English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Union members of Teamsters (IBT) Local 495 approved a long-term agreement with the successor employer to BMW at an auto-parts distribution warehouse in Ontario, California. Local 495 members, who waged a <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4570-US-Teamsters-Ardently-Resist-BMW-s-Auto-Parts-Outsourcing">summer-long campaign</a> to retain their jobs after BMW said it would terminate the labour agreement and outsource the operation, ratified a new accord 46-2 on 28 October. 
 
The ratification means that none of the 70 workers currently employed by BMW North America will be laid off and they will begin employment under a logistics company called the 2 AM Group on 1 January with full seniority and full union rights. The contract also contains nearly the same wage and benefit package as currently paid by BMW. 
 
The 2 AM Group is a logistics provider for BMW at assembly plants in the US states of South Carolina and Alabama, and also operates services for the luxury automaker in Munich, Germany, and Puebla, Mexico. 
<img alt="" src="" width="308" height="161" />
Teamsters handbilling in Seattle
This is the first collective agreement for 2 AM Group in the US. 
 
Although the agreement calls for a slight pay decrease from the base US$25-per-hour wage to US$23.50, the upcoming contract contains performance incentives that could lift overall pay. 
 
Local 495 and its Washington, DC-based parent union, the IBT, ran a pressure campaign against BMW in Germany, the UK, and across the US aimed at job retention and continued union representation at BMW&rsquo;s Southern California warehouse. That campaign won partial success on 9 August when the two sides agreed to extend a collective agreement expiring on 31 August for another six months. (Read <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4610-Campaign-Action-Wins-US-Teamsters-BMW-Contract-Extension">ICEM report</a> here.)&nbsp; 
 
The new accord with 2 AM completes the victory and proves that active campaigning by a trade union when confronted with workplace restructuring can reverse a company&rsquo;s intended plans. 
 
IBT Director of Global Strategies Tim Beaty expressed the appreciation of the union on behalf of General President Jim Hoffa and Local 495 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Lennox to the trade unions in Europe and the US that helped bring the message to BMW over the summer.

US Teamsters Win Job Security with BMW’s Auto Parts Successor

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Negotiations to end the eight-week strike by 10,000 workers of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union (SP KEP SPSI) at Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Papuan mine complex called Grasberg got back on track today. But union and management at the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposit are far apart. 
 
Production at the 175,000-ton per day operation has completely ceased due to a road blockade by strikers and family members. The blockade has prevented the US-based company from getting construction crews to a set of slurry pipelines that were ruptured by vandals. 
 
The pipelines carry gold and copper concentrate 114 kilometres from the Grasberg mine 4,200 metres high in the Sudirman Range to the port city of Timika, where today&rsquo;s bi-lateral talks are being held. A diesel fuel line running from the Timika airport up to the mine also has been slashed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="288" height="160" />
Last week an ICEM-led global trade union delegation met separately with both the union and mine managers doing the bargaining. The delegation successfully convinced the union (see <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4747-Global-Trade-Union-Delegation-Urges-Restraint-Good-Faith-Talks-to-Resolve-Grasberg-Mine-Strike">ICEM news release</a>) to return to talks, while PT Freeport Indonesia tried unsuccessfully to get the ICEM team to have SP KEP SPSI lift the blockade.&nbsp; 
 
The company said it was stockpiling ore with some 3,000 temporary workers and contractors&rsquo; employees, which is a violation of Indonesian labour law. The ICEM met as well with Indonesian ministry officials and an MP from Papua. In another meeting with a commissioner of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, the delegation was told the strikers are within their rights to engage in strike activity at the blockade points. 
 
But the situation is tense at Miles 27 and 28, the points near Timika were the blockade is in force. Twice last week local police issued 24-hour ultimatums for the strikers and their families to move, or be met with police force. Both times the warnings passed and nothing occurred. The ICEM delegation was told by multiple sources, including members of the union committee, that workers will not be moved and will fight in resistance. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
Mile 28 Blockade
On Friday, 4 November, police did approach the blockade. Skirmishes broke out and police fired over the heads of strikers before retreating. The stand-off is compounded by mass media reports last week that Freeport-McMoRan was subsidizing local police in the amount of US$14 million for mine security. 
 
When confronted with this by the ICEM, management said it has been completely transparent on these costs and that figure was for 2010. Managers said 2011 security payments to public law enforcement have yet to be calculated. They also said 80% of such costs are for in-kind services, including all-terrain vehicles, food, fuel and other necessities for police. 
 
