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Some 4,000 union members of ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico Trabajores del Neum&aacute;tico Argentina (SUTNA) launched a 48-hour strike on 25 July against three tyre manufacturing companies, Bridgestone-Firestone, Pirelli, and Argentine-based FATE. The union has been deadlocked since April in 2008 wage negotiations with the major rubber makers. 
 
SUTNA had been conducting protests in the cities of the three factories in recent weeks. With tyre production growing in Argentina due to a boom in automotive production, the union is seeking a salary increase of 35%. 
 
&ldquo;After the employers refused our demands, workers through their asemblies at the factories decided to begin (job actions),&rdquo; said SUTNA Gen. Sec. Pedro Wasiejko. He added that employers offered a two-phase increase of 28%; 13% at present and a noncumulative 15% in January 2009. 
 
&ldquo;This was not accepted by our members,&rdquo; said Wasiejko, citing the fact that the increase would amount amount to only 1,800 pesos (US$600). He said labour costs in the Argentine tyre industry are only 4-to-6% of all production costs.
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&nbsp; 
Japanese-based Bridgestone-Firestone and Pirelli of Italy each employ 1,400 workers in factories near Buenos Aires, while FATE emplys 1,200 at a plant in San Fernando. 
 
Argentina&rsquo;s tyre industry will experience a major change this year with Continental of Germany now entering the retail market. Continental&rsquo;s supply agreement with FATE ends at the end of this year, and the company has established a subsidiary in Argentina in order to import tyres from a factory in Brazil, as well as from Europe. 

Tyre production in the South American country, however, has increased nearly 20% over the first four months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.

Rubber Workers in Argentina Begin Job Actions to Gain Fair Pay

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The Graphical, Paper, and Media section of ICEM affiliate Unite in the UK won a key organizing victory on 14 July, when the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) granted workers of Leicester Paper Company (LPC) union recognition with the country&rsquo;s largest trade union. 
 
The ruling, following two hearings in which longtime, union-avoiding LPC tried to subvert a Unite majority by inserting new workers into the proposed bargaining unit, as well as changing the work contracts for others, means the company has until 14 August 2008 to begin negotiations with Unite.
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The union overcame LPC tactics by relying on organizers and activists inside the mill to actively enroll more paperworkers in Unite. A solid majority of the 84 workers at the Kamns towel and tissue mill in Leicester, East Midlands, signaled to the CAC that they want a first-time union contract. 
 
CAC is an independent UK body with statutory powers to rule on applications for formal recognition and de-recognition of trade unions regarding collective bargaining. Hearing testimony from the union and the company&rsquo;s attorneys, a CAC panel upheld Unite&rsquo;s claim for recognition, ruling that there were no circumstances identified in legislation that would merit a ballot of workers. 
 
&ldquo;We have been organizing for years at LPC in what can only be described as very hostile circumstances,&rdquo; said Unite National Secretary Peter Ellis. &ldquo;This fantastic result is a testament to all the hard work done by our organizing team and the resolve of our determined membership. 
 
&ldquo;We look forward to putting the past behind us and engaging the company in a constructive dialogue that will lead to a better working environment for workers at the Kamns mill,&rdquo; added Ellis. 
 
LPC is a privately-held consumer towel and tissue manufacturer, which, in the UK, is the major private-label producer for retail chains Morrison&rsquo;s and Tesco. Besides the Kamns mill, LPC also operates three paper converters in central England, employing another 550 paperworkers. 
 
It has also expanded outside of the UK, by purchasing in 2007 a towel and tissue mill of American-based Kimberly-Clark in Duffel, Belgium. In fact, it was unionized workers then at that location, while reaching out to the ICEM for information on LPC, which spurred Unite to refresh its organizing efforts in Leicester. 
 
The ICEM is continuing to build a network of workers at the company&rsquo;s manufacturing locations in Belgium, France, Sweden, and the UK.

UK: Unite Wins Union Recognition for Workers of Evasive Paper Company

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Strategic and rolling&nbsp;strikes by 500 Canadian miners &ndash; members of the United Steelworkers (USW) &ndash; could occur at any time now within the&nbsp;three mining operations&nbsp; of&nbsp;Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the world&rsquo;s largest fertiliser company. 
 
