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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM’s last newsletter, 14 days ago, reported on the end of a strike and the pending payment of a long-awaited pay increase for Peruvian mineworkers at the Marcona mine of Shougang Hierro Perú. That salary increase had been agreed to in July 2009, through mediation by Peru’s Labour Ministry, but never paid, so miners again went on strike for 15 days in October. 
 
However, on 4 November, after resuming work and again being promised July’s salary increase, Shougang miners again went on indefinite strike action following the company, yet again, failing to make payments. 
 
This time, the company transported non-striking workers around the mine in illegal and unsafe vehicles, as transport drivers joined miners on strike. Such practices are against both national and regional law in the Ica District of southern Peru, and coupled with failure to pay the negotiated and agreed-to salaries, depicts a multinational metals company, albeit state-owned, exhibiting contempt for Peruvian law and its workers.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/PeruFlag.gif" width="120" height="83" alt=""/>
The ICEM affiliate in Peru, the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (FNTMMSP), last week called upon Labour Minister Manuela García Cochagne to act and deal harshly with the latest illegalities of Shougang Hierro. The Chinese company has been mining iron ore near the town of San Juan de Marcona since its 1993 purchase from the state. Since then, the union says that Shougang has only poverty levels in the area, and has blocked local residents from owning land. 
 
Elsewhere in Peru’s mining industry, the Ministry of Labour is attempting to avoid a strike at the Los Quenuales zinc mine, owned by the Swiss transnational Glencore. The dispute there runs consistent with many stories from around the world; Glencore is using the current global economic crisis to renege on a prior salary agreement for some 1,800 workers. The weekly raise that the Swiss holding company refuses to pay is 2 Peruvian Soles per week, the equivalent to US$0.68.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910PeruFNTMMSPLuis Castillo.jpg" width="160" height="120" alt=""/>
FNTMMSP Gen. Sec. Luis Castillo Carlos 
The branch union at Los Quenales represents workers also from contract companies operating at Los Quenuales. The union has been attempting to negotiate with management since 15 October, with no positive results. FNTMMSP General Secretary Luis Castillo Carlos has been negotiating on behalf of the workers. 
 
A collective of multinationals face another Peruvian dispute at the Antamina copper and zinc mine. Antamina is controlled by BHP Billiton and Xstrata (33.75% each), with Teck Cominco of Canada and Mitsubishi of Japan holding smaller stakes. Management of one of South America’s largest copper/zinc mines is offering no pay increase, while FNTMMSP is seeking a raise of living wage each day. Negotiations will continue on 17 November, and if they fail, a strike mandate could be in order.

Chinese Mine Firm Shougang Hierro Perú Again Reneges on Salary Hike

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ICEM affiliate Sintraelecol reported last week that the union has signed a collective agreement with ISA Transelca for a period from 2009 to 2012. 
 
The triumph for the union brings significant pay rises to the 110 workers, with more than 80% of those workers receiving increases amounting to 10% above inflation. 
 
And perhaps even more significantly, the new agreement brings Contract and Agency Labour staff used by the company into full, direct employment, complete with all the legal protection that full-time employees receive.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMelectricity5.JPG.JPG" width="140" height="138" alt=""/>
The ICEM commends this achievement by Sintraelecol, which is significant not only because of the improved work conditions achieved for workers in Colombia in the electric sector, but also because Grupo ISA Transelca operates in many neighbouring countries, such as Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador. The hope is that this agreement will serve as an example and precedent for management and unions in those countries to reach similar agreements, and bring contract and agency staff onto the company’s books. 
 
The rate of collective bargaining in Colombia is the lowest in the entire Andean region. Trade unionists face anti-union repression from the national government, as well as fear of killed or assaulted while deploying legitimate trade union activity. These facts make the agreement with ISA Transelca all the more commendable. 
 
Also in Colombia, ICEM affiliate Sintravidricol last week reported a victory in forcing Havells Sylvania, a maker of lighting fixtures, to reinstate workers who had been illegally dismissed. Reintegration into the workforce will take place on 17 November. 
 