On 1 November, ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) lodged a complaint with the US Department of Justice over such payments being illegal under America&rsquo;s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/usw%20fcpa%20freeport%201%20Nov%202011.pdf ">USW letter</a> can be seen here.) 
In Timika, in Indonesia&rsquo;s eastern-most Papua province, the two sides are wide apart. When bargaining halted on 27 October, the company had increased a prior 25% wage offer first to 28% and then to 30%. The union is seeking an average hourly wage of US$7.50, which is some 250% above the current rate US$2.13 for non-staff miners and US3.54 for staff. Some seven other issues also need to be negotiated, including educational assistance, dependent care, housing loans and assistant, and aspects to a savings plan programme. 
 
The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union is supporting the 10,000 strikers and their families with five mass open-air feeding kitchens some 500 metres in distance. But supplies are running short and the union&rsquo;s Solidarity Fund is low. This week the ICEM will put a call out to affiliates to replenish that fund in order that the union can continue nourishing strikers and their families.

Grasberg Talks Resume, But Tensions High in Papua, Indonesia

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Swiss trade union UNIA is fighting across the country to reverse the decision of Novartis to &ldquo;restructure,&rdquo; meaning close plants and dismiss 1,100 workers. Mass mobilisation campaigns to fight the decision are gathering momentum and wide support from regional communities, politicians, and international trade unions. 
 
The ICEM marched with 300 Novartis workers of Nyon on 4 November. The march, led by regional UNIA Industry Secretary Yves Defferrard, received extremely strong support from Nyon residents as it passed through the town centre. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="136" />
Yves Defferrard
Many local businesses depend on the wages generated at Novartis. It is predicted 2,000 jobs in Nyon will go if the company closes the plant, ending over 90 years of drug production in Nyon. 
 
What leaves a particular sour taste is the company&rsquo;s long standing emphasis on a positive social impact, portraying itself as a &ldquo;carer&rdquo; and &ldquo;healer.&rdquo; But the restructuring comes at a time of considerable profit for the firm. Novartis workers in Nyon are proud of their work, proud of the products they have discovered, developed, and produced. 
 
Management&rsquo;s shock decision, announced 25 October, to close significant sections of the Nyon and Basle plants came only weeks after Novartis posted third quarter net sales up 18% to US$14.84 billion from US$12.58 billion in the same period in 2010, with net income increasing 7% to US$2.49 billion, from US$2.32 billion in 2010. 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="161" />
Novartis plans to cut 2,000 jobs internationally, with 760 at its Basle headquarters and 320 in Nyon. 
 
The ICEM Global Pharmaceutical Unions&rsquo; Network, meeting in Geneva 28 October, conveyed solidarity and support to the UNIA members at Novartis, and this message was announced at the 4 November rally. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote to company CEO Joseph Jimenez communicating the anger of ICEM affiliates at the decision, and demanding good faith dialogue with UNIA. 
 
The role of local and federal politicians in the process is vital, especially as it is speculated that a major factor in management&rsquo;s decision to close is an angry retort at Swiss authorities&rsquo; price cutting of pharmaceutical drugs. Even though the Swiss market represents only 1.15% of turnover for Novartis, the company management had reacted angrily to the persistence of Swiss federal councillors in this regard. 
<img alt="" src="" width="221" height="144" />
UNIA achieved a small victory on 3 November in bargaining by pressuring management to publish a detailed audit report for the Nyon site, as figures put forward by the company are questionable. Novartis moved immediately to bring in a high level financial expert from the US to present the numbers. 
 
The next major mobilisation is planned for 12 November in Nyon, if the company continues to pursue its irresponsible redundancy plan. 
 
Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella is the highest paid person in Switzerland, with an annual salary of CHF 40 million. 
 
Sign <a href="http://www.unia.ch/Novartis.6010.0.html?&amp;L=1">UNIA&rsquo;s petition</a> against the Novartis job cuts here.

Swiss Pharma Workers Mobilise Against Novartis Plant Closings

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
The union representing permanent and contract workers at PT Cussons in Tangerang, Indonesia, has managed to negotiate permanent positions for 110 contract workers. 
 
