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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM affiliates FCE-CFDT of France, FIA-UGT of Spain, and FEMCA-CISL of Italy established a joint entity called Association Pour L’Europe Solidaire et Pour la Coopération Mediterranean, or the Association of Solidarity Europe and Mediterranean Cooperation (AESCOOMED). The new organization has an aim to develop a common European vision, and an information exchange between trade unions regarding economic, social issues, environmental matters, collective bargaining, industrial relations, and common social dialogue platforms. 
 
AESCOOMED’s vision is to develop common work on European Works Councils, and promote the consultation and participation of workers within the member unions, as well as enhance cooperation with countries in the Mediterranean region. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFCE-CFDT-NEW100.jpg" width="100" height="93"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Italy.FEMCA.CISL.jpg" width="100" height="85"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SpainFIAUGT.jpg" width="90" height="90"/>
The newly-formed organization held its first conference in Barcelona on 8-9 March 2010 under the banner “Energy, Industrial Policy, and Social Dialogue in the Mediterranean Region.” Trade unions from seven countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, and Turkey, together with the presence of the ICEM, debated industrial and energy issues in the region during the initial meetings. 
 
Issues of energy supply security, energy conditions in industrial development, and the environmental impact in Mediterranean countries were discussed. Acknowledging the fact that the environment is fragile and deteriorating, protecting and improving eco-systems has become a key issue in the Euro-Mediterranean region, especially in view of new industrial dynamics. This Euro-Mediterranean cooperation includes issues of water scarcity and water quality, the reform of environmental standards, improving infrastructure, and preserving the environment. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.aescoomed.png" width="226" height="79"/>
The place and role of social dialogue in all countries of the Mediterranean was also highlighted. Common challenges were defined as population growth, aging population, job creation, modernization of labor markets, maintaining high levels of social protection, and dissemination of knowledge and innovation. All participants were convinced of the need to strengthen cooperation between the union organisations from countries bordering the Mediterranean basin. 
 
The ICEM was invited to the two-day conference and was represented by Rubber and Chemicals Kemal Özkan. He made a presentation on ICEM’s activities regarding social dialogue on the global level and union building and union-support activities in the Middle East/North African Region (MENA). 
In conclusion, all participants welcomed the AESCOOMED initiative and measured the importance of international solidarity between workers.

Trade Unions Form Euro-Mediterranean Cooperative Organisation 

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For all in the global ICEM family 2009 became a painful year due to the global crisis. But again union action and solidarity beyond borders proved to be the essential asset to defend and advance the interest of workers. Let us continue to build unity, let us strengthen global solidarity, let us together make sure there is a way forward and success for the workers that we represent. ICEM wishes you, your members and your families the best of luck and success in 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR. 
Manfred Warda
ICEM General Secretary

Happy Holidays from the ICEM

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The United Auto Workers (UAW) union became the eighth US trade union to join the Blue Green Alliance, a well-honed collaboration in place between major trade unions and major environmental groups in America. The announcement two weeks ago weds one of the US’s founding industrial unions to a commitment to build cleaner and more fuel-efficient automobiles. 
 
“We are thrilled to become part of this unique partnership of working people and environmentalists who are striving to build a cleaner, more efficient and more prosperous American economy,” stated UAW President Bob King in the announcement that brought US auto industry labour into the alliance. “We have enormous opportunities to revitalize this industry, and the American economy, by embracing the clean energy economy of the future.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Bob.King.UAW.jpg" width="100" height="141"/>
UAW President, Bob King
The Blue Green Alliance started in 2006 between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club, and since has grown as a labor-environmental bond between leading American unions and both the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 
 
The Blue Green Alliance now has 8.5 million American workers pursuing Good Jobs, a Clean Environment, and a Green Economy. Besides the leading role the USW has taken in forming the alliance, other US-based unions include the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA), Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the Service Employees’ Union (SEIU), and the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association (SMWIA).

American Auto Workers Join Blue Green Alliance

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The government of Zambia bent to the will of the country’s two major mining unions, including ICEM affiliate Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ), to investigate and remedy the anti-Zambian outsourcing policies planned by Anglo-Indian Vedanta Resources at several of its Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) operations. 
 
