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Two fresh law suits under America&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act were filed last week in US federal courtrooms. In the state of Alabama, Drummond Coal was again hauled to the dock for its complicity with right-wing death squads in Colombia, and in New York state, Shell Oil will have to answer to its alleged conspiracy with Nigerian security forces in the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wira. 
 
The Colombian case against Drummond is the second such case against the US-based coal producer. Drummond&rsquo;s alleged involvement in the 2001 assassinations of union leaders Valmore Lacarno, Victor Oracasita, and Gustavo Soler, all leaders of the mining union Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, was the first Alien Tort Claims Act case to reach trial. In 2007, after key Colombian witnesses were prevented from testifying, a federal judge dismissed the case against Drummond and an appeals court failed to reverse that decision in December 2008. 
 
This time Drummond, between 1999 and 2006, is accused of complicity with right-wing paramilitary squads in the murders of 63 men and four women. The suit, filed by a state of Florida law firm on behalf of 252 relatives of the slain, who are entitled to compensatory damages from Drummond if the company is proven guilty. The lawsuit claims Drummond specifically paid millions to the United Self-Defense Forces (AUC), who &ldquo;terrorised&rdquo; women and children &ldquo;in their homes, on their way to and from work, and often murdered&rdquo; others &ldquo;on behalf of Drummond.&rdquo; 

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Ken Saro-Wiwa is a martyr because, as leader of the non-violent Movement for the Survival of the Ogani People (MOSOP), he was among the first Nigerians to stand up against environmental degradation and human exploitation in the Niger Delta. His strong voice earned him a hasty trial and execution by the repressive regime of General Sani Abacha. The New York suit will attempt to prove that Shell was complicit in a campaign of terror undertaken by Abacha&rsquo;s security forces. 
 
The Alien Tort Claims Act, on US law books since 1789, allows non-Americans access to US civil court action in order the hold accountable US-based or other corporations to violations of international law. Because of the US&rsquo;s historic economic power throughout the world, Alien Tory Claims cases are seen as a leading way in which human rights conduct gets heard in America.

Drummond, Shell Called to US Courts to Answer on Human Rights Charges

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On 12 June, civil society across everywhere will mark World Day Against Child Labour, this year coming on the 10th anniversary of adoption of ILO Convention 182, the convention that condemns the worst forms of child labour. In step with this year&rsquo;s International Labour Conference gender theme, the ILO will focus 12 June on the exploitation of young girls in child labour. 
 
The ILO estimates that 100 million girls are involved in child labour. The ICEM believes that the first and most important instrument toward decent work is education. A child and young adult&rsquo;s education is the surest and securest way to escape poverty, and to grow as an adult into a decent and secure livelihood. 

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On this World Day Against Child Labour, the ICEM draws attention to our trade union affiliate at the Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia, a union that still must carry the fight to leave behind the scars of child labour. Despite a new collective agreement, Firestone has not implemented parts of it, including reductions on quotas for rubber tapping. It was these quotas that demanded children be used in order to fulfil production. 
 
The ICEM calls attention to the rescue of 37 children in New Delhi, India, last week, who were restrained and bonded while performing needle-stitch work. For every such rescue, there are scores more illegal worksites that cheat and exploit children. The ICEM also makes note of a report from an NGO in Uzbekistan that the use of child labour in cotton fields is growing and becoming an even bigger menace. In Thailand, we know, it is common to abuse Lao and Burmese children while at work in sweatshops. 
 
There are countless stories that certify child labour as the number one obstacle to decent work. The ICEM encourages everyone to acknowledge 12 June, but also to use it as the day to make a year-long commitment to expose and eradicate all forms of child labour.

12 June, Day Against Child Labour, Another Bold Reminder

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The prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award was given last week to a woman trade unionist from Iraq, Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi, the President of ICEM-affiliated General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians. 
 
The award is presented by FNV, a national labour centre in the Netherlands, and is given to a trade union leader who has worked under difficult circumstances, taken enormous personal risks, but has defended trade union rights in countries where such rights are routinely violated. 
 
