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The ICEM’s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO), with the support of Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), conducted a very successful workshop on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Lusaka, Zambia, on 19-20 October. Participants from 12 countries, representing unions organising in the extractive industries, shared information on the impact of FDI in the mining and energy sectors. 
 
The participants were enriched with the input of a number of presenters, mainly from Zambia who gave excellent presentations on the subject. Trade unionists agreed on the need for FDI in the region, but realised that such investment, left unchecked, can do more damage than good if trade unions do not engage both Chinese and western-based multinationals on the inherent need to respect workers’ rights, communities, the environment, and to ensure that governments – on behalf of the population – benefits from FDI. 
 
It was further realised that unions and other stakeholders must guide against FDI corrupting governments and political leaders. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Zambia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
The workshop undertook to examine the shortfalls stemming from a similar ICEM workshop held in 2008 in Accra, Ghana. The failures were mainly on the issues of implementation and lack of communication, thus October’s Zambian workshop undertook to do better in those areas. This recent workshop pledged to follow through with the resolutions adopted at the Ghana workshop, and further resolved to undertake the following: 
 
Data: All participating unions and other unions must send data to the SSARO regional office in Johannesburg with the following information: companies organised, sectors involved, ownership of companies, numbers of members in that company, unorganised workers in that company, and does the union have an agreement with the company? 
 
Legislation: Is there any legislation governing multinationals in the respective African countries? Is the legislation implemented and acted upon by the companies? Are the laws being reviewed, and if yes, when and are the difficulties? Are unions involved in the review? If not, why? If yes, how often does the review take place, and how do unions influence. All affiliates of the ICEM must take part in the reviews and try to influence the direction of the review and the outcome. 
 
Pan-African Standards: There must be Pan African Standards set that will be enforced by all countries in the region. There must be a model that will be applicable to regulate the operations of FDI, specifically Chinese investments. Efforts must be made by ICEM affiliates to ensure uniformity in terms of working conditions and economic emancipation. There is also a need for ICEM affiliates to promote effective networks in terms of information sharing, joint campaigns, and solidarity. There should be social dialogue between civil society, government, communities, and other stakeholders by assuring that there is adherence to all the laws governing FDI. 
 
Organising and Building Power: Strengthening our collaboration with NGOs to forge links and cooperation to confront the challenges posed by FDI /Chinese investments. Strengthening solidarity campaigns in terms of confronting the challenges. A need to strengthen the coordination mechanism of the ICEM in the region to effectively coordinate campaigns and solidarity, and to lobby our governments to support the position of labour and communities on these campaigns. 
 
Promote Corporate Social Responsibility and Awareness: To establish buy-in by the community and promote networking among trade unions. 
 
Campaigns: Determining which campaigns to take up and when, and when doing so, to lobby governments for direct involvement of trade unions in negotiation of agreements aimed at acquisition of raw materials and mineral rights; to lobby for transparency in these agreements; to lobby and demand labour rights, human rights, community and environmental standards in these agreements. 
 
In doing such, it is important to monitor International Finance Corporation/World Bank Performance standards, the ILO core labour standards, and standards set by the employer-based International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM). As well, there must be a commitment to follow through with the resolutions adopted by SSARO, such as letter to CEOs and the lobbying of governments. 
 
As an example of such campaigns, a day of mobilisation at Chinese embassies in Africa was suggested. This would include coordinated press conferences and protests on specific practices of Chinese employers and it would encompass support to ICEM affiliates which undertake actions against mining employers. (As an example, support to the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia in its efforts to organise a Chinese mine. As well, the ICEM will develop a model labour standard to be incorporated into agreements to acquire raw materials.

Sub-Saharan Africa Region of ICEM Holds Workshop on Foreign Direct Investment

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The ICEM Paperworkers’ Union affiliate in Indonesia, Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp dan Kertas (FSP2KI), 
conducted its Third National Meeting in Jakarta from 15-18 October, with generous support from Svenska Pappers, the Swedish Paperworkers Union. 
 