That government intervention did achieve the desired results, since KCM has now rescinded its plan to outsource major operational activities at its Nchanga mines, Chingola Copper concentrator and open pit mines, and the Nampundwe refractory to foreign contractors. 
 
On 24 August, a tripartite dialogue consisting of the Labour and Mines Ministries, Vedanta’s senior executives, and the MUZ and the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) produced an agreement that should deploy more Zambians to the country’s mines and resource processing plants.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0707ICEMAFConf1.jpg" width="180" height="169"/>
MUZ President, Rayford Mbulu 
The agreement caused cancellation of a mass demonstration at mine sites and other locations by the MUZ and NUMAW for 28 August. 
 
According to Labour and Social Security Minister Austin Liato, the compromise with firstly, “on outsourcing, which has threatened a number of (local) jobs, it has been agreed that the issue will be stalled and the two parties shall engage each other before any decision is made. 
 
“Then secondly, on the vice president human resources, who is about to retire, it has been concluded that the position will be advertised” within Zambia. Both the government and civil society, including the Zambia Institute of Human Resource Management, was livid that Vedanta was about to hire another foreign national in this position. 
 
The outsourcing and offshoring issue between Zambian mining unions and Vedanta had become pitched in August, particularly at a time when Vedanta is greatly expanding many of its copper-producing facilities. 
 
The outsourcing issue at KCM became especially exasperated when a mining boss at the Chingola mine – operated by the Brazilian contractor U & M Mining – refused to allow the deputy minister of Labour and Social Security onto the mine to inspect labour conditions. 
 
In the days before the tripartite meeting, KCM attempted to resolve the dispute by offering any worker affected by outsourcing to transfer to the contract employer at equal pay and the same pension contributions, transfer to one of two other KCM operations, or voluntary separation under existing conditions of service. But that was unsatisfactory to the unions. 
 
KCM is 20% owned by the Zambian government. In 2009, over 80% of Zambia’s foreign exchange earnings and 15.9% of its GDP came from copper mining. The ICEM Secretariat commends Sub-Saharan African Regional Vice President Rayford Mbula, President of the MUZ, for his leadership and vigilance on this issue with both the government and Vedanta.

Planned Outsourcing by Vedanta inside Zambia’s Copper Belt

Joseph Toe is ICEM's Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Project Coordinator for the Sub-Saharan Africa Region. He is a native of Togo.
How prevalent is the issue of Contract and Agency Labour and Precarious Work in Africa? 
 
In some cases, the proportion of temporal workers may reach 80% of the permanent workforce. Deregulation of the labour market has accelerated this process. 
 
What factors have impacted on the use of CAL? 
 
Structural adjustments imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions adversely affecting the institutional employment context at two levels: 
 
• The de-regulation of the labour market and the fact cry that use of labour must become more flexible; and 
• The reduction of trade union participation and the inability of civil society to effectively make its voice heard over anti-social measures advocated by lending institutions. 
The arrival of Asian investors has also disrupted the labour market in Africa and jeopardises previous social gains. 
 
What is the Sub-Saharan African ICEM CAL Project? 
 
The Sub-Saharan African ICEM CAL Project started at the end of February 2009 and covers 8 countries, Guinea, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. The selected targeted countries were all identified as nations where the issue of contract and agency labour is wide spread, but also where there are relatively strong trade unions. This means that there are possibilities of carrying out actions to achieve reasonable progress on this issue. 
 
What are the Project Objectives? 
 
The project aims to develop trade union strategies and seek best practices to address contract and agency labour related problems in Sub-Saharan Africa; it seeks to create a coherent regional coordination to address the problem; it advocates for governments to take the relevant initiatives and policies to halt the use of temporal contracts and to regulate private employment agencies; it seeks to carry out high level and specialised regional research; to have trained union negotiators on the issue of rights for contract and agency workers; to build the organisational capacities of the leadership in CAL campaigns; and to create a network for information- and experience-sharing of ICEM affiliates on the issue across the region. 
 
