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Following 168 days of bargaining, management at the Pampilla refinery, in the Ventanilla district on the Western edge of capital Lima, continues to refuse to bargain in good faith. 
 
The refinery is a subsidiary of the Spanish multinational Repsol. With a daily capacity of 102,000 barrels, La Pampilla is responsible for over half the refining capacity of Peru. 
 
Fenupetrol, the Oil Workers&rsquo; Union in Peru, has found Repsol to behave very differently than the image that the company portrays &ndash; one of being an ethical company, with high regard for corporate social responsibility. 
 
Moises Ochoa, National Secretary of International Relations at Fenupetrol, reports that following management&rsquo;s failure to offer anything reasonable to the bargaining committee since negotiations began on 15 December 2009, the union has moved to request legal arbitration for bargaining. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="139" />
As collective bargaining at the company enters its second stage, Fenupetrol reiterate its demands in light of recent large company profits and following five years with no increase in workers&rsquo; salaries. The Pampilla employees now earn 33% less than oil workers elsewhere in the country, for instance at Petroperu. Sales for the rest of 2010 are projected to be very high. The bargaining committee now seeks 25-30% rise in base salaries, improvements in the profit bonus and shift bonus, as well as a significant increase in the food allowance for workers. 
 
The Pampilla refinery reported revenues of US$802 million during the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 68.4% over last year. 
 
The ICEM calls on Repsol and the local Pampilla management to bargain in good faith, and come to terms with wages deficiencies incurred over the last five years.

Repsol Subsidiary in Peru Hinders Collective Negotiations with Oil Workers

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State-run electric power utility Eskom got a court intervention last week preventing South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from striking. The order came on the eve of a mass demonstration by NUM at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in MegaWatt Park, Johannesburg, on 26 May. 
 
The strike by NUM&rsquo;s 16,000 members at Eskom was supposed to begin that same day. The company has reneged on an agreement reached last summer that increased housing allowances would be put into effect by late in 2009. Eskom also has recanted over installing full-time safety representatives. A further demand by NUM is that shop stewards be given training and allowed to represent workers on issues before South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
Meanwhile, the utility dumped salt in the wounds of utility workers in the final round of a three-session set of 2010 wage talks. On Friday, 28 May, Eskom offered workers a paltry 3.5% wage increase, far below South Africa&rsquo;s inflation index. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="148" />
The proposed increase was intended as part of a three-year labour agreement. &ldquo;This is a serious insult to workers who are classified as essential but treated like dirt,&rdquo; stated NUM Energy Sector Coordinator Job Matsepe. 
 
A South African labour court ruled late on 25 May that &ldquo;Eskom is an essential service and employees of an organisation classified as such are prohibited from taking part in industrial action.&rdquo; 
 
A strike was averted last year when Eskom, the NUM, and two other unions agreed to refer the housing allowance to a task team that would meet and make the increase by 1 December 2009. That did not happen. All three unions seek a R5,000 (US$654) housing allowance. &ldquo;We have discovered that referring matters to a task team is an Eskom delay tactic,&rdquo; said Num spokesman Lesibo Seshoka. 
 
At NUM&rsquo;s National Central Committee meeting early in May, leadership came out strongly against privatisation of any portion of power generating plants or other state-owned assets.

South African Court Blocks NUM from Striking Electric Utility Eskom

Some 2,000 Mexican federal troops used force last night to gain control over the Cananea copper mine. The federal police used tear gas and executed arrest warrants for union leaders of Section 65 of ICEM-affiliated Mexican National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) in northern Sonora state. 
 
Mexican troops overtook striking miners at 20h00 on 6 June at the gates to the mine. Reports early this morning said that troops stormed Section 65&rsquo;s union hall early on 7 June, also tossing tear gas that dispersed women and men present inside the building. 
 
The ICEM today issued another letter to Mexican President Felipe Calder&oacute;n, insisting that he &ldquo;stop the violent actions taken yesterday and today by your government against trade union members and their families.&rdquo; (The full letter can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/64.ICEM.Emergency.Cananea.7June.pdf">here</a>.)
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="109" />
It was the second time that the ICEM has sent a letter to Calder&oacute;n urging him to use restraint in this volatile labour dispute. In February 2010, the ICEM and International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) cautioned Mexico against using force to break the strike. 
 