The six-year-old union, a federation of nine mill-level branch unions, identified future goals and objectives, and heard the parameters and expectations involved in a proposed three-year project sponsored by Pappers. Eleven executive-board members of FSP2KI attended, while four other delegates expected to attend from the Japanese-owned Marubeni pulp mill of Musi at PT Tanjunggenim Lestari in South Sumatra were detained by management and ordered to undertake military training near the mill. 
 
Besides a representative from Pappers, Mikke Sterbeck, other union guests included Bala Somahsundram from the Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees’ Union of Malaysia (PPMEU), Alex Millar and Tim Woods of the Pulp and Paperworkers Branch of Australia’s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), Dave Schaub of the Communications, Paperworkers, and Energy (CEP) Union of Canada, and representation from the ICEM. 

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A featured speaker at the meetings was D. Patombong Saiful, President of the ICEM-affiliated Chemical, Energy, Mine, Gas Workers’ Union (FSP-KEP) of Indonesia. Brother Saiful gave an in-depth review of the Indonesian labour situation, specifically the difficulty to implement labour laws already in place and the problems brought on by flexible labour markets. 
 
Saiful said of 34 million workers in Indonesia, only five million are union members, with the number of labour federations – 93 – “too many,” and a definite need to consolidate. He said the world financial institutions have pushed for flexible labour markets, with the result being a rise in fixed-term contracts, subcontracting, and labour suppliers or agencies. 
 
The ICEM asked leaders of FSP2KI to join either one of two of the three labour confederations in Indonesia, and all pulp and paper guests at the meetings encouraged FSP2KI to further develop its internal structures and forge ties with other pulp and paper unions of Indonesia. The proposed Pappers project for 2010 to 2012 has established a goal of increasing the number of branch unions to 19, and growing the current 14,600 membership to 19,600. 
 
FSP2KI’s largest membership currently comes in Asia Pulp and Paper’s (APP) PT Pinto Deli mills in Karawang, APP’s PT Indah Kiat tissue mill in Tangerang, West Java, Asia Pacific Resources International’s (APRIL) PT Riau mills, the PT Lontar tissue mill in Jambi, Sumatra, and Marubeni’s mill in Kab. Muara Enim, South Sumatra.

FSP2KI Pulp/Paper Union in Indonesia Holds National Meeting

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The Global Labour University (GLU), together with the ILO, recently founded the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD). The centre announced last week that it is offering 20 PhD scholarships for students from developing and transition countries. 
 
The ICDD is an interdisciplinary and international scientific network, with headquarters at the University of Kassel, Germany, which works with partner universities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. 

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The PhD school will offer three areas of research: Sustainable Value Creation for Decent Work; Instruments for Promoting Decent Work; and Strategies of Empowerment for Decent Work. 
 
Applicants for the scholarships are encouraged to apply soon, with a deadline scheduled for 15 November 2009. The start date for the programme is 1 March 2010. 
 
Visit GLU’s website <a href="http://www.global-labour-univeristy.org">here</a>.  
 
Find more details, and the application form, visit the link <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduate_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf ">here</a>.

GLU’s Centre to Offer Decent Work PhD Scholarships

ICEM Women’s Bulletin No. 36/Boletín de noticias de las mujeres de ICEM No. 36

Organization 
 
 
 
Miners’ national federations will review their own structures and develop national, company, area and pit safety committees. 
 
 
 
As safety and health is not an issue that divides us, these committees should seek to work together at all levels. 
 
 
 
Such “union safety organization” can work to empower and revive the existing safety structures, including Workmens’ Inspectors, Pit Safety Committees and company safety committees, as appropriate, in the coal and non-coal mines. 
 
 
 
They can also work to mobilize support amongst miners and the masses for ratification of the convention through education, pit meetings, colony meetings (including meetings aimed at the families of miners), posters, stickers, handbills, wall painting, etc. 
 
