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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş, the Petroleum, Chemical, and Rubber Workers’ Union of Turkey, used manifestations and ICEM intervention to win reinstatement for 11 union activists at a plastics factory in Orhangazi, Bursa province. The factory is owned by French-based auto-parts supplier Faurecia. 
 
A month after the successful conclusion of renewal negotiations between Petrol-İş and the company, talks underscored by the fact that auto exterior parts-maker Faurecia Polifleks Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. would be expanding and adding 50 new workers, local management on 23 July sacked the 11 union activists, including two local branch leaders and a shop steward. No reason was given for the firings. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1008.petrolis.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
Petrol-İş reported that the hostile actions easily escalated tensions inside a factory employing 306 in Turkey’s automotive manufacturing hub. On 27 July, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda intervened, and in a letter to Faurecia Chairman and CEO Yann Delabriere, said: 
 
“The ICEM understands that an enterprise collective agreement was concluded between Petrol-İş and Faurecia Polifleks Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. on 21 June 2010. But just after signing the agreement, management immediately dismissed 11 trade union members of Petrol-İş, including the chief trade union representative and two local branch officers. The ICEM considers this egregious discrimination against workers who practice legitimate trade union rights. Further, this is a flagrant violation of international-recognised labour standards.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1008.petrolis.2.jpg" width="240" height="144"/>
At the front of the factory, scores of Petrol-İş members took up protests, while talks between the union’s executive members and managers started to address the discharges. Finally, on 29 July, the talks ended in a “mutual framework of goodwill,” according to Petrol-İş, and local mangers agreed to reinstate the union leaders. 
 
“In this process,” said Petrol-İş General Secretary Mustafa Çavdar, “international support and solidarity provided by the ICEM contributed to solve the conflict. Many thanks to the ICEM for its valuable contributions.” Petrol-İş has had a collective bargaining relationship with the company dating back to 1985. 
 
Faurecia operates some 190 factories in 30 countries, producing car seats, auto-exhaust systems, vehicle interior and door modules, and exterior parts. PSA Peugeot Citroën controls 57% of Faurecia’s stock, while One Equity Partners – a private equity company from which Faurecia recently bought US-based auto-exhaust factories – holds a 17% share.

Petrol-İş Gets Jobs Back for Turkish Activists at Auto-Parts Supplier Faurecia

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After three days of a partial petrol blockade on the federal capital district of Abuja, Nigeria, ICEM affiliate Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the union’s tank-truck drivers lifted the strike on 6 August. That occurred when government ministers and leaders of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, ICEM’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association affiliate, met and crafted memorandums of understanding on both the worsening conditions of Nigerian roads and the repugnant and growing use of casual labour by oil and gas companies, particularly multinational concerns. 
 
NUPENG did, however, issue a 14-day strike notice to the government on another issue: that of rehabilitation of Nigeria’s Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). If the federal government does not call together a forum to correct the lack of transparency and alleged willful mis-allocation of products to marketers, NUPENG will strike the oil and gas depots of several multinationals across the Niger Delta later in August. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IgweAchese.NUPENG.PRES.jpg" width="165" height="220"/>
NUPENG President Achese Igwe
“There is serious corruption inside the allocation process of petroleum products,” said NUPENG President Achese Igwe. “We question the activities of the PPPRA in allocating products to marketers of unknown identity, and the PPPRA has shown no interest in revealing records or data on fuel allocations.” 
 
Friday’s meeting did create separate memorandums on road conditions and on casualisation. Meeting with Minister of Labour and Productivity Chukwuemeka Wogu, Minister of State for Works Chris Ogiemwonyi, officials of both the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (NNLG), and the employers’ grouping of multinationals operating in Nigeria, the Oil Producers’ Trade Section (OPTS), leaders of NUPENG and PENGASSAN did get immediate commitments. 
 