Since the beginning of 2011, the union has been active in training contract workers and, out of a total of 200 contract workers, 118 joined the union. PT Cussons management refused to extend the check-off system to contract workers, so these workers pay their dues manually. 
<img alt="" src="" width="119" height="129" />
Union Chairman Sasmita
On August 2011, the company announced it would end the contracts of 200 fixed term workers without making any severance payments. The union challenged the company decision, drawing attention to the fact that the contracts contravened Indonesia law by explicitly stating that during a fixed-term contract it was forbidden to be married or to become pregnant, and those workers who did so would be deemed to have resigned without severance pay. 
 
After two weeks of negotiations and pressure from union members, the company finally reversed its decision. They arranged placement tests for the 200 contract workers. Out of 200 workers, 110 have become permanent staff since August 2011. Sasmita, the Cusson Union Chairman, said, &ldquo;We were satisfied with the result, but yet we still had to struggling for all the contract workers to be permanent.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="390" />
Union officers of Cussons in Union Office
According to Sasmita, the company has ceased using contracts with discriminatory language and now contract workers can marry and become pregnant without fear of being terminated. &ldquo;Those contract agreements &hellip; no longer exist, and we keep our eye (out) to make sure that the company (does) not use (them) anymore,&rdquo; he added. 
 
The 110 workers now enjoy health insurance and benefits. Tuti, one of the workers said, &ldquo;Now I am not worried again about my future, (to) become permanent workers is my dream, although still (there is) a long way to go for me together with the union to fights for the welfare of the whole workers in Cussons.&rdquo;

From Contract to Permanent Work: Victory at PT Cussons Indonesia

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
The Sub-Saharan Africa arm of ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Project held its regional conference in Accra on 25-26 October 2011. Next month marks the end of the first phase of the project, which began in 2009 with the support of Finnish solidarity organisation SASK, and Finnish trade unions TEAM and PRO. This CAL Project, coordinated by Joseph Toe, has been a great success in bringing CAL to the fore of trade union work in the project countries. 
 
Participants spoke about the various approaches, challenges and successes they had experienced over the three years of the project. 
 
A number of unions participating in the project have driven the adoption of legislation and industry guidelines on the use of CAL. In Senegal, for example, an innovative campaign by ICEM affiliate Sutids led to the signing of the President Decree to regulate short-term employment. This law limits the duration of a short-term contract to two years; makes the user-enterprise responsible for working conditions, as well as for salary obligations should the agency &ldquo;fail&rdquo;; requires that CAL workers must enjoy the same working conditions as similar workers at the user enterprise; and provides for the short-term worker, at the end of his or her contract, to receive a severance pay equal to 7% of the total gross remunerations paid since the start of the contract. 
<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="139" />
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile 
In Nigeria, ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have worked closely together to raise awareness of CAL with the government, including through a three-day warning strike. Following pressure from the unions, the Ministry of Labour and Productivity convened a technical tripartite working group to review how CAL was being used in the oil and gas industries. This engagement led to the adoption of the Nigeria Guidelines on Labour Administration issues in Contract Staffing/ Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Sector. These guidelines, according to PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile, set the minimum standard for using CAL and are the first of their kind in any sector in Nigeria. 
 
Other unions reported a reversal of declining membership figures since efforts were focused on recruiting CAL workers and achievements in gaining permanent status for CAL workers. In Mozambique, about 400 workers have moved from CAL to indefinite contracts as a result of the work of the work of ICEM SINTIQUIAF. The union has also managed to recruit 360 CAL members. In Mauritius, from 2009-2011, a total of 3,000 contract workers joined ICEM affiliate CMCTEU. With the help of the CAL campaign, the union redefined its strategy to organise and bargain on behalf of contract workers, migrant workers, and workers in the informal economy. This included a decision to reduce the union&rsquo;s membership fees from Rs 50 to Rs 1 (one symbolic rupee) for the most vulnerable CAL workers. CMCTEU demanded that the government review the Domestic Workers Remuneration Order, which had been static for 25 years. This review led to domestic workers gaining an increase of 110% in salary, as well as other gains such as holiday leave, wedding leave, and end of year bonuses. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="164" />
In South Africa, ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU, with the support of an international delegation organised as part of the implementation of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreement, encouraged Umicore in South Africa to change its practices with regard to CAL. Umicore signed an agreement stating that all new work contracts will be on a permanent basis, with all ensuing social protections. Unions participating in the conference declared that targeting multinationals must be a key component of future work on CAL and committed to increasing cross border trade union cooperation in this respect.

