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Plastics and packaging members of New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) won&rsquo;t be taking further industrial action against Sealed Air&rsquo;s Cryovac subsidiary. A week ago, on 22 November, 117 workers at a plastic bag and food packaging factory in Porirua ratified a two-year wage settlement that will bring them 3.19% pay gains for both 2010 and 2011. 
 
EPMU members had engaged in three weeks of industrial actions in late October and November that caught the attention of the ICEM. (An InBrief report from two weeks ago can be seen <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4109-EPMU-Members-Strike-Sealed-Air-Subsidiary-in-New-Zealand ">here</a>) 
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EPMU's Tim Awatere
Sealed Air&rsquo;s original wage offer of 2% for a one-year contract drove workers to take strike actions, which included a one day walkout on 8 November and a ban on all short-notice overtime work. 
 
&ldquo;This is a good outcome for EPMU members, highlighting the financial benefits of belonging to a union collective agreement,&rdquo; said EPMU Organiser Mark James. &ldquo;Our members took a stand to get a fair share in the company&rsquo;s increasing profits so this is a result they can be proud of.&rdquo; 
 
The Sealed Air Cryovac factory, on New Zealand&rsquo;s North Island north of Wellington, produces plastic bags primarily for the meat industry, as well as packaging for other food manufacturing.

New Zealand EPMU Members Win Pay Gains with Sealed Air

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For over a decade in Singapore, it had been common practice for employers to reduce salaries of workers by 10% once they turn age 60. That practice is now coming to a screeching halt as trade unions, in a united front, have convinced employers that the practice is degrading and discriminatory. 
 
Seven unions over the past several months, including the Chemical Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (CIWU) and the Metal Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (MIWU), have now negotiated an end to the cut-at-60 practice in an important labour development on the island-nation. 
 
Over 34,000 workers will this year no longer have to witness pay cuts just because they reach age 60. The recent initiative was not instituted by law, but rather came from a strong public urging to employers by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) General Secretary Lim Swee Say and Singapore Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong. 
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Under some of the negotiated agreements, workers age 60 or above must undergo performance-based indicators to retain their salaries, but in others they do not. The MIWU had elimination of the practice incorporated in all collective agreements. That affected 11,000 senior workers for the good. One union, the Singapore Airport Terminal Service Workers&rsquo; Union, will have the no-cut-at-60 language finalized in December, with payment of salaries that were cut back to January 2010 restored. 
 
Other unions that have succeeded in eliminated the practice include the NatSteel Employees&rsquo; Union, the Singapore Bank Employees&rsquo; Union, the DBS Bank Staff Union, and the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore. Elimination of the practice at scores of private-sector employers by the CIWU affects 4,500 senior chemical and petrochemical workers. 
 
The practice began in 1999 when the retirement age was raised to 62 in that year. The Retirement Age Act was then amended to give legal status to the cut-at-60 practice. 
 
NTUC Deputy Secretary General Heng Chee How said it was encouraging that a great number of companies from many different industries and sectors had reviewed with unions the regressive practice and decided to end it.

United Singapore Unions Achieving Voluntary End to Pay Cuts after Age 60

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Len McCluskey won election last week as the future General Secretary of Unite the Union. On the day his election was made official, 24 November, he told a packed news conference that mass resistance was needed to stem the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government&rsquo;s planned public spending cuts, as well as repressive anti-trade union laws that have set into the UK. 
 
&ldquo;I am not interested in subtlety,&rdquo; he told reporters. &ldquo;I understand what is happening to ordinary working people &ndash; their jobs are being lost, their families and the future of their children are being threatened, their houses are being repossessed, and they are looking around for someone to give them help. 
 
&ldquo;The very fabric of our society is being dismantled before our very eyes and we have a duty to lead a resistance against this attack. It is slaughter by stealth.&rdquo; McCluskey expressed urgency that progressive forces in the UK build &ldquo;an alliance of resistance.&rdquo; He said the planned Trades Union Congress (TUC) manifestation for March 2011 must be &ldquo;so big it rocks the establishment and makes them step back.&rdquo; 
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Future Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey
The 61-year-old McCluskey, currently an Assistant General Secretary of Unite, won election in October and November mail balloting of union members in the UK and Ireland over three other candidates. He will succeed Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley when Woodley steps down in December 2011. The 1.6-million-member union&rsquo;s other Joint General Secretary &ndash; Derek Simpson &ndash; will retire next month. 
 
