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The major trade union at KGHM Polska Miedź SA, the ICEM-affiliated Miners&rsquo; and Energy Workers&rsquo; Section of NSZZ Solidarność, announced last week it would protest against the Polish government&rsquo;s draft legislation to impose an unusually high minerals tax on the partially state-owned copper and silver company. 
 
The union, along with one of the smaller unions at KGHM, the ZZ Copper Industry Workers&rsquo; Association (ZZPPM), are now conducting procedural measures among workers at some 30 enterprises, including KGHM&rsquo;s three mines, two refineries and smelters, a rolling mill, wire rod plant, and other workplaces in order to lawfully carry out the protests. Manifestations could come as early as this week. 
 
The actions are in response to the 17 January draft bill put forward by Poland&rsquo;s Finance Ministry to the Parliament to place a high minerals tax on KGHM. The proposed tax, only on copper and silver, would impose a minimum of 0.5% on the average price of copper, up to a maximum of ZL16,000-per-tonne (&euro;4,000). 
 
The government is looking at the tax as a means to patch deficits in the country&rsquo;s budget. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="159" />
J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski
&ldquo;The tax is extremely high compared to taxes in other copper extracting companies,&rdquo; said NSZZ Solidarność in a statement. The union&rsquo;s leader at KGHM, J&oacute;sef Czyzcerski, said the tax would drain the company of its profitability, thus severely restricting investment and development, and ultimately costing jobs. He said the tax could eat away a full 90% of the company&rsquo;s profits. 
 
The unions at KGHM also oppose the fact that the minerals tax is singly aimed at KGHM. Czyzcerski said the Finance Ministry failed to conduct proper public consultations before approving the draft bill and submitting it to Parliament. 
 
KGHM is 32% owned by the Poland&rsquo;s Treasury Ministry and the unions fought bitterly in the recent past as the government gradually reduced its stake in the company. KGHM employs 18,000 workers and is the world&rsquo;s ninth largest copper company and third biggest producer of silver. The company is based in Lubin, Poland, in the country&rsquo;s copper basin of Lower Silesia.

Miners of Polish Solidarność Oppose Minerals Tax on KGHM Copper

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Unilever workers at UK factories are midway through 11 days of strikes, as the world&rsquo;s third largest consumer products company refuses to talk to unions about alternatives to its unacceptable and unilateral decision to close the final salary pension scheme. 
 
Workers organised by three ICEM affiliates, Unite the Union, GMB, and Union of Shop and Distributive Workers (USDAW), calculate that between 20-40% will be slashed from pensions of thousands of staff, at a time when the multinational corporation posted enormous profits of 4.6&euro; billion in 2010, and awarded CEO Paul Polman a 50% salary increase in a single year. 
 
Well known Unilever brands include PG Tips, Marmite, Pot Noodle, Dove, Comfort, and Surf. 
<img src="" width="214" height="160" alt="" />
Unilever was founded on positive social principles but has aggressively followed a strategy of job cuts and outsourcing of over 100,000 of its global workforce over the last ten years, removing any semblance of social responsibility over work terms in the production of food and household goods. 
 
In closing the UK final salary pension scheme, Unilever management once again prioritises profits over staff, and breaks a promise to protect pensions for long-serving workers. The UK unions are fighting back. The first ever strike ever at Unilever in the UK started on 9 December and moved management to cancel Christmas parties and bonuses for its staff. 
 
This second wave of strike actions started at 06h59 on 18 January, with 11 days of rolling strikes throughout the company&rsquo;s UK production. It runs until midnight, 28 January. 
 
All 7,000 Unilever workers in the UK will see pension earnings hit by this attack as current final scheme members are moved to the inferior Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) scheme from 1 July 2012, and CARE conditions will be decreased across the board. 
 
