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Some 5,400 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US gave approval to a four-year labour agreement on 24 June with Alcoa Inc., the world&rsquo;s second largest aluminum producer. The accumulated vote, by workers at 11 company facilities in eight US states, was 68% in favour, and comes three-and-a-half weeks after USW and Alcoa narrowly escaped a strike. 
 
The new labour accord was a compromise, with the USW fending off a complete overhaul to workers&rsquo; health care coverage that would have included a two-tier system, denying all new hires any future retiree health coverage whatsoever. In return, the union agreed to an increase in worker-paid health premiums and a slight decrease to medical coverage in the existing plan. 
 
The agreement also contains lump-sum payments in the first two years instead of percentage salary increases, with 2.5% increases won for 2012 and 2013. The final agreement also contains an increase in the pension benefit pay-out, and preserves longstanding seniority provisions. 
 
But most significantly, the USW&rsquo;s Alcoa Aluminum Negotiating Council &ndash; consisting of leaders from 11 branch unions in addition to four smaller unions &ndash; rejected Alcoa&rsquo;s &ldquo;Choices&rdquo; health care plan that would have dramatically reduced coverage while increasing workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket costs. 

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USW District 7 Director, Jim Robinson
&ldquo;The new contract does raise employee premiums, but they will still be much less than paid by Alcoa salaried and non-union employees,&rdquo; said USW District Seven Director and Alcoa Negotiating Chair Jim Robinson. 
 
&ldquo;Alcoa was not only insisting on implementing a plan that would have required our members to pay much higher costs for a lower level of coverage, but Alcoa also wanted the right to set future costs and coverage at whatever the company deemed appropriate,&rdquo; said Robinson. 
 
Alcoa US workers covered under the contract will receive a ratification bonus of US$1,250, with another bonus in 2010 amounting to US$1,000. In 2011, they will receive a lump-sum pay-out of US$1,750. 
 
The workers are employed at smelters and rolling-mill operations in Alcoa, Tennessee; two plants in Massena, New York; Badin, North Carolina; Warrick, Indiana; Lafayette, Indiana; Davenport, Iowa; Gum Springs, Arkansas; Point Comfort, Texas; Rockdale, Texas; and Wenatchee, Washington. The facilities comprise 40% of all US aluminum production. 
 
The USW and Alcoa negotiated for six weeks in April and May in Cincinnati, Ohio, to achieve a tentative accord. Late on 31 May, with USW branch unions poised to strike, the two sides extended bargaining for 11 hours into 1 June in a successful effort to avoid a strike. 
 
The contract will be backdated to 1 June and will run to 15 May 2014.

Steelworkers Ratify Four-Year US Labour Agreement with Alcoa

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The ICEM was shocked and angered by the arrests of labour and political rights advocate, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, and Associate Professor Suthachai Yimprasert, in Thailand, and will be detained until earliest 6 June.
The pair presented themselves to police on hearing of their arrest warrants.&nbsp;Neither of them were members of the core Red Shirt group, they were following events closely in their capacity as journalist and academic.
Both friends of the international labour movement, Somyot and Suthachi are detained at the Adisorn Army Base in Saraburi, 115km north of capital Bangkok. Suthachai is on hungar strike in protest of his arrest.
ICEM affiliates and supporters around the world are requested to write to your local Thai embassies and call on the release of both men.
Somyot is a former ICEM project coordinator in Thailand. 
The arrest warrants were issued in connection&nbsp;to the incident on 21 May 2010 at 13.00, when Somyot and Suthachai, in the name of the 24th of June Democracy Group, held a press conference in front of the House No. 111 Foundation. This was a completely peaceful event.
The ICEM joins calls for the immediate release&nbsp;of both men.

