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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" style="width: 120px; height: 59px;" width="390" />

	At a general membership meeting and news conference today in Québec, 780 union members of Syndicat des Métallos d’Alma were told that the lockout imposed on them – in its 11th week – by Rio Tinto’s Alcan aluminium subsidiary now has the undivided attention of key workers’ groups connected to the mining giant.

	United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9490 President Marc Maltais and USW Deputy District Five Director Guy Farrell told a packed news conference of their two-week mission through the US West and then on to Australia and New Zealand, where the trade union Mining and Maritime Initiative brought this piece of corporate terrorism front and centre before the company’s most militant workers and unions in Oceania.

	Maltais and Farrell also laid out plans for the mass rally in Alma, a city of 30,000 in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region of Québec, a manifestation expected to draw 5,000 to 10,000. Earlier at the membership meeting, USW District Five Director Dan Roy told victimised metalworkers that they are up against one of the most egregious examples of corporate crime ever committed in Canada.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203 rio tinto in aus.jpg" style="width: 320px; height: 141px;" width="390" />

	 USW’s Guy Farrell Speaks at Brisbane Manifestation

	The lockout came ostensibly over the union’s contract demand to stop the continual erosion of permanent jobs by establishing limits on outsourcing. And it occurred even before several other issues were tabled in bargaining.  Alcan prematurely locked workers off their jobs on 30 December, a day before the prior five-year agreement had expired.

	With aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange down more than 25% from spring 2011 and inventories high, the opportunity to reverse that by bringing one of the world’s premier and low-cost smelters down to one-third operational capacity was too much to resist.

	And Syndicat des Métallos d’Alma learned this month what they feared had been happening since the lockout began: Rio Tinto, under an opaque agreement signed with Québec in 2006 when Alcan was a stand-along Canadian company, is selling unused hydro-electric power back to the province of Québec because Alma is operating only 122 of 432 electrolytic production cells. The company is pocketing C$15 million per month at taxpayer expense, while holding a community’s top-paying jobs hostage with a lockout. Worse, the province does not need the excess power but is obligated to buy it due to the 2006 agreement.

	“These are the people’s resources,” said Farrell. “The atrocities this company is committing against Québec and Quebecers is incomprehensible, yet they are happening right before our eyes.”

	The 31 March manifestation will occur a day after the ICEM’s North America affiliates meet in Alma in the first of two bi-annual meetings. Protestors will assemble at 13h30 at the Galeries Lac St-Jean shopping mall and march to Parc le Festiv Alma for the manifestation that begins at 15h. (See <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RTA_CARD4ENG_high.pdf">full manifestation flyer</a> here.)

	    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-marc-at-mua.jpg" style="width: 87px; height: 155px;" width="390" />    

	Local 9490’s Marc Maltais at MUA Forum

	Maltais and Farrell reported today on their two-week mission that saw them get support from Rio Tinto’s borax miners in Southern California. International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 faced its own lockout from the world’s second largest resources company, and USW Local 9490 was keen to learn their fightback strategy.

	From those late February meetings both in Boron and Los Angeles, Maltais and Farrell journeyed to the state of Utah where they met with USW local union leaders at Rio’s Kennecott Copper mines. Some 1,000 steelworkers and members of other unions, including the International Association of Machinists (IAM), waged a bitter six-month strike there in 2002-03.

	From 4 to 9 March, the Canadians were in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, their message was heard by hundreds of delegates at separate forums of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) in Brisbane. On 5 March, Australian supporters including members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the MUA, AMWU and Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) joined Maltais and Farrell in a protest against Rio Tinto on Queen Street in Brisbane.

	At the mass MUA meeting there on 6 March, the two were surprised to see the MUA selling Syndicat des Métallos d’Alma’s trademark orange shirts, emblazoned “Australia and New Zealand Mining and Maritime Union Fight War on Rio Tinto’s Workers.” Proceeds and other donations were give the two, including from a stop at Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay, Tasmania, aluminium smelter that was hosted by the AWU, the union fighting for a first enterprise agreement there.

