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ICEM Women’s Bulletin: June 2012

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />Environmental abuses by Swiss mining giant Xstrata moved the grouping Front for Environmental Defense to halt copper mining production in the central Andean region of Cusco on 21 May. The civil strike calling for control of the water supply away from the polluting company escalated into violent clashes with local police on 29 May and the police shooting at protestors, killing two.Activist leaders are now demanding justice for the police brutality and the release from jail of 24 arrested protestors. Right-wing Prime Minister Oscar Valdes has declared a 30 day state of emergency in the Espinar Province, part of the Cusco Region, thereby cutting off the right of assembly and free movement.The Tintaya copper mine, owned by Xstrata is accused of numerous community level abuses, with local people now demanding an investigation into environmental damage, and a ten-fold increase of royalties from the mine to the local authority. Locals&rsquo; blood is contaminated with mercury, arsenic and cadmium from Xstrata&rsquo;s contamination of the Salado and Cañipía rivers.Police today arrested the mayor of Espinar, Oscar Mollohuanca for his role in leading the protests against Xstrata, with national riot police storming the local municipal building in a show of brutal force by national President Hullanta Humala. Humala is growing impatient with widespread protests throughout the country as Peruvians demand a semblance of justice as mineral resources are plundered without leaving a share of the wealth.Cusco is a traditional stronghold of Humala, the protesters have accused him of abandoning his leftist roots and selling out to foreign investors.Xstrata plans a US$1.5 billion expansion of the Tintaya operations at neighbouring Antapaccay mine in August and a separate US$4.2 billion Las Bambas project in southern Peru, to mine copper concentrate and gold, silver, and molybdenum by-products.

Police Shoot Peruvian Mineworkers and Environmental Protestors

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 140px;height: 78px" width="390" />The abuse of basic labour rights in Iraq, and the bravery of Iraqi workers to continue to organise under extreme pressure of aggressive employers supported by viciously anti-trade union legislation from the Saddam era is continuing. A raft of recent attacks on trade union activity of oil workers is attracting wide condemnation from international trade unions, and includes fines, forced demotions, and relocation of union officials.Join the <a href="http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1390">LabourStart campaign</a>&nbsp;and join thousands sending messages to the Iraqi government, condemning the continued repression of oil worker trade unions, and calling for a proper labour law that brings the country in line with international standards.The Court of Appeal has ruled against Ibrahim Radi, vice-president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), confirming a fine of 34 million Iraqi dinars (US$30,000), an amount far beyond the trade union leader&rsquo;s ability to pay. In case of non-payment, Radi will face jail, and also the possible dismissal from his job. Hassan Jumaa Awad Al Assadi, President of IFOU calls for solidarity and assistance from trade union comrades abroad.&nbsp;<img alt="" height="266" src="" width="200" />Hassan JumaaIFOU President Hassan Jumaa has himself recently been disciplined for trade union activity, being arbitrarily demoted three years seniority including a substantial drop in salary.In May 2011 ICEM reported on the Sadrist-controlled Ministry of Labour controlling trade union elections, appointing a &ldquo;Ministerial Preparatory Committee&rdquo; (MPC), consisting of un-elected, politically bias officials, mostly from the Sadrist Party. MPC officials distributed union membership cards, arbitrarily choosing members favourable to their faction. Union offices were taken over with support from police and military personnel, and the union elections were held inside the Sadrist Party offices. Following international outcry, those election results were voided, but today the Ministry of Labour recognised the 2011 election results and asked the same preparatory committee to oversee a new round of worker elections on 2 June. The elections stand to appoint worker representatives at all levels, and will be marred with fraud and misconduct.

