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&ldquo;Expanding borders from Brazil to other Mercosur countries&rdquo; was the central decision taken at the Fifth Meeting of the Solvay Trade Union Network in Curitiba, Paran&aacute;, Brazil, from 29-31 March. 
 
During the first day of the network meetings, the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Bah&iacute;a Blanca of Argentina formally joined the multi-union network, which is now to be called the Solvay Mercosur Trade Union Network. 
 
Solvay is a Belgian-based chemicals company, and the network already had participation from workers at a number of Brazilian locations of the company. 
 
&quot;The principles guiding the network are the same principles guiding our own union work,&rdquo; said Oscar Strutenberg from the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Bah&iacute;a Blanca. &ldquo;We are committed to be together, so we will officially work within the group to boost the network.&rdquo; 

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In fact, representatives from the Argentine union already had participated in two meetings of the network, but now membership is official, a move viewed very positively by the other unions present. 
 
&ldquo;I believe this formal new entry shows the growth and maturity of our network,&rdquo; stated Network Coordinator Juvenil Nunes da Costa from Sindicato dos Quimicos do ABC, a CUT-affiliated regional chemical workers&rsquo; union of S&atilde;o Paulo state. &ldquo;It is an important step in our process, because unions organising workers at the same company in different countries enhances our global alliance.&rdquo; 
 
With the arrival of the Argentine union, the Network is composed of Sindicato dos Quimicos do ABC, Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Ind&uacute;stria Qu&iacute;mica, Petroqu&iacute;mica (the Chemicals and Plastics Union of S&atilde;o Paulo), the Oil and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Osasco, and the Paran&aacute; Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
The next steps for the network will be to create a logo, exchange further information, and schedule common actions of the workers&rsquo; representatives, including a possible trip to ICEM headquarters in Geneva later this year to discuss issues related to effective social dialogue.

Solvay Brazil Union Network Expands to Include Other Mercosur Countries

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The ICEM has issued stern rebuke to the cowardly perpetrators of an assassination attempt on two union officers of the National Oil Workers&rsquo; Union (USO) of Colombia, and calls on the government of President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe to apprehend and prosecute those responsible. On 27 March, in the city of Villavicencio, in Meta Department south of Bogot&aacute;, hired killers on a motorcycle fired automatic weapons at Fernando Navarro and Yesid Prieto, two USO subcommittee officers of Bogot&aacute;. 
 
Although both escaped unharmed, their bodyguard, Antonio Pedro Carre&ntilde;o, was shot and killed. 
 
The attack comes days after USO marked the eight-year anniversary of the assassination of the union&rsquo;s Director, Rafael Jaimes Torra, by paramilitaries. Rafael Jaimes&rsquo; nephew, the only witness to the attack, was also murdered shortly after. 

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ICEM-affiliated USO reported the attack to the Attorney General&rsquo;s office, as well as to national and regional government officials and to the government&rsquo;s ombudsman. USO and the ICEM call on Colombian authorities to investigate this attack as a matter or urgency and to bring those responsible to justice. The union wants assurances from the government, as well as from the state oil company Ecopetrol, that their right to life and right to conduct trade union activities are protected. 
 
Paramilitary groups, such as Cuchillo (Knife) and El Loco Barrera (the Crazy Barrera), intimidate workers and trade unionists in the oil fields without reprimand. Recent public statements by paramilitaries that they receive regular payment from oil companies, has added weight to USO&rsquo;s claim that complicity at many levels is involved in the trade union murder-for-hire racket. 
 
One recently example was the 13 March killing of the teachers&rsquo; union ADIDA activist, Duvian Dario Rojo Cadavid, who was gunned down together with his wife a day after speaking to media about armed groups who extort money from teachers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="138" />
Manfred Warda
&ldquo;The ongoing deaths, assassination attempts, and common forms of threats and intimidation by telephone and other means against trade unionists have got to stop,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;If the Colombian government continues not to take action, then it is up to the world community to take sharp measures against the government of Colombia and its denial that violence impedes free, democratic trade unionism.&rdquo;

Assassination Attempt on USO Leaders in Colombia Kills Bodyguard

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from International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation website 
The ILO is urging the Mexican government to resolve its dispute with the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) and considers the government has acted in a way that is incompatible with ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association. 
 
