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A year ago, Michelin rubber company announced a massive, global four-year restructuring plan called l&rsquo;Horizon 2010. The plan would cut costs by over US$2 billion by 2010, push the operating margin to over 10%, and gain annual growth at a rate of 3.5%. 
 
It would also cost 12,000 jobs, nearly two-thirds of which are now happening in France, Spain, and Italy. The horizon for many European workers of Michelin is bleak and barely visible. 
 
In France, trade union CFDT has expressed deep concern over the French company&rsquo;s plan to close its auto and light truck tyre plant in Toul, an enterprise called Pneumatiques Kleber. The plant is located in Meurthe-Moselle near Metz. Michelin intends to close the 47-year-old plant by 2009, severing 800 jobs. 
In Spain last week, CC.OO trade unions conducted a vote among 5,500 Michelin workers at three tyre plants on a company-proposed plan tied in with l&rsquo;Horizon 2010. The plan passed by just under a two-to-one margin, but job restructuring will occur for half of the workers. Even though changes to work shifts are now in effect, Spanish unions did maintain the 35-hour work-week, and work days will not exceed 198 annually. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" />&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" border="1" />
The tyre plants are Michelin&rsquo;s Valladolid auto and tractor tyre plant, an auto and construction tyre plant in Vitoria, and a truck and bus factory in Aranda de Duero. The plants are in northern Spain. Workers at a fourth tyre plant in Lasarte, near Bilbao and close to the Bay of Biscay coast, won assurances that Michelin will invest US$73 million to produce premium tyres for sport motorcycles. 
 
In Italy, trade unions FILCEM-CGIL, FEMCA-CISL, and UILCEM-UIL began protests in June to protect 5,500 jobs at four production plants, all near Turin, three logistic plants, and a commercial centre in Milan. The unions have demanded that the multinational begin new investments in the country, and have called upon Italy&rsquo;s Ministry of Economic Development to closely examine issues that will facilitate investment. 
 
Michelin&rsquo;s ambitious four-year restructurings call for reducing inventory levels below 16% of net sales, freeing cash flows, and spending some US$650 million per year on capitalisation projects, nearly all of which will occur in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America. 
Besides Europe, workers in other countries have felt the pain of job cuts and plant closings. Early in 2007, in Nigeria, the French company closed a tyre plant in Port Harcourt, causing Nigeria&rsquo;s senior staff federation, Trade Union Congress (TUC), to say that it &ldquo;wonders why (Michelin) just wants leave of the country, causing misery and hardship to former employees who never prepared for premature retirement.&rdquo; The plant employed 1,200, and Michelin had operated it for 30 years. 
 
In North America, Michelin shuttered a unionised plant in Kitchener, Canada, in 2006. The closure cost 1,100 jobs in the province of Ontario. The United Steelworkers (USW) protested the closure several times, including a mass rally when the plant&rsquo;s machinery was auctioned off in May 2007. 
 
That same month, in the UK, Michelin announced it was closing its final pension scheme for 4,000 rubber workers at three plants and a logistics centre. The company said it was moving workers into a defined contribution pension plan, effective in January 2009. Three years ago, Michelin closed off the final pension scheme to all newly hired employees at its UK operations.

Michelin’s 4-year Restructuring Plan Causing Pain in Europe

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ICEM&rsquo;s two Nigerian oil and gas workers&rsquo; unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, gave the government and an energy company a two-week ultimatum on Friday, 5 October, or face a strike. The blue-collar and white-collar unions are fast losing patience with Conoil-Belbop Ltd., a publicly-listed Nigerian company engaged in oil and gas exploration, as well as petroleum products marketing.
The unions are pressing the government to force the company to comply with terms of a 2005 collective agreement, or face a national strike in the industry. 

<img height="155" alt="" src="" width="150" /><img height="142" alt="" src="" width="135" />
Salaries by the company have not been paid since August 2007, and Conoil-Belbop has sacked nearly all union members inside its 300-member workforce in a reorganization of the joint companies. The company is attempting to recruit new employees. 
 
