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Collective negotiations across all of Sweden&rsquo;s work sectors were fractious over the past month, but none as much than between the Paperworkers Union, Svenska Pappers, and Skogsindustrierna, the employers&rsquo; Forest Industry Association (SFIF). Late on Thursday, 1 April, a three-member mediation panel used its option under Swedish industrial relations rules and set back by one week planned job actions that Pappers was to begin today. 
 
The two sides had been making progress in the hours up to and beyond the 31 March midnight expiration of a prior three-year labour agreement that covers 18,000 paperworkers at 62 pulp and paper mills of ten companies. 
 
Pappers announced on 22 March that it would impose a total overtime ban beginning at 18h00 on 5 April, as well as a blockade of temporary and agency workers onto worksites. The one-time option by the mediation panel means such industrial actions cannot begin until 12 April. The union and SFIF are expected to return to the bargaining table either late on 7 April or 8 April. 

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In talks that lasted late into the evening on 1 April, the two sides were closing in on a 22-month contract before the panel called adjournment and postponed the industrial action. On wages, that agreement would look much like what was achieved in other Swedish industrial talks &ndash; 3.2%. 
 
What separates Pappers and SFIF is how the pay accord will affect the lowest-paid workers, meaning a supplement should be in order for those workers, and a reduction provision on the pension scheme. Pappers is insistent that the first part of the pay deal be made with a 2% increase on 1 April, with the remainder to take effect on 1 January 2011. An addendum also is under consideration regarding union consultation on temporary or labour agency work. 
 
If no agreement is reached this week, the overtime ban and blockade of non-regular workers will go ahead for 12 April, with industrial action to escalate to selective strikes after that. 

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On 27 March, ICEM affiliate IF Metall reached agreement with Teknikf&ouml;retagen, the Swedish Engineering Industries Association, covering 160,000 workers. That agreement is for 3.2% over 22 months. A centerpiece of the agreement is that employers must negotiate with IF Metall before employing temporary staff for longer than one month. The union pressed this issue because employers should not be using labour agencies while full-time workers are either on layoff or working shortened work weeks. 
 
Also in accord with employers is the union GS, which signed a 22-month contract covering 35,000 workers in the forestry, wood, and furniture industries. Another part of GS, the graphical workers&rsquo; section, has an agreement expiring later this year.

Job Actions Delayed as Swedish Paperworkers, Employers to Keep Talking

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Gabon&rsquo;s oil workers agreed to call off a strike that was to begin 13 March, when government officials entered into negotiations with the 20,000-member National Organisation of Petroleum Workers (ONEP). The strike was set to commence over Gabon&rsquo;s set of revised regulations governing the sector. 
 
The government has angered workers in the sector by proposing to place the energy sector onto the list of services that must remain uninterrupted, together with health services and transport. The move would make it impossible for workers to take legitimate strike action in future disputes, and would undermine an equal playing field regarding collective bargaining. The industry already suffers from unequal and low salary levels, as well as inadequate protection over working hours. 

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Both sides have announced their commitment to reaching agreement soon, and open negotiations are continuing in the West African country. 
 
The strike threatened to halt production of about 250,000 barrels of crude per day in Gabon, Africa's seventh largest producer.

Strike Avoided in Gabon’s Oil Sector

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A week-long blockade by several hundred contract workers at Chile&rsquo;s third largest copper mine ended 12 May, but issues remain unresolved. The blockade, takeover of equipment and operations, and reported kidnappings of direct employees at the Collahuasi mine in northern Region I ended only when Special Forces of the Chilean police arrived to break up the strike. 
 
The contract workers then took the strike 180 kilometres to the west to the town of Iquique. Negotiations to resolve the dispute had been ongoing with the Tarapac&aacute; governor, and reports circulate that talks would again start today. Collahuasi, which is 44% owned by Xstrata, 44% by AngloAmerican, with the rest held by Japanese investors connected to Mitsui &amp; Co., declared force majeure on 10 May. 

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The mining enterprise said it suspended production then because of the on-site takeover, but began operating again on 12 May. Collahuasi employs 2,000 direct employees, while another 4,000 work for some scores of sub-contractors. 
 
Collahuasi is currently in the first phase of a US$750 million expansion and reports linked the contract workers to a Chilean engineering firm involved in that expansion. Their strike and blockade is over demands that include on-site housing similar to that of direct-employed staff, and bonuses for successfully concluding wage negotiations in April. 
 
The strike and blockade began 7 May. Copper prices on the London Metals Market rose slightly due to the shutdown. The Collahusi mine provides 3.3% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply, with 2009 production at 535,000 tonnes of processed copper. The expansion, due to be complete by 2015, will boost that production figure to 600,000 tonnes.

