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Five global union federations, including ICEM, joined together on 31 October and 1 November to start the union-building modernisation project in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 
The launch of the three-year project occurred in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and included unions from the host country, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Russia and Ukraine are also included in the project. 
Vsevolod Barbaneagra was appointed project coordinator, and an education unit of the unions will be established in Bishkek by the end of the year. 
Besides ICEM, GUFs involved include IFBWW, ITF, IUF and UNI. The project is funded by FNV Mondiaal of The Netherlands.

Joint GUFs Project in Central Asia Kicks Off

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A four-hour general strike across Italy is scheduled for 25 November in protest to the Berlusconi government&rsquo;s proposed 2006 budget. 
All three major trade union federations&mdash;CGIL, CISL and UIL, numbering 11.2 million workers&mdash;have called for the strike.
The Berlusconi budget, which must be approved by Parliament by year&rsquo;s end, calls for US$24 billion in spending cuts, plus regressive revenue-raising measures. Among the proposed cuts are US$2.4 billion in social security costs that companies now must pay for the welfare of workers.

Italy Poised for General Strike on 25 November

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A two-day strike by hundreds of Eni workers in Nigeria brought the Italian energy company and state-owned NNPC to the bargaining table. The strike occurred over wage arrears. 
The 19-21 October strike by ICEM Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN was won when Eni&rsquo;s direct subsidiary Agip agreed to expedite pay. The strike affected Agip&rsquo;s Brass River export terminal on the southern coast. 
Eni is responsible for 7% of Nigerian oil production

Eni Oil Strike in Nigeria Ends

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ICEM President Senseni Zokwana, president of the National Union of Mineworkers, gave an inspirational appeal at the Congress of ICEM affiliate South African Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (SACWU) to fight even harder against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. 
The Congress was held in Johannesburg from 3-5 November and included a skit by SACWU members on HIV/AIDS as well as speech by a motivational speaker delivering a strong message on fighting the disease.

SACWU Congress in South Africa Focuses on HIV/AIDS

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A 12-day hunger strike by five members of Colombian oil workers&rsquo; union Sindical Obrera de la Industria Del Petroleo (USO) ended 3 November. 
The hunger strikers ended their fast after winning assurances from the archbishop of Cartagena and the governor of Boliv&aacute;r state that they would present a public proposition to the national government to prohibit privatisation of state-run Ecopetrol&rsquo;s oil refinery in Cartagena. Archbishop Jorge Enrique Gim&eacute;nez and Gov. Libardo Simancas have committed to present the plan within 30 days. 
The Uribe government has plans to sell 51% of Colombia&rsquo;s second largest oil refinery. The hunger strikers of USO, which solely represents Ecopetrol workers in Colombia, included Rodolfo Vecino, Hernando Meneses, Rafael Cabarcas, &Eacute;dgar Mojica, and Jorge Ortega.

Hunger Strike in Colombia Over Refinery Privatisation Ends

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US-based glassmaker Owens Illinois has discriminated against union members by sacking workers inside a Peldar glass plant in Peru. 
Early in October the company made redundant 11 workers from the factory but later that month recalled five of the workers. The six who were not recalled included representatives - two of whom were past general secretaries - of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Owens Illinois Per&uacute;. 
The ICEM, in lodging a protest with the American company, cited the firm with a clear violation of trade union rights. The trade union discrimination matter has also been taken up by Peruvian national labour centre CGTP, and is before the country&rsquo;s labour courts.

Owens Illinois Discriminating Against Union Officers in Peru

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Members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU) of New Zealand staged a two-day strike on 7-8 November at Carter Holt Harvey&rsquo;s (CHH) Kinleith pulp and paper mill. 
The strike by the mill&rsquo;s 270 production workers was over CHH&rsquo;s refusal to meet the country&rsquo;s recognised wage standard this year of 5%, and a demand by the company to cut annual leave time for shift workers. EPMU and CHH were scheduled to resume talks this week. 
CHH is now 70% owned by Graeme Hart&rsquo;s Rank Group Investments, an Auckland-based trader that has a NZ$3.3 billion hostile bid in play for the company. US-based International Paper Co. has divested its 50.3% stake in CHH to Hart.

