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World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) actions by the ICEM kicked off last week with two days of activities in Turkey, focusing on the dangers to civil society when full-time employment is eroded and use of contract and agency labour increases. 
 
The ICEM is highlighting actions on curbing the anti-social nemesis of temporary and agency work in Turkey and Thailand as its part in WDDW for 2009, the second year that global labour has marked an October date to herald decent work and decent living standards. 7 October has become fixed as WDDW, and trade unions worldwide are encouraged to use the weeks of early October to publicly rally for sustainable jobs. 

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In Thailand, ICEM-affiliated trade unions, together with the Confederation of State Enterprise Unions, will gather at 10h00 on 7 October in front of the UN Building on Rachadamnoen Road. From there, a march will proceed to the Government House, where a petition will be submitted to the Prime Minister&rsquo;s office calling on Thailand to ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the Freedom of Association and Right to Organise and Right to Collective Bargaining Conventions. 
 
The assembly is being buoyed by the Thai Solidarity Committee, and federated trade unions representing workers chemicals and petroleum, pulp and paper, automotive, electronics, textile and garments, and food workers. Thousands are expected to march. 
 
In Istanbul, Turkey, on 1 October, a delegation of leading global union leaders first met with Turkish trade union officers to let them know that global labour stands with them in preventing re-submission of &ldquo;Private Labour Offices&rdquo; legislation in Turkey. In late June, the country&rsquo;s Parliament moved such a bill to President Abdullah G&uuml;l without hearings or input from civil society. 
 
On 9 July, President G&uuml;l vetoed the measure. The bill would have allotted fees to labour brokers in their jobs&rsquo; dispatch of temporary, and allowed any individual or business to certify as a private-hire labour agency with a minimal investment of TL 20,000 (&euro;9,250). 
Last Thursday, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWU) General Secretary Neil Kearney, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) General Secretary Jyrki Raina, and ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan met with Turkish trade unions, as well as with Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (T&uuml;rk-İş) General Secretary Mustafa Kumlu to pledge continued resistance to the bill. 

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Trade Union Leaders with Turkish Minister of Labour and Social Security &Ouml;mer Din&ccedil;er
Later in the day, Kumlu, an ICEM Executive Committee member, joined global union leaders in a meeting with Turkish Minister of Labour and Social Security &Ouml;mer Din&ccedil;er. The minister confirmed that the draft bill, at present, is not on the agenda of the Parliament. 
 
Discussion also ensued on trade union rights and freedoms inside Turkey. Din&ccedil;er said his ministry is ready to cooperate with the global trade union movement to modify Turkey&rsquo;s draconian labour code to become more in line with ILO Conventions and European Union norms. The union leaders also met separately on 1 October with Salim Uslu, president of Hak-İş, the Real Trade Unions Confederation of Turkey, and with S&uuml;leyman &Ccedil;elebi, President of DİSK, the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions.&nbsp;
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2 October Press Conference in Istanbul
On 2 October, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder joined Warda, Kearney, Raina, and the four presidents of Turkish national labour centers at an 11h00 press conference. The conference was attended by 60 trade union leaders from inside Turkey, and press representing 18 Turkish media outlets. 
 
Again, the message zeroed in on the growing threat to the living standards of workers under the present trend of discarding regular and full-time employees in favour of temporary and agency work. In two days, on 7 October, DİSK will distribute, in all workplaces in which it has membership, an ITUC manifesto on WDDW. 
 
Meanwhile, the T&uuml;rk-İş Confederation will sponsor an international symposium on decent work on that day at Gazi University in Ankara. The Global Union Council will be present for that symposium. 
 
Also in Thailand this week, trade unions are doing vast media outreach around WDDW and are disseminating the IMF&rsquo;s precarious work brochure and poster.

ICEM’s WDDW Activities Start in Istanbul; March Set in Bangkok on 7 October

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The 20th Congress of the Finnish Paperworkers&rsquo; Union, Paperiliitto, was held in Helsinki last week, and leaders of local branches together with national leadership forged a concise agenda in order to gain a wage adjustment in pay talks this October. 
Although the current agreement with Finland&rsquo;s Forest Industries Federation expires at the end of March 2010, a wage reopener occurs in October, and there is little doubt that if accord is not met, the contract will be terminated. 
 
The Congress took up 260 resolutions from local branches, and probed future opportunities for cooperation and joint actions with other Finnish trade unions in the wake of the Finnish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union abandoning the multi-union Finnish merger that was to be called TEAM. 