ICEM Angered by Thai Arrests

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The Workers&rsquo; Network of Bayer meeting, held 6-7 May at the Hotel Terras Altas in Itapecerica da Serra, S&atilde;o Paulo, was supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany and was attended by workers, members of factory committees, and managers from Bayer plants in Brazil and Argentina. This eighth meeting was also attended by representatives by CNQ/CUT, the National Confederation of Chemical Industry, the Social Observatory Institute, CUT&rsquo;s Multi Action on Multinationals Project from the Brazilian national labour centre&rsquo;s International Relations Secretariat. 
 
The participation of comrades from the pharmacists' union in Argentina stimulated the discussion on the regional expansion of the network and also allowed a better understanding of the reality of Bayer employees in that country. The Argentine trade unionists spoke on collective agreements, benefits, restructuring and acquisitions in the region, and on relations between business, workers, and unions. 
 
According to CNQ International Relations Secretary Antenor Nakamura, the network must engage in regional expansion, but in order to do that it has to consider the differences in trade union structures in the region. According to Eder Correa, manager of labor relations at Bayer in Brazil, the company acknowledges the Brazilian network, but emphasized that the Brazilian structure cannot interfere in Bayer&rsquo;s positions in other countries. &quot;We can&rsquo;t guarantee recognition of the network in other regions, but we can make a strategic disclosure of the dialogue practices,&quot; he said. 
The impact of nanotechnology for workers was another topic discussed during this eighth meeting. The coordinator of the research institute Renanossoma, Dr. Paulo Martins, introduced the theme and spoke about the lack of regulation for products made with nano particles and the lack of research investment and that impact on processes. 

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&quot;Nanotechnology allows the creation of new products, but we still do not know if they are safe. The social, environmental, and ethical concerns should be taken into consideration,&quot; he stated. 
 
During the two-day meeting, workers and Bayer managers covered topics such as fundamental rights at work, moral harassment in the corporate world, control system of working hours, incorporation of benefits, dissemination of social dialogue in all areas of the company, newsletters, and the functioning and structure of the network. The next meeting of workers network at Bayer will be held in April 2011. 
 
At the social dialogue forum, Bayer representatives were present during the whole meeting and discussed all themes proposed by workers. They presented an overview of the business in the country and its prospects for the future. The President of Bayer Brazil, Dr. Horstfried Laepple, stressed the importance of transparency in dialogue with workers, unions, and factory committees. In his institutional presentation, Laepple spoke about the positive results of the company in 2009 in Brazil, with R$3.8 billion in sales, about the possibility of business expansion, and also the positive projections for 2010. That includes investment of R$180 million in technology upgrades and amplification of plants. 
 
The company also presented the project Hamonia, a people management tool that uses the methodology of skills. The tool has recently been installed in its plant in Belford Roxo, in order to align human resource practices between the two businesses in that plant and set career tracks, as well as giving more transparency to the criteria for evaluation, promotion, and remuneration. The theme of &quot;Jobs and Wages,&quot; discussed by the Bayer Workers&rsquo; Network until 2008, was one of the instigators to this project. 
 
The signing of a term that will deal with Bayer's commitment to adopt and respect the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in the restructuring theme should be discussed by company and workers network in the future.

Bayer Workers’ Network Seeks Regional Expansion Across Latin America

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Errol McLeod, the former head of the Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago, was named Minister of Labour on Friday, 28 May, by newly-elected Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the first woman to ever lead the twin island republic in the Caribbean. 
 
McLeod, also a former ICEM Executive Committee member, will head a Cabinet ministry entitled Labour, Small, and Macro Enterprise Development. He retired as President of OWTU a year ago after 21 years as leader of one of the world&rsquo;s most militant trade unions. 
 
The newly-founded Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political party, which counted McLeod as a candidate for elections to Parliament a week ago, is part of a multi-party coalition&nbsp;called the People&rsquo;s Partnership that elected Persad-Bissessar and won 29 of 41 seats in Parliament on 24 May. 

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Those elections proved a crushing defeat to former Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his People&rsquo;s National Movement party. 
 
