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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="100" height="49"/>
Bahrain’s authorities and business leaders are retaliating to a general strike led by the national trade union centre GFBTU with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved. The general strike was called on 13 March, and ended 22 March, in support of pro-democracy protests inside the island state near the western shore of the Persian Gulf. The agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation, by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
Estimates suggest over 1,000 workers will be laid-off during the crackdown including at employers Aluminium Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. All sackings were due to worker absence during the strike. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.abdul hussain bahrain.jpg" width="140" height="169"/>
BAPCO President Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain
The president of the union at Bahrain Petroleum (BAPCO), Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, has been sacked for his absence during the strike and also for “inciting workers to strike”. The company will begin legal prosecution of Hussain this week or next. Hussain was central in the creation of the GBFTU. All employees at BAPCO are now fearful of losing their jobs in the coming days. Absenteeism of BAPCO employees on 16-17 March was 60%. 
See <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/27.ICEM.Bahrain.6April.pdf" type="internal">ICEM's letter to the King of Bahrain</a> here. 
 
Security forces have closed down the GBFTU headquarters and are expected to soon call the organisation’s president, Salman Mahfooz, in for questioning. Roads leading to the union office were closed and workers were blocked from reaching the headquarters, most of those workers had been seeking guidance from their union following their sacking. The GBFTU website has been closed. Parliament is calling on the government to immediately refer trade union leaders involved in the strike to the public prosecution office. 
 
All members of the GBFTU executive, spanning all industries, have been suspended from work pending investigations. On top of this cynical multi-faceted attack on Bahrain’s independent trade unions, companies are now planning legal cases against the unions in a further attempt to permanently end their activities. 
 
Over 300 activists have been arrested with many missing, and at least 20 killed since protesters took to the street in February, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The violent suppression of the Bahraini people’s reform protest has been facilitated with armed forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. 
 
This disgraceful attack on core human and trade union rights of the Bahraini people must end immediately.

ICEM Angered by Brutal Attack on Trade Unions in Bahrain

Solidarity Needed: Finnish UPM Paper Strike 
 
Dear Activists in Pulp/Paper Sector, 
 
At 6h00 on Wednesday, 6 April, 1,000 members of the ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro in Finland began a two-week strike against UPM, the target paper company in a break-down of talks with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. In an insult to these dedicated paperworkers, the industry failed to give white-collar and technical workers a national wage adjustment, despite giving a second year 2.5% increase to blue-collar workers, members of Paperiliitto. Members of PRO deserve at least the same! 
 
(A full ICEM story on this can be found by <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates" type="internal">following this link</a>.) 
 
This is most insulting because in the past few years, paper companies in Finland have downsized the ranks of Pro by 30% through redundancies. It means more work and greater responsibilities have been placed on the 4,000 members of Pro remaining in Finland’s paper sector. Thus, Pro has targeted UPM’s six mills and 20 workplaces throughout Finland with industrial action. 
 
The ICEM is asking you to immediately send the following message of support to Pro President Antti Rinne (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) and Chief Paper Sector Negotiator Jukka Hämäläinen (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Please cut and paste this message, or something similar, and send today to the e-mail addresses above: 
 
Dear Brothers Antti and Jukka, 
We have heard through the ICEM of your strike, targeting UPM, from April 6 to April 20. We understand the work stoppage to be justified because the Finnish employers’ federation has failed to deliver a justified wage increase on the national level. To tell your union’s members to go negotiate an increase on the local level is insulting considering the tremendous sacrifices they have made over recent years in keeping Finland’s paper sector operating. Please tell all Pro members working in the paper sector that our union supports them! 
 