Hashmeyia Muhsin, the tenth recipient of the award, was nominated by the ICEM. She was honoured at the FNV Congress in Amsterdam, and presented the award on 12 May. 

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In nominating her, the ICEM said Hashmeyia Muhsin &ldquo;has dedicated herself to the protection of both trade union rights and wider human rights in a country which remains under occupation &hellip; and which continues to apply trade union legislation from the Saddam era.&rdquo; 
 
She is the first woman to head a national trade union in Iraq, and is believed to be the first woman to lead a union anywhere in the Arabic-speaking world. The ICEM noted her courage in leading marches, demonstrations, and strikes in the Basra area, while under the threat of death. She also is a dedicated advocate for electricity access to all citizens of Iraq. 

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First elected to head the Electricity Workers and Technicians in September 2003, she has been re-elected twice since, and also is Vice Chairman of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW). In 2007, she was elected to the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee. 
 
The Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Award was named after a Salvadorian trade union leader and former General Secretary of Fenastras. Velasquez was killed on 31 October 1989 when a bomb exploded at the offices of the trade union centre. Previous FNV award recipients include Kim You Mee of Korea, Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi of Nigeria, Maria Alieva of Belurus, Dr. Taye Woldesmiate of Ethiopia, and Mansour Osanloo of Iran.

Dutch FNV Trade Union Award to Goes to Iraq’s Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi

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Hundreds of ICEM affiliates from every continent responded to an ICEM Circular to lend support to American trade unions in their legislative battle to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). In recent weeks, support letters arrived in droves to ICEM&rsquo;s nine US trade union affiliates, which together with the rest of the American trade union movement are waging a bitter fight against a rabid business lobby in order to enact the first meaningful labour law reform measure in the US in 50 years. 
 
The EFCA would simplify and make the process fairer for workers who choose to organise and win US government certification for collective bargaining. The proposed law would give workers the choice of union representation if a simple majority in any given workplace signed a card or petition seeking unionisation. 
 
Currently, it is the employer that chooses which of two methods &ndash; &ldquo;card-check&rdquo; recognition or a one-sided election procedure &ndash; to certify a bargaining representative. In nearly all instances, a company chooses the election method because the government-conducted vote is held at the worksite and trade unions have no on-the-job access to workers in the 30-45 days leading up to the vote. 

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Instead, over the past three decades, employers have fine-tuned the process, using stop-work meetings to vilify the union, sacking workers who support the union, and utilising threats and intimidation by stating that if the union is voted in, layoffs or plant closures will occur. Although such union-avoidance tactics currently do violate US labour law, no penalties are attached so bosses have crafted the election process to their distinct advantage. 
 
If the EFCA is passed, financial penalties will be levied on employers who deploy such tactics. Perhaps most significantly, the proposed legislation contains a first-contract arbitration provision in which contract proposals are submitted to a government mediator if an initial collective agreement cannot be reached. Oftentimes at present, management&rsquo;s strategy following a union win in a government-supervised election is to &ldquo;surface bargain&rdquo; without ever intending to come to an agreement. After one year, the union can then be decertified. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s call to its global affiliates came immediately after Global Unions, comprising the 11 Global Union Federations, plus the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, issued a statement, demanding passage of the EFCA: &ldquo;There is no defense for employers who interfere in workers&rsquo; decisions to form trade unions &hellip; It is time for the United States to join the other democracies around the world that respect the fundamental rights of workers to form trade unions and bargain collectively with their employers. Members of the US Congress should muster the courage to resist a massive, multi-million dollar employer campaign of propaganda, scare tactics, and distortion. 

