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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Industrial Union TEAM is the new name, effective on 1 January 2010, of the merged Chemical Workers’ Union (Kemianliito), an ICEM affiliate, and the Finnish Media Union. The merger of the two is the product of a larger, six-union merger of Finnish industrial unions that failed to materialize in spring 2009. 
 
Kemianliitto and the Media Union, which represents workers in the graphical, print, and print delivery sections, committed to continue union merger talks following the breakdown of the larger merger. By the end of summer holidays, 2009, committees and an organizational structure were in place to complete to merger. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Finland.kemianliito.jpg" width="106" height="71" alt=""/>
On 13 November, an extraordinary Congress of the Media Union approved the merger, while on 26-27 November, the General Council of Kemianliitto gave its consent. Kemianliitto President Timo Vallittu will lead Industrial Union TEAM, and the merged union will have a 20-member governing body. 
 
The merged union numbers 68,000, a figure that includes retirees. Kemianliitto comes in to the merger with some 31,000 active members, while the Media Union brings 14,000. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.finnish.media.union.logo.jpg" width="63" height="85" alt=""/>
The larger Finnish industrial merger, in talks dating back two years, was proposed between Kemianliitto and the Media Union, as well as including ICEM-affiliated Electrical Workers’ Union, the Finnish Metalworkers Union, the Wood and Allied Workers’ Union, and the Finnish Railwaymen’s Union. In spring 2009, the Electrical Workers’ dropped from talks, while a short time later the Metalworkers’ withdrew from participating by action of its Congress.

Kemianliitto and Media Union Become Finnish TEAM, 1 January

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
A subsidiary of Russian multinational RuSAL, the world’s largest producer of aluminium and a major mining house in key resources, has terminated a labour agreement for 600 Guyanese workers over a wage dispute. Rusal announced it no longer recognizes the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union, something illegal under Guyana’s law and deeply condemned by the ICEM. 
 
General Manager of the Guyanese subsidiary, Sergey Kostyuk, sent a letter to Union President Charles Sampson, stating that the collective agreement between the two entities, and through the Labour Ministry, was “terminated with immediate effect.” 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="120" height="114" alt=""/>
Guyana’s Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir reacted by ordering mandatory arbitration, citing the importance of the bauxite industry to the economy of the country. The Bauxite and General Workers’ Union began a lawful strike on 21 November and that strike is on-going, thus hampering production at a processing plant. 
The union called the strike when RuSAL managers failed to give a promised 10% pay raise to workers in Berbice, located in the centre of Guyana. RuSAL also angered workers and their union by sacking 56 for “insubordination, refusal to obey instructions and misconduct,” a dubious charge considering workers were engaged in a lawful strike action. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Guyana.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
A Guyanese political party, Working People’s Alliance (WPA), has intervened by pressuring the government to protect the workers’ constitutional rights. WPA stated that the conflict has “grave implications for the entire trade union movement in Guyana,” if RuSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI) is not stopped in its total disregard for trade union rights. 
 
The ICEM condemns RuSAL for its ignorance of essential global labour standards and for the negative influence this conduct brings to Guyanese labour relations. The ICEM is calling on RuSAL to reinstate the discharged workers at its bauxite plant and to immediate adopt better industrial relations practices in Guyana.

RuSAL’s Labor Conduct in Guyana’s Bauxite Industry Strongly Questioned 

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In Hobart, Tasmania, the Construction, Forestry, Mining, And Energy Union (CFMEU) and Belgian-based lead and zinc producer Nyrstar NV agreed to a 14-day cooling down period last week following escalated industrial tensions that included the threat of a lock-out under Australian’s Fair Act by the company. 
 
Nyrstar operates a 300-worker zinc smelter in Hobart and exports some 250,000 tonnes of zinc cathode annually from Tasmania. The two parties resume negotiations under the supervision of Fair Work Australia, the government’s new labour dispute agency. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AustraliaFLAG.gif" width="160" height="80" alt=""/>
The dispute flared in mid-December when some workers opted to take lawful industrial actions, including work bans and other stoppages. Strikes occurred on December 19 and December 24. Nyrstar immediately responded by issuing letters to strikers stating they would face a 16-day lockout, while another letter to those not striking stated that implementation of partial work bans will be construed as refusal to do any work, thus staff will not be paid at all. 
 
