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Global worker No1 2022

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

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

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

US Steelworkers File Environment Suit Against Spanish Cement Firm

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

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

ICEM affiliate Mineworkers of Namibia conducted its 9th National Congress over the weekend in Windhoek, and pledged to expose all forms of corruption in the mining and energy sectors of the country. The Congress also drafted statements on black economic empowerment in Namibia, reviewed a four-year activities report, and gave special tribute to founding members who have built and bettered membership of the union through early and tedious work. The theme of the Congress was &ldquo;Building a Stronger Union Through Education, Solidarity, Networks and Economic Empowerment.&rdquo;

Mineworkers in Namibia Aim to Eradicate Corruption

Eighteen Russian miners have been underground now for nearly a week, engaged in a hunger strike against mine operator Sakhalinugol in Uglegorsk area on Sakhalin Island over unpaid wages. The miners are due 34 million roubles (US$114,000) dating back to 2002. They have mined 44,000 tonnes of coal so far in 2005, yet have been paid nothing by interim management following financial failure by the company. The miners, protesting 142 meters below the surface, got the support of Sakhalin Governor Ivan Malakhov, who declared, &ldquo;The failure to pay the wages miners&rsquo; have earned is a direct violation of law.&rdquo; Wives and children of the 18 were expected to join the protest today at the mineshaft.

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

Another USW metals strike, now entering its eighth week in the Canadian province of British Colombia, will get a chance for resolve with renewed mediation on 9 September. The union and Teck Cominco Ltd. At a zinc, lead and metals refinery in Trail, BC, are locked in dispute over wage and pension benefits conceded in the 1990s. USW maintains the current windfall of high zinc and metal prices has lifted Teck&rsquo;s bottom line, and such profitability warrants adequate adjustments for the 1,300 strikers. British Colombia provincial leaders, however, have turned a deaf ear to legitimate demands by the USW that it halt the company&rsquo;s sale of hydrogenerated power across the border to the US while Canadian steelworkers of Teck Cominco are on strike.

USW&#039;s Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

The 1,550 USW copper-mining members who are on strike in the states of Arizona and Texas against Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Asarco got a boost last month when thousands of Mexican mining and metallurgical workers engaged in hour-long stop-work actions in support of both the American trade unionists, as well as Mexican steel mill workers on strike in L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Michoac&aacute;n state. The US copper strike, begun at different locations in late June and early July, has now been complicated by the Mexican subsidiary filing bankruptcy in US federal court in Texas. That action, the USW says, is result of non-investment in facilities while copper prices were low, thus restricting Asarco&rsquo;s ability now &ldquo;to reap the full rewards of the ongoing copper boom.&rdquo;

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

Today marks Labour Day in North America and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) Local 484 in Meredosia will more than double the 1,100-populated town in west-central Illinois with a march and rally. 
The union has been locked out since 6 June by Celanese, an emulsions, adhesives and polymers producer owned by corporate trading goliath Blackstone Group. The rally will feature pro-labour Illinois State Governor Rod Blagojevich. An ICEM Circular last month produced scores of Solidarity messages to the 148-member branch union. 
<img height="147" src="" width="125" alt="" />
&ldquo;The support letters from all around the world really mean a lot to our members,&rdquo; said IBB Local 484 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Craig. &ldquo;It let us know that we are not fighting this battle alone.&rdquo; Blackstone bought the plant in February and when workers rejected harsh health care concessions and company plans to cut 41 jobs in favour of contractors, management locked out workers. 
Following Local 484&rsquo;s second rejection of the same company proposal in late June, Celanese came to the bargaining table in July demanding 20- 40% in pay cuts.

US Boilermakers&#039; Lockout Gains Global Attention

The Global Employee Forum of Norwegian pulp and paper producer Norske Skog has issued a strong statement in support of ICEM affiliate Fellesforbundet. The union is seeking to keep open a 380-worker book and newsprint mill in Skien, Norway, called Norske Skog Union. But the company is intent on closing in order to reduce capacity even though buyers have lined up to acquire the mill. The firm&rsquo;s Global Employee Forum has charged management that it has not &ldquo;prioritized and not taken advantage of the book market&rsquo;s shortage of book paper.&rdquo; Norske Skog has said &ldquo;no to inquiries from customers in this market&rdquo; and the employees&rsquo; forum calls on the company to exhibit the necessary social responsibility to &ldquo;see that production at Norske Skog Union is maintained, at least with new owners.&rdquo;

Norske Skog Workers Protest Closure of Norwegian Paper Mill

A broad workers&rsquo; movement in Nepal backed by global trade union confederations will convene next weekend, 10-12 September, in Katmandu. The conference will call for full restoration of human and trade union rights in the Himalayan kingdom and will issue a road map to that end. Some 1,500 trade union leaders from both inside and outside Nepal will attend. National trade union center GEFONT, one of four Nepalese organisations organising the event, said the conference &ldquo;will declare common mechanism among all workers to fight and safeguard workers&rsquo; rights,&rdquo; adding the conference will &ldquo;train grassroots representatives at once on necessity of democracy for trade unions.&rdquo; Even though a state of emergency issued by the monarchy was lifted last spring, trade union rights continue to be suspended and human rights violations continue to occur.

Labour, Human Rights Conference in Nepal

Archive

ICEM Letter to King of Nepal

US Steelworkers File Environment Suit Against Spanish Cement Firm

Saint-Gobain Lockout in Thai Glass Sector

Mineworkers in Namibia Aim to Eradicate Corruption

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

USW's Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

US Boilermakers' Lockout Gains Global Attention

Norske Skog Workers Protest Closure of Norwegian Paper Mill

Labour, Human Rights Conference in Nepal

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