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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
On 13 May in Madrid, two great unions from the Spanish UGT confederation merged to form a new union, the 150,000-member FITAG-UGT, the UGT’s new union for food and industrial workers. 
 
Dissolution congresses of the two predecessor unions, FTA-UGT for food and FIA-UGT for chemicals and industrial, preceded the founding congress, with delegates voting better than 97% in both congresses to go ahead with the merger. Antonio Deusa Pedrazo was elected General Secretary of FITAG-UGT. The new Executive is made up of 17 members, six of whom are women. Roughly 32% of the new union’s membership is women. 
 
The union will negotiate 31 collective agreements in sectors that cover 10% of Spain’s total industrial base. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.ugt woman.jpg" width="239" height="159"/>
Mari Luz Rodriguez
The founding Congress made it clear that special attention will be given to sectors that are more difficult to organise such as ones containing small- and medium-sized companies. One focus will be immigrants who work in great numbers in some of the sectors that the new federation will represent. 
 
Spanish Secretary of State for Employment, Gender and Youth, Mari Luz Rodriguez, spoke at the founding 
Congress. She recognized the new union for its reinforced union structures and for defending the interests of workers. 
 
FITAG-UGT also made it clear it was laying the foundation for facing the challenges that confront trade unions, both at national and international levels. Those include: to respond to globalization and fight neoliberalism; strengthen the union role and strengthen European Works Council roles in facing multinationals; to make the most of international trade unions; to demand and get more stable and secure employment with more rights; and to demand more appropriate social protections and defend the welfare state. 
 
To meet these goals, FITAG-UGT resolved to organise more workers in all sectors that the new union serves, and to get more shop stewards to be present in all workplaces and to increase the union’s influence. The union believes better training, information, and structures will be put in place to achieve these goals. 
 
ICEM affiliate FIA-UGT itself is a product of mergers in Spain’s labour movement. The former Chemical Workers’ Union first merged with UGT branches representing oil and gas workers and then merged again with branches of miners and textile workers.

Industrial, Food Workers of UGT in Spain Merge

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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

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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

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
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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A study conducted by a Stanford University Law School professor reveals that there are significantly fewer fatalities and injuries in underground unionized coal mines in the US than in non-union ones. Alison Morantz examined coal mine safety statistics between 1993 and 2008 and found that traumatic injuries in unionized mines were from 17-33% fewer than in non-union mines, and the rate of fatalities ranged from 33-72% less. 
 
Of specific note, Professor Morantz found that the non-traumatic injury rate in US coal mining is higher and she suggested that is because injury reporting practices are more common in union mines than non-union mines. 
 
During the 15-year period that was studied, there was a decrease in the number of mine-related injuries per hours worked, although the number of traumatic injuries has remained relatively level. During the same period, the rate of unionization in US mining dropped from 21% in 1993 to 10% in 2008. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RobertsCecimwal.jpg" width="100" height="139"/>
UMWA President Cecil Roberts 

Morantz used numbers pegged to per man-year, or the average time worked in a year. She found that there are .037 traumatic injuries per man-year at union mines, and .047 at non-union mines. Regarding fatalities, the rate is .0003 per man-year at unionized mines and .0006 at non-union mines. The aggregate injury rate, reflecting better reporting at union mines, is .126 at union mines and .115 at non-union ones. 
 
Morantz concluded of her finding that there is “a strong presumption that a union safety effects exists in US coal mining.” 
 
The study parallels the exemplary work that ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has done over the past decades regarding safety and health in mines, including getting the US government to ratify ILO Convention 176 in the late 1990s. The UMWA has institutionalised comprehensive safety programmes and advanced training for on-the-job safety experts in its represented mines. 
 
“Miners have long known that there is a union safety effect, as the study calls it," said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. “Working in a union-represented mine, with the backing of our Local Union safety committees and our International Union safety experts, makes a huge difference. I am pleased to see that has been confirmed by a comprehensive, independent scientific study." 
 
Dr. Morantz’s independent study was funded by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/110304MorantzCoalMineSafetyUnions.pdf" type="internal">full study</a> can be accessed here.

In US, Unionised Coal Mines Far Safer, Study Discloses

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Deteriorating safety conditions inside Rio Tinto’s Australian coal mines in New South Wales was brought to the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Perth on 5 May. ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) delivered a sharp attack on the company’s laxness over health and safety at majority-held Hunter Valley coal mining and processing operations. 
 
CFMEU NSW Northern District Vice President Robin Williams said that a significant number of accidents and incidents are not reflected in Rio Tinto’s annual report. Williams and a workplace leader from each of three coal operations were vocal and critical of the company’s coal-mine safety before shareholders at the AGM last week. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.cfmeu nsw northern district.jpg" width="366" height="99"/>
Williams said Rio Tinto has “an adversarial approach to mine safety” at Coal & Allied Ltd., which includes mines at Mount Thorley/Warkworth, the Hunter Valley operations, and Bengalla. He said a “culture of fear” permeates the workplaces where threats of discipline and common and are “outdated and should have no place in modern Australian mining. 
 
“We do not want a situation,” Williams added, “where workers are uneasy about speaking out in case they face disciplinary procedures. If there is an accident or incident at a mine site, we want a proper investigation to make sure that it doesn’t happen again, not a scapegoat who is disciplined.” 
 
The mineworkers told shareholders that the company’s goal of zero harm and reality are far apart. They said the culture of fear that exists at Hunter Valley actually exacerbates risks. Rio owns 76% of the Hunter Valley coal operations. 
 
CEO Tom Albanese also had to address the near overflow this year of a tailings pond at Rio’s 68% held Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory. The company’s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA) shut production in January due to heavy rains. Albanese said the company will inject A$220 million into ERA for updated water treatment and management systems.