Support New LabourStart Campaign for Iraqi Oil Workers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />Affiliates of the ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF are uniting in action around the world in support of the United Steelworkers (USW) campaign to push Rio Tinto &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo;. Scores of affiliates are writing to and taking action at the national representatives of the International Olympics Committee in their home countries. Take another action now to express our collective anger that Rio Tinto can tarnish the London Olympics with their abuse of worker rights and the environment, by casting your <a href="http://c.plma.se/?q=55761153701412040024">vote here</a>. As has been widely reported, the metal used for medals at the upcoming London Olympics comes from Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Kennecott Bingham Canyon mine in Utah, USA, and its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 160px" width="390" />A great advert for the mining conglomerate, scandalously linking Rio Tinto to the high ideals of the Olympic games. The multinational has a record of catastrophic pollution, and violation of human rights and public health. But the lockout of 780 workers at the aluminium smelter in Alma, Quebec has particularly angered the international trade union movement, as workers there are being punished for rejecting management attempts to halve salaries and outsource the workforce. The Kennecott union, USW Local 392, whose members mined the metal for the majority of the 4,700 medals also want the company &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo; because of the labour violations in Alma. Vote now on the <a href="http://c.plma.se/?q=55761153701412040035">London Mining Network&rsquo;s campaign</a> and ensure Rio Tinto is properly portrayed as a company not deserving of a relationship with the Olympics.

Vote to Condemn Rio Tinto as Olympics Medals Provider

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />At a critical moment for ICEM&rsquo;s glass worker affiliate in Colombia, Sintravidricol, write to the company management that is attempting to crush the union at the Cogua Cundimarca plant, the largest in Colombia.The US-based glass packaging manufacturer Owens Illinois has a long history of mistreatment of its Colombian employees, with violations including reducing workforce levels to dangerous levels, increased worktime with no rest, no worker replacements, outsourcing sections of the manufacturing process, acting unilaterally and ignoring union offers of cooperation, repeated breach of the collective agreement, and causing unsafe working conditions.Owens Illinois, the company that monopolises the industry in Colombia is now pushing hard to destroy the Sintravidricol union inside Owens Illinois by systematically replacing Sintravidricol members in permanent jobs with outsourced contract and agency jobs.Some of the workers being laid off have worked ten years at the company, and only now are being dismissed because of company policy to get rid of the union. Workers attempting to use their labour rights are given various reprisals by management, including administrative complaint procedures against them. All culminating in a multifaceted attack on basic labour freedoms.Our Colombian comrades request letters from all supporters to demand that management ends this attack and begins to respect their employees&rsquo; core trade union rights. Click <a href="mailto:juan.posada@i-com;%20Ricardo.torres@o-i.com;%20Sintravidricol@yahoo.com;%20icemcol@hotmail.com">here to write</a>&nbsp;to Juan Manuel Posada Pinzon, Human Resources Director at the Cogua plant, Ricardo Torres Lopez, Labour Relations Manager, Sintravidricol, and ICEM Colombia.

Colombian Glass Workers Fight against Union-Busting

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Members of the Swiss trade union UNIA are fighting against the proposed site closure in Geneva of pharmaceuticals giant Merck Serono which threatens 1,500 jobs. Today the workers took their protest to the company headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and conveyed the message to management that their threat of strike action is only postponed and can be activated if the consultation period that ends 4 June fails to reach real settlement. The clear expectation is for the multinational to admit the economic viability of the Geneva site and maintain the jobs through negotiating on the proposals submitted by the union.

	The fight against closure of the Geneva site will determine the future of 2,500 jobs in Germany, and 450 in France, as the group plans massive relocation of its operations abroad. The widespread international anger at the company proposals are compounded by the excellent profit margins posted and the recent 20% increase in dividend payments to shareholders. The Merck group announced on 15 May profits of &euro;152 million in the first quarter of 2012. The ICEM strongly supports UNIA&rsquo;s calls for Merck to put &ldquo;Workers before Shareholders!&rdquo;

	<img src="" style="width: 286px;height: 161px" width="390" />

	Photo: Unia/Julien Fabr&egrave;gue<img alt="" border="0" class="spacer-gif" height="5" src="" style="margin-top: 10px" title="" width="1" />

	Today in Darmstadt, UNIA militants rallied together with 1,000 members of the German IGBCE at the Merck Serono site, in loud demonstrations with whistles and cowbells and dressed in white overalls. With protests continuing outside the Geneva UNIA delegation of Alessandro Pelizzari and Hubert Godinot, IGBCE representative and European Works Council vice-president Iris G&uuml;rtler met with Dietmar Eidens and Kai Beckmann of the general management, and the chairman of the board Fran&ccedil;ois Naef. Continued disappointing attitude of management now makes renewed conflict after 4 June a real possibility, as the Geneva workforce is even prepared to make concessions on conditions and pay the company looks likely to ignore them.&nbsp;

	A key proposal of Geneva Regional Secretary of UNIA, Alessandro Pelizzari, and the members, is for a centre for biotechnology research is maintained by the company in the region, protecting at least 300 of the jobs threatened with relocation abroad.&nbsp;<a href="http://lolitaoutfits.com/Lolita-Skirts_l95">goth skirt </a>&nbsp;

	Messages of solidarity can be sent to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:info@ms-employees.org">info@ms-employees.org</a>.