On 10 January, Unite dispatched its Battle Bus (see <a href="http://union-news.co.uk/2012/01/video-unions-load-up-battlebus-for-unilever-strikes/">Union News video</a>), taking protesting workers from Unite headquarters in Holborn to Unilever&rsquo;s London office on Victoria Embankment. 
<img src="" width="221" height="159" alt="" />
ICEM joined the noisy Battle Bus and protest on the front steps of the firm&rsquo;s London offices, with the company keeping union leaders from entering. Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey told demonstrators, &ldquo;How dare a company that generates massive profits attack your pensions, which you have saved for. We are not prepared to stand back and do nothing.&rdquo; 
 
The current strike action is hitting the following UK plants, with the products they produce: 
&bull; Purfleet &ndash; Hellmann&rsquo;s mayonnaise, Flora 
&bull; Trafford Park &ndash; PG Tips tea 
&bull; Burton &ndash; Marmite 
&bull; Norwich &ndash; Coleman&rsquo;s mustard and sauces 
&bull; Crumlin, Wales &ndash; Pot Noodle 
&bull; Leeds &ndash; Dove Deodorant, Lynx, Sure 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; fabric &ndash; Comfort, Persil 
&bull; Warrington &ndash; Persil, Omo 
&bull; Gloucester &ndash; Wall&rsquo;s Ice Cream 
 
The other sites involved in strike action &ndash; Unilever UK (Central Resources) Ltd are: 
&bull; Port Sunlight &ndash; R&amp;D site 
&bull; St David&rsquo;s Park (Near Ewloe in Wales) &ndash; IT site 
&bull; Colworth, Bedford &ndash; R&amp;D site 
<img src="" width="251" height="159" alt="" />
Unite National Officer, Jennie Formby said, &ldquo;Unilever needs to clean up its act, get back to the table before it ruins its business&rsquo; reputation for good.&rdquo; 
 
The unions have calculated alternative business options for Unilever to make the same savings without cutting pensions. For more information on the campaign and to <a href="http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/unilever_-_hands_off_our_pensi.aspx">send a message</a> to Unilever CEO Paul Polman, go to the Unite website here.&nbsp; 
 
Watch Unite&rsquo;s excellent three minute film &ldquo;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Theeovq1c&amp;feature=youtu.be">Unilever &ndash; not as clean as it claims</a>&rdquo; here.&nbsp;

UK Strikes at Unilever Continue; Company Refuses Talks

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The ICEM has responded with anger and outrage over the latest cold-blooded murder of a trade unionist in Colombia. Mauricio Redondo, 36, and his wife, Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez Carlosama, were murdered in their home in the village of Tetey&eacute;, in the southern department of Putumayo, on 17 January at 19h30 by two gunmen. 
 
Mauricio Redondo was a provincial leader of ICEM Colombia affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) and both he and his wife were activists in a community group that advocated for better working conditions, environmental stewardship, and labour and human rights in the booming oil and natural gas fields of the Putumayo basin in southwest Colombia. 
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In fact, four days before the killings at a meeting in the municipality of Orito, at a forum called Primer Foro Petrolero por el Derecho al Trabajo, la Reivindicaci&oacute;n Social y Econ&oacute;mica de Orito, Redondo was an active speaker in talks to open public protests over these issues. According to initial reports, the two gunmen were wearing work uniforms of the local oil contracting company Empresa de Energ&iacute;a del Bajo Putumayo, EEEP (Energy Company of Lower Putumayo) and fired multiple gunshots into the couple. Redondo and Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez are survived by five young children. 
 
&ldquo;Once again we witness the price that dedicated trade unionists in Colombia pay when they attempt to stand up for a dignified way of life,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda, who was in Colombia when the murders happened. 
 
&ldquo;Along with USO, we mourn the grisly deaths of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez and we call on Colombia&rsquo;s federal and provincial prosecution teams to extend all efforts in apprehending and bringing to justice those responsible.&rdquo; 
 
Mauricio Redondo was employed by Medellin-based P.E.I. Energy, an upstream oil and gas drilling company. He was a leader of the 220-member USO committee in Orito, in which 40% are employees of Ecopetrol and 60% employed by contract companies of the state-held energy company. 
 