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&ldquo;We, the Global Unions, representing around 200 million workers on all continents and in all industries, call on the United States Government to adopt the EFCA.&rdquo; 
 
Many of the ICEM affiliates that wrote to the US unions alluded to the current global economic crisis, and the best means to rise out of that crisis. &ldquo;We know that a strong economy depends on workers given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society.&rdquo; 
 
The letters concluded by stating: &ldquo;Please pass to your union membership, as well as to your elected officials, that our union fully supports EFCA, and that we consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way.&rdquo; 
 
American trade unions are currently pushing members of the US Senate to adopt the bill. US unions played the major role in electing members of the Democratic Party to substantial majorities in both the Senate and US House in last year&rsquo;s elections. But a number of supposed pro-worker Democrats in the Senate have come under the influence of the business lobby&rsquo;s misinformation campaign putting passage of EFCA in jeopardy. 

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As committees of Congress prepare to debate EFCA, Democrats in the Senate are suggesting compromises, such as workers submitting &ldquo;card-check&rdquo; authorization directly by mail to the US labour board, or proposing alterations to the first-contract arbitration procedure. 
 
This is the fourth time in recent years that EFCA has been proposed in the US Congress, but the first time it has a realistic chance of enactment. This is due to President Barack Obama&rsquo;s pledge to sign it, as well as the US labour movement&rsquo;s yeoman work in elections six months ago that gave a political mandate to do away with George Bush&rsquo;s draconian policies. 
 
In March 2007, the last time the measure was before Congress, it passed the US House by a 241-185 vote. But it died in the US Senate when proponents failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture, or the vote to shut down filibustering on a piece of legislation. In the coming weeks, Democrats are expected to have exactly 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate. Labor&rsquo;s strategy this time is to first gain passage of EFCA in the US Senate before taking it to the House.

Trade Unions Worldwide Respond to ICEM’s Call for Fair Organising in the US

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The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada launched a national fight-back campaign Friday, 15 May, in front of the Montr&eacute;al headquarters of AbitibiBowater, the world&rsquo;s biggest producer of newsprint. AbitibiBowater is seeking to avoid its pension obligations through bankruptcy filings. 
 
The ICEM affiliate&rsquo;s main target, however, is the Canadian government. The federal government has done too little to protect the jobs of forestry workers, asserts the CEP. 
 
&ldquo;Workers are not responsible for the crisis in the forest industry, but we are the ones facing demands for cuts to our wages and pensions,&rdquo; said CEP President Dave Coles. 
 
&ldquo;It is totally unfair that a company like AbitibiBowater can use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying severance and making payments to the pension plan,&rdquo; he added. 

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CEP President Dave Coles
On 7 May, a Superior Court in the Province of Qu&eacute;bec issued an order that the paper company could suspend pension payments into its unfunded liabilities account for workers, thus shrinking that account and pushing workers&rsquo; pension payments on Abitibi&rsquo;s creditors list. 
 
&ldquo;There is something seriously wrong with a system that puts workers&rsquo; pensions in the same category as hedge fund credit,&rdquo; said CEP Secretary-Treasurer Ga&eacute;tan M&eacute;nard. &ldquo;When workers go to work to earn a living and a pension, they certainly don&rsquo;t see themselves as venture capitalists making a risky investment. 
 
Last Friday&rsquo;s CEP action in Montr&eacute;al was the first in a string of manifestations that the union will do in attempts to shake the Conservative government of Stephen Harper into taking action on behalf of forest industry jobs. CEP is demanding that the Canadian federal government weigh in with loan guarantees to halt paper and wood mill closures, and to protect jobs and pensions. 
 
&ldquo;There will be a lot of pressure,&rdquo; said Coles. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to take to the streets and we&rsquo;re going to make noise until we&rsquo;re heard.&rdquo; Further actions will target Canadian federal cabinet ministers and a mass rally is scheduled in the capital city of Ottawa on 2 June. 
 
Meanwhile, due to AbitibiBowater&rsquo;s bankruptcy filing, the CEP and ICEM American affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), have taken a wait-and-see position before entering into bargaining with AbitibiBowater. The CEP and USW have agreed to coordinate bargaining at the newsprint producer&rsquo;s 12 mills in eastern Canada, where the CEP represents 7,000 workers, and at a USW-represented mill in the state of South Carolina. 
 
