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For the urgent attention of His Majesty 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev 
Narayanhity Royal Palace 
Durbar Marg 
Kathmandu 
Nepal 
 
By fax: +977 14 413577 and +977 14 228235 
 
 
Brussels, 24 January 2006 
 
 
King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, 
 
I am writing as General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), in the name of the 20 million members that we represent worldwide in over 120 countries, to protest the ongoing repression in Nepal against numerous trade union leaders. 
 
Over the course of the past week, as your regime began preventing planned pro-democracy demonstrations and engaged itself in a brutal and repressive wave against peaceful protests, a large number of trade union leaders were arrested, together with many other leaders and activists from other organisations. 
 
Amongst the trade unionists arrested were GEFONT Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Gefont Secretary-General Binod Shrestha, as well as Ms. Manju Bhattarai, NTUC Central member and Mr Radheshyam Pathak, NTUC District President. 
 
We are calling upon you to ensure the immediate release of all trade union leaders and members that have been arrested over the last few days, as well as for the release of all political leaders and activists that are currently in detention. 
In addition, we understand that the curfew that was in place since 16 January has now been lifted in Kathmandu and its neighbouring city Lalitpur. However, much more remains to be done in order to put your country on the path to democracy. For example, new curfews have been announced, and others remain in place, and these should be lifted. I would like to urge you to rescind these curfews as a matter of priority. 
Thanking you in advance for your kind cooperation 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW) intends to file a lawsuit in a federal courtroom in the state of South Carolina over Giant Cement&rsquo;s improper reporting of hazardous wastes emitted from the company&rsquo;s plant in Harleyville, South Carolina.
<img height="99" src="" width="100" alt="" />
USW claims Giant failed to report the identity and quantity of hazardous wastes burned at the plant, as well as hazardous chemicals used and stored on the jobsite of late. The suit will allege violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986
&nbsp;Giant, a subsidiary of Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas, is operating the cement plant with replacement workers and some 50 of the 138 workers who struck the plant in August 2005. The strike ended on 24 September, but the company has refused to take back the majority of unionised workers.

US Steelworkers File Environment Suit Against Spanish Cement Firm

French multinational Saint-Gobain in Thailand is using contract employees as well as logistics and maintenance workers to continue a lockout at an auto-glass assembly plant in Rayong province.
<img height="97" src="" width="100" alt="" />
After Saint-Gobain Sekurit presented, on 5 January, a pay offer that included an inferior bonus payment for 2005, some 300 workers protested outside the plant. The company locked out the workers the next day.
The plant has increased production since Saint-Gobain Sekurit gained auto-glass assembly contracts from General Motors Holden in Australia last year, a move inspired by the Howard government&rsquo;s free-trade agreement with Thailand that cost 120 jobs at two Pilkington auto-glass factories. The plant also fits glass for Toyota and Ford automobiles.
Thai union members at Saint-Gobain Sekurit, affiliated with the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers&rsquo; Unions, are facing management proposals calling for reductions in Sunday overtime pay, a reduction from five days to three on &ldquo;private leave,&rdquo; and extending the retirement age.

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

ICEM Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have threatened to pull all oil workers from the Niger Delta unless the government moves to improve security and rebel groups cease using violence to gain political ground. Since four expatriate workers were kidnapped on 11 January at the Shell-operated EA offshore field, a spate of attacks at other installations has killed 22 workers.
<img height="104" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="105" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In a joint statement, NUPENG and PENGASSAN said, &ldquo;If the restiveness and consequent harassment and violence on workers in the oil and gas industry persist, we shall not hesitate to withdraw our members in the various oil and gas companies operating in the region.&rdquo;
The unions called on the government to urgently resolve tensions in an amicable way and to use peaceful means to secure the release of abducted oilmen. They also called on kidnappers to release the Shell contract workers, and demanded militia groups to stop the &ldquo;violence unleashed in the Niger Delta on our members, leading to the loss of 22 lives, the taking of oil workers as hostages and the shutting down of a flow station in Benisede in Bayelsa State.&rdquo;

Nigerian Oil Affiliates Seek Halt to Niger Violence

Nepal&rsquo;s despotic monarchy ordered a day-long curfew on 20 January, which prevented planned demonstrations in Kathmandu and neighbouring Lalitpur by pro-democracy political parties, including trade union federations GEFONT, DECONT, and NTUC.
Instead, protests sprang up across the capital city on 21 January and were met with excessive force by police using tear gas and brandishing firearms instead of bamboo batons. Some 300 demonstrators were arrested, and many of those remained in custody this morning. In addition, police arrested another 150 political and human rights activists on 19 and 20 January.
<img height="159" alt="" src="" width="139" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="157" alt="" src="" width="122" />
Gefont's Secretary General Binod Shrestha&nbsp;and 
&nbsp;Chairman Mukunda Neupane 
Senior GEFONT leaders&mdash;Chairperson Makunda Neupane and Secretary-General Binod Shrestha&mdash;were arrested on 19 January and remain in police custody. Leaders of a seven-party political alliance not already under arrest have called for a general strike across Nepal on 26 January in protest to King Gyanendra&rsquo;s absolute rule.
More: 
<a href="/index.php?id=7&amp;doc=1630&amp;la=EN">ICEM letter to the King of Nepal</a>

Nepal’s Pro-democracy Groups Call for 26 January General Strike

The ICEM is calling on Nepal&rsquo;s monarchy to immediately release the top two leaders of Nepalese trade union federation General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), as well as scores of senior leaders of a seven-party political coalition who were rounded up yesterday and early today and placed under a 90-day detention order. Early today, authorities arrested GEFONT senior leaders Chairperson Mukunda Neupane and Secretary-General Binod Shrestha at their homes. 
 

