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ICEM oil union affiliates in Nigeria will again oppose any domestic price increase in the cost of petrol. State-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said earlier this month it would try to enforce price increases even over the objections of stakeholders involved in the public entities, including trade unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG.PENGASSAN said it would mount strong opposition until measures are in place to cushion effects of high fuel prices across all of Nigerian society. NUPENG has called on all Nigerian workers in the country to oppose the hike unless it comes with commensurate increases in social benefit packages for all workers in both the private and public sectors. NNPC and PPPRA assert that increases are necessary due to rising prices of imported refined products. But the unions contend Nigeria's only solution to high global prices of petroleum are major upgrades to local refining and capacity.

Nigerian Unions Will Agian resist Petrol Price Hikes

An ongoing lockout by an investment house against chemical workers of US affiliate International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) has reinforced the ruthlessness capital wreaks on US unions when a manufacturing enterprise changes hands. 
In Meredosia, Illinois, chemicals company Celanese owned by equity trader Blackstone Group locked out workers 6 June, four months after buying the emulsions, adhesives and polymers plant. 
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The crime of the 148 workers: refusal to accept steep concessions to their health care plan, opposing the company's plans to lose 41 jobs to contract labour and dissatisfaction with a three-year wage freeze. When workers again voted down the proposed cuts late in June, Celanese responded by harshly proposing 20-40% pay cuts. The ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates, and trade unions across the world are encouraged to respond to IBB Local Branch 484.

Harsh Lockout of Boilermakers Union in US

German affiliate IGBCE and paper manufacturers in Baden-Wuerttemberg reached a satisfactory one-year labour agreement 27 July for 12,000 paperworkers in the paper-rich area. Terms of the agreement, reached through the conciliation process, will now likely be extended to 45,000 paperworkers throughout western Germany. It calls for a &euro;410 wage increase for all regular workers, and a &euro;100 training stipend for vocational workers inside Germany&rsquo;s paper sector. On 1 March 2006, workers will receive a 2.2% wage increase. IGBCE Governing Board Member Werner Bischoff characterized the negotiations as very difficult and hard, and credited the success of talks to constant pressure on management by workers at mills and converters in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Contract Reached for Paper Sector in Germany

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Protests by long-term electrical workers in Sierra Leone who are classified as casual workers erupted late in July in the country&rsquo;s capital. Members of the Electricity Employees Union protested at the headquarters of the National Power Authority because workers employed as long as 12 years are considered &ldquo;casual&rdquo; and denied entitlements and benefits. 
The union had taken the matter to the Ministry of Labour, but utility managers failed to cooperate with an investigation. The union argues that junior workers can only be considered casual workers for the initial three months of employment.

Sierra Leone Electrical Workers Protest Casual Status

SIPTU, Ireland&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; union, is waging a campaign for recognition, pay gains and work improvements at a Merck KgaA pharmaceutical laboratory in Baldoyle, Dublin. The union has sought and won a determination from an Irish Labour Court under a rare application for indirect representation under the amended Industrial Relations Act. The court ordered Gerard Laboratories, or Merck KGaA, the German firm&rsquo;s European manufacturing arm for generic drugs, to increase rates of pay, introduce a sick-pay plan, and spell out grievance and disciplinary procedures, as well as recognise SIPTU as bargaining representative. The union has the solid backing of Merck&rsquo;s EWC in efforts to bring the company to the bargaining table.

Irish Unions Campaign Against Merck

The Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), on behalf of ICEM affiliate Botswana Mining Workers Union, is mobilizing for a march 20 August on the offices of President Festus Mogae in the capital of Gaborone. Botswana&rsquo;s labour leaders are demanding a response on a petition submitted in May in which they demand reinstatement for firedworkers at diamond-money enterprise Debswana and BCL, a copper and nickel operation in Botswana. Mogae has refused to respond to the demand. 
BFTU and its 26 affiliates, along with six associations comprised of teachers and public employees, are seeking also to reform the country&rsquo;s 2004 labour legislation. 
At Debswana, the prosperous joint venture between the government and DeBeers which accounts for 75% of Botswana&rsquo;s total gross domestic product, 461 mostly white-collar workers and technicians became the first victims of the May 2004 law when they were fired for striking in August 2004. Using its new powers, a governmental labour court deemed any strike at Debswana illegal in the days prior to the strike.

Botswana&#039;s Unions Set 20 August for March and Rally

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ICEM affiliate EPS Trade Union of Serbia-Montenegro, the union for the electrical generating industry, elected members to the Presidium of its Women&rsquo;s Committee recently. Elected as president was Ljiljana Vorkapic, Electric Distribution Co., Belgrade; Zorica Rajovic, EPS Central Office, Belgrade, as vice president; and Slavica Stevanovic, PE Elektrosrbija, Kralijevo, as general secretary.