A pulp and paper collective agreement covering the entire industry in eastern Canada, with AbitibiBowater expected as the lead negotiating company, expired on 30 April, while a labour agreement in Catawba, South Carolina, covering 1,000 workers expired on 24 April for USW branch locals there.

CEP Launches Canadian Forest Jobs Campaign; Demands Canadian Government Support

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The merger of six Finnish unions is down to five, and the effective date has been delayed one year &ndash; to 1 January 2011 &ndash; in order to make the merged union structure, to be called TEAM, fully operational. 
 
A joint project management committee of the unions made that announcement on 5 May, stating the extra time is needed because of the deep economic recession and the demands caused by it on staff. Among those demands is administration of unemployment funds. 

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Meanwhile, an ICEM affiliate, the Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union, has withdrawn from the planned merger. On 6 May, a majority representation group from the union decided to withdraw. As it now stands, merger partners include: Kemianliitto, the ICEM-affiliated Chemical Workers Union; Metalli, the Finnish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union; the Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union; the Finnish Media Union; and the Finnish Railwaymen&rsquo;s Union. 

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The Railwaymen&rsquo;s Union is currently conducting a referendum on the new merger, which will be completed on 20 May, while the Media Union has already adopted the name TEAM as its new moniker. In February 2008, Kemianliitto members passed a binding vote in favour of the merger, while Metalli also saw members give approve to the merger in a consultative vote that same month. 
 
The merged Finnish industrial union would comprise 330,000 members, and would be governed by a Congress occurring five years, with delegates to that Congress electing both a General Council and an Executive Committee.

Finnish Union Merger to be Delayed One Year, Effective Date: 2011

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A UK Trades Union Congress (TUC) study released 12 May on workers now forced to take involuntary part-time work reveals a sharp increase. On the eve of the UK releasing its first quarter unemployment numbers, the TUC said the number of workers forced into involuntary part-time work had increased to 829,000, the highest figure in 15 years. 
 
One in nine people work only part-time because they cannot find a full-time job, states the TUC. Most of the part-time workers are women, 451,000 compared with 378,000 men. Women who work part-time earn, on average, 36% less than men who work full-time, while men working part-time earn 27% less. 
 
&ldquo;As unemployment rises, people are doing whatever they can to stay in work,&rdquo; said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. &ldquo;But while part-time work is better than no work at all, people will be shocked by the pitiful pay rates on offer &ndash; a disgrace that millions of women have suffered for many years.&rdquo; 
 
Workers in part-time employment are subjected to a double jeopardy, because their rates of pay are low and they are unable to work enough hours to make financial ends meet. UK government statistics cite that in job placement centres across the country, more than one in four work vacancies are filled for fewer than 16 hours per week. 
 
On 13 May, the government released figures showing that the number of jobless had risen by 244,000 for the first three months of 2009. That is the biggest quarterly jump in unemployment statistics since 1981. The 2009 increase in those without jobs raised UK&rsquo;s official unemployment rate from 6.3% to 7.1%. 
 
Also in the UK, hundreds of construction workers converged on the site of the 2012 Olympics in the east London community of Stratford on 6 May. Workers were protesting the wide use of agency labour by contractors on the &pound;9 billion site, undercutting a promise that contractors would pay union-negotiated pay rates and full-time construction workers.

Involuntary Part-time Work on Steep Rise, TUC Study Shows

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Late last month, the Ontario Legislature passed an Employment Standards Amendment Act (Temporary Help Agencies), which grants substantially more rights to workers of labour-hire companies. It will become effective in six months time. 
 
The new law, Bill 139, prohibits temporary employment agencies from charging fees for CVs or interview preparation. It also prevents agencies from charging workers &ldquo;temporary to permanent&rdquo; fees. 
 
And together with that, and more importantly, it allows agency workers fair treatment and better opportunities for advancement into permanent and sustainable work. Bill 139 ensures that such workers get paid for public holidays, and that they have the same rights as regular workers to notice of termination and severance pay. That will occur by removing exemptions under the Employment Standards Act&rsquo;s &ldquo;elect to work&rdquo; provision. Specifically regarding temporary workers, that means when they accept work through agencies, they forfeit such rights. That will no longer be the case. 
 
