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Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. of South Korea received sizeable development and training subsidies in 2006 from the Hungarian government when it built an auto and light truck tyre plant in Dunaujv&aacute;ros, south of Budapest. A year later and several months following the start of production, the pay-back has been broken labour laws and blatant discrimination of trade unionists. 
 
The world&rsquo;s seventh largest tyre producer, 10% owned by Michelin, has paid fines for labour code violations, has seen large portions of its subsidies suspended by the Hungarian government, and has sacked one leader of the VDSZ Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union, while refusing to negotiate with the ICEM affiliate, the Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ).
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Since production start-up early this year, the company has circumvented EU labour standards, and has violated ILO Conventions at its 28,500-unit-per-day tyre factory, now employing 800 blue-collar workers. Hankook Tire Magyarorszag Kft. has been found guilty or charged with non-payment of overtime pay, unsanitary work conditions, forcing a six-day work-week before a two-day leave, making work mandatory on public holidays, interrogating workers on their lawful right to join a union, and illegal dismissing workers. 
 
Besides using Hungarian subsidies to get the plant up and running this year, Hankook has used aid totalling nearly &euro;100 million from the European Commission. The company has reciprocated by paying fines for illegally employing 32 Korean workers and missing deadlines on registering employees to social security programmes. 
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Hankook&rsquo;s anti-social behaviour in Dunaujv&aacute;ros was a major talking point in mid-September discussions between South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk Soo and Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs&aacute;ny. 
 
VDSZ is adamant that Hankook respect EU, ILO, and Hungarian standards and regulations. The ICEM supports VDSZ in its struggle with Hankook. In a further letter to Hankook&rsquo;s managing director on 23 November, VDSZ President Gy&ouml;rgy Pasztern&aacute;k stressed that a Hungarian court has certified the union&rsquo;s Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union as bargaining representative, and that the company must negotiate terms and conditions with the union, as well as deal with the VDSZ branch on matters related to EU Works Council elections.
At its 4th World Congress in Bangkok, from 22 to 24 November, the ICEM adopted unanimously adopted a solidarity statement in response to the ongoing violation of workers&rsquo; rights by Hankook Tire Hungary Ltd. The statement was conveyed by the ICEM in a <a href="/index.php?id=20&amp;doc=2495&amp;la=EN">letter to the company</a>.

Korea’s Hankook Tire Company Setting Bad Precedents in Hungary

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Tuesday, 4 December, is Unilever Day of Action in Europe, and beyond. European trade unions will manifest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Unilever workers throughout the world are expected to take action. The Anglo-Dutch consumer products conglomerate is inflicting job cuts on 20,000 workers worldwide. 
 
Half those numbers are occurring in Europe. Already, Unilever&rsquo;s reorganisation has cost hundreds of jobs in The Netherlands, UK, and Italy. 
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The Rotterdam agenda tomorrow includes a 13h00 forum at De Doelen conference centre, Kruisplein 40, that will highlight adverse Unilever case studies of job abuse from six countries. European labour leaders will also speak. At 15h00, a march to Unileverhouse in central Rotterdam will happen. 
 
The ICEM has joined with the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) to call attention to this Action Day against Unilever in workplaces and at union meetings globally. Unilever initially avoided proper social dialogue in its recent European reorganisation, and the company has violated workers&rsquo; rights in India, Pakistan, Chile, Colombia, and South Africa. IUF has brought abuses in India and Pakistan before the UK National Contact Point for OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
ICEM and IUF encourages Unilever workers throughout the world to distribute the joint statement that can be found <a href="/index.php?id=154&amp;doc=2488&amp;la=EN">here</a>. 
Take action against Unilever on European Day of Action, 4 December!

Day of Action on Unilever Rings Tomorrow in Europe

On August 2nd, Unilever announced to the financial community its intention to cut 20,000 jobs world-wide over the next three years, with 60 factories to be closed or disposed of. 
 
Under pressure from shareholders and ratings agencies, Unilever has over the last 7 years closed or sold off over 125 factories around the world, halving the global workforce to 179,000. Over these years, profits have steadily risen. 
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Systematic outsourcing has led to the elimination of permanent jobs at Unilever in many parts of the world and the creation of vast complexes of precarious labour. Outsourcing is now set to increase from 15 to 25% of volume. Many workers who produce for Unilever have been employed on renewable, &quot;temporary&quot; contracts for over a decade! 
 
