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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
In South Africa, the 18-day petroleum strike by 70,000 union members mostly from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPWAWU) ended on 28 July, two days after the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) presented satisfactory wage and other terms. 
 
But strikes in three other bargaining councils aligned with the chemical industries continue with some hint that issues in the Pharmaceutical sector will get resolved today when CEPPWAWU and that industry association meet in government mediation. In the Glass sector, the employers’ association and unions representing 6,000 workers came to terms late on 28 July in a one-year settlement similar to the petroleum industry. 
 
In two other sectors of the National Bargaining Council for the Chemical Industry, Industrial Chemicals and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, the union still awaits dates for mediation as strikes continue. CEPPWAWU represents some 40,000 workers in total in Pharmaceutical, Industrial Chemicals, and the consumer goods sector. Some of the companies affected included Sasol, Adcock Ingram, Aspen Pharmaceutical, Pharmacare, Revlon and Colgate. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.ceppwawu%20use%20this%20one.jpg" width="240" height="160"/>
CEPPWAWU Members March in Johannesburg, 11 July
In the Wood, Pulp, and Paper sector, where workers employed by Sappi, Mondi, and others have been on strike since 14 July, talks mediated by the government’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) will take place this afternoon and an accord is expected. Settlement did come in Timber and Sawmilling on Friday, 29 July, where a nationwide strike began on 18 July. That agreement is now going to membership for their approval. 
 
In Fibreboard and Particleboard, negotiations have yet to be scheduled. A walkout there began on 11 July. 
 
In the Tissue and Allied Products sector, Kimberly Clark has been particularly troublesome. The American company has refused now to bargain. Many weeks ago, Kimberly Clark tabled a measly 4% wage increase for its 400 workers at two paper towel and tissue mills, nearly half the accurate inflation rate in South Africa. 
 
CEPPWAWU National Policy Coordinator John Appolis told the ICEM that Kimberly Clark is firmly set on driving down wages and work standards for competition reasons. The company had bargained jointly with Nampak as part of an employers’ association in the Tissue and Allied Products sector in years past, but Nampak broke from the multi-employer talks due to Kimberly Clark’s bargaining-table recalcitrance. 
 
Nampak settled with CEPPWAWU and other unions early in July for an 8% raise without workers striking. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.ceppwawu victory.jpg" width="244" height="160" alt=""/>
In the Timber and Sawmilling settlement, CEPPWAWU successfully negotiating a first-ever maternity leave. That will see women get four months of protected leave, in addition to 12% of their salaries to supplement their mandated unemployment compensation. Also, the minimum wage rate in Timber and Sawmilling will increase from ZAR 1,500 (US$225) to ZAR 1,775 (US$266). 
 
All wage settlements will be backdated to 1 July, including the much-publicized petroleum strike where some fuel shortages and panic buying brought wide, albeit over-stated South African press coverage. 
 
In petroleum, the unions and SAPIA agreed to an 8.5% increase, with a 10% hike gained for lower-waged workers. For them, the minimum salary increases from ZAR 4,000 (US$600) per month to 4,400 (US$660), while the unions maintained a 40-hour work-week. Women in the petroleum sector will receive a first-ever two days of leave for pre-natal maternity care. 
 
“On the wage front,” said Appolis, “our improvements are slightly ahead of current buying power in South Africa, and we showed progress in several other areas.” Besides the majority CEPPWAWU, others unions in these sector talks include the South African Chemical Workers’ Union (SACWU), the General Industrial Workers’ Union of south Africa (GIWUSA), and Solidarity.

CEPPWAWU’s Petrol Strike Ends; Chemical Sectors Close, Kimberly Clark Recalcitrant

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The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, a key ICEM global affiliate in the Materials Sector, held its quadrennial Convention in Las Vegas, US, from 25-28 July, and re-elected their top office-bearers with unanimous voice approval. The nine officers stood as the Proven Leadership Team. 
 
The convention marked the 32nd Convention of the US-Canadian union that has united boilermakers, cement workers, ship builders, forgers, and blacksmiths for the past 131 years in North America. 
 
