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	Some 35 trade union leaders, mostly from Indonesian pulp and paper mills of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), attended a two-day workshop on 28-29 March in Serong, Indonesia, on trade union rights, environmental issues, and the health and safety record of the multinational company that is part of Indonesia&rsquo;s Sinar Mas Group.

	The workshop was intended to kick-start w Global Workers&rsquo; Network around APP, a company within the Indonesia-based Sinar Mas Group that also includes palm oil holdings and the European and North American pulp and paper company Paper Excellence. The workshop was generously supported by the Humanity Fund of the Canada&rsquo;s Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia, and the Solidarity Center of the US.

	The ICEM&rsquo;s Indonesian Council of Unions, headed by D. Patombong Sjaiful, hosted the event and aptly handled all logistics.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 229px;height: 159px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Delegates from multiple Indonesian labour confederations and affiliated trade unions, including the forestry and pulp union Kahutindo, that represent workers at APP owned and partially held Indonesian mills attended, and &nbsp;received valuable training on global labour standards contained in ILO Conventions, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN&rsquo;s Global Compact.

	They also heard presentations on APP&rsquo;s forestry practices in Indonesia, the ways and means of the world&rsquo;s three forest certification programmes, and they participated in a session on community-building that was conducted by Tim Woods of FitzpatrickWoods consulting group of Australia.

	Also participating were union representatives from CFMEU&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Division of its Forestry sector, local union presidents from CEP Local 440 in Nova Scotia &ndash; representing workers of Paper Excellence at the Pictou Mill there &ndash; and CEP Local 1092 in Mackenzie, British Colombia, representing Paper Excellence pulp mill workers there.

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

	As well, the United Steelworkers (USW) of the US had delegates from a pulp mill in Halsey, Oregon, attend, and the US-based union provided a look at its labour-environmental network called the BlueGreen Alliance. Other representatives came from the Swedish Paperworkers Union, Pappers, which sponsors a pulp and paper project in Indonesia, and the Pulp and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees&rsquo; Union (PPPMEU) of Malaysia.

	The central conclusion formed at the workshop is that intensive work must now start in order to unite the different unions and their respective confederations at APP&rsquo;s Indonesia&rsquo;s pulp, paper and tissue mills. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Pulp, Paper Unions Conduct Workshop on APP in Indonesia

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	Asia-Pacific Regional Chemical Unions of the ICEM discussed union organizing and strong union representation inside workplaces at a seminar entitled Coordination of Trade Union Networks and Implementation of Global Framework Agreements in the Chemical and Related Industries.

	The seminar was held 9-10 April in Shanghai, China, with support and assistance from German-based Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) through its Shanghai Coordination Office for International Cooperation led by Director Catrina Schl&auml;ger.

	Attended by 50 participants from China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam and India, the seminar was opened by speeches from Dr. Jiang GuangPing, National Secretary of All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese Affiliates&lsquo; Federation (JAF), and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 240px;height: 160px" width="390">

	Manfred Warda

	ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan introduced global and regional developments in the chemicals industry, which clearly depicted the rapidly growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region. Representatives from Japan, China, India, Thailand and Pakistan presented their experiences with other participants.

	Delegates underscored the importance of a strong union presence at chemical workplaces for getting more shared and added value from the burgeoning industry as it ramps up in the region.

	Another important topic discussed was trade union networking inside the ICEM-represented companies and sectors at the global, regional and national levels. Following ICEM&rsquo;s general overview, trade union representatives from major chemical multinationals such as BASF, Linde and Akzo Nobel put forward their experiences and discussed how to further networks in the upcoming period.

	As an important role, trade union networking was analyzed in supporting union organizing and struggling against precarious employment in Asia Pacific Region. Contributions on this subject were presented to the meeting.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 323px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The Shanghai meeting also brought forth discussion on international labour instruments, social dialogue and Global Framework Agreements (GFAs), particularly on activities carried out within ICEM&rsquo;s Project for Multinational Companies and Social Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific Region.

	The meeting heard a number of specific examples on how GFAs have successfully worked for shop-floor improvements, including cases involving French-based company Rhodia. Rhodia&rsquo;s China Country Manager, Michael Zu, presented how the GFA has impacted improvement of labour relations at the workplaces of the company in China.

	Two trade union representatives, Lee Daeyong of Rhodia in South Korea and Vadhavkar Sanjay Suryakant from Rhodia in India, shared their respective situations on implementing the GFA in their respective countries.

