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French utilities, construction and telecommunications company Bouygues is taking revenge on ICEM Cote d’Ivoire affiliate SYNASEG, the country’s electric and gas trade union. 
Prior to a 15-year Bouygues contract for management of water and electric supplies that expired earlier this year, the government announced plans to repatriate the utilities as national entities. SYNASEG publicly supported such a move. But then the government reversed itself and granted Bouygues another 15-year contract.
The company has now retaliated against SYNASEG by refusing to honour check off procedures over union dues. In September, Bouygues neglected to deduct dues from workers’ pay checks and, in October and November, it did make the deductions but refused to forward the funds to SYNASEG.

French-based Bouygues Creating Union Problems in Cote d’Ivoire

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The strike by 350 members of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Local 28 of Canada continues against chemicals producer Invista in Ontario. Workers rejected a negotiated settlement on 19 September due to a regressive back-to-work proposal presented by Invista, a subsidiary of privately-held and US-based Koch Industries. 
The proposed back-to-work protocol called for any worker not recalled within 12 days of the strike’s ending to be considered laid off. This would remove seniority and bumping rights under the contract, giving the company motivation to impose job cuts. The strike began on 4 June.

CEP Members in Canada Reject Invista Contract

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ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products—Refineries and Chemical Industry in Greece is engaged in a dispute with Chevron over the company’s restructuring measures. 
On 12-13 October, 78 clerical and technical staff of Chevron’s Lubricants Division involved in transport and storage operations struck over the company’s disregard of terms in the national Collective Agreement for petroleum products and liquid gases. 
Despite social dialogue and consultation that did not reach mutual accord, Chevron has unilaterally imposed job cuts in certain departments and has said there could be further retrenchments to meet company-set competitiveness goals. 
The ICEM has intervened in the dispute with US-based Chevron.

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

French ICEM affiliate Fédération Chimie Energie CFDT is calling for a tripartite commission to be established to resolve wage talks in the paper carton industry of France. The trade union rejects the inferior minimum levels put forward by the trade industry grouping Nationale des Industries Papetières pour les Affaires Sociales (l’Unipas). FCE-CFDT says the heavy pressure to hold down wages will not be good for this papermaking sector since workers will become reluctant to take promotions into jobs requiring higher technical skills.

French Affiliate Seeks Wage Hikes in Paper Sector

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In New Zealand, protest and resistance became the formula to beat back a piece of proposed legislation that would have made it easy for employers to hire and then sack temporary workers during their first 90 days of employment. Last week, on 23 August, just as 5,000 trade unionists assembled in Auckland’s Aotea Square to protest the National Party’s anti-worker bill, Members of Parliament from the Maori Party announced they were shifting course and would not support the measure. 
 
For the past three months, trade unionists of ICEM affiliates Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and the National Distribution Union (NDU), have been leading the opposition against the business-friendly proposal under the banner “Work Rights …Our Right!” The campaign generated mass support among New Zealanders. 
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The bill had cleared a first reading in Parliament earlier this year with a 63-58 vote, with three of the four Maori MPs supporting the measure. With those four votes now opposing the measure, the ruling Labour Party, Green Party and Maoris now have the leverage to stop the anti-worker bill during a second reading. 
 
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said the minority Maori people, with an 18% jobless rate, have too many low-end jobs on the employment ladder. “So, it’s really important that, one, Maori get employed, and two, that Maori are protected,” Sharples said. “The bill was solely to encourage employers to employ like hell in the knowledge that they could get rid of their workers if it didn’t work out.” 
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EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little rejoiced with the workers’ victory. “This bill has been beaten by workers acting together through their unions. It just goes to show the power of collective action.” 
 
Little added, “We’ve done more than just defeat this vicious piece of legislation. We’ve demonstrated our strength as a movement and we’ve made it clear to the National Party that ‘Work Rights are Our Rights,’ and that they are not up for negotiation.” Trade unions will now ask MPs of the NZ First and United Future Parties to examine their working-class priorities in order to stop any future reappearance of the National party bill. 
 
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions estimates that, had the bill gone into law, a class of disposable workers numbering 300,000 would have been at risk of losing their jobs in each 90-day period.