Re-elected President was Newton B. Jones; Secretary-Treasurer, William Creeden; and Vice Presidents: Warren Fairley, US Southeast; James Pressley, Industrial Sector; Lawrence McManamon, US Great Lakes Region; Joseph Maloney, Western Canada; Edward Power, Eastern Canada; J. Tom Baca, Western US States; and David Haggerty, US Northeast. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.boilermakers holding hands.jpg" width="358" height="144" alt=""/>
Speaking on the closing day of the Convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda sincerely thanked Jones for accepting global responsibilities with the ICEM as a member of the Executive Committee and as Chairman of the ICEM Materials Sector. He also cited the importance of specific sector work, citing ICEM and European trade union influence in blocking Lafarge’s attacks on retiree health insurance of IBB Local D-27 members in Sugar Creek, Missouri, in 2008 and 2009. 
 
“I assure you the ICEM will always be prepared to mobilise global support and solidarity whenever you call and tell us of the need,” said Warda. 
 
The ICEM leader also told of trade union repression by governments in Colombia, Iraq, and Mexico, and he reminded IBB delegates of the shameful deeds by US right-wing politicians in camouflaging deficit-reduction measures as direct attacks on trade unions. 
 
“Wisconsin must be stopped before it becomes a virus spreading all around the world,” said Warda to standing applause. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.boilermakers cecil roberts.jpg" width="327" height="161" alt=""/>
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
United Mine Workers’ of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts spoke on the convention’s opening day and praised the leadership of the IBB. “These people are the blood of your blood, the flesh of your flesh, and the soul of your soul,” Roberts told delegates. “They have shown the way for all of us.”

US Boilermakers Hold 32nd Convention

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Key activists of ICEM’s Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten inside a leading global chemicals company, Akzo Nobel, were welcomed at the ICEM Secretariat on 22 July to reinforce and organise the new global network of workers. 
 
Fons Welters, Chair of Akzo Nobel’s Central Works Council (CWC) and a member of the European Works Council (EWC), with Michael Dekker and Marcel Tesselaar, of the CWC and EWC also, are stepping up the activity of the global network with various tools, including a new quarterly newsletter for the network. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.akzo nobel.jpg" width="278" height="160" alt=""/>
It is normally the case that the union representing workers in the company’s home country assumes responsibility for administering a global network of workers, and FNV Bondgenoten considers international networking within multinationals a priority. The network formed on meeting on 31 May-1 June 2010 and was FNV-Bondgenoten in Amsterdam. The union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
An ICEM Global Corporate Network is primarily a means of communication for those working for the same employer across the world, and for their trade unions, allowing them to cooperate and coordinate. Akzo Nobel employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries.

Akzo Nobel Global Union Network Reinforced

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Union members of Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida, a branch of Chile’s Federation of Miners (FMC), returned to work Friday night, 5 August, at the world’s largest copper mine, majority owned by BHP Billiton. Some 2,375 miners at the Escondida mine ended a 15-day strike with a 65.5% to 34.5% vote the night before after two days of negotiating with mine management. 
 
The memorandum of agreement provides a remedy to a dispute over a 2010 production bonus but just as important, addresses several grievances and breaches by Escondida management from a 2009 labour agreement. 
 
Sindicato No. 1 said of the memorandum, “the company promises to solve a series of labour issues such as establishing a new attendance policy, regularising a certification system based on competency for promotions, and reformulating the criteria for calculating a production bonus.” These were just some of the issues in dispute inside a four-year labour agreement that was signed in November 2009. 
 
In 2010, Escondida – 57.5% owned by operator BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, and 12.5% by Japanese holding companies – saw profits of US$4.3 billion, up 35% over that of 2009. Last week’s amended bonus to each worker amounts to CHP 2.65 million (pesos), or US$5,800. Miners will receive that on 25 August.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.escondida.2.JPG" width="245" height="161"/>
Sindicato No. 1 Files Papers in a Labour Court in late July
Escondida said the strike was illegal and indicated throughout the walkout that it would not negotiate with the union. But as the days wore on and the company was losing US$30 million per day, that changed. In a statement after signing the memorandum of agreement, the company said workers had ended their “illegal work stoppage” and “this action is due to the success of talks between the parties. 
 