The ILO released on 26 March the interim recommendations of its Committee of Freedom of Association to the Mexican government in response to a complaint on interference in union autonomy lodged by the SNTMMSRM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) in March 2006, ILO Case No. 2478. 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="145" />
The complaint documents how Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, the democratically elected general secretary of SNTMMSRM, was forcefully removed from his position after speaking out against the Mexican government and mining company in response to a tragic mine accident in Pasta de Conchos that left 65 miners dead, many of them members of the union. The complaint also documents how the government illegally intervened in independent union activities, forced the dismissal of union leadership, seized union assets, and made government appointments to union elected positions. 
 
In subsequent submissions on Case No. 2478, the union and IMF has also documented ongoing interference and acts of violence by Grupo M&eacute;xico and the Mexican government, including using the national army and federal police to break strikes, kill workers, and arrest union leaders fighting for safer working conditions in Grupo M&eacute;xico-owned mines. 
 
In its recommendations to the ILO Governing Body, the Committee on Freedom of Association states that it &ldquo;considers that the labour authorities engaged in conduct that is incompatible with Article 3 of Convention No. 87, which established the right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom.&rdquo; 
&ldquo;The Committee deplores the excessive length of the judicial procedures relating to various aspects of the case and the grave prejudice that this has caused to the complainant union&rdquo; and &ldquo;urges for a rapid conclusion of the judicial procedures.&rdquo; 

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The committee requests addition information from the government on several points and in particular on the question of the death of worker Reynaldo Hern&aacute;ndez Gonz&aacute;lez, the use of force by public security forces at the Cananea mine, continuing arrest warrants, freezing of union accounts, threats and acts of violence, including the death and injury of trade unionists. 
 
The Committee calls on all the parties concerned to continue to make efforts within the existing round of negotiations to resolve the collective dispute to which this case results. 
 
A copy of the report is published on the ILO website under Mexico, Freedom of Association Cases, and can be found <a href="http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/newcountryframeE.htm ">here</a>.

ILO Backs Los Mineros, Cites Mexican Government with Convention 87 Interference

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The ICEM North American affiliate, Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), continues to win legal victories for 140 Massachusetts workers of Covanta, a private sector waste-to-energy company specializing in public solid-waste contracts that burns the waste for creation of electric energy. 
 
On 26 March, an administrative law judge of the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that the company owes the 140 workers nearly US$1 million for withholding wage increases and bonuses in retaliation for staff exercising their lawful right to join the UWUA in May 2008. 
 
The 49-page ruling requires Covanta to repay to workers the money illegally withheld, plus interest, and to bargain with UWUA Local 369 a first collective agreement at a Rochester, Massachusetts, incinerator before it makes any unilateral workplace changes. 
 
The company&rsquo;s illegal conduct caused workers to lose between 8% and 11% of their annual income in 2009. 

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The judge&rsquo;s ruling involves the administrative phase of numerous workplace charges brought by the union against Covanta&rsquo;s unfair labour practices following the NLRB-conducted union authorization vote nearly two years ago. Late in 2009, the labour agency invoked its powers under US labour law to petition a federal court for injunctive relief against Covanta for labour law violations. 
 
The NLRB invokes Section 10(j) of the labour code only rarely, and only when it deems cases are egregious enough to warrant federal court intervention. The injunction petition is currently pending before a federal court in Boston. 
 
Covanta is likely to appeal the administrative law judge&rsquo;s ruling to the five-member NLRB, but the recent ruling should lend credence before the federal court. 
 