The deaths of the couple came just days after three other USO Orito leaders &ndash; Manuel Coronado, Jos&eacute; Socimo Erazo and Julio Vargas &ndash; were threatened by calls made to their mobile telephones. It also came after a bomb threat was directed at the USO regional office in Orito. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="105" />
Said Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) Human Rights Director Alberto Vanegas, the worst aspect of the 17 January heinous crimes are that &ldquo;five children were left as orphans. This is what we leave with such murders: orphans and widows throughout the country.&rdquo; 
 
The killings of Mauricio Redondo and Janeth Ord&oacute;&ntilde;ez mark the first murders of trade unionists in Colombia in 2012. In 2011, at least 29 trade union leaders were killed in calculated and cold-blooded political assassinations.

ICEM Condemns Assassinations of USO Leader, His Wife in Colombia

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Some 80 buses and numerous car caravans converged on London, Ontario, Saturday, 21 January, in boisterous disagreement to <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division ">Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s hardened lockout</a> of 650 members of the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. Fair estimates placed the number of people attending the CAW and Ontario Federation of Labour&rsquo;s (OFL) Day of Action at 15,000. 
 
Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), part of its Progress Rail Services Corp., makers of train locomotives, locked out members of CAW Local 27 on New Year&rsquo;s Day in an egregious exhibition of corporate might and spite to wrest C$30 million from a single workforce in collective negotiations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="160" />
The Day of Action at Victoria Park across from the town of the south-western Ontario saw the OFL distribute red scarves to the throng as a symbol of resistance. A rock group warmed up the protestors with Buffalo Springfield&rsquo;s Something&rsquo;s Happening Here and following a dozen or so speeches, a good portion of those assembled marched to factory gates in east London to join picketers. 
 
CAW President Ken Lewenza concluded the speeches with an impassioned oratory on the current state of collective negotiations in Canada, where multinationals hide behind a Conservative government and gouge working families of their livelihoods to booster profit sheets. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;This struggle started three weeks ago,&rdquo; said Lewenza. &ldquo;But in the last five years, 450,000 manufacturing workers in Canada were asked to go home and say to their young children they lost their jobs through no fault of their own.&rdquo; 
 
He demanded that EMD quit the lockout and return to the bargaining table, something the company has refused to do so far in the cold of this Canadian winter. CAW Local 27 President Tim Carrie reminded those protesting that &ldquo;Caterpillar has a history of beating down workers and getting away with it. 
 
&ldquo;Not this time!&rdquo; 
 
Another speaker was President Bruce Klipple of the ICEM-affiliated United Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers&rsquo; of America (UE), whose union also represents workers in family-supporting jobs at an EMD competitor in the US &ndash; General Electric. He said the obvious; that a downward swing in wages and benefits in electric diesel manufacturing in London cannot and will not be tolerated. 
<img alt="" src="" width="178" height="159" />
Bruce Klipple
Other speakers included Sid Ryan, OFL President, Ken Georgetti, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) President, and CAW Local 27 Chairman of the EMD bargaining unit, Bob Scott. London Mayor Joe Fontana had sharp words for Canadian Premier Stephen Harper, who used the diesel locomotive factory as a backdrop to tout jobs and investment when Caterpillar/EMD bought it in 2010 but has been silent and absent since the lockout began. 
 
In bargaining that began in May 2011 and carried through a seven-month contract extension, the vile American company did not move once from its stand of reducing average wages of C$35-an-hour to C$16.50, and cutting all benefits by 50%.

15,000 Manifests for Canadian Auto Workers in Lockout By Caterpillar

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The Northern Cypriot state electric company, KIB-TEK, has begun importing workers from the Turkey-based energy company AKSA to break the civil disobedience actions of members of ICEM affiliate EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union. That started on 20 January, just hours after EL-SEN had abided by a Council of Ministers decree to halt a day-long strike. 
 
