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The ICEM participated in the Eastern Europe and CIS regional conference of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) on 3&ndash;4 December in Moscow. 
 
The conference brought together 150 trade union leaders from newly independent countries, to identify new challenges and search for strategies and solutions to fight the violation of workers&rsquo; and trade union rights. 
 
The conference was attended by the ITUC General Secretary Sharon Barrow; European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks:, Mikhail Shmakov, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and President of the PERC: and Igor Kovalchuk, President of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (FNPR). 
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Trade union rights was identified as a vital necessity in Russia and elsewhere in the region in order to develop civil society and democracy under new conditions of economic modernization. 
 
The conference agreed that in the current environment of the post-crisis recovery, a consolidation of the trade union movement is required in order to respond properly to the challenges common throughout the region. 
 
Speaking about the specific rights of trade unions in Russia, the FNPR&rsquo;s Shmakov drew attention to the need to liberalise the strike law. &ldquo;In our country, in contrast to Western countries, it is almost impossible to organize a legal strike, so we must strive to reduce the length of time for conciliation.&rdquo; 
 
Barrow stated that &ldquo;the attacks on the rights of the workers are a bad recipe for economic development.&rdquo; She added: &ldquo;The role of trade unions as defenders of the legitimate rights of the employees by conducting effective negotiations with the employer is extremely important for the future development of economies and societies in general.&rdquo;

ICEM Participate in Regional ITUC-PERC Conference in Moscow

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In Moscow, the Fifth Congress of the All-Russian Elektroprofsoyuz finished its work last week. Formed 20 years ago, the ICEM affiliated union remains as one of the most important Russian trade unions over the years, protecting the interests of working people. 
 
Throughout its existence, Elektroprofsoyuz has consistently directed its efforts to preserve and strengthen trade union structures, increase employee participation in the management of organizations through creation and dissemination of social partnerships in order to increase the social responsibility of businesses. 
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The activities of the union that have been directed at protecting the interests of members of the trade union in the framework of cooperation with state authorities have been significant, as well as the adoption and subsequent implementation of the guidelines of the trade union for the development of social partnerships, which have been very important. 
 
Over the years, everyone working in the power industry, in electrical engineering, and in the peat industry has seen real wage increases. The strengthening of trade union control over state occupational health and safety has led to a marked reduction of occupational injuries. Over the last five-year Congress period, Elektroprofsoyuz has given special impetus to the work of young workers. 
 
Today, the All-Russian Elektroprofsoyuz union has 672,824 members. The average monthly salary for them in the power industry is about 32,590 rubles, or US$1,051. 
 
At last week&rsquo;s Congress, Valery Vahrushkin was elected president of the union for the next five years.

Elektroprofsoyuz Union Holds Fifth Congress in Moscow

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GSHNER Nezavisnost, the Serbian Trade Union of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy, and Mining Workers, held its Fourth Congress in Begrade yesterday, 12 December, under the banner &ldquo;With New Supply in a New Future.&rdquo; 
 
A total of 120 delegates from various branches attended as did numerous state officials, management representatives, colleagues from unions of UGS Nezavisnost, and European and global trade unions, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addresses Congress
Manfred delivered a speech in which he praised the previous work of the ICEM affiliate in Central Europe and the tremendous reform that the union has undertaken. 
 
He called on all unions in the Balkan countries to join in unity and solidarity, and to form new joint approaches to the valuable work they do for industrial workers. Only through uniting and restructuring, Warda said, can unions respond to the growing challenges ahead of them. 
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Other guests and speakers at the Congress included Lief Sande, President pf IndustiEnergi (IE) of Norway; Peter Sokkers of FNV Bondgenoten, Ntherlands; Michael Wolters, IGBCE, Germany; Didier Baur, CGT-FNME, France; Kata Iveljić, President of the Independent Trade union of Chemical and Mon-Metal Workers, Bosnia-Bercegovina; Ivan Tomac, President, and Daniel Spiček, Secretary, of the Autonomous Trade union in Power Industries, Chemical, and Non-Metal (EKN), Croatia; Tomaž Kumer, President, and Sonja Kos, Secretary, of the Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber (KNG) Union of Slovenia; and Mato Malić, ICEM&rsquo;s South-East European Project Coordinator.

