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With on-line voting about to end at midnight on 26 January, the United Steelworkers (USW) has issued a last-minute alert for global trade unionists to make the Brazilian mining company Vale the shameful recipient of the 2012 Public Eye Award, as bestowed by a Swiss NGO, the Berne Declaration, and Greenpeace. 
 
Going into the final week&rsquo;s balloting, Vale trails the Japanese electric energy company TEPCO by less than 300 votes &ndash; 17,276 votes for TEPCO, 16,996 for Vale. 
 
Visit the <a href="http://www.publiceye.ch/en/vote/">Public Eye website here</a> to cast your ballot, and push Vale into the number one spot. 
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In early January, the two organisations launched this year&rsquo;s version of the contest, with six multinationals judged as being the worst violators of environmental stewardship and human rights abuses. Besides TEPCO and Vale, the other nominees are the US mining company Freeport-McMoRan, Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung, Swiss chemicals company Syngenta, and the British bank Barclays. 
 
The winner will be announced at a press conference on 27 January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Vale, of course, besides heaping environmental damage the world over, extracted more than just minerals from the earth in recent years; it extracted deep and unnecessary economic concessions from USW members in 2009-10 strikes in Canada.

USW Makes Last-Ditch Appeal to Shame Vale as Public Eye Recipient

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Hundreds of garment workers staged a symbolic sit-in strike on 16 January in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka city, Bangladesh, demanding that Parliament takes up and passes a key piece of labour legislation. 
 
The legislation has been ready for presentation in Parliament for three years, but the Labour Ministry has stalled the process. Demonstrating workers warned of mass mobilisations before the Labour Ministry, Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office, and Parliament if the bill is not considered during the next session which begins, which begins this Wednesday, 25 January. 
 
The demonstration was organised by the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), a highly-active trade union affiliate of the International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). 
<img src="" width="214" height="160" alt="" />
NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin led speeches which included contributions of numerous labour leaders. All speakers agreed that the existing labour law of 2006 runs against the rights of workers, but also against industrial development, and is the cause of much labour unrest across the industrial sectors. 
 
The current government of Bangladesh repeatedly promised to amend the unjust labour law, both before and after the last general election in December 2008. The existing draft amendment was prepared through a long, tripartite process, consisting of viewpoints from workers, government and employers. But the draft amendment has been held up inside the Labour Ministry for the last three years. In that time three separate labour bills have been adopted by parliament. The first suspended trade union rights inside the country&rsquo;s Economic Processing Zones, the second exonerates factory owners from serving jail time for breaking labour laws, and the third also increases the rights of employers over workers.

Bangladeshi Garment Workers Lead Charge for Just Labour Legislation

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Several European trade unions, led by the European Mine, Chemicals, Energy Federation (EMCEF), are desperately trying to exert public and governmental pressure to keep the continent&rsquo;s independent petroleum refiner from going totally insolvent. 
 
In late December, a consortium of 13 banks froze a &euro;1 billion credit line on Swiss-based Petroplus, and immediately the oil company shut three of its five refineries &ndash; the Petite-Couronne refinery near Rouen, France, an Antwerp, Belgium, facility, and the Cressier refinery in the region of Neuch&acirc;tel, Switzerland. 
 
The publicly-listed company also reduced capacity at its Coryton refinery in Stanford-le-Hope, UK, and at Ingolstadt, Germany. At stake, is 2,500 jobs, with roughly half of that number already idle. 
 
EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters said there must be &ldquo;a financial solution to stop Petroplus from going bankrupt and we call on the responsible national and European authorities&rdquo; to safeguard these workplaces. 
 
But despite getting a temporary revolving credit loan on 11 January to keep Coryton and Ingolstadt partially operating, time is running short. Late last week, the Zug-based company said it was shutting down refinery equipment at Petite-Couronne and Antwerp, making a sale of these facilities and re-start much more difficult and expensive. 
 
