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For third time since management shut the copper, lead, and zinc mining and smelting operations of Doe Run Per&uacute; at La Oroya in June 2009, members of a branch of ICEM affiliate National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), along with two other unions, agreed to extend the shutdown until 29 April, only this time the 3,200 mines and metalworkers will receive 70% of their salaries and labour benefits. 
 
That agreement was reached late last week and extends an enforced vacation agreement that first went into effect in August 2009. The shutdown then lasted three months with workers receiving 63% of pay, and an extended 90-day negotiated vacation shutdown took effect in November 2009, which saw workers receive 65% of their standard pay. That expired at the end of January. 

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FNTMMSP Gen. Sec. Luis Castillo Carlos
FNTMMSP General Secretary Luis Castillo Carlos said the union&rsquo;s number one priority is to reopen the La Oroyo complex in Yauli Province, 175 kilometres east of Lima, with all workers receiving full pay and full benefits. Castillo said the company also agreed to meet weekly with unions to apprise them of financial developments in regard to re-opening. 
 
Doe Run Per&uacute; has been hard hit by debt, including money owed ore suppliers and financiers. The Peruvian Congress has given the company until 27 July 2010 to restart, a deadline that also saw the government give a 30-month extension to the American company for environmental clean-up that will cost US$156 million. 

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The company&rsquo;s troubles were also compounded early this month when it was expelled from Peru&rsquo;s National Society of Mining, Oil, and Energy (SNMPE) for violations of three codes of conduct: negligent health and safety conditions for workers, disregard for the environment, and mining exploration that fails to comply with Peruvian legislation. The smelter is known to have caused serious lead poisoning along the River Mantaro. 
 
Doe Run is owned by privately-held Renco Group, a New York-based holding company controlled by industrialist Ira Rennart. Renco also owns AM General, a maker of armored vehicles for military use, and US Magnesium. Its Doe Run affiliate also has lead recycling and processing operations in the US states of Arizona, Missouri, and Washington. 
 
In Peru in 2008, Doe Run&rsquo;s La Oroya smelter produced 114,259 tonnes of lead, 53,831 tonnes of cooper, and 43,440 tonnes of zinc. The polymetallic smelter also produced a host of minor metals as well.

Peruvian Miners Give Doe Run Management until 29 April to Reopen

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Difficult talks in the Netherlands between Akzo Nobel and trade unions climaxed in late January when the Dutch chemicals company came to social terms with 5,000 workers. Negotiations had dragged on since last autumn, but talks on 26 January quickly produced results following 24-hour strike actions a day earlier. 
 
Those results are favourable to workers thanks to the four unions: FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen, De Unie, and VHP AkzoNobel. The new labour accord will now extend through the end of 2011. 

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The highlights include the existing social plan stays in force, incentives are realized for workers between ages 57 and 60 are in place, and there&rsquo;s an improved sickness benefit. In addition, workers will receive a 1.25% wage increase over 15 months, and the unions negotiated added severance benefits and more financial assistance in job help for workers made redundant. Some 150 Dutch jobs have been cut by the company. 
 
A commitment to examine and improve the pension scheme in separate, upcoming talks was also a result of the 26 January settlement. The wage increases include a retroactive 0.5% hike to April 2009, 0.75 in January 2010, and a one-off raise of 0.5% in January 2011. 
 
On 25 January, union members conducted a highly successful strike at 12 Akzo Nobel worksites in the Netherlands, actions that proved pivotal in the company acceding to workers&rsquo; demands.

Strike Action Brings Akzo Nobel to Terms with Dutch Unions

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Workers of ICEM affiliated union GMB in the UK will likely see issuance of a ballot for industrial action this week British Gas, the largest gas supplier in the country that is a part of Centrica Plc. The intended job actions are in response to an opaque but and aggressive flexibility and management performance agenda that could cost up to 5,000 jobs. 
 
In a survey of its members, GMB reported that out of 3,000 responses, by a margin of eight to one, workers say there is a &ldquo;bullying management culture&rdquo; within British Gas. The survey directly contradicts the company&rsquo;s own Employee Engagement programme, and affirms that workers are facing unnecessary pressure and feel alienated from the company due to poor planning and bad management. 
 