(Signed) 
(Name of Union)
 
<hr/>
 
Appel à la solidarité: grève des papetiers d’UPM en Finlande 
 
Chers Militants de la Section Pâte et Papier, 
 
A 6h00 ce mercredi 6 avril, un millier de membres du syndicat finlandais Ammattiliitto Pro, affilié à l’ICEM, ont entamé une grève de quinze jours contre UPM, entreprise ciblée dans le cadre de la rupture de leurs pourparlers avec la Fédération des Industries forestières de Finlande. Dans une attitude insultante pour ces travailleurs appliqués, les entreprises ont refusé d’accorder un ajustement salarial aux cols blancs et techniciens en dépit d’une seconde augmentation salariale annuelle de 2,5% accordée aux membres de Paperiliitto, le syndicat des cols-bleus. Les membres de PRO méritent un traitement égal ! 
 
Un récit complet de l’ICEM, en anglais, sur ce sujet peut être lui en <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates" type="internal">suivant ce lien</a>. 
 
Ce geste est très insultant parce qu’au cours des dernières années, les entreprises papetières en Finlande ont réduit les rangs de Pro de 30% en raison des licenciements. Cela signifie que davantage de travail et de responsabilités reposent maintenant sur les épaules des 4000 membres de Pro qui subsistent dans le secteur du papier en Finlande. En conséquence, Pro a ciblé pour cette action les six usines et vingt sites d’activité d’UPM en Finlande. 
 
L’ICEM vous demande d’envoyer immédiatement le message de soutien suivant au Président de Pro Antti Rinne (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) et au négociateur en chef pour le secteur du papier Jukka Hämäläinen (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Veuillez faire un couper-coller de ce message ou en composer un similaire et l’envoyer aux adresses électroniques mentionnées: 
 
Chers Camarades Antti et Jukka, 
 
Par l’intermédiaire de l’ICEM, nous avons pris connaissance de votre grève qui cible UPM du 6 au 20 avril. Nous sommes informés que votre arrêt de travail est motivé par le refus de la Fédération patronale finlandaise d’accorder une hausse de salaire justifiée au plan national. Dire aux membres de votre syndicat d’aller négocier leurs augmentations au plan local est une insulte compte tenu des sacrifices considérables qui ont été consentis ces dernières années pour maintenir en activité le secteur papetier en Finlande. Dites à tous les membres de Pro occupés dans le secteur du papier que notre syndicat les soutient ! 
 
(Signature) 
(Nom du Syndicat.) 
<hr/>

 
 
Llamado de solidaridad: huelga de trabajadores de UPM, sector papelero de Finlandia 
 
Estimados activistas del Sector de Pulpa y Papel: 
 
El miércoles 6 de abril pasado, se inició la huelga de trabajadores de la empresa papelera UPM, que estuvo involucrada en el colapso de las conversaciones con la Federación de Industrias Forestales de Finlandia. Siendo las 6 de la mañana del día indicado, 1.000 miembros de Ammattiliitto Pro, organización finlandesa afiliada a la ICEM, comenzaron una huelga de dos semanas en UPM, a consecuencia de la insultante negativa de esa industria, de no conceder un aumento salarial nacional a los dedicados trabajadores técnicos y de oficina, a pesar de haber otorgado a los trabajadores manuales un aumento del 2,5% por segundo año consecutivo. Los trabajadores manuales son miembros de Paperiliitto: ¡los miembros de PRO merecen por lo menos el mismo trato! 
 
(Haga clic en este enlace para ver un artículo completo de la ICEM, en inglés, <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates" type="internal">sobre este problema</a>.) 
 
Esto es un gran insulto porque en años recientes las empresas papeleras de Finlandia han despedido a muchos trabajadores, reduciendo en un 30% el número de miembros de Pro. Debido a esto, se han recargado con más trabajo y responsabilidades a los 4.000 afiliados de Pro que quedan en el sector papelero de Finlandia. Por este motivo, Pro ha declarado la huelga en seis plantas y 20 lugares de trabajo de UPM en diferentes partes de Finlandia. 
 