Sintravidricol issued a statement praising all union members, as well as ICEM Colombia Project Coordinator Carlos Bustos, for their help and solidarity. However, focus and work remains on the company in Bogota, as not all workers who lost their jobs have been reinstated. The ICEM is demanding that those workers are back on their jobs immediately. Send messages of solidarity and support for these employees to the Havells Sylvania management at <a href="mailto:info.co@havells-sylvania.com">info.co@havells-sylvania.com</a>.

Rights Achieved for Contract Workers by Sintraelecol in Colombia

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The daily dangers continually faced by trade union officials and activists in Iraq were graphically demonstrated by the brutal murder 26 November 2009 of Majiid Karim, an executive member of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers. Brother Karim died when his car exploded. An improvised explosive device, believed to have been timed, had been attached to his car by as yet unknown individuals. 
 
The GFIW is the largest national trade union centre in Iraq, two of its affiliates covering workers in the Oil and Gas and Electric Power Industries are affiliated to ICEM. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraq.png" width="250" height="115"/>
Majiid Karim had been a key union official ignoring the anti-trade union legislation from the Saddam era and actively organizing workers in the public sector despite continued government attempts to use legislation 150 of 1987 to ban public sector workers from trade union membership. He was also a key figure in building unity among Iraqi workers and in the trade union movement. 
 
ICEM joins the GFIW in mourning their loss, as well as joining their demand that the Iraqi government and its security authorities conduct an urgent and thorough investigation to uncover the full circumstances of this appalling criminal act, and ensure that the guilty are brought to justice. 
 
We will keep you informed of the case as more information becomes available.

Iraqi Trade Unionist Murdered

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ICEM Italian affiliate FEMCA-CISL has drawn a line in the stand against any break-up of Eni, the oil and gas major that is 30% owned by the Italian government. As investors study a restructuring of the energy company, the union sounded a warning last week that splitting Eni into separate companies would bring more harm than good. 
 
FEMCA-CISL General Secretary Sergio Gigli said both workers and consumers would be negatively affected, and that skills, knowledge, and strategic synergies – long vital in the running of the company – would be destroyed. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Sergio%20gigli.jpg" width="130" height="173"/>
Sergio Gigli
The union’s comments came at the same time that a financial conference was being held in Milan to address restructuring the company. At that conference, American asset management company and minority shareholder, Knight Vinke, known for provoking shareholder activism to break apart enterprises, recommended that Eni’s oil and gas units be split apart in separate upstream and downstream businesses. 
 
FEMCA-CISL called such a possible separation a loss of integration that would jeopardize the company as a national model, and as an entity that plays a valuable social role inside Italy. The union also said that any weakening of Eni would erode the company’s ability to provide guaranteed strategic energy source supplies to Italy. 
 
Meanwhile, three Italian unions – FILCEM-CGIL, UILCEM-UIL, and FEMCA-CISL – welcomed the news last week that talks have fallen through between Eni and a UK private equity group, the Klesch Group, over sale of a refinery in Livorno, Tuscany. The discussions caused a nine-day strike by unions at the 1,000-worker refinery in early September. Eni had insisted in preliminary talks with Klesch that job guarantees be given to all workers.

Italian Union, FEMCA-CISL, Opposes Splitting of Energy Company Eni

The ICEM calls serious attention to activities on Friday, 26 June, as Day of Action against the Islamic Republic of Iran for the repressive and tyrannical means it uses to suppress the people of Iran. Specifically, ICEM stands with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Global Union Federations (GUFs), and Amnesty International in denouncing the illegal arrests of trade union leaders and others in Iran. 
 
As witnessed by the regime’s conduct before and after the sham 12 June elections, global pressure must be steadfast against Iran’s ruling zealots who commit untold human rights violations. The ICEM stands with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF), and Education International (EI), as they call for this Day of Action together with the ITUC and Amnesty International. 
 