We&rsquo;ve &ldquo;long known that Covanta viciously punished these workers because they organized and demanded dignity and a voice in the workplace,&rdquo; said Local 369 President Gary Sullivan. &ldquo;This ruling lets the rest of the world know that, without question, Covanta broke the law and will have to put things right.&rdquo; 
 
The company operates some 40 solid waste facilities in the US. As Covanta has tried to expand its waste-to-energy business into the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Canada, the ICEM has assisted the UWUA to illuminate the American company&rsquo;s work rights violations, as well as health/safety infractions and certain environmental practices before communities and trade unions in those countries. 
 
For more information on the UWUA&rsquo;s Campaign for Justice at Covanta, visit the campaign website <a href="http://www.cjcw.org/ ">here</a>.

UWUA Wins US$1 Million Judgment for Covanta Workers

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On the basis of a March 2008 provision mutually agreed to between ICEM and French-based specialty chemicals company Rhodia in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA), a joint Global Safety Forum was created in order to bring higher health and safety standards into the company for its 15,000 worldwide employees. 
 
Having agreed to an addendum to clarify terms and conditions of the global forum, ICEM and Rhodia recently signed and officially established the body. 
 
It will consist of nine members, three appointed from Rhodia Group&rsquo;s general management, two from the ICEM Secretariat, and one Rhodia employee each from the company&rsquo;s four operational zones (Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America), to be selected by the ICEM. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="130" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="99" height="149" />
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Brian Kohler
The ICEM representatives will be Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Rubber and Chemicals Officer, and Brian Kohler, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer. Following consultation with ICEM affiliates in the four regions, the regional representatives include Maurice Tritsch from France, Scott Harrington from the US, Thiago dos Reis Martins from Brazil, and Jie Dong from China. 
 
The addendum defines the role of the Global Safety Forum as a monitor for &ldquo;the safety situation within the Group.&rdquo; The forum is to meet at least once yearly, with each annual meeting to be held at a Rhodia plant chosen by the nine-member committee. With a commitment to a continuous progress approach to health and safety, the forum shall &ldquo;issue observations and recommendations for improvement.&rdquo; 
 
Having realised a first-ever joint activity on health and safety at Rhodia&rsquo;s subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany, on 19 June 2009, the Global Safety Forum will have its first official meeting in the second half of 2010. 
 
View this addendum to the ICEM-Rhodia GFA <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1004.Rhodia.Agreement.pdf">here</a>.

Formal Safety Forum Adopted Inside Rhodia Global Agreement

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Collective negotiations across all of Sweden&rsquo;s work sectors were fractious over the past month, but none as much than between the Paperworkers Union, Svenska Pappers, and Skogsindustrierna, the employers&rsquo; Forest Industry Association (SFIF). Late on Thursday, 1 April, a three-member mediation panel used its option under Swedish industrial relations rules and set back by one week planned job actions that Pappers was to begin today. 
 
The two sides had been making progress in the hours up to and beyond the 31 March midnight expiration of a prior three-year labour agreement that covers 18,000 paperworkers at 62 pulp and paper mills of ten companies. 
 
Pappers announced on 22 March that it would impose a total overtime ban beginning at 18h00 on 5 April, as well as a blockade of temporary and agency workers onto worksites. The one-time option by the mediation panel means such industrial actions cannot begin until 12 April. The union and SFIF are expected to return to the bargaining table either late on 7 April or 8 April. 

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In talks that lasted late into the evening on 1 April, the two sides were closing in on a 22-month contract before the panel called adjournment and postponed the industrial action. On wages, that agreement would look much like what was achieved in other Swedish industrial talks &ndash; 3.2%. 
 
What separates Pappers and SFIF is how the pay accord will affect the lowest-paid workers, meaning a supplement should be in order for those workers, and a reduction provision on the pension scheme. Pappers is insistent that the first part of the pay deal be made with a 2% increase on 1 April, with the remainder to take effect on 1 January 2011. An addendum also is under consideration regarding union consultation on temporary or labour agency work. 
 
