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	&nbsp;

	Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, 11-12 February, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.

	The trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri, including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Pivat, in concert with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), set an agenda of wage moderation, instead focusing on winning excellent and precedent-setting job preservation protections such as training, seniority, and reduced work hours at full pay for both old and young workers.

	This industrial social accord now establishes the parameters for other work sectors. The agreement will run from 1 March 2012 to 1 March 2014. The national industrial agreement did establish minimum wage guideposts, but exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements.

	The framework agreement grants training at full pay with business downturns and when reductions in work time occur, and it also allows older workers to reduce their working time within five years of retirement by continuing their income levels through salaries and partial pension benefits. Workers will also have the option to tap into current pension plans as a supplement to salaries.

	A key element in the new agreement is an additional &euro;.05-per-hour worked will be added to the national Industrial Training fund.

	Employee discretion in taking training options increases from two weeks to six weeks, in some cases, and full seniority is granted to workers when they are called back from lay-offs within nine months. Previously, it was six months. As well, paid sick leave occurs after six months on a job rather than the previous nine months.

	The new pact is also kinder to lower-income earners and gives better pay-outs when such workers are laid off. Parental leave was made more flexible and added pension accrual was put in place for weekend, holiday or extra work performed.

	The recommended minimum wage increase is &euro;.18-per-hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year.

	The bargaining, which began in early January, nearly reached dispute when HK/Privat , the Commercial and Clerical Workers&rsquo; Union, sought to drop the 50% benchmark regarding number of staff needed before a collective agreement takes effect. A compromise was struck that gives employers the opportunity to sign labour agreements without the 50% threshold and HK/Privat coverage also was expanded to include administrative staff working as trainees and college students.

	The agreement was widely praised in Denmark as the necessary building block to restore some 80,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the country since the onset of the financial crisis.

Enlightened Industrial Labour Pact Set in Place in Denmark for 240,000 Workers

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	&nbsp;

	The ICEM &ndash; along with the European Mine, Chemical, Energy, Federation (EMCEF) &ndash; will march in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, tomorrow, 16 November, in support of 5,200 British workers who are seriously threatened by Unilever with closure of a final salary pension scheme. The ICEM and EMCEF will join European workers of the world&rsquo;s third largest consumer goods company in protest at the company&rsquo;s Rotterdam headquarters.

	The message &ndash; Unilever, Don&rsquo;t Make Workers Pay for Your Profits &ndash; will specifically target Unilever CEO Paul Polman for his 2010-11 salary and bonus pay-out of &euro;8 million. Unilever is out to slash between 20-40% of pension earnings to UK workers represented by trade unions Unite the Union, GMB and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers&rsquo; (USDAW).

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 141px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	Jennie Formby

	&ldquo;Executive greed and compensation must be challenged,&rdquo; stated United National Officer Jennie Formby. Polman saw a 50% increase in his total earnings from 2010 to 2011, some 285 times that of the average Unilever worker.

	The Rotterdam manifestation comes just days two weeks after Unilever posted a strong set of financial numbers in its latest results and three weeks after UK workers from several Unilever sites descended on Davos, Switzerland, where Polman served as one of the co-chairs at the World Economic Forum.

	The three British unions have engaged in two rounds of industrial actions against Unilever at 11 plants, the latest coming with 11 days of rolling strike actions that ended on 28 January. Unilever UK management did finally agree to meet with the unions on 9 February with the assistance of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Mediation Services (ACAS), but the company is still adamant on closing the final salary pension scheme effective 1 July 2012.

	Unilever instead intends to implement a pension scheme based on career average earnings. Formby said Polman&rsquo;s vision of doubling Unilever&rsquo;s revenue stream over the next ten years and creating &ldquo;sustainable living&rdquo; is disingenuous in view of cutting workers&rsquo; pensions.

	Tomorrow&rsquo;s manifestation will begin at 12h00 at Unilever&rsquo;s offices at Weena 455, Rotterdam. The ICEM also will raise concerns over the 5 February closure due to a labour dispute at Unilever&rsquo;s Basamadi, Nepal, factory. The dispute at that facility, which produces Lux and Lifebuoy soaps and Pepsodent and Close-Up toothpastes, is close to a resolve this week after intervention from the Nepalese government.