The training is based on a number of simple and practical tools designed from examples taken from around the world. At the end of each session, a plan of action is developed on the future actions to be carried out at the national level in synergy with other GUFs’ affiliates, and guidelines are defined to be included in the ICEM Global Campaign on CAL. In order to implement the national plan, a monitoring mechanism, which is part of the plan of action is defined, and the officers in charge of its implementation are appointed. 
 
Trade union action is indispensable to neutralising the development of outsourcing and temporal employment, particularly as it is crosscuts and affects all trade and industrial sectors. Sub-Saharan African countries are seriously affected by this problem and are reacting in order to stem and/or reduce the adverse effects. The Sub-Saharan African ICEM CAL Project also encourages and assists unions in: 
 
• Building trade union organising and negotiating capacity; 
 
• Institutionalising sector-based negotiations and reinforcing trade union unity of action, which is necessary to combat outsourcing, labour brokering, and contract agencies. It fights for the regulation of employment agencies and recourse to outsource, and to be involved in that redress process; 
 
• Reinforcing solidarity between temporary and permanent workers; 
 
• Training those who organise temporary workers; 
 
• Negotiating collective agreements which include clauses on the systematic recourse to outsource and use casual labour with regard to the improvement of the working conditions and the reduction of the consequences of casual labour; 
 
• Campaigns for the transformation of casual labour into permanent employment; 
 
• Develops strategies for CAL workers, with the emphasis on decent work and inclusion of gender and race in those strategies; 
 
• Organising campaigns and lobbying at national and international levels against casual labour, and developing plans of action aimed at ridding this phenomenon in the Export Processing Zones (EPZ); 
 
• Carrying out studies on the consequences of outsourcing and contract labour agencies within the context of worsening disparities and inequalities of the social strata. This means addressing the Millennium Development Goals 2015, the 2007–2015 Decent Work Agenda in Africa; the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), Sustainable Human Development Programme, and the Tripartite and Social Dialogue Principles which serve as the basis of ILO. 
 
Casual employment affects positive labour values, which develop, distinguish, and socialise the human being.

Interview: Joseph Toe, CAL Project Coordinator, Sub-Saharan Africa Region

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="110" height="50"/>
At a side meeting in Geneva at the 2010 International Labour Conference of the ILO in June 2010, the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, requested the ILO’s expertise in determining the impact of precarious work on human rights. 
 
In preparing to make operational the 2008, “Respect, Remedy, Protect” framework, Ruggie is consulting with a wide range of actors, including through an online consultation forum. Ruggie’s request to the ILO follows online submissions by the Global Union Federations International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF) and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), which both highlighted the fact that CAL and other forms of precarious work are being used to undermine the human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/John.Ruggie.UN.png" width="145" height="73"/>
John Ruggie
In its submission to the consultations, the IMF’s statement said, “It is our submission that precarious work threatens the very survival of stable employment and collective bargaining,” adding, “As with other human rights, exercise of the fundamental enabling rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining is severely constrained by fear. That fear comes from the vulnerability that employers are imposing on workers every day, in developed and developing countries alike, with the explosion of precarious work practices.” 
 
Ruggie’s “Respect, Remedy, Protect” framework is based on three pillars: it is a state duty to protect human rights abuses by third parties, including businesses; corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and that there must be greater access by victims to effective remedies, judicial and non-judicial.

UN Human Rights Special Representative Ruggie Seeks ILO Help on Precarious Work

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According to Economic Populist and based on reliable data from a company that monitors layoffs, 25 American-based companies were responsible for 700,000 jobs lost during the financial crisis. And the statistics reveal that most of the lost US jobs were caused by outsourcing jobs offshore. 
 
The list of 25 includes a few industrial companies, but the most consisting of tech companies, service-oriented forms, and, of course, financial services. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1009.cal.unemployment.2.jpg" width="166" height="122"/>
The 25 are: General Motors, 107,357 jobs lost due to outsourcing; Citigroup, 73,056 jobs gone; Hewlett-Packard, 47,540 jobs eliminated due to outsourcing; Circuit City Stores, 41,495 (not attributed to outsourcing); Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, 40,650; Verizon Wireless, 39,000; Pfizer, 31,771; Merck and Co., 24,400. 
 
