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A three-week strike by ICEM Belgian affiliate&nbsp;La Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB against ArjoWiggins is expected to end today at two paper mills. Union members over the weekend voted, by a 62% margin, to approve an amended company proposal that calls for a restructuring of the two Wallonian mills. 
 
Union members had twice before rejected the company&rsquo;s proposed social plan, once on 15 January, and again on 23 January. French-based ArjoWiggins is closing a paper mill and converting operation in Nivelles, and will transfer the paper converting portion there to the company&rsquo;s paper mill in Virginal-Samme. 
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The restructuring was to make 147 workers redundant, as well as 80 temporary employees. The company manufactures carbonless writing and printing papers at both locations. ArjoWiggins future plans for Nivelles are to use the mill merely for warehousing and logistics. 
 
The company and workers&rsquo; representatives, led by FGTB, came to a satisfactory agreement on 26 January, after pressure was brought on the company by both federal and provincial employment ministries. Belgium&rsquo;s federal labour ministry will conduct a final conciliation hearing on the dispute tomorrow, 30 January. 
 
ArjoWiggins is owned by the French holding company Sequana Capital, formerly called Worms &amp; Cie. Sequana is primarily owned by the Agnelli family of Italy.

Belgian Paper Strike at ArjoWiggins Ends

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The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) on 22 January issued a call to enhance the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, in order for the Guidelines to become more transparent and more thoroughly implemented. The proposals from the DGB come at the outset of Germany&rsquo;s G8 Presidency term. 
 
The national labour centre&rsquo;s plan includes creating an inter-ministerial structure for National Contact Points (NCP) that will provide more efficient and pro-active case work. DGB also proposes to expand transparency among NCP offices through better public dissemination of cases, as well as insisting that the NCP&rsquo;s annual report to the OECD Investment Committee also includes those cases that the NCP decides not to move forward. The reasons for such decisions must be explained in a public declaration, DGB states. 
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A third proposal is to have the Guidelines codified in EU legislation, as well as established as the international benchmark for corporate social responsibility. In this, DGB calls on Germany and other countries to provide greater financial commitment to the OECD. This proposal also includes making the complaints procedure easier, and giving only MNCs who pledge, in writing, to comply with the Guidelines access to foreign trade instruments. 
 
&ldquo;The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises have proven to be the strongest international instrument to date for promoting corporate social responsibility,&rdquo; states the DGB. &ldquo;In practice, however, their implementation encounters limits. 
 
&ldquo;The DGB takes the view that the OECD Guidelines hold the potential to promote corporate social and environmental responsibility worldwide and to make an effective contribution to sustainable development and to the social dimension of globalisation.&rdquo;

DGB Trade Union Confederation Calls for Strengthening OECD Guidelines

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German ICEM affiliate IGBCE has called recent statements by Economic Affairs Minister Michael Glos &ldquo;irresponsible,&rdquo; referring to the federal minister&rsquo;s remarks that the stock market listing of German coal and industrial company RAG as a publicly-traded company must be tied with the removal of coal subsidies. 
 
IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt challenged the comments on the eve of a summit on Germany&rsquo;s hard-coal industry, which began yesterday in Berlin. &ldquo;The economic minister endangers the coal discussions and creates an unnecessary uncertainty for 100,000 people,&rdquo; said Schmoldt. RAG employs some 100,000 German workers in coal mines, power stations, chemical enterprises, and in real estate. 
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Glos has sided with provincial authorities in the provinces of North Rhine-Westphalia and in Saarland, who have called for the end of German subsidies to the coal industry. He has proposed that the capital raised from RAG&rsquo;s listing could be used as a replacement for coal subsidies. 
 
Schmoldt termed the plan &ldquo;adventurism,&rdquo; and called on the federal government to take more responsibility to assure a future for the 100,000 workers. &ldquo;This is no way to run politics,&rdquo; said Schmoldt, adding that the workers of RAG expect to be treated fairly inside a publicly-traded company. He said the listing of RAG is an opportunity for the German federal government to create long-term employment. 
 