The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that workers have been forced to work long hours during the coldest winter in decades, all the while hearing mixed messages and getting competing demands from management. Contained in British Gas internal documents, the company is proposing that 5,000 jobs be cut, which could mean job loss for many skilled engineers who work on domestic appliances. 

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Gary Smith
&ldquo;Our members are starting to understand that there is a threat to the terms and conditions of employment that we have fought for over many years,&rdquo; said GMB National Secretary Gary Smith. &ldquo;Employees are sick to the back teeth of the pressure they face day to day from senior management.&rdquo; 
 
Much of the staff anger is pointed at Managing Director Phil Bentley, who has not given the union a straight answer on the job cuts and stands accused by GMB of creating a &ldquo;new macho management&rdquo; culture, with its only purpose to cut costs. This cost cutting is across the board and affects such things as the purchase of parts for boilers. Bentley&rsquo;s new work culture, for example, means creation of an arbitrary performance management process that could lead to easy discipline of employees. 
 
In an e-mail, Bentley stated that at One British Gas, the retail arm of the utility, &ldquo;the big, hairy, audacious goal I&rsquo;ve thrown down on One British Gas is to reduce our non-customer-facing full-time employment equivalent by 25%.&rdquo; The 5,000 job cuts, if they materialize, could prove devastating for British Gas and Scottish Gas workers in Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leicester, Southampton, Uddingston near Glasgow, and Edinburgh. 
 
If the industrial ballot is issued this week, it will be counted and assessed in late February. 
 
Centrica serves 15.6 million residential electricity and gas customers in the UK, largely under the British Gas name. Through its Direct Energy subsidiary, Centrica also supplies residential gas and power service in the US, Canada, Europe, Egypt, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago.

GMB to Take Strike Ballot at British Gas This Week

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The members of ICEM affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) have engaged in a protected strike in companies around the country. The strike began on 20 July. The Union&rsquo;s 40,000 striking workers are demanding wage increases of between 13-15%, while employers are willing to pay between 8-10%. The negotiations have taken over two months and a dispute was officially declared last month, Skhumbuzo Phakathi, CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s International Coordinator, informed the ICEM. 
 
A countrywide march is planned for today. Thabane Mdlalose, the deputy general secretary of CEPPWAWU says the pulp and paper section met with employers at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration last Monday, without agreement. &ldquo;All our members are still picketing,&rdquo; he added. The labour union also wants six months paid maternity leave and temporary employees to be made permanent staff members. 

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The union&rsquo;s Bargaining Council for the Wood and Paper Sector (NBCWPS), oversees the strike in the country&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper industry, focused at SAPPI and Mondi. The wage demand is 13% and the offer from the employer is 7.5%. 
 
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s National Bargaining Council for Chemical Industries (NBCCI) has the following sectors currently on strike; Pharmaceutical, where the demand of 13.6% is countered with an offer of 7%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), where the demand is 10% and offer is 8%, Industrial Chemicals, with a demand of 11% versus an offer of 8%. 
 
CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s compromise position is a rise of 10% across all sectors, for settlement. Employers have offered 8 percent, which was the rate of inflation in May. 

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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has come out in support of the CEPPWAWU mass action, warning that if employers do not better their wage offer, the federation's 2 million members will come out in support of its affiliate. 
 
In the petroleum sector, employers have settled for an acceptable offer covering a two year period, with 40% for maternity leave. 
 
Some of the major companies currently facing strikes are; Adcock Ingram, Air Liquide, Aspen Pharmacare, Barloworld Decorative, Umicore Autocat. Others are Afrox, Johnson and Johnson, Plascon paints, Dulux Paints, Unilever, Colgate/Palmolive, Lake International, Mondi, Sappi, and&nbsp;others across the different&nbsp;sectors. 
 
The ICEM will report developments as&nbsp;strikes continue.

South African Wage Strikes Continue

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The ICEM has received information from the Federation of Workers Councils Unions in Iraq (FWCUI) that one of their leading women activists is under attack. The management of the General Company for Leather Industries (GCLI) has punished Sawsan Mahmoud, by transferring her to another company. The decision follows her leadership and participation in a strike at the beginning of April 2009, after protesting against the company's failure to make all outstanding payments due to workers in April. 
 