The French unions CGT, CFDT, and CFE/CGC have been actively pressing their government to facilitate a sale, and Unite the Union in the UK has engaged with MEP Richard Howitt for Eastern England to find a solution. The Swiss union Unia has petitioned the federal government to intervene by calling for countries with companies exporting refined petroleum to Europe to pay added duties because generally those companies do not adhere to European environmental standards. 
<img alt="" src="" width="66" height="83" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="177" height="69" />
The ABVV/FGTB and ACV/CSC in Belgium and IGBCE in Germany have also stepped up efforts to save Petroplus refineries in their countries. 
 
Of major concern for workers of Petroplus are imports of refined petroleum markets. But also not to be discounted are the faulty decisions made by senior leaders of the company after the private equity firms Carlyle and Riverstone took the company public in late 2006. Carlyle and Riverstone soon after exited ownership with huge dividends. 
 
And then on the front end of the economic collapse, new management paid a premium to buy Coryton from BP and Ingolstadt from ExxonMobil in 2007, and followed in 2008 with purchase from Shell of the French refineries Petite-Couronne and Reichstett near Strasbourg. Petroplus then shuttered Reichstett in 2009. It also shut a refinery in Teeside, UK, in 2009, as exports to the US dwindled and refining margins dropped. 
 
Since the Petroplus went public in 2006 on the Zurich bourse, the company has lost 98% of its value. The crisis the downstream oil producer is now in stands as a stark reminder of inept managerial decisions during an economic downturn, with workers suffering the ultimate consequences.

European Trade Unions Make Dire Efforts to Keep Petroplus Operating

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The unjust decision to dismiss Rodolfo Vecino Acevedo, President of ICEM affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO), was reversed on 12 January. Heavy pressure was exerted on the Colombian government and the management of Ecopetrol, the 95% state-owned oil company. 
 
Letters were sent to Ecopetrol president Javier Gutierrez Pemberthy from all corners of the world, from trade union organisations and activists angered by the blatant attempt to derail the union and punish Vecino for his role in the strong campaign for improved conditions and salaries at Canadian-based Pacific Rubiales. 
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Rodolfo Vecino centre, with Manfred Warda and Carlos Bustos
The decision to dismiss Vecino and end his 27-year employment at Ecopetrol was taken on 13 December by the company&rsquo;s Office for Internal Discipline, and was only overturned after the company president bowed to pressure and instructed overturn the office&rsquo;s decision. 
 
This victory must now send a strong message to Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Office for Internal Discipline that they must end the ongoing attempts to dismiss other USO officials and activists. The USO General Secretary Edgardo Lozano was to be the next target. 
 
The shoddy charge used to dismiss Vecino had been linked to his participation at a political event marking the anniversary of the death of a previous Vice-President of the CUT. 
 
Legislation had been manipulated which stipulates individuals holding public office cannot be involved in partisan politics. This legislation clearly should not apply to trade unionists, and this decision being overturned has avoided a dangerous new precedent. 
 
See more details in the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4832-ICEM-Affiliates-Called-on-to-Support-Sacked-Colombian-USO-President-Rodolfo-Vecino">ICEM news article</a> here.

Global Pressure Gets USO President Reinstated at Ecopetrol

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On 1 January, Rio Tinto&rsquo;s aluminium subsidiary Alcan threw 780 Canadian members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9490 out of work at the Alma smelter and refinery in Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region, Qu&eacute;bec. 
 
The callous lockout, as reported here in this <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4837-USW-Affiliate-in-Québec-Locked-Out-by-Rio-Tinto-at-Aluminium-Plant ">ICEM dispatch</a>, came exactly at contract expiration of a prior five-year labour pact and simultaneously, Rio Tinto did little to hide the fact that because global aluminium prices had slumped, a full 11% of Alcan&rsquo;s workforce would face layoffs. 
 