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Paperiliitto Executive Committee
The over 200 Paperiliitto participants, together with 18 international trade union guests, convened in Helsinki from 10-12 June at a time when all of Finland hopes the worst effects of a period of job redundancies and mill and machine shutdowns in the forest sector are over. 
 
Union President Jouko Ahonen called attention to the questionable risks, mistaken acquisitions, and mis-directed financial investment by pulp and paper companies that has brought social upheaval to Finnish communities. 

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President Jouko Ahonen
He predicted that employers will attempt to demand concessions, reductions to benefits, and erosion of rights in this autumn&rsquo;s negotiations. In assuring delegates that paperworkers of Finland have earned wage increases because of better productivity with fewer staff, Ahonen stated, &ldquo;If there are no pay raises, there will be no agreement.&rdquo; 
 
Paperiliitto delegates discussed the possibility that TEAM, as a single Finnish industrial union, might not occur triggered new opportunities for cohesion and cooperation for 22,000-member Paperiliitto. Three years ago, Paperiliitto declined to take part in the industrial union merger. Although delegates were quick to rule out entering any revised merger plan, they recognize that several industrial unions have upcoming wage talks, and the demand for cooperation and joint actions are evident. 
 
Lauri Lyly, President of SAK, the Finnish Central Labour Organization, stated that traditions and emotions played a key role in stopping the TEAM merger, but that its dissolution might present other openings. He was also critical of the government for having no plan or facility to match the shrinking purchasing power of Finnish citizens with reality. 
 
Finland&rsquo;s Labour Minister, Tarja Cronberg, chronicled the plight of the Finnish forestry sector and said even with recovery, previous levels of jobs and pulp and paper tonnage would not be reached. She called for reform from the inside and said social partners in collective bargaining must come to flexible arrangements and a competitive response. 
 
Also speaking at the Congress at the opening session, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda stated that the global financial collapse is due to a &ldquo;neo-liberal model that has come broken.&rdquo; He pledged that the ICEM &ldquo;will not help to revive what we consider a dying horse.&rdquo; 
 
Warda also addressed the ICEM&rsquo;s ever-increasing work in the global pulp, paper, and packaging sectors, and the progress made in the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s &ldquo;North Meets South&rdquo; work plan. 

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Paperiliitto Congress, forefront Gen. Sec. Petri Vanhala and Financial Manager Seija Minervue 
With six years of hardened experience as President of Paperiliitto, Ahonen was unanimously elected to another four-year term. Elected as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Union Council were Ilkka Nokelelainen and Jouko Suomalainen, respectively. 
 
Besides Ahonen, those elected to Paperiliitto&rsquo;s Executive Committee were: Timo Virtanen, Branch 5, M&auml;ntt&auml;; Jouko Aitonurmi, Branch 42, Rauma; Pertti Susi, Branch 7, Kauttua; Mirja K&auml;ki, Branch 66, H&auml;meenlinna; Juhani Haapala, Branch 19, Kuusankoski; Ari Kujapa, Branch 17, Kotka; and 
 
Veijo Ruotsalainen, Branch 52, Pietarsaari; Jarmo Kinnunen, Branch 44, Lauritsala; Jorma Paajanen, Branch 77, &Auml;&auml;nekoski; Jari Heikkil&auml;, Branch 4, Tampere, Kai P&auml;rn&auml;nen, Branch 14, Verkaus, Timo Byman, Branch 35, Myllykoski; and Lauri Santaniemi, Branch 43, Oulu. 
 
In accepting another term, Ahonen said he is &ldquo;one and only one&rdquo; member of a unified union team that will shape the better times to come for Finland&rsquo;s pulp, paper, and forestry sector. &ldquo;I do feel optimistic that better times avail for the future,&rdquo; he said, adding the union&rsquo;s newly-named Executive Committee and the Union Council, in concert with Paperiliitto&rsquo;s 34 branch unions, will play a major role in recovery of the Nordic nation&rsquo;s most important industry.

Paperiliitto Elects Leaders, Prepares for Hard Talks in Finnish Pulp, Paper Sector

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Both ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have condemned Harmony Gold for lax security at its Eland Mine in Welkom, Free State province, following the deaths of 82 illegal miners. Reportedly, an underground fire that started on 18 May caused the deaths, with the first bodies brought to the surface on 30 May. 
 