McLeod came on the political scene as a strong and charismatic leader of workers in the early 1980s when he founded the Committee for Labour Solidarity in Trinidad and Tobago. Even prior, his confident demeanor and apt leadership were apparent in the 1960s when he first worked at the former Texaco refinery in Pointe-&agrave;-Pierre. That complex is now part of state-owned Petrotrin and sits at the vanguard of workers&rsquo; militancy in Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
McLeod&rsquo;s fearless, honest, and tactful leadership over 30 years won working class gains for tens of thousands not just in his home country, but all across the Caribbean and the Commonwealth nations. 
 
&ldquo;The entire family of ICEM trade unions extends its hearty congratulations to Errol,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;His great number of achievements on behalf of workers bodes well for all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and we truly look forward to working again with him.&rdquo;

Errol McLeod Named Labour Minister in Trinidad and Tobago

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ICEM&rsquo;s Colombia affiliate, the National Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (USO), is seeking continued international solidarity in its conflict with British-based BP in eastern Colombia. As reported in an ICEM briefing that can be seen <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3660-Oil-Workers-in-Colombia-Suffer-Police-Repression">here</a>, USO has waged a hard fought campaign for union rights, improved wages, and a new collective agreement, including conducting strike actions between January and April. 
 
They have suffered through police violence and on 15 February, union members were hospitalised at a BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil fields in Casanare. 
 
Workers at the plant deployed new tactics in their struggle last week, blocking the entrance to the facility and curtailing production of the Centro de Producci&oacute;n de Fluidos (CPF) for five days. The peaceful occupation of the Cusiana CPF was misrepresented by local BP management, through a campaign of misinformation in the local town of Tauramena. Faulty company reports claim union intimidation and obstruction of food deliveries and people through the blockade. 
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Access to the gas processing facility is now jointly controlled by USO and BP&rsquo;s private security firm, as USO is wary of industrial sabotage being carried out that would be blamed on the union and used to undermine the negotiation process. The ICEM demands that BP fully recognise workers&rsquo; right to organise and bargain collectively under the guidance of USO. The oil multinational must also implore its contracting firm, SAR Energy, to respect the union and the negotiating process. 
 
The Colombia Solidarity Campaign is organising another picket of BP at its London headquarters, between 14h00 and 18h00 on Wednesday, 2 June, at 1 St James Square. 
 
Protest messages demanding peaceful negotiations with the workers of Casanare can be sent to BP Chief Executive, Tony Hayward at <a href="mailto:tony.hayward@bp.com">tony.hayward@bp.com</a>. Messages of solidarity and support can be sent to the workers at <a href="mailto:movimientoporcasanare@yahoo.es">movimientoporcasanare@yahoo.es</a>. 
 
BP will invest more than US$300 million in Colombia in 2010 and 2011 as it expands its gas and oil production, BP Exploration Colombia President Alberto Galvis confirmed. Colombia has increased its oil production to nearly 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 500,000 bpd in the last three years. According to Galvis, the Cusiana gas facility will be expanded to process 2.8bn cubic metres (bcm) per annum by September 2010. This is in spite of BP&rsquo;s massive clean-up bill for its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Oil multinationals are increasing investment in Colombia following corporate friendly fiscal changes by outgoing President Uribe.

Colombian Oil Workers Block Gas Facility, Protesting BP’s Reversal

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The Guyana Bauxite &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (GB&amp;GWU) is seeking corrective measures by the government of the South American nation in order to continue representing 500 miners of the Bauxite Co. of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), which is 90% controlled by the Russian metals company RusAl. 
 
Following six months of intense struggle, which crested in December 2009 when RusAl unilaterally withdrew recognition of the union at the Aroaima and Kwakwani bauxite mines in contradiction to Guyanese labour law, GB&amp;GWU finally got a hearing last week, on 25 May, before Guyana&rsquo;s Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board. 
 
