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<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief.gif" width="100"/>
The German trio of unions attempting to come under a single collective agreement with Energy producer Vattenfall got a lift when Swedish ICEM trade union affiliate SEKO pressed that country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for a fair and just resolution to the matter. Vattenfall AB is a Swedish state-run utility now in the process of buying out the minority stake of Vattenfall Europe AG. 
 
The German-based utility, the country’s third largest, includes power utilities in Berlin and Hamburg, as well as power generation, distribution and lignite coal mines in eastern Germany. German unions IGBCE, Ver.di and IG Metall have been jointly negotiating with Vattenfall for a common accord in order to remove pay disparities and bring uniform working conditions to 20,000 German workers, but the company has refused. 
<img height="62" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyFlag.gif" width="100"/>         <img height="63" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SwedenFlag.gif" width="100"/>
Vattenfall has indicated it may sell parts of the German company to other enterprises, effectively removing 5,000 from company employment rolls. The German unions seek a guarantee that sale of any operation to another company will include the common collective agreement. 
 
SEKO has begun a public campaign in Sweden on the company’s hard-line stand in Germany, and has promised reciprocal industrial actions if the German unions strike. “Vattenfall is an enterprise that must conduct its business activities outside Sweden the same as it does here,” said SEKO Chairman Janne Rudén. “We have a tradition in Sweden in which the rights of workers are respected. This tradition must also occur in the countries of Europe.” An ICEM News Release on the Vattenfall situation in Germany is at /?id=77&doc=1672.

German Energy Dispute with Vattenfall Gets Swedish Attention

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The ongoing protests across Thailand seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were joined last week by thousands of public utilities’ workers, taking personal leave to march in the streets. Unions at the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and other state utility enterprises encouraged workers to join the protests on 13 and 14 March, with senior level EGAT managers assisting by granting all requests for leave from workers. 
<img height="464" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603Thaiprotest.jpg" width="300" alt=""/>
The State Enterprise Relations Confederation, made up of these public service labour unions, called a general assembly on the same days, in efforts to get workers to participate in protests. 
A mass rally was held at Sanam Luang, Monday, 13 March, continuing into the next day when 100,000 people marched on the Government House to present a petition demanding Thaksin’s resignation. The workers and the utility unions of Thailand are also using the protests to demand an end to Thaksin-led efforts to privatise the state enterprises, a major undercurrent leading to the call for the billionaire’s resignation.

Thai Public Utility Unions March Against Thaksin

British trade union and ICEM affiliate Amicus began strike action today at International Paper Co.’s Inverurie Mill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Bargaining to achieve a pay increase for 231 Amicus members failed this week, and the union will go ahead with a four-hour strike beginning at 16.00 today. 
<img height="82" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UKAmicus.jpg" width="160"/>
“Talks broke down yesterday after the management put forward a deal we had already rejected,” said Amicus Aberdeen Branch official Willie Wallace. “There has to be an increase in the hourly rate if there is any chance of reaching an agreement.” 
 
The US-based company proposed a pay freeze for 2006, and a small one-off payment in 2007. Workers at the paper mill have been contributing 3% of their weekly earnings for two consecutive years now in order to fill a gap in the company’s pension scheme. 
 
Amicus Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke said industrial actions will escalate if the company does not move from its pay freeze. “Our officials and union stewards want to resolve this, but the company doesn’t seem to want to.” 
 
Amicus union members at the mill took a vote for industrial action on 10 March that passed by a four-to-one margin. The union has reached reasonable settlements for other workers in UK’s paper industry. 
The ICEM today sent a <a href="/index.php?id=19&doc=1720&la=EN" type="internal">letter of support</a> to Amicus and the Inverurie paperworkers.

Strike Action Today at International Paper’s Scottish Mill

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Workers at Turkey’s state oil company, Tupras, members of ICEM affiliate Petrol-Iş, went on a day-long strike 28 March in protest to the postponement of a definitive ruling that would cancel the 51% sale of the oil company to a private company. 
The union won, on 2 February, a preliminary ruling from Turkey’s highest court, the Council of State, which blocked the US$4.14 billion sale to a consortium led by Koc Holdings and Royal Dutch Shell. The final ruling was scheduled to be handed down by the Council of State on 27 March, but is now delayed until 25 April. 
Workers halted production at Tupras’ four refineries, Izmit, Izmir, Kirikkale and Batman, as well as at a petrochemical plant located next to the Izmit refinery.

Petrol-Iş in Turkey Strikes Tupras Oil Refineries

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Exactly one week after the Howard government’s WorkChoices legislation in Australia went into effect, labour unions across the country have mounted campaigns to alert workers of the dangers. The unions also are preparing to oust Prime Minister John Howard from office at the time of next elections in 18 months. Several unions have established websites where workers can post and respond to employer abuses. 
The new law went into effect on 27 March and, in short, dismantles collective bargaining in favour of a system of individual contracts and exempts employers with fewer than 100 workers from unfair dismissal claims. 
In the first week alone, Australian unions have noted a rash of abuses. For instance, in South Australia, a hotel has announced a restructuring plan in which it will half its workforce, and place all staff on individual contracts with longer work hours. At another business in New South Wales, a company sacked all 29 of its employees and invited them to apply for 20 jobs based on individual contracts with salaries of A$180 per week less. 
<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AUSTRALIAAMWU.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has begun a campaign entitled “WhatChoice?” and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, in conjunction with several states, is bringing legal action to reverse the law.