New Zealand’s Trade Unions Block 90-day Temporary Workers Bill

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Nigeria’s two oil workers’ unions, PENGASSAN and NUPENG, suspended a three-day warning strike after day two on 14 September. The unions received assurances from the government and its oil ministry that security concerns along the Niger Delta and other grievances would be addressed. 
 
The assurances included establishing a commission to investigate the kidnapping and death last month of PENGASSAN member Nelson Ujeya, who was killed in a hail of gunfire by a military task force as he was about to be released. 
 
Meeting in a joint National Executive Committee (NEC) session on 14 September in Abuja, leaders of the two unions requested that 20,000 Nigerian oil and gas workers return to their jobs the following day after government officials promised earnest dialogue to find lasting solutions to security matters and other concerns. The first such discussion forum will be held 21 September. 
<img height="124" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaNupeng.gif" width="120"/>       <img height="113" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaPengassan.JPG" width="107"/>
The strike on 13 and 14 September caused domestic disruptions as fuel depots shut, petrol stations closed, and fuel tanker lorries stayed off roads. Oil marketing companies in Lagos, Abuja, Warri, and Port Harcourt all stopped business. The strike also hampered oil and gas exploration and production facilities, although some offshore oil production and crude exports were allowed to continue. 
 
Besides the concerns over security, in which the government has failed to provide a safe and peaceful work environment, PENGASSAN and NUPENG seeks an honest and transparent process on the privatisation of state-owned assets. They cite the recent sale of the Eleme Petro Chemical Ltd. (EPCL) refinery in Port Harcourt and how the facility was under-valued and sold to a start-up company with little experience in the petrochemical business. (In meetings with Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, on 13 September, the NEC did receive a commitment for work guarantees for all current staff of EPCL.) 
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Other demands of the two ICEM-affiliated unions include social commitments that jobs and skills development will occur in the country’s oil patch for young Nigerians. They also demand strict adherence to past agreements made by energy companies and the government on expatriate quotas in the oil, gas, and related industries. The unions also object to merging the Petroleum Training Institute into the University of Benin. 
 
PENGASSAN and NUPENG demands must now be met or further and longer strikes will occur in the immediate future. The short warning strike last week achieved the unions’ objective to gain the government’s attention to the serious security concerns that oil and gas workers in Nigeria face.

Nigerian Warning Strike Succeeds in Grabbing Government’s Attention

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Despite a compromised wage proposal by the union, ICEM affiliate Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) and Trinidad and Tobago’s state oil company, Petrotrin, are no closer to an agreement on a new three-year contract, dating from 2005 to 2008. 
 
The two sides, however, with assistance from the Labour Ministry, continued intense negotiations through last week. 
 
Some 1,500 OWTU members at the company’s lone refinery carried out another wave of industrial actions in the nine-month dispute, staging short work stoppages on 7 and 8 September. The action effectively shut production at the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, and was the fourth such industrial action taken by OWTU members at the refinery since last March. 
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On 5 September, refinery workers marched on Petrotrin’s main offices in Pointe-a-Pierre. They were joined by many of the 3,500 other members employed at Petrotrin, who also await updated labour agreements. 
 
In bargaining in early September, OWTU lowered its wage demands from 32% over three years, but Petrotrin has not moved upward from its 10% proposal. OWTU is attempting to negotiate fair and equitable settlements in five labour agreements, covering 5,000 workers. 
 
The credit ratings agency Moody’s, meanwhile, has placed Petrotrin’s foreign currency issue rating under review for possible downgrade due to the labour dispute. The review will “assess the company’s operations and debt servicing capabilities in light of its current labour unrest and the highly uncertain dynamics of labour negotiations,” said Moody’s in a statement. Roughly a quarter of refined output from the former Texaco refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre is for domestic use, with the remainder exported to eastern Caribbean islands, South America, and the east coast of the US.

Dispute in Trinidad and Tobago’s Oil Industry Continues

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French ICEM affiliate CGT Verre et Céramique calls for a day of action on 9 October, following the withdrawal by MEDEF, the French employers’ association, from the ‘hazardous jobs’ dialogue in the glass and ceramics sector. 
 