Unilever Rotterdam Protest Pits Corporate Compensation vs. Workers’ Pension Cuts

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 77, February 2012

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	Warning strikes across Austria&rsquo;s electric energy sector slated for tomorrow, 15 February, brought a national labour agreement to 21,000 workers over the weekend. ICEM affiliate PRO-GE and GPA-djp, the Salaried Employees, Print, Journalism, Paper Union reached accord on 12 February after the third round of bargaining last week failed.

	In keeping with a decision made in worksite meetings after the second round of talks failed, late in January, the two unions got strike endorsement from the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (&Ouml;GB) and were to start manifestations today, with warning strikes commencing tomorrow.

	Instead, the employers&rsquo; association moved a previous 3.6% wage offer to over 4%, with the minimum level of wages in the utility sector lifted to 4.2%. Higher-level wages will be increased by 3.8%, while those of apprentices will be hiked by 4.2%.

	The two unions took the stalemate in 2012 wage negotiations to union memberships at the shop-floor level because employers were refusing to come close to wage level increases reached in Austria&rsquo;s metal sector last October, or to account for a 2011 inflation rate of 3.2% that continues to rise. The unions also cited rising company earnings as reason why electric generating and distribution companies could pay what was achieved in the nation&rsquo;s metal sector.

	In a statement issued yesterday, PRO-GE&rsquo;s Manfred Anderle and GPA-djp&rsquo;s Karl Proyer jointly said: &ldquo;Our great thanks go to all employees and to the shop stewards, who made this possible through their solidarity and readiness for action.&rdquo;

Threat of Strikes in Austria’s Electric Sector Brings National Accord

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	The Australian High Court last week refused to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto over the company&rsquo;s illegal non-union collective agreements imposed on iron ore miners in West Australia. The denial is a victory for ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which took the case forward, and a victory for legitimate collective bargaining rights.

	It also stands as a rebuke to Rio Tinto in its efforts to avoid 2009 changes in Australian labour law.

	The 10 February ruling not to hear Rio&rsquo;s appeal to a 25 July 2011 determination by the full bench of the country&rsquo;s Federal Court means Rio&rsquo;s sham labour agreement from July 2008 is not a genuine collective agreement. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4571-Australia-s-CFMEU-Wins-Major-Bargaining-Ruling-Against-Rio-Tinto">ICEM report</a> on Federal Court decision from 1 August 2011.)

	It also serves as an invitation for iron ore miners &ndash; and others &ndash; in West Australia&rsquo;s rich Pilbara region to take membership in the CFMEU, with the aim to negotiate real enterprise labour agreements through the union.&nbsp; The High Court ruling will also negate other mining firms such as BHP Billiton, which also converted individual work agreements into non-union labour agreements that were intended to keep trade unions away from workers and workers without a union voice.

	In Rio Tinto&rsquo;s case, it brought ten new hires of its Pilbara Iron Company Pty. Ltd. subsidiary into a bogus Pilbara Iron Employee Agreement for a five-year duration that was meant to include all other new hires during that time. The ploy was done to avoid changes in law that took effect with the July 2009 effective date of the Fair Work Australia law.

	Some 20 such delusionary labour agreements are said to have been put in place to avoid the Fair Work law, and Rio Tinto&rsquo;s legal failure last week is expected to strike the ones that are still in effect null and void.

	&ldquo;Rio Tinto made a cynical attempt to circumvent their obligations under the Fair Work laws,&rdquo; said CFMEU Mining General Secretary Andrew Vickers. &ldquo;It has tried to dodge its obligation to recognise the rights of its workers to genuinely collectively bargain for future pay increases and improved conditions.

	&ldquo;It has been a long legal battle, but it&rsquo;s been worth it to safeguard the rights of our members in the Pilbara and demonstrate that Rio Tinto is not above the law,&rdquo; added Vickers.