In late 2006, the company arbitrarily and unilaterally reduced salaries by 30%, and refused to conclude talks earlier in 2006. The unions also accuse the company of unethical distribution of redundancy letters. NUPENG and PENGASSAN have already placed an embargo on all work at Conoil-Belbop. 
 
At a joint press conference on 5 October, PENGASSAN President Peter Esele said, &ldquo;It appears the embargo is not enough to make Conoil behave properly, and so we are taking it to a different level.&rdquo; The two unions called on the federal government and the ministers of labour and energy to immediately intervene.
The company&rsquo;s continued efforts to circumvent the unions are directly contrary to an order issued by the National Industrial Court in June 2007. Conoil is the marketing and distribution arm of the Lagos-based company, while Belbop is engaged in services related to oil and gas exploration. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="" width="113" />
PENGASSAN President Peter Esele
In other Nigerian news related to PENGASSAN, the senior staff union held a three-day workshop in Calabar, Cross Rivers state, over the weekend of 1-3 October. A statement from the workshop calls for a national summit as the means to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta. 
 
Entitled &ldquo;Fostering Congenial Industrial Climate in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector: Challenges and Strategies,&rdquo; the statement calls on the government to wage a genuine fight against corruption in all facets of life, to give strict adherence and implementation of proposed Memorandums of Understanding with local communities, begin real infrastructure development, and to engage in youth empowerment projects. 
 
&ldquo;The workshop is concerned about safety and security of oil workers and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta,&rdquo; said PENGASSAN Acting President Mustapha Wall and General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile in a statement. &ldquo;The workshop agrees that underdevelopment, unemployment, corrupt activities of the local and political class, conflict merchants, and lack of political will by the ruling class contribute&rdquo; to the denigration of society in many areas of the Niger Delta.

Nigerian Oilworkers Ready for National Strike Due to Harsh Practices of Conoil-Belbop Ltd.

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Annual two-day pay negotiations for 12,000 paperworkers in the UK converting sector produced gains of 3.65% for 2008. The talks, between ICEM affiliates Unite and GMB and the paper employers&rsquo; grouping, Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), were conducted in late November, and balloting will now begin and conclude in mid-January. 
 
&ldquo;This year&rsquo;s talks were against a back-cloth of mixed fortunes among papermakers,&rdquo; said Unite National Officer Peter Ellis, &ldquo;with some companies making fairly modest profits and one or two causing us some concern. 
<img height="99" alt="" src="" width="100" />
&ldquo;However, our members faced above inflation pressures in 2006-07, across a whole basket of consumables that make up the day-to-day demands on income. We believe 3.65% represents an affordable outcome for the industry, and I will be very disappointed to be dealing with any &lsquo;inability to pay&rsquo; claims.&rdquo; 
 
In October, Unite and the CPI formally put in place a partnership agreement that had been negotiated late last year and early in 2007. The launch occurred inside UK&rsquo;s House of Commons. It is intended to bring a modern approach to employment practices in the paper industry, including full equalities on the job, employee development, skills training, health screening, and regulation of temporary or agency workers.

Pay Deal Put to Ballot for Paperworkers in the UK

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A campaign for equal treatment for agency workers was launched by the Irish trade union federation SIPTU on 19 November at Liberty Hall in Dublin. The campaign is aimed at securing enabling legislation in Ireland to forbid employment agencies from circumventing existing equality provisions in labour legislation. 
 
