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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Mobilisation in the Netherlands toward strike action won 330,000 metalworkers a 25-month labour agreement in the small metals and electric-technical sector. The pay package of 4.45% exceeds Dutch inflation and is expected to set the pace for national contracts in the coming weeks in automotive and the big metals sectors. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen, and De Unie reached a tentative agreement with the Metaal & Techniek industry asssociation, representing 30,000 employers, late on 6 April, which now prevents another two weeks of scheduled mobilisation that could have led to industrial actions. A prior agreement in the sector covering metal fabrication, installation, as well as plumbing, heating, and electrical installation expired 1 April.  

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.jan berguis.jpg" width="95" height="127"/>
FNV Bondgenoten’s Jan Berghuis 

“The employers didn’t want a fight and we were quickly mobilising toward strike action,” said Jan Berghuis, head of the sector for FNV Bondgenoten, who called the pact “trendsetting.” 
 
“With inflation expected to be less than 2%, this is a very good result and it will likely prove very important in the big metal and automotive sectors.” 
 
Some 150,000 metalworkers in basic steel and other heavy metal production resume talks through their unions on 19 April. The agreement in that sector expires 1 May. The automotive sector, where 90,000 workers are employed, has a social agreement expiring on 1 June. 
 
The accord in light metals and electric-technical provides exceptional training opportunities and investment of such for workers, a key part of the deal. Berghuis also said the unions won language regarding the use of short-term contract labour that specifies this work can only go to labour-hire firms that have collective agreements with the unions. 
 
The 4.45% pay increase will come in four steps over the next 18 months. Berghuis said the only disappointment came in not securing a higher wage or a stipend for young workers. But young workers brought into the sector during the financial crisis will benefit by the 4.45%. 
 
The three unions and Metaal & Techniek industry had been at a bargaining stalemate since late February, and only a week ago mobilisation meetings and union activity indicated there could be a rare Dutch strike in this sector. But a compromise on wages, extending the agreement into a second year, the unions gaining the necessary continuing education and training criteria, and workable language on contract labour means the agreement will be recommended for ratification by all three unions.

Dutch Unions Agree to ‘Trendsetting’ Terms in Light Metals, Electric Sector

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A three-day workshop in basic safety radiation training for workers employed around uranium and uranium mining was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 24-26 March. The ICEM-sponsored workshop was the second such workshop, the first one held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2009. 
 
The training was attended by 22 people, including 15 African mine union leaders and seven trainers. Funding came from the ILO and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. Besides the ICEM, the Power Workers’ Union (PWU) of Canada, the Untied Steelworkers (USW), and the Canadian Nuclear Workers’ Council committed resources. Nuclear power companies Cameco and Ontario Power generation also provided support and assistance. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.namibia uranium.JPG" width="289" height="179"/>
The workshop addressed radiation sources, protection, detection measurements, as well as radioactive gases in underground, open cast, and milling workplaces. ILO Conventions 176 and 183 were also reviewed, and sessions on national legislative and regulatory frameworks were held. 
 
Instructors included Dave Shier and Bob Walker of the PWU; Nancy Hutchison of the USW; Michael Schultheiss of FES Namibia; Marko Baran of Cameco; and Brian Kohler of the ICEM. ICEM Sub-Saharan African Regional Officer Fabian Nkomo was also a facilitator and selected the 15 African trade unionists, with the aim to give them basic training in safe uranium processes in order that they carry the training back to their worksites.

Namibia: ICEM Conducts Second Uranium Training Programme

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0904Labourrose.JPG" width="50" height="65"/>
Glyphosate, known by its International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name phosphonomethylamino or acetic acid, is manufactured for use as a herbicide. Depending on specific purpose, it may be used as such, or as an ammonium salt, isopropylamine salt, or potassium salt. 
 
It is most well-known as the main active ingredient in the chemical company’s Monsanto's "Roundup." But since the Monsanto patent has expired, it is also used in similar formulations by a number of manufacturers. It works as a plant hormone inhibitor, by interfering with this metabolic process in plants, it kills the plants. 
 