	       <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203 turkey mine workers for alma zoom in.jpg" style="width: 345px; height: 161px;" width="390" />       

	ICEM Turkish affiliate Maden-İşDisplays Long Distance Solidarity with Syndicat des Métallos d’Alma

	In New Zealand, the visit from 7-9 March sponsored by ICEM affiliate Engineering Printing & Engineering Union (EPMU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ), included a meeting with Rio Tinto aluminium producing workers at the Tiwai Point smelter in Invercargill. It also included another demonstration, this time on 9 March in front of Rio Tinto offices in Wellington.

	Throughout the western US trip and the Australia/New Zealand union-building visits, Maltais and Farrell had along a union banner to which trade unionists signed their name and pledge to join the Alma lockout fight. That banner was unfurled and hung in Local 9490’s union hall this morning.

	While the two were concluding their trip in New Zealand, back home in Alma, on 8 March, International Women’s Day, women’s-only forum was held attended by 100 spouses and women workers. The event was billed as a unique chance to share experiences of the then 68-day lockout, the hardships, the loss of income and the emotional turmoil inflicted by a rich multinational on citizens of Québec Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region.

	With a call two weeks ago by provincial Premier Jean Charest to return to bargaining still unheeded by the company, the experience of pain, sacrifice and uncertain futures is sure to continue for the 780 families and for even more in the wider community who depend on the family-supporting pay days from the Alma smelter.

	To read further information on this corporate attack on working families, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4908-Locked-out-Alcan-Workers-Take-Dispute-to-Business-Doorstep" type="internal">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4875-Rio-Tinto-s-Euro-Works-Council-Irate-over-Québec-Aluminium-Lockout" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4837-USW-Affiliate-in-Québec-Locked-Out-by-Rio-Tinto-at-Aluminium-Plant" type="internal">here</a>.

Locked-out Canadian Steelworkers Build Global Unity as Mass Rally Nears, 31 March

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Spain’s two labour confederations, Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), have jointly called a 24-hour strike for 29 March in response to labour law reform which is already in force by decree-law of 10 February by the Council of Ministers and is pending of Parliamentarian validation.

	On 9 March, CCOO’s and UGT’s executive councils, meeting jointly for the first time in history, agreed to the general strike following refusal of the ruling Popular Party to sit down and negotiate some 30 amendments to the draconian labour legislation, as proposed by the confederations.

	The calling of the strike, which CCOO General Secretary Ignacio Fernández Toxo and UGT General Secretary Cándido Méndez termed “fair, inevitable and necessary,” is also aimed at planned austerity measures expected from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SPAIN.UGT.gif" style="width: 120px; height: 120px;" width="390" /> 

	On 30 March, the government is expected to release its 2012 budget that contains unprecedented public spending cuts of €35 billion as recommended by the European Union.

	But it is the anti-social labour reforms that are chief reason behind the general strike, which was preceded by three days of action, the latest occurring on 11 March. The confederations are calling the reforms the biggest attack on labour law in Spain’s post-fascist democratic period.

	Specifically, the legislation weakens collective bargaining on both the national and regional levels by giving precedence to company labour agreements, allows an employer to unilaterally reduce salaries for reasons of competitiveness and productivity, as well as giving bosses the liberty to unilaterally change working hours and labour terms.

	It provides employers with opportunities to use “work-experience” contracts under which they can dismiss workers who have been employed for less than a year without granting compensation. It also cuts jobless benefits, makes layoffs easier, and promotes other forms of precarious work.

	The general strike is the second in Spain since the advent of the 2008 financial crisis, with the first occurring in 2010 and will be the sixth general strike in Spain’s democratic period.

Spain Braced for Mass 29 March Strike over Draconian Labour Legislation

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	The ornate conference room of the Seranada Hotel in the Hamra district of central Beirut was the venue for the ICEM Middle East-North Africa (MENA) Regional Conference and Seminar from 14-16 March. Affiliated unions from throughout the region including Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen attended, and were joined by potential affiliates from Bahrain, Tunisia, and Egypt.

	From Egypt came a delegation of new independent trade unions from workplace levels representing both of the new structures of independent unions in that country. Delegations also came from Canada, Norway, Germany, and South Africa. It was very pleasing to see that there was a particularly large delegation from Turkey, a country often promoted since last year’s Arab Spring as a model to follow and a country that is economically active throughout the region, and a major trading bridge between Europe, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

	Local representatives of the ILO, US Solidarity Center, and Public Services International (PSI) were also present as guests during the conference opening.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-beirut-opening.jpg" style="width: 283px; height: 159px;" width="390" /> 

	The conference was generously supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany, which also played an active role in the proceedings jointly chaired by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Soliman Hemdan, President of the host union, the Professional Union of Syndicates for Workers & Employees of Chemical Materials and Similar Products of Lebanon.