 
 
A joint national campaign 
 
 
 
At national level, the federations could come together to agree for joint movement in mining industry to pressurize the Government of India to ratify C. 176 
 
 
 
The federations could hold joint company level conventions to popularize the demand for ratification of C 176. 
 
 
 
A joint delegation of the five federations should visit the Minister of labour to demand ratification of C 176. 
 
 
 
The federations should demand the convening of the next \national Conference on Safety in Mines, to discuss the issue of ratification of C 176. 
 
 
 
Signatures of 15 lakh mine workers and their families should be collected on a petition to demand ratification of C 176. 
 
 
 
The federations can also hold a demonstration before Parliament to submit the petition and meet the Lok Sabha speaker. 
 
 
 
Support 
 
 
 
The Federation shall seek assistance and help from National and Global trade unions and also from the ILO to organize campaign for the ratification of the ILO Convention 176.

Programme of action: “the stronger the union, the safer the mine!”

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A 53-day strike by 1,500 leather workers in Iraq concluded successfully on 7 December 2009, after the state-run Enterprise of Leather Industries and Iraq’s Ministry of Industry acceded to demands of workers on safety benefits. The leather workers, part of the Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI), won added payments totaling 25-30% of salaries for working in hazardous conditions. 
 
The workers’ committee, led by Sa’ad Issa and Munadhil Atiya, displayed persistence and resolve throughout long negotiations with the state, and even after reaching a deal with state administrators in the early days of December, the strike continued for three days until all workers were paid the safety stipend in cash. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1001.iraq.Saad%20Issa%20%20Munadhil%20Itya.JPG" width="304" height="228"/>
Munadhil Atiya (above) and Sa’ad Issa (lower, centre) implore leather workers to continue the fight during 53-day strike 
The leather workers are employed in two factories in Baghdad and a third in Al Kūfah, some 160 kilometres south of the capital city. They produce shoes, bags, and clothing items such as leather coats. The strike began in mid-October and was brought on by workers having to deal with hazardous chemicals and operate dangerous equipment. 
The leather workers’ strike served as an inspiration for 4,000 textile workers. Following the early December end of the leather strike, Baghdad-area textile workers embarked on an 18-day strike of their own and won partial safety stipends from a separate state-run enterprise inside the Ministry of Industry. 
 
“The strike organizers showed an ability to lead and maintain a determination among the ranks that lasted for more than seven weeks,” said FWCUI President Falah Alwan. “We learned a valuable lesson in this strike. That lesson is not to respond to hollow promises intended to slow or extinguish the movement of workers. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0611Falah.jpg" width="100" height="119"/>
Falah Alwan
“The victory of the workers in the leather industries is the beginning of a new drive for the workers’ movement in the public sector and in all sectors.” 
 
The strike was marked by continual dialogue with state administrators, but talks that produced only false promises and nothing substantive. Anticipating this, strike leaders engaged fellow workers to conduct constant demonstrations, marches, and public gatherings demanding safer work conditions and safety benefits. 
 
Leather workers also participated in a peaceful 6 October Baghdad manifestation, in which protestors were met by Iraqi armed troops firing rubber bullets. (See InBrief No. 143 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3531-Iraqi-Trade-Unionist-Murdered" type="internal">here</a>.) In that clash, FWCUI strike leader Munadhil Atiya was beaten and then arrested for his participation. 
 
Nearly 90% of all industry in Iraq is incorporated in state hands and the country still abides by the Saddam-era Decree 150 of 1987 that prohibits independent trade unions in the public sector. Thus the need for persistent and ongoing direct action by workers is in order to gain labour rights from the al-Maliki government. The ICEM commends the leather and textile workers of the FWCUI for their heroic and historic actions in late 2009.

