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The ICEM German affiliate, IGBCE, accomplished substantive commitments for youth apprenticeship positions inside an 11-month national labour agreement with the chemical employers&rsquo; association, the BAVC. Those commitments will carry over for the next three years, and will mean another 27,000 young people will have career opportunities in Germany&rsquo;s keystone chemicals industry through apprenticeships. 
 
The 11-month length of the contract is a concession to chemical employers, with hopes that all 1,900 enterprises will regain solid financial footing before the IGBCE and BAVC resume bargaining for wage increases early in 2011. A wage freeze takes effect now for 550,000 workers, with ratification bonuses awarded instead. 

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IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis
&ldquo;It is a good conclusion&rdquo; for the present, stated IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis. &ldquo;It is fair considering the varying conditions in the industry and it helps build a bridge between the economic crisis and recovery.&rdquo; 
 
Foremost in the new accord is a social-partners commitment for life-long job opportunities for young people, which includes &euro;25 million in money provided by companies of the industry. The employers agreed to create 1,000 permanent jobs for young people in each of three years, with the fund used to subsidize companies at &euro;1,000 per month for each worker given a permanent position. 
 
The IGBCE negotiated the requirement that subsidies can only be given for workers that are IGBCE members. 
 
The ratification bonuses, to be included in workers&rsquo; salary pay checks this month, amount to &euro;550 for day-shift workers, &euro;611 for workers on five- or six-day swing shifts, and &euro;715 for night-shift and workers required to work across seven days per week. 

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Workers in enterprises that have not suffered due to the economic crisis will receive a further &euro;200 bonus on top of their stipends. For enterprises still facing difficulties, and with the consent of the respective European Works Councils, the overall bonus can be reduced, but not below &euro;300. 
 
Peter Hausmann, IGBCE Governing Board member, who heads the union&rsquo;s Collective Bargaining Department, said the new collective agreement reflects a stronger set of initiatives created by social partners for the industry. We have created &ldquo;new perspectives created for young people,&rdquo; as well as better job security provisions for existing workers, said Hausmann. 
 
The agreement was reached on 21 April in W&uuml;rzburg, following two days of national talks.

Youth Job Guarantees Won by IGBCE in German Chemicals Agreement

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Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s sustained attack on the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, was set back on 23 April, when a criminal court in the Federal District of Mexico dismissed a criminal complaint filed against Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the union&rsquo;s general secretary. 
 
The company&rsquo;s court case had accused the Los Mineros head of guilt in regard to financial irregularities during the creation and then dissolution of a workers&rsquo; trust. With Grupo M&eacute;xico alleging that $US 55 million had been embezzled by Los Mineros leadership, the court found this to be not true, with no evidence of any crime committed by the union. 

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Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez
The ICEM has repeatedly reported on Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s attempts to block the rights of its workers to organise and bargain collectively. As general secretary, Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia is forced to operate the union remotely from exile in Canada, and the 23 April decision in Court Number 32 acquits him of the only valid arrest warrant against him. 
 
The court decision needs ratification from the criminal division of the country&rsquo;s High Court of Justice, where the Attorney General will appeal. However, the ruling does have &ldquo;Res judicata,&rdquo; meaning that the decision is final and the defendant cannot be tried twice under the same charges. 
 
Since 2006, when the first criminal charges were made against him, the authorities together with Grupo M&eacute;xico have sustained judicial pressure through numerous cases and intricate legal disputes. 

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The ICEM is attending the 36th Congress of Los Mineros, starting today, Monday, 3 May in Mexico. One issue high on the agenda is the struggle of workers at the Cananea mine in Sonora State, where some 1,200 workers have been on strike since July 2007. As reported, Grupo M&eacute;xico has again teamed with the Mexican government to seek to end the strike, while the picket line has held firm. The Mexican Supreme Court recently backed Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s decision to close the mine. 
 