The arrest warrants that arrived last night were for Section 65 Secretary-General Sergio Tolano Lizarr&aacute;go and Juan Guti&eacute;rrez Ballesteros, a National Executive Member of SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros. 
 
The Cananea copper mine, owned by Grupo M&eacute;xico, has been shut since April 2007 when 1,200 miners began a strike over health and safety concerns and trade union rights. 
 
The ICEM is calling on trade unions to send a similar letter to the Mexican government as the one linked above, or use the model letter <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3840">here</a>.

ICEM Calls on Mexico to Halt its Violence at Cananea

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Over 60 trade union leaders from 8 South-East European countries came to Opatia, Croatia, on 24 and 25 July, for an evaluation conference that was the final act of a 12-year long regional trade union support project. 
 
The project, which organised a total of 329 national and international seminars, workshops and conferences, trained and informed leaders of around 60 affiliates of both the ICEM and the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association) on a multitude of trade union topics. In addition, it provided practical solidarity and it encouraged unions to consider necessary organisational changes, in order to set up better and more efficient trade union structures. 
 
Participants spoke about how this project was one of the few initiatives that consistently and justly encouraged trade union cooperation and solidarity across borders in a region where that was not so evident. 

<img src="" width="241" height="181" alt="" />
Project Coordinator, Mato Lalic
Many provided examples on how they put lessons learned through the project to good practice, while others talked about how this project allowed them to engage in practical, useful and direct international work with unions in other countries, often in relation to privatisation struggles. 
 
Without exception, all that took the floor also expressed their gratitude towards the project coordination team in Zagreb, led by Mato Lalic and assisted by Teuta Krilic and Jacim Milunovic. In particular Mato, who has been involved in the project from the very beginning, was thanked for his tireless enthusiasm and never-ending persistence. 
 
Conclusions were not only drawn about the work done, past work was also coupled to future necessities. On that score, possibly the clearest conclusion was that, where a lot has already been done, there still is a lot more to do, in particular when it comes to the need for internal trade union structural change. Numerous unions stated, for example, that there is a growing urgency to redirect their trade union work towards the branch (or sectoral), regional and national levels, steering away from &ldquo;company unionism&rdquo;. Active organising and recruitment were listed as other vital priorities, including attracting women and young workers. 

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Peco Risteski, president of SIER, Macedonia
The evaluation conference was an end, but also a beginning, as it doubled as an opening event to discuss a new and different project for the region. Whereas the previous programme concentrated mainly on education, this new project, which will work with unions at different levels and different intensities in 9 different countries (Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia &amp; Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia) will also be focusing on other priorities. 
 
The new project is built on the conclusions that came out of an external evaluation of the previous project, which was carried out by Jochen Tholen, Professor at the University of Bremen. This evaluation can be found on the project&rsquo;s web-site here in different languages (English, German, Serbian and Bulgarian). 
<img src="" width="195" height="172" alt="" />
Jochen Tholen, Bremen University Professor,&nbsp;Paul Andela, former President of both IUF and EFFAT 
At the heart of the new project will be the effort to assist a limited number of trade unions in the region with adopting and implementing an individual organisational development plan. Once developed and adopted, the project will support unions with the implementation and monitoring of their plans. Additional work with a number of other unions, which have not been exposed to any prior project educational activities, will concentrate first at union building and education. 
The second main element of the project will be concentrating on organising international seminars and conferences, to discuss topics such as sectoral research and/or EU issues, to encourage international solidarity and to exchange information, but also to debate the best practice examples that are coming out of the &ldquo;organisational change work&rdquo;. 
 
Another novelty in this new project is that it will also work with trade unions from the metal sector, affiliates of the IMF and EMF (the International and European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federations), who will join the affiliates of the ICEM and its European counterpart EMCEF, as well as of the IUF and its European counterpart EFFAT. 
 
The new project will be supported by donors FES from Germany and FNV Mondiaal from the Netherlands, as well as by IGBCE and NGG in Germany, and FNV Bondgenoten from Holland.