Although the new law does not guarantee equal pay for equal work, it does establish a system for payment of wage arrears by agencies when clients are late in payment. 
 
The legislation was advanced though Ontario&rsquo;s Poverty Reduction Strategy, a programme designed to build a stronger economy by creating more opportunities for low-income families and children. Passage of Bill 139, said Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca, &ldquo;removes barriers to permanent employment&rdquo; and we feel &ldquo;we are helping people achieve their potential and opening doors to opportunity.&rdquo; 
 
In Ontario, Canada&rsquo;s largest and most populous province, the number of temporary agencies has grown from 1,300 in 1993 to nearly 4,400 today, with total revenues increasing from C$1.5 billion to C$8 billion in that 15-year time span. 
 
Most labour law in Canada is regulated under separate codes enacted and administered separately by the country&rsquo;s ten provinces.

Ontario Province in Canada Passes Law Giving Better Protections to Temporary Workers

Some 100 trade union leaders in the rubber sector from 22 countries will converge in Nashville, Tennessee, next week for pivotal discussions on recent developments in that sector. The event is the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) quadrennial World Conference for the Rubber Industries, which takes place on 12 and 13 May at Nashville&rsquo;s Sheraton Music City Hotel. 

&ldquo;In this time of global economic crisis, particularly in the automotive industry, it is important that key trade union leaders of the rubber sector gather to share ideas, discuss strategies, and move the issue of workers&rsquo; rights to the forefront of any recovery agenda,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 

The conference, which will be hosted by ICEM&rsquo;s largest North American trade union affiliate, Pittsburgh-based United Steelworkers of America (USW), will be presided over by USW President Leo Gerard, who is Chairman of the ICEM Rubber Industry Sector. 

The conference will feature a presentation by ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan on &ldquo;Global Industry Trends and Challenges.&rdquo; It will also feature five panel discussions: &ldquo;Effects of Global Crisis on the Industry and Trade Union Challenges,&rdquo; &ldquo;Rising Hardships and Distortion in Work Relationships,&rdquo; &ldquo;Global Agreements, Global/Regional Company and Sector Networks and Campaigns,&rdquo; &ldquo;How to Improve Health and Safety for Workers: What Kind of Industrial Policy for a Greener Environment for Securing Jobs,&rdquo; and &ldquo;How to Better Coordinate Global Union Solidarity, Support and Cooperation.&rdquo; 

Other presentations on the agenda will include: &ldquo;Collective Bargaining in the Rubber Industry,&rdquo; &ldquo;Global Trade Union Response Against Challenges,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Healthy and Safe Work, Environment and Sustainable Development.&rdquo; The conference will conclude in the afternoon of 13 May with &ldquo;Development of an Action Plan&rdquo; for trade unions of the global rubber sector. 
 
The Geneva, Switzerland-based ICEM is a Global Union Federation numbering 20 million workers, encompassed by 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries. 

For further information, contact: Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer, +41&nbsp;79&nbsp;734&nbsp;9044, or kemal.ozkan@icem.org, or Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, +41&nbsp;22&nbsp;304&nbsp;1842, dick.blin@icem.org.

Global Trade Unions for the Rubber Sector Gather in Nashville, Tennessee, Next Week

The Global Unions, consisting of the 13 global union federations, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and TUAC of the OECD, knows of the importance in America in passing the Employee Free Choice Act. We know that a strong economy depends on workers given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society. 
 
This, we believe, is the basic underpinning of the Employee Free Choice Act. Our trade union stands firmly behind the American trade unions in your efforts to get the United States Congress to pass this legislation into law, with the support of President Barack Obama. Please pass to your union membership, as well as to your elected officials, that our union fully supports EFCA, and that we consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way. 
 
(Signed &hellip; Name of Trade Union Official) 
(Name of Trade Union) 
(Country)

Urgent Request: EFCA Letter

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