But utility workers then reverted to a stay-at-home strategy as a democratic sign of civil disobedience. 
 
The workers from AKSA, nonetheless, were given a police escort as they arrived in the northern part of the island and were taken to the main Teknecik power plant near the village of Klepini. EL-SEN undertook strike action in the morning of 19 January and the government&rsquo;s decree banning the strike came late that evening. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
The strike and subsequent protest are over the government&rsquo;s draft bill to privatize the Turkish Electricity Authority (KIB-TEK). EL-SEN and its members strongly believe that the government has failed to consult the union and other stakeholders before pushing forth the draft legislation. The union will also conduct a mass rally in Nicosia on 30 January. 
 
The ICEM has stepped in to support EL-SEN and opposes the rush to privatisation. In an <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4846-ICEM-Protests-Northern-Cyprus-Strike-Ban-in-Energy-Sector ">ICEM news release</a> issued on 20 January, the Global Union Federation said it disagreed with the government of Northern Cyprus&rsquo;s decree, stating Northern Cypriot law to ban a strike runs counter to internationally recognised standards regarding the right to strike. 
 
&ldquo;We are very familiar with such anti-worker, anti-trade union practices in Turkey and now the same holds true in Northern Cyprus,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Postponing a strike is in effect to ban one.&rdquo; 
 
Under Article 16 of Collective Agreements and Strikes of Northern Cyprus, the government can suspend a strike for a 60-day period if it deems that the strike endangers the &ldquo;essential works&rdquo; of the country. After such suspension, the strike can continue but the government then has the option to postpone it again since the law allows the government to declare the strike illegal twice in a year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="160" />
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu
EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu said the move to import replacement workers was the wrong one. In a news report on 21 January, he said, &ldquo;Our fight is a worthy one; our community&rsquo;s survival depends on it. They think they can resolve this by bringing people in from abroad. It might work in the short term, but in the long term it will fail.&rdquo;

Northern Cyprus Imports Scabs to Break Electric Utility Work Stoppage

WOMEN’S BULLETIN

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />

	Some 250 European trade union militants turned out today at Unilever&#039;s Rotterdam headquarters in the Netherlands to protest the world&#039;s third largest consumer products company&#039;s unrelenting shut-off of a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers. 
	 
	The manifestation, under the banner &ldquo;Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits&rdquo;, saw representatives from no less than 23 European trade union organisations, as well as from the ICEM and the International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers&#039; Association (IUF). 
	 
	For three months now, Unilever has been trying to bully UK&#039;s Unite the Union, GMB, and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) into conceding a final salary pension scheme, to replace it with an average career earnings pension plan effective 1 July 2012. Unilever CEO Paul Polman&rsquo;s 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out equaled &euro;8 million, while Unilever&rsquo;s UK employees face a slash of between 20-40% on their pension earnings.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 208px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	At today&#039;s manifestation, led by Unilever&#039;s European Works Council (EWC), the European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF), and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture, Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), rally leaders presented Unilever executive Rupert Chatwin with a declaration. 
	 
	In part, it read: &quot;We are very concerned that Unilever has been pursuing an approach of uncompromising unilateralism in the UK, which may be indicative of a change for the worse in Unilever&#039;s corporate culture. 
	 
	&quot;We believe that Unilever workers in Europe and around the world have good reason to fear for their futures. We have noted (CEO) Paul Polman&#039;s pledge to double Unilever revenue over the next ten years while promoting &#039;sustainable living&#039; but that he says nothing about sustainable employment.&quot;

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 150px" width="390" />

	Rally leaders present Declaration 
	From left, Michael Wolters, Simon Cox, Unilever&#039;s Rupert Chatwin

	Unilever EWC Chairman Hermann Soggeberg told the gathering, including scores of the company&#039;s UK staff, that on behalf of 30,000 European workers, &quot;We stand by your side in this dispute. You are on the front lines of what is just the beginning of bigger problems facing workers in Western Europe. 
	 