The 200,000-member Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) held a press briefing in the afternoon on 19 November, and then conducted a full public hearing that evening with workplace testimony from victimised contract workers. 
<img height="202" src="" width="142" alt="" />
Under the heading &ldquo;An Injury to One Is a Concern to All,&rdquo; SIPTU launched a campaign that includes a petition drive to build support for legislation, as well as materials to secure equal treatment for contract workers in collective agreements. That campaign can be found here <a href="http://www.siptu.ie/agency">www.siptu.ie/agency</a>. 
&ldquo;The abuse of agency workers is the most serious issue of substance in the workplace,&rdquo; stated SIPTU General President Jack O&rsquo;Connor at the launch of the campaign. &ldquo;The absence of legislation to prevent abuse is not only detrimental to those directly affected, but also harms all other workers because it facilitates the undermining of standards,&rdquo; he added. 
SIPTU indicated on the day of the launch that Ireland is one of three EU countries in which temporary workers recruited through agencies can be employed at lesser terms and conditions than those in direct employment. O&rsquo;Connor also hit out at the Irish government for being one of the few countries that is blocking an EU Directive on full rights for contract and agency workers. 
<img height="203" src="" width="200" alt="" />
&ldquo;We cannot continue with the paradox of social partnership on the one hand, while we are virtually unique in Europe in our treatment of agency workers,&rdquo; he said. 
SIPTU estimates there are over 520 employment agencies operating in Ireland. The union is campaigning for agency work to be confined to a period no longer than one month, after which an agency employee must become directly employed by the primary employer.

SIPTU Kicks Off ‘Justice for Agency Workers Campaign’ in Ireland

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Workers, retirees, and students marched in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 17 November, in a mass protest against employers, who are stalling needed salary increases. Some 70,000 protestors, most clad in red bibs, marched in a peaceful assembly to one of Ljubljana&rsquo;s main squares, marking unification of six trade union federations. 
The six union federations jointly called the manifestation to protest employers&rsquo; reluctance to pay fair salaries in this round of wage talks in the EU country. The six include Zveza Svoodnih Sindikatov Slovenije (ZSSS), Neodvisnost (KNSS), KSS-Pergam, Konfederacija &rsquo;90 of Slovenia, Zveza Sindikatov Alternativa, and Zveza Delacev Solidarnost. 
<img height="120" alt="" src="" width="118" />
Slovenia, which adopted the Euro at the beginning of 2007, is beset by rising prices and an inflation rate that reached 5.1% in 2007. The trade unions seek autumn salary increases of 3.5%, and they want a February 2008 increase tied to inflation, instead of the normal, untimely August inflationary hike. The union federations are jointly calling for a system of productivity bonuses, as well. Slovenia, which became a member-nation of the EU in 2005, has seen a growth rate this year of 6.5%. 
 
In respect to the workers&rsquo; 17 November manifestation, President-elect Danilo Turek and Labour Minister Marjeta Cotman attended the mass public event. Earlier, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said protests were the wrong forum to address rising prices and stagnant salaries. The average net salary in Slovenia currently is &euro;820-per-month. 
 
All six leaders of the labour federations addressed the manifestation, and all stated that a general strike was possible if employers did not move from their entrenched wage offer, and were willing to move away from their reluctance to award productivity bonuses to the people generating Slovenia&rsquo;s growth.

Slovenian Union Federations Unite, 70,000 March in Ljubljana on 17 November

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Nigerian oil workers&rsquo; unions again are spearheading the call for security, as well as meeting the challenges inherent in oil and gas production in a developing country. Two weeks ago, the unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG conducted a three-day workshop in Ibadan, Oyo State, to train union members to the multi-faceted changes taking hold in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas fields. 
 
Those changes include outsourcing, reliance on fixed-term employment, privatisation of government assets, and de-unionisation. The government&rsquo;s inability to deal effectively with the Niger Delta&rsquo;s natural resources is also cause for great concern. 
<img height="116" alt="" src="" width="112" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="105" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The workshops produced a long list of necessary reforms that would help remove corruption from government agencies and bring economic opportunities to the indigenous peoples of the Niger River Delta. 
 
&ldquo;The kidnapping and killing of workers in the Niger Delta Region continues to pose serious threats to the security of our members and other workers in the region,&rdquo; said PENGASSAN President Peter Esele. &ldquo;The vandalizing of oil pipelines by economic saboteurs has continued to keep our refineries without crude, leaving the entire nation to depend on imported petroleum products.&rdquo; 
 
The workshops also painted a critical picture of the Nigerian government, from the Oil and Gas Committee Report that has brought on privatisation and casualisation to its handling of the kidnappings and killings so common in the Delta this year.
The conference was held during a three-week period in which seven foreign nationals, all employed in the oil industry, had been kidnapped by an unknown youth militia group. The seven were abducted on 3 October from an ExxonMobil residential compound in Eseakpan, southern Akwa Iborn State, which is used to house contract workers. The seven were released more than a fortnight later following negotiations between the industry and group. 
<img height="101" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Esele pledged to the trade unionists in attendance that the unions would act as a legitimate &ldquo;pressure group,&rdquo; and that &ldquo;no stone will be left unturned in our efforts&rdquo; to bring economic dignity and opportunities to Nigerian citizens. 
 