On 23 July, three local branches of the USW in the western Canadian province of Saskatechewan issued the necessary 48-hour strike notice against the company. Management countered by giving the unions a 48-hour lockout notice.&nbsp; 
 
Miners have been without a current contract since 30 April 2008. The USW local unions voted by a 96% margin on 21 July for industrial action. 
 
Workers&nbsp;met again on Friday, 25 July, and ballotted for an overtime ban at&nbsp;mines in Allan, Cory, and Patience Lake, beginning the next day, 26 July. In 2007, Canadian steelworkers worked a total of 147,000 overtime hours for Potash Corp., heavily impacting&nbsp;the company&rsquo;s bloated profit sheet. 
 
The company, capitalising on high commodity prices, posted its largest quarterly profit margin in second quarter 2008, with C$905.1 million in earnings. Its 2007 net income was C$1.1 billion.
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USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann&nbsp;
USW National Canadian Director Ken Neumann, in an opionion article in a provincial newspaper last week, compared the publicly-listed company&rsquo;s sales figures, together with other potash producers, with royalty fees paid to Canadian units of government. In a decade between 1997 and 2007, the ratio of sales to royalities has dropped from 13% to seven percent. 
 
&ldquo;Record potash prices and continuing provincial giveaways allowed the company to collect an after-tax profit of C$566 million in the first three months of 2008,&rdquo; stated Neumann. 
 
&ldquo;This quarterly profit amounts to well over C$100,000 for each of the company&rsquo;s 5,000 employees,&rdquo; wrote Neumann. &ldquo;Although the company is reveiving far more profit per worker than most mining companies, it pays wages lower than many major Canadian mining operations.&rdquo; 
 
USW Locals 7468, 189, and 7689 also are seeking, in a renewal labour agreement, greater controls over use of contract labour, a bonus scheme, and improvements in pensions and vacation time.
If Potash Corp. does not return to the bargaining table&nbsp;by&nbsp;mid-week, the likelihood of a full-scale strike across all three mines is great.&nbsp;

Canadian Steelworkers Commence Overtime Ban Against Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan

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Mineworkers and port workers of non-affiliated Colombia union, Sintramienerg&eacute;tica, ended a week-long strike on Wednesday, 23 July, against US-based coal producer Drummond. The miners shut one of Drummond&rsquo;s two big open pit mines in C&eacute;sar department, the Pribbenow mine, as well as the company&rsquo;s thermal coal exporting port at Santa Marta. 
 
The strike ended for the 2,700 workers when the two sides compromised on a two-year wage deal. Workers will receive a 9.1% increase this year. For 2009, the union won the Colombian consumer price index plus 1.75%. The union had orginally been seeking a 16% wage hike, while Drummond started bargaining with a 7.5% offer.
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Sintramienerg&eacute;tica also won job security assurances, housing and education improvements, safety and health gains, and needed social investments in the surrounding communities. Striking Drummond miners received strong support from Colombian Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo. 
 
Drummond is Colombia&rsquo;s second largest coal producer, behind Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n in La Guajira department, where ICEM affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n represents 4,500 miners. 
 
Meanwhile, the country&rsquo;s third largest mining house, Glencore International, came to terms with Sintramienerg&eacute;tica prior to the miners taking strike action in mid-July. The negotiated first year wage adjustment at the Swiss company&rsquo;s La Loma and Lagua mines was set at 9%. Miners at both Drummond and Glencore voted on 8 July to issue ten-day strike notices.

Drummond Coal Mine Strike Ends in Colombia; Accord Also Reached with Glencore

The ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee adopted a strong action plan on Zimbabwe 19 June, at its annual Women&rsquo;s Committee meetings, which followed the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s Executive Committee in Geneva, Switzerland. The action plan, prepared by Angeline Chitambo, an ICEM Vice President, who is President of the Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union (ZEEWU), presents a six-point plan in which ICEM affiliates can lend assistance to what has become a deteriorating political situation.
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&nbsp;ICEM Women's Leaders and Vice Presidents, Evgenia Esenina and Angeline Chtambo 
 

In a statement presenting the plan, the Women&rsquo;s Committee said: &ldquo;Though the situation has always been bad in Zimbabwe, we have seen the worst after the 29th March 2008 elections &hellip; the violence that was released by the government, mainly in rural areas, affected women mostly, as the bulk of women stay in the rural areas where they work on the land for survival.&rdquo; 
 
The statement says that many women give in to pressure, and become prostitutes in order to make ends meet. The result is the increasing spread of HIV/AIDS. 
 