Los Mineros activists have refused to allow Cananea to be handed over to the company, and responded to the Supreme Court decision with a promise to destroy the mine if the authorities attempt to take it by force. &ldquo;We plan to burn it, if they attempt to force us out,&rdquo; stated Los Mineros spokesman Sergio Bultran. 
 
The ICEM, and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), participated in a demonstration outside the headquarters of Grupo M&eacute;xico in Mexico City on 23 April following a regional meeting of the IMF. The demonstration by some 300 mineworkers and others called on the company to come to the bargaining table to negotiate, and to resolve strikes at Sections 65, 201, and 17 of SNTMMSRM. 

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Demonstrators urged the company and the government not to violently move strikers out of Cananea. IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina was refused the right to deliver a letter to company Chairman and CEO German Larrea, or to any company official. The letter reiterating the support for joint ICEM/IMF affiliate Los Mineros, and the call for justice was finally delivered to a security guard at the front door. 
 
Raina criticised the company for refusing to meet. &ldquo;We are looking to Mr. Larrea, but they tell us they do not have time. Is it because they are counting their pesos or dollars?&rdquo;

Acquittal for Los Mineros General Secretary Napoleón Gómez

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The page was visibly turned in Turkey on 1 May as 150,000 workers marched from three directions into Taksim Square in Istanbul, marking the first time in 33 years that the historic square was officially open for Workers&rsquo; Day. May Day was officially designated as a workers&rsquo; holiday by Turkey&rsquo;s government in 2009, and with it came reopening of the symbol that marks Turkish worker rights &ndash; Taksim Square. 
 
It was on &ldquo;Bloody May 1&rdquo; of 1977 that 37 workers were killed celebrating May Day in Taksim and a few years later, the military banned demonstrations inside Taksim. Only two years ago, in 2008, small groups of trade union leaders attempted to assemble there. They were met by tear gas and police force. Over 500 were arrested. 

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Photo: Mac Urata/ITF
This year was different. On Saturday, a festive mood prevailed, with many speakers remembering the fallen of 33 years ago. 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&Uuml;RK-İŞ), President of the Turkish Electricity, Water, and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union (Tes-İş), and an ICEM Executive Committee member, spoke: &ldquo;We remember the friends we lost from the depths of our hearts. We rejoice in the fact that Taksim Square has been opened, and we thank our friends who struggled for this cause.&rdquo; 
 
A day before the celebration, the global unions came together in Istanbul to discuss the current state of trade union rights inside Turkey and to share experiences. According to ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, the meeting is certain to increase coordination for Turkish trade unions by global union federations. 

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Photo: Mac Urata/ITF 
&ldquo;The global unions explained their strategies for boosting solidarity, while their Turkish trade union affiliates put forward their successful campaigns through the support of the international organizations,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The end result will be more joint activities, more joint campaigns, with the struggle for full workers&rsquo; rights in Turkey defined as a priority by the global union movement. 
 
Participating in the day-long meeting, besides the ICEM, were the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Education International (EI), International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), the International Union of Food and Allied Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), and Union Network International (UNI).

Istanbul’s Taksim Square Reopens on May Day; Global Union Conference Held

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Four members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) will travel from Australia to Zug, Switzerland, this week to make their voices heard before shareholders of Xstrata, the global mining company with a dual base in Zug and London. The CFMEU, to be assisted by the ICEM, will be at Xstrata&rsquo;s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 5 May. 
 
CFMEU will contrast the 41% pay increase given to CEO Mick Davis with the aggressive demands made on coal miners in the profitable collieries of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland. Davis saw his annual salary jump in 2009 to US$7.75 million from US$5.5 million in 2008. 
 
At the Tahmoor colliery in New South Wales, Xstrata used a week-long lockout in February in efforts to force mineworkers to take unfair concessions. Some 300 miners there have been without a collective enterprise agreement for nearly 14 months. Miners are preparing to take further industrial action by mid-May if conciliation efforts by Fair Work Australia do not succeed. 