Contract Workers’ Strike Flares at Chile’s Collahuasi Copper Mine

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Iranian authorities experienced a wide backlash of anger from throughout the world, following their decision to secretly execute teacher and trade unionist Farzad Kamangar on 9 May. 
 
Farzad Kamangar was hanged at Evin Prison in Tehran, along with three other Kurds and one other man, without their families or legal representatives being told beforehand. The draconian executions followed a legal process which failed to meet any semblance of accepted international standards, or even Iranian standards of fair trials. 
 
The ICEM has long been involved in the campaign against repression and violations of human rights in Iran, including the illegal arrests of other trade unionists. Increased solidarity and support is now needed for those who are illegally imprisoned, with fears spreading that their fates might meet the same as Farzad Kamangar&rsquo;s. 

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Photo: Mac Urata (ITF)
The Global Union Federation for teachers and educators, Education International (EI), has been fighting Farzad Kamangar&rsquo;s case since his arrest in May 2006. He was given the death sentence in February 2008, following a trial lasting less than five minutes. The 35-year-old member of the Teachers&rsquo; Union of Kurdistan, was accused of &quot;endangering national security&quot; and &ldquo;moharebeh&rdquo; or &quot;enmity against God.&quot; 
 
Farzad Kamangar was held for seven months prior to being allowed to see his family. He was repeatedly tortured. He was whipped, held in a freezing room and physically abused by guards. He was not given the chance to say goodbye to his family. 
 
The news comes one month before the 26 June, the Day of Action against the Islamic Republic of Iran for the repressive and tyrannical means it uses to suppress its people. (View that campaign website <a href="http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org ">here</a>.) 
 
Protests were carried out in several countries, following the executions. See the Turkey march <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lki_FBw68_s&amp;feature=related">here</a>. See all photos of the London rally <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/workers_in_action/sets/72157623937198125/detail/ ">here</a> (photos by Mac Urata)

World Appalled at Execution of Iranian Trade Unionist

Tonight at 18h00 European time, the Swedish Paperworkers Union (Svenska Pappers) begins job actions at 62 pulp and paper mills over a national collective agreement in Sweden still not in place. 
 
The union needs your support and messages of solidarity and they need it now. Please send, in your own words, a note of encouragement, in your own language, to Mikke Sterbeck at <a href="mailto:mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se">mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se</a>. 
 
The union has told the ICEM that all messages will get to the local branch unions. Not only that, but Pappers tells the ICEM that such messages already received to date have greatly buoyed the rank-and-file, 18,000 union members at some ten pulp and paper companies. 
 
The industrial actions that begin tonight, 12 April, include a ban on all overtime and a plant blockade on contract and agency workers from coming into any mill to perform work. If no resolution comes by this Friday, 16 April, the union will begin selective strikes at six mills: Billerud Skarblacka (a kraft sulphate pulp mill that makes packaging and kraft papers, including flute papers); Holmen Braviken (a mechanical pulp mill that makes newsprint, and printing and writing papers); the Holmen Iggesund mill in Korsnas (a kraft sulphate pulp mill that produces boxbard/cartonboard); Stora Enso&rsquo;s Skoghall Mill (a kraft, sulphate pulp mill making containerboard, boxboard, and white-top, mottled paperboard; SCA Packaging in Munksund (a kraft sulphate pulp mill making containerboard and kraft linerboard; and Sodra Cell Varo (a pulp mill). 
 
The bargaining situation is this: the union and Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (SFIF) met until 20h on Saturday night, 10 April. A three-panel paper industry mediation board submitted a proposal, but Pappers rejected it, while employers approved it. The proposal fell short of the union&rsquo;s wage demands. It was for 22 months, with a 0.9% increase proposed for 1 June 2010, and 2.1% effective June 1, 2011. The contract expiration was 31 March 2010, and Pappers is insistent that a wage increase above Swedish cost-of-living take effect on 1 April 2010. The cost-of-living in Sweden for first quarter 2010 exceeds 1%, and Swedish paperworkers should not have to accept anything less. Other issues unresolved are aspects to retiree pension scheme, and the fact that employers are not willing to adjust upward the salaries of the lowest paid workers. Employers are also unwilling to give Pappers the same language regarding use of short-term contract workers and workers coming through labour agencies that other employers in other Swedish work sectors have given unions. 
 
Representatives of the employers&rsquo; association were to meet today amongst themselves, with the strategy to impose lockouts on Pappers members at certain mills. That meeting was postponed, perhaps because public opinion in Sweden is clearly on the side of the union. The union will now go ahead with the overtime ban and the blockade on contract and agency workers. They have also written to the employers&rsquo; today and requested that bargaining resume on Tuesday, 13 April, in the offices of Pappers, an unprecedented venue. 
 
