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The three-day Coal Conference for global trade unions, held in Calcutta, India, 14-16 December 2007, produced a report presenting an overview of the current, unprecedented growth rates in coal consumption and production, and how that relates to safety and health and trade unionism. That report can be found <a href="/index.php?id=5&doc=2552&la=EN" type="internal">here</a>. 
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The ICEM is grateful to its affiliated trade union, the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF), as well as to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), for hosting the conference, and to the ILO for its generous support.

Report Available from December’s Coal Conference in India

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The Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial, and General Workers’ Union (CMU) will commemorate its 60th year as a democratic mass organisation of workers on 1 February, 2008, a milestone deserving of recognition. 
 
The union has deep roots that go back even 20 years earlier in then, British-occupied Ceylon. A union of clerical workers organised others employed in mercantile houses that were mainly operated by British interests. 
<img height="273" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0801BalaCMU.jpg" width="350" alt=""/>
CMU General Secretary Bala Tampoe
The ICEM recognises CMU as a strong force in Sri Lankan civil society. CMU has been at the forefront in resisting efforts to weaken labour legislation. And CMU successfully resisted a police-enforced ban of 1 May as a public holiday in the 1990s, a feat deserving of acclaim. CMU also has proven to be a unifying force between public and private sector workers in Sri Lanka. 
 
CMU’s Executive Committee will host a number of activities on 1 February, including a tribute to General Secretary Bala Tampoe, who has headed CMU throughout with great distinction. 
 
The ICEM congratulates CMU on this anniversary, a milestone for a trade union that brings cohesion and unity to the country’s workers.

ICEM Sri Lankan Affiliate, CMU, Celebrates 60 Historic Years

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A planned protest inside Finland’s Stora Enso pulp and paper mills for 6 February was cancelled, following a Labour Court ruling that saw the demonstration as a collective bargaining act. The case was brought to the court by the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, on behalf of Stora Enso. 
 
The work-time protest, decided a week earlier by Stora Enso workers, was aimed at the Finnish government, which holds 16% of Stora Enso’s shares, and controls 34% of the company. On 29 January, at a public meeting in Helsinki attended by 500 people and sponsored by Finnish unions Paperiliitto and Toimihenkilöunioni, three government ministers declined to intervene to halt Stora’s mill and paper machine shutdowns.
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Two days later, workers themselves decided to do on-the-job protests against the Finnish government. This was quickly met by employers rushing to Finland’s Labour Court and getting an expedited ruling forbidding the protests. The unions and Finnish employers officially opened industry-wide talks on 5 February for 25,000 workers employed by multiple pulp and paper companies. 
 
“We are disappointed that the government did not take action to stop the closures, at least until further study and other remedies could be found,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We also find it unusual that in a country such as Finland, a Labour Court would be used to block a legitimate workers’ protest.” 
If the 7,000 Stora Enso workers had defied the ruling, Finnish trade unions would have been subjected to a compensatory fine, payable to the employer. There is no procedure for appeal of the Labour Court ruling.
<img height="57" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FinlandFlag.gif" width="100" border="1" alt=""/>
At the 29 January public meeting, Finnish Defence Minister Jyri Häkämies, who heads the government’s enterprise ownership oversight, as well as Labour Minister Tarja Cromberg and Economic Affairs Minister Mauri Pekkarinen, gave no pledge that the government could or would intervene on Stora Enso’s latest restructuring plan. 
 
The following day, 30 January, Stora Enso permanently idled one paper machine at its Summa, Finland, newsprint and book papers mill in Kymenlaakso, while it shut the mill’s second paper machine on 31 January. A total of 450 jobs were lost. An equal number also will be eliminated when the Kemijärvi pulp mill shuts in April 2008, and a paper machine at the Anjala mill ceases production in November. 
 
The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers’ Union (ICEM) is also critical of Stora Enso’s unwillingness to grow jobs rather than destroy them at the company’s Norrsundet, Sweden, mill. There, 350 jobs are expected to be made redundant when Stora closes the bleached softwood kraft pulp mill late this year rather than sell it to a perspective buyer. 
 