Safety Benefits Won by Iraqi Leather Workers after 53-Day Strike

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Editor’s Note: ICEM Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer Brian Kohler provided daily COP 15 commentary from Copenhagen at the failed UN Climate Change Conference. 
 
12 December: A mass "civil society" demonstration demanding action on greenhouse gases took place today. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took part in mostly peaceful fashion, although there are reports of several hundred arrests, and some police brutality. The Copenhagen negotiations are troubled. The US negotiators in particular are so far reluctant to agree to anything substantive on targets and financing. China is unwilling to accept external verification of its progress, which is a US demand. Developing countries are anxious to defend the principles in the Kyoto Protocol and secure funding for mitigation and adaptation. Targets, and even a baseline year, remain far from agreement. 

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13 December: No formal meetings of the parties were scheduled for today. A limited number of meetings of observers and informal groups occurred. The trade union delegation met in caucus. Union lobbying is making a difference, and many governments seem favourably disposed to accepting some version of "labour's paragraph" in the final text. This may be due, in part, to the economic crisis and the wish of political leaders to be able to say something positive about jobs when spinning the Copenhagen outcome. However, attempts to modify the text or move it from the body of the "Shared Vision" document to the preamble of the final document, may create problems for us. 
As far as the broader progress of the talks is concerned, it is at present difficult to predict the outcome. The outcome may be a bad agreement (neither fair, nor ambitious, nor legally binding) with or without the wording on Jobs and Just Transition that labour wants. 
 
14 December: Today, at what was to be a meeting with the COP15 President, it was instead announced to those present that security issues would trump public participation in the remaining days of the Copenhagen talks. Of some 40,000 registered delegates, only 9,000 "observers" (all NGOs, all labour unions) would be admitted tomorrow and Wednesday; 1,000 “observers” on Thursday; and 90 “observers” on Friday. Security issues and problems at the registration desk have created a nightmare for people trying to get into the Bella Center. Fortunately, the next three days feature a number of events at labour's off-site World of Work pavilion, where access will be unaffected by developments at the Bella Center. Events today include: 1.) Trade Unions and Climate Change: the need for Just Transition, presented by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); 2.) Low Carbon Diet: The trade union vision of sustainable food production and the right to food, presented by the International Union for Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF); 3.) Australian Labour/Environment Alliance: Green Jobs and the future, presented by the Australian Congress of Trade Unions (ACTU); 4.) Carbon Capture and Storage: Challenges Ahead for Energy and Industry, UK Trades Union Congress, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), and Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), Australia; 
 
5.) Climate Change Challenge: Social Standards and Sustainable Construction as Trade Union Agenda, presented by the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI); 6.) Environment and Social Dialogue in France, presented by the Conféderation Générale du Travail (CGT) and Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT), France 7.) Public Services: Key to getting us out of climate crisis, presented by the Public Services International (PSI); and 8.) Building consensus for strong US climate policies through Blue-Green partnerships, presented by the Blue Green Alliance. 

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15 December: Reports continue of delegates trying to register standing in the cold for hours, only to be turned away. Keep in mind that the capacity of the Bella Center is only 15,000 according to fire safety regulations, but the secretariat accepted some 40,000 registrations. Today's World of Work events include: 
1). Low carbon industrial policies, presented by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) with European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF), and other European federations; 2.) Visit to Danish Green Workplaces, organized by LO-Denmark; 3.) Climate and Social Justice: creating an economy for people and environment, presented by the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA); 4.) Climate Change and Employment: An alternative model for transport, presented by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF); 
 
5.) Sustainable mobility: Comisiones Obreras’ practical approach, presented by the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), Spain; 6.) Green Workplaces in the Netherlands, presented by the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV). 7.) Climate Change and Social Dialogue, presented by the Social democratic parties and trade union councils in the Nordic countries (SAMAK) and Council of Nordic Trade Unions (NFS); 8.) A Green Economy Without Unions? - Analysis of the ‘Green Growth’ policy of Korean government and strategy for unions and civil society, presented by the Korean Congress of Trade Unions (KCTU), Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), and Korean Energy and Climate Policy Institute 
(ECPI); 
 
9.) Green Jobs in India: the SEWA experience, presented by the Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA); 10.) Economic Recovery and Green Jobs: win-win for development, climate and labour, presented by the ILO; and 11.) Resource Efficiency at the Workplace in Germany, presented by the German Dachorganisation der Gewerkschaften (DGB) and DGB Bildungswerk. 
 