Nezavisnost Holds Fourth Congress in Belgrade

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An ICEM affiliate in Finland, the Salaried Workers&rsquo; Union, or Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni (TU), completed a merger on Saturday, 11 December, with Suora and effective 1 January will become the 130,000-member union called Pro, a union for salaried workers in the private sector. 
 
TU covers some 250 member associations across Finland, and negotiates 47 collective agreements, while Suora represents workers in the finance and insurance industries, as well as white-collar workers in the gaming business and alcohol trades. 
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Antti Rinne and Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml; Sign the Merger Document, Creating Pro
Rank-and-file members work in a multitude of sectors as salaried employees, hourly paid employees, foremen or supervisors, and in expert jobs. The new union will organize self-employed professionals as well. 
 
Antti Rinne, the President of the TU, was unanimously elected President of Pro. A 48-year-old lawyer, Rinne describes the current situation among Finnish trade unions as &ldquo;the most critical period in history.&rdquo; 
 
Suora&rsquo;s President, Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml;, will become the new union&rsquo;s First Vice President, while Juha Kivist&ouml; was elected Second Vice President. 
 
The new union&rsquo;s website can be found <a href="http://www.proliitto.fi ">here</a>.

Finnish Unions, TU and Suora, Merge to Become Pro

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Workers mining coal in a sealed-off coal shaft in Henan Province, China, died on 7 December when a methane gas explosion ripped through the mine. Twenty-six miners perished inside a colliery that was operating without authorization following a transfer of assets from a private mining company to a state-owned one. 
 
To make matters worse, the owner of the private company, Suzhuang Coal Mine Co., concealed the number of miners working the illegal operation following the late afternoon blast on 7 December. He first reported 13 miners were killed and actually hid the bodies of a number of miners to lessen the casualty toll. 
 
Regional police arrested seven people in total that were responsible for the falsification, including a local work-safety official charged with concealing the number of victims from investigators. The tragedy and cover-up occurred in Mianchi County, near Sanmenxia city in central Henan Province, at the Juyuan Coal Mine that was supposedly closed and under a safety review while the asset transfer was underway. 
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Bur the prior owner, Suo Younggang, continued to operate parts of the mine after his licensing had been revoked. The mine was being transferred to the state-owned Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, which operates in five Chinese provinces and employs 50,000 workers. 
 
&ldquo;The mining boss had profits all over his mind and has no regard whatsoever for miners&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; said Niu Senying of the investigatory team in the Chinese sate press. &ldquo;Where are the supervising officials? How could the mine be allowed to operate illegally for such a long time?&rdquo; 
 
The mine owner and his collaborators first reported 33 miners were underground, and only 13 had died. Following the initial investigation, it was revealed that 46 workers had been in the mine, with 26 dying and 20 making it to safety. 
 
Also on 7 December, a roof in a shaft at a coal mine in China&rsquo;s Liaoning Province collapsed, killing four miners. The mine was operated by the state-controlled Caitun Coal Mine Co., located in Benxi city. And a week earlier, on 30 November, seven miners drowned 90 metres deep in the Yide Coal Mine in Hunan Province when shafts were flooded. Managers of privately-held Yide had been warned both orally and in writing of safety hazards inside the Xiangtan County mine. They, along with shareholders of the company, are in police custody.

Methane Gas Blast Kills 26 in China’s Henan Province; Bosses Held

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Members of ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), in dispute with management of Visy Pulp and Paper now for two weeks, resorted to peaceful civil disobedience early today at one company facility. Thirty strikers staged a sit-down across the entry to Visy&rsquo;s Dandenong recycled containerboard mill near Melbourne. 
 
They were arrested and charged with undue obstruction and besetting a work premise. 
 