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The union has also protested against unfair staff cuts at the Ulan and Bulga mines in New South Wales. At Bulga, a three-year enterprise agreement between CFMEU and Xstrata did come into effect this spring, but not without protests and resistance to the company&rsquo;s attempt to rollback language that was consistent with former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s draconian WorkChoices laws. 
 
Xstrata also has tried to weaken working conditions at its Newlands, Oaky Creek, Rolleston, and Togaro North coal mine in Queensland. In NSW, the CFMEU is also resisting Xstrata and its attempt to return to Howard&rsquo;s individual work agreements at the Liddell and Glendell mines. 
 
CFMEU Mining and Energy Vice President Wayne McAndrew said Xstrata&rsquo;s coal mining operations in Australia are some of the company&rsquo;s most profitable worldwide. &ldquo;Yet one quarter of Xstrata&rsquo;s Australian coal mining operations currently face industrial disputes or unrest because of the company&rsquo;s anti-worker stance.&rdquo; 
 
McAndrew, who will be accompanied to Zug by Tahmoor miner Lee Webb, Newslands miner Ben Davison, and CFMEU Northern NSW District President Grahame Kelly, added, &ldquo;Xstrata is a company that is engaging in activities that are harming the future profits of the company and this has the potential to affect its overseas mergers and acquisitions.&rdquo;

CFMEU to Take Australia Coal Dispute to Xstrata’s AGM

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The ICEM this week will be on-site to investigate freedom of association and trade union violations in Georgia on behalf of the ICEM affiliate, the Metallurgical,&nbsp;Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of the Central Asian country. The union and its national labour centre, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), are in a serious confrontation with managers at Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines in nearby Chiatura. 
 
A representative&nbsp;majority of the 6,000 workers at the Chiatura mines and&nbsp;ferroalloy smelter in the western Georgian city of Zestafoni staged a three-day&nbsp;strike from 23-25 April. Their demands are for recognition of the free and democratic Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region, a branch of the Tbilisi-based union, and a halt to horrid working conditions and blatant management harassment and intimidation of scores of trade union members. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan will meet with union leaders on 5 May to get a listing of a multitude of work rights infractions and intervention with the parent company and Georgian government likely will follow. A majority of the stock ownership of both enterprises is held by privately-held, London-based Stemcor Holdings, a global steel-producing, marketing, and distribution firm that has its roots in the Oppenheimer family of businesses. 
 
Managers at Zestafoni Ferroalloys refused to renew labour agreements after 31 March, in part because the union has won the allegiance of an overwhelming number of miners at Georgian Manganese in Chiatura, who seek to replace a company-dominated &ldquo;yellow&rdquo; union. The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union was democratically established at the set of eight open cast and underground mines in October 2009. 

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Workers' strike, 23-25 April
In the days leading up to the warning strike, off-site meetings between smelting-plant workers and miners in both Zestaponi and Chiatura were watched over by managers, with photos taken and threats of violence made against those attending. At one meeting, attended by Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union President Tamaz Dolaberidze and leaders of the GTUC, the company&rsquo;s security director attempted to provoke a melee by grabbing a union activist outside the meeting hall. 
 
And at the Itkhvisi mine, manager Nugzar Jokhadze physically attacked Merab Yakobidze, one of nine strike committee leaders. Despite these blatant and cowardly acts, the involvement of workers and miners has steadily increased as the dispute escalates. 
 
The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region demands immediate recognition, resumption of meaningful bargaining, and permanent work contracts. Strike committee Chairman Goga Bregvadze said the union&rsquo;s demands also include improvements to occupational safety and health equipment and updating of medical facilities; transparent rules on hours of work, days off, public holidays; protective clothing and boots; and sanitary break areas and safe food to eat. 
 
The Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Union demands a sizeable salary increase, and establishment of a minimum salary at the mining complex. The union also demands reinstatement and back compensation for two union activists, Giorgi Giorgidze and Shakro Bregvadze, who were sacked for their trade union activities. 
 
Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, together with the GTUC, is prepared to launch further and extended strike actions if these demands are not met. Such a strike would receive global labour support. 
 
