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Elefsina, an industrial town on the outskirts of Athens, was the venue for the 38th Congress of ICEM &ndash; affiliated trade union, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries and Chemical Industry. ICEM Energy Officer, Jim Catterson represented the ICEM at the Congress which brought together several hundred delegates together with guests from the across the political spectrum of Greek political parties as well as international trade union guests from Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
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The world economic crisis and its effects on the Greek economy with the imposition by government of a severe austerity package was subject to extensive and lively debate, including the messages from both political and international guests who also discussed the RETUN-SEE network of Energy Unions, the future role of Greece as a transit country for gas and petroleum supplies to European Union countries as well as the changing economics and structures of European petroleum refining. 
 
The Congress elected a Presidium to guide the union&rsquo;s work in the next Congress period. It will elect the President and other leading officials of the union at its first meeting. 
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Prior to the Congress the union arranged a first meeting between ICEM and senior management of Hellenic Petroleum, a significant multinational involved in Petroleum refining and distribution throughout the Balkans, as well as exploration in both Macedonia and Egypt. Jim Catterson was able to describe ICEM priorities in the industry including Global Framework Agreements as well as discuss in general the challenges facing the industry, ranging from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to the present turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

Petroleum, Energy Workers of Greece Celebrate 38th Congress

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The 28 affiliates of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Slovakia (KOZ) have the antidote for centre-right coalition government intent on imposing dreaded labour laws reforms in the Central European country. KOZ and its trade unions have launched a petition drive to change the eight-hour work day to one of seven and a 25-hour work week, with no reduction in salaries. 
 
The campaign already has the necessary 350,000 signatures needed to put an initiative up for vote under Slovakia&rsquo;s referendum law. But the unions will continue collecting signatures, in part, to galvanise support against Prime Minister Iveta Radicova&rsquo;s labour code revisions to cut worker protections. 
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KOZ has drawn up a draft referendum that poses three questions to Slovak citizens: Do you want to preserve the current system of worker protections? Do you agree that overtime work should be limited to 80 hours per year? Do you want working time shortened to 35 hours per week? 
 
Leaders in the ruling coalition parties claim that if accepted, employers will reduce costs by furloughing workers. But union leaders argue that reducing the number of work hours can produce jobs if fair and socially correct policies are enacted by the government. 
 
The labour-friendly Smer-Social Democracy Party is the one political party supporting KOZ&rsquo;s campaign. 
 
In order for a plebiscite to become effective in the Slovak Republic, at least 50% of voting-age people must turn out for the referendum vote. Since 1993, the country has held seven such plebiscites and only once has achieved the necessary 50% &ndash; in 2003 when Slovakian citizens voted to join the EU.

Slovak Trade Unions Campaign for 7-Hour Work Day

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Labour strife broke out late last week at Kumho tyre plants Korea. Members of the Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union, affiliated to the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU) and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), staged a one-day warning strike on 25 March at two of three Kumho plants in Korea &ndash; Gwungju and Gokseong. 
 
Management immediately retaliated that day and on 26 March with a lockout. When some 3,400 workers at the two plants in southwestern Korea tried to return to their jobs, Kumho managers insisted they sign individual agreements pledging not to strike. 
 
The KMWU branch unit issued a statement calling on Kumho to negotiate over a set of disputed issues, and said, &ldquo;The company forced union workers to confirm that they would not take part in (further) strikes.&rdquo; The Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union is strongly encouraging workers not to sign the statement and not to return to work while the lockout is in force. 
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Kumho&rsquo;s Gwungju Tyre Plant, 25 March
By a 72% vote count, rubber workers on 10 March voted to launch the warning strike. Central among issues is management&rsquo;s refusal to negotiate paid time-off inside the factories for KMWU branch leaders to handle grievances and perform other union business. The union also seeks labour-management dialogue in order to cut excessive noise pollution in the factories, and wants revisions to severance packages. 
 