In Finland, industry-wide social talks did begin on 5 February with the unions and Finnish Forest Industries Federation exchanging initial proposals. The existing three-year contract for Finland’s number one industrial sector expires on 31 May 2008.

Finnish Paper Industry Uses Court Order to Block Government Protest

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In August, this Contract and Agency Labour newsletter reported that the Supreme Court of Korea had issued a groundbreaking ruling that in-house subcontract workers employed for two years at Hyundai Motor in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang province, must be made permanent employees. 
 
On 12 November, a similar ruling was made, this time by the Seoul High Court. This case was brought by seven former subcontract workers at the Asan Plant of Hyundai Motor. In line with the Supreme Court decision, the ruling states that in-house subcontractors’ employees, who worked continuously for two or more years, should be treated as the employees of the user enterprise. 
 
The Seoul High Court ruling is particularly significant as it has broad coverage over several production departments at the plant. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthKorea.png" width="180" height="83"/>
Shortly after the Korean Supreme Court ruling on 22 July, the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), asked Hyundai to conduct collective bargaining with the union over direct employment for the subcontract workers. But Hyundai Motor refused, stating that it would appeal the Supreme Court decision. 
 
On 4 November, KMWU filed a lawsuit against Hyundai demanding that a total of 1,900 in-house subcontractors with service of two or more years should be made full-time Hyundai workers, moved into regular jobs, and compensated for lost wages. (On average, contract workers at Hyundai earn 50 to 60% less than that of direct employees.) 
 
On 5 November, KMWU submitted an application for mediation of an industrial dispute over collective bargaining with Hyundai Motor to the National Labor Relations Commission. 
 
The Supreme Court’s ruling, and Hyundai’s intransigence in elevating subcontract workers to permanent status, has spurred workers to dramatically disrupt production at the Ulsan city factory in continuous sit-in strikes that began on 15 November. (See the ICEM CAL newsletter article on the Hyundai strike <a href="/index.php?id=73&la=EN&doc=4148" type="internal">here</a>.)

Seoul Court Rules Subcontract Workers Full-time after Two Years 

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Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took leadership of the UK government, it has been exploring ways to amend the Agency Workers’ Regulation, adopted to implement the European Temporary Agency Workers' Directive. 
 
According to the Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) head of Employment Rights, Sarah Veale, “An agreement was reached between the TUC and the CBI (UK’s business grouping) two years ago, after many hours of discussion and compromises from both sides.” 
 
The compromises included a clause that agency workers would not receive equal treatment from day one, as per the European directive, but after 12 weeks of employment. Despite this, employers and their representatives expressed a range of concerns over the regulation to the new government, arguing for amendments to be made before its entry into force in October 2011. 
 
The TUC responded by saying: “There is no point unpicking that now, after the regulations have been enacted, and business and unions are preparing to work co-operatively with what we have agreed.” 
 
Following consultations with both sides, the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer, and Postal Affairs, Edward Davey, announced in October that due to the “unique legal situation” of the regulation, any amendments proposed which did not have the agreement of the TUC and CBI would “face the risk of being set aside in the courts in the event of a legal challenge.” He went on to say, “Were that to happen, the effect could be to call into question the very foundation of the fundamentals of the implementing legislation, crucially including the 12-week qualifying period itself.” 
 
Although he described the outcome as “clearly disappointing,” Minister Davey confirmed that the Government would not be making any further attempts to amend the regulation.

UK Government Abandons Attempt to Dilute Agency Workers’ Regulation

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The Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) Union, at its CAW Council meetings 3-5 December in Toronto, rebuked Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for November. The government agency reported that in November, 26,700 part-time jobs had been created, while 11,500 full-time were lost. 
 