Last week, the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) lodged a strong complaint with Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese over the assault by lockout on Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma members at this most modern of Alcan&rsquo;s smelting/refining facilities. That letter can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/3.ICEM-IMFletterRioTintoAlma1.18Jan.pdf ">here</a>. 
<img alt="" src="" width="239" height="160" />
photo: lapresse.ca
Trade union affiliates across the world are now being asked to also send letters to Albanese. We ask you to take the attachment herein, modify appropriately, place on your letterheads, and fax to Rio&rsquo;s corporate offices in London and Melbourne. 
 
Those fax numbers are +44 20 7781 1800 (London) and +62 3 9283 3707 (Melbourne). Be sure to e-mail this letter as well to the <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">ICEM</a>, <a href="mailto:unionrights@imfmetal.org">IMF</a>, and the <a href="mailto:bdavis@usw.org">USW</a>. As the USW&rsquo;s global campaign against Rio Tinto for fairness and justice mounts, more and more activity will ensue. 
 
Already, several Canadian trade unions and a few international ones have reached out to the USW and to Local 9490 to offer aid, assistance and support. One notable example came last week when another union representing metalworkers in the region, Le Syndicat National des Employ&eacute;s de l&rsquo;aluminium d&rsquo;Arvida (SNEAA), an affiliate of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), presented USW Local 9490 with an interest-free loan of C$1 million. 
<img alt="" src="" width="229" height="160" />
SNEAA President Alain Gagnon and Local 9490 President Mark Maltais
In making the presentation, SNEAA President Alain Gagnon expressed deep concern over Rio Tinto/Alcan&rsquo;s intransigence in bargaining with fellow Alma metalworkers. 
 
This intransigence is reflected in the single biggest issue in the dispute &ndash; the company&rsquo;s desire to have unlimited contracting out rights. Alcan has substituted the retirement of each full-time, USW-represented worker with a subcontracting employee. Company documentation reveals that the expected ratio of hours worked by subcontractors will go from 10% in 2010 to 27% this year. 
 
When Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma attempted to put a floor on outsourced work, or to put guidelines on addressing subcontract work, Alcan refused to address such issues. And at midnight, 31 December, Rio Tinto/Alcan showed its contempt toward any such dialogue with a lockout. 
 
Make sure your union takes action and registers its protest with Rio Tinto.&nbsp;

ICEM, Metalworkers Urge Action in Rio Tinto Canadian Lockout

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An agreement was reached yesterday, 22 January, after a marathon 15-hour bargaining session between Bulgarian state-owned Maritsa East Mines (BEH-EAD) and two ICEM affiliates. The settlement ends a seven-day coalminers&rsquo; strike in Stara Zagora province that saw ICEM intervention last week. 
 
The strike started at 20h00 on 15 January and was carried out jointly, cooperatively, and ultimately successfully by the Federation of Independent Miners&rsquo; Unions (KNSB/CITUB) and Podkrepa&rsquo;s Miners&rsquo; Federation. The settlement produced a partial payment to a bonus that was promised the 7,000 miners last July, but more importantly, calls for improved working conditions, an increase in investment at the three open-cast mines, and a commitment not to consider privatisation. 
 
Also, the settlement outlines guidelines to improve health and safety at Bulgaria&rsquo;s largest mining complex, a key point raised in the ICEM intervention. The unions won assurances that the state company will make BGN 20 million (&euro;10.2 million) available for safety. 
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The final talks occurred overnight on 21-22 January in Radnevo in south-central Bulgaria, center of the Maritsa mining and power generation facilities. 
 
In the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/5.ICEM.Maritsa%20East%20Mines,%20Bulgaria.20Jan.pdf ">ICEM letter</a> to Prime Minister Boyco Borissov and Economy, Energy, Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov, General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;Although remuneration issues are part of the dispute, we are of the certain belief that health and safety, lack of adequate equipment, and refusal of mine management to engage in social dialogue as mandated by European social charters are legitimate reasons for miners to withhold their labour.&rdquo; 
 
Maritsa East Mines CEO Evgeni Stoykov had sought to get the strike declared illegal, but on 20 January BEH-EAD withdrew such a petition submitted to a Bulgarian court. Also on that day, the state National Electricity Company (NEK) suspended electric power exports to Turkey, Greece, Serbia and Macedonia in order to cover its own domestic needs. In 2011, NEK exported a total of 10.5 billion KWH to those countries. 
 