Kumho, a subsidiary of the Kumho Asiana Group, has shed a great number of jobs over the past two years due to a heavy debt burden and shifting of work to start-up plants in China. Earlier last week, Kumho was hit by a massive recall of tyres made in those Chinese plants because recycled content exceeded the allowable requirements. 
 
Kumho is Korea&rsquo;s second largest tyre manufacturer and the world&rsquo;s tenth biggest. Workers at the company&rsquo;s third tyre plant in Korea, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi province, where the KMWU also represents staff, are not affected by the current labour strife.

Warning Strike Leads to Lockout at Kumho Tyre Factories in Korea

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The United Steelworkers (USW) in North America has created a Unity Council around the Evraz Group, the world&rsquo;s tenth largest steel producer that is controlled by holding companies connected to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The steelworkers&rsquo; network was formed last week at meetings in the US, and initially will include USW local unions representing 2,600 workers in the western US and western Canada. 
 
The Unity Council is expected to expand globally with the help of ICEM and its coal-mining affiliate in Russia, trade unions in South Africa, and the assistance of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and its affiliates at steel and related mills in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, and the Czech Republic. The company is also expanding in Kazakhstan. 
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Steve Hunt, Robert LaVenture
Formation of the council &ldquo;is an important step in bringing workers together across borders to share information, strategies, and plans with respect to a common employer,&rdquo; said Unity Council Chairman and USW Region 12 Director Robert LaVenture. &ldquo;Workers across international boundaries know that they need to work together to balance our interests against powerful global companies like Evraz.&rdquo; 
 
The USW represents workers at steel pipe and tubing mills in Pueblo, Colorado, and in Calgary, Alberta, and Regina, Saskatchewan. 
 
&ldquo;Ultimately, we would like to see a worldwide group of Evraz workers that is able to meet regularly and work to ensure that the company&rsquo;s workforce, regardless of country or nationality, is treated fairly and has strong union representation,&rdquo; added USW Western Canadian Region Director Steve Hunt. 
 
Luxembourg-based Evraz has nine steel mills, five iron ore operations, several coal deposits, and other mine and mill operations, including Highveld Steel and Vanadium in South Africa. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s familiarity with Evraz centres on the company&rsquo;s major stakes in the Russian coking coal mines of Yuzhkuzbassugol and Raspadskaya, the latter one which saw 90 miners perish in a methane gas blast in May 2010. At Yuzhkuzbassugol, a similar explosion killed miners of ICEM affiliate Russian Independent Coal Miners&rsquo; Union (ROSUGLEPROF) in 2007. (See the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3781-Russian-Mine-Disaster-Restates-Immediacy-for-ILO-Convention-176 ">2010 ICEM report</a> and the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2273-Another-Coal-Mine-Blast-in-Russia’s-Kuzbass-Kills-39-Miners ">2007 ICEM report</a>.)

Steelworkers Form ‘Unity Council’ for Evraz Metal, Mine Workers

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From: International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation 
 
The 50,000 workers, students and human and labour rights activists who took part in the February Global Days of Action are gearing up for another round of mass mobilizations to fight proposed labour legislation that further strips Mexican workers of the most basic internationally recognized labour rights. 
 
News of the proposed <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=26016&amp;l=2">regressive reforms</a> comes just weeks after unions from more than 40 countries participated in an active week of massive rallies, marches and high-level government meetings to shine a light on the Mexican government's failure to uphold international commitments to respect basic labour rights and worker protections. 
 
The proposed legislation which greatly undermines freedom of association, job security, and work conditions, fails to include any of the many changes to Mexican labour legislation that have been repeatedly called for by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and more recently, on 23 March, the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/gb/GBSessions/lang--en/docName--WCMS_153533/index.htm">359th Report</a> of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, which contains the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation&rsquo;s (IMF) Case No. 2694 that has the Committee&rsquo;s conclusions and instructions to the Mexican government, pages 197-243. 
 
In Mexico, preparations at the national level are underway. Public events planned in Mexico include: 
&bull; A rally that was held on March 24 at 1pm; 
&bull; A forum on March 30 to debate regressive nature of reform and strategies for resistance and change; 
&bull; Educational material development and strategic meetings are being held throughout the week. 
 