The central issue in the Nyrstar Australian dispute is the company insistence to continue a performance-based pay system, while the CFMEU and another workplace representative is seeking renewal of an enterprise agreement that contains automatic and set pay increases. The current operating enterprise contract expired three years ago, with no accord reached in that time period. 
 
Nyrstar was formerly a joint venture between Belgian metals and chemicals company Umicore and Australian mining and development company Zinifex Ltd. It was spun off into a separate company in late 2007 and wholly owns GM-Metal of France and 25% of Thailand’s Padaeng Industry Public Company Ltd. Zinifex remains Nyrstar’s primary source for raw zinc, while Umicore is a main buyer of Nyrstar’s processed zinc. Globally, Nyrstar also processes some copper, gold, indium, and refined silver.

CFMEU, Zinc Smelter Nyrstar Take ‘Cool Down’ Time in Australia

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBriefAlert.jpg" width="135" height="66" alt=""/>
The ICEM supports the ITUC-led trade union appeal for victims of the earthquake disaster in Haiti. The trade union relief work is being carried out primarily by ITUC’s affiliates in the Dominican Republic, in cooperation with Haitian colleagues across the border. 
 
We urge ICEM affiliates to support this Appeal. 
 
Funds for the appeal can be transferred to the following ITUC bank account: 
No. 375-1008200-61 
Banque ING, Brussels Branch Institutionals, 1 rue du Trone, B-1000 Brussels 
Code IBAN: BE 62375100820061 
Code BIC/Swift: BBRUBEBB 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ITUC100.jpg" width="100" height="95" alt=""/>
The ITUC requests that the words “SOS Solidarity – Haiti” are included with each transfer to this account. 
 
ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder has called for the cancellation of Haiti’s debt, in the aftermath of the disaster, to increase the country’s chances of reconstruction. 
 
As has been widely reported in the mainstream media, the huge earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January, and was followed by a number of aftershocks. Along with the reported death toll of over 100,000, Haiti’s infrastructure has been severely damaged, with many buildings and roads completely destroyed. The humanitarian situation is desperate and aid is needed. 
 
Once the immediate humanitarian effort passes, the solidarity campaign will continue to use funds raised to help Haitians in their recovery from this natural disaster.

ICEM Urges Haitian Relief Funds through ITUC

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Negotiations between United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 and Brazilian mining company Vale broke off late last night, 24 January, in St. John, Newfoundland, in failed efforts to end the 25-week strike by 250 union members at Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador. Three days of steady talks over the weekend, guided by a provincial mediator from Newfoundland/Labrador, failed to bring the two sides any closer to terms. 
 
Meanwhile, 3,100 striking Steelworkers marked six months on picket lines opposite Vale in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, a fortnight ago. The company, on 19 January, upheld its promise to re-start the Copper Cliff nickel smelter using managers and replacement workers to fire one of two furnaces. 
 
In eastern Canada, an announcement a week ago that the first full round of negotiations since February 2009 would begin on 22 January brought hope that copper, nickel, and cobalt mining in Goose Bay, as well as operations at a slurry facility in Voiseys Bay would resume. Vale had submitted the framework of an agreement ten days ago, but this past weekend’s bargaining proved Vale is seeking the same set of concessions. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.vale.ship.2.jpg" width="257" height="233"/>
Hong Kong flagged ship operators receive Voiseys Bay Petition, 9 October 2009
“The company here still insists on removing the nickel bonus and they didn’t deal at all with our issues,” lead negotiator and USW District 6 Representative Boyd Bussey told the ICEM Sunday evening. “If Vale thought they were picking off a weak link in this strike, they were wrong. We’ll be on picket lines until we get a good deal.” 
 
The key item that separated the two sides in talks remains Vale’s insistence on removing the nickel bonus, a wage supplement that is tied to the rise and fall of the market price of nickel. Contract language, monetary issues, and a company demand to give it more latitude on use of temporary workers also separates the two sides. Local 9508 is an amalgamated USW branch union with five units, three – miners, catering staff, and security – that have been on strike against Vale since 1 August 2009. Another unit, a Vale sub-contracted group of port workers employed by an Aboriginal-owned company called TSI, has a separate labour agreement expiring early in 2010. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0910.vale.ship.1.jpg" width="290" height="218"/>
The focus will now be on whether or not Vale will restart copper and nickel mining in Goose Bay using replacement workers. The speculation is that Vale needs nickel concentrates to feed its smelting operations in Thompson, Manitoba, as well as nickel for the re-start of Copper Cliff, where USW Local 6500 is on strike. The company might also be expected to capitalize on high copper prices, with the high-grade red metal mined and processed in the maritime province moved to market. In 2008, the company produced 77,500 tonnes of contained nickel and 55,400 tonnes of high-grade copper concentrates from its Vale-Inco Newfoundland and Labrador operations. 
 
