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Unite the union, ICEM&rsquo;s largest British affiliate, will take 48-hour strike action next week, 27-28 April, at Ineos Group Holdings&rsquo; Grangemouth petrochemicals complex near Falkirk, Scotland. 
 
The action will come due to company intentions to close the final pension scheme to new workers, and planned imposition of other adverse work terms. The polyolefins and oil derivatives plants at Grangemouth employ 1,200 workers, the vast majority of them Unite members.
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In late March, workers balloted for strike action. That vote passed with a 98% affirmative for industrial action. 
 
Unite is hopeful negotiations will resume this week, but will only return to the bargaining table if the company signals it&rsquo;s intent to move away from shutting the pension scheme to new hires and removing the proposed and negative work terms. In talks last Friday, 18 April, Ineos refused to budge from its proposals, causing United to issue the strike notice. 
 
&ldquo;The company is profitable, and the pension scheme in its present form is well funded and affordable,&rdquo; said United National Secretary Phil McNulty, who also is an ICEM Vice President. &ldquo;The changes to the scheme Ineos are proposing are unreasonable, unnecessary, and have forced our members at Grangemouth to take industrial action for the first time,&rdquo; he added.
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Ineos is seeking to withdraw &pound;40 million from the pension fund, and Unite said other changes at the 200,000-barrels-per-day refinery could cost workers up to &pound;10,000 annually. Grangemouth manufactures petrochemicals for uses in all manners of transport fuels and other uses. 
 
Since the strike notice was issues three days ago, the company has begun shutdown procedures at the complex near Glasgow. The shutdown, 48-hour strike, and subsequent start-up are expected to crimp fuel supplies across Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland. Ineos operates the petrochemicals complex with only a week&rsquo;s supply of refined fuels as reserves. 
 
Ineos was created in 1998 through a management buyout. In December 2005, the UK-based company purchased Grangemouth from BP&rsquo;s Innovene chemicals division. The US$9 billion deal also brought the company petrochemicals plants in Lav&eacute;ra, France, as well as seven chemical manufacturing operations in Europe and nine in North America.

Unite Ready to Strike Giant Petrochemicals Complex in Scotland

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On 15-16 April, ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and the BAVC Chemical Industry Association came to 2008 and 2009 wage terms for some 550,000 chemical workers. The union achieved desirable pay gains, but more importantly, posted enhancements to future training opportunities for young workers, as well as a flexible, part-time work arrangement for older workers. 
 
The agreement, which came during the second round of national industry talks, contains a pay increase of 4.4%, retroactive to either 1 March or 1 April, or effective 1 May, depending on the respective IGBCE region. That extends for 13 months. Then, effective in 2009 for 12 months, chemical industry workers won a 3.3% pay raise. 
 
Additionally, on 1 July 2008, workers will realize a one-off payment of 13 times 0.5% of their monthly wage. That will be determined by workers and managers in individual companies, depending on a firm&rsquo;s profitability. The agreement covers some 19,000 German chemical companies.
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&nbsp;IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Werner Bischoff
&ldquo;The 2008 chemical accord has set a milestone,&rdquo; stated IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Werner Bischoff. He said that not only has the number of training places for young workers in chemicals been dramatically increased in this set of talks, but an &ldquo;occupational bridge&rdquo; has been created through the flexible work scheme. It replaces one due to expire next year. 
 
The new arrangement, however, is more extensive. A fund will be established, on 1 January 2010, that will be paid for by employers, with employee payments added supplementary. The fund, to be governed by works councils, will be used for flexible transition to retirement, including part-time work, partial pension benefits, health incentives, and added insurance for inability to work, to name just a few of the benefits.
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In 2003, IGBCE and BAVC first agreed to create future training opportunities for young workers. In last year&rsquo;s negotiations, for 2007 and 2008, the parties agreed to fund training places for 16,800 young workers in the chemicals sector. In last week&rsquo;s concluding talks, agreement was reached to increased that to 18,200 for 2009 and 2010. 
 
&ldquo;The strong increase in incomes corresponds to the current inflation situation and we met our goal &ndash; a higher pay raise than in 2007,&rdquo; said Bischoff. &ldquo;But the success story of this collective agreement is that &lsquo;Training for the Future&rsquo; has been updated, and we have succeeded in achieving a full flexible transition to retirement.&rdquo;

IGBCE Achieves Novel ‘Job Bridging,’ More Youth Opportunities in Chemical Pay Talks

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ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto of Finland and that country&rsquo;s Forest Industries Federation jointly announced a 22-month labour agreement, covering 22,000 workers at 70 pulp and paper mills. The new accord comes seven weeks before expiration of an existing agreement, with both sides commending the negotiations for meeting the challenges of the changing Nordic paper sector, while taking into account workers&rsquo; needs and development. 
 