The statement adds: &ldquo;Those who are affected by HIV/AIDS are more vulnerable. Imagine you are the mother, your child dies of AIDS and after all that you have gone through, you cannot bury your child in time because there is no fuel, or the gravediggers are on strike because the city council cannot pay their salaries.&rdquo; 
 
The statement reports that women in Zimbabwe are prepared to go to the offices of the ruling ZANU PF political offices on 27 June to stand up to their repressive and violent measures, and demand the reconstruction of their country.
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The ICEM Women&rsquo;s Committee is calling on affiliated trade unions to: 
 
Understand what is occurring in Zimbabwe and how it affects workers and the poor; Send a team to get a full understand of the Zimbabwean situation; Mobilise basic food supplies to assist affiliated trade unions inside Zimbabwe; Task neighbouring trade unions in respective countries to assist; Press Zimbabwean embassies in home countries on the situation, and get NGOs and other Global Union Federations to assist; and pressure Zimbabwe&rsquo;s government to make food commodities available and affordable.
The ICEM will issue a Circular related to the Women's Committee action in the enar future.
&nbsp;

ICEM Women’s Committee Adopts Action Plan on Zimbabwe

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Last-ditch efforts today by Finnish National Conciliator Juhani Salonius to avert a strike across the nation&rsquo;s pulp and paper sector succeeded, with ICEM affiliate Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni TU and the Finnish Forest Industries Federation agreeing to a 21-month labour agreement. 

The employers&rsquo; association entered the mediation session this morning at 08h00 claiming inability to offer a pay increase, but by late morning the two sides had agreed on a pay increase of 5.3% over the life of the agreement.
Effective 1 July 2008, salaried staff will receive an increase of not less than 2.7%, or &euro;60-per-month. In addition to that, pay hikes of 1.3% and a one-off bonus of &euro;110 per worker will be paid out on local levels.
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&nbsp;A 0.4% increase is scheduled for distribution on the local level in March 2009. Also, a national pay increase of 0.9% will take effect in March 2009. 

Both parties retain the right to terminate the agreement in March 2009. 

&ldquo;Our rank and file will get a just compensation for the significant increase of their work load and responsibility,&rdquo; stated TU President Antti Rinne, referring to significant job cuts that have occurred since the year 2000. 

He added that the agreement &ldquo;will close the gap between the pay development of salaried employees and (other) workers&rdquo; within the country&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry. He said it was important for TU that pay decisions on the local level will not be solely made by the companies. 

The agreement also states that the two parties will begin a multi-year programme to develop pay patterns for salaried workers. Other improvements made include family leave, specifically a six-day paid paternity leave. Added compensation for safety representatives was achieved, and a working-hour bank established. 
 
The employers gave up their concessionary proposals on travel time, shift allowance cuts, and their demand to exclusively decide on working hours.
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&ldquo;We credit our Finnish affiliate, and their members&rsquo; decision toward strike action in order to resist the concessions the employers&rsquo; federation has put forward,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It is a progressive and forward-looking collective agreement, and most importantly it came without the necessity to conduct industrial actions.&rdquo; 
 
The settlement averts a strike planned at noon today by 1,000 senior employees at ten Stora Enso operations across Finland. Further rolling strikes were scheduled to occur at other major Finnish pulp and paper producers in June. Some 6,500 salaried, technical, and professional workers are covered by the new agreement.

Finnish Pulp/Paper Salaried Staff Dispute Settled in Last Minute Mediation

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ICEM Regional Vice President Rayford Mbulu chaired the GUF&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Meeting 9 June in Accra, Ghana. The conference, attended by 35 delegates, adopted a four-point programme aimed at building trade union power in the region. Mbulu is the General Secretary of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ). 
 
Delegates attended from Botswana, Cameroon, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 
 
The action programme adopted target points in four areas: Collective Bargaining and Campaigns; Socio-Economic Issues; Politics; and Health and Safety. 
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Collective Bargaining and Campaigns: 
 
The regional delegates vowed to support the bargaining process for a living wage by the host union, the Ghana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (GMWU), and called on all ICEM affiliates in the region not to agree to wage increases that fall under the rate of inflation in their respective countries, in light of escalating food and energy price increases. 
 
