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ICEM affiliate IGBCE has proposed mediation conducted by well-respected German politicians now that talks broke off between the union and Continental Tyre. Negotiations failed on 11 January in efforts to prevent 320 job cuts by year end at the Stöcken plant in Hannover, as announced by the company in November. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="100"/>
IGBCE was outraged by press remarks made by Continental CEO Manfred Wennemer at the outset of those talks in which he predicted German workers in the future will work 42.5 hours a week, and have two weeks less of vacation. Wennemer also remarked that the world could not care less about Conti’s broken agreement made with IGBCE last spring in which the company gained flexible work rules and a 40-hour week in exchange for a pledge of no job cuts.
IGBCE board member Werner Bischoff, vice president of Conti’s Supervisory Board, said Wennemer “poured oil on to the fire” with his comments, and called on the CEO to apologise. On 13 January, the company’s European Works Council members pledged to interpret with scrupulous accuracy the council’s constitution and legal rules, intending to make Conti’s normal business practices impossible. The central works council in Germany also took action by refusing to allow overtime work and opening health and safety inspections to civil authorities. 
A mass demonstration protesting the company’s broken promise takes place today, 23 January, in Hannover, with workers’ meetings also occurring today at all Continental plants to discuss Wennemer’s remarks and the Stöcken situation

Continental Tyre: Wennemer’s Remarks Outrage IGBCE

The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada on 16 January conducted 14 separate demonstrations across the North American country to protest the jobs crisis in the forest industries sector. Last week’s actions came seven days before Canadians go to the polls in national elections today.
The protests were aimed at demanding government aid for stricken communities, as well as government subsidies tied to maintaining and creating jobs in forest products sectors.
 <img height="131" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0601CEPBrianPayne.jpg" width="92"/> 
 
CEP President Brian Payne
“These jobs and communities are worth fighting for, and it’s about time the politicians joined our fight,” stated CEP President Brian Payne. Some 7,600 jobs have been lost due to shutdowns and cutbacks in the past year in Canada, and 40,000 over the past five years.

Canadian CEP Union Calls for National Action Over Forest Sector Jobs

Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen of Finland, ICEM’s Paper Sector Chairman, has questioned whether the current paper employers’ frenzy to contract out jobs is in the best interests of the companies’ own future financial health.
Because of the agreement that ended last year’s bitter lockout in the Finnish paper sector, mill-level negotiations on outsourcing are underway at some 30 enterprises, work capably done now by Paperiliitto members. Ahonen told the Finnish press that employers would be wise to consider that such practices might backfire on them in the future.
<img height="171" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0511paperpresident2.jpg" width="120"/> 
 
Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen
If mill-level talks on sub-contracting do not reach mutual accord, the matter goes before a national arbitration panel that includes Paperiliitto, the employers’ federation, and an impartial chairman. All final decisions by such a panel must be unanimous.

Paperiliitto President Predicts Finnish Outsourcing Will Backfire

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CEP members at a Stora Enso paper mill in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, will vote tomorrow and Wednesday, 24 and 25 January, on a company contract proposal. Rejection likely will mean 660 members of CEP Local 972 will face a lockout effective 26 January. 
Following eight days of non-stop bargaining that ended late on 18 January, Local 972 members met with union leaders on 21 January to review proposed terms, which includes job losses, contracting out provisions and changes in seniority procedures.
Stora Enso issued the mandatory 48-hour lockout notice on 30 December, and has had its only Canadian pulp and paper mill closed since 23 December, with nearly all workers on layoff status

Canadian Stora Enso Workers to Vote on Contract

French multinational Saint-Gobain in Thailand is using contract employees as well as logistics and maintenance workers to continue a lockout at an auto-glass assembly plant in Rayong province.
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After Saint-Gobain Sekurit presented, on 5 January, a pay offer that included an inferior bonus payment for 2005, some 300 workers protested outside the plant. The company locked out the workers the next day.
The plant has increased production since Saint-Gobain Sekurit gained auto-glass assembly contracts from General Motors Holden in Australia last year, a move inspired by the Howard government’s free-trade agreement with Thailand that cost 120 jobs at two Pilkington auto-glass factories. The plant also fits glass for Toyota and Ford automobiles.
Thai union members at Saint-Gobain Sekurit, affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers’ Unions, are facing management proposals calling for reductions in Sunday overtime pay, a reduction from five days to three on “private leave,” and extending the retirement age.