&ldquo;The agreement includes numerous positive changes in workers&rsquo; conditions of employment,&rdquo; stated Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen. &ldquo;One important goal of the agreement is to increase real cooperation at the confederation and local level. I also consider it positive that we were able to reach an agreement in good time before the expiration of the current agreement, without outside assistance and without confrontation.&rdquo;
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&nbsp;Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen
The new pact will run from 1 June 2008 to 31 March 2010. 
 
Wage levels will rise annually by 4% each in the first two years. For the third year, an increase will be negotiated by the union and industry in an autumn 2009 set of talks. If the parties fail then to reach accord on the remainder of the pact, the agreement can be terminated. 
 
The pay system for Finnish paperworkers is being reformed in this collective agreement and their job security improved in the face of restructurings by the major paper companies. Workers made redundant due to financial or production-related reasons will be entitled to full pay for a paid-notice period, even if that worker gets a job with another employer. 
 
The re-employment obligation by companies for workers&rsquo; made redundant was extended from nine months &ndash; the applicable period by Finnish labour law &ndash; to 15 months, from the date of the employment termination relationship. Further, the employer is obligated to inform redundant workers of new vacancies for another nine months beyond that. 
 
Perhaps most importantly to Paperiliitto, is that terms and conditions for outsourcing and lay-offs remain unchanged.
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Paperworkers also gained a three-day sick period without proof of medical certificate, a first inside Finland&rsquo;s industrial sectors. The new agreement allows for flexible work time if workers and employers, with union approval, agree to it on the local level. The two sides can also agree on regular 10-hour work days. 
 
The new pay system to be implemented will promote multi-skilled jobs. It provides opportunities, incentives and personal training for diversity of tasks, and for workers to acquire new competencies. This agreement was also achieved outside of Finland&rsquo;s traditional tripartite incomes policy of employer association, national labour centres, and government, but leaves open the possibility to return to the national incomes policy in spring 2010. 
 
Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni TU, ICEM salaried workers&rsquo; affiliate in Finland, which represents white-collar workers in the pulp and paper sector, has currently just begun talks with the Finland Forest Industries Federation on a new labour agreement. That pact also expires 31 May 2008.

Paperiliitto, Finnish Pulp/Paper Industry Come to Amiable Terms

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A US-based company has provoked a strike in New Zealand because it has refused to join Multi-Employer Collective Agreement for the Metals Industry. Members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) struck Ecolab in Hamilton, New Zealand, in March. 
 
Despite mediation efforts to resolve the dispute, 16 EPMU members continued to picket outside the plant last week. Workers voted to enter joint negotiations for the Metals Industry earlier this year, but local managers declined to abide by the decision.
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Ecolab, a chemicals company, is a manufacturer of cleaning and sanitizing products for institutional and industrial companies. The state of Minnesota-based company also makes infection-control products for health care customers. 
 
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little stated the Metals Industry&rsquo;s bargaining platform provides a benchmark for wages and conditions, and that Ecolab workers have a right to expect a collective agreement that is not sub-standard. &ldquo;These workers have made a democratic decision to negotiate a deal which is consistent with industry standards, but their employer has a policy of refusing all industry negotiations,&rdquo; said Little. 
 
The publicly-traded, multi-national company, 29% owned by German chemicals producer Henkel, provides its Australian workers with higher pay and extra shift leave, the EPMU states. Besides achieving industry standards, Ecolab workers stand to gain an extra week&rsquo;s leave if they can bring Ecolab into the fold. The Multi-Employer Collective Agreements for Metals covers more than 100 general manufacturing companies in New Zealand.

New Zealand Chemical Workers On Strike Against US-based Ecolab

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Nuclear workers in the UK &ndash; members of three trade unions &ndash; are currently meeting to consider whether or not to conduct industrial action. If taken, job actions could affect 11,500 workers at several nuclear sites just as the British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority prepares to sell the last of the country&rsquo;s state-owned nuclear assets.
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Meetings this week by trade unions Unite, GMB, and Prospect will discuss a proposed 2% pay offer by employers, a proposal considered inferior and below inflation. Bosses did present an extra 2% bonus, but union negotiators say too many strings are attached to the bonus. 
 
A consultative ballot is expected at this week&rsquo;s meeting over the 2% pay proposal, and the unions will then move that an industrial ballot be taken if the pay offer is refused. The nuclear sites that are affected are Sellafield in Cumbria, its technical facility in Risley, and Capenhurst, a former uranium enrichment plant in Cheshire.