	On the seminar&rsquo;s second day, participants were divided into two work groups and given the task of devising future cooperation strategies on union networking and GFAs. Specific delegates related to companies BASF, Linde, Akzo Nobel and Rhodia worked in a separate work group. All groups discussed advantages, challenges, and strong and weak points of their tasks, as well as future cooperation opportunities among chemical unions in Asia-Pacific.

	&ldquo;This seminar provided an important opportunity to drive forward union organizing and strong representation through the various instruments that were studied, and to develop networks and resulting Global Framework Agreements,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan in summary.

Asia-Pacific Chemical Unions Decisive in Unity Through Networking

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	Aminul Islam, a trade union activist in Bangladesh who only two years ago was arrested for his role in protests against the garment industry&rsquo;s miserly low salaries, was found murdered on 5 April on the side of a road near Ghatail, 80 kilometres north of Dhaka.

	Islam, 40, was last seen the day before in the textile manufacturing centre of Ashulia, 30 kilometres north of Dhaka. He worked as a senior organiser for the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS), and reportedly closed the NGO office in Ashulia early on 4 April after noting police surveillance outside.

	His tortured body was found half buried with several bruises from the waist down, including his toes and ankles smashed. Police in Ghatail then buried the unidentified body, but a brother identified Islam when his tortured body was shown in a newspaper photograph. His body was exhumed and then re-buried on 9 April in his home village of Kaliakoir.

	He is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter.

	Aminul Islam was arrested in June 2010 along with some 20 other demonstrators after they violated a ban on protests when the government raised the minimum wage for garment and textile workers only a token amount. Those charges were still pending against him and a few other trade union activists.

	Islam and the BCWS had most recently been leading a campaign of liveable wages and fair treatment against the Shanta Group, a garment supplier to Nike, Ralph Lauren and PVH, the latter a maker of garments for Tommy Hilfiger. He had also assisted in arranging news interviews by an American television network with exploited workers in the Ashulia area.

	The International Trade Union Confederation has written Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanding a full and impartial investigation of Islam&rsquo;s death. That letter can be found <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-letter-to-bgd-minister-of.html?lang=en">here</a>.

Garment Workers’ Activist Brutally Murdered in Bangladesh

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	Workers belonging to several unions in Guinea began strike action on 4 April against UC Rusal at the Russian company&rsquo;s Friguira alumina refinery in the city of Fria. The strike by 5,000 workers is termed an indefinite one and started after managers of the company refused to adhere to better working conditions for workers.

	Rusal said the strike is illegal and has urged the Guinean government to intervene. On 10 April, the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow issued a terse statement calling strikers &ldquo;extremist syndicalists,&rdquo; urging the government to take decisive action to end the strike.

	But late last week the government closed the offices of Rusal in the capital of Conakry &ndash; 100 kilometres from Fria &ndash; in violation of environmental regulations at Frigura. In September 2011, Guinea passed a new mining code mandating that a 35% stake of all resource-producing enterprises be placed in state hands. Rusal has resisted that law, even though it bought the bauxite and aluminium operation valued at US$257 million in 2006 for US$19 million.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 200px;height: 92px" width="390" />

	Since, Guinea&rsquo;s government has found that Rusal has evaded some US$860 in taxes due and non-payment of royalties.

	At the Friguira operation, the only aluminium refinery in the West African country which holds roughly two-thirds of the world&rsquo;s bauxite reserves, workers are seeking a doubling of the current US$200 monthly wage and for Rusal to pay their medical expenses. The Frigura refinery can produce 630,000 metric tonnes early of aluminium.

	Rusal has a long history of exploiting workers in Guinea&rsquo;s bauxite industry. In 2009, following an ICEM Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) workshop attended by government officials, the Russian industrial relations manager of the company, Anatoly Pantchenko, was expelled from the country after exposure to practices regarding the use of casual labour.

	It was customary for Rusal to allow front-line managers to establish phantom labour brokering companies in order to hire casual workers at low pay with commissions going to the font-line bosses. The ICEM considered this practice the perpetuation of abject poverty in a country many consider to be the poorest nation on earth.

Guinea’s Unions Take Strike Action Against Rusal’s Aluminium, Bauxite Operations

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	The campaign to free Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, long-time Thai campaigner for labour rights, is growing as the one-year anniversary of his arrest approaches. Somyot is being held in prison only on remand, facing unproven charges of l&egrave;se majest&eacute;, or daring to &ldquo;defame, insult, or threaten&rdquo; the King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand.&rdquo;

	Brother Somyot, a former ICEM Thailand Coordinator, must be freed immediately and unconditionally, states the ICEM.