	&quot;The struggle you face in the UK is a struggle we must all tie into.&quot; 
	 
	Other speakers included EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters, EFFAT EWC and Transnational Companies&#039; Coordinator Simon Cox, as well as Unite Convenor Bill Hodgson from Unilever&#039;s Port Sunlight plant. 
	 
	Among some of the unions taking part: FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, IGBCE of Germany, PRO-GE of Austria, FGA-CFDT of France, NGG of Germany, Petrol-Is of Turkey, FGTA-FO of France, FITAG-UGT of Spain, CGT of France, FLAI-CGIL, FAI-CISL and UILA-UIL, all of Italy, CNV of the Netherlands, and FGTB/ABVV of Belgium.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 95px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

Spirited Rotterdam Rally Calls on Unilever to Save UK Pensions

<img alt="" height="59" src="" width="120" />

	Just over a year after a People&rsquo;s Revolution shook Egypt, a glimmer of legislative light regarding trade union freedoms and formation of independent unions has come to the country. On 8 February, the Draft Law on Trade Union Freedoms was submitted to the People&rsquo;s Assembly, the lower house of Egypt&rsquo;s Parliament.

	After months of promises to leaders of the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress (EDLC) and the Centre for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS) for such legislation, it was introduced just over two weeks from the time the People&rsquo;s Assembly opened its session following elections.

	If enacted, the law would codify many of the core ILO Labour Conventions that Egypt has ratified over the years, but has failed to implement due to draconian laws and decrees by the Mubarak regime, and more recently the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Continuing Revolution Party Parliamentarian Aboul Ezz Al-Hariry is said to be championing the new law, and the EDLC and CTUWS &ndash; as well as the newly formed Independent Union of Workers in Electricity and Energy&mdash;are hopeful some provisions of it can still be strengthened.

	The draft law was prepared by Minister of Labour and Migration Ahmed Hassan El-Borai and had been discussed in eight tri-partite meetings of Egypt&rsquo;s Manpower Committee before it was submitted to SCAF, which was silent on it.

	Now officially in Parliament, it will go before the Committee for Suggestions and Complaints and then to special Committees on Manpower and Legislative in public sessions.

	Foremost, the law would guarantee the right of freedom of association and encourage free and independent trade unions to thrive. It is hoped that other debate in Egypt will also occur on adopting an effective minimum wage policy, giving permanent contracts to temporary employees, and lifting bans and penalties on sit-ins, demonstrations and other forms of freedom of expression.

	&ldquo;A year has gone by since the people of Egypt &ndash; most specifically workers&rsquo; groups &ndash; have stood and demanded their freedoms,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We are encouraged by the Trade Union Freedoms draft law and fully intend to support an Egyptian labour law that is in full compliance with global labour standards.&rdquo;

ICEM Encouraged by Draft Labour Law in Egypt

&nbsp;

	Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 9 February, the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO) adopted a moving statement that denounces violence against women in the workplace, most specifically a rape and murder earlier this week inside Anglo American Platinum Ltd.&rsquo;s (Amplats) Khomanani Mine in Rustenburg, North West Province.

	ICEM affiliate National Mine Workers (NUM) of South Africa has given North West police until the end of this week to arrest those responsible for this horrific act of violence. The SSARO statement follows:

	&ldquo;On the morning of 6 February, a 28- year-old female worker was violated and murdered underground at Khomanani Mine, which is owned by Amplats, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American.

	&ldquo;This barbaric and neanderthal act against an innocent young worker is the most glaring case of gender-based discrimination against women and abuse of power. Sexual assault is cruel, inhuman, horrible. A mineworker underground on a daily basis has to deal with death or injury that can come from a rock fall or machines. Having to deal with death and violation against your person sexually and otherwise compounds the insecurity of a human being. A fellow worker who was supposed to act as a fellow human being acted as an animal.