Workers Across Europe Unite to Save Jobs at Merck Serono

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Strikes, road blockades, and mine sit-ins will continue through tomorrow, 31 May, as 8,000 mineworkers at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain continue their protests against government action to cut coal subsidies.

	Backed by mining unions within both of Spain&rsquo;s major labour federations -- Confederaci&oacute;n Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Uni&oacute;n General de Trabajadores (UGT) &ndash; strikes that began last week will re-start today and tomorrow following the break-off of tripartite talks yesterday, 29 May.

	The unions had hoped those negotiations would at least partially rescind the 64% subsidy cuts contained in the government&rsquo;s budget.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 255px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	Spanish Coal Miners on Strike Last Week

	The strikes began last week, 23-24 May, and saw 100% participation by coal miners. They were halted in order to give a tripartite monitoring committee on coal an opportunity to scale back the subsidies. But after six hours of futile negotiations that lasted into yesterday evening, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of both federations announced resumption of strikes today and tomorrow in and around the cities of Aragon, Asturias, and Castilla y Le&oacute;n, with a major demonstration planed in Madrid.

	Even before talks started yesterday, miners began blocking major road arteries linking northern cities, and ten miners began sit-ins late Monday evening after their shifts ended at the Cand&iacute;n mine in Oviedo. The premature strikes were spontaneous and not authorised by the unions, but the protests depicted the deep frustration felt by Spanish miners to the proposed subsidy curtailments.&nbsp;<a href="http://lolitaoutfits.com/Lolita-Corset_l166">corset for sale</a>

	The Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is adamant to enforce the 64% subsidy reduction in order to reduce the public deficit. But miners and their unions feel such a drastic cutback will be the death knell to coal-mining in Spain, a country that has shed 40,000 jobs over the past 20 year due to pit closures.

Spain’s Coal Miners’ Strike to Block State Aid Cuts to Industry

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Following a second failed effort by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) to force an unwanted enterprise labour agreement on 4,000 Queensland, Australia, coal miners, the tri-union Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) called a seven-day strike starting 23 May at six of the company&rsquo;s rich coking coal mines of the Bowen Basin.

	That strike, one in nearly ten inside a bitter 18-month dispute that has become the bellwether for trade union rights under the Labour government&rsquo;s Fair Work law, will end tomorrow but an end to the long-festering contract battle appears nowhere in sight.

	At issue is managing partner BHP Billiton&rsquo;s longing to block union involvement over safety, work shifts, housing criteria for fly-in, fly-out miners, and equal work rights for contract staff. The SBU is composed on the majority union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU).

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 145px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Last October, BMA used its Fair Work right to directly ballot miners on its regressive proposals. Then, 92% rejected an offer containing substantial pay gains but gutting union work rights. On 22 May, just four days after counting of a second company ballot that saw 82.7% rejection, BMA and SBU met in Brisbane to avert this latest strike.

	But the company came to the table unwilling to amend its demands.

	&ldquo;With the same arrogant attitude and obviously on the back of two overwhelming &lsquo;no&rsquo; votes,&rdquo; CFMEU Queensland District President Stephen Smyth said, &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t seem to register with BHP that what they are selling, our members aren&rsquo;t buying.&rdquo;

	Not only has BMA attempted to circumvent the intent of the Fair Work law over 18 months of futile bargaining, but it also was reprimanded by Fair Work Australia early this month in a failure to communicate legally with the SBU over closure and redundancies at a seventh BMA Bowen Basin mine, the 340-worker Norwich Park mine.