Lehman Brothers, 23,340; Caterpillar, 23,024; JP Morgan Chase, 22,852; Starbucks, 21,316; AT&T, 18,401; Alcoa Aluminium, 17,655 jobs lost to outsourcing; Dow Chemical, 17,530; Dupont, 17,000; Berkshire Hathaway Capital, 16,900 jobs lost due to unknown reasons; 
 
Ford Motor, 15,912; KB Toys, 15,100; US Postal Service, 15,000; DHL Express USA, 14,900; Sprint Nextel, 14,500; Sun Microsystems, 14,000; Boeing Aviation, 13,715; and Chrysler, 13,672. 
 
Many of these companies demanded US taxpayers’ dollars in the form of stimulus monies, all the while they were loping jobs.

US: 25 Companies, 700,000 Jobs Lost Due to Outsourcing during Financial Collapse

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Mineworkers’ in northern Spain in September have taken to blocking roads, clashing with police, and staging sit-down strikes deep inside coal mines to protest wage arrears brought on by the government’s inaction in renewing subsidies for utilities that operate coal-fired power plants. 
 
The series of strikes, blockades, and other manifestations in the provinces of Palencia and Leon have led now to leaders of energy unions of the nation’s two labour federations calling for four days of a general coal strike – starting this Wednesday, 22 September – across Spain. That announcement came after senior union leaders, on 15 September, failed to convince Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian to remedy wage arrears for hundreds of Spanish coalminers and to implement a decree passed last February renewing the subsidies. Some 8,000 coal miners are expected to take part in the four days of strikes. 
 
When last week’s meeting failed to move the government, the senior trade union leaders blockaded themselves overnight in an Industry Ministry room in Madrid as symbolic protest to miners at collieries in the north who are striking underground.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SPAIN.CC.OO.gif" width="160" height="56"/>
Leaders of the UGT and CC.OO announced general coal strikes for 22-23 September and 29-30 September. The 29 September strike will tie in with a Spanish and Euro-wide day of mobilization against austerity and labour market reforms being pushed by governments and monetary institutions. 
 
For 19 days now, 52 miners of the Unión Minera del Norte (UMINSA) company have locked themselves 500 metres underground in the Las Cuevas colliery near Guardo in Palencia province because wages have not been paid since mid-July. Above ground, as many as 3,000 family members and supporters have led protests that have snarled roads and blocked train lines in and out of the northern part of the province. 
 
Despite a promise to the Industry Ministry weeks ago that it would pay wages, UMINSA owner Victorino Alonso, who also heads the coal producers’ association Carbunion, said poor cash flow by companies brought on by reduced buying of domestic coal has meant no ability to meet payroll, pay taxes, or make social security contributions. “We’re not paying anything. We have no liquidity,” he said. 
 
On 6 September, 14 miners repeated the Las Cuevas action by beginning a sit-down strike inside the Alto Bierzo company mine near Tremor de Arriba in Leon province. That strike was followed by 200 supporters manifesting in Ponferrada, as well as several traffic tie-ups on roads between Leon and Oviedo. 
 
The government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has been reluctant to implement the decree from last February that would renew the subsidies to utilities using Spanish coal rather than imported coal. The government’s reluctance is based on official European Commission objections to the subsidies. A Commission ruling has called for all state subsidies for domestically-mined coal to end by 31 December 2010.

Spain’s Miners Feel Pain as Government Coal Subsidies Shrink

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The Mining and Energy section of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) welcomed remarks by BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers last week that carbon pricing in Australia must be part of the mix in meeting the challenges of climate change. 
 
CFMEU National President Tony Maher said in a statement on 17 September that BHP Billiton’s breaking from the rest of industry on a future carbon tax is “a big step in the right direction.” 
 