By looting its own resources, Unilever management has been paying itself bonuses and buying back its own shares with cash made available through job cuts and outsourcing. Cash freed up through restructuring will be used to finance &euro;25-30 billion in dividends and share buybacks. The money will not be invested in the long-term future of the company. 
 
Through closures, job cuts, outsourcing and labour contracting, Unilever is destroying jobs and livelihoods across the globe, harming communities, and weakening the collective strength of Unilever unions. 
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Europe is now being targeted in a major way: 10-12,000 of the announced job cuts will be carried out there. 
 
On Tuesday, December 4th, Unilever unions in Europe will organise a day of action featuring a protest march and public assembly in Rotterdam. Concurrently and throughout the week, unions will stage actions at Unilever plants throughout Europe. 
 
Unilever's attack on jobs in Europe is only the latest in a continuing world-wide attack on employment. Unilever unions throughout the world are called on to support their comrades in Europe and to take global action as part of the fight to halt the global job destruction and to expand global union power at Unilever!

4 December 2007 Joint ICEM/IUF Unilever Message

The ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector convened 21 November 2007 and formulated an expedited work plan for 2008. The plan is ambitious in scope and timely in light of paper industry developments. It will centre on intense networking and communication between global trade unions in the pulp and paper sector, specifically in coordinated bargaining, health and safety, contract labour, trade rules, climate change, retraining, and peak attention to social responsibility matters. 
 
The 50-plus delegates to the sector meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, agreed to form a rapid response network to deliver key information on bargaining, health and safety incidents, and corporate reorganisations. They also agreed to form a geographic-diverse work group that will meet in the early weeks of 2008 to prepare and implement an action plan.
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That plan will take into account first-half 2008 labour bargaining in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, it will meet restructurings with unified actions, and it will develop common policies shared by different national unions on global warming, contract labour, trade, and jobs skills relating to restructuring and health safety. Regarding social responsibility, leaders of pulp and paper unions pledged to use leverage to force the sale of mills during reorganisation, rather than closures and capacity reductions. The work group will also examine the unbalance of supply and demand in paper production. 
 
These exact policies will take hold when the ICEM conducts its Pulp and Paper Industry Conference in December 2008, a date chosen by the assembled delegates, and one moved up from a scheduled Industry Conference the following year. The delegates agreed to hold that Conference in Latin America in order to better link trade unions from the global north and the global south, and to draw sharp attention to work terms, working conditions, and trade union and human rights in the global south, as well as in ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Region. 
 
The ICEM has endorsed the agenda, and will expand trade union participation by inviting Global Union Federations representing forestry workers and workers in the graphical papers sector. The ICEM global networking activities will also tie work together with the European Works Councils of the major pulp and paper companies.

Global Pulp, Paper Unions Put Forward Solidarity Action Plan

Delegates to the 4th World Congress of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) elected Senzeni Zokwana, President, and Manfred Warda, General Secretary, for four-year terms. 
Some 840 trade union leaders from 75 countries are attending the Bangkok, Thailand, Congress, which concludes tomorrow with a crucial motion on the occupation of Iraq, the country&rsquo;s the oil industry, and support for emerging trade unions. Other business tomorrow includes action on Burma, Thailand and closer co-operation with other Global Union Federations. 
 
Zokwana serves as President of the 300,000-member National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa, and was first elected by the ICEM&rsquo;s Presidium in a special election in October 2005. He is a 24-year members of the NUM and got his start in the labour movement as a shop steward in a gold mine in South Africa&rsquo;s Free State.
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Manfred Warda and Senzeni Zokwana
Zokwana, NUM President since 2000, is a forceful advocate of bringing modern safety techniques to the developing world&rsquo;s mining industry. He is also an outspoken campaigner for ending the marginalisation of Africa by using the continent&rsquo;s resources to end poverty and to create opportunities for African people. 
Warda has been Acting General Secretary of the 20-million-member Global Union Federation since January 1 of this year. He is a 44-year member of Germany&rsquo;s Industrial of Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers (IGBCE) and its predecessor, the Industrial Mining and Energy Union (IGBE). 
He began his trade union career with IGBE in 1971, and after serving as an assistant and then Head of the President's Office, he became Head of IGBE's International Department from 1990 to 1997. Following the 1997 merger that created IGBCE, he continued as Head of the IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department. He began working in the industrial sector in 1963 in his home city of Bochum, North Rhine Westphalia. 
 