RAG is expected to be floated on the Berlin stock market in the second quarter of this year.

IGBCE Blasts Plan to Link RAG’s Public Listing with Removal of Coal Subsidies

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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa gave Impala Platinum a seven-day ultimatum to respond to demands to improve health care services at the Impala Mine Hospital near Rustenberg, North West State. 
 
The ultimatum was given when miners staged a 23 January march on the hospital. NUM is protesting unfair and inferior treatment of union members at the facility. The union also accuses mine management, doctors, and hospital administrators of denying antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for treatment of HIV-AIDS. 
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&ldquo;We &hellip; condemn the collusion by both the management of Impala Mine and Impala Hospital that seeks to marginalize those not falling with a particular medical aid,&rdquo; NUM said in a statement last week. 
 
The collusion includes charges that managers and medical facilitators make gravely ill staff continue working underground, failing which, they are terminated with insufficient severance money. 
 
The NUM&rsquo;s demands include dismissal of doctors who are denying ARV treatments. The union also cites a host of incidents in which inferior health care was given. NUM said that if the demands were not addressed by 30 January, rolling industrial action would begin. 
 
Impala Platinum employs some 26,000 workers in South Africa. 
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At another platinum mine in the country, NUM union members began a strike on 26 January. Over 2,000 miners downed tools at Modikwa Platinum in Limpopo, Northern State, demanding an end to racism. 
 
The NUM branch there states that both pay and working conditions for white workers is better than that of black workers. The branch union also charges that recruitment and hiring procedures are not evenly applied. 
 
The strike began at 06h00 last Friday, and branch leaders were expecting to meet with Modikwa&rsquo;s management later that day.

NUM Members in South Africa March Against Impala Platinum’s Hospital Care

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On 15 January, a death squad in Guatemala killed Pedro Zamora, general secretary of the STEPQ Dockers&rsquo; Union in Puerto Quetzal. The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) has pledged that justice will be done in what it is calling a &ldquo;dirty and cowardly act.&rdquo; 
 
Trade unionists are urged to respond to ITF&rsquo;s &ldquo;Campaign for Justice for Pedro Zamora,&rdquo; an immediate call to the Guatemalan government to bring arrest to the perpetrators of this vile crime. Please click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm">here</a> and sign ITF&rsquo;s Charter for Justice &lsquo;No Hay impunidad.&rsquo; 
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Pedro Zamora 
Killed on 15 January
Your help is urgently needed in order to put maximum pressure on the Guatemalan government. An ITF-assembled delegation representing a global labour voice arrived in Guatemala City over the weekend, and has called for discussions with police, state and national justice leaders, prosecuting attorneys, as well as President Oscar Berger Perdomo. The delegation includes ILO and ITUC representatives, as well as Spanish and US unionists. Trade unionists from Guatemalan unions ISCOD/UGT, UITA-FESTRAS, and USTAC joined the delegation. 
 
&ldquo;The Guatemalan government will never be forgiven if it doesn&rsquo;t investigate and then bring the murderers to justice,&rdquo; said ITF Gen. Sec. David Cockroft after Zamora was slain in front of his children. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a filthy little act that makes the blood of any decent person boil.&rdquo; 
 
Zamora, 43,&nbsp;was driving his car on 15 January after gathering his children, ages&nbsp;3 and 5,&nbsp;from medical appointments, when a white truck with several assailants in it pulled along side and riddled the car with some 100 shots of automatic gun fire. As the STEPQ union leader lay critically wounded in the front seat of his car, one of the assailants came up to him at close range and shot him in the face. His 3-year-old son was severely wounded in the attack. 
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&ldquo;Pedro&rsquo;s commitment to the union cause is the reason he was targeted for political killing,&rdquo; declared the ITF. &ldquo;His death must not be in vain.&rdquo; 
 
The port workers in Quetzal have been waging a battle to retain their proper trade union recognition in the face of privatisation. In October 2006, they took industrial action, and the strike was met by 300 armed riot police. Their grievance was the company&rsquo;s failure to negotiate a collective agreement, and failure to respect dockworkers&rsquo; views on modernisations to the port. 
 