	In attendance were ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina. A key area of discussions was the creation of the new Global Union Federation (GUF) that will bring together ICEM, IMF, and the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). Discussion centered on the future role of MENA in the new organization.

	Another major focus of discussions was the Arab Spring and the fundamental political changes that are taking place in the region. The growth of new independent trade unions in a number of countries was considered and discussed as was the need for ILO compliant labour legislation throughout the region, particularly in Egypt and Iraq.

	   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-beirut-palestinian.jpg" style="width: 155px; height: 159px;" width="390" />   

	Mohammed Abuadwan of Palestine

	Various international instruments were examined, including ILO Core Conventions, the OECD Guidelines for MNCs, the UN’s Global Compact, and Global Framework Agreements. There was a focus on the importance of building regional networks within industries and where applicable, company levels, both to strengthen trade unions in the region, as well as to improve input into global discussions and networks and the new GUF, to be named IndustriALL.

	Over two-and-a- half days, with a mixture of presentations followed by detailed question and answer sessions, panel discussions, and group works, the participants enthusiastically debated their local situations, examined the past activities of the ICEM, a resolution on the MENA region passed by the ICEM Congress in Argentina, and laid down solid plans for the future – especially regarding network building.

	The conference watched a graphic film made by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) showing the immense difficulties their members face in crossing into Israel for daily work with check-points serving as a major form of daily harassment that on occasions clearly constitutes collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

	     <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-beirut-iraq.jpg" style="width: 147px; height: 160px;" width="390" />     

	The Iraqi Union Delegation

	The delegate present, Mohammed Abuadwan, President of the General Union of Petrochemical Workers in Palestine, thanked the ICEM for the focus on Palestine at the Argentina Congress and reaffirmed his strong support for the resolution passed there. All delegates reaffirmed their wishes that Palestine and Iraq continue to be priorities for work in the region in IndustriALL.

	Iraqi trade unions met in a work group which determined that it was essential for ICEM to revitalise its campaign and to increase pressure on the Iraqi government to introduce a new labour code fully compliant with ILO global standards. Iraqi unionists seek trade union organisations to function normally in both the public and private sectors, as well as guaranteeing the pluralistic system of trade unions that exists now on the ground in their country. Unity has to be built voluntarily by workers and their unions, and cannot be enforced by government decree.

	A wide ranging discussion on alterative and independent trade unions centered on the situation in Egypt where long-standing affiliates of ICEM in the petroleum and electric power sectors were faced across the table by new emergent independent unions in these industries.

	Of particular importance was the situation in oilfield services with Schlumberger where local management has dismissed on spurious grounds four leading activists of the new union. With the general secretary of the new union dismissed on the same day that the first Congress of the new organization elected him, it was clear to all that this was a blatant attack on the new structure and all delegates. With the exception of the old union part of Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), delegates expressed strong support to the dismissed union activists of Schlumberger Egypt, and called on ICEM to intensify the campaign on their behalf, as well as other union activists who have suffered similar dismissals.

	In general, delegates called for increased ICEM activities throughout the region and a continued special focus on both Iraq and Palestine. Calls were made for increased use of the Arabic language in the new organization as well as increased seminars and network meetings building on past work.  Both Warda and Raina committed the new organization to play an increased role throughout MENA, and gave support to all efforts to build real and strong trade unions in the region.

ICEM Holds Middle East-North Africa Region Conference in Beirut

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Following renewal of the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) between ICEM, the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), and the Belgian company Umicore last September, the Monitoring Committee conducted a visit to one of the company’s US operations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That monitoring mission occurred 6-7 March 2012.

	Umicore is a global materials and technology firm that focuses in four business areas, Catalysis, Energy Materials, Performance Materials, and Recycling. The Umicore Group has industrial operations on all continents and serves a global customer base. It generated turnover of €14.5 billion (€2.3 billion excluding metal) in 2011 and currently employs some 14,600 people.

