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The ICEM was saddened to learn of the death on, 17 January 2008, in Japan, of Daisaku Kouchiyama, chairman of ICEM-JAF from 1992 until 2001. He was 68. 
 
&ldquo;Brother Kouchiyama was a driving force in establishing the present structure of the ICEM,&rdquo; stated General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We have lost a brother and a leader whose name will be remembered in the context of the successes that, first, the ICEF achieved, and then the ICEM reached.&rdquo; 
 
Warda alerted many present and past leaders of the ICEF, MIF, and ICEM of his passing. That brought many written tributes and testaments that were forwarded to his family at his funeral on 20 January. Brother Kouchiyama was a leader in the reformation of the modern Japanese labour movement, as well as a champion of the rights of workers globally. 
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Daisaku Kouchiyama
He served as a Vice President and Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Region of the ICEF and ICEM until his retirement in 2001, and was one of the key negotiators in the merger between the ICEF and Mineworkers&rsquo; International Federation (MIF). In 1854, he started working at Takeda Pharmaceutical, and rose through the trade union ranks of Zenka Domei and later, UI Zensen labour federation. 
 
In Japan, he served on a number of important committees, including the Council on Statutory Social Insurance, the Council of Chemical Products, the Price Stabilization Committee, the Central Labour Relations Commission, and the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. 
 
Brother Kouchiyama had been bed-ridden since mid-December 2007, suffering from the last stages of cancer. The ICEM extends its condolences to his family, and to the trade union movement in Japan over his passing.

ICEM Mourns Death of Daisaku Kouchiyama Japan

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In a 3 January letter to the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Iraq, Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad al Assadi, leader of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU), demanded enactment of a draft labour law upholding workers&rsquo; rights to join unions and bargain collectively. 
 
Iraq needs passage of the Labour and Social Security Law for stability, Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad said, and he also proposed that Iraq formalize a multiple trade union federation and union structure, based on professions and industries. That structure would be headed by a central council of labour federations &ldquo;to promote and advance the democratic work&rdquo; necessary to build trade unions that protect the best interests of the Iraqi workers, he wrote. 
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Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad, IFOU leader, speaking at the ICEM Congress in Bangkok
Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad and the IFOU call on the government to comply immediately with the part of the 2005 Constitution, which &ldquo;guarantees the right of forming and joining professional organisations and unions.&rdquo; The draft labour law, written in 2006, is now delayed up by Iraq&rsquo;s Council of Ministers, preventing it from reaching the Parliament. 
 
The Labour and Social Security Law, if passed, would guarantee trade union rights, for instance, to elect shop floor representatives. It would ensure full freedom of association, and it would grant protection from discriminatory actions, such as death or threat of death, due to trade union activity. 
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Hassan Juma&rsquo;a Awad&rsquo;s letter urged the Labour and Social Ministry to implement &ldquo;a pluralistic approach whereby sectoral federations and professional organisations are recognised in the union work.&rdquo; He also stressed that union participation must begin with trade union committees on shop floors in order &ldquo;to follow the bottom-top approach&rdquo; to building unions and trade union federations.
The ICEM insists that the Iraqi government act now to adopt this rights-bearing labour law. Reconciliation can really begin when living standards rise. The ICEM has condemned the union-crippling measures that were implemented by the occupying forces following the 2003 invasion, as well as renewal of those decrees by the Iraqi government since. 
 
The IFOU is a 30,000-member labour federation based in Basra that is the workers&rsquo; voice in some ten oil businesses connected with the Southern Oil Co.

Iraqi Labour Law Must Be Enacted Now, Says IFOU Leader

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Tomorrow, 29 January in Helsinki, Finland, ICEM pulp and paper affiliates Paperiliitto and Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni TU will hold a Public Meeting over Stora Enso&rsquo;s decision to close two mills in Finland, as well as a paper machine at a third mill. 
 
The event, entitled &quot;Work - Not a Support Package,&quot;&nbsp;is expected to draw thousands of concerned Finnish citizens, as the two unions and other groups bring pressure to bear on Stora Enso, as well as the Finnish government, which holds 16% of the company&rsquo;s stock. 
 