	&ldquo;The National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting to enable women to work in mines. This and similar incidents should not be misconstrued to undo the progress that women have made to achieve equal employment rights.&rdquo;

	He who does not love a woman, who does not respect a woman, despises his own mother having come out of a kind womb of a woman.

	&ldquo;As the ICEM African Executive Committee and the ICEM African Women&#039;s Structure, we strongly condemn this atrocious act of barbarism.

	&ldquo;Mines and all workplaces must be safe environments for women and men. It is up to the employer to ensure that the workplace is safe for all. We will be holding the employer accountable for this tragedy.

	&ldquo;We call for a speedy and thorough investigation into these crimes. We are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, whoever they are. We call on the police to do a thorough investigation as the mine has records of who works what shift. We call on them to use all the forensic technology at their disposal to find out who the perpetrator is. We will be following up on this case and checking that justice is done. We also call for a tough sentence for the perpetrator or perpetrators once found.

	&ldquo;This young woman was only 28 years old and had one child, and her future and dreams were destroyed by a barbaric act of violence by a male counterpart. This is the triple oppression that we need to continue to fight against to attain true liberation for African women.

	&ldquo;We call on comrades to rally around this slogan: Not Another Woman Must Be Reaped, Not Another Woman Must Be Murdered.

	&ldquo;We call upon affiliates and sister organisations of ICEM to post this statement on their websites and to disseminate it widely to the press.&rdquo;

ICEM SSARO Condemns Grisly Rape, Murder of Woman inside Amplats Mine

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
A 40-day strike in the US state of Massachusetts has ended. Ninety brave members of the ICEM-affiliated Teamsters Union (IBT) backed Saint-Gobain&rsquo;s CertainTeed subsidiary away from severe cuts to their health care plan, and ratified a five-year labour agreement by a 69-0 vote on 29 January. 
 
The workers, who make asphalt roofing shingles, gypsum wallboard and fiberglass products at a plant outside Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, returned to their jobs on 31 January with their heads held high, their pride intact, and most importantly their premium benefits package unsevered. 
 
CertainTeed management came at the members of IBT Local 25 late last year with a proposal to abandon the union&rsquo;s Health and Welfare Fund and replace it with an inferior company-managed plan. Such a plan would have left the workers with far fewer health care benefits, leaving them largely unprotected from illness or injury.
<img src="" width="154" height="160" alt="" />
Workers took strike action on 19 December and when the company refused to move from its regressive proposals in US federal mediation on 13 January, Norwood Teamsters expanded their strike. Besides working with the ICEM and French union CFDT to take the dispute directly to executives of Saint-Gobain in Paris, they began handbilling other non-Teamster and non-represented CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain plants in the US. 
 
&ldquo;Our members would not accept the company plan and made that loud and clear to us,&rdquo; said Local 25 Business Representative George Slicis. &ldquo;We were on the picket line for 40 days, 24/7, through the holidays and in bad weather, and we were not going back unless the Teamster health care plan went back with us.&rdquo; 
 
The 69-0 vote last Sunday made that an affirmative. In bargaining again supervised by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) on 26 January, CertainTeed backed off the takeaways. Although there will be a very slight increase in workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs for continuation of the premium health coverage of US$6-per-week, that will be more than offset with the union negotiating a US$500 bonus each in years one through four of the labour agreement. 
 
In addition, starting in year two, or late in 2012, and continuing in 2013, 2014 and 2015, workers will receive a 2% wage increase. Local 25 also won company-paid increases to the New England Teamsters Pension Fund of 10% in years one and two, and 6% each in the remaining years. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Local 25 members at CertainTeed for their resolve in maintaining their earned benefits package and also commends Jean-Francois Renucci of CFDT, who took the case to preserve the US workers&rsquo; health and welfare insurance to top Saint-Gobain leaders.

US Teamsters at Saint-Gobain Succeed in Retaining Premium Health Care

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