The start-up of the Copper Cliff smelter was long advertised by the company. Operation of one of two furnaces at Copper Cliff, however, is not expected to give Vale anywhere near 50% of smelting capacity from the Sudbury-area facility. Vale is getting minimal production from two of six mines in northern Ontario, as well as token output from its Claribelle refining operation. 
 
On 13 January, the six-month mark of the strike in Sudbury and Port Colborne, the USW filed a bad-faith bargaining complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board in Toronto on Vale-Inco’s entrenched negotiations stand. Included in that complaint is an internal June 2009 Vale document that the company intends to pare mining jobs in northern Ontario, as well as strategically mine only high-grade ore from the region, thus reducing life expectancy of nickel reserves. The USW believes this indicates Vale is not managing the province’s reserves in the long-term best interests of workers and rural communities. 
 
On the six-month anniversary of the Ontario mining strike, over 1,000 miners and their families marched and manifested in Sudbury. The event included an environmentally-friendly balloon release, with each balloon set aloft representing C$4 million of Vale’s profits that has fled from Canada. 
 
The ICEM, together with the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), will continue ratcheting up pressure on the Brazilian company so that Vale returns to bargaining tables both in Labrador/Newfoundland and Ontario with fair contract offers. The USW Local 6500 strike website can be found here <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">www.fairdealnow.ca</a>.

Talks Prove Futile in Ending Vale’s Eastern Canada Mine Strike

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The Guyana Bauxite & General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU) is seeking justice against the union-smashing affront by Russian metals company RusAL, the world’s second largest aluminum producer. The union has filed a racial discrimination complaint over RusAl’s sacking of 57 union activists, a move made necessary when neither the prime minister nor the minister of Labour, Human Services, and Social Security intervened to protect Guyana’s labour law. 
 
The dispute started in November 2009, following pay talks between GB&GWU and RusAl, the 90% owner of Bauxite Co. of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) at the Aroaima and Kwakwani mines in central Guyana. RusAl managers submitted three counter-proposals for the workforce of 500 to consider, and after miners voted to accept one, the company rescinded it and announced on 1 December that it no longer recognized GB&GWU, a blatant violation of the Trade Union Recognition Act. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Guyana.png" width="220" height="101"/>
Allegedly, the company subsequently said at a workplace meeting that those responsible for promoting the accepted offer would be the first in line for retrenchments. BCGI had hoped to tie a wage increase with some 70 redundancies, a counter-proposal that miners did not accept. 
 
Miners began a lawful strike on 21 November at the Aroaima mine. Three days into the strike, BCGI issued letters of termination to 57 strike leaders, all African descendants. Despite several urgent calls and letters to government officials to press RusAl on the law infractions, very little has been done. The discharge letters judged the workers “insubordinate, refusing to obey instructions” and guilty of “misconduct.” 
 
The race charge was heard before the Ethnic Relations Commission on 8 January. The GB&GWU is asking the commission to convene a full public inquiry into the alleged discriminatory sackings because a “bilateral initiative … to engage the union; then engage the company; then engage the Minister … will not work.” 
 
An 8 January letter by the union and the 57 discharged miners to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds expressed frustration at government inaction: “We were never charged, never summoned to answer the charges … never given a hearing yet the company has pronounced us guilty of charges. Today, as we continue to take a stand for our rights, the Minister of Labour has thus far taken the position that we do not have any rights or any recourse for justice.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/charlessampson.guyana.jpg" width="115" height="192"/>
GB&GWU General President Charles Sampson
GB&GWU General President Charles Sampson, in a letter to Labour, Human Services, and Social Security Minister Mansoor Nadir, said he was “appalled” that you “have not seen it fit to intervene … to immediately put an end to this national insult.” Nadir, for his part, publicly stated in December that “we should let this festive (holiday) season of goodwill take its course and hopefully both parties will exercise more generosity towards each other.” 
 