Concern is also expected to arise at the meeting over Stora&rsquo;s decision to close the Norrsundet mill in Sweden, and the company&rsquo;s cutting of white-collar jobs in several European countries. 
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The Public Meeting, to be held at the Marina Congress Center in Helsinki, will feature a panel discussion led by Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen and Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni TU President Antti Rinne. The panel discussion will include representatives from the government, including Defence Minister Jyri H&auml;k&auml;mies, who is responsible for enterprise ownership steering for the Nordic nation. It is hoped that Stora Enso&rsquo;s senior managers will also attend. 
 
The Public Meeting will feature an address entitled &ldquo;Life in the Shadow of a Mill&rdquo; by noted Finnish actor and film director, Kari V&auml;&auml;n&auml;nen. 
 
The meeting will begin at 10h00 outside the Congress Center with a meal of soup, and the programme opens inside at 12h00. Also addressing concerned Finnish citizens will be Lauri Ihalainen, President of SAK, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions; Jaakko Kiander, Director of the Labour Institute of Economic Research; and Heikki Nivala, leader of a mass movement at Kemij&auml;rvi, one of the Finnish mills targeted for closure. 
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In late October 2007, Stora Enso announced another restructuring, this time aimed at closing mills, reducing paper capacity, and chopping jobs &ndash; 1,700 in total. Some 1,100 of those jobs were to be cut in Finland. 
 
Following incomplete social dialogue in mid-January, the company announced that the job losses in Finland would total 985. But it also announced that closure to its Summa, Finland, newsprint and book papers mill in Kymenlaakso would occur at the of January 2008, costing 450 jobs; the Kemij&auml;rvi pulp mill, employing 214, would shut, in April 2008; and a paper machine at the Anjala mill would stop producing in November 2008, costing 122 jobs. 
 
Stora Enso also intends to close the Norrsundet pulp mill in Sweden by the end of the year, idling 350 workers who are represented by Swedish ICEM affiliates Svenska Pappers and Unionen, the white-collar private-sector union in Sweden. 
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Paperiliitto and white-collar union Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni in Finland seek to delay the closings, and if necessary, to force Stora Enso through the state to sell the mills to companies or enterprises that will operate them. The unions have taken job actions over the past two weeks at the mills, with Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni also taking strike action last week at other Finnish companies partly owned by the state, including Finnair, telecommunications operators Elisa and TeliaSonera, alcohol manufacturer Altia, and Patria, a weapons manufacturer. 
 
The ICEM is strongly supporting the efforts of Finnish trade unions, as well as those in Sweden for job retention and a continuation of dialogue among social partners on Stora Enso&rsquo;s restructuring plan. Scores of protest letters were sent last week by global pulp and paper unions, as well as trade unions from the graphical and wood-products sectors, calling on the company to re-think its plans. 
 
In a letter to Stora Enso CEO Jouko Karvinen, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda urged the company to &ldquo;seriously consider the multiplied devastation&rdquo; that the job losses will have in the affected communities. 
 
&ldquo;Stora Enso can expect this issue to arise within its own global operations, the operations of other pulp and paper companies worldwide, as well as with stakeholders who are concerned with good governance,&rdquo; the ICEM wrote.

Public Meeting in Finland on 29 January to Address Stora Enso’s Ill-Advised Paper Cuts

<a href="#PPT">For a collection of Powerpoint presentations at the meeting, click here</a>
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Draft Agenda 
Chair of the meeting: Sjaiful DP, FSP KEP Indonesia
<ul>
 <li>9.00. Opening by Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 
 </li>
 <li>9.10 Welcome by Vesna Rodic, Resident Director FES Thailand 
 </li>
 <li>9.15. Aranya Pakapath, ICEM Project coordinator, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Asia 
 
 9.30. Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Latin America 
 
 9.45. Kenny Mogane, ICEM Project coordinator, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Sub-Saharan Africa 
 
 10.00. J&oslash;rgen Juul Rasmussen, DEF, Denmark, overview of the contract and agency labour situation in Western and Northern Europe 
 
 </li>
 <li>10.15. - 10.45. Break 
 </li>
 <li>10.45. - 12.30. Additional speakers 
 