La ICEM les ruega enviar inmediatamente el siguiente mensaje de apoyo a Antti Rinne, Presidente de Pro, (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) y a Jukka Hämäläinen, Negociador Principal del Sector del Papel (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Rogamos copiar este mensaje, o algo semejante, y enviarlo a las direcciones de e-mail que se señalan más arriba.: 
 
Estimados Cros. Antti y Jukka: 
La ICEM nos ha informado sobre la huelga que han declarado en UPM, del 6 al 20 de abril. Parece justa esta paralización de los labores, debido a que la federación empresarial de Finlandia no ha concedido un aumento salarial justo a nivel nacional. Tomando en cuenta los enormes sacrificios que han hecho estos sindicalistas en los últimos años para que continúen las operaciones del sector papelero de Finlandia, constituye un insulto que les digan a los miembros de su sindicato que vayan a negociar un aumento salarial a nivel local. ¡Rogamos informar a todos los miembros de Pro que laboran en el sector del papel que nuestra federación sindical está con ellos! 
 
(Firmado) 
(Nombre del sindicato)

Action Needed/ Votre intervention est souhaitée/ Se requiere acción urgente

<img height="39" width="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" alt=""/>
Eighty delegates from eight Latin American and Caribbean countries attended the ICEM’s region meeting 4-5 April in Mar del Plata that was marvellously hosted by Federación Argentina Sindical del Petróleo, Gas y Biocombustibles (FASPyGP) at the trade union’s hotel. 
 
The regional meeting produced three resolutions, including condolences to Japan over human deaths brought by the earthquake/tsunami and heartfelt appreciation to aid workers, especially nuclear workers of ICEM affiliate Denryoku Soren, who have worked non-stop to prevent mass disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. 
<img height="150" width="222" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.mar de plata.JPG" alt=""/>
Another resolution was in support of Chile copper miners represented by Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi over persecution following a recent strike by Doña Ines de Collahuasi, owned by Xstrata and AngloAmerican. The third was a statement buttressing the legitimate trade unions of Mexico in their current fight to repel regressive labour legislation. 
 
ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais proudly reported the work plan of the region and that it had exceeded expectations. He also detailed the eight projects he is overseeing in the region. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave a progress report on integration with the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and IMF Regional Representative Jorge Alemida explained how the industrial sectors would be integrated. 
<img height="176" width="150" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.mar de plata.2.JPG" alt=""/>
ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Vice President Sergio Novais
Other reports were given by Colombia trade union affiliates, including Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), and Manuel Muñoz and Lincon Esponoza, representing the Collahuasi copper miners of northern Chile, told of their strike and their efforts to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in the South American country. 
 
A detailed report was given by Secretary-General Alberto Roberti of FASPyGP on the burgeoning biofuels industry in Argentina. He said his union is in the forefront in defending the environment and emphasized the need to maintain a balance between producing biofuels and sustained food production to meet the country’s growing needs. 
 
Overall, the regional meeting proved a good prelude to ICEM’s Fifth Statutory Congress, to be held 24-26 November 2011 in Buenos Aires, with the host union providing excellent example to Argentine unions in how to meet the logistics for 1,200 delegates and guests expected to attend.

Argentine Petroleum, Gas Workers’ Host ICEM’s Latin, Caribbean Region Meet

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Employment law changes in New Zealand took effect 1 April have given all employers the right to dismiss employees within a first 90-day “trial” period, with no rights to grievance procedure. This rule previously applied for small businesses of fewer than 20 employees.
Now it applies in all workplaces, no matter the side of the workforce.  
 
The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to a worksite, relaxation of fairness tests on dismissals, the ability of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, the right to shift public holidays without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day’s sick leave. 
 
There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes, according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/EPMU Andrew Little.jpg" width="130" height="124"/>
EPMU National Secretary, Andrew Little
Click here to sign the <a href="http://www.epmu.org.nz/petition-2/">EPMU’s petition</a>. 
 
"We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law, or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers, or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents," said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which employs 7,000 employees in New Zealand.

New Zealand Labour Law Changes Damage Worker Rights

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Metalliliitto, Finland’s Metalworkers’ Union, has reached a tentative agreement with KMW Engineering, preventing for now a blockade on construction of the nuclear power reactor Olkiluoto III. On 13 April, the Polish air-conditioning subcontractor agreed to compensate workers for shortfalls in pay required under the Finnish labour standards. 
 