But that hearing proved inconclusive, with the union seeking remedial action by the Labour Ministry before a ballot is put before miners on whether or not they want to retain the longstanding union. Fifty-seven GB&amp;GWU activists remain sacked after they led a strike on 22 November 2009. 
<img alt="" src="" width="256" height="192" />
GB&amp;GWU picketed the offices of Labour Minister Mansoor Nadir on 4 and 5 February 
The union wants redress for the Labour Minister refusing to act or to conduct an investigation that followed the end of the strike. BCGI prepared a de-authorization petition and coerced workers into signing it, denouncing the GB&amp;GWU. In April, it surfaced that BCGI management at both Aroaima and Kwakwani conspired to organise a workers&rsquo; committee for a rival union, one connected with the ruling People&rsquo;s Progressive Party (PPP) in Guyana. (The GB&amp;GWU has been traditionally aligned with the opposition People&rsquo;s National Congress Reform, PNCR). 
 
&ldquo;What we are asking,&rdquo; said GB&amp;GWU Secretary-General Lincoln Lewis, &ldquo;is that the laws of the country be upheld before any ballot at BCGI is held. That means that BCGI&rsquo;s one-sided de-authorization be addressed, victimization of union leaders be addressed, the illegal firings be heard, and its blatant interference over freedom of association rights be addressed. 
 
&ldquo;Now, that has not happened. We cannot enter a ballot until these complaints are answered. If we do, it opens an unwanted precedent for any union in Guyana &ndash; no matter the political alignment &ndash; for both national laws and international labour standards to be ignored in undermining a legitimate union.&rdquo; 
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GB&amp;GWU Secretary-General Lincoln Lewis 
The dispute is now highly politically charged with PNCR representatives in the National Assembly bringing a no-confidence motion on Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister Mansoor Nadir inside the Legislature. The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy has called for his resignation. 
 
The labour dispute initially started in wage negotiations last November. BCGI submitted three proposals and asked miners to vote and accept one. When they accepted the one least desirable to BCGI, managers began meeting with groups of workers to convince them to change their position. For those who stood by the democratic vote, management made it known they would be the first terminated. 
 
Management&rsquo;s bullishness, thus, caused the strike, a strike in which BCGI terminated union leaders, withdrew recognition, and subsequently has tried to introduce another union. The ICEM did intervene with the Guyanese government, but received only a curt reply that all laws and procedures are being adhered to. The ICEM will continue to stand by the GB&amp;GWU until full justice prevails.

Guyana Bauxite Union Still Seeking Justice from RusAl, Government

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Dutch-Irish pulp and paper company SmurfitKappa withdrew a signed social agreement with ICEM affiliate FGTB on a redundancy package, after claiming managers at the Mettet paper converter in the Walloon region of Belgium were coerced into signing it. The company announced in February that is was closing the Cartomill plant near Namur, thus terminating 69 workers. 
 
Late on 30 April and early 1 May, FGTB representatives and plant managers were negotiating the social package in the plant&rsquo;s offices when, after several hours into the night, an agreement was reached on transition and education terms, as well a &euro;30,000 per worker redundancy settlement. The company had originally offered only the Belgian minimum, &euro;28,000. 
 
But following the signing, plant managers conferred with corporate management and the decision was taken to invalidate the agreement, with Cartomills managers stating they were held against their will throughout the evening and forced to sign. Pascal Vivone of FGTB denies the assertion. &ldquo;I do not understand how they can come up with that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At no point did they indicate they were being held against their will.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="245" height="100" />
The two parties, nonetheless, are now continuing the dialogue to reach a fair and equitable settlement. Both sides have agreed to conduct the negotiations off site. 
 
In another recent European paper dispute, the French unions &ndash; CGT-Filpac and CFE-CGC &ndash; won favourable wage terms through industrial action against French paper producer ArgoWiggins. The pay package covers some 2,000 workers at six French mills. The settlement came after several two-hour work stoppages dating back to mid-April. Workers won 2% average pay increases that includes bonus entitlements. ArjoWiggins is owned by the private equity group Sequana Capital.