McCluskey captured 101,000 votes to easily defeat Jerry Hicks (52,000 votes), Les Bayliss (46,000), and Gail Cartmail (39,000). A former Liverepool dock worker, McCluskey rose up through the ranks of the Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (T&amp;G), first as a senior shop steward on the Liverpool wharf in 1968 and later, in 1979, as a national T&amp;G officer. 
 
In 1990, he became National Secretary for T&amp;G&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; group, leading negotiations in several sectors, including building materials, paper and packaging, building services, and the process industries. In 2004, he was promoted to National Organiser for all the service industries, including public services, construction, and the voluntary sector. 
 
Upon the merger in 2007 of T&amp;G and Amicus, forming the UK and Ireland&rsquo;s largest trade union, Unite, McCluskey was appointed Assistant General Secretary, playing a leading role in developing the union's organising strategy, and currently he is AGS for industrial strategy.

Britain’s Unite the Union Elects Len McCluskey as Next General Secretary

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In late October, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union made a bold statement that it would unequivocally reject concessionary contract proposals from auto parts manufacturers. It drew a line in the sand with noon-hour demonstrations at over 100 employers in the province of Ontario. (See ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4084-Canadian-Auto-Parts-Workers-Hold-Day-of-Action ">here</a>.) 
 
Well, that line is fast proving to be a brick wall in which the no retreat mantra is being used against companies that seek worker givebacks in collective agreements. In the days and weeks after the 27 October manifestations, CAW local branches at two auto-parts suppliers have not only brought the national union&rsquo;s militancy into practice, but managed to carve out meaningful job security gains in renewal agreements. 
 
At Magna&rsquo;s Integram Seating plant in Tecumseh, Ontario, CAW Local 444 and its 725 members used a strike deadline to beat back threats to a collective agreement. A strike would have shut auto-assembly production at a nearby Chrysler minivan factory in Windsor, and that was something Integram managers needed to avoid. 
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The result was a two-year collective agreement that even though freezes wages, does grant two lump-sum bonus payments for workers. It also includes a cost-of-living adjustment in the final quarter of the second year, with a commitment to include cost-of-living increases in the subsequent labour agreement. What&rsquo;s more, improvements were made in post-retirement benefits, including age reduction from 60 to 55 for workers with 30 years service to qualify for full pension benefits. 
 
Ironically, the threat of an Integram strike and shutdown at Chrysler actually protected Local 444&rsquo;s future right to strike. Magna sought to tie the plant into the Framework of Fairness Agreement, a joint CAW-Magna 2007 arrangement that prohibits strikes at new company facilities in exchange for fair play regarding organizing efforts. Local 444 rejected imposition of that framework in this labour agreement. 
 
The other CAW success story occurred at thriving and ever-expanding Martinrea International, a Canadian-based metal-stamping chassis and frame supplier that also sells other auto parts to Chrysler, Ford, GM, and Volkswagen. At two Ontario plants of the company, Ridgetown and Dresden, CAW Local 127 since September had faced deep contractual reductions, including pay cuts from C$21-per-hour to C$14, elimination of the pension plan, cuts to health benefits, and to paid time off. 
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The 375 union members at the two plants rejected the company&rsquo;s backward proposals at a 30 October union meeting, and sent a strong message that Martinrea did not need relief and that Local 127 would set an example for the CAW&rsquo;s Auto Parts Workers&rsquo; United campaign. 
 
The result was Martinrea completely backed off the concessions and the union won first-ever job security language. Even though the three-year agreements at the two plants contain no wage increases, Local 127 won guarantees that neither plant would face shutdowns or reductions-in-force, and also guarantees that future engineered products will not be outsourced but done in the CAW-represented plants. 
 
The new labour agreements at Martinrea stand as testament that CAW workers will have a voice in production decisions. 
 
The CAW&rsquo;s auto-parts campaign &ndash; one of unyielding rank-and-file belief that contractual retreat does not guarantee job security &ndash; is taking hold in Canada and serves as an excellent example of grass-roots activism meant to resist social cuts and preserve living and work standards. Congratulations, CAW!

CAW’s Auto Parts Campaign Paying Off

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In the 19 days since 29 miners were pronounced dead in New Zealand&rsquo;s worst mine disaster in 114 years, recovery of the remains of those that perished is still far off, and Pike River Coal Ltd. has given redundancy notices to 90 full-time workers. 
 
That happened on 8 December. 
 
Pike River has already severed its relationship with 70 contract workers at the coking coal mine near Atarua on the west coast of the South Island. 
 