In a separate trade union gathering occurring in Akwa Iborn State at the same time, the quarterly meeting of PENGASSAN&rsquo;s Producers&rsquo; Forum called on the Nigerian national assembly to amend the statutes governing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The body says the commission has failed to address the development needs of citizens in the region. 
 
The Producers&rsquo; Forum suggests that the 3% funding of the NDDC that comes from oil prospecting companies should be directly used by the communities in which these firms operate. The forum proposed that monitoring of such projects be undertaken by the National Petroleum Investment Agency. These recommendations, as part of a seven-point action plan, were passed on to PENGASSAN&rsquo;s national secretariat.

Nigerian Oil Workers’ Unions Offer Common Sense Reforms

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Global multinational, Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., has suddenly become protectionist in its US rubber business, or so it would seem from reading the company&rsquo;s strike weeklies, which are aimed at softening 15,000 American workers into giving back more of their hard-earned incomes. 
 
The strike by ICEM affiliate, United Steelworkers (USW), of 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada passed the three-week mark on 26 October. The company has expressed its scorn at striking union members, who are trying to protect their livelihoods, by very publicly pronouncing that 300 auxiliary workers will get the sack due to the strike. These workers are USW members that were only recently organised at a steel-thread plant.
The same scorn is heard in the truth-defying words of North American Goodyear President Jon Rich, in his weekly missives. 
 
His message is clear: loyal &ldquo;associates&rdquo; of Goodyear are invited to abandon the strike, abandon the USW as the last front on job protections, and join the corporatist mindset in which security, retirement, and hope will not be part of any equation. &ldquo;As the strike continues,&rdquo; Rich wrote last week, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s tempting to start shifting the focus from &lsquo;what are we trying to achieve?&rsquo; to &lsquo;when will this be over?&rsquo;&rdquo; 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" />
It&rsquo;s abundantly clear what Goodyear is trying to achieve: the flexibility to slash jobs, cut incomes, and play the hand that it so quickly played at the steel-wire plant just days into the strike. 
 
When will it be over? It is becoming evident by the strikers&rsquo; resolve and their anger at being asked once again to concede to the company&rsquo;s agenda, that it will be over once Goodyear retreats from its concessions and begins treating the last stakeholder in a resounding three-year success story with the dignity and respect it deserves. 
 
&ldquo;Hasn&rsquo;t everyone but our members benefited from the turnaround since 2003?&rdquo; asks a USW spokesman. &ldquo;Despite the innovations we brought to the table and the sacrifices we made, the company is demanding more closures and more concessions.&rdquo; 
USW made contract concessions and agreed, in 2003 negotiations, to one US plant closing in exchange for job security and job-retention policies at the other North American plants. This occurred with Goodyear teetering on bankruptcy. Now, with a 17% global market tyre share and nearly one-half of the company&rsquo;s 2005 revenues, totalling US$19.72 billion, derived from North American operations, Goodyear seeks to unravel those 2003 job-security guarantees, as well as proposing that salaries be cut and retirement benefits slashed. 
Rich said in last week&rsquo;s report that Goodyear is &ldquo;trying to save American manufacturing.&rdquo; In an earlier one, in describing that negotiations are not about &ldquo;labor versus management&rdquo; but rather &ldquo;Goodyear versus the competition,&rdquo; he supplies deplorable protectionist rhetoric, aimed at driving a wedge between US workers and Goodyear workers worldwide. 
 