CFMEU Takes Coal Safety Concerns to Rio Tinto’s AGM

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Glen Mpufane of South Africa officially took up duties as ICEM’s Mining and Diamond, Gems, Ornament, and Jewellery Production (DGOJP) officer on 2 May. He comes to the ICEM after a long career in South Africa’s trade union movement preceded by 18 years of work in the apartheid-era gold mining industry. 
 
“We are privileged to bring a person who not only has depth and knowledge of the mining industry, but one who displays great activism as a trade unionist,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
Mpufane, 52, is a native of Daveyton in Gauteng province, and worked for Ergo mining at the Brakpan mine, then an AngloAmerican and later an AngloGold concession. He worked as a fitter mechanic and helped form the Ergo Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1982. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Glen Mpufane.jpg" width="179" height="165"/>
New ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer, Glen Mpufane
He served as a shop steward, health and safety secretary, branch chairman, and then full-time health and safety steward for the branch. He also served as NUM regional secretary for health and safety, before taking a position at NUM in 2000 in health and safety. In 2004, he was named International Department Head for the NUM, a post he held until 2010. 
 
He worked as head of Secretariat for ICEM South Africa affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) for six months in 2010-11, prior to coming to Geneva to join the ICEM. 
 
“There are huge challenges in mining, not the least is safety and health,” said Mpufane. “We have many challenges, including the challenge to deliver decent collective agreements to mineworkers.” 
 
Mpufane is married with four children, the youngest, Amo, is 16 months old.

Glen Mpufane Joins ICEM as Mining/DGOJP Officer

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The United Steelworkers (USW) submitted shareholder resolutions demanding boards of directors at four US oil companies take safety seriously. The resolutions were aimed at general meetings of Marathon Oil (27 April), Valero Energy (28 April), Tesoro Corp. (4 May), and it will appear before ConocoPhillips shareholders this week, 11 May, in Houston. 
 
The USW also filed a safety transparency resolution with Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the Philadelphia-based company agreed to comply with the contents of the resolution. The resolutions call on the companies to prepare a report of the “steps the company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents” within 90 days of the shareholders’ meeting. 
 
The resolution, meant to achieve greater safety at oil refineries and other company operations, calls on the board of directors of each company to disclose the board’s oversight on process safety management, staffing levels, and also the inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. The American national labour center, AFL-CIO, and its asset fund assisted with the shareholder propositions. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0811GaryBeeversUSW.jpg" width="110" height="159"/>
Gary Beevers
USW Vice President Gary Beevers voiced the significance in taking safety to the board rooms: “If these companies had to tell their shareholders and the public how they were staffing their refineries, how much overtime people were working, and how long units were going without basic inspection and maintenance, we know they’d try harder to fix the problems.” 
 
The USW cited two months of last year – April and May 2010 – as being particularly deadly and dangerous times that should have awaken the US oil and petrochemical industries to poor safety practices. There were 13 fires, 19 deaths, and 25 serious injuries in those two months, including a 2 April 2010 explosion at Tesoro’s 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Anacortes, Washington, that killed seven USW Local 12-591 activists. 
 
Tesoro workplace leaders, including Mark Laurence from Anacortes, spoke on behalf of the safety resolution at the company’s 4 May AGM in San Antonio, Texas. Last year’s Tesora tragedy was caused by a heat exchanger that blew apart because of cracks in a welded area. 
 
The Washington State Department of Labour & Industry determined that Tesoro had failed in its duty to correctly test equipment for cracks. The state agency imposed a fine of US$2.39 million, but Tesoro is currently appealing the fine.

USW Makes Safety Oversight a Corporate Issue on US Oil Industry

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The ICEM directed criticism at Advanced Chemical Industries Ltd. (ACI) of Bangladesh last week over 22-23 January protests inside a pharmaceutical factory in Siddhirganj, central Narayanganj district, that left one worker dead. The ICEM believes that both full-time and temporary workers were pushed to their limits by ACI Plant Manger Ishtiaque Ahmed, who exhibited notoriously cruel behaviour to workers with constant threats of dismissal. 
 
Following peaceful worker protests on 22 January, ACI management responded by calling for armed police action against nearly all 400 workers inside the plant on the following day. The ICEM learned that management refused several times in recent months to engage in earnest discussions over workers’ grievances. 
 
The ICEM’s protest to ACI can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/2.GDFSUEZunitedwatLet.pdf " type="internal">here</a>. Police fired rubber bullets and 30 canisters of tear gas on 23 January to break up the in-plant protests. One worker, 25-year-old temporary worker Enamul Huq, died from wounds suffered by he police assault. Over 100 others, including some police officers and the plant manager himself, were hospitalised. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.bangladesh.jpg" width="123" height="151"/>
Arrest Warrant: Beaten Worker
In the early days of last week, local Narayanganj police issued arrest for 30 named workers and another 300 whose names were not listed. 
 
The ICEM finds that the mayhem is attributable to ACI, which for too long neglected the pleas of workers and their plant-level trade union to address issues. Those issues include extended temporary work status to deserving workers, denying those workers union representation, and employing temporary workers at a sub-par level of benefits. Some temporary staff at ACI Pharmaceutical in Siddhirganj have worked as long as 12 years in unsecured job postings. 
 
The ICEM noted that nearly 400 of the plant’s 407 workers took part in last weekend’s protests. The ACI plant employs 167 full-time and 240 temporary workers. 
 
The ACI plant produces drug aids for human use. The plant employs 167 full-time workers and is a major Asian manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of drug aids, agri-chemical and pesticide products, and basic consumer products.

ICEM Says Bangladesh Chemical Company Provoked Riot that Killed One

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