It is very clear that the momentum in this contract dispute is with the union. But please write a short message to Svenska Pappers c/o <a href="mailto:mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se">mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se</a> and express that notion, and that your union is with them in this critical week. Again, these messages will get to local branches and make them even stronger than they are today!

Urgent Action Needed: Swedish Paperworkers/Appel à l&#039;aide d&#039;urgence: Travailleurs du secteur pâte et

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The Global Unions AIDS Programme (GUAP) and the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) launched a month of action between 21 March and 28 April. The effort leads up to a meeting of the G8 Development Ministers in Halifax, Canada, on 26-28 April, and the G8 and G20 Summits in June. 
 
The action calls for universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support. 
 
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) is central in initiating the action to convince the upcoming G8/G20 Summits, together with its affiliate unions, for universal access. The month of action also targets Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who will preside over both summits. The G8 will take place near Huntsville, Ontario, 25-25 June, and the G20 will be in Toronto, 26-27 June. 

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Alan Leather, Chair of the GUAP, has called on trade unions around the world to come together and deliver a united message calling for universal access to core treatment for HIV/AIDS. 
 
Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, accounting for 67% of all people living with HIV globally and 72% of deaths due to AIDS. While African countries remain the focus of the international HIV/AIDS agenda, burgeoning epidemics in the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia need also to be addressed. Access to treatment, especially for working people, is not 100% anywhere. 
 
GUAP will combine its call for universal access on HIV/AIDS with a demand that governments support the ILO Decent Work Agenda and its Global Jobs Pact, saying this is the only means through which the cycle of HIV/AIDS and poverty can be broken. 
 
See the ICEM letter to the Canadian embassy on the issue <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/28.ICEM.Canadian.Amb.HIV.AIDS.2April.pdf">here</a>. 
 
Sign an electronic petition targeting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper <a href="http://cupe.ca/action/hiv-aids ">here</a>. 
 
Find a model letter to send to the Canadian Embassy in your country and to your Head of State <a href="http://documents.clc-ctc.ca/international/HIV-G8-ModelLetters-EN.pdf ">here</a>.

HIV/AIDS Prevention Takes Aim at Canada and G8/G20

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ICEM&rsquo;s Turkey Coordinating Committee, set up in 2007 by 14 Turkish affiliated trade unions, met in Izmir on 2 November for its annual meeting. The meeting, chaired by Mustafa Kumlu, Committee Chairman and ICEM Executive member, as well as President of the T&uuml;rk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş trade union, was attended by leaders of Turkish unions. The meeting was held just before the ICEM World Materials Conference, jointly hosted by ICEM&rsquo;s two affiliates in that sector, &Ccedil;imse-İş and Kristal-İş. 
 
Kumlu stressed the challenges that the Turkish trade union movement faces, particularly on union recruitment, and praised the ICEM&rsquo;s pro-active efforts in Turkey. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave a detailed report on ICEM activities and projects since the last Coordinating Committee meeting, 20 November 2008. Warda&rsquo;s remarks served as a base for discussions on the effects of the global economic and social crisis. 
 
Turkey&rsquo;s leaders reported on the difficulties arising from the crisis in the country.
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ICEM&rsquo;s Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, who worked inside Turkey&rsquo;s trade union movement, reported on ICEM past and future activities in Turkey, and gave special focus to the ICEM and FNV Mondiial Project on Capacity Building for Organising and Social Dialogue, on the campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 176 (the Safety and Health in Mines Convention), and on regional cooperation in the Middle East, Euro-Asia, and Balkans. 
 
A highlight of the committee&rsquo;s proceedings was Turkish trade union leaders welcoming the ICEM World Conference for the Chemical Industries, which will take place in October 2010 in İstanbul, thanks to the formal invitation of Petrol-İş, the Oil, Chemicals, and Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union in the country. 
 
Also at the 2 November meeting, leaders of &Ccedil;imse-İş and Kristal-İş discussed details of the 3-4 November World Conference for the Materials Industries, and two special reports were given by Turkish unions. 
 
Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın, President of Petrol-İş, presented a detailed report on the union&rsquo;s recent organising campaign in Turkey that included a short video. He suggested that this media tool be expanded across Turkey. Commenting on the proposal, ICEM&rsquo;s Warda proposed a special international session for sharing recent organising experiences and campaigns among all the ICEM affiliates. 
 