UK’s Nuclear Workers Consider Industrial Action

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An expected conclusion to the 11-day strike in Namibia at Skorpion Zinc yesterday did not occur, due to company insistence that wages be tied to ICEM affiliate Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN) withdrawing a pending court case. During negotiations yesterday &ndash; talks that were expected to finalise a new labour agreement and end the strike &ndash; management &ldquo;took a full u-turn&rdquo; on many issues resolved over the weekend, according to MUN President Andries Eiseb. 
 
The MUN has suspended the strike, but has given no guarantee that a further walk-out by its 450 union members at the zinc mining and smelting operation near Rosh Pinah in southwestern Namibia will not occur. 
 
In talks yesterday, management linked a 12% pay offer to Skorpion, owned by major mining house AngloAmerican, gaining an exemption from Namibia&rsquo;s Labour Ministry to move to continuous operations. MUN gave the company a promise that it would support such an application to the government, but that pledge hinged on workers immediately gaining the pay hike 
 
Also, Skorpion management changed the effective date of any new agreement, from 1 May 2008 to the effective date of signing.
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The court matter, dating to 2004, involves compensation &ndash; specifically, overtime pay &ndash; on the operation&rsquo;s shift to continuous operations. MUN has argued that overtime pay be tied to the basic requirements contained in Namibia&rsquo;s labour code. 
 
&ldquo;The company&rsquo;s demand that the wage issue can only be settled once the court action has been withdrawn has crippled the whole negotiation process,&rdquo; said Eiseb. &ldquo;We feel we are being kept at ransom to a pending court case, said Eiseb, adding that the company&rsquo;s negotiation posture has been one of &ldquo;bad faith, intimidation, harassment, and arrogance.&rdquo; 
 
The strike by 680 miners at one of the world&rsquo;s richest zinc operations began on 9 May. The ICEM believes that the MUN and its membership has been a steadfast partner in an operation which has provided the London-based company with its largest profit contribution of late. Since Skorpion came fully on line in 2005, zinc prices on global markets have risen more than 300%.

Skorpion Reneges; Deal to Settle Zinc Dispute in Namibia is Scuttled

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The Council of Global Unions, the coordinating body for most of the 11 Global Union Federations, as well as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of OECD, has launched a new website, <a href="http://www.global-unions.org">www.global-unions.org</a>. 
 
The site will rely on RSS feeds from the representative global bodies and will provide relevant data and timely calls for action on issues concerning global trade unions. The site was launched on 1 May, and in the coming weeks will be further updated to include features. 
 
The website was a creation of a global union communicators&rsquo; task force, and had the technical expertise of the ITUC&rsquo;s Alex Gomes in design and innovation. Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, chaired the task force.
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&nbsp;Education International GS Fred Van Leeuwen
&ldquo;The website is just the latest way to improve how we talk to the world,&quot; stated Fred Van Leeuwen, General Secretary of Education International, who is also chairman of the Council of Global Unions. &ldquo;Global-unions.org is the new starting point for anyone, anywhere, who works and is looking to someone in fight in their corner.&rdquo;

Global Unions Raises New Website to Heighten Profile

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The ICEM filed strong protest with the government of South Korea last week over the detention and deportation of two leaders of the Migrants&rsquo; Trade Union (MTU). President Tornu Limbu and Vice President Abudus Sabur were arrested outside the union&rsquo;s offices in Seoul on 2 May, and held in the Cheongju Detention Centre. 
 
The two were deported by South Korea&rsquo;s Justice Ministry on 15 May, according to a release issued by Amnesty International. Due process was denied them, as they were not given legal rights to challenge the deportation order.
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&ldquo;It is very clear to the ICEM, and its 475 affiliates in 173 countries, that the two have been incarcerated because of their trade union activities, a clear violation of accepted international norms and standards,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda in a letter to the Korean head of Mission at the UN in Geneva last week. &ldquo;Migrant workers, like all other workers, deserve the respect and treatment afforded them under freedom of association, as enshrined in ILO Convention 87.&rdquo; Click <a href="/en/7-Asia-Pacific/2652-ICEM-Letter-to-Korea-Over-Detention-Expulsion-of-Migrant-Workers'-Leaders">here</a> to find the ICEM&nbsp;letter. 
 
Reportedly, both Tornu Limbu, a citizen of Nepal, and Abudus Sabur, from Bangladesh, were beaten while in detention. The crack-down occurred just following newly-elected South Korean President Lee Myung-bak&rsquo;s public vow that foreign workers in the country, who are without the necessary papers, will be flushed out of Korea even through use of force. 
 