Australia’s Labour Reform Strips Workers of Protections

Señor Alvaro Uribe Vélez 
Presidente de la República 
Palacio Nariño 
Carrera 8 No. 7-2 
Bogotá 
 
By Fax: ++57-1-337.58.90 and ++57-1-566.20.71 
 
 
Mr. President, 
 
I am writing on behalf of the 20 million workers worldwide of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions to express our horror and disgust at the brutal murder of brother Daniel Cortez Cortez, a member of Sintraelecol, ICEM affiliate in Colombia. 
 
Brother Cortez was assassinated at night in Puerto Parra, near Barrancabermeja, on Sunday April 2nd, reportedly by a group of paramilitary members. He was shot in the face and died instantly. Brother Cortez leaves behind a wife and four children. He had been working for 16 years at the Empresa Electrificadora de Santander and had been an active trade union member. 
 
His death is the latest expression of the fact that the seemingly endless series of human and trade union rights violations in Colombia has far from ended. Your country remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for trade unionists to do their work. On top of that, most murders of trade union members go uninvestigated and unpunished. 
 
As to the assassination of Daniel Cortez, a full and open investigation into this murder needs to be started as a matter of urgency. Those responsible for this hideous crime need to be brought to justice without delay. 
 
In addition to that, I repeat that it is up to the Colombian government to guarantee a safe working place for trade unionists. It is high time to deliver on earlier promises and provide effective protection for trade unionists in Colombia. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
 
General Secretary 
ICEM 

CC: 
Francisco Santos, Colombian Vice-President, 
Jorge Alberto Uribe, Colombian Minister of Defence, 
Dr Carlos Franco, Head of the Presidential Human Rights Program 
Colombian Embassy in Brussels

ICEM letter to Colombia on murder of trade union member Daniel Cortez

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National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) affiliated workers demonstrated in South Africa on April 4, protesting against potential plans by DeBeers to close its Koffiefontein mine in the southern Free State.
Handing a memorandum to the management of the mine, the workers were given a promise by the employer that they would be answered. According to the NUM Chairperson, Joseph Botile, closing the mine would mean making Koffiefontein into a ghost town. DeBeers is virtually the only employer in the area, providing income for almost 600 people and their families. With all these jobs gone, it would become impossible for the NUM Workers to support their families.

South African NUM Workers Demonstrate at DeBeers Koffiefontein Mine

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On 24 May, tens of thousands of Ukrainian workers, led by their trade unions, took to the streets of Kiev. Led by Alexander Yurkin, former ICEM Vice President, who now leads the Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FPU), workers gathered in six main city squares and marched to Maydan Square, site of the 2004 Orange Revolution in the country.
In front of one of those squares, Mariyinskyy Park, some 500 trade union leaders picketed the Cabinet of Ministers’ building over the rapid and unjustified hike to both prices and tariffs on consumers’ utility rates. 
 
 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UkraineFlag.gif" width="100"/>
Yurkin, addressing an estimated 50,000 protesters at Maydan Square, said the government has violated the trust of Ukrainian citizens by “arrogantly and irresponsibly” making a unilateral decision to increase utility pricing, thus breaking a General Agreement with trade unions. Trade unions insist that any increase in prices or tariffs must be preceded with definitive social protection measures.
A day before the 24 May demonstration, the country’s National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) again raised tariffs on natural gas and electricity distribution, this time by 41%, effective 1 June.  
 
NERC and the Ukrainian government already had hiked tariffs on gas and electricity distribution by 25%, and yet another round of increases is scheduled for 1 July. The FPU is demanding a rollback in prices and tariffs, and is insistent that the government start immediate negotiations with trade unions in order to introduce social protections.

Ukrainian Labour Protests Hikes in Utility Tariffs

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Contract workers for Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Bangkok, Thailand, won another victory for fairness and justice recently. Goodyear was ordered by the country’s Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to reinstate 18 contract workers—some working up to 10 years under single-year term agreements—who were sacked last year for attempting to exert collective bargaining rights. The contract workers are members of the Tyre Makers Union, which is affiliated to ICEM member Chemical Federation of Thailand (PCFT). 
<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
The workers, employed in rubber stock and warehouse operations of Goodyear’s 40-year-old factory in Bangkok, now will press again for collective bargaining rights. A hearing on that matter was held in a separate court on 26 April, but an outcome was delayed by a new judge who was just assigned to the case. 
 
Goodyear found itself under considerable pressure last October when it discharged the contract workers, in spite of deducting union dues from them through a check-off system for as long as four years. In an effort to correct its mistake, the American-based company halted direct employment of contract workers, and brought in a labour agency to handle employment. 
 
Eighteen of 25 contract workers refused employment with the agency, preferring instead full-time employment with Goodyear. The IRC ruling in early April calls for Goodyear to reinstate the workers. Two of the 18 contract workers cited in the victory have passed away in the meantime, one due to heart disease in 2005, the other of cancer the day before the IRC issued its ruling.

Contract Workers Triumph at Goodyear in Thailand

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With the supply of European energy sources becoming increasingly political, German affiliate IGBCE has called on the EU to update its coal regulatory policies in order to become less reliant on imported resources. In a letter to the European Commission calling on consultation to begin on re-working a 2002 regulation on coal mining, IGBCE said it is strategically important for the EU to have access to domestic raw materials. 
 
“The development of world energy markets with dramatic price increases and increasing energy use,” said IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt, “makes it clear that Germany and Europe cannot let go of its own energy sources.” The union continues to advocate for a balanced energy mix, but says the Commission’s regulation must include promotion of domestic hard coal beyond the year 2010.

IGBCE Calls on EU to Develop Domestic Energy Sources

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