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	Union members, affiliated to Unite the Union in the UK, rejected 5 March a redundancy proposal from Austrian packaging company Mayr-Melnhof that would have ended a 19-day lockout at a plant in Merseyside, near Liverpool. Workers rejected it 138-1 largely because management still insists on its own discretionary powers in disbursing redundancy packages to 49 workers.

	Unite has escalated a campaign against the Vienna-based paper carton and packaging company primarily because Mayr-Melnhof has retracted and reduced buy-out terms in this set of talks, and has substantially broken from redundancy pay-outs and terms commonly established in past consultations.

	In talks on 29 February and again on 3 March, the company proposed a social fund to bridge the difference paid in its 2008 and 2010 layoffs, with lesser packages offered now. But the social fund would be discretionary, based on subjective criteria unilaterally set by the company, which underscores Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s bargaining posture throughout this set of 2012 talks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 203px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Len McClusky (right) Speaks to Unite Strikers at Mayr-Melnhof

	Workers at the Bootle, Merseyside, plant began lawful industrial actions on 10 February over Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s intransigence with six-hour &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; &nbsp;Walkouts rotated from 06h to noon, and from noon to 18h. On 18 February, managers locked workers out and began manoeuvring to move equipment and product out of the factory.

	Workers then entered the factory and staged a shop-floor sit-in to prevent removal. Despite several sets of talks since, Mayr-Melnhof has steadfastly resisted any workable compromise proposed by Unite, and the lockout has continued.

	The union has brought the dispute to Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s Packaging Division workers in Germany, and the ICEM has issued a call for <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4918-Packaging-Workers-Need-Support-">Solidarity Action</a>, which can be viewed and acted upon here. Trade unionists inside the company&rsquo;s Karton Division, led by Austrian affiliate Pro-Ge, have brought attention to the company&rsquo;s hostile UK labour relations inside Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s eight European paper mills, and Pro-Ge has also protested loudly to CEO Wilhelm Hoermansedar.

	Unite, meanwhile, is preparing an industrial ballot at Mayr-Melnhof&rsquo;s other UK packaging plant, in Deeside, North Wales, on grounds that the company is worsening redundancy terms and conditions from previously agreed. The Bootle plant produces food packaging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to pet food packaging, with Kellogg&rsquo;s the plant&rsquo;s biggest customer.

Mayr-Melnhof Lockout Continues at UK Packaging Plant

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	Legitimate strike action by five bargaining units comprising 600 cement workers in total, members of the ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago, turned into a company lockout early this week as Trinidad Cement Ltd. (TCL) seeks to gain individual work agreements to break the strike.

	The OWTU began a 90-day strike action on 27 February at the company&rsquo;s two cement and ready-mix bag plants at Claxton Bay and Mayo, but the company countered that on Monday, 5 March, by issuing intent to lockout notice. That means both TCL and TCL Packaging, part of the Caribbean cement company&rsquo;s TCL Group, can now try to coerce staff into signing yellow-dogs contracts.

	The OWTU is confident cement workers will continue to man the barriers and also has expressed a desire to return to the conciliation process. The two sides, negotiating a 2009-2011 contract, are split on the wage issue, with OWTU seeking 16% while TCL is offering only 7%. The OWTU signed a contract for a total of 9% in wage increases over a similar period recently for 5,000 oil workers employed by state-held Petrotrin. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4903-OWTU-Reaches-Excellent-Terms-with-Petrotrin-in-Trinidad-and-Tobago">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 240px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	OWTU President General Ancel Roget Addresses Cement Workers

	Foto: Rishi Ragoonath/Trinidad &amp; Tobago Guardian

	The cement strike sent shock waves through the twin-island nation&rsquo;s construction industry after management announced cement inventories would only last one week. TCL immediately began importing cement and ready-mix from its Caribbean Cement subsidiary in Jamaica and its Arawak Cement in Barbados.

	The strike became tense on the evening of 28 February and morning on 29 February when police drew guns and swung batons at strikers as forces left the factory Claxton Bay. The OWTU filed a formal complaint with the police over certain officers&rsquo; use of force in confronting the strikers.