If no agreement is reached this week, the overtime ban and blockade of non-regular workers will go ahead for 12 April, with industrial action to escalate to selective strikes after that. 

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On 27 March, ICEM affiliate IF Metall reached agreement with Teknikf&ouml;retagen, the Swedish Engineering Industries Association, covering 160,000 workers. That agreement is for 3.2% over 22 months. A centerpiece of the agreement is that employers must negotiate with IF Metall before employing temporary staff for longer than one month. The union pressed this issue because employers should not be using labour agencies while full-time workers are either on layoff or working shortened work weeks. 
 
Also in accord with employers is the union GS, which signed a 22-month contract covering 35,000 workers in the forestry, wood, and furniture industries. Another part of GS, the graphical workers&rsquo; section, has an agreement expiring later this year.

Job Actions Delayed as Swedish Paperworkers, Employers to Keep Talking

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State-run electric power utility Eskom got a court intervention last week preventing South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from striking. The order came on the eve of a mass demonstration by NUM at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in MegaWatt Park, Johannesburg, on 26 May. 
 
The strike by NUM&rsquo;s 16,000 members at Eskom was supposed to begin that same day. The company has reneged on an agreement reached last summer that increased housing allowances would be put into effect by late in 2009. Eskom also has recanted over installing full-time safety representatives. A further demand by NUM is that shop stewards be given training and allowed to represent workers on issues before South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
Meanwhile, the utility dumped salt in the wounds of utility workers in the final round of a three-session set of 2010 wage talks. On Friday, 28 May, Eskom offered workers a paltry 3.5% wage increase, far below South Africa&rsquo;s inflation index. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="148" />
The proposed increase was intended as part of a three-year labour agreement. &ldquo;This is a serious insult to workers who are classified as essential but treated like dirt,&rdquo; stated NUM Energy Sector Coordinator Job Matsepe. 
 
A South African labour court ruled late on 25 May that &ldquo;Eskom is an essential service and employees of an organisation classified as such are prohibited from taking part in industrial action.&rdquo; 
 
A strike was averted last year when Eskom, the NUM, and two other unions agreed to refer the housing allowance to a task team that would meet and make the increase by 1 December 2009. That did not happen. All three unions seek a R5,000 (US$654) housing allowance. &ldquo;We have discovered that referring matters to a task team is an Eskom delay tactic,&rdquo; said Num spokesman Lesibo Seshoka. 
 
At NUM&rsquo;s National Central Committee meeting early in May, leadership came out strongly against privatisation of any portion of power generating plants or other state-owned assets.

South African Court Blocks NUM from Striking Electric Utility Eskom

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A wage agreement will likely will be signed today giving 5,800 miners and metalworkers in Georgia a minimum 15% pay increase, backdated to 1 May. For those working shifts at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and Georgian Manganese mines, a further 7% was won on top of the 15%. 
 
That was assured on Friday, 28 May, when one of the Georgian shareholders of the two enterprises signed off on the increase. The managing directors of the manganese processing plant and mines are expected to sign the wage portion of the contract today in Zestafoni with leaders of the ICEM affiliate, Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, Imereti Region branch. 
 
A further agreement covering paid holiday leave, sick leave, a joint contributory pension plan, and other workplace conditions is expected to be consummated in the very near future. The union, with valuable assistance from the national labour centre, Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), as well through ICEM intervention, won recognition in mid-May after strikes and public activities in the previous weeks. (See earlier ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3777-Free-Trade-Union-Recognised-for-Miners-Metalworkers-of-Georgia">here</a>.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="210" />
The boost to salaries is fair and just, since pay at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and manganese mines in Chiatura is extremely low. Miners had earned an average monthly wage of GEL (lari) 450, or US$238, &euro;192. The average monthly salary inside the ferroalloy plant, where 2,200 of the 5,800 workers are employed, is GEL 562, or US$298, &euro;240. 
 