A total of 294 illegal miners who lived and worked inside Harmony&rsquo;s abandoned mine were brought safely to the surface, along with the dead bodies starting two weeks ago. 
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Mines Minister Susan Shabangu
COSATU is supporting NUM&rsquo;s call that a full government investigation must occur. The NUM charged Harmony with failure to properly invest in security systems. South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu, who spoke at a press conference at the mine site following the removal of 25 bodies on 2 June, said the deaths come at the hands of organized crime.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
At the same press conference with Shabangu, Harmony&rsquo;s CEO Graham Briggs said the &ldquo;criminal miners&rdquo; had requested of Harmony to provide body bags &ldquo;and we have been doing such and they have been bringing the bodies to the shaft stations.&rdquo; 
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The NUM points to a system of corrupt managers and others who lure workers into the shuttered gold mines of South Africa. With major redundancies occurring in many mining sectors in South Africa, coupled with continued high gold prices, profiteering through illegal gold mining is again rampant. Gold prices in South Africa have increased 51% from March 2008 to March 2009. In March of this year, 20 illegal miners died from a fire inside shafts of Pan African Resources&rsquo; New Consort Mine in Mpumalanga province.
The illegal miners are referred to as &ldquo;zama-zamas&rdquo; who live underground and survive by another corrupt practice, individuals delivering them food and supplies in exchange for money. The NUM believes the miners themselves are the victims and calls on the South Africa government to earnestly eradicate illegal mining.

82 Illegal Miners Dead at Harmony Gold in South Africa

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The ICEM, United Steelworkers (USW) of the US, and the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) are coordinating a trade union and parliamentary/ congressional delegation to Mexico in support of the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) and their fight for free and independent unionism in the Latin country. 
 
The delegation, rescheduled due to the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, will go ahead July 8&ndash;12 and the destination is Mexico City. The delegation will meet with the Congressional Commission on Cananea, with ambassadors of delegation countries, hold an International Solidarity Conference, and a Solidarity visit to Juan Linares, a political prisoner in Reclusorio Norte prison. Delegates will then hold a public meeting to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Los Mineros in L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas. On 13 July, delegates will visit the Pasta de Conchos mine site in Sabinas, to pay tribute to the victims, widows, and families of the deadly 2006 mine explosion in which 65 miners perished. 

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Participating unions in the solidarity mission will come from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, UK, and the US, alongside leaders of the ICEM and IMF. 
 
Participating members&rsquo; of parliaments and members of congresses that are expected to join the delegation are from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, South Africa, and UK. 
 
The Mexican government has been largely successful in reaching its goal of destroying trade unionism in Mexico. Los Mineros is one of the very few unions in the country to resist government control and to continue fighting for improved wages and labour laws. Following the union&rsquo;s denouncement of the multinational mining corporation Grupo Mexico, as well as the national government, over the explosion at Pasta de Conchos, the government cooperated with Grupo Mexico in efforts to destroy the union. 
 
Mexican security forces have repeatedly been involved in beatings, death threats, and illegal arrests in the union busting campaign. Last week, a striking worker was killed by police. The courageous strike at major Grupo Mexico locations has been in place for 22 months, even though Grupo Mexico gained a decree halting it.

Solidarity Delegation to Miners’ of Mexico Slated Next Month

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The threats of strikes are now on in mining in South Africa, following the latest rounds of talks in several mining sectors. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) filed for dispute resolution last week with the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) in gold talks with the Chamber of Mines. 
 
In coal talks on Friday, some progress was noted on benefits and working conditions, although the NUM and other unions remain far apart on wages. Employers, through the Chamber, are offering 7.5% for lower-paid colliery workers and 6.5% for others. 
 
The talks in the gold sector, covering 150,000 miners, went to government intervention following the Chamber&rsquo;s refusal to offer more than 7%, a few percentage points less that South Africa&rsquo;s current consumer price index. In 2008, that inflation index hit 11.5%, while the current food index is at 14.9%. The NUM is seeking 15% and the possibility of a strike in the gold sector is likely. 

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NUM General Secretary Frans Beleni
&ldquo;It has always been our intention to bargain in good faith, to try to reach a settlement through negotiations,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. This year, he added, he NUM may have &ldquo;to use a different tool in strike action.&rdquo; The NUM is standing behind a 12th Congress mandate from late May that calls for significant wage increases across the mining sector. 
 