	Since that incident, calm has been maintained at picket lines, and the OWTU has kept a vigilant strike camp near TCL&rsquo;s plant in Claxton Bay. OWTU and TCL held conciliation meetings between 9 February and 23 February, but strike notice was then given when the company refused to increase its wage offer.

Trinidad Cement Declares Lockout to Coerce Individual Labour Agreements

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	Some 100,000 union workers in South Africa will march today, 7 March, for two causes &ndash; an outright ban on labour brokers and scrapping the planed e-tolling, or pay-to-drive on Gauteng freeways. Some 32 manifestations will occur today across the country today in actions sponsored by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

	The strike is against a government recommendation that failed to get consensus in year-long discussions before the national Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) that would allow employers to use workers provided by labour brokers for up to six months.

	COSATU is also protesting turning the country&rsquo;s first motorways into toll roads, something that clearly turns public services into commodities. &ldquo;These roads are national assets for the use of the people of South Africa,&rdquo; said COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, &ldquo;not a commodity which can be used to make profits at our great expense.&rdquo;&nbsp;

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Zwelinzima Vavi

	COSATU is intent at ending the practice of labour brokering, which it compares to human trafficking. Statistics now show that one-third of all South African workers are temporary employees without social benefits. COSATU wants the responsibility of labour brokers to be limited to matching employees for employers, and that responsibility must end at the door to the workplace.&nbsp;

	COSATU believes precarious workers can easily be intimidated into not joining a union and Vavi said that&rsquo;s why the organisation&rsquo;s Central Executive Committee is insisting &ldquo;that every effort is made to mobilise workers employed by labour brokers to join actions on 7 March.&rdquo;

	In Johannesburg, Vavi, who will stand for re-election at COSATU come the union confederation&rsquo;s congress in September, will lead marchers starting at the Library Gardens to the Gauteng premier&rsquo;s office, and then past the offices of the Chamber of Mines and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation. Multiple marches will be held in various cities in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces.

South African Workers March Today to Ban Labour Brokers

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	In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM HIV/AIDS regional workshop in Johannesburg, developments at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and on the severe consequences arising from the funding crisis.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />

	Regional HIV and AIDS Workshop in Johannesburg

	A very successful sub-Saharan Africa regional workshop was organised in Johannesburg from 14-16 February. With the active participation of national coordinators from ten countries, a review of activities in 2010 and 2011, the first two years of the present three-year project cycle, was conducted. Participants also presented country plans for 2012, the last year of the current project.

	Key challenges and opportunities for the future and creative methods of addressing HIV and AIDS in the current social and economic environment were elaborated. In further group work, key elements for a possible new project cycle for 2013-2015 were developed. The outcome of this work were power point presentations from three groups which constitute valuable input for a possible new project.

	Evelyn Serima, HIV/AIDS Technical Specialist in the Decent Work Team for East and Southern Africa at the ILO Pretoria office, gave a presentation on progress in the implementation of ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work and on new targets for 2015, especially the UNAIDS triple zero initiative &ndash; zero new infections, zero death and zero discrimination. Her presentation was highly relevant for the work on a project beyond 2012.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Global Fund at Ten Years &ndash; Not a Happy Anniversary

	At the end of January, the Global Fund celebrated its tenth anniversary. These past 12 months, which ended with the Board persuading the Executive Director to resign, have been the Fund&rsquo;s most difficult to date.

	The stage was set for the Global Fund&rsquo;s problem-filled 2011 when the Fund said in October 2010 that it needed well over US$13 billion to meet anticipated demand for 2011&ndash;2013 but donors pledged only US$11.7 billion.

	Then on 23 January 2011, the Associated Press published an article entitled &quot;Fraud Plagues Global Health Fund,&quot; based on public reports from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The story took off like wildfire. Alarmed, some of the Global Fund&rsquo;s donors held back on delivering their promised contributions pending clear action by the Fund to deal with fraud.

	The OIG&rsquo;s findings on fraud were obviously important and required action. But the OIG made little distinction between outright fraud and multiple lesser crimes such as documenting expenditures using photocopies rather than originals.

	The Fund set up a High Level Panel to review how the Fund identifies and manages risk in its grant-making. The panel issued a report in September that was daunting in terms of the number of things it said need fixing.