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

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Five subcontractors at a Taiyo Oil Co. refinery in Imabari, Japan were burned to death 17 January inside a 100,000 kiloliter oil storage tank. An explosion and fire occurred when two contractors were preparing the tank for cleaning.
Investigators are looking at safety management practices of the two contractors, Taiyo Techno Service and Fukasaki-Gumi, and suspicion of negligence on their part.
The Taiyo Oil Workers’ Union, affiliated with JEC Rengo, is monitoring in the investigation. The union represents refinery workers at the 120,000 barrel-per-day Taiyo refinery, but not contract workers. Two other contract workers were injured in the blast and subsequent fire.

Contract Workers Killed at Japanese Oil Refinery

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A 17-day strike by some 28,000 contract workers of Chilean state-run copper producer Codelco ended over the weekend.
Contract workers did not receive the bonus payment they were seeking, but did achieve a pre-agreement to end the strike for alternative financial compensation and improvements in working conditions. Codelco’s contract workers are unionised and are members of divisional unions aligned with the Copper Workers Federation (FTC). 
The non-ICEM-affiliated FTC’s strike actions centered at Codelco’s El Teniente mining area and at the company’s Andina Division. Codelco is the world’s largest producer of copper. The strike caused copper prices to hit a record high on 19 January.

Contract Workers End Strike at Chile’s Codelco Mines

The worst Romanian mining catastrophe in 20 years occurred on 14 January when a methane gas explosion occurred at the Anina Mine in the southwestern part of the country.
Seven miners were killed and five seriously injured by the blast at the 200-year-old mine owned by state-run Benat Mining Co. The mine was scheduled to be closed in October 2006, but Romanian President Traian Basescu—upon visiting the site a day after the disaster—ordered immediate closure.
<img height="67" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RomaniaFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Records show that some 1,000 miners have died at the Anina Mine since it opened in 1792, with the worst tragedy happening in 1920 when 270 miners perished from an underground explosion.

Gas Blast in Romanian Colliery Closes 214-Year-Old Mine

For the urgent attention of His Majesty 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 
Narayanhity Royal Palace 
Durbar Marg 
Kathmandu 
Nepal 
 
By fax: +977 14 413577 and +977 14 228235 
 
 
Brussels, 24 January 2006 
 
 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, 
 
I am writing as General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), in the name of the 20 million members that we represent worldwide in over 120 countries, to protest the ongoing repression in Nepal against numerous trade union leaders. 
 
Over the course of the past week, as your regime began preventing planned pro-democracy demonstrations and engaged itself in a brutal and repressive wave against peaceful protests, a large number of trade union leaders were arrested, together with many other leaders and activists from other organisations. 
 
Amongst the trade unionists arrested were GEFONT Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Gefont Secretary-General Binod Shrestha, as well as Ms. Manju Bhattarai, NTUC Central member and Mr Radheshyam Pathak, NTUC District President. 
 
We are calling upon you to ensure the immediate release of all trade union leaders and members that have been arrested over the last few days, as well as for the release of all political leaders and activists that are currently in detention. 
In addition, we understand that the curfew that was in place since 16 January has now been lifted in Kathmandu and its neighbouring city Lalitpur. However, much more remains to be done in order to put your country on the path to democracy. For example, new curfews have been announced, and others remain in place, and these should be lifted. I would like to urge you to rescind these curfews as a matter of priority. 
Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

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The contentious dispute between ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and Continental Tyre over 320 job cuts by year-end 2006 at the Stöcken plant in Hannover, Germany, was resolved Tuesday evening, 24 January, in negotiations between the two sides and the Works Council of the plant.
<img height="126" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyIGBCE.gif" width="100"/>
In the tentative agreement that is expected to be finalised in February, the German tyre-maker has agreed to return to an agreement put in place in May 2005. That agreement called for no job cuts before the end of 2007. Throughout 2007, Continental will offer job opportunities to Stöcken workers in other facilities and also offer early retirement options to eligible workers. In addition, the company will make research and development investments at the Stöcken plant.
IGBCE board member Werner Bischoff said the union succeeded in preserving the future of Hannover’s Continental facilities, as well as making a stand that last May’s agreement cannot be undermined.

Pact Reached in Germany Between IGBCE, Continental Tyre

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