Australian High Court Denies Rio Tinto’s Appeal to Evade Union Contracts

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	&ldquo;Local Actions, Global Impact&rdquo; was the motto of the annual Job Stewards&rsquo; Seminar of the ICEM Canadian affiliate, Office and Professional Employees Union (COPE) Local 378, which was held 9-11 March in Vancouver, British Columbia. COPE Local 378 represents 14,000 union members at public- and private-sector companies in the western Canadian province and affiliates to the ICEM through rank-and-file membership in the electricity and gas sectors.

	The seminar offered an opportunity to meet and work with both new and experienced shop stewards, as well as leading union officials with nine weekend-long workshops and courses that includes global solidarity and campaigns.

	The ICEM was represented by Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal &Ouml;zkan and he delivered a presentation on global union solidarity, the ICEM, and the new Global Union Federation, IndustriALL.

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	Kemal Ozkan

	&ldquo;Global solidarity is one of the major items of this seminar,&rdquo; said COPE Local 378 President David Black. &ldquo;This course starts to make the links between the experience in our own working lives and communities and workers in other countries.&rdquo; The seminar noted that &ldquo;in an increasingly shrinking world, our struggles are often the same even though they may be half way around the globe.&rdquo;

	The participants discussed the economic circumstances they find themselves in and the ongoing globalization of the world&rsquo;s economy. The seminar designed a toolbox to provide activists with an opportunity to make links with workers in other countries and to demonstrate solidarity with them.

	The seminar also welcomed Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia and Juan Linares from the National Miners&#039; and Metalworkers&#039; Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Minerosof Mexico as guests. G&oacute;mez, General Secretary of Los Mineros, has been living in exile in Vancouver for over four years through the support of ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), while Juan Linares was imprisoned in Mexico from 2008 to 2011 after returning to his home country after attending the convention of British Columbia Federation of Labour.

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	Both G&oacute;mez and Linares have been persecuted and threatened by the Mexican government despite the fact that courts there have dismissed false charges against them over the handling of union funds. Linares, in an emotional speech, cordially thanked participants for the support and solidarity delivered by COPE Local 378.

	Following the close of the seminar, COPE Local 378&rsquo;s Gwenne Farrell wrote to the ICEM, stating, &ldquo;I can tell that we had approximately 165 participants in attendance and the feedback they have given me is that they now fully support the work we are doing with the ICEM.

	&ldquo;Moreover, the course that I facilitated on Global Solidarity trained some of our activists on what they can do to help with a number of global issues.&nbsp; Thank you for making a difference to our members and for doing such a great job promoting ICEM.&rdquo;

Canadian COPE Union Ties Local Actions into Global Impact

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	A merger of labour federations in Swaziland has set the stage for a struggle toward democracy and independent political parties in the country. On 10-13 March, the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) convened its first Congress and priority number one is to establish a multi-party political system, or to boycott sham elections next year.

	TUCOSWA, formulated last year, was officially launched at its Congress in Matsapha and its first order of business was to demand registration and participation of political parties in Africa&rsquo;s last absolute monarchy, run by despotic King Mswati III.

	The new labour federation amalgamates the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Swaziland Federation of Labour (SFL), as well as the most powerful single trade union, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). The 50,000-member federation vowed that there will either be open and fair Parliamentary elections next year, or Mswati would face a boycott of next year&rsquo;s elections.

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	Political parties have been banned in Swaziland since 1973 and Mswati and his cronies have mismanaged the economy so severely that public sector salaries have gone unpaid. At this month&rsquo;s founding Congress, TUCOSWA announced it would embark on a nationwide education campaign, and as part of that, major protests likely to occur in April and May.

	Such manifestations will no doubt be met forcefully by Swazi police loyal to Mswati. In fact, at a meeting in Lubombo in January by leaders of TUCOSWA to discuss the monarch&rsquo;s introduction of a value added tax, police broke it up after the unionists refused a demand to call off the meeting.

	&ldquo;Workers are more prepared now to go to grassroots levels and into the communities to shed light on what the government should be doing,&rdquo; said TUCOSWA President Barnes Dlamini.

	TUCOSWA General-Secretary Vincent Ncongwane used his speech at the end of this initial Congress to rally civil society &ndash; including faith-based groups and cultural entities &ndash; to frustrate next year&rsquo;s scheduled electoral farce.