As often happens when such struggles for democratic trade union representation and workplace improvements become public and are successful, industrial workers in other Georgian enterprises also are seeking representation. Both GTUC and the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia are currently working with employees in steel and other industrial enterprises for recognition, wage improvements, and workplace rights. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the federation and its Georgian trade union affiliate on its accomplishments at Zestafoni and Chiatura, and pledges continued resources and a global presence as the unions better the working lives of all Georgian industrial workers.

Georgian Miners, Metalworkers Get Long Overdue Pay Rises

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A historic event took place early this month in the northern Iraq region of Kurdistan: the region&rsquo;s two labour federations, traditional tied to Kurdistan&rsquo;s two political parties, merged, creating a single voice for workers in northern Iraq. 
 
The new federation is called the Kurdistan United Workers&rsquo; Union, and consolidates the Kurdistan Workers&rsquo; Union and the General Workers and Crafts Syndicate Union. The merger was first reported ten days ago on the website of UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Council (TUC). Hangam Abdullah Khan and Yassin Aziz Ali are to serve as co-Presidents. 
 
&ldquo;When we were two federations, we spoke with two voices,&rdquo; stated Hangam Abdullah Khan. &ldquo;Now it is working people who will benefit from us having one voice.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="274" height="206" />
Added Yassin Aziz Ali, &ldquo;With this new union, we have high hopes. We hope to have an increasing membership, women in leadership positions in the union, and more campaigning power, especially on our top priority &ndash; new progressive labour laws in the Kurdistan region and across federal Iraq, and on social security, too.&rdquo; 
 
The new trade union federation, according to the TUC site, is 95% merged and is in a one-year transitional state. Despite that, it already has a President for Women &ndash; Nazanin Tariq Ali. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the leaders of the former union federations for coming together in the best interests of not just Kurdish workers, but for setting an example throughout Iraq.

The Two Trade Union Federations in Iraqi Kurdistan Unite, Merge

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The ICEM Executive Committee, on the second day of its annual deliberations 27 May, denounced Iraq&rsquo;s government for continued failure to enact a draft labour law, as well as numerous and current prohibitions against trade union activities. 
 
The resolution noted continued adherence to a Saddam Hussein decree that bans trade unions in the public sector, which includes the oil, gas, and electric power industries, and continued imposition of Decree 8750, imposed by the occupation forces in August 2005. That draconian decree, equally restriction on trade union rights as the Saddam one, grants government the power to take over unions at will and forbids trade unions from holding any assets or collecting subscriptions from workers. 
 
The resolution also addresses the forced removals of trade union leaders from their work in the oil, gas, and related sectors, and condemns the most recent imposition by the government in restricting trade unionists from travelling outside the country. In that, the Supreme Ministerial Committee on Supervising the Implementation of the Governing Council Resolution No. 3-2005 must issue approval to those trade unionists seeking to travel or those invited outside of Iraq. 
<img alt="" src="" width="311" height="207" />
ICEM Executive Committee
&ldquo;The ICEM Executive Committee condemns all of these Iraqi government acts against trade unions,&rdquo; states the resolution. &ldquo;We salute the bravery of our Iraqi brothers and sisters who continue to organise, represent and protect workers despite these attacks and a background of continued and escalating violence in the society at large. 
 
&ldquo;We are appalled that seven years after the fall of Saddam Hussein&rsquo;s regime, workers in Iraq are still without legislative protection of their fundamental rights at work.&rdquo; 
 
(The complete resolution can be found in English <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/IraqExecResolution27May2010.pdf">here</a>, and in Arabic <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1006.iraqresolution.ec.pdf">here</a>.) 
 
The resolution notes the fact that trade unions inside Iraq have mounted a campaign for a globally-recognised labour law, complete with a website (found <a href="http://www.iraqitradeunions.org/cgi-bin/campaign1.cgi">here</a>) and encourages all trade unionists everywhere to visit the site and register your support for a fair and just labour law inside Iraq. The ICEM strongly supports the campaign and the website.

ICEM Executive Condemns Repressive Union Actions by Iraq

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