Under the agreement, KMW Engineering did give an accounting that showed arrears in Sunday and overtime pay. It agreed to compensate back wages and pledged to uphold Finnish terms of employment in the future. It also agreed to correct its deficient safety and health standards on the 1.6 gigawatt (1,600 megawatt) nuclear plant.
 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.finnish%20nuclear%20power%20plant.jpg" width="337" height="190"/>
Construction of Olkiluoto III 
Photo: YLE/Termonen Tapio  

Metalliliitto had given the subcontractor until 15 April to comply with Finnish social standards, or face a construction-wide blockade that would have halted all work on Finland’s fifth nuclear reactor. (See <a href="http:// /en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4343-Finland’s-Metalworkers-close-in-on-Blockade-of-Nuclear-Plant-Work">ICEM report</a> from 28 March.) A Metalworkers’ blockade had endorsement and would have been honoured by Finland’s Construction Trades Union, the Electrical Workers’ Union, and Proliitto, the union for salaried workers of Finland. 
 
A regional state labour agency of Finland’s South-West found in late March that KMW did not keep overtime records as required under the working hours act. It also determined that payment of wages for Sunday and overtime work varied. Failure to comply could have brought state sanctions to the nuclear construction site, which would have affected other contractors. 
 
Metalliliitto Compliance Officer Jyrki Virtanen said the union will now fully monitor future social conduct by KMW Engineering. The Olkiluoto III nuclear power station is owned by private-sector energy concern Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO), and has as general contractor Areva of France. Olkiluoto III, a €3.95 billion project that is now €1.5 billion over budget, is the biggest investment in the history of Finnish industry.

Polish Engineering Firm Concedes to Finland’s Metalliliitto at Nuclear Plant

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904Labourrose.JPG" width="50" height="65"/>
Recent administrative and other changes regarding health and safety governance in the UK clearly reflects the policies of the governing Tory, Liberal Democrat coalition. In late March, Employment Minister Chris Grayling announced a shift of emphasis from safety and health monitoring by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in order to ease regulatory burdens on business. 
 
The package of proposed changes includes eliminating unannounced workplace safety inspections and placing more emphasis on high-hazard worksites and those with histories of unsafe conditions. The ruling government will also conduct a review of all existing health and safety regulations with the notion to scrap measures that are not needed and those that place an unnecessary burden on business. 
 
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) disagrees with the new mandate, seen as a means to chop government spending out of the HSE. 
“The possibility of an unexpected visit from either the HSE or a local authority safety inspector helps keep employers on their toes,” said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. “Even now, workplaces can go decades without ever seeing an inspector. 
 
“If government cuts to HSE funding do result in fewer safety inspections, unscrupulous employers will simply assume they can get away with taking risks, without fear of ever being prosecuted.” 
 
Another change in the UK is a Ministry of Justice proposal for reform of local courts structures regarding who is responsible for legal fees in workplace compensation and other cases. The proposed change, which is under public consultation until June 30, would require plaintiffs that win their cases in courts to carry the burden of paying their own legal fees, regardless of damages. 
 
This “no win, no fee” proposal is seen as means to reduce the number the number of filings against employers by workers who suffer industrial accidents in order to eliminate a so-called “compensation culture” in the UK. The Ministry of Justice’s aim is also to push more cases out of courtrooms and into mediation. The TUC’s Hazards Campaigns sees it as a sham since less than 10% of all workers injured at work receive compensation and, as well, free legal counsel for victims seeking workers’ compensation has been cancelled by the state. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.hazards.tuc.jpg" width="130" height="65"/>
On another note in the UK, this one a milestone, the first company to be convicted of corporate manslaughter under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007, which became effective in April 2008, occurred on February 15, 2011. Cotswold Geotechnical Ltd., a small geological company, was found guilty by a jury of Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire, in the negligent death of 27-year-old Alexander Wright. In 2008, Wright was working alone in an unsupported 12-foot pit. He died from asphyxia when soil from the collapsed pit buried him. The court fined the company £385,000.