These GUFs have worked tirelessly to end trade union rights abuses in specific cases in Iran. More details on 26 June Day of Action, and on specific cases can be found at <a href="http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org">www.justiceforiranianworkers.org</a>.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.iran.jpg" width="218" height="145" alt=""/>
In brief, the ITF champions the cases of Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, leaders of the Syndicate of Workers’ of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, who are serving unjust jail terms. The IUF has sharply criticised the one-year jail terms of five union leaders and forced dissolution of their union, Haft Tapeh Sugar Workers’ Union, and EI has taken up the case of Farzad Kamangar, who was handed a death sentence last year. 
 
He is a leader of the banned Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association, an affiliate of EI, and has been convicted of “endangering national security” for his advocacy of teachers’ unions. The 26 June Day of Action also is aimed at freeing four activists who remain locked up from a 1 May manifestation at Laleh Park in Tehran. There, secret police violently attacked peaceful workers celebrating May Day, arresting between 100 and 150. 
 
Demonstrations tomorrow (26 June) will occur at Iranian embassies and missions include Belgium, France, Netherlands, Switzerland Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, the UK, and in several other countries. The ICEM encourages trade unionists and others to take part. 
 
“ICEM is in full support and will assist in every effort to free trade unionists and others who have been locked up because they dared to exercise free speech or free association in Iran,” said General Secretary Manfred Warda. “This brutal regime cannot be allowed immunity in its continuing escalation of human rights violations.”

26 June: Day of Action Against Iran

Miners locked out of Rio Tinto’s site in Boron, California for refusing to give in to demands by the company that could threaten their ability to work and support their families are highlighting their plight as shareholders attend the global mining giant’s AGM in London today (Thursday). 
 
Almost 600 workers, all members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 branch, were refused entry to the Borax mine and processing plant owned by Anglo-Australian corporation Rio Tinto when they showed up for work on 31st January. This followed their refusal to accept the imposition of a new contract that threatened to convert good jobs into temporary, part-time or outsourced positions. 
 
Rio Tinto has used a firm with a notorious reputation for union busting, J.R. Gettier of Delaware, to bus replacement workers across picket lines to mine and process borates. Borates are used in numerous products, including detergents, glass, building materials and as an ingredient in chemicals. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.rio.tinto.london.3.jpg" width="205" height="154"/>
In negotiations Rio Tinto sought to agree to a new contract which would give the company the right to award jobs to outside contractors; require miners in dangerous occupations to work overtime; and require the workers’ themselves to pay for the company’s legal penalties, fines and damages if the company violates state and federal labor laws. 
 
Dave Irish, one of the locked out miners protesting at the AGM, said: 
 
“After working the mine for generations, families are being jeopardized by a newly-proposed system of insecure working patterns and conditions, and dog eat dog struggles for jobs I believe. Rio Tinto wants to starve us into submission, forcing us to accept a contract that we fear will destroy decent, family-supporting jobs. When we tried to use our legitimate negotiation rights, we were locked out of our own jobs and replaced by union busters. We’ve been forced to survive on unemployment insurance and handouts ever since. We are determined to fight for our jobs, our families and our community. 
 
“Having us back in our jobs is in the best interests of shareholders, too. As experienced workers, we are much better able to guarantee the quality and quantity of production to meet customer demand. We hope the shareholders will listen to us and demand that the corporation ends the lock out and negotiates a fair contract with us so that we can get back to work.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.rio.tinto.london.5.jpg" width="163" height="231"/>
Dave Irish left, locked out Local 30 worker, and ILWU VP Ram Familathe 
Ray Familathe, International Vice-President of the ILWU, said: “We have come to London to highlight the courage of ordinary workers and their families in standing up to a powerful global business. The Boron miners simply want to work hard and to be treated fairly and with respect. This seems the latest example of appalling behaviour by Rio Tinto around the world in terms of the way it treats its workers, communities and the environment. This is not just a problem for the small community in Boron, California which relies on the mine for its survival but a global threat when a corporate giant such as Rio Tinto gets away with riding roughshod over its employees.” 
 
The action against Rio Tinto is a joint initiative of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which is based in the UK; the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union; and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF). It is supported by a range of other organisations, including the London Mining Network. 
 