	In Swaziland, Mswati operates with what is called a tinkhundla regime, an undemocratic system whereby all power is vested in him with administrative matters put in the hands of tribal chiefs dependent on his patronage. The Swazi Parliament has few powers, with Mswati making appointments to many of the seats in the House of Assembly and Senate.

Merged Swaziland Labour Federation to Advance Cause of Democracy

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	The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is demanding that labour and regulatory law in the province of Ontario be toughened in the wake of the social calamity perpetrated by Caterpillar Inc. in the recent lockout/closure of a rail electric diesel factory in the south-western provincial city of London.

	With that nearly all labour law in Canada is governed by the provinces, CAW demanded in a 29 February letter to Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey that Ontario toughen its labour statutes as remedy to lax investment regulations. Specifically, the CAW demands that more powers be granted the Ontario Labour Relations Board to stamp out bad-faith bargaining strategies.

	The CAW is campaigning for a stronger and more modernized labour code in Ontario because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s subsidiary, Electro-Motive Diesel, blackmailing workers and a community in choosing between non-liveable wages and a major plant closure. (See prior <a href="-Caterpillar-to-Close-Canadian-Train-Locomotive-Plant">ICEM report</a> here.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 145px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Ken Lewenza

	In the letter, CAW President Ken Lewenza said, &ldquo;The company&rsquo;s unjustifiable behaviour &ndash; and the resulting devastation now being brought to bear on workers and the community &ndash; has touched a nerve with Canadians and triggered broad public support.&rdquo;

	The CAW is proposing powers of expedited interest arbitration in pitched labour disputes, as well as new provisions to prevent employers from evading collective agreements by using a lockout.

	Also put forward is a ban on scab replacement workers during a dispute, and restoring workers&rsquo; plant closing rights to negotiate adjustment plans. The CAW also says fairness demands the lengthening of time for giving plant closing notice, and a minimum two weeks&rsquo; pay for each year of service, with elimination of the five-year service tie-in.

	The CAW letter also calls for an Industrial Inquiry Commission, as stipulated in Section 37, Ontario Labour Relations Act, in order to investigate Caterpillar carnage on workers in the province and the city of London.

	&ldquo;The Caterpillar debacle demonstrates all too well the ease with which an employer can stall out the negotiation process, bargain in bad faith with impunity and manufacture a dispute in an attempt to evade contractual obligations,&rdquo; Lewenza stated.

	&ldquo;Caterpillar did not misjudge or misinterpret Ontario&rsquo;s labour laws; rather, they understood them all too well, and exploited the laws&rsquo; weaknesses as a key part of their overall strategy.&rdquo;

Update Labour Laws, CAW Tells Ontario in Caterpillar Aftermath

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	If anyone needs further proof to Vale&rsquo;s global social neglect, it comes in a pair of dirty deeds committed by the Brazilian mining company in and after the bitter 2009-10 strike at a major nickel and copper operation in Sudbury, Ontario.

	One involves circumstances surrounding two deaths inside Vale&rsquo;s Frood-Stobie Mine on 8 June 2011 and the other is added legal proof that Vale&rsquo;s strong-arm tactics in firing union activists during the United Steelworkers (USW) strike was meant to hinder legal collective bargaining.

	An extensive report issued 29 February by the USW over the June 2011 deaths of Jordan Fram, 26, an equipment operator, and Jason Chenier, 35, a supervisor, was done because Vale refused the offer of the USW to investigate the accident jointly. USW blames negligent water drainage maintenance directly tied to lax and &ldquo;little experience or training&rdquo; of front-line supervisors.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 347px;height: 138px" width="390">&nbsp;

	USW Local 6500 Union Meeting

	Fram and Chenier were buried 900 metres underground by an overflow of muck, a term for an avalanche of wet rock, gravel, sand, water washing down a mine shaft. Even though USW Local 6500 is the legitimate bargaining representative, the report notes, &ldquo;Vale officials refused to be interviewed by members of the USW team&rdquo; even though union members &ldquo;cooperated fully in management&rsquo;s investigation.&rdquo;

	The <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/exectsum.pdf">Executive Summary</a> and the full 207-page <a href="http://www.uswlocal6500.ca/reports/dfinvest.doc">USW Report</a> are here.