The GTUC has filed a complaint with the ILO Committee of Freedom of Association over the blatant violations at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines, a petition supported by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
 
The ICEM will join the fight for the legitimate workplace rights of staff at these two combined enterprises. Before departing for Georgia early today, Warda contacted International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina to inform him of the situation. Raina extended the full support and solidarity of the IMF to the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical&nbsp;Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union.

Miners, Metalworkers Not Intimidated by Georgian Manganese Managers

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The ICEM affiliate, Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (EL-SEN), conducted its General Assembly on 10 July 2010. The assembly was convened under the banner of anti-privatisation in the capital city Nicosia in central Cyprus. 
 
President Tuluy Kalyoncu was re-elected to continue as head of the trade union, with 171 votes, while a second candidate received 24 votes. 
 
The only candidate for General Secretary of EL-SEN, Huseyin Sonmezoglu, was re-elected to that position. The newly elected Executive Board will consist of Turgut Evlat, Ozan Alciner, Subhi Ozpasa, Ercan Koseoglu, Orhan Gurgoze, Ozgur Uzuner, Caglayan Cesurer, Toprak Altay, and Kamil Ozinal. 
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Bulent Erzeybek was elected as Assistant Secretary General, while Suphi Ozpasa was elected Financial Secretary, Ercan Koseoglu Education Secretary, Saffet Asiksoy Foreign Relations Secretary, Huseyin Korkmaz Organizing Secretary, Ozgur Uzuner Social Affairs Secretary, and Serhan Kayar was elected as Secretary of Propaganda. 
 
The General Assembly adopted four resolutions. Delegates resolved to struggle for peace and a solution to the Cyprus problem. Also prioritised was the need to continue education programmes for members. 
 
Delegates adopted a strong resolution against the government&rsquo;s moves toward privatisation of the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus (KIB-TEK). Congress accused the government of misleading the public on the financial condition of the company. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote to congratulate EL-SEN on its successful Congress.

Turkish-Cypriot Electricity Workers’ Take Stand Against Privatisation

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The ICEM-affiliated Mongolian union, the Federation of Energy, Geology and Mining Workers' Trade Unions (MEGM), hosted ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jung-sun recently. 
 
Warda commended accelerated development in Mongolia over recent years, noting significantly improved infrastructure in the country. It is positive for the country that foreign investment has increased rapidly, and resource-rich Mongolia can benefit from such investment through exploration and development of gold mines and construction of power plants. Major investors are from Canada, China, and the US. 
 
MEGM President Gambold indicated that union members are facing new challenges through this period of foreign investment. Government and employers are attempting to change current labour laws toward creating a more &ldquo;flexible&rdquo; labour market in order to &ldquo;adapt to the global economy.&rdquo; 
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This means fewer restrictions on temporary work agencies, increasing the numbers of precarious jobs in the country. This is being countered by trade unions of Mongolia, which have created a new working group that will submit a counter proposal to the proposed legislation. 
 
The government is introducing a programme of privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the telecommunication and energy sectors. A number of major investment contracts with foreign companies are due to be signed during the second half of 2010. 
 
The ICEM, working with the local ILO office, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and other Global Union Federations, will be supplying technical assistance for these critical issues to be addressed, so as to build a firm foundation for sustainable development in Mongolia, in line with ILO international labour standards. 
 
The experiences in many Asian countries, notably Korea and Vietnam, on business contracts with foreign companies are that these foreign companies often demand long-term contracts that are unacceptable with respect to labour protections and profit sharing. 
 
&ldquo;It is my sincere hope and firm belief that Mongolian government should listen to opinions of social partners. Through social dialogue and consensus, the government can build the confidence and mutual faith,&rdquo; stated Warda.

ICEM Shores Up Support to Mongolian Affiliate to Combat Privatisation, Contract Labour

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Thailand&rsquo;s Tripartite Industrial Relations Committee (IRC) ruled that French-based Michelin has violated provisions of the Industrial Relations Act 1975, and ordered that management at the Laem Chabang tyre factory reinstate 12 activists &ndash; members of ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Federation (PCFT) &ndash; to their rightful jobs. 
 