	The downhill trajectory continued when the Global Fund, having launched Round 11 in August 2011, cancelled it three months later because of inadequate funding.

	Then came a final nose-dive when the Global Fund Board, after reviewing the events of the past year and conducting an in-depth assessment of the managerial performance of Michel Kazatchkine, the Fund&rsquo;s Executive Director (ED), concluded that Dr Kazatchkine had to go. He resigned on 24 January 2012 after the Board had appointed a General Manager to whom all top management would report.

	The Global Fund performs vital work affecting millions of lives. The Fund cannot afford to have a second year like 2011, and might be permanently damaged if so.

	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 175 of 6 February. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Delayed Disbursements of Grants Threatens South Africa&rsquo;s TAC

	The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a sub-recipient (SR) for a Round 6 HIV grant in South Africa, has experienced significant delays in receiving disbursements. TAC says that because of these delays, the organisation is perilously close to having to shut its doors. TAC is known world-wide for its pioneering advocacy work in South Africa on HIV treatment.

	The South Africa National Department of Health (NDOH) is the principal recipient for the HIV grant. Under its contract with the NDOH, TAC was due to receive 6.5 million rand (US$833,000) by the start of July 2011 to cover expenses between then and the end of 2011.

	TAC has still not received any of this funding. On 1 January 2012, TAC was due to receive a further disbursement of 2.7 million rand (US$346,000) to cover expenses for January to March 2012. That funding has also not yet been received, increasing the shortfall to 9.2 million rand (US$1.2 million).

	On 23 November 2011, TAC issued a statement in which it said that the organisation faced possible closure because of the lack of funds. The statement said that TAC depended on the Global Fund grant for a large portion of its work. It added that the delays were primarily due to poor administration by the NDOH.

	(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 176 of 20 February)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Zimbabwe: Improved AIDS Levy Collections

	With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe&#039;s innovative AIDS levy &ndash; a three percent tax on income &ndash; has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years.

	The levy was introduced in 1999 to compensate for declining donor support, but low salaries and the poor performance of industry meant not enough money had been collected until recently. In its 2010 report on Zimbabwe&#039;s progress in implementing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2001, the government admitted the levy was &quot;essentially non-existent in 2007-2008 due to economic challenges the country was facing.&quot;

	According to the National AIDS Council Board, a total of US$20.5 million was collected in 2010 against US$5.7 million the previous year; non-audited figures for 2011 suggest a collection of US$25 million.

	Although 347,000 people are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the country, another 600,000 need the medication. The treatment gap widened after Zimbabwe adopted the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines that recommend starting treatment earlier.

	The AIDS levy contributed almost a quarter of the money to purchase ARVs, while 76% of the treatment programme was financed by international donors such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the UK Department for International Development. But Zimbabwe &ndash; one of the hardest countries hit by HIV/AIDS &ndash; still needs a lot more funding to cover the worrying treatment gap.

	(Source: IRIN, Harare, 3 February)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	South Africa to Produce Active Ingredients for ARVs

	South Africa is to build a ZAR 1.6 billion (US$ million) pharmaceutical plant to produce the ingredients for antiretroviral drugs. The plant is a joint venture between the government and Lonza, a Swiss chemicals and biotechnology company.

	So far, most antiretroviral drugs used in South Africa are manufactured locally but all the active ingredients used in them are imported. South Africa is the world&rsquo;s largest market for antiretroviral drugs. Pharmaceutical imports are one of the most important contributors to the country&rsquo;s trade deficit.

	(Source: Business Day, Johannesburg 10 February)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	DR Congo: Alarm Bells over Poor Funding

	The lives of thousands of HIV-positive people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are at risk as the country faces declining donor funding and a severe shortage of treatment, according to M&eacute;decins sans Fronti&egrave;res (MSF).

	More than one million people are living with HIV and of the 350,000 people who qualify for antiretroviral treatment, only 44,.000 &ndash; 13% &ndash; receive it. Seventy-five percent of funding in the DRC comes from the Global Fund, 25% from UNITAID and from PEPFAR, the US President&rsquo;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Earlier World Bank funding ended in 2011.