New Zealand Workers Strike Carter Holt Harvey’s Kinleith Mill

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Svenska Pappers, the ICEM paperworkers&rsquo; affiliated union in Sweden, could strike ABB Power Technologies at its Figeholm mill near Oskarshamn tomorrow. 
The union won a unanimous victory in a Swedish labour court last week, giving it the right to strike as well as granting sympathy actions by unions representing electrical, construction and transport workers. 
A Swedish-based multinational primarily engaged in engineering and papermaking equipment, the pressure now is on ABB to settle. The company has been stonewalling a collective agreement for 130 workers at the paperboard mill for two years, refusing to match work and social standards already in place in Sweden&rsquo;s paper sector. &ldquo;ABB simply has refused to give paperworkers at the ABB Figeholm mill their rights, which exist for the rest of paperworkers in Sweden,&rdquo; said Sune Ekb&aring;ge, president of Svenska Pappers. 
The positive labour court ruling did prompt ABB to return to talks with the union on 12 November and again today in efforts to prevent a strike.

Swedish Labour Court Ruling Reinforces Svenska Pappers

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South Korea&rsquo;s business-oriented government has set its agenda for industrial relations reform, including weakening the regulations on use of irregular, or contract and agency workers. 
The ruling Uri Party has defined 24 issues that are contained in four bills now in Parliament. The proposed legislation will meet a crucial test in an extraordinary session of Parliament scheduled for February. The reforms, if passed, would allow multiple unions on a jobsite, give employers the right to use temporary workers during strikes, and grant bosses longer time periods for contract and agency workers. 
The government on 26 October erroneously reported that the number of non-regular workers this year over last decreased to 5.03 million, or 33.6% of the Korean workforce. Two days later it retracted those statistics and said the figure, in fact, was nearly a half-million workers more&mdash;5.48 million, or 36.6% of the workforce. The number of irregular workers this year had grown by 90,000 over 2004.

Fate of Contract Labourers Before South Korea’s Parliament

The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation for electric power industry trade unions, is calling on state-run Swedish utility Vattenfall AB to intervene with its German subsidiary to resolve a labour dispute with three German unions affecting 20,000 workers. 
 
The unions, ICEM affiliate IGBCE, and IG Metall and Ver.di, are seeking a common collective agreement with Germany&rsquo;s third largest utility in order to remove wage disparities and harmonise all terms and conditions. The three unions will stage a mass protest tomorrow, 1 March, in Berlin at the annual general meeting of Vattenfall Europe AG, the German subsidiary. (Smaller rallies by the three unions have been held at three sites since 21 February in protest to the deadlock in negotiations.) 
 
 

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21 February 2006 : rally in Cottbus, Germany 
&ldquo;We feel the time is now that the Swedish parent step in and grant equitable wages and conditions to all its German employees,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;Vattenfall has integrated its acquisitions throughout Germany over the past few years, now it must harmonise wages and conditions.&rdquo; 
 
The three unions have been negotiating for a common accord with the Swedish subsidiary for two years. Besides bringing pay equity and uniform work conditions to workers, the unions are seeking an agreement from Vattenfall Europe AG that sale of any operations to another company will include the common collective agreement. 
 
IGBCE&rsquo;s Jobst Weissenborn, the union&rsquo;s chief negotiator in the energy sector, said the company&rsquo;s bargaining posture has provoked the rallies. He said the unions are prepared to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the social standards of all Vattenfall workers in Germany come under a common agreement. 
 
 

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21 February 2006 : rally in Cottbus, Germany 
 
ICEM affiliate IGBCE is the dominant union in east Germany&rsquo;s power generation and distribution units, including the company&rsquo;s lignite mines and the former LAUBAG enterprise, now held by Vattenfall. In the 1990s, Ost-Bewag came under control of Bewag, which has been 90% owned Vattenfall since 2002. 
 
In 2001, Vattenfall acquired a majority stake in HEW, the Hamburg electric company that had previously been held by E.ON&rsquo;s Bewag subsidiary. IG Metall is the primary union in Hamburg. Vattenfall also acquired its Berlin operations through buy-up of Bewag, giving it control of over 80% of the power market in Berlin, as well as 30% of the heating market. The company also has telecommunications, water and gas interests in Berlin, and public-service union Ver.di is the dominant union there. 
 
Vattenfall&rsquo;s Europe division also includes utility holdings in Poland and&nbsp;The Netherlands. The company is a major electric and power producer and provider in the Nordic countries. 
 
Protests last week leading up to tomorrow&rsquo;s major demonstration in Berlin saw 2,000 workers take to the streets on 21 February. Anther demonstration was held in the east German mining community of Cottbus on the same day, while on 23 February, over a thousand protested in Hamburg.

ICEM Supports Common German Contract for Vattenfall Utility Workers

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