Delegates also endorsed and pledged to emphasize the global labour and the International Trade Union Confederation&rsquo;s &ldquo;World Day for Decent Work&rdquo; on 7 October 2008, a day of mobilization to end poverty and inequality, to establish rights at work for working women and men, and to establish Solidarity between trade unions on bilateral and multilateral levels. 
 
The statement also pledged to support a Women&rsquo;s Charter to enhance the role of women within all ICEM affiliates, and within the ICEM itself. And it called upon employers to further facilitate HIV education, testing, and access to anti-retroviral medication. 
 
Socio-Economic Issues: 
 
The conference condemned the xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. 
 
Politics: 
 
Delegates called upon leaders of countries in the region to ensure free and fair balloting in the run-off elections in Zimbabwe later this month. Regarding Somalia, delegates condemned the eruption of conflict, which has claimed the loss of many lives and has deeply affected the working class of the country. 
 
The regional conference also implored the citizens of the Niger Delta in Nigeria to embrace dialogue, and requested that the Nigerian government link dialogue with the urgency to create a sustainable infrastructure and human resource development for citizens in that region. Delegates also urged multinational companies operating in Nigeria to partner with trade unions and other stakeholders in order to institute a socially viable peace and cooperation in the area. 
 
Health and Safety: 
 
The conference took notice of the 8 June coal mine explosion in the Ukraine, resulting in 12 deaths, and called for immediate improvements toward safe mining practices across the world. Delegates also called for added attention by employers, governments, and trade unions on the dangers faced by uranium miners, and for an increase in work by the ICEM in this area.

ICEM’s Sub-Sahara Africa Conference Adopts Four-Point Work Plan

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The ICEM joined four other labour union federations at the ILO&rsquo;s 97th International Labour Conference to condemn the Iraqi government&rsquo;s neglect toward global labour standards, and its harassment of trade unions and trade union leaders in the Middle Eastern nation. 
 
The condemnation came at the ILO&rsquo;s Committee on Standards on 11 June, during a session in support of complaints from Iraqi trade unions. The ICEM joined the national center of the UK, the Trades Union Congress (TUC); the American federation, AFL-CIO; and fellow Global Union Federations, Education International (EI) and Public Services International (PSI) in declaring, before world governing bodies, that peace and prosperity in Iraq depends on strong, free, and independent trade unions. 
 
The statement denounces the occupying forces for raiding and ransacking union offices; condemns the government with maintaining laws that restrict trade unions and interferes with their internal and financial affairs; and admonishes &ldquo;so-called insurgents&rdquo; who &ldquo;target and kill trade union leaders and ordinary workers like teachers who are training the next generation in tolerance and human rights.&rdquo;
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The statement, read by ILO Government Board Member and TUC Representative Simon Steyne, also sets forth five major concerns that hinder peace and normal lives for Iraqi citizens. 
 
1.) Saddam&rsquo;s 1987 Decree 150, banning public sector trade unions: &ldquo;The public sector in Iraq &ndash; including oil, energy supply, public service, and health &ndash; accounts for 80% of the workforce. The decree prevents the vast majority of Iraqi workers from exercising their fundamental rights and must be abolished.&rdquo; 

2.) Decree 8750, imposed by the occupation&rsquo;s forces: It &ldquo;empowers the Government to take over trade unions at will, and has been used to freeze all Iraqi union bank accounts. It is odious, contrary to (ILO) Convention(s), and it too should be abolished.&rdquo; 

3.) Labour and Social Security Law: &ldquo;Apparently, an ILO-compliant labour law sits in the Ministry of Labour. Though ready for several years, we are often told it is under review. It should be adopted and implemented as promised. Any review can take place once Iraqis have seen how it works in practice.&rdquo; 