The company's management, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, has transferred the trade union activist to Elez Company, a subsidiary of the Ministry. Sawsan has appealed to the Minister for the cancellation of the transfer. As a result the Ministry required the company&rsquo;s reasons for the transfer, which were reported by the company as being her participation and incitement of workers to go on strike at the beginning of last April, &ldquo;strike instigators are not keen on the stability of the country&quot;. The company reiterated its reply to the Ministry that the transfer was due to the recent events, referring to its workers' last strike. Subsequently the management of the company also proceeds now to punish another six workers for the same reasons. 

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FWCUI President Falah Alwan
The FWCUI has taken up her case and that of the other victimised workers, mounting a media campaign and a legal case against the company and the Ministry. They have called on the international trade union movement to publicise the case and protest the action of the Ministry and the company. ICEM has done so and is in communication with ITGLWF about further support action. 
 
In a letter to Fawzi Franso Hariri, the Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals, ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney expressed his concern over the treatment of Sawsan Mahmoud. Kearney stated that the company&rsquo;s behaviour &ldquo;represents a blatant breach of the right of freedom of association which protects the right of workers to strike as a means of defending their interests. This fundamental right is enshrined in the Iraqi Constitution as well as in Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation, which apply to Iraq by virtue of its membership of the ILO&rdquo;.

Iraqi Labour Federation Protests Attack from Industry and Government Ministry

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Over 1,000 mineworkers at the Chinese owned Marcona mine in Peru, ended their indefinite strike action on 24 July, returning to work following a government resolution ordering increased wages, plus a one-off bonus. The workers are members of the ICEM affiliated Federaci&oacute;n Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metal&uacute;rgicos y Sider&uacute;rgicos del Per&uacute; (FNTMMSP). 
 
Shougang Hierro Peru is the country&rsquo;s only iron producer, producing 7.5 million tones of iron ore in 2008. Production was halted at the Marcona mine, 217 miles south of the capital Lima in Ica Province, when workers downed their tools on July 13, starting an indefinite strike action for higher wages. 

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Shougang mineworkers in Marcona
The global financial crisis has lowered prices for most of Peru&rsquo;s metals exports; companies throughout the industry are using that as an excuse to avoid making overdue salary rises. &quot;Shougang has the capacity to raise our salaries, just with 4 percent of its profits,&quot; union leader Julio Ortiz stated at the outset of the strike. Nearly 10,000 mineworkers have lost their jobs in Peru since November 2008. 
 
Ortiz then reported last Friday &quot;We have lifted the indefinite strike following a (pay) increase granted by the Ministry of Labour, although we don't agree with the increase,&quot; 
 
The Chinese Shougang Group, which has run the mine since 1993, had previously offered an hourly wage increase of US$0.23 but that was rejected by the union. The Peruvian government instead passed a resolution ordering a US$1.1 a day increase, plus a one-off bonus of US$433. The 1,124 striking workers had been seeking a US$3.3 increase on their US$18.3 daily wage. The rise is backdated to 31 March 2009. 
 
Local press had reported that the strike had cost the company over US$6 million, the claims were denied by the company. Negotiations between the union and company management were brokered by Labour Minister Manuela Garc&iacute;a, and provincial Governor R&oacute;mulo Trive&ntilde;o. 
 
Peru is the world's top producer of silver, and second top producer of copper and zinc.

Peruvian Miners Achieve Wage Gains at Chinese Owned Iron Mine

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Negotiations are presently taking place between the ICEM-affiliated, Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) and the Iraqi Drilling Company, following demonstrations and a workplace strike 24 June, 2009. 
 
Management called in Iraqi security forces, who cordoned off the demonstrators and workplaces. We are informed that only the demonstrators&rsquo; determination and good will prevented violence, given that the management had informed the military forces that the demonstrators were terrorists. Workers left at the end of their working hours but returned on the second day, gathering in front of the worksites and halting operating machines. 
 
Workers submitted their demands to the management which include: reopening the trade union, which had been closed by the Director-General, upon the Minister's directive; re-activating the productivity allowances payments and various other allowances; and moreover, the workers called on the ministry to be patient in the signing of licensing contracts which the ministry want to conclude. 

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Iraq&rsquo;s oil workers are legally prevented from forming unions, based on remaining Saddam Hussein-era laws. The workers have organized nonetheless. The 2005 Constitution calls for new labour laws. 
 