	As the DRC did not qualify for funding under the 9th and 10th round of Global Fund grants, it is using funds from previous rounds which will last at the most to 2014, not counting up-scaling. UNITAID funds through the Clinton Health Access Initiative are for paediatric and second-line ARVs and PEPFAR provides funds for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission.

	(Source: IRIN, Nairobi/Kinshasa, 2 February)

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	News from Global Unions

	The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/">www.itfglobal.org</a>), in its latest HIV/AIDS update 119 of 1 and 15 February, reports on the signing of a policy on HIV and AIDS of the Confederation of Railway Workers of Bolivia with two railway companies. It also draws attention of affiliates to the process of reviewing ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, and the importance of trade unions getting involved in this process of monitoring the implementation of Recommendation 200.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 40px;height: 40px;cursor: default" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Five Years Ago: From the March 2007 Issue (No. 18)

	The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments.

	In the March 2007 issue, we reported on the signing of a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with the Swedish paper multinational Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA), which included an HIV/AIDS clause. The company agreed to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work.

	We pointed out the importance of such a clause for affiliates. If a company agrees to comply with the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work, this opens a whole range of possibilities for negotiations and activities for the unions organising inside a GFA company. The ten key principles of the Code of Practice include non-discrimination, gender equality, confidentiality, prevention, care and support. A GFA applies to all operations of a company worldwide. Often, local management is not familiar with a GFA signed by their head office. Insist on implementation and compliance!

	Regrettably, only a minority of ICEM GFAs include an HIV/AIDS clause.

	We also reported on the appointment of a new Executive Director at the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine. He resigned recently (see e-bulletin February 2012, No. 77).

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 78, March 2012

WOMEN’S BULLETIN

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />

	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever&#039;s Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world&#039;s third largest consumer products company&#039;s unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner &ldquo;Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits&rdquo;, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers&#039; Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK&#039;s Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman&rsquo;s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled &euro;8 million, while Unilever&rsquo;s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 208px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	At today&#039;s manifestation, led by Unilever&#039;s European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: &quot;We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever&#039;s corporate culture. 
	 
	&quot;We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman&#039;s pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting &#039;sustainable living&#039; but that he says nothing about sustainable employment.&quot;

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever&#039;s Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company&#039;s UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, &quot;We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	&quot;The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into.&quot; 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies&#039; Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever&#039;s Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 95px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

Spirited Rotterdam Rally Calls on Unilever to Save UK Pensions

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 59px" width="390" />

	The 20 February shooting at strikers &ndash; mainly women &ndash; of the KaoWay Sports Ltd. footwear factory in Bavet, Svey Rieng province, Cambodia, appears to have been committed by the governor of Bavet region, Chhouk Bandith. Three women were shot and seriously wounded after a man dressed in police-style khakis got out of a vehicle and began firing at people.

	The factory produces shoes primarily for the German apparel company Puma. According to ITGLWF&nbsp; affiliate, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers&rsquo; Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), thousands of the 6,000 employed at the factory engaged in strike action on 17-18 February. When strikes resumed on 20 February, Chhouk Bandith allegedly jumped out of a Lexus 470 with a bodyguard and a policeman after exiting the factory and fired shots from a high-power gun equipped with silencer.

	After firing, he fled in a Toyota Camry and truckloads of police moved in to quell disbelieving and angry strikers. Police have questioned Chhouk Bandith, and C.CAWDU believes he was held for three days, but has since been released.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Choukk Bandith

	The entire incident, occurring about 09h00, was captured by a KaoWay factory security camera. Puma has been conducting its own investigation since the outset, together with an NGO.

	Buot Chinda, 21, was shot through the chest with bullets that narrowly missed her heart and severely punctured her lung. She was near death, but now is in stable but serious condition at a Phnom Penh hospital. The two other women who were shot and injured are Keo Neth, 18, and Nuth Sakhorn, 23.

	A senior ILO official who monitors a programme called Better Factories Cambodia, said in press comments, &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t look good for Cambodia when this type of violence is concerned.&rdquo;

	Puma&rsquo;s shoe workers, employed by Taiwanese-based KaoWay, were striking over better transport and food allowances, and better pay and conditions overall. Due to the industrial action &ndash; and Puma&rsquo;s rapid response to the random violence &ndash; the strike has ended and all workers&rsquo; demands have been met in full.