 Bambang Surjono, FSPKEP, Indonesia, Indonesian case study 
 Mato Lalic, ICEM Project coordinator, on the situation in Central Europe 
 Tony Burke, UNITE, UK, UK case study * 
 Carol Fraser, CEP Canada, on the situation in North America 
 Lev Mironov, ROGWU, Russia, on the situation in Eastern Europe 
 Olucha Umeh, NUPENG, Nigeria, case study 
 Maria Angelica Vera Horma, FENATRAPECH, Chile, Chilean case study * 
 Hassan J&rsquo;Aama, IFOU, Iraq, on the situation in Middle East * 
 
 </li>
 <li>12.30. - 14.00. Break </li>
</ul>
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<ul>
 <li>14.00. ILO representative* 
 
 14.15. Jim Baker, Council of Global Unions Coordinator, on the impact for organising and bargaining 
 
 14.30. Evgenia Esenina, ICEM Vice-President, ROGWU, Russia, on the gender aspect 
 
 </li>
 <li>14.45. Plenary debate 
 </li>
 <li>15.00. Break 
 </li>
 <li>15.30. Brendan Martin, ICEM Project consultant, past and future of the ICEM contract and agency labour campaign 
 
 15.50. Discussion 
 
 </li>
 <li>16.50. Conclusion 
 </li>
 <li>17.00. End of meeting </li>
</ul>
* to be confirmed
Conference facilitator: Jeannette van Dongen, ICEM Project Officer
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Presentations from the Meeting
&nbsp;

ICEM Contract and Agency labour Conference

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<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2485&amp;la=EN">ICEM Congress Closes with Strong Motions on Burma, Iraq</a> 
24 November 2007
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="25" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2484&amp;la=EN">ICEM elects Senzeni Zokwana, Manfred Warda to lead 20-Million-Member Global Union Federation</a> 
23 November 2007
&nbsp;<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="25" align="absMiddle" />
<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2481&amp;la=EN">ICEM Congress Opens with Cry of Better Mine Safety, Curbs to Capital Markets</a> 
22 November 2007
<img height="28" alt="" src="" width="25" align="absMiddle" />
<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2482&amp;la=EN">4th ICEM World Congress 
Opening Speech by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana</a> 
22 November 2007
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<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2483&amp;la=EN">4th ICEM World Congress 
Speech by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda</a> 
22 November 2007
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<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2479&amp;la=EN">Contract and Agency Labour - a Global and Negative Phenomenon</a> 
21 November 2007
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<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2474&amp;la=EN">ICEM Women Elect New Vice President, Adopt 7-Point Programme</a> 
18 November 2007

4th ICEM World Congress - CONGRESS NEWS

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Following overwhelming rejection of a collective agreement proposal on 28 September, 500 members of New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) have put off industrial action late last week after the plastic employers&rsquo; association promised to improve their offer.
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EPMU National Industry Officer Rachel Mackintosh said the decision to call off the strike was taken reluctantly, but employers pledged in talks late last week to revise the offer to include added leave time and recognition for long-time service. &ldquo;At this stage, we don&rsquo;t know the details of the offer, but the heat is on the employers because they know we&rsquo;re determined to see this through and get a fair deal,&rdquo; said Mackintosh. 
 
She said the union&rsquo;s bargaining committee for plastics thought it was important to give bosses one further opportunity to include added leave time in a new proposal. The EPMU represents plastics manufacturing workers of 13 companies at 16 worksites.
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On 28 September, 81% of the workers voted to reject a prior industry offer based on the failure to address their service leave claim. They also endorsed a resolution to engage in industrial action. In the first two weeks of September, EPMU members in plastics manufacturing had rejected an earlier employers&rsquo; proposal. 
 
EPMU members in metal sector bargaining won an extra week&rsquo;s leave in that set of talks in 2007, and plastics workers of the EPMU are adamant on posting the same gains.

Plastic Manufacturing Strike in New Zealand Averted for Now

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Three US congressional members from the US House of Represents have written to American management of Continental AG, asking that they rescind the deep medical cuts made to a retirees&rsquo; health care plan when the company closed tyre plants in the US. 
 