Meanwhile, police and Labour Ministry interviews of Pike River workers over mine safety became contentious when the company insisted on having its lawyers sit in on the interviews. The Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) objected to that, saying it might inhibit the investigation into criminal liability. 
 
&ldquo;We have objected &ndash; it&rsquo;s a clear conflict of interest,&rdquo; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. &ldquo;Police are looking for criminal liability among workers or management &ndash; or both. It&rsquo;s improper for the company to be represented by lawyers in those interviews.&rdquo; 
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EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
Pike River issued the mandatory four-week layoff notices to its permanent staff last week, meaning that 90 miners will not get paid beyond mid-January. Pike River Coal Ltd. has already launched a commercial feasibility study assessing whether or not it will continue mining the rich Brunner coal seam, but investors say it will take NZ$200 million to re-start the mine. 
 
But it&rsquo;s estimated that it could still take several weeks &ndash; or months &ndash; before the remains of the dead miners are recovered. A local coroner has visited relatives of the deceased to get DNA samples, indicating the difficulty that lies ahead to identify the 29. 
 
The initial 19 November methane gas blast at the Paparoa Range mine most likely killed all 29 miners. Following a subsequent explosion on 24 November, the miners were declared dead. In the days that followed, two further explosions occurred, with coal-stoked fires raging deep in the horizontal shafts of the mine until the middle of last week. 
 
On 29 November, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced formation of a three-member Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine causes of the tragedy. That Commission, headed by High Court Justice Graham Panckhurst, with two international mine safety experts on it, will be given broad latitude and it could take up to two years to assemble findings. In the meantime, area police, the Labour Ministry, and the EPMU will conduct separate investigations. 
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NZ Congress of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly with Ian Murray and Tim Whyte, CFMEU Australia at the&nbsp;2 December Memorial Service
Police ended supervision of the mine-site last week and turned recovery procedures back to the company. A Polish-designed G&oacute;rbniczy Agregat Gaśniczy (GAG) jet engine inertisation unit was brought in from the Queensland, Australia, Mine Rescue Unit and on 2 December began to suppress the fires and neutralize combustible gases with inert gases, such as nitrogen. 
 
While this continued over this weekend, a metal cap was placed over the main shaft to allow back pressure in the mine and to further inert deadly gases inside the mine. Early speculation to the cause of the initial explosion was a power outage to a ventilation fan that was some 100 metres into the mine. Methane quickly built-up, followed by a massive explosion. 
 
When an electrician went inside to check the outage during the fateful afternoon of 19 November, the explosion deeper in the mine blew him off his feet. He did manage to rescue an equipment operator who was thrown from a machine, and the two escaped 108 metres up a ladder in a ventilation shaft. Whether or not the giant ventilation fan had been topside, making it easier to re-start, will surely be one of the many issues in upcoming investigations, including the Royal Commission Inquiry. 
 
Several disaster relief funds have been established, and the ICEM is recommending donation be sent to EPMU&rsquo;s &ldquo;Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust.&rdquo; The ICEM&rsquo;s New Zealand affiliate said half of everything contributed will go to the Grey District Labour Council community fund, with the other half used to establish a dedicated fund for the education of the children of those miners killed. 
 
Bank transfers can be made to Kiwibank in New Zealand. Account number 38-9011-0165987-00, with checks written to: EPMU Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust, c/o PO Box 14-277, Kilbirnie, Wellington, NZ 6241. 
 
Several labour organisations across the globe have already contributed, including A$100,000 by the Australian Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) and C$10,000 by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.

Pike River Aftermath: Layoffs, Lawyers and Long Investigations

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The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) has launched an international campaign calling on the Swedish furniture multi-national IKEA and its wholly-owned Swedwood subsidiary to uphold commitments on trade union and worker rights throughout its supply chain. The campaign comes in response to Swedwood and its appalling labour practices at a US factory in Danville, Virginia. 
 
Swedwood is the primary wood manufacturer for IKEA. 
 
In behaviour which has brought comparisons to Walmart, local management in Danville has blocked trade unions access to its 275 factory workers since commencing operations at the site in 2006. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration in October found Swedwood guilty of numerous unsafe work practices and improper record keeping, hiding the true numbers of serious accidents of workers. 
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Other abuses occurring at Swedwood in the US factory include forced overtime without advance notice, workers forced to work 30 days consecutively, managers manipulating work schedules to cut overtime, workers not allowed bathroom breaks, and most importantly, workers denied their right to trade union representation, and forced to work in an unsafe environment. 
 