	The disgraceful detention and persecution of Somyot is based on two articles published in the journal Voice of Thaksin, but Somyot was not the author of either piece in question and, in fact, the articles do not threaten or insult the king. Brother Somyot was the acting editor of the publication, but was not the legal publisher.

	Indisputably, Somyot is incarcerated purely for his trade union and left-leaning political activism. For those reasons, he also is not receiving a fair judicial process with violations that include hearings being relocated to distant provinces so that key defence witnesses cannot participate.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 88px;height: 178px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Somyot Pruksakasemsuk

	Brother Somyot has been held in inhumane conditions in jail, where cells are overcrowded to the extreme. Through his transfers to distant judicial hearings, Somyot has been transported standing over 4,000 kilometres in a cage on the back of a truck and bound by heavy chains.

	This unacceptable treatment has moved supporters to push hard for Somyot to be released on bail, but the courts have refused such petitions on eight occasions on the grounds that he would flee Thailand, or interfere with witnesses while on bail. Somyot is 50 and suffers from bad health, reasons why he should be released on humanitarian grounds.&nbsp;

	The ICEM joins the large international coalition in condemning the continuing use of the &ldquo;l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law&rdquo; to crack down on legitimate protest in Thailand. The archaic legislation allows for harsh punishment for freedom of expression, an internationally recognised fundamental human right. Brother Somyot faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two articles, if found guilty.

	Send your protest to <a href="mailto:somyot.righttobail@gmail.com">somyot.righttobail@gmail.com</a>. Use the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM%20Somyot%20Protest%20Letter%20April%202012.docx">model letter</a>&nbsp;found here.

	A new trial of Somyot begins today, with prosecution witness hearings every day until 26 April, and defence witness hearings 1-4 May.

	See more on the <a href="http://www.freesomyot.wordpress.com">Free Somyot campaign</a>&nbsp;website here.

	Another labour and human rights defender is also in detention on non-credible charges. Brother Sirichai Mai-ngam of Thailand also has ICEM&rsquo;s full support.

	The ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Conference resolved last week for the ICEM to launch campaigns supporting the two activists in Thailand so that they are released with all charges dropped.

Free Somyot NOW!  Unionists Urged to Send Letters Demanding Thai Justice!

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

	The ICEM-affiliated Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS) conducted a two-week tour of activities in Switzerland that concluded this week, educating trade union colleagues on the grave violations of work rights abuses by Holcim Cement of contract workers in India&rsquo;s Chhattisgarh region.

	Causing a stir in the Swiss media, the PCSS together with Swiss union UNIA and Swiss-based human rights organisation <a href="http://www.multiwatch.ch/">MultiWatch</a>, solidarity organisation <a href="http://www.solifonds.ch/node/121">Solifonds</a>, the ICEM and Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) raised increasing awareness through various channels.

	The details of the case are shocking and include the worst examples of workers&rsquo; rights violations around the world, especially in terms of the global trend of outsourcing and engaging precarious employment relationships, which capital sees as a tool to lessen its responsibilities to workers.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 211px;height: 158px" width="390" />

	Holcim AGM Protest

	Holcim invested in the Indian cement industry in 2005 when the Indian government opened up the country&rsquo;s resources to outside investment. Holcim&rsquo;s two subsidiaries, ACC Jamul and Ambuja Cement, had a long history of abusing worker rights, and Holcim has thus far refused to reverse these practices. Instead, the Swiss-based company has overseen an increasing proportion of contract workers that now comprises 80% of the company&rsquo;s total workforce.

	The PCSS represents contract workers at the two plants and Holcim is the largest cement producer in India. Contract workers are protected by Indian law and by a sectoral agreement prohibiting employment in core production work, with all work paid at the same rate that permanent workers receive.

	This stipulation has been flouted at Holcim India, where contract workers work side by side with permanent workers in core production, and they are denied proper protective equipment and paid one-third that of permanent workers. They also do not receive proper benefits and have greatly reduced rights to organise and bargain collectively.

	Contract workers of Holcim India have been punished for attempting to organise into the democratic PCSS union and as well, they have been punished for informing global Holcim management of the abuses. In fact, the majority of the PCSS members at Holcim are now excluded from work in the companies due to their union involvement.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 98px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Shalini Gera of PCSS with UNIA&#039;s Rolf Beyeler

	Global pressure has forced Holcim to pay attention to these violations in India, but when Holcim Executive Paul Hugentobler visited ACC Jamul recently, contract workers were all moved to a different shift and workers&rsquo; representatives were banned from taking part in meeting with him. Instead, representatives of the sham company union, OP Banchore, were involved.