Regarding casualisation and the ever increasing use of temporary or non-regular workers, a tripartite “Technical Working Group on Casualisation and Contract Staffing in the Oil and Gas Sector” was created. This working group will, between 30 and 90 days, produce a road map that will include analysis on why prior memorandums were not adhered to, and it must issue acceptable guarantees ensuring job security for casual workers. 
 
NUPENG and PENGASSAN insist that such staff, across all oil- and gas-producing companies, be given immediate opportunities for full-time staff positions if they have the prerequisite skills. When this is not possible, the unions demand that conditions of employment be published and strictly adhered to that grant temporary workers all work rights and social benefits that permanent workers get. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Nigeria.png" width="250" height="115"/>
Igwe said that the vast number of casual workers in oil and gas have no pension scheme and are without health insurance. 
 
Following Friday’s meeting, Wogu was thankful the short, targeted blockade of fuel products to the Abuja region was terminated, and stated, “The strike was capable of scuttling the economy because NUPENG is too strategic.” 
 
Regarding road conditions, which has caused the deaths of eight NUPENG tanker-truck drivers in the past three months, a Roads Monitoring Team was created that will consist of two members from NUPENG. Within a two-month time frame, this team will monitor roads and determine which ones need immediate improvement. 
 
Igwe stressed the importance of this issue by stating that poor road conditions have caused unnecessary stops, resulting in robberies and kidnappings of truck drivers. The risk to public safety is also inherent since poor roads causing accidents has meant monumental disasters, considering the inflammable cargos that lorries carry. 
 
On the issue of the PPPRA, Igwe said it remains a mystery as to which ministry or department of government the pricing authority reports to. The issue of transparency and accountability by the PPPRA is all-important in Nigeria with the country about to enact the Petroleum Industry Bill.

Horrid Roads, Casualisation Force Direct Action by NUPENG in Nigeria

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Bumper pay packages were negotiated last week between British unions, including Unite the Union, and Corus, the steel producer owned by India’s Tata Group. In what Unite termed a “breakthrough” in talks that dated to last May for 12,000 UK steelworkers, labour and management agreed to a 2010 pay deal of 3.2%, backdated to 1 April. 
 
The tentative agreement, which also includes a £200 lump-sum bonus, will now be voted on by Unite’s 8,000 members, with results due in early September. Two other UK unions representing Corus workers, GMB and Community, accepted the same deal, with its bargaining leaders empowered to ratify the agreement. 
 
The 2010-2011 collective agreement covers steelworkers at some 15 Corus worksites. 
 
In June, the pay offer by Corus was between one and two percent. The culmination of hard bargaining last week pleased trade union leaders of all three organizations, particularly since workers agreed to take a pay freeze last year that was included in £1 billion in savings served up to the steelmaker in order to help the company through the recession. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UK.png" width="150" height="153"/>
“This new deal offered by Corus will go some way to rebuilding trust with management,” stated Unite National Steel Officer Terry Pye. “Whatever the outcome of the ballot with our members on the revised pay offer, we are pleased that the company has made a significant improvement to the pay offer, which we are recommending to our members.” 
 
GMB National Secretary Keith Hazlewood said, “After last year’s pay freeze and a very turbulent 18 months it would be nice to think that we have seen the worst, and have the makings of a foundation to build on for a secure future for our members and local steel communities going forward.” 
 
India’s Tata Group bought Anglo-Dutch Corus in 2006 for US$12 billion. UK unions remain hopeful that one Corus site that was partially shuttered in February in North-east England will reopen under new ownership. Union leaders, together with national and local officials have been negotiating with Sahaviriya Steel Industries of Thailand to operate the Teesside Cast Products mill.

UK Metal Workers Realize Pay Dividends with Tata’s Corus Steel

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A strike last week at Indonesia’s second largest copper and gold mining operations ended on Friday, 6 August, after some 1,500 miners of the PT NNT labour union, affiliated to the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers’ Union of the Indonesia Workers’ Union, agreed to await an overtime pay judgment from a provincial government. The strike started on 1 August and completely shut US-based Newmont Mining Corp.’s rich Batu Hijau mines and operations on Sumbawa Island. 
 