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s not lose sight of the bigger flag &ndash; the stars and stripes &ndash; as we are fighting to preserve American jobs and American manufacturing,&rdquo; said Rich in a 13 October letter to striking workers. 
<img height="53" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Current bargaining proposals to close two US tyre plants that provide liveable incomes for nearly 15% of the 15,000, and ripping the living standards out from under the rest is not preservation, but rather, destruction of quality American jobs. &ldquo;How can you talk about saving American manufacturing when you look to close plants and downsize domestic production?&rdquo; adds the USW spokesman. 
 
Goodyear and Rich lay a heavy burden on US workers in these anti-worker messages. In order to gain the requested givebacks, the company continually uses terms such as &ldquo;global competition&rdquo; and &ldquo;competitive disadvantages&rdquo; to describe the global marketplace. But truth be told, Goodyear has been a global leader in driving down labour costs and attempting to achieve bottom-piercing labour precedents by attacking all workers&rsquo; gained rights. 
 
In Turkey earlier this year, it was Goodyear which forced a lockout of its workers in a failed effort to get work-rule concessions from all Turkish rubber workers, including those at two of its competitors. Union members, behind ICEM affiliated union Lastik-Iş, resisted the cuts, and retained their work rights by getting workers to stand shoulder to shoulder at all three tyre-makers. 
 
In Thailand, Goodyear continues to resist placing long-term contract workers in full-time positions, something that the ICEM affiliate pushes as a matter of fairness and dignity for the contract workers. In Malaysia, Goodyear has broken quota levels by employing low-wage foreign nationals in order to drive down Malaysian labour rates. 
 
Goodyear&rsquo;s protectionist cry to American workers rings hollow when the company is busy steering the competition on this downward spiral. 
 
The strike by USW members in the 12 US plants and four in Canada is strong. Strikers see past the company&rsquo;s fear-based rhetoric, and know in their hearts that since they figured strongly in Goodyear&rsquo;s great turnaround, they deserve to be rewarded, not punished. 
 
That sentiment also stands with the people who live in the middle-class towns and communities surrounding the Goodyear plants. They know of the hardships and despair that come to all in the race to the bottom. 
 
Support also came from members of the United Automobile Workers (UAW), who turned out in mass on 25 October to boost USW picket lines at a Goodyear plant in Tonawanda, New York. The same occurred a day later when 100 union members from across Canada gathered at a Goodyear picket line in Owen Sound, Ontario. 
 
Goodyear can wax on all it wants about &ldquo;serving our customers,&rdquo; hinting endlessly that this strike must be broken, and then openly wondering when it will happen. But with steadfast resolve only mounting, and with Goodyear losing production revenues at a rate of US$38 million per day (as estimated by one rubber analyst), an end to this strike appears to be Goodyear&rsquo;s call.

Facts Contradict Goodyear’s Anti-Worker Strike Messages in North America

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The Imerys announcement last July that the French-based building materials company would relocate its UK paper coating operations to Brazil, and sack over 600 workers in the Cornwall region, was a shock to workers, their families, and the communities and towns in the UK&rsquo;s South West. 
 
The news followed prior closure announcements, a 100-member workplace in Lamotte-Beuvron, France, where work was being shifted to Hungary, and job reductions at the Lixhe plant in Belgium. Now comes word that Imerys has been planning even more sackings; jobs at its Minerali SpA plant in Massa, Italy, where workers recently struck in protest to jobs being moved to Turkey. 
 
In the UK, ICEM affiliate Transport and General Workers&rsquo; Union (TGWU) has called for a mass march and rally on Saturday, 18 November, in St. Austell, Cornwall, in protest not only to Imerys&rsquo; community-wrecking job redundancies, but the company&rsquo;s bad-faith bargaining in the official consultation process. 
<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The TGWU and two other UK trade unions that represent Imerys workers in the region are preparing memberships for an industrial ballot. In late September, Imerys&rsquo; workers gave the unions a mandate to call for a ballot when the time and circumstances are ripe. The company has turned a deaf ear on TGWU ideas for job retention and job creation opportunities, and the redundancy package that has been tabled is ridiculously low. 
 