Health, Safety Changes Mirror Con-Dem Policies in UK

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Six weeks after an earthquake and tsunami decimated the six nuclear reactors inside the Fukushima power plant in northeastern Japan, union members and staff of Denryoku Soren, the ICEM-affiliated Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Workers’ Union of Japan, work voluntary week-long shifts to contain radiation leakage. They work inside a 20-kilometre zone in which Japanese rescue teams searching for the dead are prohibited from entering due to radiation levels. 
 
Few know it, but inside the offices of Denryoku Soren in Tokyo most work stations are empty. The reason is most union staff workers have volunteered to fill the shortage of workers needed at Fukushima. 
They sleep on concrete floors at Fukushima and consume only bottled water and biscuits for fear that food sources are contaminated. <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Japanese%20Nuke%20Measures.pdf" type="internal">Denryoku Soren’s letter</a> to the ICEM describing what it is up against can be found here. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMenergysector.JPG" width="170" height="172"/>
Last week, ICEM Asia-Pacific Contact Person Phee Jungsun visited Denryoku Soren offices in Tokyo and filed this report: 
 
“It is painful to see union officers here in Tokyo, who are exhausted and worried about their fellow workers at the Fukushima site. Those who have returned after their one-week voluntary shifts are calm and doing paperwork, but signs of fatigue show on their faces. 
 
“President Seiichi Taneoka, who himself has been to the site, is working hard every minute, organising volunteer shift teams and talking to TEPCO control centre officials on a dedicated telephone line. He is also trying to get assistance from local units of government and local police to locate and reach those union members and their families who are missing and haven’t been heard from.” 
 
Although the exact total death count is impossible to know, some ICEM affiliates in Japan have started to make assessments. JEC Rengo, the Japanese Federation of Energy and Chemical Workers’ Unions, confirms that well over 100 of its members are missing, with destruction of members’ homes totaling over 1,000 in the northeastern Prefecture. The same number is estimated by Zenkoku, the Federation of Gas Workers’ Unions in Japan. 
 
Other ICEM affiliates in Japan have registered plants and workplaces that have been affected. The Japanese Pulp and Paper Workers’ Federation has reported mills of Nippon Paper, Mitsubishi Paper Mills, and Oji mills closed or running on limited production. The same is reported at Sumitoma Rubber by Gomu-Rengo, the Rubber Workers’ Union. UI Zensen, the Textile, Chemical, Food and Commercial Union, also has reported damages and vast devastation to workers, their homes, and places of employment. 
 
Six days after the disaster, the ICEM put a call out to affiliates to provide funds to the ICEM Japanese Affiliates’ Federation (JAF) for disaster relief. The response was unprecedented, with over US$1 million sent to date to JAF. ICEM Asia-Pacific Region Vice President Kiyoshi Ochiai and JAF General-Secretary Yoshio Sato, through the ICEM, expressed gratitude for the solidarity and generosity: “We got heartfelt sympathy and encouragement from all over the world. We deeply appreciate the solidarity and fraternity of ICEM affiliates. We really feel that ICEM is one big family.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ochiai%20ICEM-JAF%20President.jpg" width="177" height="156"/>
 Kiyoshi Ochiai
“Our brave members of Denryoku Soren are working hard to speed up recovery efforts in a very difficult situation. The Japanese people are working together to overcome numerous hardships and to get things back to normal with effort and patience. And ICEM JAF keeps engaging in the reconstruction effort.” 
 
In typical Japanese fashion, on 28 March, Denryoku Soren withdrew its wage demands on TEPCO that was part of the spring offensive “shunto.” The union’s decision reflects the belief that it cannot continue negotiations for now because of the ongoing tragedies of human life and the devastation in the electric power sector at Fukushima.
Due to a misunderstanding of information that ICEM received there was an incorrect description of events in this article, for which ICEM apologised. See the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMletters/37.ICEM.IMFJC.Japan.27April.pdf" type="internal">letter to IMF-JC</a> here.