Limbu, 42, and Sabur, 39, had been effectively organising migrant workers in the country for 16 and nine years, respectively. Limbu has been a vocal critic of the difficulties and unfairness inherent in the work permit process in Korea for foreign workers.
The MTU and the fight for rights for migrant workers have the backing of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. On 18 March, the plight of migrant workers in Korea was the central focus of a seminar in Geneva, which called on the United Nations to take strong action to ensure that migrant workers work with dignity as part of their basic human rights.

ICEM Protests Expulsions by Korea of Migrant Workers’ Union Leaders

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The Labour Government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears to have brokered a deal that will give agency workers new and better rights in the UK. Late last week, negotiators for both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Confederation of British Industry struck a deal that would bring the UK more in line with the European Union nations that seek a Temporary Workers Directive. 
 
Although some details of the proposed UK law concerning agency workers still need to be worked out, staff of agencies would get job protection rights after 12 weeks of work. Employer groups had sought up to a year&rsquo;s working time before a doctrine of unfair dismissal could take effect. Equal pay and similar work conditions for 1.4 million agency workers also is included in the UK dialogue, although details on those issues are still in discussions. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s news was a clear victory for the TUC and UK&rsquo;s trade unions, which mounted an effective campaign early in 2008 for work rights for agency workers. 
 
In a speech early last week, Brown tipped his hand to the impending agreement, promising legislation that &ldquo;will, for the first time, ensure new rules for the fair treatment of agency workers here in Britain.&rdquo;
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TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber&nbsp;
On Wednesday, 14 May, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said of Brown&rsquo;s draft legislative plan: &ldquo;I welcome the Prime Minister&rsquo;s clear recognition that agency workers get a raw deal. Unions will now step up their campaign to secure proper protection and a fair deal for agency workers.&rdquo; 
 
That campaign produced a record 136 MPs supporting a Private Member&rsquo;s Bill on the issue of rights for temp agency workers. That bill, by Labour MP Andrew Miller, which garnered a full third of the House of Commons in February, left little doubt that the Brown Government must act on a draft law. 
 
Winning work rights for agency workers in Britain will also have enormous significance inside the EU, where a directive has been blocked by only a handful of countries, including the UK. The proposed EU directive has a six-week period for temp workers to gain employment rights.

UK Moves Closer to Granting Agency Workers Better Rights

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African trade union leader&nbsp;&nbsp;Fran&ccedil;ois Yao announced that a 34-month dispute between ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers in Electricity, Gas, and Water (SYNASEG) in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire and Compagnie Ivoirienne d&rsquo;Electricit&eacute; (CIE), a subsidiary of French-based Bouygues Group, ended recently with a framework labour agreement calling for continual social dialogue and respect for trade union rights. 
 
The framework accord was signed on 30 April 2008, after five months of intense negotiations between SYNASEG leaders and CIE. Yao, the SYNASEG General Secretary,&nbsp;announced the agreement at a 1 May, Workers&rsquo; Day, news conference. 
 
&ldquo;We have now opened a new spirit of tolerance and dialogue that will ensure harmony and cohesion within (our country&rsquo;s) electrical sector,&rdquo; he said. He termed the negotiations &ldquo;difficult, but frank and sincere,&rdquo; and credited Bouygues&rsquo; chief manager in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Marcel Zadi Kessy, with providing an atmosphere that made the draft agreement possible.
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The union will now begin informational meetings with electricity workers across the West African nation in order to inform them of the accord. 
 
The agreement calls for regular, quarterly meetings between the new social partners. It also pledges both parties to a common goal of profitability and lifting the living conditions of CIE&rsquo;s workforce. And specifically, SYNASEG won full participation in the affairs of the Mutual Investment Fund, a fund established years ago for training, placement, and workers&rsquo; needs. It was the company taking unilateral control of that fund in 2006-2007 that brought the dispute to a near strike in March 2007. Workers make contributions to the fund.
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&nbsp; 
The dispute itself began in 2005 when CIE began systematic attacks on SYNASEG. That was seen as retaliation against the union for its backing of a then government plan to renationalise the utility and end Bouygues&rsquo; 15-year contract. The ICEM had brought the dispute to both global attention, and to the attention of French social partners. 
 
The ICEM commends both its C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire affiliate and the Bouygues affiliate for reaching a framework agreement that will ensure social harmony. &ldquo;We are sure that this recently achieved milestone of mutual respect and joint confidence will carry the SYNASEG-CIE partnership to greater rewards for both workers and the company,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

Three-year Dispute Between Côte d’Ivoire’s SYNASEG and Bouygues Subsidiary Ends

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