Six weeks later, there is little generosity shown the 57 mining families who are now impoverished in a poverty-stricken country. Guyana’s Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board did hold a 12 January hearing on the unilateral de-authorization pronouncement by RusAl, and it also heard first-hand how BCGI is now coercing workers to sign waivers to abandon the union. 
 
The ICEM is disturbed that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, himself a former miner and human rights proponent, has not been in the forefront of this dispute, seeking reinstatement for the 57 and prohibiting RusAl from trampling on the country’s labour code. The ICEM also cites the Russian mining and metals multinational with yet another glaring example of the company’s complete disregard toward international labour and human rights standards.

Guyana Bauxite Workers’ Union Bitter at RusAl, Government

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
At a factory blockade of a Michelin tire plant in Laem Chabang, Thailand, on 20 March 2009, workers protested against a harsh 35% pay cut. Following the manifestation, 22 union activists were arrested, suspended from their jobs, with management taking out criminal charges against them. (See ICEM news release on that <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/3132-ICEM-Condemns-Lockout-of-Thai-Workers-by-Michelin " type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
Those 22 unionists, members of ICEM-affiliated Petroleum and Chemical Workers’ Federation (PCFT), were finally reinstated to their jobs on 18 January, after attending a special training session specifically for them. 
 
However, despite this positive but delayed piece of justice, the conflict is far from over. Ten of the 22 are still facing criminal charges, charges the ICEM believes are unjust because they relate to legitimate trade union activity. The president of the Michelin Tyre Workers’ Union of the PCFT is one of those facing criminal proceedings, scheduled to take place at the Criminal Court of Pattaya by the public prosecutor of the province. The trade unionists have been forced to take bail. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0905.thai.michelin.JPG" width="270" height="129"/>
Michelin Tyre Workers’ Union leaders of the PCFT, from left, Thanakorn Somsin, Rangsan Monchaisong, and Samai Koonswat
The cases are expected to be processed in the next month. 
 
Trade union members continue to face discrimination on a daily basis inside the Michelin factory, a workplace that employs 1,500. They receive lower pay than non-union members and have witnessed management take away holiday allowances in 2009. 
 
The March 2009 bargaining dispute was settled through successful tripartite discussions, brought forth by pressure from the ICEM, FCE-CFDT of France, and Michelin’s European Works Council. The parties called for immediate intervention by Michelin headquarters then in France. 
 
In other Michelin Asia-Pacific news, the company announced closure of a Japanese factory in Ota, 50 kilometres north of Tokyo. The closure will occur in July 2010 and will see 380 employees sacked from their jobs. The reason given by Michelin is that production costs at the plant are too high. Michelin has entered into talks with the union to relocate workers from the Ota plant into other jobs.

Michelin Unionists at Thai Tyre Factory Still Face Discrimination

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) and the All-Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (APLF) jointly held a manifestation on 13 January at the Quetta Press Club to protest safety inaction by Balochistan provincial authorities in coal mining. In the first half of January, at least 21 miners perished in roof cave-ins and methane gas explosions. 
 
The federated mining unions expressed outrage that neither Balochistan authorities nor the Chief Inspectorate of Mines removed the bodies of five dead miners in the days following the tragedies. On 2 January, a gas explosion at the Al-Rahman mine near Marwar killed ten miners, including three Afghan workers. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1001.pakistan.protest.jpg" width="290" height="177" alt=""/>
The blast, which caused a cave-in, occurred 2,000 metres underground. And then on 11 January, two separate mine accidents occurred at the Habibullah Coal Mines Co. near Spin Karez. Three miners died when a roof collapsed, while eight others were trapped and killed following a blast at the mine in the Marwar coal fields. 
 
Speakers at the unions’ 13 January protest said governmental authorities demonstrated “criminal silence” over the loss of lives, as well as denouncing Balochistan officials for not extending financial assistance to the families of the deceased. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1001.Sultan Muhammad Khan.pakistan.jpg" width="160" height="238" alt=""/>
Sultan Muhammad Khan
PCMLF Secretary General Sultan Muhammad Khan called it a travesty that miners are denied social benefits, and he said the fact that five miners from the first incident are still entombed at Al-Rahman “speaks volumes about the performance of the Mines Inspectorate.” 
 