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “The lockout is the lowest reaction of the employer to a workforce that strives for dialogue. We support the fight of the miners and applaud their strength and courage and support the ILWU’s call for an end to the lockout and proper negotiation to reach agreement on staff contracts.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.rio.tinto.london.4.jpg" width="205" height="154"/>
Four Rio Tinto executives were found guilty of bribery and commercial espionage by a Chinese court at the end of March. This follows a case against the company by residents of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea accusing it of complicity in human rights abuses by the operation of its copper-gold mine. Rio Tinto has also been alleged to have colluded with the Apartheid government in South Africa and some of the world’s most despotic regimes, including Suharto’s in Indonesia. 
 
Workers from South Africa, Australia, Turkey, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Papua New Guinea have expressed solidarity with the locked out Boron miners in the USA. 
View the Fact Sheet on the Rio Tinto lockout in Boron <a href="/index.php?id=5&la=EN&doc=3705" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
 
For further information, please contact: 
• about the Boron lockout – Craig Merrilees, Communications Director, ILWU, on +1 (0) 415 775 0533 ext 113 or <a href="mailto:craig@ilwu.org">craig@ilwu.org</a>   
• about the AGM protest or to interview Dave Irish or Ray Familathe – Dee Sullivan on 020 8613 8071, 07949 010639 or <a href="mailto:dee@greenshootsconsultants.co.uk">dee@greenshootsconsultants.co.uk</a>

Unions Protest Rio Tinto's US Lockout at AGM

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The ICEM’s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO), at its Executive Committee Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, 6 April, adopted a resolution of strong solidarity and support for the striking Canadian Vale workers. 
 
The Resolution marked the Vale ‘Week of Action’ of 5-11 April, called to denounce to denounce Vale Inco’s attacks on workers in Canada and throughout the world. Vale, the second biggest mining company in the world, operates in 36 countries. 
 
More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Sudbury, Port Colborne, and Voisey’s Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, are into the ninth month of a strike, the longest ever at Inco. While the company persists with its demands on profit-sharing, pensions, job security, outsourcing, and seniority rights. Vale continues to refuse to enter into a binding arbitration, as instructed under Canada’s labour laws. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Senegal.png" width="250" height="115"/>
The SSARO Resolution comes in light of the 50/50 joint venture between Vale and African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), a South African mining company that will act as a gateway for Vale to Africa’s mineral resources. 
 
ICEM SSARO affiliates resolved to lobby their governments, national centres, NGOs, and communities, to condemn and take concrete actions in support of the struggle. 
 
View the Resolution in its entirety <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.ssaro.resolution.vale.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
View the USW Vale strikers’ campaign website <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca/">here</a>.

SSARO Meeting Vale Resolution in Support of Canadian Strikers

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Each of the three Industrial European Trade Union Federations has given their leaders a mandate to move towards a merger. ICEM’s sister organisation, the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF), the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), and the European Trade Union Federation for Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF:TCL) seek to create a single European industrial trade union federation. 
 
On 25 March 2010, the presidents and general secretaries of the three organisations met in Berlin, to discuss next steps in the merger process. A merged organisation will bring together 8 million workers in the manufacturing industries, and united they will be stronger. Other factors cited include continued integration of countries in Europe, globalisation, the recent financial and economic crisis, and several significant recent mergers at the national level. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.emcef.merger.png" width="201" height="151"/>
The three presidents and three general secretaries, present at the Berlin meeting, underlined their belief that the combining of their resources would increase efficiency and strength, in their role of representing and protecting European workers throughout the industrial sectors. 
 
The leaders of the three federations agreed to oversee intensified discussions within their statutory bodies over the creation of a joint EMF-EMCEF-ETUF:TCL organisation. 
 
A joint Working Group for building the new organisation was created, and will now produce a timetable for the process.

Discussions Advance in Building Single European Industrial Trade Union Federation

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RadioLabour, the online news radio service of international trade unionism, interviewed ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, last week, on the ICEM Global Campaign on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). 
 
As companies throughout the world, and in every sector, continue to outsource their workforce in the race to lower costs, the significance of the campaign grows. As directly employed jobs are lost to sub-contracting companies or agencies, workers find themselves with little or no job security, inferior benefits, and with substandard working conditions. This is leading to a two-tier workforce with fewer and fewer directly employed workers, and increasing numbers employed through contracts or agencies. 
 