Some 500 AMWU members took a 24-hour industrial action on 29 November over Visy&rsquo;s foot-dragging in reaching a new enterprise agreement. On 3 December, that action became an open-ended strike when 370 paperworkers at two mills, Dandenong in Victoria state and Visy&rsquo;s Smithfield mill in New South Wales, walked out. 
 
Central among issues in talks has been Visy&rsquo;s insistence to vastly increase the number of casual workers employed in its mills, converters, and recovered paper worksites. In deliberate moves to frustrate the bargaining process, Visy seeks to create a whole new casual classification rate of A$15-per-hour, less than the current casual rate and about half what full-time workers earn. 
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The AMWU is seeking a 5% wage increase for each of three years, improvement to the wage base for casuals, and a heat policy for work during the current hot summer months. In a provocative move, the company approved a 15% wage increase to workers over three years in its non-union operations. 
 
The AMWU has been fruitlessly negotiated with Visy for three months and a prior enterprise labour agreement expired 30 September. &ldquo;We have tried to engage and negotiate with Visy, (but) they have closed the door on the negotiations,&rdquo; said AMWU National Print Division Secretary Lorraine Cassin. 
 
The company has &ldquo;tried everything in (its) power to whittle down the job security of our members and introduce a cheaper casual workforce across the country,&rdquo; she added. Besides the Dandenong and Smithfield mills, the union&rsquo;s 24-hour stop-work actions occurred at converting and recycling centres in Carole Park, Queensland, and O&rsquo;Connor, West Australia. 
 
Visy did succeed in gaining a court injunction banning union officials from participating on picket lines. But that did not prevent paperworkers employed at Dandenong from lifting the strike to another level. Today&rsquo;s peaceful sit-down strike is evidence of union frustration against a company fiercely bent on trying to avoid enterprise collective agreements.

AMWU’s Visy Strike in Australia Escalates; 30 Peaceful Strikers Arrested

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Workers at a DuPont chemical plant in the northern Brazilian state of Bahia staged a plant-gate protest on Thursday, 9 December, against the American company&rsquo;s planned redundancies, job cuts that could seriously jeopardize the safety of workers and residents living in the city of Cama&ccedil;ari. The workers and their union, ICEM affiliate CNG-CUT Qu&iacute;micos/Petroleiros, were calling attention to safety concerns to public authorities at the protest. 
 
DuPont proposes to cut up to 45% of the 130 jobs at the agricultural chemical and herbicide plant, which makes the chemical diuron. The ICEM is not convinced local management completed the necessary consultative process with the union in order to limit the redundancies and potential safety hazards. 
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Manifestation on 9 December at DuPont&rsquo;s Cama&ccedil;ari, Brazil, plant
The ICEM expressed its support to the CNQ-CUT branch in Bahia state in its protest. That letter, in English, can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/150.ICEM.DuPont%20Brazil.10Dec.pdf">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
DuPont prematurely said it would halt two lines of production and speculation is it would shift work to India. The union stated that DuPont intends to cease production of diuron and import it to Brazil. 
 
Jos&eacute; Dias de Miranda, who heads the union in Bahia state and is employed at DuPont, said that even at current employment levels, the plant has experienced fiery chemical explosions that have seen three workers die and two others severely burned.

Brazilian Chemical Workers Reject Deep Job Cuts at DuPont in Bahia State

The second 24-hour strike at paperboard plants in Spain set for tomorrow, 3 March, was cancelled after ICEM&rsquo;s two affiliates and the employers&rsquo; association reached accord early today (2 March) in Madrid. 
 
Trade unions FSC-CCOO and FIA-UGT reached agreement with Aspapel on a three-year national labour agreement for the paperboard sector that wins a 3% retroactive increase for 17,500 workers to 1 January 2010. Retroactive to 1 January 2011 will be a one percent salary increase, plus the amount of Spain&rsquo;s consumer price increase (CPI). 
 
In 2012, another one percent was won atop the CPI. The Spanish unions also succeeded in keeping sweeping flexibility changes out of the national agreement. A special commission will be established to study that for possible future implementation on the local level. 
 