Recently, in what the TGWU is calling &ldquo;misleading spin,&rdquo; the company claimed that a large number of UK workers have already opted for the voluntary redundancy package. A representative of FO C&eacute;ramique, the French ICEM affiliate which is working with TGWU to correct Imerys&rsquo; behaviour, was told the same at Paris headquarters. 
However, Imerys&rsquo; count in the UK merely was on the number of workers who had responded to an inquiry to receive more information on the redundancy package. 
&nbsp;<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The closure announcement of the company&rsquo;s Minerali SpA operation in Italy is even more inexcusable. Only a few weeks ago, Imerys CEO G&eacute;rard Buffi&egrave;re answered a question from an Italian trade union CGIL representative on the subject, at a meeting with other trade union representatives present, including the head of the European Works Council, Serge Gonzalez from FO C&eacute;ramique. 
 
Buffi&egrave;re responded by saying that the Italian plant would not be touched. Gonzalez and FO C&eacute;ramique took note, but then an alert came from Italy that jobs would be slashed and a strike commenced. 
 
Striking Imerys workers in Italy ended that industrial action last week when news came that the company withdrew its prior announcement of closing the Massa plant. Negotiations will now restart in Italy on the future of the plant. 
<img height="85" alt="" src="" width="65" />
FO C&eacute;ramique&rsquo;s Gonzalez is currently preparing a document, to be signed by all Imerys unions in Europe. An earlier statement by the workers representatives of the Imerys European Works Council described the current relocation wave as profit driven. The company has posted excellent economic returns, and has no compelling reasons to cause such social distress.

18 November Date for Mass Rally against Imerys in UK’s South West

Please send a message to 
(with a copy to the&nbsp;ICEM - <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>) 
 
Fran&ccedil;ois YAO 
General Secretary SYNASEG 
E-mail : <a href="mailto:ykokora@cie.ci">ykokora@cie.ci</a> 
Fax :+225 21 23 38 25 
 
 
 
 
Dear Colleagues, 

Re: Your strike against CIE 
We have learned through the ICEM that you will be on strike against CIE from&nbsp;October 30 to November 1. 
 
We understand that for a long time, CIE has been using the following tactics in an attempt to weaken your union 
 
&bull; Refusal to enter into dialog, and applying dilatory measures 
&bull; Hindered union freedoms by prohibiting the posting of union notices, and refused to allow holding union meetings, etc. 
&bull; Violated the union fees check-off agreement, by withholding fees, abusively use fees that have been collected in favour of third parties. 
&bull; Arbitrary creation and use of a Mutual Investment Fund (FCP in its French acronym) supposed to benefit employees but which proceedings are not used in favour of workers whereas they are the only contributors. 
 
We fully support your decision to call for a strike this week and demand that CIE immediately open unconditional negotiations with SYNASEG. 
 
In Solidarity,

Model support letter for SYNASEG campaign

بيان 
 
قام وفد من الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot;، برئاسة الامين العام فريد هيغز، بزيارة الى فلسطين في الفترة 11-14 كانون الاول (ديسمبر) 2005 بدعوة واستضافة من محمد موسى جاد الله، رئيس الاتحاد العام لعمال النفط والتعدين والكيماويات في فلسطين. وقمنا معاً بزيارة رام الله وبيت لحم ونابلس. وجرت محادثات مع عبد الله عبد الله نائب وزير الشؤون الخارجية، وصلاح التماري محافظ بيت لحم، بالاضافة الى مسؤولين كبار في الاتحاد العام لنقابات العمال الفلسطيني برئاسة الامين العام شاهر سعيد. كما اجرى الوفد جولة في منشآت شركة بيرزيت للادوية وقام بوضع اكليل ورد على ضريح الرئيس الراحل ياسر عرفات في رام الله. 
 
واكد الوفد عزمه على تعميق علاقة الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; مع الاتحاد العام لعمال النفط والتعدين والكيماويات في فلسطين، وان يطلق في 2006 برنامجاً للعمل المشترك يبدأ بمشروع لمساعدة الناشطات في الاتحاد. 
 