	The Supreme Court of Chhattisgarh ruled in favour of the PCSS, instructing the company to award permanent employment contracts to those temporary employees, some of whom have remained on rolling temporary contracts for over 20 years. Holcim India even went so far as to reject India&rsquo;s court ruling and instead committed large financial resources to extend the legal process.

	The PCSS, supported by ICEM, met last week with the National Contact Point of the OECD in Switzerland as part of the process of the complaint on breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim India.

	PCSS was welcomed at the ILO on 13 April, where explanations of the violations in India were met with serious concern and proposals for possible action.

	Public events in Zurich, Bern, and Geneva spoiled Holcim&rsquo;s 100-year anniversary celebrations. A demonstration outside Holcim&rsquo;s Annual General Shareholders meeting yesterday presented management with a new book documenting the group&rsquo;s abuses around the world, and a manifesto for which signatures are being collected around the world, already signed by global figures such as Noam Chomsky.

Holcim Cement Tainted in Switzerland by Work Rights Abuses in India

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

	From the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation 

	On 24 April, the federal tribunal cancelled the only remaining warrant for the arrest of the leader of the Mexican Miners&#039; Union (SNTMMSRM), Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, regarding US$55 million of union funds.

	On Tuesday 24 April, the First Unitary Criminal Court of Mexico City notified the union that the federal justice system had cancelled the preventive measure.

	Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez&#039;s lawyer, Marco Del Toro, said: &quot;All the arrest warrants issued as part of this unprecedented campaign of political persecution have fallen one by one. We are very happy with today&#039;s ruling. It is a lesson to those in Mexico who think they can still conduct this kind of immoral persecution, which is alien to our legal system.&quot;

	<img alt="" height="107" src="" style="cursor: default" width="160" />

	Napol&eacute;on G&oacute;mez

	&quot;Once again, it has been shown that the political persecution against the miners&#039; union and its leader is completely and absolutely illegal. Once again, the truth has been established. Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia has never committed any kind of crime,&quot; said the union, in a press release.

	Andrew Vickers, Chair of the ICEM Mining Sector, described the decision as &ldquo;further vindication of the magnificent struggle being played out by Napole&oacute;n, the USW, and Los Mineros. I find it truly amazing, although not terribly surprising, that governments can impose sanctions on countries and regimes such as Syria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Burma and Fiji, yet with Mexico and the Calderon regime, countries like the US and Australia fete them.&rdquo;

	G&oacute;mez Urrutia has been in exile in Canada for six years, during which time he has worked constantly to establish his innocence and provide leadership for the miners&#039; union.

Napoleón Gómez Nearly Home: Mexican Court Voids Warrant

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	A local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is now in its second week of a full strike at a major US Defense Department contractor, Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. Some 3,600 workers represented by IAM walked out when their contract ended at midnight on 22 April.

	And early yesterday, 1 May, just as a prior six-year labour agreement expired, 800 IAM members went on strike against Caterpillar Inc. in Joliet, Illinois. The plant manufactures hydraulics and other components for heavy equipment, including mining trucks that Caterpillar makes at other factories in Illinois and elsewhere.

	The walkout at Lockheed by IAM Lodge 776 in Texas is over a highly profitable company attempting to shut down a defined benefit pension plan for new hires. It is also over the company&rsquo;s intent to eliminate several health care options under an insurance plan and removing the ceilings on what workers&rsquo; pay out-of-pocket on annual health care premiums. The strike is by three bargaining units of Lodge 776, including workers who assemble and manufacture the US fighter jets F-16 and F-35, firefighters, and nurses.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 205px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	IAM Lodge 776 on Strike at Lockheed

	It also includes Lodge 776 members employed at Lockheed testing grounds in Pax River, Maryland, and Edwards Air Force Base in California. Lockheed and the Pentagon have been under major pressure over cost over-runs on the so-called &ldquo;Lightning II&rdquo; F-35, Lockheed&rsquo;s largest project and the US government&rsquo;s most expensive weapons system.

	The Pentagon has ordered 2,457 F-25s at a spiralling cost now of US$395.7 billion.

	Lockheed Martin&rsquo;s first quarter 2012 profits rose a full 20% over postings in for the same period in 2011, with net income rising to US$665 million. The company is offering a three-year contract with 3% increases each year, plus a signing bonus and higher pension payments to existing workers.