“Minera Escondida reiterates that dialogue and respect are the foundation for maintaining a beneficial relationship with its workers.” 
 
Besides the aforementioned labour issues, that respect includes a more transparent system for the production bonuses; restoration of a housing allocation that lifts restrictions on where miners may use the stipends; safer and higher quality buses for transportation to and from worksites, as well as compensation for tickets; no retaliation, redundancy, or punishment for union activity; and review of company-installed surveillance cameras. 
 
Miners will also be paid their salaries for the 15-day strike. Sindicato No. 1 de Trabajadores de Minera Escondida had filed labour court charges on several of the issues involved in the strike. 
 
For its part, the union said it hopes to maintain and deepen channels of communication with management, but also will remain vigilant that the issues agreed to in the memorandum will get resolved. 
 
Minera Escondida consists of two open-pit copper mines some 170 kilometres southeast of Antofagasta, in Chile’s Region II. It also consists of two concentrator plants, Los Colorados and Laguna Seca, which have a combined capacity of 330,000 tonnes per day. The company operates two pipelines and a filter plant at the Port of Coloso. 
 
In 2010, Escondida’s production totalled 1.087 million tonnes, consisting of 786,603 tonnes of copper concentrate and 300,098 tonnes of copper cathodes. It provides concentrates to smelters in Japan, China, Korea, India, and Chile, while the cathodes are sold to markets in France, the Netherlands, Italy, China, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. It provides a total of 7% of the world’s copper supply.

Chile Copper Workers End Strike at Escondida with 65% Vote

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Following an opening meeting in October 2010, the Global Safety Panel of ICEM and French chemicals company Rhodia under the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) held its second meeting at a Rhodia operation called Sertow in Serpukhov, Russia, on 19-20 July.
The safety forum was included in an amendment to the GFA in February 2010. The safety panel has duties to monitor Rhodia’s health and safety policies and practices, as well as to continue ongoing dialogue between the company and its workers and make recommendations on improvements.
The Sertow plant is part of the group’s Acetow company and makes cigarette filters for the global tobacco industry. Operated by Rhodia since 1994, the plant uses cellulose acetate flakes as a key raw material. The plant does stress the importance to health and safety issues since a fatal accident happened on 12 September 2000. The plant since has gone for over ten years without a lost-time accident.
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The ICEM delegation was composed of Juarez Nogueira of Sindquim, Brazil; Scott Harrington of the United Steelworkers (USW), US; Maurice Tritsch of CFDT, France; Jie Dong from China; and Kemal Özkan and Brian Kohler from the ICEM headquarters. The delegation first met with the elected representatives of the site concerning industrial relations and the health and safety situation.
Local level labour relations were set up using the example of the German Works Council system as it exists at Acetow’s centre, located in Freiburg, Germany. There is close collaboration between the workforce leaders of both operations, and the Sertow Works Council is actively involved in labour-related matters such as collective agreements, personnel health improvement, support of sporting events, and involvement in renovation of the social room. The Works Council has regular meetings with management as part of social dialogue.
Following presentations about Rhodia, Acetow, and the Sertow plant with key figures presented on economic, social, and personnel-related matters, the meeting received a report on Rhodia Way, the company’s integrated management system regarding sustainable development.
The participants also heard a report from Rhodia managers on the five-year plan of personal safety that covered records of 2011, as well as projections for the period of 2011-2015. The report put forward a plan to significantly reduce the number of irreversible and chemical accidents until 2015. The targets cover Rhodia’s temporary and sub-contact employees and its own staff.
Having made comments on the report, the ICEM’s Kohler presented his health and safety recommendations to plant-level and corporate management. A specific discussion was made on Rhodia’s investigatory method named after the “Casual Tree" accident. The meeting also received a presentation from the Sertow management on practices and results regarding safety compliance. The participants later toured the facility.
The meeting was finalized with an assessment of the discussions and future activities. It was agreed to deepen co-operation for reflecting the work of the Global Safety Panel to workplace level in all of Rhodia’s operations worldwide.