The suspension emboldened striking miners, with several hundred manifesting outside the headquarters of the company on 21 January. That sparked the urgency of weekend talks and produced the accord, which both unions said meet their requirements in ending the strike. 
 
The Maritsa East Mines, Bulgaria&rsquo;s largest deposits of lignite coal, supply 90% of the coal for the country&rsquo;s power industry. The mines supply coal to four thermal power stations, three that are state-owned by BEH-EAD and the other one that is owned by ContourGlobal of the US. 
 
Central to the dispute was revocation of an agreement signed on 12 July 2011 over a bonus premium for exceeding 2011 production levels. A targeted level of 27 million tonnes was surpassed and miners, who work 12-hour shifts, produced a total of 33 million tonnes, bringing a revenue stream to the company of BGN 500 million (&euro;255 million). 
 
Although miners did not get their full bonus demands, BGN 1,000 per worker (&euro;509), that was offset by management retreating from cuts to a staffing plan which would have seen 450 jobs, or 6% of the workforce, furloughed. Such downsizing would have affected safety. The unions also won commitments to improve on continual shortages of equipment, spare parts and monitoring devices, which also impacted safety. 
 
Maritsa East miners earn average monthly salaries of BGN 1,500 (&euro;767).

Week-Long Coal Strike Ends in Bulgaria

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Disappointed with a draft of the UN Global Compact document &ldquo;Corporate Sustainability Leadership: A Framework for Action at Rio+20 and Beyond,&rdquo; global labour&rsquo;s two representatives on the body &ndash; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings &ndash; worked to get stronger trade union language adopted by the Global Compact for the UN&rsquo;s June 2012 World Summit on Sustainable Development, dubbed &ldquo;Rio+20.&rdquo; 
 
That effort succeeded last week when the Global Compact accepted inclusion of a better accounting of the social dimension of sustainability. All UN agencies, including the Global Compact, have been preparing their input to that summit. 
 
At the insistence of Warda and Jennings, the document now calls on businesses fully respect human rights, including the rights of workers. Governments are called on to guarantee a high standard of social protection, and to establish programmes that support a Just Transition to a future with sustainable jobs and decent work in both existing industries and in new and greener ones. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="86" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="51" height="100" />
ICEM and UNI worked to get reference to fairness, equity, justice, social dialogue, and Global Framework Agreements in the document. 
 
The document, while a compromise, is a significant step forward that will allow further elaboration on these ideas at future Global Compact meetings. In addition, these words will support and strengthen other trade union inputs for Rio+20. 
 
The <a href="http://unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/9.1_news_archives/2011_11_1/UNGC_Rio+20_Submission.pdf ">full document</a> can be read here. 
 
The Global Compact was started by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the year 2000 to motivate businesses to work towards a sustainable future and now includes ten principles. 
 
Among the ten are two related to basic human rights, four regarding labour rights (freedom of association/right to collective bargaining; abolition of child labour; elimination of forced and compulsory labour; and elimination of employment discrimination), three on environment (businesses supporting a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; undertaking initiatives for greater environmental responsibility; and to encourage the development and diffusion of environmental friendly technologies), and an anti-corruption principle.

Explicit Trade Union Language Adopted by UN’s Global Compact for Rio+20

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	It was a two-and-a-half-hour high speed drive on chaotic Egyptian roads to travel from 6th of October City, an industrial zone of Cairo, north to El-Mahalla El-Kubra, a large industrial and agricultural city in the middle of the Nile Delta. It is known for its dominant textile industry and is home to the largest public-sector Egyptian textile company, the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company. 
	 