	Umicore Autocat USA Inc.in Tulsa was purchased from Delphi in 2007 andis organized by the IMF affiliate Union Auto Workers (UAW) through its Local 286. Geographically close to major auto assembly plants in the US, the plant produces catalysts used in automotive emission abatement systems for both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-umicore-group.jpg" style="width: 137px; height: 159px;" width="390" /> 

	Umicore Monitoring Committee

	Along with the Umicore Monitoring Committee members, Ignace De Ruijter, Senior Vice President of Human Resources; Guy Ethier, Senior Vice President of Environment, Health and Safety; Mark Dolfyn, Director of Corporate Human Resource; Kemal Özkan, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs (who represented IMF as well); Peter Kamm, Umicore’s European Works Council and member of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, the visit was joined by local company managers and UAW local representatives.

	The Monitoring Committee followed the same pattern of work as in three previous missions to China, Brazil, and South Africa. A wide range of information regarding employment, training and education, health and safety, environmental issues, social policies and working conditions, social dialogue, and relations with the local community was delivered and discussed during the visit.

	Since the plant supplies major auto producers, the plant suffered severely during the financial crisis period starting in 2008 with a substantial decline in jobs. However when recovery in the US auto industry started in 2009, Umicore’s Tulsa plant began seeing an uptick in business and some jobs were restored, although still far below the level of the pre-crisis period.

	   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1203-umicore-inside.jpg" style="width: 227px; height: 159px;" width="390" />   

	Kemal Ozkan, UAW Representatives

	Local management and UAW local union representatives explained how the crisis period was handled through the industrial relations system at the plant. It was further reported that during collective bargaining negotiations in 2009, a more institutionalised procedure for conducting such periods was defined and agreed.

	Özkan and Kamm, together with UAW local shop stewards and James Cyr, Bargaining Chair; Warren McKinley, Co-Chair; Lance Boyd and Curtis Storey, both UAW Representatives, met in a separate union meeting to exchange information and discuss the labour situation at the plant. The union meeting examined current working conditions, the collective agreement and social dialogue at the plant, which was followed by a briefing on the nature and content of the GFA. It was agreed that communication would be continued between the UAW local union and the European Works Council.

	In evaluating the visit, the parties jointly committed to quality labour relations and social dialogue at the plant. Particular attention and appreciation was expressed for high quality health and safety practices conducted by joint union-management committee for safety inside the workplace. The Monitoring Committee will finalize its report at a meeting scheduled for the end of May.

Umicore Monitoring Committee of Global Agreement Visits US Plant in Oklahoma

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px" / width="390">

	On 7 March, the US National Mediation Board (NMB) announced that the International Association of Machinists (IAM) won exclusive bargaining status for 16,720 United Airlines employees, staff who work as passenger service, gate agents and reservation workers for the Chicago-based airline.

	In a mail ballot over the preceding seven weeks, 8,305 of the airline’s ground workers chose IAM, while 5,865 voted for no union. The ballot, conducted through the auspices of the US Rail Labor Act, became necessary following the December 2010 merger of United with Continental Airlines, the latter a predominately non-union airline.

	The IAM had represented United’s passenger services staff since 1998 but with the Continental merger, a new certification election became necessary. The union now represents 31,500 workers at the world’s largest airline, including ramp service, baggage handlers, and stock and store workers. The election also included passenger service employees of Continental Micronesia Airlines, which operates between the state of Hawaii and some Asia-Pacific nations and previously had another union.

	The election was marked by fierce resistance by United. Airline management tried to exclude 1,000 fleet service workers from voting but the NMB ruled that those workers have the right to join a union.

	IAM Transportation Vice President Sito Pantoja said the election “preserves IAM representation rights for pre-merger United employees and extends that benefit to their new co-workers from Continental and Continental Micronesia.

	“The win provides all IAM members at United with the advantages of size and strength that airlines themselves are seeking through consolidation.”

US Machinists Win Bargaining Status for 17,000 United Airlines Workers

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" style="width: 110px; height: 50px;" width="390" />

	The Global Unions Research Network (GURN) is collating information, links and publications on precarious work and making the information available through its <a href="http://www.gurn.info/en/topics/precarious-work">website</a>.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-gurn-inside-cal.jpg" style="width: 362px; height: 103px;" width="390" />

	The website has been developed as part of the follow-up to the International Workers' Symposium on Policies and Regulations to Combat Precarious Employment which took place in Geneva from 4 – 7th October 2011, and will be regularly updated.