CAW President Ken Lewenza said new job creation based solely on part-time growth is no cause to celebrate. “Workers must be able to realise their goal of having a full-time job, a job you can raise your kids on, and later retire from in dignity,” said Lewenza in his opening day keynote address to the Council, the union’s governing board. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Ken.Lewenza.CAW.jpg" width="100" height="145"/>
CAW President Ken Lewenza
Lewenza said that the loss of full-time workers across Canada has put a major strain on provincial budgets, particularly as they work with federal and municipal governments to set up stimulus programmes to support local economies. 
 
Provinces in turn have put pressure on public sector workers to freeze wages, while failing to guarantee and preserve public services or jobs. The effect has meant a downward spiral to social services and on living standards of workers. 
 
The CAW Council also agreed at its deliberations to donate C$10,000 to a trust fund established to help families dealing with the tragedy of the Pike River coal mine disaster last month in New Zealand. That trust fund was set up by ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, Lewenza said, “Know that we are making this donation in full solidarity with your union’s continuing efforts to improve working conditions in safety standards in mines and every other workplace in New Zealand.”

Canadian Auto Workers Reject Government’s November Statistics Stating Job Growth 

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The ICEM has developed a short guide to dealing with Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). The guide, intended to help unions raise awareness of the prevalence and impact of precarious work, outlines what types of employment are included in the ICEM’s definition of CAL, and highlights some of the most common problems associated with such work. 
 
The guide also gives an overview of what the ICEM and its affiliates around the world are doing to promote permanent, direct employment, and at the same time to promote better conditions for CAL workers. 
 
The guide lists a number of specific attempts unions have made to keep employment permanent and direct, for example, by agreeing to a cap on the number of CAL workers who can be employed in a particular company or sector, or by restricting the number of times a fixed-term contract may be renewed before employment becomes permanent. 
 
In terms of ensuring respect for the rights of CAL workers, ICEM affiliates have sought guarantees that CAL workers will receive equal treatment from the first day of their employment and that those on fixed-term contracts will receive severance fees in the event their contracts are not renewed. Unions have also attempted, and in some cases succeeded, in negotiating collective bargaining agreement clauses, which require the company to consult with the union, and to get their approval, before outside labour is used. 
 
The guide proposes ways in which unions can build relations with CAL workers, suggesting that unions consider altering their internal rules to permit CAL workers to join; create a dedicated precarious workers’ section or representative; or consider introducing different membership fee levels and alternative methods of dues collection. 
 
The guide concludes by encouraging affiliates to initiate a discussion on CAL within their own unions, and suggests a number of questions which may help to get these discussions started. 
 
The ICEM’s Mini Guide to Dealing with CAL is available <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.ICEM%20Mini%20Guide%20CAL%20HQ.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Launches Mini Guide to Dealing with Contract, Agency Labour 

Responding to the European Commission’s recommendation that member states should consider suspending offshore licensing in advance of possible new EU-wide safety standards, Norrie McVicar, Chair of the ITF’s Offshore Task Force Group (OTFG), said: “This is the wrong position to take and the wrong time to take it. The EC should be protecting the safety gains made in the UK offshore sector, not eroding them by dumbing them down to a lowest common denominator.” 
 
Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Sector Chair, added: “You can never be too safe and we would never condone complacency, but the British and Norwegian sectors are generally good examples of best practice. They should be studied, learned from and, where necessary, improved. They shouldn’t be remodeled into a one size fits all – but not very well – Euro model.” 
 
McVicar also stated: “One very positive feature of the UK industry is OSPRA, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, which brings together regulators, industry bodies and trade unions such as Unite and the RMT in a joint effort to ensure that we get the oil and gas we need as safely and cleanly as possible. It’s that kind of good practice that we’d like to see adopted by the rest of the global oil and gas sector, not weakened here in Europe.” 
 