The ITF delegation, currently in Guatemala, will also lend a protective voice to other activists of STEPQ, five of whom have received telephone death threats and have been followed before Pedro Zamora&rsquo;s death. 
 
Sign the Guatemalan Charter for Justice, and bring as much heat as possible on the country&rsquo;s judicial system: <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm">http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm</a>.

Justice for Pedro Zamora Campaign Mounted by ITF

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A 24 January trade union protest in Moscow demanded that the Russian government correct the inefficient and inadequate social pension system of the country. Some 500 workers turned out for the demonstration at Russia&rsquo;s Government Building. The manifestation was sponsored by the Russian Association of Main Industries&rsquo; Trade Unions, a formalised coordinating body of ten trade unions representing workers in essential industries. 
Five of the ten trade unions are ICEM affiliates, and the Association is headed by ICEM Vice President Lev Mironov, president of the Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers Union (ROGWU). 
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Left to right: Ivan Mokhnachuk, Rosugleprof; Lev Mironov, ROGWU; Alexander Sitnov, RCWU.
The demonstration calls on the government to radically reform a broken pension system in which skilled workers receive only 10-15% of their wages once they retire. 
 
Mironov, in a television interview on the day of the rally, spoke of the frustration that people in the regions experience because of low pensions. He said the government must urgently respond to this dire situation. 
 
The rallying workers agreed to a list of demands that was presented to the government, and named a group of trade union leaders to negotiate with the government. One demand is to bring pension income to at least 40% of wage levels by 1 January 2008. The demands also call for the minimum pension to be set at a higher level, for tighter control over employers&rsquo; contributions to the pension fund, worker participation in fund management, and a return to the insurance-based mechanisms of social security. 
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The association&rsquo;s demands also include Russian ratification of the European Social Charter, as well as Russia ratifying ILO Conventions 102 and 128. Convention 102 establishes minimum standards on social security, while Convention 128 covers standards for invalidity, old age, and survivors&rsquo; benefits. 
 
The union leaders are expected to meet with Russian government officials this week. 
 
The union coalition is expected to bring further public actions and pressure to bear on the pension crisis this year. Other ICEM affiliated unions that are part of the Association include the Russian Chemical and Allied Workers Union (RCWU), the All-Russia Electric Union (Electroprovsoyuz), the Timber and Related Industries Workers Union of Russia, and the Russian Independent Coal Employees&rsquo; Union (Rosugleprof). They are joined in the coalition by trade unions representing automobile workers, metal workers, construction workers, as well as another power workers&rsquo; union.

ICEM’s Russian Trade Union Affiliates Lead Pension Protest

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Members of ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian mining affiliate, Sintracarb&oacute;n, were braced to strike the massive coal enterprise called Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, in Guajira state, over the weekend. The mining operation in northeastern Colombia, complete with a 150-kilometre rail link to company-owned deep-water port facilities at Puerto Boliv&aacute;r, is owned by global mining houses AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
Sintracarb&oacute;n union members at the world&rsquo;s largest open pit coal mine voted to strike over a week ago. The union&rsquo;s National Assembly of Delegates, which met on 25 January, voted to give approval for a possible strike to begin anytime in the next ten working days. Company and union representatives were continuing bargaining over the weekend. 
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A total of 4,000 workers are represented by Sintracarb&oacute;n, while the mining enterprise employs another 4,000 contract workers. 
 
All three multinational mining companies, along with the Colombian subsidiary, are partners with the ICEM and Sintracarb&oacute;n in a unique Social Dialogue arrangement in the South American country. That agreement, set in 2004, covers some eight global companies doing business in Colombia, and establishes a formalised procedure not only for the safety and security of trade unionists, but also for meaningful labour-management discussions on all issues. 
 
Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n and Sintracarb&oacute;n called on the ICEM to intervene in the dispute two weeks ago. The ICEM had been monitoring the negotiations since November. 
 