Linda S&aacute;nchez (California), Stephen Lynch (Massachusetts), and Michael Michaud (Maine), members of the Labor and Working Families Caucus of the US Congress, called on the German company to &ldquo;promptly fulfil Continental&rsquo;s contractual obligations to retired workers.&rdquo;
The letter was on behalf of ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), which has pressed through court and other actions that Continental&rsquo;s unilateral change to the health care plan was illegal. Effective 1 March 2007, the rubber maker imposed a US$3,000 annual cap on health care payments for each of 2,500 retired Conti workers and dependents. The USW contends that some retirees now must pay up to US$12,000 per year in out-of-pocket money to cover their health care needs. 
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On 31 July 2007, a US federal district judge, in a summary judgement in the state of Ohio, ruled that Continental had illegally reduced the benefit levels for retirees and dependents, stating the company must fulfil its contractual obligations with the USW over health care premiums and funding. Continental Tire of North American, the US subsidiary, immediately filed an appeal to that judgement in another US court. 
 
The decision to appeal and delay rightful health care benefits was a blow to former Continental workers in Charlotte, state of North Carolina; Mayfield, state of Kentucky, and Byron, Ohio, where, in 2006, they had already been victims of Continental plant closings. 
 
The US elected representatives, speaking out for fairness and justice, told Continental that its practices were having a devastating impact on its American retirees. The letter stated that considering the 30-plus years of dedicated service by former Continental employees performed, as well as the extraordinary health hazards inside the tyre industry, it is hard to understand the inadequate health care benefits these retirees now receive.

US Congress Members Urge Continental AG to Rescind Retiree Health Care Cuts

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Strong, last-minute arm-twisting by the US government apparently proved effective, as Costa Ricans went to the polls yesterday, 7 October, in a referendum on ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the US. With over 90% of polling complete early on Monday, the &ldquo;yes&rdquo; vote has gained just over 50%, while those voting against tallied 47.6%. 
 
Some 60% of Costa Rica&rsquo;s 2.6 million voters turned out for Sunday&rsquo;s balloting. A 40% turnout was needed to make the plebiscite legally binding. Costa Rica was the only one of six Latin countries to put ratification of CAFTA before voters. Earlier, the governments of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua ratified CAFTA, which will open trading markets between the countries and the US. 
 
On Saturday, the Bush administration issued a terse warning to Costa Rica&rsquo;s citizens, stating that if ratification did not occur, it would not extend existing preferential tariffs on certain goods traded between the two countries. The US government also said under no circumstances would it re-negotiate the trade agreement with Costa Rica.
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In polls taken as late as the middle of last week, proponents of a &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote, led by unions and others under the banner &ldquo;Patriotic Movement Against FTA and US,&rdquo; were leading in polls, with upwards of 55% of Costa Ricans saying they would reject the plan. The opponents, including national labour centres Central del Movimiento de Trabajadores Costarricenses (CMTC) and the Confederaci&oacute;n de Trabajadores Rerum Navarum (CTRN), have been deeply suspicious of the US-prescribed trade and privatisation agreement. 
 
Specifically, they expressed concern over a flood of cheap US food products entering the country. Opponents also cited privatisation of Costa Rica&rsquo;s state-run telecommunications company, the country&rsquo;s insurance services, and its agriculture industry. 
 
In the waning days of the campaign, however, besides the campaign interference by the US government, President Oscar Arias &ndash; a proponent &ndash; termed a &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote as &ldquo;collective suicide.&rdquo; Two month&rsquo;s before Sunday&rsquo;s vote, a high-level memorandum from top aides of Arias was leaked that outlined a dirty tricks campaign against the &ldquo;no&rdquo; faction. The memo caused the temporary resignation of Second Vice President and Planning Minister Kevin Casas.

Costa Rica Narrowly Passes Free Trade Pact in 7 October Balloting

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Three weeks after suspending a scheduled 12 September strike, 2,000 copper mining and smelting workers in Peru downed tools on 2 October in an indefinite strike. The strike, against Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s Southern Copper Corporation, came after the mining and metals federation &ndash; ICEM affiliate FNTMMSP &ndash; halted strike action after miners voted on 11 September to give government mediated talks a chance to work. 
 