ICEM, Rhodia Global Safety Panel Hold Second Meeting in Russia

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The ICEM has joined trade unions of Australia, New Zealand, and the UK in protesting flagrant trade union abuses by the military dictatorship in Fiji. On Saturday, 13 August, just two days after dictator Josaia Voreque Bainimarama tried to assure a high-level ILO delegation, including Deputy General Director Guy Ryder, that trade union rights in Fiji were being upheld, police showed up at the opening of Fiji Trades Union Congress’s (FTUC) national council meeting and revoked the national centre’s meeting permit. 
 
That came ten days after Daniel Urai, formerly of the ICEM-affiliated Fiji Electricity Workers’ Union, who is President of the FTUC, and union activist Dinesh Gounder were arrested under Fiji’s new Public Emergency Regulation for meeting with trade unionists without a permit. They were charged with unlawful assembly in meeting with hotel workers over a pending collective agreement. 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.fiji daniel urai.jpg" width="120" height="120"/>      <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.fiji Dinesh Gounder.jpg" width="120" height="120"/></div>
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Daniel Urai, Dinesh Gounder</div>
 
Both were released on bail on 4 August and are due to appear in the Nadi Magistrates Court on 2 September on those charges. (See <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/98.ICEM.Fiji%20Prime%20Minister.10August.pdf" type="internal">ICEM protest letter</a> here.) 
 
The arrests, along with broader trade union repression, specifically against FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony, are seen as recrimination against Fiji union leaders visiting Australia and New Zealand to speak out against the military dictatorship of Commodore Bainimarama. 
 
Australian unions, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), have begun a number of direct actions against Fiji, which have raised the stakes against Bainimarama’s strong-armed tactics. For example, the Australian Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has threatened to not load or refuel Qantas air flights headed to Fiji, which would severely impact the Pacific country’s tourism trade. The blockade would also include Air Pacific, a Qantas partner and Fiji’s flag carrier. 
 
On 2 September – the date that Urai and Gounder will be in a Fiji courtroom – the ACTU will organise two manifestations in front of Fiji consular offices in North Sydney and in Deakin near Canberra. 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.ilo fiji.jpg" width="160" height="160"/> 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Dictator Bainimarama with ILO Representatives Last Week</div>
 
On 8 August, UK’s Trades Union Congress and ICEM affiliate GMB called on British sugar multinational Tate & Lyle to challenge the Bainimarama regime’s abusive tactics. Tate & Lyle purchases 100% of Fiji’s sugar exports and the illegitimate Fijian ruler has a controlling stake in sugar production. 
 
On the same day that Urai and Gounder were arrested, 3 August, a dictum was issued by Bainimarama – Fiji’s self-appointed Prime Minister following a 2006 coup – called the Essential National Industries Employment Decree. It bans all industrial actions, will ban workers from being covered by collective agreements in 60 days time, and restricts wage and benefit growth. 
 
Despite this, Bainimarama told the ILO delegation last week he was not trying to ban unions or take away workers’ rights. Not many in the international community believe this, least of all the government of Australia, which has recalled its envoy from Fiji. 
 
On 4 August, the day Urai and Gounder were released, Australian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Martin Ferguson, issued a statement saying: “Since 2006 the Bainimarama regime has abrogated the constitution; detained political leaders; sacked the independent judiciary; censored the media; and restricted meetings of civil society, including church groups. 
 
“Despite commitments to hold elections in 2014, it is not clear the regime intends to make good on its promise. 
 