To join the campaign, the IMF is urging affiliates and others to send letters to their local Mexican embassy or consulate or government representative, especially those individuals who took meetings with union groups during the February Global Days of Action. See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/IMF-ltr-Mexico-Labor-Law-Reform.pdf ">IMF's letter</a> here to serve as model.

Proposed Mexican Labour Law Reform Opposed; Action Needed

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The beginning of a Latin American network for Vale workers took root in Peru from 9-11 March, when 35 trade union representatives from six countries met in the city of Piura to discuss common problems and joint strategies to combat the anti-social policies of the Brazilian mining company. 
 
The meeting was sponsored by the US Solidarity Center and its Peruvian and Brazilian offices, and hosted by the ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region and the ICEM affiliate, the Peruvian National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP). 
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The Piura department in northern Peru is where Vale intends to supply its entry into agri-business following last year&rsquo;s purchase of Bunge&rsquo;s Fosfertil subsidiary in Brazil, a manufacturer of fertiliser. Vale has recently begun production at the Bay&oacute;var mine, a phosphate development that is under its Peruvian subsidiary, Minera Miski Mayo. 
 
Union representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Peru, and the US were present, and serious discussion occurred over Vale&rsquo;s social conduct throughout the world. The Canadian representative was from United Steelworkers Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, and he told of Vale&rsquo;s anti-people policies following the purchase of Inco nickel mining and smelting assets in 2006 and a subsequent 360-day strike by 3,500 steelworkers in 2009-2010. 
 
ICEM Regional Vice President Sergio Novais chaired the meeting, and besides several FNTMMSP delegates attending, participants also included Brazilian union leaders from CNQ/CUT, the chemical workers&rsquo; union; SINDIMINA, a Brazilian mineworkers&rsquo; union representing Vale miners; STEFAM, a union of railway workers at Vale mines and other workplaces; and STIQUIFAR, a chemical, pharmaceutical, and agri-chem union.

Workers’ Network Meeting of Vale Convenes in Peru

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A thorough survey conducted by the global trade union network of AkzoNobel reveals key points inside the Dutch chemical company&rsquo;s worldwide subsidiaries, particularly related to restructuring. The <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3883-ICEM-Affiliates-Move-to-Form-an-Akzo-Nobel-Workers’-Network">AkzoNobel Workers&rsquo; Network</a> was created only ten months ago when ICEM affiliate FNV Bondgenoten hosted the inaugural meeting in Amsterdam. 
 
The survey saw response from nearly all workplace leaders and it shows important trends regarding use of temporary labour and contractors, labour-management communication levels, pay comparisons, and health and safety compliance. A full 96.5% of trade union leaders surveyed responded. 
 
Also, for example, responses show that in AkzoNobel&rsquo;s worldwide facilities &ndash; most of which are under 500 workers &ndash; the core labour standards regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining are in question, with 17% of all workplaces not unionised. Sixty-three percent of respondents answered that overtime work is compulsory, while 63% again said one form or another of restructuring has taken place in their plants over the past three years. 
 
Regarding legal compliance with local or national regulations, AkzoNobel fares extremely well since 100% responding said the company complies with legal requirements, while the same number said AkzoNobel relies almost totally on legally-binding contracts. 
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Ninety-six percent of the respondents stated that the specialty chemicals and paints and coatings company does abide by adequate health and safety regulations. 
 
Other results of the survey: 
 
&bull; 75% of those responding say that the workforce in their facility is composed of between 1-25% temporary workers, while 18% said there are no temporary workers and 7% said that the composition is between 50-75%; 
&bull; At 70% of the locations, there are regular meetings between trade union representatives and management; 
&bull; A good majority of unions (81%) have contacts with other unions inside or outside of their home country; 
&bull; 81% indicate that wages paid are in correlation to what is paid at respective national levels; 
&bull; 81% also say their worksites offer training possibilities; 
&bull; Regarding restructuring, in nearly all cases consultation took place between workers&rsquo; representatives and management; 
&bull; And in the restructurings, in 59% of the cases, 1-25% of the workforce was affected and in 33% of restructurings no workers were affected; 
&bull; And in 46% of AkzoNobel&rsquo;s restructurings, there were no dismissals, while in 54% there were between 1-25% of workers at the site that lost their jobs. 
 