وانتاب الوفد احساس بالصدمة عند اطلاعه بشكل مباشر على عرقلة الحركة الحرة للسكان في ارجاء الضفة الغربية بسبب حواجز التفتيش الثابتة والجوالة التي يقيمها الجيش الاسرائيلي. وكان واضحاً ان الجيش الاسرائيلي يستخدم هذه الحواجز كوسيلة عقاب جماعي للشعب الفلسطيني. 
 
كما يترك عدم التمكن من التحرك بحرية تأثيرات كبيرة على حركة السلع وعلى التشغيل، ما يفاقم معدلات البطالة الكبيرة اصلاً وسط العمال الفلسطينيين. 
 
ان الاعتداء الصارخ الاوضح للعيان على تحرك الناس بحرية هو الجدار الضخم الذي يستمر العمل ببنائه عبر الضفة الغربية ويفصل بين العائلات، ويخترق القرى الفلسطينية، ويقدّر انه استحوذ على حوالي 55% من الاراضي الفلسطينية في الضفة الغربية. 
 
ويمثل هذا الجدار، بما فيه نقاط المراقبة ومواضع محتملة للاسلحة، إهانة للكرامة الانسانية ورمزاً صارخاً للاضطهاد والاحتلال الاسرائيلي، ويقسّم الشعب الفلسطيني. ويرى الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; انه ينبغي هدم هذا الجدار فوراً. 
 
وتشكل المستوطنات الاسرائيلية التي تتوسع باستمرار احدى العلامات الاخرى الماثلة للعيان بشكل دائم على الاحتلال. ويجب تطبيق وقف فوري على بناء مستوطنات جديدة وتوسيع المستوطنات القائمة، قبل ازالتها كلياً في النهاية عبر التفاوض. 
 
اننا ندعو المجتمع الدولي الى الى زيادة جهوده من اجل تحقيق حل سلمي للنزاع الراهن. وهذا سيتطلب اقامة دولة فلسطينية قادرة على البقاء مع تقديم مساعدات مالية دولية كبيرة لضمان القدرة الاقتصادية للدولة الفلسطينية الناشئة حديثاً. ومن الواضح ان دولة كهذه تحتاج الى امتلاك حرية كاملة للحركة في كل ارجاء اراضيها وحدودها البرية مع البلدان المجاورة بالاضافة الى اسرائيل. 
 
ويشعر الوفد بقوة ان تسوية سلمية للنزاع ممكنة، لكن خلق فرص العمل والاستثمار في الانتاج والبنية التحتية الفلسطينية يشكل جزءاً اساسياً من هذه التسوية. 
 
ويعبر الوفد عن اعجابه الشديد بقوة الفلسطينيين وتصميمهم على تحقيق حل سلمي وانشاء دولة فلسطينية تملك مقومات البقاء. 
 
 
زيارة فلسطين: &quot;عقاب جماعي لشعب&quot; 
 
&quot;نحن بحاجة الى صوتكم. نحن بحاجة الى تأييد الحركة العمالية العالمية كلها&quot;. بهذه الكلمات استقبل شاهر سعيد الامين العام لاتحاد نقابات العمال الفلسطيني بوفد الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; برئاسة الامين العام فريد هيغز ورحّب به في مكتبه في بلدة نابلس بالضفة الغربية. 
 
كما ضم الوفد جيم كاترسون مدير التنظيم في &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot;، وهو المسؤول عن الاتصالات مع منطقة الشرق الاوسط / شمال افريقيا. وكانت الدعوة لزيارة فلسطين وجّهت في 2005 من قبل محمد موسى جاد الله رئيس الاتحاد العام لعمال النفط والتعدين والكيماويات في فلسطين، خلال لقاء في الاردن لاعضاء الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; ونقابات اخرى في منطقة الشرق الاوسط وشمال افريقيا، حيث اكدت النقابات المشاركة في اللقاء على اهمية زيادة العمل مع النقابات في قطاعات &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; داخل فلسطين. 
 
