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The CEP of Canada is requesting the OECD undertake an investigation of labour practices against Finnish papermaker UPM Kymmene under the Parisbased organization&rsquo;s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. At UPM Kymmene&rsquo;s lone Canadian mill in Miramichi, New Brunswick, the firm unilaterally announced closure of the pulp mill&mdash;chopping 400 jobs effective 31 January 2005&mdash;but also engaged in vicious anti-union behaviour. Management turned rabid after the CEP local union protested the closure on grounds the firm&rsquo;s logging licenses for harvesting government lands mandates that it operate the mill. CEP charges UPM Kymmene with creating a &ldquo;cold war&rdquo; atmosphere of labour relations by suspending local union leaders for performing their statutory duties, monitoring and spying on workers&rsquo; activities with a hired security team, and refusing to negotiate with the union or to provide information pertinent to bargaining.

CEP of Canada Takes Paper Dispute to OECD

The CEP of Canada has chosen Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. as lead company for paper industry bargaining in eastern Canada. CEP represents 4,200 workers at 14 Abitibi worksites from Ontario to Newfoundland. The agreement with Montreal based Abitibi will be used as a pattern for talks with other paper companies covering 21,000 CEP members. The current labour agreement in pulp and paper in the eastern half of the country expires 30 April.

Abitibi Chosen as Lead in Canadian CEP Paper Bargaining

ICEM Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten and four other unions at DSM&rsquo;s chemical plant in Geleen engaged in a stop-work march and rally 12 April at the firm&rsquo;s headquarters in nearby Heerlen in the southern NL province of Limburg. Some 2,500 workers participated in this first-ever such action against DSM. Under the slogan &ldquo;Stop the Breakdown of DSM Employment in Limburg,&rdquo; the unions protested DSM&rsquo;s recent announcement that 1,000 workers at sprawling industrial chemicals operations would be made redundant this year. DSM intends to replace the 1,000 with 500 contractors. The Geleen complex once had 15,000 employees. Prior to this most recent announcement, it employed 5,000.

FNV Bondgenoten Protests DSM’s Retrenchments in the Netherlands

The National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa still has not received answers to the sudden lay-offs of 400 diamond miners employed by Antwerp-based Rex Diamond Mining at the Loxton Mine in the Northern Cape. Despite inquiries by the NUM and ICEM over the status of the miners, the firm has said only the retrenchments are of a &ldquo;short term arrangement,&rdquo; yet has provided no information that would clarify the benefits due the workers.

South Africa’s NUM Awaits Answers from Rex Diamond

The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers Union of Canada picked Suncor Energy last month as the pattern-setter for this year&rsquo;s round of oil talks. That means some 10,000 CEP members at five majors and several smaller companies will have similar terms in pay hikes, shift increases and other wage-related premiums at their bargains. General pay hikes agreed to at Suncor are 3%, 3.5% and 3% over three years. The Suncor agreement has a unique company contribution to CEP&rsquo;s Humanity Fund, the union&rsquo;s assistance fund to workers in developing nations. Union leaders have made it clear that CEP members across Canada&rsquo;s oil sector are determined to get the same terms as those achieved at Suncor.

Canadian CEP Sets Oil Pattern with Suncor

A dispute has surfaced between ICEM affiliate Associated Mineworkers of Zimbabwe and that country&rsquo;s Council of Mines. The employers&rsquo; group walked out of negotiations after refusing to award reasonable wage and salary adjustments, and then unilaterally granted inferior pay hikes amounting to half of what AMWZ considers a liveable wage. Zimbabwe&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour has intervened and ordered the matter be put before conciliation.
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Mining Dispute in Zimbabwe Centers on Wages

Nigerian unions led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) called off a 16 November mass general strike after the government rolled back fuel prices 8% &ldquo;in the name of domestic peace.&rdquo; In September, the government again reduced fuel subsidies and imposed another round of higher fuel prices prompting a four-day general strike. The NLC says it will now rejoin a panel of government officials, parliamentarians and representatives from civil society to find a solution to Nigeria&rsquo;s refined fuel oil crisis.

Nigerian Government Backs Down; General Strike Called Off

ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT has voiced its opposition to a report issued last week by the Roulet Commission over recapitalization and partial privatization of Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF). The commission, headed by former Thomson SA and France Telecom chairman Marcel Roulet, recommends massive cost cutting inside the utility to prepare the way for an IPO to private investors. FCE-CFDT says France should exhibit responsible behaviour to EDF workers and French citizens firstly, and should not reduce the utility&rsquo;s level of activities to a single field&mdash;namely France and Germany. The chemical and energy union has vowed to stand tight with EDF workers to protect their interests.

French Roulet Commission Reports Brings Privatisation Doubts

The ICEM registered a strong letter of protest last week with the government of Serbia-Montenegro over the police beating of Electric Power of Serbia (EPS) Trade Union member Dragan Teofilovic. The trade unionist for the Electric Power Distribution Company of Belgrade was summoned 8 November to a police station where he was questioned over his participation in a strike last summer. Teofilovic then suffered head and arm injuries at the hands of a police inspector. EPS Trade Union said the incident is further proof that the government systematically violates human and trade union rights.

ICEM Protests Serbian Police Brutality over Electric Industry Strike

South African chemical producer Sasol had another serious workplace safety incident on 30 October when one worker was critically injured during a fire at a refinery in Sasolburg, Free State. The cause was a fuel spill that occurred during a loading process. Two other workers received minor burns. Meanwhile, a commission of inquiry into the 1 September explosion at Sasol&rsquo;s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga, that killed ten and injured 100 has recessed until March 2005. The commission did conclude prior to adjourning that the accident happened when a contract worker opened a pipe containing flammable gas.

More Health, Safety Woes for South Africa’s Sasol

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