At that Congress, NUM President Senzeni Zokwana said, &ldquo;Let no union leader believe we are going to settle for low wages. We will demand a living wage for mine workers, construction workers, and energy workers.&rdquo; Talks in all NUM sectors are now in critical stages. 
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Senzeni Zokwana
In platinum mining negotiations, Anglo Platinum&rsquo;s wage offer of 6% was rejected by the NUM and further talks are scheduled for 25-26 June. The union is seeking 15% with AngloPlats, while it has a 20% wage proposal tabled before Impala Platinum. It also seeks a moratorium on hiring and promotions of white women at Implats, the world&rsquo;s second larger platinum producer, as well as a pension fund increase from 16.5% to 25%. Talks there are to resume on 17 June. 
In coal talks, progress was made on establishing employee stock ownership plans at companies which offer no such plans, and some progress was noted over language on sub-contracting. Talks in coal will resume on 18 June. 
In all South African mining sector talks, the NUM is pressing for full work rights and guarantees for contract workers, and an end to the use of labour brokers. The union is also seeking a six-month paid maternity leave in several sets of negotiations. 
 
The biannual wage talks are being conducted with the Chamber of Mines on behalf of several mining houses, as well as directly and bi-laterally with some major mining companies, most specifically the platinum producers and Harmony Gold. 
 
In an unrelated matter, the NUM scored a decisive Labour Court victory over diamond miners DeBeers. The court ruled that DeBeers violated the labour Relations Act when it bypassed dialogue with the NUM over severance payments for miners made redundant. The court decision, ordering payment for 1,467 displaced diamond miners, was a victory for the NUM, which argued successfully that due process under Section 189A of the labour statute, was violated.

Wage Talks Stall Across South Africa Mining Sector

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Canada&rsquo;s Paper and Forest Workers&rsquo; Federation (FTPF) of Quebec&rsquo;s Confederation of National Unions in Canada (CSN) held its 58th Congress last week in Quebec City under the banner of &ldquo;More than Ever, We Continue Our Action.&rdquo; ICEM affiliated FTPF-CSN is part of the Quebec-based CSN labour umbrella organisation representing 300,000 workers from 1,700 trade unions in 4,394 workplaces. 
 
Following the opening of the triennial Congress, the President of FTPF-CSN, Sylvain Parent, presented the report of the executive committee before an address by the President of CSN, Claudette Carbonneau. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan delivered a speech at the Congress, which ran from 8-12 June, and presented the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s work plan for the pulp and paper sector, as well as union actions of late. Some 200 delegates attended the Congress. 

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FTPF-CSN, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary, rallied its members to have a forward-looking vision for the timber, pulp, and paper industries of Quebec. According to the 13,000-member union, since the onset of Canada&rsquo;s forest crisis in 2003, plant closures have taken place &ldquo;at a rate of hell.&rdquo; 
 
Over 15,000 workers, including 3,200 FTPF members, have lost their jobs. It is estimated that out of 250 communities dependent on the forestry sector, 31 were severely strained by the job loss. Several experts spoke on new products derived from forestlands, as well as on environmental issues and an overall global portrait of the sector and in Canada. 
 
On 10 June, the future of Quebec&rsquo;s forestry industry was discussed through different panels. 
 
FTPF has 185 local branch unions, and is structured around three sectors: forestry (sawmills, golf clubs, and transportation), pulp and paper (25 unions), and wood processing (doors, windows, counters, furniture, woodworking, and printing. According to union officials, 3,500 members are in the pulp and paper sector. 
 
Its umbrella federation, the CSN, covers nine national sectors, including commerce, white-collar workers, health and social services, metal, pulp/paper/forestry, communications, education, public services, and construction.

Quebecois Paperworkers Hold 58th Congress in Canada

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In Naples, Italy, last month, FEMCA-CISL, the ICEM-affiliated energy, chemicals, and textile-related industries union of the federation CISL, held its Third National Congress at the Tiberio Palace Hotel and Conference Center. 
 
The Congress focused on measures to overcome the financial crisis and collective bargaining following the general framework agreement in Italy of 15 April 2009. 

Sergio Gigli, who was re-elected General Secretary of FEMCA-CISL, stated in his Secretariat Report that it is a stressful time for trade unionism, considering protection of workers at this time of economic crisis, as well as work revisions and restructurings being carried out by many companies. 

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Sergio Gigli
But, he added, FEMCA-CISL, a consolidated federation that is united and strong, has been able to intervene successfully in several very difficult situations. 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated the union for successful renewal of the Global Framework Agreement with Eni, the Italian energy concern, and expressed his condolences to those members of FEMCA-CISL and all Italians who were affected by the March 2009 earthquake in central Italy. 
 
Then, Warda wrote to ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in Italy: The ICEM expresses its &ldquo;deep sorrow and our sincerest hopes that recovery and rebuilding will occur in the dignified manner in which the world has come to know the Italian people.&rdquo; At last month&rsquo;s Congress, Warda also called for international cooperation to combat the dire consequences of the global financial crisis, brought on by the failed policies of the neo-liberal era. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Sergio Gigli on his re-election as General Secretary of FEMCA-CISL, and expresses its continued and strong readiness to work with the union on issues.