<img height="44" alt="" src="" width="372" />
The Global Union Federation (GUF), covering 20 million workers from the energy and chemicals sectors to mining and process industry sectors, also is calling on King Gyanendra to immediately rescind a 16 January dictum that forbids peaceful protest and assembly in Kathmandu and neighbouring Lalitpur. 
 
The order banning all assemblies, processions and political sit-ins is aimed at blocking scheduled non-violent protests for tomorrow, 20 January, as well as future pro-democracy rallies. 
 
&ldquo;We call for immediate release of GEFONT&rsquo;s leaders and others,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;To arrest these people only deepens our resolve, and the resolve of pro-democracy voices inside Nepal for an end to the absolute rule of this monarchist regime.&rdquo; 
 
Higgs added, &ldquo;The political coalition that has taken shape in Nepal has proven through its peaceful mass protest in Janakpur on 12 January that non-violent dissent is a legitimate vehicle for an end to the suppression of political rights,&rdquo; said Higgs. &ldquo;The ICEM supports the people of Nepal to participate in such non-violent protests and demonstrations.&rdquo; 
 
Further, the ICEM condemns the regime&rsquo;s recent curfews, changes in media law placing stricter controls on radio stations, and today&rsquo;s cut-off of mobile phone transmissions. 
 
The Brussels-based GUF also voices its opposition to recent amendments to Nepal&rsquo;s Labour Code, which have been orchestrated by government ministries intended for the royal seal. Such amendments, the ICEM feels, will restrict workers&rsquo; rights and trade union rights, as well as imposing undue foreign influence inside Nepal&rsquo;s worksites.

ICEM Calls for Release of Nepal Trade Union Leaders, Restoration of Rights

The 20-million-member ICEM calls on the government of Serbia-Montenegro to meet the legitimate pay demands by ICEM-affiliated EPS Trade Union at three enterprises of the state-run electric power generation and distribution services, i.e. the PE Electric Power Industry of Serbia, the PE Elektromreža Srbije (the Serbian Transmission System and Market Operator) and the PE Underground Pit Mine Extraction. 
<img width="100" height="100" src="" alt="" />
Workers at these three enterprises are owed wage arrears for 2004 and 2005. The government has failed to respond to union demands, as well as to make an adequate wage offer for 2006. Workers at the three enterprises began a series of one-hour strikes on 10 January in protest of the non-payment of wages, and have conducted similar one-hour strikes every day since. 
 
&ldquo;The inflation rate in Serbia in 2005 reached 17%,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;It is unconscionable that the government is withholding payment of wages due for past years and refusing to make an acceptable offer this year.&rdquo; 
 
Serbia-Montenegro&rsquo;s government had requested that EPS Trade Union postpone any strike action until the end of February 2006. The ICEM says that such a request is irresponsible considering the non-payment of wages in 2004 and 2005. 
 
The ICEM fully supports the strikes, and has offered assistance to the 43,000-member EPS Trade Union in meeting their pay demands.

ICEM Calls on Serbia to Pay Backwages, Reach 2006 Pay Terms

&nbsp;<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
ICEM Norwegian affiliate Fellesforbundet has taken in the Norwegian Graphical Workers&rsquo; Union in a merger that will give the union greater strength in the graphical, cardboard and packaging sectors of Norway. The merger became effective 1 January. 
Fellesforbundet&rsquo;s executive board will increase by four seats with the addition of three members from the Graphical Division, plus former President Ander Skattkjaer, who will also direct Fellesforbundet&rsquo;s Collective Bargaining Department.

Norwegian Fellesforbundet, Graphical Union Merge

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The United Steelworkers (USW) is on strike in Canada against global mining giant Vale, as reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3315-Miners-of-USW-Strike-Vale’s-Nickel-Riches-in-Canada">InBrief 135</a>. The ICEM is coordinating global union solidarity among its affiliates for these striking miners and is asking its mining affiliates around the world to demonstrate solidarity. A letter was sent this morning from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, urging &ldquo;We have an historic opportunity in an expanding campaign to confront a global corporation with global trade union power&rdquo;. 
 