Global Unions Research Network web resource on Precarious Work

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Turkish workers of rubber manufacturer Standard Profil, organised by ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş over a year ago, are more determined than ever to get a collective agreement from a recalcitrant employer. On 2 April, some 500 workers gathered with union President Mustafa Öztaşkin outside plant gates in the northern Anatolian city of Düzce to publicly state that union and workers will not be deterred in gaining their universally recognised collective bargaining rights.

	The ICEM as well joined the demonstration, the first such outward display by workers amidst a climate of management fear and intimidation, and promised that pressure will continue against the private equity firm that controls Standard Profil, a maker of weather-sealing door and window units for the automotive industry.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-standard-profil-dick.jpg" style="width: 206px; height: 160px;" width="390" />

	ICEM's Dick Blin Displays Alert to a Company Customer

	The rally saw a number of Anatolian labour leaders participate along with Öztaşkin, Petrol-İş Organising Secretary Nimetullah Sözen and regional Organiser Ǘnal Akbulut. Gathering under the banner “One Year is Enough: Standard Profil Workers Are Unionised – They Want Their Right to Collective Bargaining,” the manifestation was conducted under the watchful eyes of managers who dispatched transport buses through in an effort to disrupt it.

	Following a Petrol-İş organising drive from December 2010 to February 2011 that saw well over half of 2,300 workers from the plant in Düzce and a sister factory in Bursa select the union as their bargaining representative, Turkey’s Labour and Social Security Ministry in March and April 2011 formally granted a pair of certifications stating Petrol-İş was both the correct sectoral union – rubber – for Standard Profil workers, and that it had exceeded the simple majority needed for representation.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-standard-profil.jpg" style="width: 241px; height: 160px;" width="390" />

	Despite Petrol-İş and ICEM invitations to both Istanbul executives of Standard Profil and the UK-based private equity firm to form a positive labour-management relationship, the company chose an adversarial path by wasting company funds in legal challenges to both certifications in an effort to block workers from their legitimate workplace rights.

	Standard Profil managers further muddied the waters by sacking 37 union activists inside the larger Düzce factory, a grievous factory-level ploy to intimidate others against the union. Judging from Monday’s determined and vocal manifestation, workers are not intimidated. But they are growing short of patience with management’s stalling strategy through frivolous legal appeals.

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-standard-profil-banner.jpg" style="width: 365px; height: 128px;" width="390" />

	One Year is Enough 

	Petrol-İş President Öztaşkin made it clear at the one-year anniversary that a new era has now begun. The union will move in a different direction to get Standard Profil to the bargaining table. “We cannot and will not accept this employer’s attempts to block the internationally rights and freedoms of workers,” he said.

	The ICEM has begun to take the rights abuses outside Turkey. Standard Profil’s major auto-making customers have been identified and efforts are underway to alert trade unions and automotive factory managements of the company’s dereliction. In some instances, Volkswagen/Audi and Daimler for instance, global labour pacts contain strict guidelines that suppliers must comply with basic workplace rights.

	The rubber manufacturer’s assets are controlled by Bancroft Private Equity LLP, a holding company that has been trying to dispose of Standard Profil since last year. The ICEM has made it clear to Bancroft – and to the buyers of Standard Profil’s products – that a positive and respectful labour relations bond with Petrol-İş is far better than an adversarial one to ensure a productive and profitable future for the auto supply company.

One Year On, Turkey’s Standard Profil Still Delays Workers’ Bargaining Rights

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" style="width: 100px; height: 39px;" width="390" />

	Week-long strikes at seven Queensland, Australia, metallurgical coal mines ended today, but a dogged 16-month labour dispute between three ICEM union affiliates there and the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) continues. On 27 March, just when progress was being made on a new version of an enterprise labour agreement after two weeks of steady talks, BMA reneged on pivotal language, causing the latest round of protected industrial actions.

	For the 3,500 miners of Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU), the setback means they are no closer to a collective agreement under Fair Work Australia than when bargaining began in December 2010.

	For BMA, which twice now has rejected the unions’ Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) offer of third-party mediation, it means more disruption at the world’s largest coking coal mine pits with workers likely to take yet another legal round of stop-work actions next week.