FEMCA-CISL Holds 3rd National Congress in Italy

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The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) held a changing-of-the-guard Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 24 &ndash; 27 May. 
 
The Congress unanimously elected Jyrki Raina as the new General Secretary of the Global Union Federation. Raina replaces Marcello Malentacchi, who retired after 20 years as General Secretary. 
 
The IMF Congress adopted a new Action Programme for the period 2009-2013. The policy agenda spells out the main themes of the programme, and Raina emphasized them &hellip; building &ldquo;strong national trade unions, organize the unorganized, invest in union-building, education and training, strengthen collective bargaining, defend trade union rights, improve women&rsquo;s representation, and bring about sustainable development and decent work.&rdquo; 

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Raina has served as General Secretary of Nordic-In since 2006. He is a native of Finland, and worked for the Finnish Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, Kemianliitto, the ICEF and ICEM, before leading Nordic-In. 
 
Raina also emphasized the importance of increasing international cooperation of the labour movement worldwide, so as to more effectively campaign on issues such as the financial and economic crisis, climate change, and sustainable jobs. 
 
Another significant action taken at IMF&rsquo;s Congress was the Executive Committee&rsquo;s endorsement of the Declaration of Intent, signed in March by other Global Union Federations. This document signifies a further step to an eventual unified global union structure for industry and manufacturing. 
 
The IMF Congress also conducted elections for other positions. Berthold Huber, Germany&rsquo;s IG Metall President, was elected IMF President; Thomas R. Buffenbarger, President of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) was elected IMF Vice President; and Hiroshi Kamada of Japan and Fernando Lopes of Brazil were elected as IMF Assistant General Secretaries.

IMF Congress Welcomes New General Secretary

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Jens Bundvad of Danish trade union CO-industri was unanimously elected 11 June as General Secretary of Nordic-In, the five-nation, 22-member Trade Union Federation. The election occurred at Nordic-In&rsquo;s biennial Congress in Stavanger, Norway. 
 
Bundvad succeeds Jyrki Raina, the federation&rsquo;s first General Secretary who was elected to lead the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) last month. 
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Jens Bundvad
Stefan L&ouml;fven remains the president of 1.2-million-member Nordic-In, which effectively covers industrial workers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. L&ouml;fven is also president of the Swedish union, IF Metall. 
 
Nordic-In came into existence in January 2006 with the merger of Nordic Metal and the Nordic Industry Workers&rsquo; Federation (NIF). Its mission is to coordinate policies and actions of the Nordic trade unions, especially within European industry federations European Metal (EMF), EMCEF, and the European Textile, Clothing, and Leather Federation, as well as globally with the ICEM, IMF, and the International Textile, Garment, and Leathers Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).

Nordic-In Elects Jens Bundvad as General Secretary

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Instead of facing testimony in a US federal court over the complicity its Nigerian subsidiary played in the 1995 executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni rights activists, Royal Dutch Shell made a US$15.5 million payout to the nine defendants &ndash; relatives of the martyrs &ndash; and the Ogoni people. 
 
Shell&rsquo;s announcement came at the outset of a federal court case in New York under the US&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act, an effective global instrument to bring social justice and payment damages to non-American victims of crimes or violations committed by companies. Shell said it would pay US$10.5 million to the defendants and US$5 million for an Ogoni trust fund. 
 
Shell termed it a &ldquo;humanitarian settlement&rdquo; and proclaimed innocence over the 1995 complicity with the Abacha regime&rsquo;s round-up and execution of the land and environmental rights activists, who were leading the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. 
 
The civil lawsuit in the US, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and EarthRights International, lingered on for well over a decade. One US writer, labour rights activist Phil Mattera, wrote, &ldquo;It is understandable why the plaintiffs &hellip; would feel a need to settle a case that had dragged on for 13 years and provide some financial assistance to the Ogoni community. Yet it is frustrating to see Shell trying to turn an outrage into an opportunity to burnish its image.&rdquo; 
 
Shell was charged with crimes against humanity, and being complicit with arbitrary arrest, torture, jurisprudence negligence, wrongful death, and emotional distress. Saro-Wiwa and the others faced hasty trials and immediate execution by security forces of General Abacha in November 1995.

Shell Pays Nigeria’s Ogoni People, Avoids Tell-tale US Court Case

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