Following the start of last week&rsquo;s strike, the FNTMMSP called on Labour Minister Susana Pinilla to quicken the dialogue in order to find solutions to unresolved issues. FNTMMSP will mobilise toward a national strike across the mining sector on 5 November unless issues get resolved at Southern Copper and other mining enterprises.
<img height="124" alt="" src="" width="130" />
The strike by Peruvian miners at troubled Grupo M&eacute;xico instantly raised copper prices nearly 1% on world markets. The strike occurred at Southern Copper&rsquo;s Toquepala and Cuajure mines, and at its Ilo smelter. Workers are demanding a fair pay package of 11%, while Grupo M&eacute;xico seeks longer shifts and proposes a pay offer of less than half of what the union seeks. The company predicts a strike of any duration will cause 2007 production losses to exceed 10%. Southern Copper produces 370,000 tonnes of copper annually from its Peruvian operations. 
 
Southern Copper&rsquo;s miners took short strike actions in May and June of this year. The company&rsquo;s chief attack has been to file charges with the government claiming the strikes are illegal. 
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Grupo M&eacute;xico is also fighting miners in Mexico. Since 30 July, Mexican mining and metals union, SNTMMRM, has been striking three operations of the company, including the Cananea copper mine in northern Mexico, near the US border. The other two mines are a silver, lead, and zinc mine, near Taxco in Guerrero state, and the San Mart&iacute;n zinc mine in Zacatecas. 
 
Mexican miners are striking over demands for collective agreements, and better health and safety conditions. Grupo M&eacute;xico has responded by announcing mine closures, citing depletion of resources, and seeking to declare the strikes illegal.

Grupo Mexico’s Miners in Peru Strike for Fair Pay

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ICEM North American affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) issued a public letter to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe last week warning that a paramilitary group called the &ldquo;Black Eagles&rdquo; has recently threatened leaders of food and beverage union SINALTRAINAL in the area of Bucaramanga, Santander state, with death. 
 
The USW said the group stated they would &ldquo;bury the union members and their families in a mass grave on Christmas Day if they do not cease their union activities and leave the area.&rdquo; The US-based union specifically named SINALTRAINAL leaders Javier Correa, Luis Eduardo Garcia, and Jose Domingo Florez as the recipients of the death threats.
<img height="174" src="" width="150" alt="" />
USW President Leo Gerard
In the USW letter to Uribe, President Leo Gerard writes of a specific incident related to Jose Florez on 27 September. He says the son of the union leader was picked up by armed men, thrown into a van, beaten, and then released with the message they would not stop until Florez&rsquo;s father was dismembered. 
 
Gerard&rsquo;s letter to Uribe reminded the Colombia President that the country leads the world in the number of trade unionists who are ruthlessly killed each year. The South American country, Gerard wrote, &ldquo;represents 54% of all trade union killings world-wide. And so far in 2007, the official Colombian government figure of trade union leaders killed is 23.&rdquo; 
 
Gerard added, &ldquo;We are very concerned about this situation, especially as impunity in Colombia for the slaying of trade unionists remains at over 98%.&rdquo;
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Meanwhile, the USW and the US-based Human Rights Fund have appealed a decision by a US district court in the state of Alabama against Drummond Coal, a company that operates in Colombia and the US. The civil suit is on behalf of surviving family members of trade union leaders of Sintramienerg&eacute;tica. The USW believes these leaders were murdered in 2001 by paramilitary forces, with the complicity of the American coal company. 
 
In July 2007, a federal district court in Alabama denied testimony from relevant witnesses to the murders of three trade union leaders and ruled Drummond not guilty with connection to the killings. The USW and Human Rights Watch have now appealed that ruling to a US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals bench in Atlanta, Georgia. 
 
The case was filed on behalf of family members of Valmore Lacarno, Victor Oracasita, and Gustavo Soler. The case falls under the US Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreign citizens to file financial damage lawsuits in US courtrooms against American companies in crimes committed outside the US. The ICEM is aiding the USW in bringing the correct and necessary testimony to this set of grizzly killings in Colombia to the US justice system.

Steelworkers Issue Immediate and Specific Warning to Colombia on Death Threats to Union Leaders

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