Unions in South-East Europe Evaluate the Past and Look to the Future

Ref: ICEM10/EN LT70 
 
 
25 June 2010 
 
Mr Manzoor Nadir 
Minister of Labor, Human Services and Social Security 
Co-operative Republic of Guyana 
1 Water and Cornhill Streets 
Georgetown, Guyana 
 
Transmitted to e-mail <a href="mailto:manzoor.nadir@gmail.com">manzoor.nadir@gmail.com</a>&nbsp;and fax number +592 227 1308 
 
Dear Honourable Minister Nadir, 
 
I write to recap our meeting of 15 June 2010 in the offices of the ICEM in Geneva, Switzerland. Firstly, the ICEM Secretariat is grateful to you for initiating the meeting while you were in Geneva for the 99th gathering of the ILO&rsquo;s International Labour Conference. We agree with the assessment in your subsequent News Release that the meeting was cordial in nature and for the ICEM&rsquo;s part, we believe it could serve as an initial starting point to resolve the now seven-month dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers&rsquo; Union (GB&amp;GWU) and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI). 
 
The hard work of engagement through tripartite voluntary dialogue must now commence, and we were happy to hear of your willingness to facilitate this dialogue between GB&amp;GWU and BCGI. Therefore, as you agreed to in our 15 June meeting, we call on you to immediately call both parties together to start open and honest talks. 
 
As we mentioned in the meeting, ICEM is troubled by what we believe has been undue pressure by BCGI management to intimidate and coerce workers of the mining company to de-authorize the GB&amp;GWU from their legitimate role as workers&rsquo; representative. We sincerely feel it is the role of the Labour Ministry to ensure that this does not happen, and if the matter of union representation does go to a poll of workers, we insist that the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board uphold global labour standards as set forth by the ILO, meaning that management of BCGI must not interfere in workers&rsquo; free choice for or against union representation. 
 
Besides attempting to reconcile the past difficulties between the two parties, ICEM stands hopeful that a facilitated meeting by you between GB&amp;GWU and BCGI can establish voluntary and mutually acceptable ground rules to be used in any recognition poll. For this, the ICEM sees unimpeded access to the workplace by GB&amp;GWU representatives to speak one-on-one with workers, as well as assuring that the 57 discharged workers, all union activists, have an opportunity to address fellow workers to tell their side of the firings. Since the government of Guyana retains 10% of this enterprise, we are hopeful that this can be guaranteed. 
 
As we told you in our meeting, the ICEM is ready and willing to participate in dialogue in Guyana to successfully resolve this dispute, or even to play the role of observer in a poll. I look forward to your response on this, and your follow-up to our meeting. 
 
Lastly, and as a separate issue from the GB&amp;GWU/BCGI dispute, we are encouraged by your willingness to introduce ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in your country, and to begin the internal process toward ratification. As we told you in our 15 June meeting, Guyana has much to gain on the international level by ratifying this important ILO Convention, particularly at a time when mining accidents and resulting deaths are escalating due to demand and rapid extraction of mineral resources. 
 
The ICEM stands ready to assist the government of Guyana in any possible way in this regard to make Guyana the 25th country worldwide to ratify ILO Convention 176. 
 
Again, we are grateful to you for initiating the 15 June meeting, and we are hopeful this will be a harbinger of better tripartite relations between your government, BCGI, and GB&amp;GWU. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary 
 
Cc: Leslie Gonsalves, GB&amp;GWU

ICEM Letter to Guyana Labour Minister Nadir

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Colombia&rsquo;s worst mining disaster in over 30 years killed 73 workers on 16 June, amid urgent calls for action on health and safety in mines. The cause of the explosion was yet again methane gas, a cause which especially angers the ICEM as it is always avoidable under safe working conditions. This is the sixth deadly methane gas explosion around the world&rsquo;s mines in the last six months. 
 
The characteristics of all of theses tragedies are the same: lack of effective government oversight, employers putting profit and production ahead of safety, or the absence of a trade union and collective bargaining agreement that would have given miners the right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions without jeopardizing their jobs. 