More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Greater Sudbury and Port Colborne took industrial action on 13 July; strikers are now digging in as the strike enters its third week. 
<img alt="" src="" width="358" height="142" />
The local/branch of the USW has established a website in which the major issues in the strike can be viewed -- <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">http://www.fairdealnow.ca</a>. 
Vale is the second largest mining company in the world. In the last five years, Vale has made enormous profits, with $13.2 billion (USD) net profit in 2008 alone. According to the company&rsquo;s own figures, each Vale employee produced $221,223 of 2008 net profits. Unfortunately, Vale has shared little of that profit with its miners. In contrast, it has paid six top executives $33 million in compensation in 2008 alone and had their pay increased more than 120% from 2006 to 2008. 

<img alt="" src="" width="174" height="175" />
Local 6500 President John Fera
ICEM affiliates in Africa are supporting the USW struggle, and in doing so, are increasing the pressure on Vale leadership to halt their mistreatment of their mineworkers in Canada. This is because Vale plans large expansion in the African continent and their reputation there will necessary for this. Creating a two-tiered pension plan, slashing the nickel bonus and seriously damaging seniority rights, is not acceptable behaviour from the Vale management. 
 
CUT Brazil and the United Steelworkers signed what they call a &quot;strategic partnership&quot;, last week, to support workers in their negotiations with the Brazilian multinational Vale, in both Canada and Brazil. &quot;The Brazilian workers organized in the Vale Union Network, part of nearly 150,000 Vale employees in 35 countries on five continents, are extremely concerned about the fate of the negotiations in Canada, since the outcome could have an immediate impact in the renewal of the collective agreement in Brazil,&quot; the CUT statement said. 
 
As Vale Inco spokesman Cory McPhee blamed the current economic downturn for the extensive concessions for workers, including heavy cuts to pensions, and to production bonuses, Local 6500 vice-president Rick Bertrand pointed out that Vale Inco has made $4.2 billion in Sudbury since it purchased Inco, late 2006. The ICEM campaign will continue protesting against mining companies, who attempt to take unfair advantage of the current economic crisis. Workers should not pay for the crisis they did not create.

ICEM Affiliates Demonstrate Solidarity for USW Striking Miners in Canada

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n in Colombia is calling for international solidarity for the outsourced workers of transport contractor SOTRANS. Those workers are being subjected to a fierce campaign, in response to their attempts to exercise their right to organise and bargain collectively. The new trade union SINTRANS, faces a difficult challenge, as all SOTRANS workers are contracted on a fixed term, six-month basis. Colombia has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98. 
 
The fact that all SOTRANS workers are limited to six month contracts, enabled the contractor to end the employment of union leaders Vicente Pomarico and Jorge Diaz, ignoring their protections as founders and leaders of the workers&rsquo; organisation and members of the bargaining committee. The company have since continued their strategy of persecution and harassment of the union, making 33 more workers, involved in the union, unemployed. Eighty per cent of the SOTRANS workers are still reported to be organised. The management of Cerrej&oacute;n and the Ministry of Social Protection have voiced no objection at all to this blatant violation to the right to organise. 

<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="185" />
SINTRANS is the first union of subcontractors at Cerrej&oacute;n. Sintracarb&oacute;n, with full ICEM support, seeks to set a precedent of SINTRANS at the site, an example for workers at other subcontracting firms there. There are around 300 contractor companies at the site in La Guajira, conducting much of the operation&rsquo;s work. The union continues to organise meetings and demonstrations at the world&rsquo;s richest coal reserve. There is no sign of the union backing down. 
 
As reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3290-Sintracarbón-Seeks-Unionisation-for-Subcontractor-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia">InBrief</a>, SINTRANS are pushing for two priorities, firstly full-time permanent employment contracts, and secondly wages and social benefits that are, at least, in line with the national minimum standards. They are currently paid US$250 a month. Subcontractors at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-pit coal mines, are often described as working in &ldquo;slave labour&rdquo; conditions. It is the responsibility of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management to block SOTRANS&rsquo; campaign of harassment and union-busting at their site. 

<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="173" />
Carlos Gaviria
Colombian politician Carlos Gaviria D&iacute;az, president of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), has stepped in on the side of subcontractors, &ldquo;the realization of these rights is an indicator of the vitality of a democracy and the rule of law&quot;. Gaviria does not accept the claims from Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, that these rights violations are not their responsibility due to the &ldquo;independence&rdquo; of contractor firms. &quot;Outsourcing can not be a dodge to evade responsibilities and violate workers' rights,&quot; he added. 
 
Senator Jorge Robledo has also weighed in supporting the victimised SINTRANS workers, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 33 union members sacked by the contractor. Robledo has also denounced the complicity of the Cerrej&oacute;n management. 
 
In unrelated news in Colombia, new ICEM affiliate Union Sindical Obrera (USO) are facing intimidation during their collective negotiations with petroleum company Ecopetrol. Thursday 17 July saw riot police attack workers at the Barrancabermeja refinery with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun bombs. Workers flocked to listen to union leaders at the refinery front door, but were attacked by the security forces, leaving 3 injured workers and arresting 2 more. The attack occurred two days after the start of the negotiations; USO suspended the meeting to focus on treating the injured and securing the release of detainees. 

<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="140" />
USO President Germ&aacute;n Osman condemned the attack. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia.

Temporary Workers in Colombia Attacked for Attempting to Organise

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