In other AkzoNobel worker news, the Latin American Trade Union Network, held in December 2010 S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, created a <a href="http://IWN.AN@groups.facebook.com">group Facebook page</a> called IWN-AN International Workers Network AkzoNobel. The page has an objective to ramp up communications, and post speedy opinions, documents, and other issues that participants wish to share. The facebook group is expected to obtain support for expanding the network via inputs from participants for future communications and discussion. For those wishing to participate, a Facebook account is necessary and then just to IWN-AN International Workers Network AkzoNobel. 
 
The global network&rsquo;s next activity will be to attend and follow Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s Annual General Meeting, to take place Wednesday, 27 April, at 14h00 in Amsterdam.

AkzoNobel Network Survey Reveals Pertinent Site-to-Site Facts

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ICEM&rsquo;s German affiliate, IGBCE, held yet another mass mobilisation on 24 March in Ludwigshafen, alongside BASF&rsquo;s massive chemicals complex there. The purpose of the manifestations are to continue to buoy support among rank-and-file chemical workers for the union&rsquo;s 7% wage demands in national bargaining with the chemical employers&rsquo; association, the BAVC. 
 
The second round of federal bargaining covering 550,000 workers in 1,900 companies is set for 30-31 March in Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia state. The first round of federal talks took place in Hanover on 15 March, with employers refusing to put forward an offer. 
 
In the fortnight since, IGBCE has deployed a &ldquo;wage truck&rdquo; and bus tour of activists to 12 chemical sites, reminding workers that they deserve good money for the hard work they&rsquo;ve performed in pulling German chemical employers through the financial crisis. Some 30,000 IGBCE members in chemicals have turned out for the rallies thus far. 
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A rally also was held at the Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH plant near Mannheim on 24 March and after one on Friday, 25 March, at Boehringer-Ingelheim&rsquo;s plant in Biberach, the manifestation tour continues today with mobilisations at Hoechst, Merck, and other companies in Frankfurt and in Darmstadt. 
 
The truck and caravan will make another stop tomorrow in Hanau, before culminating for a 30 March demonstration prior to the talks in Bad Honnef. 
<img alt="" src="" width="270" height="152" />
IGBCE Demo in Hanover
&ldquo;We expect a conclusion to come&rdquo; in Bad Honnef, said IGBCE Governing Board member Peter Hausmann, who heads the union&rsquo;s Collective Bargaining Department. &ldquo;We expect employers to put a fair offer on the table,&rdquo; something, he noted, that was absent in Hanover, or in the nine rounds of regional bargaining earlier this year. 
 
IGBCE is adamant that 7% over the next 12 months is fair compensation for workers who absorbed work-time cuts and other social curtailments to help chemical producers weather the economic crisis. The union said the industry has now overcome that crisis. With German production capacities at full levels and sales and profits gushing upward, the time for fairness and justice to the people who delivered this return to prosperity is this week in Bad Honnef.

IGBCE Mobilises for Second Federal Round of German Chemical Talks

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Industrial development in mining and manufacturing sectors will continue to be an essential part of economic development in Latin America, for both the economic giants of Brazil and Mexico and for the other countries in the region, such as Argentina, Peru, Chile and Venezuela. 
 
Despite improvements over the last decade, poverty and inequality continue to be a major feature across the region both within and between countries. Ensuring the benefits of industrial and economic development flow to working people requires a strong and united trade union movement across all sectors, including in mining and manufacturing. 
 
Commodities, particularly oil, silver, copper and iron ore, are generating a lot of wealth in the region and Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have led the way in also developing a significant manufacturing industry, particularly in automotive, petroleum and textiles, on the back of this wealth. 
 