BWI has always regarded dialogue in its Global Framework Agreement with IKEA as a model. In that agreement, BWI&rsquo;s first ever, IKEA clearly commits to follow the ILO core labour standards throughout its global operations. Since signing the agreement in 1998, those commitments have been respected in Poland, Russia, and elsewhere, and the Gene3va-based Global Union Federation (GUF) insists that local managers in Danville must be forced to open its doors to the BWI North American affiliate, the International Association of Machinists (IAM). 
 
BWI took the campaign to an IKEA outlet in Vernier, Geneva, on 7 December. Trade union leaders from over 25 countries conducted the protest and sent a clear message to IKEA that they were united against workers&rsquo; rights abuses in Danville, USA. See video footage of the campaign <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrfPUe-2Kc">here</a>. 
 
The GUF is calling on supporters to send a Christmas card to IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson, demanding an end to labour rights abuses in Danville. The card states that IKEA&rsquo;s customers should be assured &ldquo;that the furnishing products they buy from your stores have been made by workers whose human rights are fully respected.&rdquo; Click <a href="http://www.goiam.org/ikea/">here</a> to send your Christmas message to IKEA.

BWI Launces Holiday Campaign Against IKEA’s Swedwood on Abusing Trade Union Rights

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By a vote of 521 to 398 on 6 December, members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi voted to end a 32-day strike against the world&rsquo;s third largest copper miner, located in Chile. The Union of Workers of the Collahuasi Copper Mine and Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned jointly through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata, resumed talks on 29 November with help from Roman Catholic Prelate Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes, Bishop of Iquique. 
 
The union's Second Director, Carlos Daniel Rojas, told the ICEM that Bishop &Oacute;rdenes succeeded &quot;in opening the door&quot; with the company when there appeared little hope that talks would resume, and the union took it from there to work out a settlement. 
 
The final resolve came in negotiations on 5-6 December, with an acceptable compromise. 
 
The vote during the evening of 6 December ended the longest private-sector Chilean copper strike, surpassing one of 26 days in 2006 at the Escondida mine, owned 57.5% by BHP Billiton and 30% by Rio Tinto. 
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="142" />
Members of the Union Vote to Ratify 42-month Contract on Monday, 6 December
Terms of the settlement will give the 1,551 miners of Collahuasi a wage increase of 16.3% over a 42-month period, and a bonus payment of 12 million pesos (US$25,160). Other key issues in the strike, which began on 5 November, were company-paid health care and education costs for miners&rsquo; children. The union did make significant advances in both these areas from prior levels paid by the company. 
 
The Collahuasi Miners&rsquo; Union also won bonuses for work performed on national holidays, even more of a bonus on Christmas, a 40,000-peso-per-month improvement in the housing allowance, a 400,000-peso housing loan, and dependent scholarship awards for both primary school and university education. 
 
Union President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz said the contract&rsquo;s outcome would increase monthly benefits by 120,000 pesos, or US$252 per month. 
 
The strike was marked by a united workforce led by Mu&ntilde;oz and Second Director Rojas. The miners of Collahuasi took up residency in the Santa Mar&iacute;a School in Iquique, and staged peaceful and near-daily manifestations in that city. Those demonstrations were strategic in order to draw attention to their cause of gaining adequate health coverage and educational stipends from an employer that posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion due to high copper pricing. 
 
The 6 December vote took place inside the Santa Mar&iacute;a School. Collahuasi miners returned to return to work high in the Atacama desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, during the evening of 7 December. 
 
&quot;The Collahuasi miners and their families showed strength and fortitude in a dignified and peaceful way against an enterprise intent on maintaining production and turning profits,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &quot;For that, they have earned the pride and admiration of the world's mining unions.&quot; 
 
ICEM coverage of this heroic strike throughout November can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4117-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike-Now-in-Crucial-Stage">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4102-Miners-Dig-In-at-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike">here</a>.

ICEM Applauds Resolve of Collahuasi Miners in Chile at Strike’s End

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), ICEM&rsquo;s white-collar affiliate in Africa&rsquo;s most populous country, halted a strike on 4 December against Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, so that negotiations over breaches to a collective agreement could begin. 
 
The strike was conducted by the Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch of PENGASSAN over the energy company&rsquo;s sudden and unilateral sacking of 84 Nigerian workers. The union blocked entry at the company&rsquo;s administrative offices in Eket in Akwa Ibom State, as well as at other Mobil Producing facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt. 
 