Serbia&#039;s Electric Union Elects Women&#039;s Committee

In North American paper bargaining, national leaders of Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada are attempting to get a New Brunswick provincial mediator to re-start talks in the seven and- a-half month strike of UPM Kymmene&rsquo;s mill in Miramichi. After some progress was made in three-day mediated bargaining sessions late in June, company negotiators abruptly walked out of the final day&rsquo;s talks without submitting a promised discussion document intended to lead to a final settlement. UPM Kymmene told CEP Local 689&rsquo;s leaders that they can expect bargaining to resume in September.

Progress Noted in CEP&#039;s Strike Talks with UPM Kymmene

Nigerian unions welcomed a recent ruling from the Abuja Federal High Court that struck down the controversial Public Order Act, which required citizens to obtain a police permit before staging any protest. Nigeria&rsquo;s 1999 Constitution gave citizens the right to assemble and protest peacefully, and the court&rsquo;s ruling supports that.
&nbsp;Said Nigerian Labour Congress President Adams Oshiomhole, &ldquo;We have always believed the Constitution is superior to any other Act. If the colonial masters had cause to enact that law, a democratic government doesn&rsquo;t need it because it makes a society of democratic right through police licensing. 
Like any licensing, it can always be abused, as it has been abused.&rdquo; Added Peter Akpatason, president of ICEM affiliate NUPENG, &ldquo;The actual challenge is for the court to be able to implement or ensure that the ruling is obeyed because in Nigeria of today, it is obvious that obedience to court judgments has become selective.&rdquo; 
Labour leaders in Nigeria were sharply critical of acting Inspector General of Police Sunday Ehindero who publicly stated the police would appeal the High Court ruling.

Nigerian Unions Applaud Court&#039;s Free Assemby Ruling

T he sacking of 24 jewelry workers in Thailand for union activities has brought the ire of ICEM to the doorstep a German firm. MKS Jewelry International Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of German-based J.E. Hammer &amp; Sohne GmbH, fired the 24 after they registered for union status with the Thai Ministry of Labour. 
 

<img height="241" src="" width="350" alt="" />
ICEM staffers Phee Jung-sun and Yamina Zebchine-DeLaet help organize jewelry workers in Thailand 
The workers, part of a 450-person labor force at a Bangkok casting and polishing factory in which 90% are women, were organizing with an ICEM affiliate over management's undignified body searches on suspicion of theft. Last spring, after 36 workplace leaders filed for union registry with the ministry while the remainder waited outside the plant, MKS Jewelry faxed a letter to a ministry officer in Pravate District stating employees were welcome to return to work without fear of punishment. 
 
But weeks later and following official approval by the ministry as a union, the 24 were not only sacked but MKS distributed their names to the many other firms operating in jewelry-producing Gemopolis Industrial Estate of Pravate. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs filed a strong protest against MKS's actions with J.E. Hammer &amp; Sohne, a 140-year-old luxury jewelry maker based in Pforzheim, Germany. 
 
&quot;One of the reasons for workers at MKS creating a union &hellip; was the obscene way in which body searches were done,&quot; wrote Higgs. &quot;These workers were stripped of their clothes and subjected to body touching. When workers lodged complaints, management replied they will continue this practice and simple suspicion will be enough to continue this undignified practice. It must be noted that no company property or materials were found on the workers, and nothing was reported even to be lost.&quot; 
 
Higgs said MKS's firings violate core ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and the Right to Organize, and Convention 158, terminating employment on the grounds on union membership. 
 
ICEM requested that J.E. Hammer &amp; Sohne intervene in Thailand to reinstate the workers, and to commence good-faith dialogue with the Thai union to reach accord on employment terms and working conditions. ICEM also informed the German parent that the global union federation was compiling a list of clients and retailers of the company in order to alert them to the harsh actions by managers in Thailand.&nbsp; 

&nbsp;

ICEM Stands Firm with Thai Jewelry Workers

Archive

Nigerian Unions Will Agian resist Petrol Price Hikes

Harsh Lockout of Boilermakers Union in US

Contract Reached for Paper Sector in Germany

Sierra Leone Electrical Workers Protest Casual Status

Irish Unions Campaign Against Merck

Botswana's Unions Set 20 August for March and Rally

Serbia's Electric Union Elects Women's Committee

Progress Noted in CEP's Strike Talks with UPM Kymmene

Nigerian Unions Applaud Court's Free Assemby Ruling

ICEM Stands Firm with Thai Jewelry Workers

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