Without question, the success of a 23 February day-long work stoppage can be attributed to Aspapel and paper industry employers finally moving on a lapsed 2010 national contract. It is obvious by the terms of this agreement that employers did not want another such strike, scheduled for 3 March. 
 
Some 120 paperboard factories come under the new agreement. 
 
The ICEM congratulates paperworkers of both Spanish federations for their resolve in gaining a fair and current collective agreement, and we also thank the many pulp and paper unions worldwide who sent messages of Solidarity to Spanish paperworkers. 
 
An <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4269-Spain’s-Paperworkers-Shut-Industry;-Will-Strike-Again-3-March">ICEM news piece</a> from 28 February, naming the companies involved and citing details on the 23 February general strike, is available for viewing.

2nd Spanish Paper Strike Called Off; Settlement Reached

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In a powerful display of international solidarity, the &ldquo;Global Days of Action for Trade Union Rights in Mexico,&rdquo; 14-19 February, were marked by events in over 40 countries, on five continents, including 17 cities in the US and Canada. 
 
The International Textile, Garment, &amp; Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) called for fundamental rights in the Mexican garment sector, where &ldquo;protection contracts&rdquo; deny workers of their basic labour rights, as is the case throughout Mexico. 
 
In Mexico, the independent labour movement conducted over 27 actions throughout the country, including visits to embassies of 23 countries, a march and demonstration in Mexico City from the Angel of Independence to the offices of Grupo M&eacute;xico, seminars, and a protest rally at the Monument of the Revolution. Each day of action was marked inside Mexico. The leaders of Los Mineros and the SME signed a pact of national unity. 
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Mexico City
An agreement was reached with the US embassy in Mexico City to begin regular discussions on the complaints presented, in particular the cases of Los Mineros and SME.
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Toronto, Canada
In Canada, high-level trade union delegations met with Mexican ambassadors and consuls in four cities, while pickets continued outside. The Vancouver action was marked by speeches from Los Mineros General Secretary Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez, SME General Secretary Martin Esparanza, and Jorge Castillo Maga&ntilde;a, Assistant General Secretary of the Telefonistas union. See video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/D3Steel#p/a/u/0/Bu_BPIrvlaA">Vancouver, Canada, action</a> here. 
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Washington DC, USA
In the US, rallies, meetings with ambassadors and consuls, and pickets, sent the clear message to the Mexican Calder&oacute;n government that pressure is building inside the country&rsquo;s largest trading partner that labour rights abuses must end. See video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usyexGRbDgI&amp;feature=player_embedded">Washington DC rally</a> in front of the Mexican Embassy here. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu83ni7mQHM&amp;feature=player_embedded">San Francisco</a>, <a href="http://www.fox11az.com/news/local/Mexican-consulate-picketed-by-angry-miners-116483178.html">Tucson Arizona</a>, <a href="http://www.house.state.tx.us/video-audio/press-conference/player/?ram=1102181PCB&amp;id=98&amp;session=82 ">Austin Texas</a>. 
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Geneva, Switzerland
In Switzerland, the office of the Ambassador to the United Nations was targeted by a rally, while ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, IMF Assistant General Secretary Fernando Lopes, and UNI SCORE Director Adriana Rosenzvaig met with the ambassador to convey the demands of the action. Ambassadors around the world expressed some concern, but generally denied wrongdoing by the Mexican government. Many made promises to follow-up on the demands. The dialogue and pressure will continue. 
<img src="" width="220" height="148" alt="" />
100 unionists rallied on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra
See a video of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoImqEw00_M&amp;feature=player_embedded">Australia action</a> here, where a high-level, cross-sector delegation met with the Mexican Ambassador, and a large rally was organised in front of Parliament House in Canberra. 
 