Workers of Denryoku Soren Face Dire Plight at Fukushima Nuclear Site

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Mansour Osanloo, the leader and co-founder of Vahed Syndicate, a union of bus drivers in and around Tehran, Iran, was released from an Iranian jail on 2 June after four years imprisonment. But his freedom came conditionally. He needed to post payment of a bond and release was granted on grounds that he maintain “good behaviour.” 
 
His only offence against the state was to form a free and democratic union of bus drivers in 2005. 
 
In a statement by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which has been fighting for his freedom and full recognition of his union, General Secretary David Cockroft said, “He is free because trade unions worldwide demanded justice. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITF.jpg" width="80" height="80"/>
“That bail has been set falls short of the full pardon we all wanted, and which the Iranian government promised, but for now we can just take a moment to savour his richly deserved return to his family.” (See the full <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/6047">ITF statement</a> here.)  
 
The ITF reminded that two of Osanloo’s colleagues of the Vahed Syndicate, Reza Shahabi and Ebrahim Madadi, are innocent victims still locked inside Iran’s prisons. 
 
Vahed Syndicate and Osanloo, 51, had been under heavy state repression since the founding of the union six years ago. Osanloo had been jailed twice between 2005-2006 and was beaten and had his tongue slit while in prison. Then in early summer 2007, just a month after he had been at a meeting of the ITF in London and another with trade union leaders of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Brussels, he was jailed again and sentenced to five years for “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state.” Last year, another year was added to his sentence. 
 
Osanloo is suffering from poor health from the harsh treatment inflicted on him in Iran’s prisons. A previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2439--�Dirty-Tricks-Imposed-by-Iranian-Government-over-Imprisonment-of-Mansour-Osanloo " type="internal">ICEM report</a> on his treatment can be found here, while <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2327-Iran-Again-Arrests-Mansour-Osanloo-Following-His-European-Labour-Visits " type="internal">another ICEM report</a> of his 2007 arrest following his European trade union visit can be found here.

After Four Years, Mansour Osanloo Released from Iran Jail

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Some 5,000 metalworkers from the regional Metallurgical and Mining Industry Workers’ Union (MMIWU) of Ukraine marched in Zaporizhzhya on the state administration building on 31 May, demanding an industrial policy that protects jobs in smelting and metalworking sectors. Protestors conducted a mock funeral signifying an end to a proud industrial base in Zaporizhzhya province in southeastern Ukraine. 
 
The union last week threatened to bring protests to national leaders in Kiev if government fails to address the rampant loss of jobs. The problem is extremely high electricity prices and government’s failure to pay VAT arrears due to the debt crisis. The result has been production declines and workers losing their jobs. Metalworkers and miners from Donetsk, Mariupol, Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvy, Rih, and Dniprodzerzhynsk joined the MMIWU protest in Zaporizhzhya last Wednesday. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1106.ukraine metal.jpg" width="210" height="160"/>
Metalworkers in Zaporizhzhya on 31 May
The regional MMIWU called on Ukraine’s President, the Cabinet of Ministers, and Parliament members to take immediate steps to save the metalworking industry in the region. 
 
MMIWU regional leader Valeriy Kozub said 18,000 metalworkers are unemployed in the region, and very soon that number will grow by 7,000. At one time, the region’s smelters, foundries, and steel mills employed 60,000. 
 
Two plants that face imminent closure are the OJSC Zaporizhia aluminum plant and the Zaporizhia steel-rolling mill. In January, the Ukrainian Privat Group brought production at its Zaporozhye plant, a major silico-manganese producer, down to 75%. And in May, it reduced output even further to 50% because of large spikes in electricity pricing. Some 2,000 workers are facing unemployment. At Zaporozhye Ferro Alloy (ZZF), the board chairman complained that the state is selling electricity to Moldova at 60% lower than what it is charging local companies. 
 
Many Ukrainian industrial sites are operating, but several employers are months behind in the payment of salaries. The Kharkov State Aircraft Mfg. is one example. Metalworkers at last week’s rally said they were ready to dismantle idled operations merely to reclaim the value of scrap steel.

Metalworkers Rally to Demand Jobs in Ukraine

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