<img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" />
The San Fernando Coal mine in Amaga, North-West Colombia, is a non-union mine with a poor safety record. In November last year, workers broke through a wall into another shaft, causing mass flooding that killed 5. In another methane blast at the mine 3 years ago, 20 mineworkers were killed. 
 
Colombia's geological and mining institute, Ingeominas, have stated that results of an investigation into the accident are expected in the coming days. 
 
The ICEM calls for a full investigation of the causes of this accident, and joins with other mining unions around the world which have called for criminal prosecution of those responsible for these tragic accidents. Moreover, we call upon the International Labour Organization to greatly intensify its efforts to promote the ratification of Convention 176 on Health and Safety in Mines which is a needed first step in safeguarding the lives of miners. 

<img alt="" src="" width="287" height="215" />
Manfred Warda Addresses ILC
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addressed the International Labour Conference of the ILO, 15 June, on the vital need for action on ILO Convention 176. Warda questioned how &ldquo;miners in the 21st Century should have to endure such dangers when clearly the science, technology and training are present to eliminate these so-called accidents&rdquo;. 
 
Warda heavily criticised the common tactic of mine employers, to give employees substandard basic salaries which must be complemented by production bonuses, this contributes to workers continuing in unsafe conditions, in order to meet quotas. 
 
The US Massey mine disaster of April this year illustrates the need not only for ratification of Convention 176, but also strict implementation, as the mine was consistently cited with safety violations by the inspecting authorities. &ldquo;Effective government oversight of mining operations must improve dramatically&rdquo; Warda told ILC delegates.

Deadly Colombia Mine Blast, ICEM Presses ILC on Convention 176

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Aggressive police attacks on workers and their families at Cananea and Pasta de Conchos on 6 June have moved the United Steelworkers (USW) and the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM), or Los Mineros, closer together. The two trade unions have formed a commission, charged with increasing strategic cooperation and exploring a fusion together that would form a potential union of one million workers in Mexico, Canada, the US and the Caribbean. 
 
Although the bi-lateral trade union commission had been operating for some time, Los Mineros General Secretary Napoleon Gomez announced its formation at the global &quot;Triple Crisis of Sustainability&rdquo; conference in Toronto on 19 June. 
 
The commission is made up of five members from each of the union&rsquo;s leaderships. The USW represents 850,000 workers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, while Los Mineros represents about 180,000 in Mexico. 
<img alt="" src="" width="142" height="150" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="150" height="150" />
Napole&oacute;n Gomez, Leo Gerard
In signing a 20 June joint declaration, announcing the establishment of the commission, Napoleon Gomez and USW President Leo Gerard affirmed their unions&rsquo; &quot;common commitment to democracy, equality, and solidarity for working men and women throughout North America and throughout the world&quot;. 
 
The declaration describes the ongoing systematic campaign of persecution against Los Mineros by the government of Felipe Calder&oacute;n, which is motivated by the government policy of suppressing Mexican workers&rsquo; rights and wages, in order to attract foreign investment. While this policy has made enormous profits possible for corporations in Mexico, the strength and advances of Los Mineros has lead to them being attacked physically, financially, in the media, in the justice system, and with industrial homicide due to poor health and safety standards. The Los Mineros General Secretary Gomez is still forced to lead his union from exile in Canada, and has been supported there by the USW. 
 
The two unions have worked closely together for years, marked by the Global Strategic Alliance, jointly signed on 13 April 2005, which committed to build power by increasing communication and coordination across national borders. While in recent times, they share similar experiences of long mining strikes, as the strike at Cananea nears the three-year mark, and USW&rsquo;s strike in Canada against Vale Inco is into its 11th month. 
 
See the full declaration on the USW website <a href="http://www.usw.org">here</a>.

USW, Los Mineros Announce Unification Commission

Policy positions differ in the trade union movement, both at national and international levels concerning the use of temporary work agencies. Views vary from total bans on such agencies, to partial bans, to strict regulation. There are also differences as to on what basis workers should be covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, there are certain views shared by all Global Unions. 
 