The ruling was given on 24 June, but notification and official documentation of the unfair labour practices complaint did not come to the PCFT until 20 July. The12 had been unfairly discriminated against by Michelin since leading a two-month dispute and company lockout at the plant in March and April 2009. 
 
The 12 had been kept on Michelin&rsquo;s payroll, but were assigned to a government-run skills centre in efforts to keep them away from the 1,800-member workforce. They refused the assignments, citing violations of their rights. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="181" />
Standing, center, Michelin plant-level PCFT President Thanakorn Somsin (fist raised) and Secretary Sommoi Prawai (on his left), together with founders of the PCFT branch union 
The IRC ruling orders Michelin to provide work inside the factory to the 12 in positions not lower than their previous postings, and to do so within ten days. 
 
The dispute started when Michelin, in March 2009, attempted to institute 35% wage cut to everyone at the Chonburi Province plant. A petition surfaced protesting the unilateral cuts and managers then punished workers who refused to remove their names from the petition by locking them out of the factory. After unionists blockaded the plant, some were jailed, while Michelin supervisors filed criminal complaints against the union organisers. 
 
Even though tri-partite negotiations produced a partial resolve on 28 April, including recognition of the newly-formed plant union as part of PCFT, Michelin continued to discriminate against union leaders. The recent IRC ruling means that all union activists should be legally reinstated. 
 
Some 700 workers at Laem Chabang have taken up PCFT membership. Michelin has a 90% stake in three Thai tyre plants, the PCFT-represented Phra Padaeng factory in Samut Prakarn, the non-unionised Nong Khae plant in Sarburi, and Laem Chabang. The Siam Cement Group owns the minority shares in the three tyre plants.

Thai Labour Court Orders 12 Michelin Union Activists Back to Work

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US public criticism against a CEO and against his company in the wake of the deadly West Virginia coal mine explosion on 5 April has triggered measures for better and tighter overall workplace safety standards in the US Congress. The proposals stand as the first significant overhaul to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in its 40-year history. 
 
A panel of the US House of Representatives&rsquo; Education and Labor Committee gave approval, with a 30-17 vote on 21 July, to HR 5663, the Miner Safety and Health Act. The proposed legislation would finally put teeth into America&rsquo;s federal safety and health statute, and comes at a time when the US public is angry over the arrogance and power exhibited by companies following job-place deaths and ecological disasters, like BP&rsquo;s Deepwater Horizon explosion and deaths in the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
The lightning rod for the tougher safety standards in the US continues to be Massey Energy and its CEO, Don Blankenship. It was at Massey&rsquo;s Upper Big Branch mine near Montcoal, West Virginia, on 5 April, that a methane gas blast killed 29 non-union miners in a colliery where workers were ignored when they spoke up against poor air quality. Blankenship has used the deaths, contemptibly, to argue for less oversight by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and more reliance on business instincts in order to improve safety. 
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The proposed legislation is sweeping, and would lift the US statute to the level of some of the best safety laws in the world. OSHA violators could be charged with felony crimes, carrying heavy jail sentences and fines. It would grant expedited hearing, review, and protection in all-important whistle-blower cases, and it would give the US Labor Department&rsquo;s safety agency heightened power to shut unsafe workplaces. 
 
An existing but non-functioning &ldquo;pattern of violation&rdquo; status in the existing law would be given tougher enforcement mechanisms with strong penalties attached, and families and relatives of victims would receive more rights in the proposed legislation. 
 
Also in mining, workers would be given the undeniable right to refuse unsafe work and MSHA would have the power to shut down a mine without waiting for a company&rsquo;s appeals to exhaust, a common tactic used by Massey to continue production after safety violations are issued. At Upper Big Branch, Massey had been repeatedly cited for dust and ventilation problems, but the company&rsquo;s appeals caused penalties to be reduced and safety deficiencies to continue. 
 