In handling glyphosate, it is essential to have an up-to-date Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which can be obtained from a company that manufactures products with it in it. It is also essential to minimise exposure through engineering controls, isolation, effective ventilation, and where worker exposure is unavoidable, personal protective equipment. 
There are two stories on glyphosate, one by its original manufacturer, Monsanto, and unfortunately accepted by most regulatory agencies worldwide, the other by opponents of glyphosate use, who claim much information about it has been suppressed. 
 
As Monsanto tells it, glyphosate is generally considered to be one of the safest herbicides. There is a fairly well-established potential for temporary skin and eye irritation, and gastrointestinal irritation if ingested. These can even be severe if the chemical is encountered in its pure form and not promptly washed off the skin. A survey of recent MSDSs reveals that it is officially considered practically non-toxic, and, in several animal studies, has produced no officially recognized evidence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or teratogenicity. 
 
However, MSDSs are often less than complete. There are some rather alarming suggestions of a link between glyphosate exposure and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by some researchers. Monsanto's claim that there is no severe adverse effect has been traced back to Swedish researcher Hans-Olov Adami, who in turn has been linked to a consulting group called Exponent. 
 
Exponent has ties to Monsanto and other chemical companies and is known for its rebuttals of concerns about chemicals in the environment. Findings about glyphosate that contradict Monsanto have rarely been given much attention. 
 
There are suggestions that it may be an endocrine disruptor or a genotoxin. For example, Gilles-Eric Séralini, a French biochemist, has claimed that his studies of the effects of glyphosate on human embryonic cells, fetal cells, and placental cells; and that glyphosate is likely an endocrine disruptor in humans. This effect was shown for “Roundup” formulations, rather than pure glyphosate. Indeed, one of the issues with any chemical testing is how it will affect humans or the environment in the complex mixture of chemicals encountered in the real world, as compared with its study in isolation in a laboratory. 
The statistical significance of the association between glyphosate and NHL is low. Monsanto's defenders have suggested that errors in the assessment of exposure levels, or chance, are the likely explanations for the association between glyphosate exposure and NHL. As for Séralini's observations, it is unclear whether the effects Séralini observed were due to the glyphosate, or the surfactants (detergents) that are always part of a pesticide formulation. 
 
Regardless, from a pure occupational health point of view, the best way to handle any chemical is with caution. Minimise the opportunities for worker exposure with the best possible engineering designs that isolate the chemical from human contact. Install effective drainage and ventilation systems to safely remove any chemical that escapes from the closed system. Finally, since despite these precautions some chance of exposure may remain, appropriate personal protective equipment must be provided and maintained. 
 
The safest level of exposure is always no exposure.

Handling and Use of Pesticide Glyphosate: Things to Know

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Codelco, the state-owned mining company of Chile and world’s largest copper producer, reached early terms with three of its five mining unions at El Teniente in Region VI ten days ago. The 40-month agreement will take effect on 1 July 2011 and will cover 2,500 of El Teniente’s 4,000 miners. 
 
The branches of Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC) that agreed to terms were Sindicato No. 5, Sindicato No. 7, and Sindicato de Trabajadores Caletones. One of the two other branches rejected the proposal, while the other was not included in bargaining. 
 
The package is expected to be considered by those mineworker trade union branches in the coming days. 
 
The collective agreement includes a 3.85% wage increase on 1 July and a CLP 12.3 million (€17,680, US$25,324) bonus, which matches the bonus paid miners at other Codelco divisions in 2010. It also includes an optional loan of CLP 3 million, and a 10% increase in the annual bonus that comes on Chile’s national day, 18 September.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Chile.png" width="250" height="115"/>
El Teniente is an underground mine that includes some 2,400 kilometres of shafts. It includes an ore processing operation producing molybdenum, and its output of copper lingots and copper anodes is 404,000 tonnes per year. In 2010, it accounted for 27.2% of Codelco’s US$5.8 billion profit. 
 