Some of the other events around the world during the Global Days of Action included: 
<img src="" width="281" height="183" alt="" />
Mexico Embassy, Tokyo: meeting with the Japan Councils of the four GUFs, along with JTUC-RENGO 
<img src="" width="220" height="147" alt="" />
Sweden: IF Metall met with the Mexican Ambassador in Stokholm
Letters and press releases in Turkey 
 
Meetings and letters in Spain with Mexican Ambassador, Spanish Government, European Parliament. 
<img src="" width="365" height="179" alt="" />
A joint rally in Bangkok, Thailand, Ministry of Labour, as well as letters to the Mexican Ambassador. 
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A picket was conducted in front of the Mexican Embassy in Moscow, in temperatures of -25&deg;C, demands were transferred to the Ambassador
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In Brussels, the Mexican embassy was picketed, with a union delegation meeting the Ambassador, a meeting was conducted with the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee
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The Mexican Embassy in Peru was picketed
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Picket of the Mexican Embassy in Indonesia
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Picket of the Mexican Embassy in New Zealand
Letters were sent from affiliated trade unions from Poland to Puerto Rico, from Norway and Germany to Bangladesh, and many others. 
 
Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=863">LabourStart campaign</a> here and join thousands of protestors in writing to Calder&oacute;n. 3,000 messages were sent via the campaign in the first week, and the numbers are growing every day. 
 
The actions took place around the fifth anniversary of the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion, where the continued failure to exhume and recover the bodies of 63 of the 65 miners who died there, or to take responsibility for the &ldquo;industrial homicide&rdquo; of those workers, and properly compensate their families continues to anger the international labour movement. 
 
The action in support of the democratic and independent trade unions in Mexico was initiated by unions from around the world affiliated to the ICEM, International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Mexico Days of Action Occur Worldwide in Over 40 Countries

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Low-wage contract workers employed by OCS Group mounted a lawful two-day strike at Tata Steel in Port Talbot, UK, 14-15 February in protest to the cleaning and catering multinational&rsquo;s miserly pay offer. Some 70 members of UK union Community, most taking their first industrial action, blocked two entrances to Tata&rsquo;s Corus Strip Products mill in Port Talbot because a living wage has not been paid them since June 2010. 
 
The strikers took brave strike action under the banner &ldquo;OCS: Have a Heart&rdquo; in honour of the strike falling on Valentine&rsquo;s Day. The contract cleaners and Community call on OCS to make a pay offer that exceeds UK&rsquo;s minimum wage. Many OCS workers at Tata are paid as little as &pound;5.75 an hour. 
 
OCS responded to the strike by bussing in managers and others at 5h00 on 14 February to perform mill-site services. Corus Strip Products in Port Talbot employs 2,900. Reports quickly surfaced that unionised steelworkers at Tata were supporting the strike actions on the inside by not cooperating with scab cleaners. OCS, or Office Cleaning Services, is a Surrey-based property support service company that operates in 40 countries. 
<img alt="" src="" width="127" height="84" />
Community Region Campaigns Manager Susan Lewis termed the company&rsquo;s response to the strike a &ldquo;low blow. While bringing in staff from outside Port Talbot might be legal, it is most certainly not morally right and will do nothing to resolve this dispute. 
 
&ldquo;OCS workers do some of the toughest and dirtiest jobs on the plant,&rdquo; added Lewis. 
 
The strike action at Tata could re-occur. It comes at a time when India-based Tata is increasing employment at Port Talbot and another Strip Products division mill in Llanwern. A &pound;185 million investment is now underway on a blast furnace at Port Talbot, and a nearby coal deposit is being studied for extraction. Tata is utilising hundreds of agency workers inside the Port Talbot and Marjam mill, and very recently brought 75 of them into direct employment. 
 
Tata bought Anglo-Dutch Corus Steel in early 2007 for &pound;5.75 million. The Indian company recently sold its Teeside Cast Products mill in North-east England to Sahaviriva Steel Industries of Thailand in a move in which British unions successfully saved 700 jobs. 
Community is a union created in a 2004 merger between the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation and the National Union of Knitwear, Footwear, and Apparel Trades.

Contract Workers Strike Tata Steel’s UK Plant in Wales

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