Bircan Akyıldız, President of T&uuml;rk Enerji-Sen, the Energy, Mine, and Industrial Public Employees&rsquo; Union, who also serves as head of a major public sector confederation, T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen, gave a detailed report on severe conditions that public employees face. 
 
He explained that public-sector workers have no right to collective bargaining, or the right to strike, and this weakens them in their struggle to develop proper protections. Because of that, T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen and KESK, another major public-sector confederation, will jointly organise a one-day strike on 25 November throughout Turkey. The ICEM pledged to support the day-long strike, and will extend its global solidarity to this action, since it has members from both confederations. 
 
The next meeting of the Committee will take place in October 2010 in İstanbul.

Turkish Coordinating Committee Meets; ICEM Pledges Support to 25 November Public-Sector Strike

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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.
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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&rsquo;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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ICEM&rsquo;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 Per&uacute;. That salary increase had been agreed to in July 2009, through mediation by Peru&rsquo;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&rsquo;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="" width="120" height="83" alt="" />
The ICEM affiliate in Peru, the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), last week called upon Labour Minister Manuela Garc&iacute;a 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&rsquo;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="" width="160" height="120" alt="" />
FNTMMSP Gen. Sec. Luis Castillo Carlos&nbsp;
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&rsquo;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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State-owned Solid Energy of New Zealand once again has to pay the price for actions of coal-mining sub-contractors. Following a short &ldquo;go-slow&rdquo; job action at Solid Energy&rsquo;s Rotowaro colliery on the North Island in protest over eight months of stalled bargaining, contractor RWE Mining locked 160 workers &ndash; members of Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) &ndash; off their jobs on 27 October. 
 
That caused 120 other EPMU members at the nearby Huntly East coal mine, also without a current agreement, to strike in sympathy. On 2 November, at Solid Energy&rsquo;s Stockton mine complex on the South Island, 500 EPMU members went on strike, partly in sympathy and partly over their own grievances over a new shift roster imposed by contractor Downer EDI Mining of Australia, originally a New Zealand company. 
 
The next day, 120 miners at the Spring Creek mine, also on the South Island, struck, meaning 900 miners in New Zealand have downed tools, shutting the nation&rsquo;s coal industry. The miners had been bargaining through EPMU with Solid Energy and its contractors under a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement, which expired on 31 March 2009. The different mines also have individual agreements related to work rules, however.
<img src="" width="160" height="153" alt="" />
At Rotowaro, where coal deposits will start to be exhausted by late next year, workers became frustrated with RWE Mining stalling on adequate redundancy provisions, as well as remuneration for going to a 24-hour, seven-day operation that sparked the &ldquo;go-slow&rdquo; action. The dispute was inflamed there when Solid and HWE consulted on pay and working conditions without involving the EPMU&rsquo;s bargaining unit. 
 
On the South Island, shift rosters and remuneration also are serious issues. 
 
RWE Mining is part of Leighton Contractors of Australia, while Downer EDI is a major engineering, infrastructure, and mining contractor based in Sydney. In 2007, again after a contract expiration, HWE Mining locked out EPMU miners at Huntly Rotowaro, causing a wave of sympathy strikes at Solid Energy&rsquo;s other collieries. 
 
The current dispute was intensified last week when Solid Energy began running advertisements calling the EPMU irresponsible and encouraging miners to return to work. The state company said it would not return to bargaining until the strikes ended, and also threatened job cuts if the strikes continue. 
 
&ldquo;Solid Energy is out of touch with its workers,&rdquo; stated EPMU Assistant National Secretary Ged O&rsquo;Connell. &ldquo;The company needs to realize that this strike action is a result of their behaviour towards their workers and all of their workers will stand up together to fight it.&rdquo; 
 
EPMU mine leaders from all the sites will meet today to determine their next steps in the dispute.

Contractors at State-Run Coal Mines Bring National Strikes to New Zealand

Archive

Job Actions Delayed as Swedish Paperworkers, Employers to Keep Talking

Strike Avoided in Gabon’s Oil Sector

Contract Workers’ Strike Flares at Chile’s Collahuasi Copper Mine

World Appalled at Execution of Iranian Trade Unionist

Urgent Action Needed: Swedish Paperworkers/Appel à l'aide d'urgence: Travailleurs du secteur pâte et

HIV/AIDS Prevention Takes Aim at Canada and G8/G20

Turkish Coordinating Committee Meets; ICEM Pledges Support to 25 November Public-Sector Strike

Rights Achieved for Contract Workers by Sintraelecol in Colombia

Chinese Mine Firm Shougang Hierro Perú Again Reneges on Salary Hike

Contractors at State-Run Coal Mines Bring National Strikes to New Zealand

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