At another Codelco copper operation, Chuquicamata, part of the El Norte division, FTC branches and management met 12 April to discuss staffing requirements. The Chuquicamata mine recently shed a number of jobs due to union-negotiated early retirements as the operation prepares for a conversion from an open-cast mine to an underground one. 
 
FTC Sindicato No. 1 Vice President Héctor Roco said the union, and three other FTC branches at Chuquicamata, want workers to be given the opportunity to transfer to areas where retirements have lowered job rolls, and they also want a say in the planning of the transition to underground mining. 
 
Codelco employs 17,000 miners in Chile at five divisions: El Norte, Salvador, Andina, El Teniente, and Ventaras.

Early Accord Comes to One of Codelco’s Copper Mines in Chile

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The ICEM-affiliated Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) condemned the recent actions of managers at a joint venture copper-gold project in Baluchistan province owned by Barrick Gold of Canada and Antofagasta Ltd. of the UK. Managers at the Reko Diq project of Tethyan Copper Co. (TCC) suddenly turned its back on a budding social dialogue forum with the TCC Employees’ Union and suspended 12 union activists. 
 
This despite a pledge by Tethyan Copper managers to engage the All Pakistan Labour Federation (APLF) in signing a charter of demand to begin serious discussions over workplace matters at the set of 19 gold and copper deposits in the Chagai District of the southwestern Pakistani province. The charter ended a hunger strike in front of the company’s offices in Nok Kundi.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.pakistan.quetta press.JPG" width="294" height="170" alt=""/>
 Sultan Mohammad Khan (center) at News Briefing 

But shortly after, Tethyan Copper reneged on reinstating five of the 12 workers, sacking them, and then of 14 April fired four TCC Employees’ Union leaders, including President Ghulam Hayder Baloch and Chairman Mazir Ahmad Baloch. At a press conference at the Quetta press club on 17 April, PCMLF General Secretary and APLF leader Sultan Mohammad Khan denounced the company’s backpeddling and urged journalists and others to apply pressure for reinstatement. 
 
“Management of Tethyan Copper ignored an environment of brotherhood and refused to fulfil its commitment,” he said. “The workers of Reko Diq are of the view that TCC is not offering them anything other than a job, and that job hangs by a loose thread. They feel helpless and powerless now in front of this company because if they demand their legal rights, they feel they will be terminated.”
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.pakistan.quetta press.2.JPG" width="230" height="142" alt=""/>
Australian-based TCC was bought by Antofagasta in 2006 and immediately Barrick’s joined as a joint venture partner on the Reko Diq project to help alleviate Antofagasta’s debt burden. The copper-gold porphyry mineral deposits are said to be worth US$100 billion, with copper reserves of 12.3 million tonnes and gold reserves of 20.8 million ounces. In 2010, the enterprise drew 1.98 million ounces of gold from Reko Diq.

Mine Workers’ Federation Condemns Barrick Gold, Antofagasta in Pakistan

Dear Pulp & Paper Comrades, 
 
The month-long struggle for a fair national collective agreement by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro continues today. In fact, in anything, following a two-week strike against UPM that ended last week, the union has ramped up lawful industrial action. 
 
A <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands" type="internal">full ICEM report</a> from yesterday, 25 April, can be read without going into too many details here. 
 
In short, a scheduled two-week strike action that was to have started on Wednesday, 27 April, has been moved up to today. The strike actions, this time numbering 1,500 Pro members, will be against all Stora Enso operations in Finland, as well as against Metsäliitto and its related and partly-owned paper companies – Metsä-Botnia, M-real, and Metsä Tissue. The reasons for moving strike action up are primarily Stora Enso’s heavy-handed attempt to bust a lawful overtime ban the union has put in place, and the fact that Proliitto enters government-mediated bargaining today over the dispute with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
In your own short words, send a message of congratulations to Pro leaders for waging this gutsy fight on behalf of union members, and send them another note of solidarity. They are <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka Hamalainen</a>, and <a href="http://Matti.koskinen@proliitto.fi">Matti Koskinen</a>. 
 