The strike began on 30 November and was called off on 4 December when Mobil decided to discuss the issue, stating that it would return the workers to their jobs. 
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The company, the operating partner in a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., dismissed 66 offshore workers and 18 office employees employed by various contractors. Under the collective agreement, the workers are covered by provisions of the agreement. 
 
By late last week, negotiations did prove that Mobil had violated the contract, both in terms of failing to meet and discuss the layoffs with PENGASSAN prior to the sackings and failing to establish redundancy pay with the union. 
 
The union and company agreed to establish a working group to calculate the exact remuneration owed dismissed workers but Mobil&nbsp;has not returned Nigerian nationals to their rightful jobs. 
 
PENGASSAN has constantly had to defend its collective agreements is the rapid escalation of casualisation in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas sector, with Mobil Producing consistently being one of the worst violators.

PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

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Some 45,000 German paperworkers will see a 2.5% wage increase come 1 January. That was the negotiated result in Gernsbach in the third round of bargaining that concluded early on 2 December between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and Deutschen Papierindustrie (VAP), the employers association. 
 
The new collective agreement will run until 30 November 2011 and for the first time, ties together under one collective agreement workers employed at some 220 paper mills in both the western and eastern regions of Europe&rsquo;s biggest economy. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
IGBCE and VAP agreed to improve the pension plan effective 1 January 2012 by &euro;100 from &euro;234.98. IGBCE also won improved holiday pay and shift work increases effective 1 January 2011. 
 
Perhaps most significantly, the two sides used a working group to reach a common understanding over the use of temporary workers, thus preventing the abuse of such workers. 
 
IGBCE Chief Negotiator for the Paper Sector, Holger Nieden, called the results satisfactory, stating that some paper industry employers in Germany have weathered the financial crisis in good economic shape, while others have workers that are still employed at still reduced hours.

IGBCE, German Paper Producers Reach Wage Terms for 2011

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The ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly held a discussion panel entitled &ldquo;Cutting Emissions - Transforming Jobs,&quot; exploring the links between the economic, environmental, and social crises. The 7 December panel was part of a trade union-sponsored side event at COP16 and was held at the Universidad del Sur in Canc&uacute;n, Mexico, under the general banner &quot;World of Work.&quot; 
 
Several high-profile trade unionists gave their perspectives on how to preserve and create decent, sustainable jobs, and the role of trade unions in fighting climate change. 
 
Shoichiro Kaneko, IMF-JC/JBU of Japan, emphasized the progress that nation has made in controlling carbon emissions through technological advances, and the support offered to the proposed climate fund. However, he expressed concern about the potential for carbon leakage if a new accord does not include all the major emitters and is not enforceable. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="166" />
Left to right: ICEM's Brian Kohler, CFMEU's Michael O'Conner, ITUC's James Howard, IMF-JC/JBU's Shoichiro Kaneko
Michael O'Connor, National Secretary-elect of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) told of how his union had forged a working relationship with environmental groups to unlock the economic potential for a new pulp and paper mill in Tasmania. 
 
He said the key was to remember that a trade union represents workers, and to ensure that their voice is heard. 
 
James Howard of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) elaborated on ITUC's policy of Just Transition. Far from simple, a Just Transition will only be achieved through research, dialogue, union-employer agreements, strong social programmes, investments in industry, and training and education of workers. 
 
The keynote speaker was Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), part of the Japanese official negotiating team in Canc&uacute;n. He presented a very frank resume of the ongoing climate talks.
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="128" />
Izura Kobayashi of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, and CFMEU's Michael O'Connor
Besides explaining Japan's position (Japan believes that the Kyoto process does not have sufficient country support to prevent carbon leakage) he also explained the status of many of the important main track and subsidiary body discussions. As of 7 December, the unusual situation has evolved of the high-level talks commencing while the ad-hoc working groups have not completed their tasks. 
 
What this means for the final outcome is difficult to guess, but progress has been made on some important issues. Japan, of course, believes that efficient energy use in its manufacturing industries and investment in new technologies is one of the key paths forward. 
 
Brian Kohler of the ICEM and Kan Matusuzaki of IMF presented ICEM and IMF policies, the outcomes of the World Conference on Sustainability held in June along with the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), and a discussion paper on &quot;Anticipating Change&quot; that examines how the proposed climate fund could be a starting point for discussions on industrial policies and worker participation in such areas as training. 
 
The ICEM-IMF World of Work event was well attended, and feedback following the event was extremely positive.

ICEM, IMF Forum at Climate Conference Presents Industrial Perspectives

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