“The restriction of labour rights is part of a concerted campaign to curtail the human rights of the people of Fiji. The rights of workers in Fiji have been targeted through a series of decrees restricting labour rights, the most recent of which was aimed at essential industries.”</div>

Trade Union Repression in Fiji Mounting

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The ICEM affiliated trade union in Botswana, the Diamond Sorters and Valuators (BDSVU), reacted angrily to the government renewing the diamond industry’s classification as an essential service in June that would effectively deny workers and trade unions of the sector their legitimate rights.</div>
The union, under the leadership of General Secretary Jacob Mpasopi, was particularly incensed that they heard of the decision for the first time through local media, and were never consulted. The BDSVU is the main stakeholder of the industry in the southern Africa nation.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Botswana BDSVU.jpg" width="100" height="87" alt=""/>
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs had been advised by parliament to consult relevant stakeholders before making a decision. However the union was never given an opportunity to voice its position.</div>
Mpasopi points to the ILO Committee of Experts’ definition of essential services as services in which “the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population.” Indisputably, this definition cannot be applied to the finished diamond sector of Botswana.
The BDSVU has struggled hard to achieve recognition agreements with several employers in the sector, formalizing negotiation, and dispute resolution procedures. All of these gains are put at risk by the unilateral decision by Peter Siele, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs.
The ICEM fully supports its affiliate BDSVU in its call for this determination to be reversed.

Botswana Diamond Sorters Balk at Government’s Industry Re-Classification

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Further industrial actions in Queenland’s rich coal fields happened over the weekend and early last week as three Australian unions – joined together as the Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) – continue months-long efforts to gain a fair collective agreement with the world’s number one exporter of metallurgical coal, the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).
Mineworkers led by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), and the Australia Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), this weekend took 12-hour work stoppages at BMA’s Gregory Crinum and Blackwater mines in the Bowen Basin, while similar rolling 12-hour strikes occurred from 7-9 August at the Goonyella Riverside, Saraji, Peak Downs, and Norwich Park mine sites.
The protected actions are in preparation for SBU-BMA talks this week, 18-19 August. Some 4,000 miners have been stymied by the coal-producing enterprise belonging to the two multinationals since December 2010 over a fair collective agreement. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4506-Stop-Work-Meetings-Raise-Stakes-in-Queensland-Coal-Talks" type="internal">ICEM report</a> from June.)
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1108.australia%20BMA.jpg" width="260" height="131"/> 
SBU Picket at Goonyella Riverside Mine, July 
Despite BMA publicly boasting of high miners’ salaries and its own pay offer in these drawn-out talks, the dispute has little to do with money but rather work conditions and quality-of-life issues. The SBU is resisting unwanted extensions on work rosters, which will negatively affect family life, and they oppose BMA’s desire to gain flexibility over contracting out, an obvious job security threat. BMA wants to move from a five-day weekly roster to a seven-day one, and seeks greater rule over operators’ jobs.
Since industrial action began following a 2 June ballot that saw a 92% support, the strength of miners of the three unions has only grown. That was visible at a mass picket at the Saraji mine that was set up on 6 August.
BMA is a ten-year joint venture that extracts 58 million tonnes annually of coking coal from the Bowen Basin and exports it from its wholly-owned Hay Point terminal on Australia’s east coast.

CFMEU Still Seeking Australian Coal Agreement with BHP Billiton/Mitsubishi

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The sixth meeting of the Mercosur Union Network of Belgian chemical and plastics producer Solvay met 18-21 April in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The meeting saw 25 representatives from all plants of Solvay in Argentina and Brazil, as well as municipality authorities from Bahia Blanca and representatives of CUT Brazil. 
 
The meeting marked the first-ever meeting held in Argentina. This gave an opportunity for more Argentine workers to learn the goals, functions, and actions of the important regional network. Brazilian participants learned of some Argentina processes that do not exist in Brazil, and about union organizing and the collective bargaining process in Argentina. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.solvay.jpg" width="315" height="170"/>
The major issues discussed included health and safety, the ICEM’s Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Rhodia and the future of that GFA now that Solvay has initiated a friendly takeover of Rhodia, and the Horizon Plan, which was put in place by Solvay late last year and is to create 800 dismissals worldwide by the end of 2012. Mercosur network members requested ICEM’s support in linking up with global trade unions and Solvay’s European Works Council in order to soften the effects of this restructuring. 
 