The dispute started some three weeks after the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry of West Nusa Tenggara Province issued an order that management was in arrears on Rp 126 billion (US$13.8 million) in overtime wages to some 1,919 workers dating back to 2008. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Indonesia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
Newmont’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, refused to comply with the order and in late July talks with the union, said it would challenge the order. The company was claiming that since the work agreement does not expire until the end of 2010, it was under no obligation to comply with the order. 
 
The union and management continued talks throughout the four-and-a-half day strike last week, with the two sides agreeing late on 5 August to get a legal interpretation of the order. Workers were back to work on Friday afternoon, 6 August. Some 7,000 total employees are employed at Batu Hijau. 
 
Newmont is managing partner and a 31.5% owner of the Batu Hijau mines and processing operations. Gold production in the first half of 2010 has increased by 87% over the same half-year period in 2009, while copper production is up 43% in the same period. Batu Hijau is expected to produce 227,000 tonnes of copper concentrate in 2010, while gold production is expected to reach 525,000 ounces.

Newmont Mining Strike Over Overtime Arrears Ends

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Mexico’s Los Mineros won a legal victory on 11 August, in their struggle at Grupo Mexico’s Cananea copper mine, as the Ninth District Judge in the state of Sonora ruled that the strike is still in legal existence. The Cananea strike, three years old last 30 July, was attacked with police force on 6 June, forcibly evicting strikers from the installations, where 3,000 federal police remain now. The large police presence protects strikebreakers at Cananea, as Grupo Mexico seeks to reopen the mine by the end of 2010. 
 
The constitutional appeal of Los Mineros resulted in admissions of both the Mexican Attorney General’s office, and the Federal Secretary of Public Security that police had been deployed to the mine on 6 June to carry out inspections under a ministerial order. As the mine inspection had already been completed, police had no legal right to enter the mine facilities, or remove strikers. An eviction order from the judicial authority never existed. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1007.cananea.jpg" width="220" height="148"/>
Federal police violently take control at Cananea, 6 June 
Photo - IMF
The United Steelworkers’ (USW) President Leo Gerard announced on 20 August solidarity action for Los Mineros in Cananea, with the USW placing a rotating team of international observers in the city to monitor the illegal police presence, who are intimidating strikers and protecting scabs. Gerard added that American volunteer workers arrived this weekend as observers. The rotating team will join the picket line, which is often 800-strong. 
 
Government support for the strikebreakers continues, with local authorities accused of cutting electric power to some of the strikers’ homes, in an effort to intimidate them. 
 
Grupo Mexico and Mexico’s Labour Ministry have refused to accept the appeal ruling, stating that the union’s contract remains suspended, and that the District Judge’s decision has no effect as the eviction of the strikers has already occurred.

Pressure on Mexican Authorities as District Judge Rules Cananea Strike Legal

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Roquette Frères is a family-controlled transnational based in Lestrem, France, that in September 2009 signed the ten principles of the UN Global Compact. One year later, the company submitted over 70 regressive contract proposals to the US union, Local 48-G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Union at a corn wet milling plant in Keokuk, Iowa. 
 
When union members rejected the drastic cuts to their living and work standards on 28 September 2010, Roquette America locked its 240-member workforce in Keokuk off their jobs. 
 
That move has now produced an official protest to George Kell, head of the Global Compact. The recommendation to de-list Roquette from the voluntary body comes from the International Union of Food, Agricultural Workers' Association (IUF), the BCTGM’s Global Union Federation, the ICEM, and the American labour centre, AFL-CIO. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.RoquetteBanner.jpg" width="328" height="89"/>
“We believe that Roquette Frères actions undermine the legitimacy of the Global Company,” stated IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in a 3 December letter to Kell. “The company should not be able to claim that it supports the Global Compact when in reality it is systematically violating fundamental human rights.” 
 