The first principle is that the primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
<img src="" width="95" height="95" alt="" />
Concerns and challenges 
 
The use of workers provided by temporary work agencies raises concerns and challenges for trade unions. This includes the effect that the use of temporary work agencies has on workers with regular and permanent employment as well as on the conditions under which work is performed by workers engaged through such agencies. The triangular relationship between the worker, the user enterprise and the temporary work agency that supplies the worker can undermine labour and social protection, as well as the effective realisation of the right of all workers to form or join trade unions and to bargain collectively. 
 
Agency workers must be specifically guaranteed the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a way of replacing direct and permanent employment 
 
There may be legitimate demand-driven or business reasons for using temporary agency workers, including surges of work and seasonal employment, although such work can also be performed through direct employment. However, not all reasons for using temporary agency work are related to staff shortages or the &ldquo;fluctuation of business&rdquo; and it has become common to use temporary agency workers to fill previously permanent and direct positions and to reduce costs. Increasingly, workers provided by agencies are used to fill &ldquo;core&rdquo; jobs but are not given any opportunity to transition to direct permanent employment. In a growing number of instances, entire workforces are provided by temporary work agencies. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to adversely change employment conditions, avoid social responsibilities and evade laws 
 
Employers often use temporary agencies in order to avoid their legal obligations. This can and does lead to abuses such as social dumping and all kinds of discrimination. Work then becomes precarious and workers are denied the employment rights and working conditions to which they would otherwise be entitled. Sometimes these agencies are creations by the company or employer concerned, with the user enterprise becoming the sole client. 
 
Workers provided by agencies frequently receive significantly lower compensation than regular employees performing the same work. Such workers are also often not entitled to the same levels of social protection, such as retirement provision, the right to unemployment compensation, sickness benefits or maternity leave. Employers commonly do not invest sufficiently in the education or training of agency-supplied workers. Inadequate education and training may undermine the quality of service provided by the agency workers, while lack of training on health and safety increases the risk of occupational accidents and diseases. 
 
The cost of downsizing is lower if temporary agency workers are engaged because ending a commercial contract is often less costly than terminating an employment relationship. In various countries and sectors, the financial crisis resulted therefore in massive job losses for temporary agency workers, who are not generally entitled to any of the compensations that are required to be paid in the case of forced redundancies. This experience heightens the danger that as economies recover, employers will increasingly favour temporary agency work as a means to avoid the costs of terminating regular employees. This would add additional instability and volatility to the economy. 
 
Where more and more workers are made &ldquo;disposable&rdquo;, many business risks are shifted from employers to workers. 
 
Using temporary work agencies to weaken trade unions, avoid collective bargaining or prevent union organising 
 
Employers are, at times, deliberately using temporary work agencies to reduce the number of workers covered by collective bargaining at their enterprises or to prevent unorganised sections of the workforce from seeking union representation and exercise their right to bargain with the user enterprise, which effectively controls terms and conditions of employment. 
 
One of the principal reasons why workers do not form or join trade unions is fear of discrimination or dismissal. Temporary agency employment increases this fear because it is a way to avoid dismissal legislation, which has the effect of, indirectly, protecting the right to organise. Too often, contracts are simply ended. In addition, temporary agency employment reduces the workers&rsquo; stake in an enterprise, as well as the opportunity to participate in trade unions. 
 
The use of workers supplied by temporary work agencies to replace striking workers or to undermine industrial action at a user enterprise is a serious violation of trade union rights. 
 
Using temporary work agencies as a means of exploitation. 
 
Where temporary work agencies are permitted to operate, they must be properly regulated and monitored in order to prevent abuses of workers, such as human trafficking or fee charging in cross border placements. When agencies involved in recruiting workers in one country for work in another country charge fees to the workers concerned instead of to the user enterprise, those abuses lead to extreme exploitation, including bonded or slave labour. All recruitment fees, including visa, transportation and hiring fees, must therefore always be borne by the user enterpriser. 
<img src="" width="95" height="95" alt="" />
 
Fundamental principles on temporary work agencies 
 
&bull; The primary form of employment shall be permanent, open-ended and direct employment. 
 
&bull; Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be accorded equal treatment and opportunities, including equal pay for equal work, with regular and permanent employees with respect to terms and conditions of employment. 
 
&bull; Workers employed through temporary work agencies must have a recognised and enforceable written contract of employment, specifying their terms and conditions of employment. 
 