They truly have ratcheted up pressure against the industry in Finland and by doing this, it will ensure that white-collar, technical, and clerical workers in the pulp and paper sector in Finland will get their fair share.
 
<hr/>
Campaign to Save Sappi’s Paper Mill in Biberist, Switzerland 
 
Another hot issue in European pulp and paper is Swiss union Unia’s campaign to prevent Sappi from closing a printing and writing papers mill (one Sappi bought from M-real) in Biberist, Switzerland. 
 
A <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4393-ICEM-Joins-Swiss-Workers’-Campaign-to-Keep-Sappi-Paper-Mill-Open" type="internal">full ICEM report</a> can be accessed here. 
 
The campaign is exciting because the whole community of Biberist, located some 40 kilometres north of Bern, has rallied to Unia’s campaign. The mill manager is bucking Sappi Europe’s decision to close what now has become a productive and profitable mill. And last week, the Sappi EWC pleaded with management to keep the mill open. Full details can be found in the ICEM story. 
 
Do your part: send a short message to Unia’s representatives that you support the union’s initiatives. They are <a href="mailto:Manuel.wyss@unia.ch">Manuel Wyss</a>, <a href="mailto:Markus.baumann@unia.ch">Markus Baumann</a>, and <a href="mailto:David.binder@sappi.com">David Binder</a>.

Finnish Paper Strike Heats Up; Further Help Needed

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1004.mayday.jpg" width="283" height="93"/>
The ICEM has joined with the 11 other Global Union Federations (GUFs), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD in issuing a joint 1 May statement. That statement follows below. 
Winds of change for social justice and democracy 
 
1 May 2011
Today as trade unionists around the world celebrate the role of workers in the fight for democracy and social justice, the international union movement takes inspiration from winds of change sweeping across Arab countries. 
 
Global Unions salute the courage of working men and women and the independent trade unions in the vanguard of this historic fight for freedom. 
 
We pledge our support to their struggle and we condemn without reservation the tyranny of regimes, in the Middle East and elsewhere, who continue to deny their people fundamental rights and who use violence to silence voices of dissent. We urge the international community to act to end this oppression. 
 
At the same time, in the name of hundreds of millions of working people who yearn for an end to inequality, discrimination and exploitation, Global Unions reaffirm their demand for a full-scale transformation of the world economy. 
We seek an end to the culture of political and corporate neglect that has created a gulf between rich and poor and we call for new commitments to respect workers’ rights, to create the framework for social justice and to combat the scourge of unemployment. 
 
The time has come to turn away from the failed policies of the past. We must abandon programmes of austerity that tear into the fabric of society and that diminish people’s lives. We must end the scandal of falling living standards caused by the growth of informal, unprotected and precarious work and, particularly, the grotesque exploitation of migrant workers. There must be action now to rescue a lost generation of young people who yearn for jobs and a decent future. 
But none of this will happen unless governments put their people first by regulating the finance sector and by curbing the excesses of corporate power. 
All governments must invest in job creation, in education and training, in programmes to strengthen investment in quality public services and in providing a universal social protection floor. The largest and most powerful economies, in the G20, must provide the lead for this. 
Governments must put finance at the service of the real economy and reclaim the wealth needed to put the world economy to rights by taxing banks and finance, including urgent action to introduce a financial transactions tax. 
States must confront corporations who profit from scandalous exploitation of vulnerable workers and who fail to respect union rights and global labour standards. 
Unless there is an immediate change of direction in governance and management of the world economy, the noble aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals will not be met and there will be no progress to stop the catastrophe of climate change. 
 
Globalisation can only work if it brings sustainable wealth for all and promotes action for a just transition to a sustainable world built around principles of strong economies, social justice, and green jobs. 
 
Global Unions will work together to expose governments who refuse to change and who are withdrawing from provision of services, imposing fiscal cuts and attacking public sector workers with devastating effect on the lives of all people, particularly women. 
 
We will continue to isolate, condemn and target those companies that are reckless in their disregard for labour standards and who prey upon the weakest in the workforce. 
 