As is regular custom from previous meetings, the participants were welcomed by local management of Solvay. The group after toured the production areas. The meeting was finalized with expectation of a renewed dialogue with the company.

Mercosur Region Meeting of Solvay Meets in Argentina

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ICEM’s Asia Pacific Rubber Workers’ Unions held its second meeting on 22-23 April in Seoul, South Korea. The meeting was attended by 30 trade union representatives from Japan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, and South Korea. 
 
Two affiliates of the ICEM, the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers’ Unions (FKCU) and Korean Chemical and Textile Workers’ Union (KCTF) hosted this meeting of the Network, supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES). The meeting also welcomed the ICEM Secretariat and the Japanese Affiliates’ Federation (ICEM-JAF) to Seoul. 
 
“Given the growing importance of the Asia Pacific region in the rubber industry, our network has a very crucial role in unifying the unions of the sector,” said Toshiaki Hojo, President of Japanese Rubber Workers’ Confederation (GOMU RENGO), who chairs this Asia Pacific workers’ network. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.ap rubber.JPG" width="359" height="164" alt=""/>
“The meeting coincided with a very critical time in South Korea because of modifications to South Korean labour code have potential dangers on rights and freedoms,” said the FKCU Vice President Yoon Jinsoo. “Mobilizations at Kumho Tire’s two plants in South Korea gave us a burning need for solidarity in the rubber industry,” added KCTF General Secretary Im Youngguk. 
 
The meeting also received a detailed report from ICEM-JAF General Secretary Yoshio Sato on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sato thanked all ICEM affiliates who showed solidarity to Japanese unions by sending messages and donations. 
 
ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal Özkan presented major developments and challenges in the global rubber industry and profiles on the multinational companies. The rubber industry did start to recover following the global financial crisis, but such recovery is no cause for celebration due to continued high unemployment and deteriorating pay and work conditions. 
 
Participants then gave country reports. According to the report of GOMU RENGO, the Japanese rubber industry suffered severely from the economic crisis and now from the accident, reflected by automobile production dropping by 600,000 units, which now is causing extreme after-shocks in the global supplier segments. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.ap rubber.2.JPG" width="285" height="162" alt=""/>
In Indonesia and Malaysia, performing union activities is difficult. Representatives of China’s Chemical and Energy Workers’ Union reported that the union at Bridgestone successfully established a collective wage consultation system, in which in 2010 saw salaries increase by 16%. A Sri Lankan delegate spoke on organising against transnationals such as Trelleborg, Ansel, and Loadstar. 
 
The Thailand report included review and dissection of problems at Michelin, Goodyear, Sumitomo, and Yokohama companies. Vietnam is also attracting investment in the rubber industry. The country’s national chemical company, Vinachem, operates five rubber factories, including two Vietnamese-Japanese joint ventures, Yokohama and Inoue. The Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) reported on its struggle with Kumho and thanked the ICEM for support. KMWU identified three areas of difficulty in Kumho in Korea, namely wage, bargaining, and disciplinary actions. 
 
The meeting also produced an extensive discussion on the rising trend of Contract and Agency Labour. It was agreed that the network should continue to handle precarious employment issue as one of its main working areas. 
 
Delegates broke into working groups according to their companies, with the Goodyear and Bridgestone working groups establishing details to continue further communications. Korean and Vietnamese participants agreed to closely cooperate on Kumho, since the Vietnamese operations are organized. 
 
The meeting also adopted two resolutions: one to <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.Resolution%20on%20Solidarity%20with%20Japan.pdf " type="internal">support Japanese workers</a> in the aftermath of the great natural accident and the second to <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Resolution%20on%20Keum%20Ho%20Tire.pdf " type="internal">support the KMWU in Korea on its struggle at Kumho</a>. Participants, most of whom are local level union representatives, collected symbolic donations for their Japanese sisters and brothers. 
 
The next meeting of ICEM’s Asia Pacific Network is scheduled in 2013 in Malaysia.

ICEM Asia-Pacific Rubber Workers’ Network Held in Seoul Last Month

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