	But workers are admirably striking for future workers and retention of a liveable pension scheme, as well as keeping earned medical benefits. IAM members voted by 94% on 22 April to reject the company&rsquo;s proposal, and followed that with a 93% vote to strike. The Fort Worth aerospace plant employs another 10,000 contractors and non-bargaining union staff of Lockheed who continue to work through the strike.

	In Illinois, Caterpillar &ndash; another profitable industrial manufacturer that has registered first quarter profits of US1.5 billion &ndash; is asking IAM Lodge 851 members to take a six-year wage freeze. Virulently anti-union Caterpillar is also seeking medical cost reductions by proposing a doubling of workers&rsquo; out-of-pocket health care costs.

US Machinists Strike Lockheed Aeronautics in Texas, Caterpillar Plant in Illinois

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

	Sintracarb&oacute;n, the ICEM-affiliated Colombian mining union comprised mostly of permanent employees at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, one of the largest set of coal mines in the world, is continuing its policy of the last three years of supporting CAL workers at the complex. The latest struggle is for mechanical technicians employed at Blastingmar.

	Workers at Blastingmar have organised and affiliated with Sintracarb&oacute;n. Sintracarb&oacute;n are now in bargaining with company management to secure a first collective agreement at the firm. On 27 April the second phase of bargaining ended in the northern city of Barranquilla. Although there is agreement on a number of points, a third bargaining round is necessary and will be held on 3-4 May.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 318px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	It is encouraging and a sign of Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s achievements in working towards organising contract workers at Cerrej&oacute;n that negotiations are continuing in good faith from both sides.

	The union bargaining committee reports that agreement is within sight on issues such as wages, bonuses, leisure, sport and education. But the management&rsquo;s counter-offer on the following points was not acceptable for Sintracarb&oacute;n: food, housing, childcare, shift rotation, equal benefits for new hires.

	Once again Sintracarb&oacute;n can be held up as a positive example of fighting effectively for contract workers.

	At Cerrej&oacute;n, 6,000 of the total 11,000 workers are precariously employed by contractors. In the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, Sintracarb&oacute;n achieved a clause stating that Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management is &ldquo;committed to ensuring respect for the unionisation of all workers, including CAL workers.&rdquo;

Sintracarbón Continues Leadership in Bargaining for Rights for CAL Workers

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

	Some 100 workers are now in their fifth week of strike action against Irish Cement Ltd., wholly owned by giant Dublin-based construction company, the CRH Group. The Irish Cement Group of Unions, composed of the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), the Technical Engineers and Electrical Union (TEEU) and Unite the Union, began the strike at two Irish production sites on 3 April.

	The dispute is over the company&rsquo;s non-adherence over a Labour Court recommendation from early this year that it owes workers between &euro;5,500 and &euro;9,500 each in unpaid compensation. The company instead is trying to gouge a 15-18% pay cut from workers.

	The two plants are located at Castlemungret in County Limerick and Platin in County Meath.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 226px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Last week, cement workers received a boost when a Limerick-based Assembly delegate to the D&aacute;il &Eacute;ail &ndash; Ireland&rsquo;s lower House of Parliament &ndash; tabled a question to Ireland&rsquo;s Minister for Enterprise on the company&rsquo;s recalcitrance. Willie O&rsquo;Dea called the company&rsquo;s labour behaviour &ldquo;belligerent&rdquo; in refusing to accept the Labour Court recommendation.

	&ldquo;The company is trying to beat the workers into submission by refusing to honour its obligations unless the staff agree to a massive pay cut,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Dea, adding total fees paid last year to non-executive board members of the company is more than what is owed workers.

	&ldquo;I am calling on this profitable company to honour its obligations to staff,&rdquo; he said.

Pay Dispute Finds Irish Cement Workers Embroiled in Strike Action

Archive

Pulp, Paper Unions Conduct Workshop on APP in Indonesia

Asia-Pacific Chemical Unions Decisive in Unity Through Networking

Garment Workers’ Activist Brutally Murdered in Bangladesh

Guinea’s Unions Take Strike Action Against Rusal’s Aluminium, Bauxite Operations

Free Somyot NOW! Unionists Urged to Send Letters Demanding Thai Justice!

Holcim Cement Tainted in Switzerland by Work Rights Abuses in India

Napoleón Gómez Nearly Home: Mexican Court Voids Warrant

US Machinists Strike Lockheed Aeronautics in Texas, Caterpillar Plant in Illinois

Sintracarbón Continues Leadership in Bargaining for Rights for CAL Workers

Pay Dispute Finds Irish Cement Workers Embroiled in Strike Action

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