Finally, Global Unions in the Middle East and elsewhere will continually strive for peace in the face of dictatorship and corruption. Exploitation and political instability caused by an absence of the rule of law and democracy and economic injustice means that war and social conflict is a constant risk. 
 
Today the global challenges are as great as we have ever faced, but the union movement is in good heart. Our proud traditions of solidarity are the foundations of 
social progress, democracy and peace, and they give us the strength to make real the dream of a global economy based upon justice, equality, humanity and sustainability.

Global Labour’s Joint 1 May Statement

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BWI New.jpg" width="100" height="90" alt=""/>     <img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM100.jpg" width="100" height="86" alt=""/>
The ICEM joined the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), yesterday in launching a global campaign for equal rights of Holcim CAL workers in India.
Join the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&Language=EN">campaign yourself by sending a message to the Holcim CEO</a> via the BWI website here. 
The Indian Cement Workers Federation (INCWF) an affiliate of both global union federations, has conducted a long-running campaign calling for equal rights, conditions, and salaries for contract workers, as stipulated under Indian law. Holcim India continuously neglects this legislation, specifically at its subsidiaries ACC in Bhilai and Ambuja Cement in Baloda Bazar.
The State High Court of Chhattisgarh ruled in favour of contract workers at Holcim Jamul Unit, instructing the company to regularise CAL employees and replace the "sham" contracts currently in place. Holcim India is yet to act positively on the court ruling. Workers at Jamul have conducted a "sit in" protest since 3 April.
On Holcim's purchase of ACC and Ambuja Cement, both companies were members of the Cement Manufacturer's Association and signatories to the National Wage Agreement for the sector. It is extremely unfortunate that under Holcim's ownership, this has been reversed, removing employee's protection from the National Agreement, blocking their right to bargain collectively.
See a recent <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4245-Finally-Excellent-Wage-Gains-Won-by-Indian-Cement-Workers" type="internal">ICEM report</a> on the positive national settlement for the Indian cement industry here.
The INCWF, backed by BWI, ICEM, and joint Swiss affiliate UNIA, are calling on the company to enter into dialogue so as to resolve these issues, respect global labour standards, Indian law, and end the discriminatory treatment of contract workers at Holcim.
Holcim is the second largest producer of cement in the world. An average salary for Indian contract workers is US$2.17 a day, and a high amount on limestone are factors moving Holcim to shift production to India from countries such as Spain and the US.
See the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Holcim%20Akermann%2028%204%202011.pdf" type="internal">joint BWI-ICEM letter to Holcim</a> CEO Markus Akermann here.

Global Campaign Launched for Indian Cement Contract Workers

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ten-day strike by union members of Sindicato No. 1 Escondida of Chile’s Federation of Miners (FMC) at the world’s largest copper mine has galvanized mining unions in the South American country. In unprecedented solidarity, mineworkers’ unions of the private-sector FMC and at state-run Codelco, the Federation of Workers of Cobre (FTC), are uniting to proclaim a larger portion of the world’s copper profits must remain in national hands. 
 
That message was made clear last Thursday, 28 July, when leaders of both federations met in Antofagasta in northern Region II to discuss how companies circumvent labour laws and collective agreement conventions at the expense of mineworkers, and how natural resources are exploited to the detriment of Chile’s national character. Outside the trade union meeting, rank-and-file workers marched and demanded re-nationalisation of copper mining. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.chile miners - use this one as replacement.jpg" width="237" height="164"/>
28 July manifestation in Antofagasta
That may seem improbable, but one thing is not: soaring pricing on copper concentrates and copper cathodes and the ever-growing profit margins of multinationals that mine and trade the red metal worldwide has created a “Together We Can” mentality. Chile’s mineworkers are now saying that unified industrial action can affect the country’s future for the better. 
 
Consider that on a single day – 30 July – 10% of the world’s copper production stopped when 1,500 FMC miners at Doña Inés Collahuasi (AngloAmerican and Xstrata) joined 2,400 miners of FMC Sindicato No. 1 at Minera Escondida Ltd. (BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto). Although grievances reflected separate sets of negligent circumstances at the two mining complexes, the unity of purpose was evident. 
 