Today&rsquo;s ICEM Congress also elected its first Vice President from the Middle East/North Africa Region. Elected was Mohamed el-Sayed Morsi of Egypt&rsquo;s Public Syndicate of Public Utilities. ICEM delegates also changed the federation&rsquo;s statutes to permit a head office move from Brussels, Belgium, to Geneva, Switzerland. That move is to occur in the first half of 2008. 
 
Tomorrow&rsquo;s motion on Iraq calls for the &ldquo;swiftest possible withdrawal of coalition troops,&rdquo; and states that &ldquo;the oil and gas resources of the country remain the property of all the people of Iraq.&rdquo; The motion commits ICEM to intensify its work with the trade unions of Iraq.

ICEM elects Senzeni Zokwana, Manfred Warda to lead 20-Million-Member Global Union Federation

4th ICEM World Congress - Speech by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda

4th ICEM World Congress - Opening Speech by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana

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The ICEM expresses condolences to the members and leaders of affiliate Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union (ZEEWU) over the sudden passing of ICEM General Secretary Ian Munjoma on 23 December 2007. 
 
In a letter to ZEEWU President Angeline Chitambo, General Secretary Manfred Warda said: &ldquo;On behalf of the ICEM and its staff, I would like to convey to you, your union, and his family our sincere condolences and deepest sympathy.&rdquo; 
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Comrade Munjoma was a forceful advocate for workers&rsquo; rights, particularly inside both the Zimbabwe Electric Supply Authority (ZESA) and the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM). He fought on behalf of workers&rsquo; interests and against corruption within ZESA, and undertook necessary and successful measures to ensure that ZEEWU members got sizeable wage increases in inflation-torn Zimbabwe. 
 
He died at his home in rural Bocha Mutare. Burial was on 25 December 2007.

ICEM Mourns Death of Ian Munjoma, Zimbabwe’s Electricity/Energy Union General Secretary

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As reported in an ICEM News Release in November 2007 (&ldquo;<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2479&amp;la=EN">Contract and Agency Labour - a Global and Negative Phenomenon</a>&rdquo;), the ICEM held a one-day conference on Contract and Agency Labour at the 4th ICEM World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on 21 November 2007. 
 
The 300 participants at the conference discussed tendencies and changes in global subcontracting and agency-work practices. They collectively noted an increase of the phenomenon in workplaces on all continents, and in almost all countries. In addition to taking note of the problem, many speakers also talked about the actions they are taking in their countries to deal with the issue. 
 
For a more <a href="/en/?id=73&amp;doc=2529&amp;la=EN">comprehensive summary of the conference</a>, overlooking the different contributions in more detail, please <a href="/en/?id=73&amp;doc=2529&amp;la=EN">click here</a>.

Report from Contract and Agency Labour Conference, Bangkok, is Available

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A key discussion conference will be held 24-25 January, in Brussels, by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Decent Work that will shape this year&rsquo;s European Commission report on the subject. The conference is entitled &ldquo;Decent Work for All &ndash; Mobilising EU and Partners,&rdquo; and is held ahead of the EC&rsquo;s expected mid-2008 progress report on a 2006 EC Communication on Decent Work.
Two sessions will occur each day, with a round-table discussion concluding the conference at 14h30 on 25 January. The four sessions will deal with Decent Work within Lisbon; Trade and Decent Work; Decent Work and Government; and Youth Employment, Migration, Mobility, Employment, and Development. 
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The Decent Work Agenda was also linked to sustainable development at last November&rsquo;s ILO Governing Board meetings in Geneva. The Working Group on the Social Dimension of Globalisation convened a round-table forum on Decent Work. Joaqu&iacute;n Nieto, Spanish labour federation CC.OO Secretary of Health, Safety, Environment, stressed that workers and their enterprises must be the first priority in transition to sound and sustainable development. 
 
He said, for example, that a &ldquo;great transition&rdquo; will need to occur in order to reduce carbon emissions, but that this must be fully accompanied by a &ldquo;just transition&rdquo; based on labour rights, social protections, and training.

‘Decent Work’ Campaign Elevated in 2008 in Europe

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