Iraqi oil unions have repeatedly protested working conditions; including pay and housing, and opposition to the draft oil law, viewed as too open to foreign investment. The Oil Ministry has instructed its state oil companies not to deal with the unions and has come down hard in the past, as often reported by the ICEM. See recent ICEM reports on Iraq <a href="/en/67-Search-ICEM-site?keywords=IFOU">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
Iraq has the world&rsquo;s third largest oil reserves, with considerable potential for increased levels of production. Iraq earns around 95 percent of state income from oil sales, nearly $62 billion last year. 
 
Negotiations are continuing with workers at the Iraqi Drilling Company. The ICEM will report further developments in this brave struggle for trade union rights.

Iraqi Oil Workers Struggle for Trade Union Rights

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In Bandung, Indonesia in mid-July, the ICEM contributed to a two-day ILO Sectoral Conference on Chemicals. The ICEM presentation was on &ldquo;Benefits of Social Dialogue and the Roles of Unions,&rdquo; and the overall conference served as an effective regional follow-up to an ILO meeting entitled &ldquo;Instruments, Knowledge, Advocacy, Technical Cooperation, and International Collaboration on Hazardous Substances.&rdquo; 
 
Other subjects presented included the ILO&rsquo;s chemicals convention, the convention on Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents, the ILO&rsquo;s health and safety framework, and various green jobs initiatives. Safety and health issues common inside Indonesia also were discussed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="237" />
The workshops endorsed improved social dialogue techniques, better information gathering and sharing, and heightened promotional activities on safety and health, and sustainability. The forum provided a valuable set of learning tools to ICEM&rsquo;s Indonesian affiliates. 
 
The ICEM presentation in Bandung was made by Brian Kohler, Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer.

ICEM Participates in ILO Indonesian Forum

pulp and paper/pâte et de papier/pulpa y papel

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The ICEM lodged strong protest a week ago, demanding Turkey President Abdullah G&uuml;l veto a bill giving &ldquo;Private Labour Offices&rdquo; broad rights to place temporary workers in enterprises. On 9 July, President G&uuml;l did veto the bill, and now the ICEM demands the Turkish Parliament not bring it back. 
 
The bill was submitted by Parliament to G&uuml;l in late June after it cleared the legislative body without hearings or direct input from the country&rsquo;s labour federations. The ICEM calls attention to this anti-social fact because global unions are targeting actions in Turkey and Thailand on Day of Decent Work, 7 October 2009, specifically over the precarious labour issue. 
 
The legislation, as written, would have given fees to labour brokers and it would have created a slave market composed of short-term contract workers. The proposal read that any person or entity could establish a private labour hire agency with a modest investment of TL 20,000, or &euro;9,250. 

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&ldquo;We applaud President G&uuml;l and his administration for doing the right thing to veto this,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We now call on the global community to assist our Turkish comrades to make sure this bill does not surface again.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM credits Turkey&rsquo;s three trade union federations for immediate and effective opposition to the legislation. The ICEM now calls on the Turkish Parliament to abandon this anti-people measure. 
 
Mustafa Kumlu, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&uuml;rk-İş), said accurately it would render existing mechanisms between unions and government useless. Kumlu, an ICEM Executive Committee member, said &ldquo;social rights, social security, and other benefits&rdquo; would disappear under this legislation. 

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Mustafa Kumlu
In the 7 July letter to G&uuml;l, Warda said creating such a labour system in a society is equivalent to &ldquo;placing dynamite under the social structures.&rdquo; He called it a &ldquo;21st century employment relationship based on slavery.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM work leading up to 7 October and after will partly focus on Turkish failure &ndash; in the eyes of the ILO &ndash; to implement Labour Conventions that the country has already ratified. A focus will also ensure that transparency and fairness become full partners in all social discussions leading to possible Turkish ratification of ILO Convention 181, the Private Employment Agencies Convention. 
 
The ICEM said in the letter to the Turkish government that the proposed law is not in compliance with the EU Directive on Temporary Agency Work, a standard passed in October 2008 that the ICEM insists must be adhered to by Turkey. The ICEM also labels the legislation a misguided response to the economic crisis, and an inhumane practice to even pronounce it as a measure to reduce operating costs.

Turkey: Labour Hire Veto Applauded, More Work Demanded

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