(The entire letter can be viewed <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.Roquette.global%20compact%20letter$.pdf " type="internal">here</a>.) 
The company’s collective bargaining agenda in a proposed four-year renewal agreement is especially egregious. It seeks unlimited rights to employ temporary workers at the corn starch plant in America’s heartland; it wants a two-tier wage scheme in which new hires will receive 47% less than other workers; it desires big increases in worker co-payments on their health care; an end to the company’s defined benefit pension scheme, to be replaced by a pension savings plan; elimination of sick leave, maternity leave, and personal days; and Roquette America is seeking an end to workplace seniority on layoffs and job bidding. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.Roquette.jpg" width="116" height="210"/>
The company also wants a wage freeze for the four years. 
 
A week into the lockout, Roquette hired scab workers to run the plant. It has brought in management personnel from a plant it owns in Gurnee, Illinois, and is using replacement workers from temporary labour agencies and an enterprise in the state of Ohio that specializes in providing contingency workers when staff of a company strike or are locked out. 
 
In a further rebuke to the principles of the Global Compact, earlier this year Roquette’s Keokuk plant was hit with a US$1 million fine as a civil penalty regarding air pollution violations. The penalty was part of a consent order by a local district court judge in agreement with the state of Iowa and Roquette, in which the company admitted wrongdoing.
(The IUF's campaign on Roquette can be viewed <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=539">here</a>.)  
 
Roquette Frères operates in 12 countries and manufactures different corn starches in Keokuk, including starch derivatives and polyols, or sugar alcohols, from the corn wet milling process for use in food and pharmaceutical grade dextrose, corn syrup, and other products.

ICEM Joins IUF in Global Compact Protest of French Firm’s US Lockout

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly held a discussion panel entitled “Cutting Emissions - Transforming Jobs," exploring the links between the economic, environmental, and social crises. The 7 December panel was part of a trade union-sponsored side event at COP16 and was held at the Universidad del Sur in Cancún, Mexico, under the general banner "World of Work." 
 
Several high-profile trade unionists gave their perspectives on how to preserve and create decent, sustainable jobs, and the role of trade unions in fighting climate change. 
 
Shoichiro Kaneko, IMF-JC/JBU of Japan, emphasized the progress that nation has made in controlling carbon emissions through technological advances, and the support offered to the proposed climate fund. However, he expressed concern about the potential for carbon leakage if a new accord does not include all the major emitters and is not enforceable. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.BrianKohler_MichaelOConnor_JamesHoward_ShoichiroKaneko_Interpretor.JPG" width="233" height="166"/>
Left to right: ICEM's Brian Kohler, CFMEU's Michael O'Conner, ITUC's James Howard, IMF-JC/JBU's Shoichiro Kaneko
Michael O'Connor, National Secretary-elect of Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) told of how his union had forged a working relationship with environmental groups to unlock the economic potential for a new pulp and paper mill in Tasmania. 
 
He said the key was to remember that a trade union represents workers, and to ensure that their voice is heard. 
 
James Howard of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) elaborated on ITUC's policy of Just Transition. Far from simple, a Just Transition will only be achieved through research, dialogue, union-employer agreements, strong social programmes, investments in industry, and training and education of workers. 
 
The keynote speaker was Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), part of the Japanese official negotiating team in Cancún. He presented a very frank resume of the ongoing climate talks.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.IzuruKobayashi_MichaelOConnor.JPG" width="220" height="128"/>
Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and CFMEU's Michael O'Connor
Besides explaining Japan's position (Japan believes that the Kyoto process does not have sufficient country support to prevent carbon leakage) he also explained the status of many of the important main track and subsidiary body discussions. As of 7 December, the unusual situation has evolved of the high-level talks commencing while the ad-hoc working groups have not completed their tasks. 
 
What this means for the final outcome is difficult to guess, but progress has been made on some important issues. Japan, of course, believes that efficient energy use in its manufacturing industries and investment in new technologies is one of the key paths forward. 
 