16 December: This morning, an informal meeting of trade unionists affiliated with the ICEM, as well as the IMF, the EMF and EMCEF took place at the headquarters of the Danish union 3F. Thanks must go to Jesper Lund Larsen of 3F for helping ICEM obtain the venue in an over-crowded and chaotic city. 
In the afternoon, the four organisations’ joint World of Work event, "Cutting Emissions: Transforming Industrial Jobs" took place. It was a huge success, with a standing-room-only crowd, high-profile speakers, and plenty of interest in our message. 
 
Other World of Work events that took place today include: 1.) Japanese Experience on Energy Conversion, presented by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO). 2.) Sustainable Energy Supply, presented by the German Dachorganisation der Gewerkschaften (DGB) – BMU; 3.) Visit to Danish Green Workplaces, organized by LO-Denmark; 4.) Women Workers and Green Jobs: employment, equity and equality, presented by Sustainlabour, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); 5.) Climate Change Challenge: Social Standards and Sustainable Forestry as Trade Union Agenda, presented by the Building and Woodworkers’ International (BWI); 6.) Providing real access to energy for all, presented by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), and Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique (FGTB) and Conféderation des Syndicats Chrétiens (CSC), both of Belgium; 
 
7.) Climate Solidarity: Trade Union Responses from Greener Workplaces to International Policy, presented by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), UK, LO-Denmark, AFL-CIO of US, and OHSE Bangladesh; 8.) The Sustainable Company – importance and role for workers interest representation, presented by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI); 9.) Financing Climate Change, presented by Sustainlabour, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Nepal’s General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) and the Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Nepal, the ITUC Africa Region, and Trade Union Confederation for the Americas (TUCA). 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.cop15.CoolEarthUSA.jpg" width="150" height="146" alt=""/>
17 December: Admission to the Bella Center is all but impossible. "Observer" delegates admitted to the Bella Center today were supposed to be restricted to 1,000, but before this number was reached all new admissions were completely closed except to official government negotiators. A morning meeting of labour delegates took place at the LO-Denmark building, but a snowfall this morning was the final straw that broke the back of Copenhagen's already overstressed public transport system. I was not able to get there in time. Truly, this conference has become a catastrophe for the city of Copenhagen. Reports from those few still inside the Bella Center provided first indications that the entire negotiating work to date was being trashed in favour of a political agreement negotiated between only a few of the major participants. In this scenario, "labour's paragraph" will disappear, at least temporarily. 
 
18 December: Only 90 "observer" delegates, including only 9 trade unionists, were to be admitted to the Bella Center. It is now hopeless for any others to try to interact directly with any of the negotiators. 
The political leaders of the world, unable to reach a consensus on prepared texts, have crafted a face-saving document. In fact, the document was negotiated primarily between the US, China, and some 20 other countries, short-circuiting the UNFCCC process. Now called the Copenhagen Accord, the document itself meets none of the criteria of labour and civil society groups necessary to the final accord, and it contains no references to sustainable jobs, decent work, or Just Transition. However, it does make reference to political will to keep global warming below 2 centigrade degrees global average, with a scientific review following the release of the IPCC's fifth review. It also has some non-specific references to financing and targets. After two weeks of meetings, and months and years of preparatory work, many would describe this weak result as a disgrace. In the interests of fair reporting, some optimists say that at least it creates a political basis for a potential agreement at a later meeting. The work of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Longterm Cooperative Action, where "labour's paragraph" resides, is mandated to continue and may be incorporated in a subsequent, more detailed agreement. Let us hope that the pessimists are wrong and the optimists are right. In either case, we still have much work to do.