	The strike and shootings had a different scenario at a separate Cambodian dispute, this one at Singapore-based Medtecs, a health textiles and apparel maker located in Kampong Siem district, some 125 kilometres from Bavet. While 2,000 strikers pelted the factory with rocks, police at the scene were unarmed and at stand-down because of the KaoWay shootings.

	The Medtecs strike was over the company failing to live up to decisions handed down by a binding Arbitration Council. It has been resolved due to the strike action.

Local Governor Accused in Shooting of Cambodian Footwear Strikers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 68px" width="390" />

	The third phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry&rsquo;s investigation of the Pike River mine explosions of November 2010 that killed 29 concluded in mid-February in Greymouth, New Zealand, and several experts testified to the inherent weak safety mechanisms in place by Pike River Coal Ltd.

	The latest set of hearings also reveal a company that was 18 months behind on orders to deliver &nbsp;premium metallurgical coal, and in the words of a technical services manager who resigned just days before the first explosion, &ldquo;There was no way the company would delay coal production&rdquo; because of safety concerns.

	The manager, Pieter Van Rooyen, testified that workers had given him notice of inadequate methane drainage pipes, requesting that drilling cease until rectified. Despite passing that on in writing to senior operational managers, nothing was done. Van Rooyen said the decision to begin hydro-mining deep within the shaft without constructing a second exit &ndash; and in areas of high methane gas build-up &ndash; was strictly for &ldquo;cash-flow purposes.&rdquo;

	An electrical engineer who investigated New Zealand&rsquo;s worst mining accident in 100 years said the faulty Pike River electrical systems multiplied chances for disaster since stray currents in many mechanical instruments produced sparks. Pike River&rsquo;s main exhaust fan was located underground, an anomaly to modern mining.

	In late October 2010, the company was warned by a regulatory agency that the stability of an expanded roof in an underground area was worrisome, and again nothing was done. A mine safety expert from Australia testified that the blast was caused by a roof collapse deep inside the mine, causing a massive release of gas. When the underground fan failed, the gas could have ignited from a small spark.

	For 16 months now, the bodies of the 29 have remained entombed inside the South Island mine, despite efforts by families to recover their loved ones. In this inquiry round, photos of two miners who were sighted dead near self-rescue units were shown. The photos indicate that the miners might have survived the initial blast on 19 November 2010. In the following days, five more major explosions occurred.

	Pike River Coal Ltd. killed 29 miners, including 26 New Zealanders, a miner from South Africa, one from the UK, and another miner who was an Australian national. The mother of this Australian miner named Josh Ufer is currently speaking out in Australia on the necessity to maintain full trade union involvement in all mine safety matters.

	As the Single Bargaining Unit led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) wages a battle against BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi to retain union-mandated safety deputies and open cut examiners inside Queensland collieries, Joanne Ufer is versing the dangers inherent in unilateral management control of safety matters in union advertisements.

	The final phase of the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry will convene next month, with the commission&rsquo;s report and findings to be issued in September.&nbsp; See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4681-Pike-River-s-Royal-Inquiry-Sees-Troubling-Safety-Issues-Inside-NZ-Mine-Disaster">ICEM report </a>following the commission&rsquo;s second phase hearings.

New Zealand: Pike River Mine Inquiry Hears ‘Disaster Waiting to Happen’

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	At a general membership meeting and news conference today in Qu&eacute;bec, 780 union members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma were told that the lockout imposed on them &ndash; in its 11th week &ndash; by Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Alcan aluminium subsidiary now has the undivided attention of key workers&rsquo; groups connected to the mining giant.

	United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9490 President Marc Maltais and USW Deputy District Five Director Guy Farrell told a packed news conference of their two-week mission through the US West and then on to Australia and New Zealand, where the trade union Mining and Maritime Initiative brought this piece of corporate terrorism front and centre before the company&rsquo;s most militant workers and unions in Oceania.