	El-Mahalla El-Kubra is also famous for industrial and political struggle. On 6 April 2008, the city held mass demonstrations protesting the election results of President Hosni Mubarak. The citizenry claimed election fraud and demanded better wages. Security forces were ordered to crackdown on the dissidents.

	<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="263" />

	The movement that called for the 25 January 2011 demonstrations adopted the name &ldquo;6th of April&rdquo; in reference to these earlier struggles in Mahallah. On 3 February, last week, the city became the venue for another major trade union event, the first Congress of the Independent Union of Workers in Electricity and Energy. 
	 
	With a membership of 50,000 workers, including both skilled and unskilled workers as well as technicians, the Congress took place after a year of struggle to establish an independent and democratic trade union throughout the country. And democratic it certainly was! 
	 
	Votes were called for every two or three minutes. Proposals, counter proposals and amendments were shouted from the floor with the Congress appeared to be on the verge of chaos constantly. Over 200 delegates crammed into a room that would have been full with only half that number. They travelled from as far as Alexandria to Aswan, with representatives from the state-owned electric power structures of every governate in Egypt said to be present.

	<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="306" />

	&ldquo;Long live workers in the Electrical Sector! Long Live their Struggle!&rdquo; was the cry from both the platform and the floor of the hall. As passionate and loud as the Congress was, it was also good humoured and effective. They debated and agreed on a constitution and statutes. 
	 
	Subscriptions were set at three Egyptian Pounds a month, with 10% of income to be sent to the union headquarters, the remaining 90% to remain in the hands of local union structures. All members must have access to the services of the union with no discrimination. There was a lengthy debate on worker control of any major projects or investments the union may make in the future, and no wages or special benefits will be paid to union board members. All Congress delegates were to have the right to full access to the accounts of the union at any time. 
	 
	ICEM Contact Person for the Middle East/North Africa Region, Jim Catterson, attended part of the Congress and spoke at the event. He found the enthusiasm and debate incredible &ndash; it really was the birth of a new organisation. The union confirmed its membership of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), which had itself held its first Congress in Cairo only a week earlier.

Electricity, Energy Workers’ Union Re-Born in Egypt

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Rather than bargain in good faith, Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) dropped a bombshell 3 February on locked-out Canadian workers: the company announced it was closing its train locomotive plant in London, Ontario. The US-based heavy equipment maker now leaves no doubt that it was playing a vile game of economic blackmail through collective negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. 
 
The announced shutdown comes five weeks after Caterpillar&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, the corporate entity of EMD, locked out 465 CAW Local 27 members after trying to slice their pay to C$16.50-per-hour from C$34 in collective bargaining. EMD also sought to eliminate a defined benefit pension plan and reduce overtime pay and holiday time. 
 
Friday&rsquo;s announcement comes only 18 months after Caterpillar bought the plant and was awarded C$5 million in tax breaks from the Canadian government to promote industrial development. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;Caterpillar had no intention of keeping this plant open,&rdquo; said CAW President Ken Lewenza. &ldquo;From day one, we believed that Caterpillar was trying to provoke a crisis, by forcing deep cuts that were not possible.&rdquo; 
 
This sting to Canada&rsquo;s industrial base comes seven days after Caterpillar reported record annual reports of US$4.9 billion in 2011, an 83% jump over 2010 earnings of US$2.7 billion. The closure announcement also came a day before Progress Rail Services was to hold a jobs fair in Muncie, Indiana, where the company opened a similar diesel locomotive plant in October 2011 and is now one-third toward a staffing level of 650. 
 
Average salaries in the start-up Muncie plant range from US$12-16-per-hour. (See prior <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">ICEM report</a> on this dispute.) On 1 February, Indiana became the first US state since 2001 to adopt a right-to-work (for less) law, meaning companies and trade unions are forbidden from entering into union security clauses in collective agreements. This means workers have the choice whether or not to pay union fees, yet are entitled to representation if their workplace has union certification. 
 