Other mine union officials that condemned the inaction, as well as the lack of preventative safety measures in the province’s mines included Bakht Maweb Yousatzai, Abdul Sattar, Syed Altaf Ilussain Shah, Muhammad Jamil, And Rehmatullah Baloch. The mine union leaders said the average death rate in Balochistan coal mining, in southwestern Pakistan, had been 86 known deaths, but that this rate has increased of late because of lack of safety measures in mines.

Pakistan Mine Unions Protest Killings in Balochistan Coal Pits

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Four contractors of Royal Dutch Shell, who were kidnapped in Nigeria while enroute to work at a power plant on 12 January, were released early last week. The four, three British nationals and one Colombia national, work for Shell sub-contractor NETCO-Dietsmann NV. The Colombian expatriate, Fabien Sanchez, was hospitalized after winning his freedom with shrapnel wounds. 
 
The four were abducted by despicable thugs between on the northeast border of Rivers State where it junctures with Abia State. A police escort was shot and killed, and the driver was wounded. The criminals reportedly demanded a US$2 million ransom. Police put up a US$16,000 reward for information leading to the crime. It was not clear if ransom money was paid to win the freedom of the expatriate workers or not. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Nigeria.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
The Rivers State branch of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) condemned the crime. Branch Chairman Hyginus Chika Onuegbu called on state police forces in all the oil-rich states surrounding Port Harcourt to beef up road patrols around border junctions, since this is where kidnappings and killings happen. 
 
The kidnapped workers are part of a team of contractors working on the Afam VI power station, managed and 30% owned by Shell. They work for the sub-contractor NETCO-Dietsmann, a 40/60 joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation subsidiary, National Engineering and Technical Co., and Dietsmann, an upstream oil services company based in the Netherlands. Capital improvements are being made on Afam VI in order that higher flows of liquid natural gas will double the power plant’s capacity to 650 megawatts. 
 
The names of the British contractors that were kidnapped are John Bennet, Kevin Gray, and Martin Phillip.

Kidnapped Shell Workers in Nigeria Released, One Injured

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Workers’ Memorial Day this year will use the moniker “Unions Make Work Safer,” as global labour moves 28 April – the Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers – as the one day that every day must bring in the fight for safe, healthy, and risk-free workplaces. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has designated that theme for 2010 in order to emphasize the vital role trade unions play in constantly improving occupational health and safety. 
 
In the UK, the government became one of over 20 countries worldwide to officially designate 28 April as Workers’ Memorial Day when Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper announced formal recognition of the day on 28 January. After beginning consultations in July 2009, it became clear to the government that the growing number of observances and health/safety renewal commitments on 28 April each year merited official designation. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/international.commemoration.day.candle.logo.gif" width="46" height="276" alt=""/>
What UK recognition now means is that the government will encourage commemorations of the day throughout the country, with ministers committed to support and promote public commemorations. “Workers’ Memorial Day has been an important date in the trade union calendar for many years and we look forward to working with ministers to increase its profile,” stated Trades Unions Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber. 
 
The ITUC expects 2010 to exceed the 10,000 activities that occurred in over 100 countries around 28 April 2009. The ITUC itself will produce and release background materials, campaign ideas, and additional tools as 28 April 2010 nears. 
 
“Workers’ Memorial Day gains more local, national, and international recognition with each passing year,” stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “And it is only fitting this year to draw attention to workers who, through their unions, have done so much to improve everyday workplace safety and health.” 
 
The facts bear this out. In Canada, a recent report by the Ontario Safety and Health Agency found that 79% of unionised worksites report high compliance with health and safety legislation, while between 54% and 61% of non-union workplaces report such compliance. 
 
In Australia, unionised workplaces are three times more likely to have a safety committee and twice as likely to have performed a safety audit as non-union-sites. 
 
The ICEM encourages affiliates to begin preparing now for 28 April. The day became officially recognized by the ILO in 2001 as the “International Day of Action for Safety and Health at Work,” but had its origins before then. The ITUC marks the day to 1996 when the UN lit Commemorative Candles for the 188 victims of the Kader toy factory in Thailand in 1993. 
 
But the commemoration day has its true roots in the Canadian trade union movement, where unionists worked for several days before the Canadian Parliament in 1989 passed Bill C-223, designating 28 April as the official “Day of Mourning” for the North American country.

‘Unions Make Work Safer’ Theme for 28 April, Now Official Day in UK

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