The Namibian, Windhoek, as reported in Africa News, 4 December 2008) 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
Swedish Workplace Programme 
 
Funding has been secured for a further four-year period for the Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme (SWHAP). The latest SWHAP Newsletter reports on the World AIDS Day event &ldquo;Business Combating HIV and AIDS&rdquo; in Stockholm which brought together over 110 business leaders and trade union representatives as well as NGOs and government agencies. Keynote speaker was the former President of Botswana and Chairperson of the National AIDS Council, Festus Mogae. 
 
SWHAP is a joint venture of the ICEM-affiliated Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IF Metall) and the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR). Its aim is to support and contribute to the establishment of HIV and AIDS programmes at Swedish-related workplaces in sub-Saharan Africa. If you want to know more about SWHAP and the countries and companies covered go to <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>. 
 
(Source: SWHAP Newsletter December 2008) 

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Optimistic UNAIDS Director Sets Ambitious Goals 
 
The new Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michele Sidibe, outlined his vision for the UN agency at the Ubuntu Clinic in Kayelitsha township in Cape Town. He promised to make universal access a priority. His goal is to avert 2.6 million new infections and save 1.3 million lives by the end of 2010. 
 
He put special emphasis on the testing of women and the support for orphans. &ldquo;We cannot transform this epidemic if we don&rsquo;t make sure that women and children are the centres of our preoccupation&rdquo;, he said. In calling for an investment of USD 25 billion over the next few years, he acknowledged the difficulty of raising funds in the current economic crisis but added that the crisis should not paralyse efforts in fighting the pandemic. 
 
In choosing Kayelitsha for his policy speech, Sidibe recognized the pioneer role the township played as early as 2001 when M&eacute;decins sans Fronti&egrave;res started antiretroviral treatment in the township at a time when the provision of ARVs in the public sector in the South Africa was still banned. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS website and IRIN PlusNews, 10 February) 
<img height="57" alt="" src="" width="40" />
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
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Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools">http://www.google.com/language_tools</a> and insert the following URL into the window &ldquo;Translate a Web page&ldquo;: 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 41 February 2009

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A wage arrears dispute at a&nbsp;Argentina pulp and paper mill was resolved, though only by earnest intervention by Buenos Aires Minister of Work Oscar Cuartango 11 days ago. Some 430 workers now will get back wages in a guaranteed payment plan. 
 
Their salaries have been owed them since December and January when family-run Massuh SA halted its payroll at the Quilmes pulp and paper mill near Buenos Aires. 
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The ICEM cited the dispute last month, and sent a protest letter to the company, with copies to both the federal and state Work ministers. ICEM Argentina affiliate Federation of Workers&rsquo; of Paper, Carton, and Chemical (FOEIPCyQ) Unions championed this grievous breach of fair treatment and received scores of support letters from ICEM affiliates worldwide. Massuh SA is owned by the interconnected Massuh and Petrocchi families of Argentina, which also has major holdings in another Argentina paper enterprise, Fibra Papelera. 
 
Massuh SA, in April 2008, sold a paper converting plant in San Luis to Ledesma, a Blaquier family operation, and earlier had spun a brown paper plant in San Justo off to Fibra Papelera. Because of the recession in finished paper production, Massuh acquired a US$40 million loan in mid-2008, a loan in which the lending institution granted an 18-month grace period before payments are due. 
 
FOEIPCyQ said in a statement to the ICEM: &ldquo;We extend our deep gratefulness to the many unions who heard the ICEM&rsquo;s call for assistance and support for our working companions of the Massuh company. This is now a triumph of the workers because it was their iron will which would not allow their rights to be taken from them.&rdquo;

Argentina Paperworkers at Massuh SA Receive Assurances of Pay

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The ICEM supports the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) who last week lodged a complaint against the Mexican Government to the ILO in Geneva. 
 
The complaint calls on the ILO to condemn Mexican labour laws, which prevent real freedom of association and contravene ILO Convention 87, the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention. 
 
Under Mexican law, the vast majority of collective agreements are so-called &ldquo;contratos de protecci&oacute;n&rdquo; or protection contracts, which force workers to join unions created by company management rather than ones of workers&rsquo; own choosing. In practice, the law means only unions that have the support of companies and government can operate. 

<img height="83" alt="" src="" width="125" />
IMF General Secretary, Marcello Malentacchi
Mexican law also does not require any democratic structures such as secret ballots related to contract ratifications, which more often than not are created without workers&rsquo; knowledge. Protection contracts are used in many countries to prevent legitimate unions and workers from mobilizing to secure better rights and conditions. 
 
Labour lawyers estimate that some 90-95% of all collective contracts in Mexico are &ldquo;contratos de protecci&oacute;n.&rdquo; Three of the biggest and best known unions, the CTM, CROM and CROC, have been accused of operating almost exclusively with protection contracts. Only in the UNT and FAT labour confederations do member unions have democratic structures and meet recognised standards required of democratically structured labour organizations. 
 
Mexico ratified Convention 87 in 1950, two years after this core labour standard came into existence. However, its present labour law stands in the way in implementing the intent of Convention 87. Although the ILO has no means to sanction governments that do not properly implement ratified conventions, the IMF is hopeful public pressure can be generated by condemnation of Mexico over its regressive labour laws. 
 
&ldquo;The pressure generated from official action by the ILO would send an important message to governments and companies globally that protection contracts must not be used to take away workers&rsquo; rights to freely organise,&rdquo; said IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi.

Metalworkers’ Federation Serves ILO Complaint on Labour Practices in Mexico

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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 41 February 2009

Argentina Paperworkers at Massuh SA Receive Assurances of Pay

Metalworkers’ Federation Serves ILO Complaint on Labour Practices in Mexico

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