“As the world’s largest mining company, BHP has laid down a challenge to the other mining operations and the Minerals Council,” said Maher. “The scare campaigns on climate change cannot be repeated,” he added, referring to a hot-button issue inside Australia that was at top of the list in the toppling of the Kevin Rudd government.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0712CFMEUMaher.jpg" width="80" height="120" alt=""/>
CFMEU National President Tony Maher 
Kloppers made his comments in a speech on 15 September at a lunch in Sydney to a forum of the Australia-British Chamber of Commerce. He said eventually a global initiative regarding carbon pricing will come and when it does, “Australia will need to have acted ahead of it to maintain its competitiveness.” 
 
The BHP executive said, “Carbon emissions need to have a cost impact in order to cause the consumer and companies to change behaviour and favour low-carbon alternatives.” Before the business leaders, Kloppers called for “a mosaic of initiatives” to reduce carbon emissions, including a “combination of a carbon tax, land use actions and limited (carbon) trading systems” covering power plants. 
 
The speech marked a dramatic shift in public views voiced by resource-rich mining houses and industry alike on the climate change debate in Australia. Following the speech, both business and industry leaders denounced the speech. 
 
However, CFMEU suggested BHP Billiton’s shift, along with the appointment of Parliamentarian and former Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Greg Combet as new Minister for Climate Change, has turned the tide on the debate. The Labour Party’s Combet is currently assembling a climate change committee in hopes that legislation implementing a carbon pricing system will be readied by 2012. Opposition parties in Australia, the Liberals and Conservatives, are boycotting the committee.

CFMEU Applauds BHP Billiton’s Shift to a Carbon Tax in Australia

Despite two full days of bargaining between ICEM affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers’ Industry Association (NTMEIA) on 16-17 September, no accord was reached to end the three-week old strike. Some 6,000 rubber workers have been on strike at six tyre factories operated by four employers since 29 August. 
 
Today in Port Elizabeth, 4,000 NUMSA members from tyre plants in the Eastern Cape will march in protest of rapt division among employers in this year’s wage talks. They will present a petition to management at the plant gates of Bridgestone-Firestone in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.
The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), based in Geneva, continues its support for striking rubber workers in South Africa, and endorses today's mobilisation in Port Elizabeth.  
 
In last week’s talks guided by an independent mediator in Port Elizabeth, management of the Japanese-based company continued to deviate widely from the wage offers put forth by other tyre companies associated with the NTMEIA. While Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop of India placed on the table a three-year package containing wage increases of 9%, 7.5%, and 7.5%, Bridgestone-Firestone’s offer was 7%, 5%, and 5%. 
 
Rubber workers of NUMSA are willing to accept a three-year pact, but their wage expectations are 9% in each of the three years. In addition, they seek a modernized wage module that will lift the salaries of workers who have been stuck at minimum levels for as long as 10 to 15 years. 
 
Another key issue at the bargaining table revolves around the use of labour brokers. Although the NTMEIA will not agree to a ban, it has conceded to pay contributions for short-term and temporary workers into the Provident Fund, as well as make retirement and medical payments for them. The South African tyre industry employs about 1,000 such workers. 
 
Also last week in South Africa, 70,000 NUMSA members across the country returned to their jobs at fuel retail outlets and auto component shops. On 14 September, NUMSA convened a special National Executive Committee meeting, where eight of nine regional structures of the union agreed to accept terms of the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers’ Association, ending strikes that began on 1 September. 
 
The three-year contract for filling station attendants includes wage gains of 10%, 9%, and 8%, while auto-parts workers will receive 9%, 8%, and 8%. NUMSA did achieve a solid breakthrough regarding labour brokers, particularly in these sectors in which several employers are totally reliant on staff provided by outside hire firms. 
 
The agreement calls for all labour brokers to be registered by one of two certifying agencies, and all staff of labour brokers must receive minimum rates of pay inside the two industries as well as getting the same benefits and condition of employment. In addition, the negotiated settlement calls for the gradual phase-out of labour brokers, with a cut to 35% of current levels by the year 2013.
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842 (office), +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).

ICEM Continues Support for South African Tyre Strike

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