Brian Kohler of the ICEM and Kan Matusuzaki of IMF presented ICEM and IMF policies, the outcomes of the World Conference on Sustainability held in June along with the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), and a discussion paper on "Anticipating Change" that examines how the proposed climate fund could be a starting point for discussions on industrial policies and worker participation in such areas as training. 
 
The ICEM-IMF World of Work event was well attended, and feedback following the event was extremely positive.

ICEM, IMF Forum at Climate Conference Presents Industrial Perspectives

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In the 19 days since 29 miners were pronounced dead in New Zealand’s worst mine disaster in 114 years, recovery of the remains of those that perished is still far off, and Pike River Coal Ltd. has given redundancy notices to 90 full-time workers. 
 
That happened on 8 December. 
 
Pike River has already severed its relationship with 70 contract workers at the coking coal mine near Atarua on the west coast of the South Island. 
 
Meanwhile, police and Labour Ministry interviews of Pike River workers over mine safety became contentious when the company insisted on having its lawyers sit in on the interviews. The Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) objected to that, saying it might inhibit the investigation into criminal liability. 
 
“We have objected – it’s a clear conflict of interest,” said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. “Police are looking for criminal liability among workers or management – or both. It’s improper for the company to be represented by lawyers in those interviews.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EPMU Andrew Little.jpg" width="130" height="124"/>
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
Pike River issued the mandatory four-week layoff notices to its permanent staff last week, meaning that 90 miners will not get paid beyond mid-January. Pike River Coal Ltd. has already launched a commercial feasibility study assessing whether or not it will continue mining the rich Brunner coal seam, but investors say it will take NZ$200 million to re-start the mine. 
 
But it’s estimated that it could still take several weeks – or months – before the remains of the dead miners are recovered. A local coroner has visited relatives of the deceased to get DNA samples, indicating the difficulty that lies ahead to identify the 29. 
 
The initial 19 November methane gas blast at the Paparoa Range mine most likely killed all 29 miners. Following a subsequent explosion on 24 November, the miners were declared dead. In the days that followed, two further explosions occurred, with coal-stoked fires raging deep in the horizontal shafts of the mine until the middle of last week. 
 
On 29 November, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced formation of a three-member Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine causes of the tragedy. That Commission, headed by High Court Justice Graham Panckhurst, with two international mine safety experts on it, will be given broad latitude and it could take up to two years to assemble findings. In the meantime, area police, the Labour Ministry, and the EPMU will conduct separate investigations. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.epmu.memorial.jpg" width="250" height="157"/>
NZ Congress of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly with Ian Murray and Tim Whyte, CFMEU Australia at the 2 December Memorial Service
Police ended supervision of the mine-site last week and turned recovery procedures back to the company. A Polish-designed Górbniczy Agregat Gaśniczy (GAG) jet engine inertisation unit was brought in from the Queensland, Australia, Mine Rescue Unit and on 2 December began to suppress the fires and neutralize combustible gases with inert gases, such as nitrogen. 
 
While this continued over this weekend, a metal cap was placed over the main shaft to allow back pressure in the mine and to further inert deadly gases inside the mine. Early speculation to the cause of the initial explosion was a power outage to a ventilation fan that was some 100 metres into the mine. Methane quickly built-up, followed by a massive explosion. 
 
When an electrician went inside to check the outage during the fateful afternoon of 19 November, the explosion deeper in the mine blew him off his feet. He did manage to rescue an equipment operator who was thrown from a machine, and the two escaped 108 metres up a ladder in a ventilation shaft. Whether or not the giant ventilation fan had been topside, making it easier to re-start, will surely be one of the many issues in upcoming investigations, including the Royal Commission Inquiry. 
 