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Conference Reviews 3 Years of CAL Work

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="59" />
A three-week strike by 4,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) spilled into the streets of Johannesburg this week, as workers at Xstrata&rsquo;s Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters near Rustenburg took a protest to the Swiss company&rsquo;s Alloys headquarters. NUMSA members presented a petition to company managers demanding wage parity with workers employed at the Xstrata Lion ferrochrome smelter in Tubatse, Mpumalanga province. 
 
Both operations are undergoing big expansions. Xstrata owns 79.5% of the ferrochrome complexes in South Africa, while publicly-listed Merafe Resources holds a 20.5% stake. Both companies also mine chrome in South Africa. 
 
The strike by NUMSA in the North-West province began on 24 October after conciliation efforts by the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. NUMSA and Xstrata Alloys met two days earlier, but a revised pay offer by the company fell short and workers rejected it. 
 
NUMSA is seeking an immediate 10% pay increase for Boshoek and Wonderkop metalworkers and a reduction of job grading systems from eight to five. That would close the wage gap with workers at the Lion smelter and equalize the grading system. Currently, Boshoek and Wonderkop workers earn 14 to 39% less than at Lion, depending on pay grades. 
 
NUMSA is also seeking a housing allowance of R3,500.
<img alt="" src="" width="255" height="169" />
&nbsp;NUMSA President Cedric Gina (rear) has&nbsp;Xstrata's Edwin Hlatshwayo&nbsp;Sign Receipt of Petition
The petition handed to Xstrata Alloys management on 15 November states: &ldquo;(The company) has angered workers and instead of focusing on negotiations, they have decided to apply cheap apartheid-era tactics of bashing members through police intimidation of the strike. NUMSA is very angry that workers who went on a legal and protected strike have been treated like common criminals.&rdquo; 
 
NUMSA President Cedric Gina and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Second Deputy Vice President Zingiswi Losi led the march and handover of the petition. The petition asks the company to respond within 48 hours. 
 
Xstrata is world&rsquo;s largest producer of metal alloys, which besides ferrochrome includes vanadium and platinum, and accounts for one-third of total global production. The Boshoek smelter is currently seeing an expansion that will lift production to 240,000-tonnes-per-year by the end of next year. A second smelter, meanwhile, is now being constructed at the Lion operation that will see production double from the current 360,000 tonnes when it goes on line in the first half of 2013. 
 
The Xstrata-Merafe joint venture in South Africa will then yield 2.3 million tonnes yearly of ferrochrome, which is used in stainless steel production.

NUMSA Protests Pay Disparities at Xstrata’s Chrome Smelters

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A 2.9-magnitude earthquake in Henan province, central China, caused a rock slide on 3 November claiming the lives of eight miners and trapping 59 others. Fourteen of the miners were rescued immediately, and 45 other trapped miners found freedom some 30 hours later on Saturday, 5 November, from 480 metres underground. This occurred at the Qianqiu colliery, operated by the large state-run Yina Coal Group. 
 
The earthquake near the city of Sanmenxia collapsed the walls inside shaft. The eight mine deaths in Henan province come just six days after 29 perished in a methane gas explosion in Hunan province, the worse Chinese mine tragedy in recent months. Two days earlier, on 27 October, seven miners died in another gas explosion in Henan province. 
The Hunan tragedy happened in a mine operated by the city of Hengyang called Xialiuchong Coal Mine. The mine was legally registered but provincial authorities had suspended its production license earlier this year for inadequate safety measures regarding methane gas build-up. The blast reportedly occurred when sparks from machinery ignited gas. Six miners were rescued. 
 
The 27 October gas blast occurred at the Jiulishan Coal Mine in Jiaozuo, Henan province. Eighteen managed to escape. The mine was operating legally and is owned by state-owned Henan Coal Chemical Industry Group, a Fortune 500 company. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s earthquake caused a settling of earth that crushed against mine walls, causing a sudden and deadly release of stored energy one-half kilometre underground. Fortunately, enough air was squeezed in through the mine shaft for ventilation and then rescue. It took 200 workers to dig a rescue tunnel 750 metres in length to reach the 45 trapped miners, and serves as a stark reminder on the necessity of a second egress as mandated in ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

Chinese Earthquake Kills 8 Coal Miners, Bringing Recent Fatality Toll to 44

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM North American affiliate, United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), issued a report on 25 October accusing Massey Energy and its managers of &ldquo;industrial homicide&rdquo; in the 5 April 2010 explosion that killed 29 non-union miners at Upper Big Branch in the state of West Virginia. 
 