A 2003 French law calls for negotiations on the recognition of ‘hazardous jobs’ to be finished by 31 December 2006. Ongoing negotiations between unions and employers so far have not yielded results. Worse still, MEDEF has now decided to leave the bargaining table, stating it will push back the whole effort until after the elections of 2007. According to the CGT, this is clearly an attempt to postpone discussions indefinitely, and therefore unacceptable. 
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The CGT Verre et Céramique wants to keep the early retirement age at 55 and considers the recognition of ‘hazardous jobs’ in the glass and ceramics industries to be one of its priorities. Several studies have indicated a critical reduction in workers’ life expectancies when operating in hazardous environments. 
 
The CGT calls upon its members to organise, together with the other professional Federations of the CGT, as well as with other unions in France, actions necessary on 9 October, ranging from petitions to strikes.

 ‘Hazardous Jobs’ Action Day in the French Glass and Ceramics Sector

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Belgian ICEM affiliate La Centrale Générale / de Algemene Centrale, together with its national centre FGTB/ABVV organised a series of actions on 13 September in Belgium at the occasion of its second “Day on the Rights of Temporary Agency Workers.” 
 
About 300.000 copies of the ‘Interim Times,’ a special free “newspaper” dedicated to the issue of agency labour, were distributed at train stations throughout the country. The Francophone version of newspaper is available online on the union’s site <a href="http://www.accg.be/sec/be-fr/ser/inte/news/20060913%20Interim%20Times%20FR.pdf ">here</a>. For the Flemish (Dutch language) version, click <a href="http://www.accg.be/sec/be-du/ser/inte/news/20060913%20Interim%20Times%20NL.pdf ">here</a>. 
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Among other things, the paper contains a series of personal stories, revealing a large number of problems related to agency labour. These include obvious insecure job situations and the often all too vague promises for permanent work “later on.” Possibly less obvious, but equally omnipresent, are several other problems, such as the difficulty to fight for one’s rights, which opens the door for abuse, or simply not being able to get a loan from a bank. 
 
The “Interim Times” paper was also available on many shop floors, where meetings were held by health and safety committees or company councils to discuss the issue of agency labour. The FGTB wanted all relevant bodies to talk to their managements about the problems connected to agency labour. 
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The FGTB warns that temporary agency work tends to replace more and more permanent jobs. The union also observes many legal violations in the sector. Under Belgian law, temporary agency labour can only be used in three circumstances: when a worker with a permanent contract needs to be replaced temporarily; in case of a temporary increase of the work volume at a company; or when extraordinary work needs to be performed. 
 
However, there is an ongoing discussion on the subject of a “fourth category,” which would allow employers to also use temporary agency workers as an “in-flow” method. The FGTB’s position is clear in this: there is to be no agreement as long as there are no guarantees towards permanent employment and towards solid trade union verification. The FGTB also rejects the idea of temporary agency work in the public sector. 
 
On the occasion of the day of action, the FGTB encouraged all its members to consider a few key questions: does the company inform the workers’ representatives and/or company councils adequately on its use of agency labour? Does management stick to the rules in those cases where it needs to have an agreement from the workers representatives on agency labour? Is agency labour only used for temporary work, as required by law?

Agency Labour Day in Belgium

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The ICEM has sent a letter to the Unilever headquarters to protest the planned illegal closure of the Hindustan Lever's Mumbai factory. Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of Unilever, sold its plant in Mumbai in July 2005 to another company, Bon Ltd. Two months later, the new owner made an application to the local government to close the factory. 
 
Hindustan Lever had apparently hoped it could use the proposed sale to not only take advantage of tax concessions, but also to avoid its legal obligation to negotiate with the trade union, the Hindustan Lever Employees' Union (HLEU), which is an affiliate of the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations). A recent High Court decision has now clearly established, again, that this transfer is against Indian law. 
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With this legal victory, HLEU members at the plant continue their struggle against the illegal transfer and closure, stronger then ever before, and supported by many Indian and international trade unions. In the ICEM letter, the Global Union Federation calls on the company to enter into immediate and fair negotiations with the HLEU. 
 
More information on the dispute, including the possibility to send a message to the company, can be found on the IUF’s web-site <a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=3697&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1">here</a>.

Protest Against Hindustan Lever Plant Closure in Mumbai

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