	Also this month, the Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) condemned BHP Billiton&rsquo;s bad-faith bargaining in a formal resolution calling attention to a leaked e-mail in March stating the company&rsquo;s terms &ldquo;are not negotiable, not now, now next month, not next year.&rdquo; The resolution also declared the company&rsquo;s pursuit of safety deregulation &ldquo;from qualified workers on the job to management&rdquo; away from mine sites as the key factor leading to the Pike River mine disaster in new Zealand.

	Past ICEM coverage of the BMA-SBU dispute, including the origins of the above cited e-mail, can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4971-Intentional-BHP-Billiton-Strife-in-Australian-Coal-Dispute-Continues">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4731-Australian-Miners-Reject-BMAa-s-Contract-Proposal-by-9225">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4679-Coal-Boss-Conceit3A-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a>.

Queensland Coal Miners End 7-day Strike after BHP Billiton Ballot Fails

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Workers in Germany&rsquo;s chemicals sector won 4.5% wage gains over the next 19 months in national talks concluded on 24 May in Sch&ouml;nefeld near Berlin. The 2012-13 negotiations between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and the chemical employers&rsquo; association, BAVC, began on 17 April.

	Perhaps more significant last week than another high round of industrial wage increases that will provide further growth to Europe&rsquo;s largest economy, the IGBCE achieved reduction in work time for older workers and more opportunities for younger ones through continuation of a &ldquo;demographic fund&rdquo; that will see even higher payments made by employers.

	The new pact, with the wage hikes to take effect between 1 July and 1 September, covers 550,000 chemical workers employed at some 1,900 companies. The 14-month 2011-12 social pact expires either at the end of May or June this year, depending on the region.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 285px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	The tough yet peaceful resolve to chemical sector talks came two days before IG Metall and the employers&rsquo; association Gesamtmetall reached 4.3% wage terms over 13 months for 800,000 metal and electronics workers in Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg state. That settlement set a pattern for other metal negotiations across Germany covering another two million workers.

	The IGBCE agreement continues a trend in the German chemicals industry that provides financial incentives for older workers to reduce their weekly work hours or opt to take early retirement at age 55, thus opening sustainable careers for young workers.

	IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Peter Hausmann said this agreement creates an even better &ldquo;age-friendly work environment.&rdquo; This is accomplished through the &ldquo;demographic fund,&rdquo; created in national talks in 2008.

	<img alt="" height="132" src="" width="175" />&nbsp;

	Peter Hausmann

	Between the years 2013 and 2015, employers will pay an additional &euro;200 per annum per worker into the fund, raising &ndash; in most cases &ndash; the yearly amount to &euro;600 and lifting the fund&rsquo;s reservoir by &euro;200 million. The fund can be tapped for early retirement at full pension benefits, reduced work week for staff over age 55 at full salary, or more workers eligible for semi-retirement, meaning a combination of reduced working hours with partial payment of pension benefits.

	In addition to the wage hikes, apprentices will realise an added &euro;50-a-month increase.

	IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis called the 2012-13 social charter &ldquo;a good result for all workers in the chemicals industry.&rdquo; He said the union accomplished a hefty pay increase and in particular achieved more comprehensive work-time savings for older workers, adding that the agreement meets the demographic changes occurring in the industry.

IGBCE Chemical Talks: Union Stays Course of Growth, Reinforces Worker Age Transition

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />The world of labour is celebrating the election victory of Guy Ryder as the tenth Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, the trilateral United Nations agency charged with protecting workers around the world.The election this Monday by the ILO governing body marks the first time someone from a trade union background has been chosen to lead the organisation. Several rounds of secret-ballot voting reduced the list of candidates from 8, and appointed Ryder on a five-year term.ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated close friend Guy Ryder on behalf of the global union, looking forward to the ILO now building on past successes and collaboration, placing decent jobs and proper trade union rights at the heart of the global agenda, in the spirit of tripartitism.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 98px;height: 91px" width="390" />&quot;Our duty to the poorest and the most vulnerable must be paramount in the journey ahead,&quot; stated Ryder.The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates lobbyied their home governments to support Ryder. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.The outgoing Director-General Juan Somavia, a Chilean national, will leave the post on 30 September 2012 after 13 years, and Ryder will take up the post in October.

ICEM Congratulates New ILO Director General Guy Ryder

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