As Warda stated in the interview with RadioLabour presenter, Marc Bélanger, “In some countries, we must unfortunately say that contract and agency labour has almost become the ‘regular’ employment situation”. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Marc.Belanger.png" width="101" height="134"/>
Marc Bélanger
Use the audio player below to listen to part of Manfred Warda’s interview with Marc Bélanger, or click <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/ICEM/cal-warda.mp3 ">here</a> to find the interview on the RadioLabour website. 
 
RadioLabour reports on events of interest to unionists via "The Solidarity Report", a half hour audiocast of international union news every Sunday morning. Part of Manfred Warda’s interview can be heard on yesterday’s <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/">Solidarity Report</a>. Marc Bélanger also presents "RadioLabour 5", a five minute global labour news update, every Friday morning. 
 
RadioLabour is an important instrument in the building of international solidarity amongst unionists, also serving as a model and source of expertise for unionists who want to start a service similar to RadioLabour in their country or for their organization. Contact us if you need advice or assistance in developing a labour-based audiocasting service. 
 
Canadian national, Marc Bélanger, producer and host of RadioLabour, is a labour union educator. He worked for the Workers' Activities Programme of the training centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy, from 2000-2008. He was head of the Programme from 2007-2008. The Programme operates the largest international union education school in the world.

RadioLabour Interviews Manfred Warda on CAL

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ICEM General Secretary, Manfred Warda, in a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Petroleum, condemned the recent decision of the government-owned Southern Oil Company to transfer four trade union leaders, in an attempt to silent the union. 
 
The key leaders of the Basra-based Refinery Workers’ Union find themselves out of their jobs, transferred to remote locations, as an apparent punishment for trade union activities. Those targeted are Ibrahim Radhi, President of the Refinery Workers Union and Vice President of the umbrella Iraqi Federaton of Oil Unions (IFOU, an ICEM affiliate); Ala’ Sabah Miri’e, Refinery Workers Union Vice President and President of the Central Council of the IFOU; Faraj Rbat Mizba, Refinery Workers Union media officer and IFOU Central Council member; and Khez’al Kadhim. 
 
This is a clear attempt by the company to block the union from continuing their campaign for reforms. Since March 2010, the trade union has been organising peaceful protests, calling for fair pay, payment of overtime owed since 2007, an end to the recruiting of CAL workers into permanent jobs, a transparent recruitment process, modernisation of production equipment, but most importantly the recognition of the union. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.iraq.campaign.logo.jpg" width="180" height="168"/>
As Manfred Warda states in the letter to the Oil Minister, these actions by the company constitute a clear breach of the Freedom of Association, recognised in Iraq’s Constitution, as well as in the core ILO Convention. 
 
This latest case is yet another example of the urgent need for new labour legislation in Iraq, legislation that is fair and ILO compliant. 
 
ICEM Director Jim Catterson was part the international delegation to hand deliver the ICEM letter to officials at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington D.C. last week. The letter was delivered with a similar letter from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. This followed a rally, last Wednesday, outside the Iraqi Consulate in the American capital, under the slogans “Democracy for Iraqi Workers” and “Labour Rights are Human Rights”. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.iraq.demo.jpg" width="234" height="175"/>
Jim Catterson told the rally “Workers are being sent into exile to places where their lives are in jeopardy, just because they are unionising for better conditions. It’s time now that Iraq accepted freedom of association”. 
 
Pressure was placed on the Iraqi Government last week by TUC (UK) General Secretary Brendan Barber, who protested against the latest union busting to the Iraqi Embassy in London. 
 
See the ICEM letter, sent to Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani, Iraqi Minister of Petroleum, <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/31.ICEM.Letter.Iraq.Oil.12April.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
Support the LabourStart campaign for new labour legislation in Iraq <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=669">here</a>. Similar tactics, against Iraqi trade unionists have been reversed in the past, thanks to international solidarity and pressure.

ICEM Condemns Transfer of Iraqi Oil Trade Union Leaders

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