قبضة اسرائيل الخانقة على الوظائف 
 
قدم شاهر سعيد وصفاً تفصيلياً للمشاكل التي تواجهها منظمته والعمال في فلسطين. ويبلغ الرقم الرسمي للبطالة 36%، فيما يعيش 45% من السكان عند او تحت خط الفقر. ولم يعد حوالي 350 الف عامل كانوا يعملون سابقاً في اسرائيل قادرين على القيام بذلك، في حين تعجز القلة القليلة ممن لا يزال يسمح لهم بالعمل هناك في احيان كثيرة عن اجتياز حواجز التفتيش العسكرية. وغالباً ما يرغم اولئك الذين يتمكنون من العبور على القيام بعمل &quot;غير شرعي&quot; ويتلقون في احسن الاحوال أدنى الاجور. 
 
ويقتصر التحرك النقابي بشكل اساسي على تقديم مساعدة قانونية. اما التشغيل في الضفة الغربية ذاتها، باستثناء السلطة الفلسطينية حيث يجري تمويل 150 الف عامل بشكل اساسي عبر مساعدات الاتحاد الاوروبي، فانه يكاد يكون معدوماً. وقد اضطر الكثير من المصانع السابقة الى الاغلاق بسبب القيود المفروضة على حرية الحركة للسلع والعمال على السواء من قبل الجيش الاسرائيلي. ومن الواضح ان اسرائيل تفرض حالة عقاب جماعي على الشعب الفلسطيني. 
 
وقد تلمس وفد &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; هذا الوضع بشكل مباشر. فالرحلة من رام الله الى نابلس كانت قد استغرقت اكثر من ساعة بقليل. اما رحلة العودة على الطريق ذاته فانها استغرقت اكثر من اربع ساعات. 
 
زيارة الى منشأة لصناعة الادوية 
 
ربما تكون شركة بيرزيت للادوية، التي يشتغل فيها اكثر من 200 عامل، واحدة من الامثلة القليلة على تحقيق نجاح اقتصادي في الضفة الغربية. وقد افتتحت المنشأة في 1974 بعشرين عامل فقط. ويجري تمثيل العمال من قبل الاتحاد العام لعمال النفط والتعدين والكيماويات في فلسطين، وهم يتمتعون باجور وظروف عمل جيدة، بما فيها المساعدة الطبية وصندوق توفير للضمان الاجتماعي. 
 
ويبقى معظم الانتاجفي السوق المحلية،ولو ان 20% منه يذهب الىالجزائر واوروباالشرقية واذربيجانوروسيا. وبالرغم منان الصادرات تواجهمصاعب قليلة فيالموانيءالاسرائيلية التييتعين استخدامها،فان استيراد الموادالخام مسألة اخرى.فقد حدثت تعطيلات تصلالى 12 شهراً في الحصولعلى موافقة السلطاتالاسرائيلية علىدخول مواد خام.وبالتالي، يتعين علىالشركة ان تحتفظلديها بخزين كبير منالمواد الخام على رغمالكلفة الاضافيةالمترتبة على ذلك.وفي المحادثات التيجرت مع النقابةالمضيفة، اكد &quot;آي سيإي إم&quot; عزمه على تعميقعلاقته مع الاتحادالعام لعمال النفطوالتعدينوالكيماويات فيفلسطين وان يطلق في 2006برنامجاً للعملالمشترك يبدأبالمشروع المكرسلمساعدة الناشطات.وتجهد النقابة للعملمن مكاتب صغيرة فيرام الله. وكانتمكاتبها السابقة،المجاورة لمكاتبالاتحاد العاملنقابات العمالالفلسطيني في نابلس،دمّرت كلياً مع اجهزةالكومبيوتر ومعداتاخرى في اعتداءاتبصواريخ شنّها الجيشالاسرائيلي. 
 
ويعبّر الاتحاد الدولي &quot;آي سي إي إم&quot; عن امتنانه للاتحاد النرويجي (&quot;إن او بي إي إف&quot;)، وهو احد اعضائه، الذي وافق على تمويل البرنامج.

Arabic translation of ICEM Statement and Global info article - ICEM visit to Palestine

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