&bull; Where agencies are permitted to operate, they must be strictly regulated, including through licensing. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships, diminish the conditions under which work is performed, avoid collective bargaining relationships with trade unions or effectively make it impossible for an agency worker to join a trade union. 
 
&bull; Employers should consult trade unions before agency workers are used and negotiate over any effects that the use of these agency workers might have on regular employees, on working conditions or on the collective agreement. 
 
&bull; The use of temporary agencies should be restricted to cases of legitimate need. As a minimum, there should be defined limits on the use of agency workers, as well as restrictions on the duration of such employment. 
 
&bull; Workers provided by temporary work agencies must be guaranteed access to information on health and safety regulations in the workplace and be given the same equipment, induction and training as permanent workers. 
 
&bull; Adequate and continuous social protection for agency workers, including social security coverage, must be ensured by employers and government alike. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must treat workers without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political opinion, nationality, social origin, age, disability or any other form of discrimination. Appropriate regulatory frameworks (governmental, co-regulation or self-regulation) on private employment agencies should include and promote these principles, rights and obligations. These include the minimum standards outlined in ILO Convention No. 111. 
 
&bull; Given the general over-representation of women in agency employment and the disparity in wages between permanent and agency workers, particular attention must be given to ensure that the equal pay provisions of Convention No. 100 are applied, including equal pay for work of equal value. 
 
&bull; The ILO should play a much more active role in ensuring that temporary employment agencies respect basic labour standards, as well as in collecting data on abuses and best practices, while at the same time monitoring and analysing trends in employment in both the private and public employment agency sector. This research should focus on issues relating to the economic crisis and the Global Jobs Pact. The Global Unions should participate in this work. 
 
&bull; Workers supplied by temporary work agencies must never be used to replace striking workers or undermine industrial action. 
 
&bull; Temporary work agencies must not charge any fees to workers for dispatching them. 
 
&bull; The user-enterprise must be held liable for all financial and other obligations with respect to temporary agency workers should the agency fail to honour its responsibilities. 
 
 
Principles of public policy with respect to temporary agency work 
 
&bull; Governments have the responsibility to protect the interests of society in stable employment relationships and to ensure the applicability of labour law, the branch of law developed to protect workers in both public and private sectors, in their unequal relationship with employers. 
 
&bull; Governments can limit or ban the use of temporary work agencies in order to protect these broader societal interests. 
 
&bull; Government must set strict regulations and licensing conditions if agencies are permitted to operate. 
 
&bull; Governments should consult trade unions on issues related to working and employment conditions of the agency workers, as well as on conditions of use of temporary agency work prior to making changes in the regulatory framework. 
 
&bull; The respective roles, obligations and rights of the workers, the temporary work agency and the enterprise using the worker must be clarified when there is an employment relationship between a temporary work agency and a worker. 
 
&bull; Governments must take genuine and concrete measures such as changes in legislation to ensure that workers dispatched by temporary work agencies are able to effectively exercise their right to join or form trade unions. This includes the right to join a union with a collective bargaining relationship with the user enterprise and be part of a bargaining unit comprising direct employees of the user enterprise and be covered by all collective bargaining agreements applying to the user-enterprise. 
 
&bull; Governments should strengthen labour inspection, including through providing adequate resources, in order to effectively apply labour law and regulations to employment via temporary work agencies. 
 
&bull; Governments should provide effective mechanisms to protect all workers from health and safety hazards and ensure health &amp; safety conditions of temporary agency workers are the same as of permanent ones. Governments should introduce sanctions for user-enterprises, public and private, not complying with health &amp; safety requirements. 
 
 
Migrant workers dispatched through temporary agencies face specific problems. 
 
&bull; Migrant workers should receive details of their living and working conditions in a language they understand before leaving their country of origin. 
 
&bull; Governments must take active measures to prevent human trafficking and the exploitation of migrant workers by labour intermediaries, both public and private, including temporary work agencies. 
 
&bull; Governments should ensure that immigration legislation governing migrant workers recruited through agencies does not conflict with labour laws by imposing restrictions on migrant workers&rsquo; rights to join trade unions or bargain collectively. 
 