At the national level, the organization of companies often sees workers linked through highly integrated supply chains from one sector to the next. For example, in the Maquiladoras of Mexico there is a concentration of textiles, electronics and automotive parts production where workers face similar challenges in organizing and securing a fair share in the profits of the companies. 
 
Solidarity between Mexico&rsquo;s mine workers and automotive parts workers under the leadership of the Mexican Miners&rsquo; Union is creating opportunities for gaining freedom of association previously not achieved, as witnessed in the case of <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=23862&amp;l=2">Johnson Controls in Puebla</a>. After a long struggle and with the support of the Mexican Miners&rsquo; Union, Johnson Controls workers at the Resurrecci&oacute;n plant in Puebla were able to join a union of their choice and through this union reach an agreement at the plant. 
 
Meanwhile, in the Export Processing Zones of the Dominican Republic, textile and electronics workers live and work along-side each other facing many of the same problems and working conditions. Unions here have found that the same strategies are required to organize across both sectors. (See below Gertrudis Santana on cross-sector organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs.) 
 
In Brazil, more than three million workers are employed by mining and manufacturing companies in a very integrated cross-sectoral process. From mine sites to the production lines of airplanes, ships, and cars, workers are organized by mine, chemicals, textiles, and metal workers&rsquo; unions that fight together for better work conditions and benefits. 
 
For unions in Latin America and beyond, a strong international approach will also be required in tackling the transnational corporations that are emerging mostly from Brazil and Mexico in this region. Many of these &ldquo;multilatinas,&rdquo; such as Vale, Gerdau, Cemex, Grupo M&eacute;xico, and Tenaris, have a notorious history of anti-union and poor labour relations, which is being exported by the companies as they expand regionally and globally.

Latin American Industrial Landscape Requires United Cross-sectoral Approach

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More and more employers are moving away from permanent, direct employment in favour of contract, agency or other forms of precarious work. In response to surveys carried out in 2009 and 2010, 66 per cent of ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF affiliates indicated that precarious work had increased in their sector over the last year alone. 
 
Recognising the fact that precarious work was a growing problem in almost every sector, the Global Unions established the Work Relationships Group (WRG) in 2007, with a view to carrying out joint work on the issue. Since then, the group has met ten times and taken joint positions and engaged in a number of joint activities related to precarious work. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda is chairman of the WRG. 
 
A significant step was made last June, when all Global Union Federations agreed a set of Joint Principles on Temporary Agency Work. While acknowledging that there are many different views and approaches within the trade union movement towards dealing with precarious work, the joint principles set out the points which all of the Global Unions agree on. 
 
These include that the primary form of employment should be permanent, open-ended and direct; that agency workers should be covered under the same collective bargaining agreement as other workers in the user enterprise and should receive equal treatment in all respects; that the use of temporary agencies should not increase the gender gap on wages, social protections, and conditions; that temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships; and that the use of agency workers should never be used to weaken trade unions or to undermine organising or collective bargaining rights. 
 
One primary function of the WRG is to facilitate the exchange of information between the Global Unions, and to identify areas where joint action might be appropriate. One such action took place in October 2009, when the General Secretaries of ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF met with the Turkish Labour Minister, and expressed their support for President Abdullah G&uuml;l&rsquo;s veto of proposed amendments that would have permitted the charging of fees by labour brokers and permitted businesses or individuals to easily become certified as labour agencies. 
 
Since its inception, the WRG has been calling on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to take concrete steps to address the growth of precarious work. Our demands have included that the ILO must equip itself to address the many circumstances under which workers engaged in precarious work are denied the effective right to organize and bargain collectively. 
 
The ILO/ACTRAV Symposium 2011, which takes places in Geneva from October 3-7, will focus on precarious work. Among other topics, the Symposium will look at how different elements of precarious work, including triangular employment relationships and subcontracting, impact workers and their right to bargain collectively.

Global Unions Join Forces to Fight Precarious Work

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