In the 90-page report, the UMWA said that Massey management &ldquo;deliberately flouted&rdquo; well-established safety and health laws in the US even after the mine was cited multiple times for violations by state and federal agencies. 
 
The union cites many factors throughout the report that led to the deadly explosion, but concludes in stating &ldquo;there is only one source for all of them: a rogue corporation, acting without real regard for mine safety and health laws and regulations, that established a physical working environment that can only be described as a bomb waiting to go off.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="327" height="161" />
The full UMWA report, called &ldquo;<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/134334-Upper-Big-Branch.pdf">Industrial Homicide</a>,&rdquo; can be accessed here.&nbsp; 
 
The UMWA demands criminal prosecution for some 18 Massey Energy managers, including CEO Don Blankenship, who retired in December 2010, two months before the thermal coal company was sold to Alpha Natural Resources for US$8.5 billion. The report also recommends over a dozen changes in both state and US federal mine safety laws, mainly concerning tougher penalties on deviant mine operators and stronger protections for whistleblowers who report safety infractions. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="172" />
Dan Kane
&ldquo;Don Blankenship knew exactly what was going on at that mine,&rdquo; said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;He got production reports several times a day. He saw the levels of safety citations and (safety) orders going up. But instead of taking the needed steps to correct the problems, they just kept on running coal.&rdquo; 
 
Added UMWA Secretary-Treasurer and ICEM Executive Committee Member Dan Kane: &ldquo;It is unconscionable in the 21st Century for a mine to be operated in the manner that Upper Big Branch was.&rdquo; 
 
A <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/UMW%20UBB%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf ">fact sheet</a> on the Massey&rsquo;s horrid Upper Big Branch mine disaster of April 2010 is here.

Massey US Coal Mine Deaths Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’ by UMWA

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
By a 61% vote on 15 October, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 in Hamilton, Ontario, ended U.S. Steel&rsquo;s chokehold on the livelihoods of 900 Canadian workers. Union members accepted a three-year labour agreement that ended a 49-week lockout at the steel mill. 
 
The agreement meant workers began returning to their rightful steel mill jobs on 18 October for week-long health and safety training. Further recalls for the training are expected this week and next. The new pact is not altogether satisfactory because it creates a two-tier pension scheme with new hires placed in an inferior plan, and it ends cost-of-living indexing for 9,000 retirees, a key issue in the 14-month dispute. 
 
U.S. Steel pressured steelworkers into submission by first imposing the lockout on 7 November 2010, and then supplying its Canadian customers from the former Stelco mill in Hamilton with finished steel from American mills. In the end and after nearly one year, most of Local 1005&rsquo;s members were on the verge of losing unemployment insurance benefits, which coupled with the USW&rsquo;s C$200-a-week strike benefit gave workers about two-thirds of their normal income. 
<img alt="" src="" width="218" height="163" />
The agreement contains a C$3,000 ratification bonus, to be paid within 60 days of the 15 October vote, and it also includes a lump sum pay-out of C$1,000 to retirees taking in less than C$1,500-per-month in lieu of annual pension indexing. Active workers will also see reduced cost-of-living annual increases. 
 
A profit-sharing plan for active employees will be implemented in the fourth quarter 2011. It will come from a pool of money totalling 6.5% above C$25 million in earnings from the Hamilton Works and could mean an added C$3,500 in income per worker. Union members will receive credited service for the 11 months of the lockout, meaning some workers will be closer to taking retirement. 
 
All workers will be guaranteed 26 weeks of employment at 40 hours per week. That countered a U.S. Steel proposal from mid-September in which the company sought call-back language that would have left many workers without jobs long after ratification and the end of the lockout. As it is, U.S. Steel will only re-start the coke ovens, the cold line, and the Z line. There are no plans in the near future to re-start Hamilton&rsquo;s blast furnace. 
 
The new agreement, which took effect on 15 October, calls for new hires not to be included in the existing defined benefit pension scheme and placed in a union-administered plan that will see U.S. Steel contribute C$2.50-per-hour worked. 
 
On USW Local 1005&rsquo;s website, union leaders said, &ldquo;We have made a huge effort so that the members can make an informed vote on whether to accept or reject this contract. We wanted to ensure that they are fully aware of the situation they face and of the responsibilities towards not just themselves and their families, but also towards the retirees, the future generation of workers, their union and their community. This whole process has shown that there are serious challenges facing us going forward.&rdquo;

U.S. Steel Canadian Lockout Ends

Archive