	Maltais and Farrell also laid out plans for the mass rally in Alma, a city of 30,000 in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Qu&eacute;bec, a manifestation expected to draw 5,000 to 10,000. Earlier at the membership meeting, USW District Five Director Dan Roy told victimised metalworkers that they are up against one of the most egregious examples of corporate crime ever committed in Canada.

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	&nbsp;USW&rsquo;s Guy Farrell Speaks at Brisbane Manifestation

	The lockout came ostensibly over the union&rsquo;s contract demand to stop the continual erosion of permanent jobs by establishing limits on outsourcing. And it occurred even before several other issues were tabled in bargaining.&nbsp; Alcan prematurely locked workers off their jobs on 30 December, a day before the prior five-year agreement had expired.

	With aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange down more than 25% from spring 2011 and inventories high, the opportunity to reverse that by bringing one of the world&rsquo;s premier and low-cost smelters down to one-third operational capacity was too much to resist.

	And Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma learned this month what they feared had been happening since the lockout began: Rio Tinto, under an opaque agreement signed with Qu&eacute;bec in 2006 when Alcan was a stand-along Canadian company, is selling unused hydro-electric power back to the province of Qu&eacute;bec because Alma is operating only 122 of 432 electrolytic production cells. The company is pocketing C$15 million per month at taxpayer expense, while holding a community&rsquo;s top-paying jobs hostage with a lockout. Worse, the province does not need the excess power but is obligated to buy it due to the 2006 agreement.

	&ldquo;These are the people&rsquo;s resources,&rdquo; said Farrell. &ldquo;The atrocities this company is committing against Qu&eacute;bec and Quebecers is incomprehensible, yet they are happening right before our eyes.&rdquo;

	The 31 March manifestation will occur a day after the ICEM&rsquo;s North America affiliates meet in Alma in the first of two bi-annual meetings. Protestors will assemble at 13h30 at the Galeries Lac St-Jean shopping mall and march to Parc le Festiv Alma for the manifestation that begins at 15h. (See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/RTA_CARD4ENG_high.pdf">full manifestation flyer</a> here.)

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	Local 9490&rsquo;s Marc Maltais at MUA Forum

	Maltais and Farrell reported today on their two-week mission that saw them get support from Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in Southern California. International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 faced its own lockout from the world&rsquo;s second largest resources company, and USW Local 9490 was keen to learn their fightback strategy.

	From those late February meetings both in Boron and Los Angeles, Maltais and Farrell journeyed to the state of Utah where they met with USW local union leaders at Rio&rsquo;s Kennecott Copper mines. Some 1,000 steelworkers and members of other unions, including the International Association of Machinists (IAM), waged a bitter six-month strike there in 2002-03.

	From 4 to 9 March, the Canadians were in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, their message was heard by hundreds of delegates at separate forums of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) in Brisbane. On 5 March, Australian supporters including members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the MUA, AMWU and Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU) joined Maltais and Farrell in a protest against Rio Tinto on Queen Street in Brisbane.

	At the mass MUA meeting there on 6 March, the two were surprised to see the MUA selling Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s trademark orange shirts, emblazoned &ldquo;Australia and New Zealand Mining and Maritime Union Fight War on Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Workers.&rdquo; Proceeds and other donations were give the two, including from a stop at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Bell Bay, Tasmania, aluminium smelter that was hosted by the AWU, the union fighting for a first enterprise agreement there.

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	ICEM Turkish affiliate Maden-İşDisplays Long Distance Solidarity with Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma

	In New Zealand, the visit from 7-9 March sponsored by ICEM affiliate Engineering Printing &amp; Engineering Union (EPMU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), included a meeting with Rio Tinto aluminium producing workers at the Tiwai Point smelter in Invercargill. It also included another demonstration, this time on 9 March in front of Rio Tinto offices in Wellington.

	Throughout the western US trip and the Australia/New Zealand union-building visits, Maltais and Farrell had along a union banner to which trade unionists signed their name and pledge to join the Alma lockout fight. That banner was unfurled and hung in Local 9490&rsquo;s union hall this morning.