&bull; Workers should not be required to pay deposits, visa, transportation and hiring fees. In the case of agencies dispatching workers to other countries, the agencies should be required to repatriate workers in the event that their employment ends or the user company disappears. 
 
&bull; Workers must not be required to surrender their passports or other travel or identity documents. 
 
&bull; Temporary migrant workers should have full rights to legal redress in the country where they work.

Global Union Principles on Temporary Work Agencies

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Svetlana Klochok was elected to lead the ICEM affiliate, Belarusian Chemical, Miners&rsquo;, and Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (Belchimprofsoyuz) early this month, despite heavy intrusion by the national labour centre Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FPB) and its president, Leonid Kozik. The election and Belchimprofsoyuz&rsquo;s Fifth Congress took place on 3 June in Minsk. 

During the final week of preparations for the Congress, strong pressure was exerted on the 197 delegates to place into leadership a colleague of Kozik&rsquo;s. The effort failed and Klochok won in a free and democratic vote of delegates, signaling a very strong slap to FPB for meddling in the internal affairs of an affiliated union. 

<img src="" width="240" height="244" alt="" />
Klochok had served as Vice President of the union. She succeeds Ludmila Grushetskaya who, after many years leading the union, decided not to run for re-election. 
 
The Congress took note of the global financial crisis, and despite it, the Belchimprofsoyuz secretariat reported the union did remarkably well in protecting working collectives, particularly in the oil and chemical industries. It achieved higher salary levels and maintained the number of jobs at levels near the number before the crisis. 
 
Some 90% of all workers in Belchimprofsoyuz&rsquo;s sectors are union members. The union&rsquo;s membership is 153,000, and it added 12,000 new members over the past four years. 
The Congress was attended by international trade union delegates from Russia and Italy, and the ICEM was represented by its Central Europe and Eastern Europe/Central Asia Coordinator Anatoly Surin. 
 
The ICEM welcomes the new President of Belchimprofsoyuz, Svetlana Klochok, and looks forward to continued good and fruitful relations with the Belarusian union.

Belarus Affiliate Wards Off National Centre Interference, Elects Democratic President

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
From 1-3 June, the second meeting of unions organizing in Spanish multinationals was held in Bogot&aacute;. It was attended by 25 trade unions from across Latin America. The meeting was organized by ISCOD, the Spanish Trade Union Development Institute that is connected to one of Spain&rsquo;s national labour centres, the UGT, as well as ICEM and Union Network International (UNI). 
 
The main objective of the meeting was to monitor the activities and to provide for measures to assure trade union rights are adhered to in Spanish multinationals. The activities must be geared to strengthening union organization, promoting unity processes, and reinforcing trade union alliances as well as campaigns for equality. 
 
Representatives were present from the private oil and gas workers&rsquo; federation of Argentina, CNQ Brazil, Sintraelecol of Colombia, and UGT delegates from Endesa, Gas Natural-Fenosa, and Repsol in Spain. 
 
One of the aims of holding the meeting in Colombia was to address the issue of murders of trade unionists. Sub-contracting in Colombia as it contributes to union busting is a further concern. The recent passing of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the European Union was one further topic of discussion. The meeting demanded assurances for respecting trade unions, citizens and consumers.
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ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Region Vice Presdient Sergio Novais&nbsp;
Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President for the Latin American/Caribbean Region, said, &ldquo;At this second meeting, we insist that multinationals have the same conduct in Latin America as they do at home. In the specific case of Colombia, there is no guarantee that trade union leaders can perform their duties with impunity. ICEM has seven affiliates in Colombia, and leaders of all of them have to carry out their activities with bodyguards. We have been denouncing this outrage for many years.&rdquo; 
 
The participants were concerned about the impacts of the crisis in Spain and the possible effects on Spanish multinationals and their employees in Latin America. A more profound exchange of experience was seen to be one way to avoid abuses. This project is on-going through the auspices of ISCOD and ICEM&rsquo;s Spanish affiliate, the FIA-UGT, who are thanked and congratulated for their support.

Murders, Union Rights Discussed at Observatory of Spanish Firms in Bogotá Meeting

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