The bosses have declared both strikes illegal because the walkouts occurred during running collective agreements. But when companies abrogate terms of those contracts – or refuse dialogue on health and safety or other concerns – what choice is there? Sindicato No. 1 has taken Escondida Ltd’s breaches to labour court to disprove the illegality of its strike. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Christian Arancibia - Chile FMC.jpg" width="128" height="159"/>
Cristián Arancibia
FMC President Cristián Arancibia said that workers are hearing a national calling, that unions of his federation feel a responsibility to the people and communities of mining regions. He said agreement has been reached with the FTC that mineworkers will not be “accomplices to Chile’s resources sold away for foreign investment.” That includes FMC recognition that Codelco is chipping away at FTC’s membership in order to partially privatise the world’s largest copper company. 
 
The FTC’s Cristian Cuevas, in turn, demanded that Escondida Ltd. stop persecuting workers by failing to fulfil the terms of the 2009-2013 collective agreement and disrespecting international labour conventions. He also warned that if BHP Billiton sacked striking Sindicato No. 1 members and replaces them with scabs, the wrath of all Chilean mineworkers will be heard. 
 
The ten-day strike by FMC Sindicato No. 1 at Escondida is portrayed as a difference in a one-off production bonus between the union and management. In fact, it is over dramatic reductions in agreed-upon production bonuses that were reduced three-fold this past spring while multinationals, BHP Billiton (57.5%) and Rio Tinto (30%), were reaping huge profits from a mining enterprise that accounts for 7% of the world’s copper supply. 
 
At Collahuasi, the 24-hour walkout on 30 July – only eight months after a bitter 33-day strike – was over the company negotiating individually with workers outside the collective agreement. It was also brought about by an unresolved health issue from that November-December 2010 strike. The mine is located 4,000 metres high in the Atacama Desert of the Andes where oxygen levels are low and worker body stress is high. Anglo American and Xstrata have a US$750 million expansion underway that will nearly double production. The new open-cast mining area is at even higher altitudes, up to 5,000 metres. The FMC affiliate, Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi, seeks dialogue to address the obvious and adverse health affects.

‘Together We Can’ …. Chile’s Copper Miners Unite for National Gain

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Swiss union UNIA is mobilising its forces in defence of 560 jobs at Swissmetal, as the company moves dangerously close to bankruptcy. Some 150 Swissmetal staff in Dornach in north-western Switzerland assembled in the factory car park on 21 July in a sombre demonstration, demanding that production continues after the two-week scheduled holiday break. Resumption of all work activities should occur 8 August. 
 
Workers at the plant are refusing to halt production, in the knowledge that it would result in mass redundancies. UNIA and local staff have proposed a raft of alternative measures to improve efficiency, which would ensure profitability for Swissmetal. 
 
Pending a solution, local management must not issue redundancies or dismantle production equipment, as operations may still be purchased by another company. One prospective buyer is France-based Le Bronze Industriel. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.swissmetal unia.jpg" width="216" height="161" alt=""/>
Other union demands include for management to provide fully transparent financial documentation of the company, and a joint review of union proposals on efficiency improvements. A period of consultation has been extended to 19 August. 
 
UNIA is calling on the Canton of Soleure to mobilise its powers to safeguard the jobs. It is the same Canton where pulp and paper multinational Sappi last spring announced closure of its Biberist graphic papers mill, in a brutal loss of 341 jobs. Despite UNIA and Sappi European Works Council (EWC) efforts to find a buyer for the Sappi mill, the South African company recently said those efforts have failed and the mill would close. 
 
Swissmetal manufactures high-quality copper products, mainly used in the electronics, telecommunications, aviation, petroleum, and automotive industries. Based in Dornach, ten kilometres south of Basel, the company’s other foundry in Switzerland is in Reconvilier, where another 560 jobs are at risk.

UNIA Continues Fight to Keep Swissmetal Jobs 

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