SmurfitKappa Reneges on Signed Redundancy Package at Belgian Paper Plant

7 June 2010 
 
 
Felipe de Jes&uacute;s Calder&oacute;n Hinojosa 
President 
United States of Mexico 
Residencias Oficial de los Pinos 
Case Miguel Alem&aacute;n 
Col San Miguel Chapultepec 
11850 M&egrave;xico, D.F. 
 
Sent to fax numbers +52 55 5093 4901, +52 55 52772376, 
e-mail <a href="mailto:felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx">felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx</a> &nbsp;
 
Dear President Calderon: 
 
On behalf of our --- members, I urge you to stop the violent actions taken yesterday and today by your government against trade union members and their families of Section 65 of Mexican National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union (SNTMMSRM) in Cananea, Mexico. 
 
The ICEM has continually urged a negotiated end to the conflict in Cananea, and we condemn your decision to send in federal police and attack trade union members. 
 
We call upon you to immediately withdraw your forces, and seek a peaceful and negotiated end to the conflict. 
 
Sincerely,

Calderón Model Letter

Dear Mr. President, 
 
On behalf of 45 million industrial workers represented by the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) we are writing to you to express our serious concern with the situation in Mangystau Province, Kazakhstan. 
 
We have been informed that oil workers of Karazahnbasmunaigaz had to work in harmful conditions. After numerous attempts to settle the issue with the employers with no results oil workers decided to go on strike in May 2011 demanding the employer to improve working conditions and pay additional compensation for the work in bad conditions. Workers of Uzenmunaigaz and other operations in the region joined the strike later on. Unfortunately instead of engaging in good faith negotiations with the workers the employers recurred to tactics of pressure. This led to the aggravation of the social situation in the region. 
 
To our knowledge, the oil workers&rsquo; strike resulted in numerous acts of repression. 
 
On August 8 Natalia Sokolova, a union lawyer, was sentenced to six year imprisonment for alleged offence of &ldquo;inciting social hatred&rdquo;. During her one week trial, the judge allowed neither testimonies of defense, nor evidence by independent experts. 
 
A number of other workers and activists involved in the strike were also accused of participation in illegal protests and spent some time in prison and/or were ordered to pay substantial fines. Hundreds of workers were fired. 
 
On July 8 and 10 workers&rsquo; rally in Aktau was stormed by riot police. The participants of the rally were violently beaten. 
 
The situation in the region was aggravated by a number of horrendous murders. 
 
On August 2 Zhalsylyk Turbaev, 28-year old drill operator and a union activist, was murdered right at his workplace, his skull was broken. 
 
On August 24 Zhansaule Karabalaeva, 18-year old daughter of the president of the union committee at Uzenmunaigaz, was found dead on the outskirts of Zhanaosen. She received multiple knife wounds; her skull was broken, her jaw was crushed. 
 
Oil workers and their family members are frequently beaten by thugs. Every day workers also receive death threats. 
 
Mr. President, we believe that human rights issues are one of your central concerns. In 2010 Kazakhstan took the presidency in the OSCE. At the OSCE summit in Kazakhstan, Astana Commemorative Declaration was adopted, once again reinstating the commitment of OSCE members to human rights. In the word and spirit of this declaration, as well as the Constitution of Kazakhstan and international standards, we urge you to start immediate investigation of the facts of persecution and violence in Mangystau province, and take all the necessary measures to stop the suffering of the workers. 
 
Yours faithfully, 
 
 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 
Jyrki Raina, IMF General Secretary

ICEM-IMF Letter to Nursultan Nazarbaev, President of Republic of Kazakhstan

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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) condemns the cold-blooded assassination of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home at 16h on 26 September in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
 
&ldquo;This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO&rsquo;s call that Colombia&rsquo;s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia&rsquo;s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

Contract Workers’ Leader at Ecopetrol in Colombia Assassinated

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