	The week before USW issued the report, the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) ruled that Vale violated provincial labour law by maintaining a &ldquo;patently unreasonable&rdquo; stance over nine workers Vale fired for strike activity. The OLRB agreed with the USW that the nine trade unionists were denied rights to third-party arbitration by the company, and further cited Vale for &ldquo;troubling&rdquo; labour relations conduct across several areas.

	In January, the OLRB <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4838-Ontario-Labour-Board-Rules-Discharged-USW-Sudbury-Leader-has-Worksite-Access">cited Vale with union interference</a> for denying entry onto company property for one of the nine discharged workers is the elected head of Local 6500&rsquo;s Grievance Committee. The USW is now confident that arbitrated decisions will prevail and the nine workers will return to their rightful jobs.

	The USW District Director for Ontario and the Atlantic Region, Wayne Fraser, said the OLRB&rsquo;s 24 February ruling &ldquo;should give Vale pause to consider the hardship inflicted on families,&rdquo; adding that the unlawful conduct &ldquo;prolonged the suffering and uncertainty for families in our community.&rdquo;

	Vale&rsquo;s safety record in Canada was tarnished again on 29 January 2012 when 47-year-old Stephen Perry, an explosives worker, was crushed to death when a rock face collapsed on him while he was working in a lift basket. This death occurred 1,300 metres inside Vale&rsquo;s Coleman nickel mine near Sudbury.

	A fourth Canadian Vale death in 2011 occurred on 19 October when 51-year-old scooptram operator Greg Leason was killed when his machine fell 40 metres into a cavern inside the T-3 Mine in Thompson, Manitoba.

	Historically, the four 2011 deaths at Vale in Canada are atypical because the USW is a vigilant proponent of joint labour-management process safety procedures that prevent workplace accidents. But with Vale&rsquo;s hostile labour relations still simmering some 20 months after the strike, no cooperation with the union over health and safety issues is proving detrimental to workplace safety.

Safety, Union Busting Haunts Vale inside Sudbury, Canada, Mines

Today on International Women&#039;s Day, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is calling for the immediate apprehension of the killer or killers of Pinky Mosiane, a 28-year-old South African woman who was employed as a miner at American Platinum&rsquo;s (Amplats) Khomanani mine in North West province. On 6 February, she was raped or sexually assaulted, and then brutally murdered with a large rock crushing her skull.

	The ICEM calls attention that today, 8 March, those responsible for this barbaric crime have not been captured. Underground mining is tough enough for both men and women, and women who work in mines should not have to fear aggression of any sort from other workers, supervisors or anyone else. At the Khomanani mine near Rustenburg, Amplats employs 3,800 workers and 262 of them are women.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 97px" width="390" />

	Pinky Mosiane

	The ICEM has confidence that Anglo American plc., the Amplats parent company, and police in South Africa are doing all that they can to solve Pinky Mosiane&rsquo;s murder. But we urge the investigations be stepped up and those responsible for this heinous crime against a co-worker be apprehended at once, for a safe and secure workplace at the Khomanani mine.

	&ldquo;Workplace violence against women in any form is a glaring violation of decent work and a severe signal of gender inequality,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. ICEM statistics show that seven of ten women suffer some kind of gender-related violence at some point in their lives. And 50% of women in the European Union suffer on-the-job harassment or bullying.

	Pinky Mosiane of Pshing township, South Africa, leaves a seven-year-old son, who also lost his father in 2010, and her mother, Mary. To die this kind of death at the workplace, particularly in a mine, is nearly incomprehensible. But it happened and on this International Women&#039;s Day &ndash; and the days to come &ndash; the ICEM will not rest until the perpetrator(s) of this bestial act are apprehended and shown justice.

	For further information, contact ICEM Gender Officer Carol Bruce, &nbsp;<a href="mailto:carol.bruce@icem.org">carol.bruce@icem.org</a>, +41 79 734 9031, or ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, &nbsp;<a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842.

International Women’s Day: ICEM Demands Immediate Apprehending of Pinky Mosiane’s Murderer(s)

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