Caterpillar lobbied the Indiana state legislature ardently for passage and in full likelihood will zealously resist unionisation of the Muncie facility, a former ABB manufacturing site. This comes amidst Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman enjoying 2011 salary and perks of US$10 million, while his company was out to gouge C$30 million from the 465 CAW members in London. 
 
In Caterpillar&rsquo;s announcement to close the 62-year-old Ontario plant, it cited London&rsquo;s cost structure and the fact that assembly of locomotives will be shifted to plants in North and South America. Besides Muncie, EMD operates locomotive diesel plants in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil; Sahag&uacute;n, Hidalgo state, Mexico; and in the US city of LaGrange, Illinois, where members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) continue to work without a current collective agreement. 
 
The 1 January lockout and forthcoming plant closure in London has been met with complete indifference by the Tory-led Canadian federal government of Stephen Harper, as well as the Liberal Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty. Only three days before the closure announcement and a month into this extortionist lockout, McGuinty urged EMD to return to the bargaining table. &ldquo;So far the owners of Electro-Motive have failed to live up to Ontarians expectations,&rdquo; he said in a speech to the London Chamber of Commerce. 
 
Within days, his words became hollow. The CAW&rsquo;s Lewenza pointed at government inaction and stated these job losses are casualties of an outdated and dysfunctional Investment Canada Act that attaches no commitment between Canadian jobs and corporate takeovers. 
 
&ldquo;The Stephen Harper government is entirely in the pocket of the corporate elite,&rdquo; Lewenza said. &ldquo;I am disgusted at this government and its indifference towards the suffering of workers and the unemployed.&rdquo;

Raging Insult to Final Injury: Caterpillar to Close Canadian Train Locomotive Plant

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The start of 2012 has seen deadly circumstances facing Colombian trade unionists deteriorate even further. The leadership of ICEM-affiliated Sintraelecol, the Electric Power Workers&rsquo; Union, is now being systematically threatened. 
 
Sintraelecol leaders Marcelino Jos&eacute; L&oacute;pez Perez and Danuil G&oacute;mez Perez have escaped harm in three attempts on their lives in a period of six weeks, from 19 December, in the Northern city of Monter&iacute;a C&oacute;rdoba. The only way to ensure their safety is to arrange for them to leave the country, since no protection is offered by the authorities or by the employer. 
 
The ICEM is currently working on their exit. 
<img alt="" src="" width="131" height="122" />
Danuil G&oacute;mez Perez
Martin Porto and Walberto Figueroa are other Sintraelecol leaders working at Electricaribe, a subsidiary of Spanish energy provider Gas Natural, who have received death threats. The four trade unionists believe that the threats and attacks are directly related to their union activities. 
 
In the latest attempted murder on 1 February, hit men on motorbikes armed with revolvers approached the car of Marcelino L&oacute;pez while he was visiting an infirmed co-worker at his home. Fortunately for L&oacute;pez, he was not in the car at the moment of attack and his bodyguards managed to apprehend one of the thugs, taking him immediately to police. 
 
Sintraelecol has condemned the lack of urgency by the authorities and the National Protection Unit of the Interior Ministry&rsquo;s Human Rights Office in assessing the risk facing its leaders. And the ICEM has also. The investigation is still in the evaluation phase. 
 
Even full-time bodyguards cannot ensure safety for Sintraelecol&rsquo;s leaders, however. The ICEM is pursuing other avenues to ensure assassinations do not occur. Local management has failed to relocate Marcelino L&oacute;pez and Danuil G&oacute;mez to Bogota for their safety, although they are contractually obliged to do so in these circumstances. 
 
See a <a href="http://vimeo.com/27211869">moving documentary</a> into the effects of a culture of murders with impunity in Colombia, in Spanish.&nbsp;

Sintraelecol Leaders Targeted, ICEM Demands Colombia, Employer Give Protection

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