Several disaster relief funds have been established, and the ICEM is recommending donation be sent to EPMU’s “Pike River Miners’ Family Support Trust.” The ICEM’s New Zealand affiliate said half of everything contributed will go to the Grey District Labour Council community fund, with the other half used to establish a dedicated fund for the education of the children of those miners killed. 
 
Bank transfers can be made to Kiwibank in New Zealand. Account number 38-9011-0165987-00, with checks written to: EPMU Pike River Miners’ Family Support Trust, c/o PO Box 14-277, Kilbirnie, Wellington, NZ 6241. 
 
Several labour organisations across the globe have already contributed, including A$100,000 by the Australian Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) and C$10,000 by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.

Pike River Aftermath: Layoffs, Lawyers and Long Investigations

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Workers mining coal in a sealed-off coal shaft in Henan Province, China, died on 7 December when a methane gas explosion ripped through the mine. Twenty-six miners perished inside a colliery that was operating without authorization following a transfer of assets from a private mining company to a state-owned one. 
 
To make matters worse, the owner of the private company, Suzhuang Coal Mine Co., concealed the number of miners working the illegal operation following the late afternoon blast on 7 December. He first reported 13 miners were killed and actually hid the bodies of a number of miners to lessen the casualty toll. 
 
Regional police arrested seven people in total that were responsible for the falsification, including a local work-safety official charged with concealing the number of victims from investigators. The tragedy and cover-up occurred in Mianchi County, near Sanmenxia city in central Henan Province, at the Juyuan Coal Mine that was supposedly closed and under a safety review while the asset transfer was underway. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/04miningsafety.jpg" width="200" height="146"/>
Bur the prior owner, Suo Younggang, continued to operate parts of the mine after his licensing had been revoked. The mine was being transferred to the state-owned Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, which operates in five Chinese provinces and employs 50,000 workers. 
 
“The mining boss had profits all over his mind and has no regard whatsoever for miners’ lives,” said Niu Senying of the investigatory team in the Chinese sate press. “Where are the supervising officials? How could the mine be allowed to operate illegally for such a long time?” 
 
The mine owner and his collaborators first reported 33 miners were underground, and only 13 had died. Following the initial investigation, it was revealed that 46 workers had been in the mine, with 26 dying and 20 making it to safety. 
 
Also on 7 December, a roof in a shaft at a coal mine in China’s Liaoning Province collapsed, killing four miners. The mine was operated by the state-controlled Caitun Coal Mine Co., located in Benxi city. And a week earlier, on 30 November, seven miners drowned 90 metres deep in the Yide Coal Mine in Hunan Province when shafts were flooded. Managers of privately-held Yide had been warned both orally and in writing of safety hazards inside the Xiangtan County mine. They, along with shareholders of the company, are in police custody.

Methane Gas Blast Kills 26 in China’s Henan Province; Bosses Held

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An ICEM affiliate in Finland, the Salaried Workers’ Union, or Toimihenkilöunioni (TU), completed a merger on Saturday, 11 December, with Suora and effective 1 January will become the 130,000-member union called Pro, a union for salaried workers in the private sector. 
 
TU covers some 250 member associations across Finland, and negotiates 47 collective agreements, while Suora represents workers in the finance and insurance industries, as well as white-collar workers in the gaming business and alcohol trades. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.pro finland.jpg" width="256" height="163" alt=""/>
Antti Rinne and Riitta Suonpää Sign the Merger Document, Creating Pro
Rank-and-file members work in a multitude of sectors as salaried employees, hourly paid employees, foremen or supervisors, and in expert jobs. The new union will organize self-employed professionals as well. 
 
Antti Rinne, the President of the TU, was unanimously elected President of Pro. A 48-year-old lawyer, Rinne describes the current situation among Finnish trade unions as “the most critical period in history.” 
 
Suora’s President, Riitta Suonpää, will become the new union’s First Vice President, while Juha Kivistö was elected Second Vice President. 
 
The new union’s website can be found <a href="http://www.proliitto.fi ">here</a>.

Finnish Unions, TU and Suora, Merge to Become Pro

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