 
 
For further information, contact: 
ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) 
Press officer, Sam Dawson, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260, Email: <a href="mailto:dawson_sam@itf.org.uk">dawson_sam@itf.org.uk</a>   
Norrie McVicar, OFTG Chair, Tel: +44(0)7768 652 257, Email: <a href="mailto:mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk">mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk</a>   
 
ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) Tel: +41-22-304-1847, Email: <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ITF, ICEM Oppose EC’s Offshore Safety Recommendation

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Proposed amendments to Zimbabwe’s Labour Relations Act have rattled the country’s employers’ grouping, but the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is having none of it. Bosses’ hue and cry over fairness changes to the labour code doesn’t add up, union leaders say. 
 
The controversy is over ILO draft recommendations regarding severance packages, contract workers’ rights, and other common social entitlements. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CFI) met the press in the southern African nation on 11 October, and told them the changes would be burdensome and costly. 
 
ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo countered by saying enterprises covered by the CFI have been paying the lowest wages in southern Africa for a long time. “Those who are against this idea are people who have gotten used to profiteering,” Matombo told the Harare Herald. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/lovemore matombo ZCTU Zimbabwe.jpg" width="150" height="136" alt=""/>
ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo
The ILO’s review of Zimbabwe’s labour law recommends establishment of a minimum set of retrenchment criteria, including education and re-training, and includes severance benefits and other social rights for contract workers, as long as they were on the job for three years. The CFI said severance payments to contract workers would not be sustainable for businesses to survive. 
 
The recommendations include a number of fair-minded social improvements, including paid sick leave, and specifically, revising maximum vacation leave from 30 calendar days to 30 work days. An amendment also calls for daily breast-feeding by working women to be increases from one to two hours for up to18 months. 
 
At the 11 October press briefing, the CFI said the revisions would stifle enterprise and said Zimbabwe’s workers must “accept the concept of delayed gratification.” The CFI argued that business is not just about paying workers, but also earning dividends. 
 
The ICEM supports the progressive social amendments being introduced in Zimbabwe, and stands with the ZCTU and its own affiliates.

Zimbabwe’s Unions, Employers Clash on Labour Code Revisions

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The Global Safety Partnership Committee was agreed to by Rhodia as part of its commitments to ICEM in the Rhodia-ICEM Global Framework Agreement. The committee is intended to monitor safety and related issues, provide ongoing dialogue regarding these issues between the company and its workers, and make recommendations for their improvement. With ICEM's help, Rhodia will strive to lead the industry in health, safety, and environmental performance. 
 
At the committee’s first official meeting, held 7-8 October at a company Eco Services plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, representatives of Rhodia and representatives from ICEM's affiliates met to review and discuss some of Rhodia's policies, programs, and procedures. Among topics discussed were accident investigation procedures, and the choice of indicators of safety performance. In addition, panel members toured the Baton Rouge facility, one of the company's most important North American sites and one in which workers are represented by Teamsters Local 5. The Baton Rouge site, divided into two manufacturing centres, produces products ranging from artificial vanilla flavouring to sulphuric acid, as well as recycling and disposing of certain industrial wastes. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.rhodia.2.JPG" width="342" height="188"/>
Rhodia management was represented by: Jacques Kheliff, Group Vice-President - Sustainable Development; Jean-Christophe Sciberras, Vice-President and Group Industrial Relations Director; Deborah Sherwen, Manager Health Safety and CAERS; James Harton, North America Zone President; John Heffernan, Rhodia North America Vice-President, Human Resources; and Marcus Lewis, Vice-President Industrial North America. Baton Rouge site managers also attended and hosted the Committee's visit and site tour. Yolène Coppin, Rhodia's Group Vice-President Human Resources, was unable to attend. 
 
The ICEM team was represented by Juarez Nogueira of Sindquim, Brazil; Scott Harrington of the US United Steelworkers (USW); Maurice Tritsch of CFDT, France; Kemal Özkan, ICEM's Chemicals Officer, and Brian Kohler, ICEM's Officer for Health, Safety and Sustainability. Jie Dong, of China, was unable to attend. 
 
The committee also met with Teamsters Local 5 representatives Jason Day and Bryan Hare.

ICEM, Rhodia Global Safety Committee Holds Meetings at US Plant

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