Business and industry interests at the committee hearings in Washington, DC, opposed an updated OSHA, saying the proposed revisions are too much, too fast. 
 
That caused United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts to say, &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re asking ourselves, &lsquo;Are we moving too fast?&rsquo; maybe we should ask ourselves if we&rsquo;re moving too slow, because miners keep dyin&rsquo; in our nation&rsquo;s coal mines.&rdquo; 
<img src="" width="100" height="139" alt="" />
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
The increase in US mining deaths to date in 2010 is markedly up, and on a pace not seen since the 1980s when US mining employment was half what it is now. So far in 2010, 40 miners have been killed, nearing the most recent record of 47 in 2006. 
 
Thirty-one of the 40 deaths have occurred at Massey collieries. On 1 July, an electrician was crushed to death by a coal-laden shuttle car inside Massey&rsquo;s non-union White Buck Coal Co. mine in West Virginia. And on 10 May, another miner was crushed between machinery and a longwall at Massey&rsquo;s non-union Ruby Energy mine, also in West Virginia. He died a week later in a hospital. 
 
Besides the BP disaster that occurred in American waters in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April, killing 11 workers, the updated safety legislation is spurred by the 3 April explosion at Tesoro&rsquo;s oil refinery in the state of Washington that killed seven &ndash; all members of the United Steelworkers (USW) &ndash; and another explosion at a power station of Kleen Energy Systems in the state of Connecticut in February, killing six. These accidents raise among Americans a late-to-arrive consciousness that perhaps the cost of profits over people in a free society has come at too steep a price. 
 
The full US House of Representatives must now take up the safety bill, while the US Senate is standing back awaiting House action before it takes up the legislation.

Massey Arrogance Fuels Tougher Workplace Safety Standards for US

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Thanks to dogged persistence by ICEM affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, the fate of the 133,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery Shell refinery in Montr&eacute;al is still open and subject to sale. Last week, following a second court injunction prohibiting dismantling of the refinery until 10 September, Shell announced it again would negotiate with the Delek Group of Israel over purchase of the refinery. 
 
At stake are the jobs of 500 workers represented by the CEP. In January 2010, Shell announced plans to radically restructure its global downstream operations, including closure of the Montr&eacute;al East refinery by 1 June. 
 
The Anglo-Dutch multinational said it would continue operating part of the site as a terminal and distribution centre for scores of Shell retail outlets scattered across Qu&eacute;bec and Canada&rsquo;s Maritime Provinces. Such continuance, however, would require only 30 workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="120" />
The CEP and its Montr&eacute;al branch union, Local 121, has battled relentlessly to find a buyer, as well as to press provincial and federal authorities to keep the refinery operating. Shell rejected bids by potential operators last spring and union members believe Shell wants the refinery shut, with imported petroleum products distributed through the terminal. 
 
On 8 July, a Qu&eacute;bec Superior Court granted the union a ten-day injunction preventing any cannibalizing of the refinery. &ldquo;We believe that maintaining the equipment in good condition until we get satisfactory answers to our questions about offers to but the facility&rdquo; is in everybody&rsquo;s best interests, said Local 121 President Jean-Claude Rocheleau. 
 
On 16 July, that injunction was extended into September. Meanwhile, last week on 20 July, Shell stated at a federal parliamentary hearing of the House of Commons that it re-open talks with Delek, a holding company in which its wholly-owned subsidiary, US Holdings Inc., operates a crude pipeline, refinery, and hundreds of gasoline retail outlets in the southern US. 
 
Delek had been an earlier bidder for the refinery, but Shell rejected the bid as too low. The ICEM remains hopeful that CEP will succeed in achieving sale of the refinery, preserving jobs for the union&rsquo;s energy workers. Shell operates two smaller Canadian refineries, in Sarnia, Ontario, and in Edmonton, Alberta.

CEP Fights to Keep Shell’s Montréal Oil Refinery Operating

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