ICEM: COP 15 Second Week Diary and Commentary, 12-18 December

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The world’s biggest steelmaker announced to workers and trade unions at its December European Works Council (EWC) that the company likely will continue to reduce its global workforce in 2010. Trade union projections suggest that ArcelorMittal plans to cut some 10,000 jobs, or 3.5% of its total global workforce, as the company seeks cost savings of US$500 million. 
 
Arcelor Mittal currently employs 285,300 people worldwide. The Luxembourg-based company aims to regain lost market share. Company spokesman Bill Steers told the EWC at a plenary meeting on 9 December that “global workforce reductions [will be] due mainly to natural attrition and optimisation of production.” 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="100" height="95" alt=""/>
The company has said that most of the cuts will affect US and Europe, where its growth potential is limited. ArcelorMittal workers in South Africa were relieved to be told that the announcement of 10,000 job losses would not affect them. Some of ArcelorMittal's facilities in the U.S. and South America are struggling, particularly those producing flat rolled steel for the auto industry. 
 
Dave McCall, District 1 director for the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers (USW), said the union did not expect mass job cuts in the US, as demand there is picking up some in the wake of the financial crisis. 
 
Overall, demand for steel is rising again, after most steelmakers took a major hit in 2009 and were forced to cut their production in response to a slump in demand. ArcelorMittal has put a bid down on Zimbabwe's Zisco; it has invested in a mill in India; and is looking at further Brazilian operations to match iron-ore supplies there. The company has operations in 60 countries around the world. 
 
The cuts are expected to affect workers who were temporarily laid off at plants idled last year. 
 
The company had originally planned to eliminate 9,000 positions in its administrative and commercial functions during 2009, but ended up cutting 36,000 jobs, of which 50 percent were in Europe.

ArcelorMittal to Cut 10,000 Jobs This Year

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The ICEM is demanding that the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina intervene on behalf of 1,250 workers in the northern city of Lukavac. The workers have had their pay slashed and are owed wage arrears by India-based Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd., a subsidiary of the Ispat Group, owned by the Mittal steel-making family. 
 
The company is the minority owner but manages a coke-chemicals enterprise called Global Ispat Koksana Industtrija Lukavac (GIKIL), which sells to steel mills throughout Central Europe, Turkey, and in India. The local government of the Canton of Tuzla is majority stakeholder. 
 
In a 21 January letter (see <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/3%20ICEM-IMF.Bosnia.pdf " type="internal">here</a>) to Bosnia-Herzegovina Prime Minister Mustafa Mujezinovic and to Canton of Tuzla Prime Minister Enes Mujić, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda – together with International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina – called on both the federal government and regional government to ensure that restoration of previous pay levels dating to 2003 are restored, that wage arrears are paid, and that the governments be more vigilant on potentially serious health risks existing inside GIKIL. 

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The ICEM is pursuing justice for Lukavac workers on behalf of one of those affiliates, the Independent Trade Union of Chemistry and Non-Metal Workers of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
 
“The ICEM has probed Global Infrastructure Holdings, its parent, the steel-maker Ispat Group, and Pramod Mittal himself.” said Warda. “What we find is a history of depraved conduct placed on people in many countries and total disregard for global social standards, as well as statutes enshrined in European law.” 
 
In Lukavac, workers have carried out lawful strikes twice in six months, laying claims to salaries owed them. Despite all workers taking membership in the union, GIKIL’s Indian managing director, Guttupalli Jagannadham, has bypassed the union in slashing pay to 55% of previous earnings. That level is below the minimum wage standard contained in the national collective agreement for chemistry and non-metals, and amounts to just above €200 per month (400 marka), putting it well under the minimum wage threshold for the sector in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
 
Workers staged a strike from 6 January to 14 January after salaries had not been paid in October, November, and December 2009. During the strike, the October and November pay was made, but December salaries are still in remiss. A mediated agreement that ended a three-day strike in July 2009 called on GIKIL management to honour the collective agreement, and pay all wages due by 31 December 2009. 
 