	While the two were concluding their trip in New Zealand, back home in Alma, on 8 March, International Women&rsquo;s Day, women&rsquo;s-only forum was held attended by 100 spouses and women workers. The event was billed as a unique chance to share experiences of the then 68-day lockout, the hardships, the loss of income and the emotional turmoil inflicted by a rich multinational on citizens of Qu&eacute;bec Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region.

	With a call two weeks ago by provincial Premier Jean Charest to return to bargaining still unheeded by the company, the experience of pain, sacrifice and uncertain futures is sure to continue for the 780 families and for even more in the wider community who depend on the family-supporting pay days from the Alma smelter.

	To read further information on this corporate attack on working families, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4908-Locked-out-Alcan-Workers-Take-Dispute-to-Business-Doorstep">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4875-Rio-Tinto-s-Euro-Works-Council-Irate-over-Québec-Aluminium-Lockout">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4837-USW-Affiliate-in-Québec-Locked-Out-by-Rio-Tinto-at-Aluminium-Plant">here</a>.

Locked-out Canadian Steelworkers Build Global Unity as Mass Rally Nears, 31 March

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	With 95% approval yesterday, Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) ratified a closure agreement with Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, in London, Ontario. The sizeable financial settlement ends a morbid chapter of labour relations abuse by a company, and leaves an economic wound befitting the worst corporate ill-will that can be served up.

	The loss of 465 union jobs is tragedy in London, Ontario. EMD proposed in collective negotiations that CAW members reduce their wages from C$35-per-hour to C$16-18, and give up a 50% equivalent of all benefits. When workers said no, on 1 January Caterpillar and EMD locked workers off their jobs at a rail locomotive assembly plant.

	Thirty-four days later Caterpillar/EMD announced it would close the operation, move production to a start-up plant in the low-wage &ndash; US$12-16-an-hour &ndash; city of Muncie, Indiana, six hours to the south of London, where Caterpillar had already assembled a virulently anti-union management team.

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	Ken Lewenza

	Angry Canadians could only beg the answer to the question: What are our federal and provincial governments doing on such brazen desecration of our manufacturing base. Caterpillar had bought the London plant in third quarter 2010 and it came with a bed of government tax breaks. Eighteen months later, the plant is shuttered and Canadian-made machinery and technical know-how is now leaving the country.

	CAW President Ken Lewenza said Canada is in desperate need of a manufacturing jobs strategy. He stated that the free movement of global capital from country to country must be stopped because it is undercutting workers&rsquo; wages.

	&ldquo;We have to continue the fight,&rdquo; Lewenza said. &ldquo;Because too many workers are losing their jobs, both union and non-union, because of dead-beat employers &ndash; in everything from manufacturing plants to call centres.&rdquo;

	Severance packages exceeded what were required by law, partly driven by public indignation of Caterpillar&rsquo;s conduct and mostly by CAW&rsquo;s resolve to get the best possible close-out deals for workers. EMD workers will get three weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service and a C$1,500 lump sum payment. (See the <a href="http://www.caw.ca/assets/images/EMC_RATIFICATION_(2).pdf">CAW closure agreement </a>here.)

	For one-third of the workforce, that means severance payments of 60 weeks&rsquo; pay or more, while many will average 20-25 weeks. Workers will gain a measure of extended health care coverage, their pension fund will be fully funded, and EMD agreed to settle all claims and grievances with CAW Local 27. That will amount to a C$350,000 payment to the union within 30 days of yesterday.

	Province of Ontario law says that workers with five years of work service must get one week&rsquo;s pay for each year worked, with a cap of 26 weeks. In a company statement on the closure and severance agreement, Caterpillar/EMD boasted that 75 workers, who would not receive pay-outs under the Ontario minimum, will do so now in the negotiated agreement.

	That hollow boast fades in juxtaposition to the wider swath of economic carnage Caterpillar has left on southwestern Ontario. Besides the 670 union, clerical and management direct jobs lost, CAW expects the plant closure to impact another 2,100 peripheral jobs.

	(See previous ICEM 2012 reports on Caterpillar in London, Ontario, <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4851-15-000-Manifests-for-Canadian-Auto-Workers-in-Lockout-By-Caterpillar">here</a> and <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">here</a>.)

CAW Reaches Severance Terms with Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Diesel

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