	 <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1110.australia bhp mining cfmeu.jpg" style="width: 145px; height: 160px;" width="390" /> 

	On 2 April, BHP Billiton, the lead operator of the 50/50 joint venture, announced force majeure to customers in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, Latin America and Europe. It informed steel producers that it would be unable to meet its coal-delivery contracts due to the labour disruptions and wet weather in the Bowen Basin of central Queensland.

	Management also announced at the outset of last week’s seven-day strike that at the end of April it would again use its Fair Work law privilege to conduct a second mail ballot directly to workers without SBU involvement. The first time it did such, last October, miners rejected the throwback management rights’ proposals by 92%. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4731-Australian-Miners-Reject-BMA-s-Contract-Proposal-by-92" type="internal">ICEM report</a> here.)

	Last week’s failed bargaining saw BMA regress on commitments it made in earlier days and earlier rounds of bargaining over family-friendly work rosters and other language that had been tentatively agreed to in principle. Issues that remain in dispute include the role of unions in safety matters, working hours, housing, and inequality for contract workers.

	On the company’s backtracking, the strike leader of the largest union representing BMA miners, CFMEU Queensland District President Stephen Smyth said, “The level of contempt they’re showing for their workers is truly astonishing.”

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1204-cfmeu-steve-smyth.jpg" style="width: 241px; height: 160px;" width="390" />

	Stephen Smyth

	That contempt rests in the belief that BHP Billiton believes it can cling to one-sided work rules common in the dead-and-gone WorkChoices legislation of pre-2009. The contempt toward miners and current Australian labour law is also evident in a leaked early March e-mail from BHP Billiton Coal Division CEO Marcus Randolph. In it, he told his Bowen Basin mine managers “this is the fight we had to have” and the work-rule issues in dispute “are not negotiable, not now, not next month and not next year.”

	Meantime, with BMA’s seven Queensland mines that produce one-fifth of the world’s metallurgical coal, prices are soaring and the ripple effect from Australia’s nastiest labour dispute in decades is being felt in rail and seaborne transport, and in steel-making centres across the globe.

	(An <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4879-Queensland-Coal-Strikes-to-Resume-against-BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi-Alliance" type="internal">ICEM report on SBU</a> strikes from February 2012 can be found here.)

Intentional BHP Billiton Strife in Australian Coal Dispute Continues

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" style="width: 120px; height: 59px" width="390" />

	 

	The ICEM – along with the European Mine, Chemical, Energy, Federation (EMCEF) – will march in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, tomorrow, 16 November, in support of 5,200 British workers who are seriously threatened by Unilever with closure of a final salary pension scheme. The ICEM and EMCEF will join European workers of the world’s third largest consumer goods company in protest at the company’s Rotterdam headquarters.

	The message – Unilever, Don’t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits – will specifically target Unilever CEO Paul Polman for his 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out of €8 million. Unilever is out to slash between 20-40% of pension earnings to UK workers represented by trade unions Unite the Union, GMB and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers’ (USDAW).

	<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1201.jennie formbie unite.jpg" style="width: 141px; height: 159px" width="390" />

	Jennie Formby

	“Executive greed and compensation must be challenged,” stated United National Officer Jennie Formby. Polman saw a 50% increase in his total earnings from 2010 to 2011, some 285 times that of the average Unilever worker.

	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.

	The three British unions have engaged in two rounds of industrial actions against Unilever at 11 plants, the latest coming with 11 days of rolling strike actions that ended on 28 January. Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK’s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

	Unilever instead intends to implement a pension scheme based on career average earnings. Formby said Polman’s vision of doubling Unilever’s revenue stream over the next ten years and creating “sustainable living” is disingenuous in view of cutting workers’ pensions.

	Tomorrow’s manifestation will begin at 12h00 at Unilever’s offices at Weena 455, Rotterdam. The ICEM also will raise concerns over the 5 February closure due to a labour dispute at Unilever’s Basamadi, Nepal, factory. The dispute at that facility, which produces Lux and Lifebuoy soaps and Pepsodent and Close-Up toothpastes, is close to a resolve this week after intervention from the Nepalese government.

Unilever Rotterdam Protest Pits Corporate Compensation vs. Workers’ Pension Cuts

WOMEN’S BULLETIN

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