General Secretary Manfred Warda responded to the company, as well as to the three parent firms, stating, &ldquo;ICEM has taken note of the extended period of negotiations involved in settling a new, two-year collective agreement between Sintracarb&oacute;n and your company. We are also keenly aware of the profitable coal mining and export operations that Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n and its three multinational partners have in Guajira state, as well as the high demand for this coal on global markets. 
&ldquo;We urge your company not only to maintain the level of respectful Social Dialogue that exists in the charter developed by the ICEM with multinational companies doing business in Colombia, but also to seriously consider the proposals set forth by Sintracarb&oacute;n. These social proposals are just and proper in view of the operation that your company has in Colombia.&rdquo; 
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Sintracarb&oacute;n is seeking a 2007 salary increase of 8%, and a 2008 increase of 2.5% above the Colombian consumer price index for this year. The ICEM affiliated trade union is also seeking monthly health care stipends to cover the costs of medicines for family members. It also seeks a university educational stipend for children of miners, as well as a non-conditional production bonus. Management is attempting to apply conditions to such a bonus plan. 
 
Another legitimate union demand calls on Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n to begin discussions on buying the land of indigenous people who live in the vicinity of Cerrej&oacute;n, and possibly relocate them to areas away from the company&rsquo;s vast mining operations. Sintracarb&oacute;n is proposing immediate &ldquo;working sessions&rdquo; between the union, company, and community leaders to analyse environmental problems and find solutions. 
 
A last unresolved issue involves the high number of contract workers on Cerrej&oacute;n worksites. Sintracarb&oacute;n is seeking for the minimum level of pay for contract workers to be increased and linked to the minimum legal salaries in Colombia. It also seeks application of all Colombian employment laws for these workers, including the right to union representation. 
In the ICEM letter to the companies, the Global Union Federation asks Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n to actively monitor the work practices of contract employers. The ICEM also insists that &ldquo;contract workers receive the same protections and rights that full-time, permanent employees have, including the right to trade union representation.&rdquo; 
 
The mining operation, once jointly owned by ExxonMobil and the Colombian government, has ramped up excavation of thermal coal from 17 million tonnes in 1995 to an expected 28 million tonnes this year. Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s coal reserves are estimated at 930 million tonnes. 
 
The coal is highly desirable on global markets because it is high in energy and has a low sulphur and ash content. Europe accounts for 56% of exports, while 20% is exported to North America. The three parent companies have seen coal prices tripling over the past year, and the operation posted revenues of US$1 billion.

Sintracarbón’s Miners Poised to Strike at Carbones del Cerrejón in Colombia

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The 2007 annual meeting of general secretaries of the Global Union Federations (GUFs) last week took on a major structural change when labour leaders formed a Council of Global Unions. This new structure will include the newly formed International Trade Union Federation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD. The founding of the council occurred in Brussels during meetings on 9-10 January. 
 
The founding document of the council proclaims &ldquo;a common determination to organise, defend human and trade union rights and labour standards everywhere, and promote the growth of trade unions for the benefit of all working women and men and their families.&rdquo; 
<img height="200" alt="" src="" width="300" />
ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
Fred van Leeuwen, general secretary of Education International (EI), was elected chair of the council, while Building Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) Gen. Sec. Anita Normark was elected vice-chair. Each participating organisation will be represented by three members on the council. ITUC Gen. Sec. Guy Ryder will serve as secretary of the council. 
 
Van Leeuwen, commenting on the formation, said, &ldquo;Our talks this week revealed how much more we can do together to confront global forces that work against the interests of working people, and we will carry forward the momentum of this new accord to achieve just that.&rdquo; 
 
Besides the ICEM, the GUFs signatory to the Council of Global Unions include: BWI, EI, International Arts and Entertainment Alliance (IAEA), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), and the Union Network International (UNI). ITUC and TUAC round out the membership on the council.

ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda sign Global Unions’ Council

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After 22 days in an Iranian jail, Sherkat-e Vahed trade union leader Mansour Osanloo of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company was released for a second time on 19 December after his wife deposited a sizeable bail bond. 
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Sherkat-e Vahed trade union leader Mansour Osanloo
The release was welcomed by the Iranian union&rsquo;s global federation, the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), but the ITF expressed disgust that Iran is now resorting to added bail money and other restrictions to hold back legitimate trade union rights. 
Osanloo was arrested outside his home on 19 November by plain-clothes policemen, who beat him and forced him at gunpoint into a car. He appeared in court a week later, but no charges were filed against him. In August 2006, only three months earlier, he was released from prison, after nearly eight months of detention for essentially championing union rights among Tehran&rsquo;s bus drivers. 
<img height="102" alt="" src="" width="102" />
In January 2006, a strike by drivers was met with brutal clubbings and beatings by Iranian police forces. Many among some 50 strike leaders have been terminated and/or blacklisted for their suspected involvement in that strike. The ITF, in coordination with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), has been engaged in a campaign against Iran&rsquo;s rights&rsquo; abuses, using both direct protests and formal complaints. 
 
Following Osanloo&rsquo;s 19 December release, ITF Gen. Sec. David Cockroft stated, &ldquo;The persecution of this man has got to stop. Fundamental trade union rights have to be respected in Iran, and we await similar news concerning Mansour Osanloo&rsquo;s trade union colleagues, some of whom have been sacked and all of whom have been denied the right to be represented by the union of their choice.&rdquo;

Iran Releases Trade Union Leader Mansour Osanloo

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The United Steelworkers (USW) in the US is recommending that copper miners and smelter workers of Asarco LLC in the states of Arizona and Texas approve a new 42-month labour agreement. The union successfully negotiated an amicable tentative settlement with the subsidiary of Grupo Mexico late in December, and voting by some 1,600 miners at three mines and two smelters is now underway. 
 
The accord must also be approved by a US Bankruptcy Court. 
 
USW District 12 Director Terry Bonds said the tentative agreement contains substantial economic gains, as well as achieving job security protections that have never before been seen in the US mining industry. &ldquo;This agreement is a tremendous breakthrough for workers in the mining industry,&rdquo; said Bonds. 
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Perhaps the highlight of the new agreement is that it is a single contract covering all five locations. &ldquo;In 2004, we had seven different contracts with varying contract language, two different expiration dates, and differing pension plans,&rdquo; said Bonds, adding that workers took action in a bitter 136-day strike. That strike began in July 2005 when Grupo Mexico demanded massive wage and benefit concessions, despite copper prices being at record highs. 
 
To settle the strike, workers agreed to a one-year contract extension. &ldquo;This recently concluded tentative agreement is the fruit of this extraordinary struggle,&rdquo; Bonds said. &ldquo;I could not be more proud of our members and local union leaders. This was a long struggle and its outcome was never guaranteed. Our members proved that working people don&rsquo;t have to simply accept inequality or economic injustice.&rdquo; 
 
The USW&rsquo;s Southwest regional director in the US also had high praise for Asarco CEO Joe Lapinsky. He said the company&rsquo;s labour relations behaviour began to change when Grupo Mexico management was moved aside and an independent board of directors and Lapinsky were named to head the US subsidiary. 
 
&ldquo;(Lapinsky) has chosen a path of cooperation with our union, rather than confrontation, and we look forward to working with him to address the many challenges still facing the company,&rdquo; stated Bonds. 
<img height="53" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Once ratified, the new contract will contain US$1-per-hour wage increases for all miners and smelter workers, backdated to 1 January 2007. Another US$1 increase will come on 30 September 2008, with another US$1 hike coming a year later. Workers will receive a US$3,000 ratification bonus with approval of the contract. 
 
Quarterly bonuses will be awarded if the price of copper averages above US$1.60-per-pound. A 20% increase in the pension formula over the life of the three-and-a-half-year pact was also negotiated. 
 
But perhaps more significantly, USW won strong successorship protections in the event of a sale of any Asarco asset; reinvestment guarantees on the part of the company; restrictions on Asarco&rsquo;s ability to outsource work; substantial USW influence in any Plan of Reorganisation; and a company requirement that it will remain neutral in union organising efforts, with union recognition granted on the basis of a card-check.

Approval Near for Innovation Mining Contract between USW and Asarco in US

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