The ICEM and IMF also stated concern for workers’ health at GIKIL in the letter to the Bosnia-Herzegovina government. The Independent Trade Union of Chemistry and Non-Metal Workers believes a number of workers have acute cases of cancer due to lack of safeguards around coke ovens. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704Manfred.jpg" width="102" height="140"/>    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706JyrkiRaina.jpg" width="99" height="140"/>
ICEM and IMF General Secretaries, Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina
In the joint letter, the combined 45-million-member ICEM and IMF cautioned the government not to lose oversight over labour-management relations at GIKIL. “We think this a mistake, considering the recent history of wage arrears, asset stripping, and general social depravation brought by Global Infrastructure Holdings.” 
 
In Nigeria in 2008, Kogi state steelworkers, over 500 Indian nationals, and many Ukrainian expatriate workers protested due to ten months of non-payment of wages. The Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN) counted 60 deaths among workers because of the lengthy pay arrears, including 21 suicides. In April 2008, the Nigerian government revoked a privatisation contract it had with Global Infrastructure Holdings to operate the Ajaokuto Steel mills and Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Co., as well as Delta Steel, when it discovered the Indian company was cannibalizing equipment and then exporting it. 
 
Also in 2008 in Libya, where Global Infrastructure Holdings had a contract to manage Libya Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., workers – including 120 Indian nationals in high-skilled jobs – went as long as seven months without pay. In Bulgaria, Pramod Mittal and Ispat’s Global Steel Holdings bought 71% of the country’s largest steel mill, Kremikovtsi Steel, in 2005, renamed it Finmetals Holdings, and the enterprise was declared insolvent in August 2008. Lack of promised investment was the cause. 
 
Mittal, the younger brother of ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi N. Mittal, left a debt trail that included bondholders and huge sums owed Bulgarian state utility NEC, gas company Bulgargaz, and railway operator BDZ. 
 
Some 5,000 Bulgarian steelworkers also were not paid their wages on time throughout the latter half of 2008. 
 
“We take the breach of contract, failure to engage the union in social talks, and wage issues very seriously,” said Warda of the current Lukavac dispute. “Either the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina corrects the wrongs imposed on workers, or we carry this dispute to different levels.”

ICEM, IMF Decry Mittal’s Pay Delinquencies in Bosnia-Herzegovina

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The ICEM supports the International Trade Union Confederation-led trade union appeal for victims of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. The trade union relief work is being carried out primarily by ITUC’s affiliates in the Dominican Republic, in cooperation with Haitian colleagues across the border. 
 
We urge ICEM affiliates to support this Appeal. 
 
Funds for the appeal can be transferred to the following ITUC bank account: 
 
No. 375-1008200-61 
Banque ING, Brussels Branch Institutionals, 1 rue du Trone, B-1000 Brussels 
Code IBAN: BE 62375100820061 
Code BIC/Swift: BBRUBEBB 

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The ITUC requests that the words “SOS Solidarity – Haiti” are included with each transfer to this account. 
 
ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder has called for the cancellation of Haiti’s debt, in the aftermath of the disaster, to increase the country’s chances of reconstruction. 
 
As has been widely reported in the mainstream media, the huge earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January, and was followed by a number of aftershocks. Along with the reported death toll of over 100,000, Haiti’s infrastructure has been severely damaged, with many buildings and roads completely destroyed. The humanitarian situation is desperate and aid is needed. 
 
Once the immediate humanitarian effort passes, the solidarity campaign will continue to use funds raised to help Haitians in their recovery from this natural disaster.

ICEM Urges Haitian Relief Funds through ITUC

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