4.) Government interference, through both Decrees 150 and 8750: &ldquo;Earlier this year, the government told the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) that it would release some of the frozen funds so internal elections could be held. Those elections are needed &ndash; but it should be GFIW&rsquo;s members&rsquo; decision when to hold them &hellip; the Government insists that election candidates must be Iraqi citizens, which is unacceptable to a free trade union movement representing workers wherever they come from. And in flagrant violation of Convention 98, (such nominees for union office) must have the support of their employer. The Government has used Decree 150 to insist that only unions in the private sector will be involved. This would forcibly restructure those unions with members both in and out of the private sector, and prevents the vast majority of GFIW members from having any say in their organisation&rsquo;s leadership.&rdquo;
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5.) Physical Transfer of IFOU Activists: &ldquo;Eight leaders of the ICEM-affiliated Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) are to be moved from their jobs and homes in the southern oil fields to a violent part of Baghdad, in a move calculated to disrupt the union&rsquo;s activities and put them in danger. The same trick, tried previously against the leaders of the GFIW-affiliated port workers union in Um Asr, was prevented by international and Iraqi trade union opposition.&rdquo;
In conclusion, the statement, read, &ldquo;The Government must explain the contradictions between its words and its deeds, must halt anti-union repression and introduce a labour law promoting social dialogue, freedom of association, and collective bargaining.&rdquo; 
 
In a TUC statement, Simon Steyne said, &ldquo;It is strange that a Government too busy fighting violence should spend so much time and effort harassing one of the few institutions which unites workers regardless of tribal, ethnic, or religious boundaries and is committed to women&rsquo;s emancipation and the creation of a peaceful and prosperous Iraq.&rdquo;

ICEM Teams with Labour Groups to Condemn Iraq’s Trade Union Abuses at ILO

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The ICEM has put its weight behind an effort by its Ivory Coast affiliate, SYNASEG, to get local company CIE, the country&rsquo;s electricity operator and subsidiary of the Bouygues Group, to stop its union-busting campaign, and to enter into a meaningful dialogue with the union. 
 
The problems between the union and CIE started in August 2005, after SYNASEG decided to support a national electric sector reform that was proposed by the government then. The government failed to carry out its own plan, and, instead, renewed CIE &ndash; and Bouygues&rsquo; &ndash; contract for a further 15 years. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="" width="100" />
Shortly after that, CIE started its systematic and vindictive campaign to silence SYNASEG. As part of that, the company refused to engage in social dialogue, devised several delaying tactics, obstructed trade union freedoms, and abused the system of dues check-off by withholding fees and used the funds to favour third parties. The company also set up a Mutual Investment Fund, to which employees contribute but do not receive the benefits. 
 
ICEM sent a message to all its affiliated trade unions last week, seeking messages of support be sent to SYNASEG on the occasion of their strike, which was originally targeted for 23-25 October. The strike was first postponed by one week because of state-requested mediation efforts. Talks on Friday, 27 October, in the presence of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo produced an agreement to resume negotiations until the issues are favourably resolved.

ICEM affiliate in Ivory Coast Gets Presidential Commitment to Resolve Work Issues

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The Austrian national labour centre &Ouml;GB has been asking, as part of an ongoing reform process, the opinion of its members on how they see their union and what they expect from it. Questions range from, &ldquo;Are you satisfied with your union?&rdquo; to &ldquo;What benefits are you getting/needing from the union?&rdquo; and &ldquo;What do you think should be our priorities?&rdquo; 
 
Both ICEM affiliates in Austria, the Gewerkschaft der Chemiearbeiter (GdC) and the Gewerkschaft Metall-Textil-Nahrung (GMTN), took an active part in the &Ouml;GB poll, seeking to highlight a number of issues that they feel are particularly important. 
<img height="44" src="" width="43" align="middle" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="62" src="" width="145" align="middle" alt="" />
To that effect, a joint statement was released, co-signed by another Austrian union, Gewerkschaft Bau-Holz (GBH), with whom the two unions have been operating jointly as &ldquo;pro.ge.&rdquo; (Pro.ge stands for short for &ldquo;Produktionsgewerkschaften in den Bereichen Produktion, Technik und nahe Dienstleistungen.&rdquo;) 
 
According to the three organisations, there is a need to organise differently the work done by trade unions in Austria, as the playing field has changed. The world-wide activities of multinational corporations, as well as the ever changing employer-employee relationships are cited as part of that. 
 
In their joint statement, emphasis was placed on the need to support workers in all forms of atypical work, on the urgency in getting more women involved in trade union work, and on the necessity to cooperate more strongly on the international level, with other trade unions and members of civil society.

Austrian Affiliates Take ÖGB Debate to Global Level

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