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T he government of Turkey's decree banning a strike in the nation's glass industry by ICEM affiliate Kristal-Is has drawn criticism from the 20-million-member ICEM. 
 
For the second time in two years, Turkey has used Article 33 of its Law on Collective Agreements, Strikes and Lockouts to prohibit Kristal-Is from striking. Both times the Turkish government has cited a possible glass strike as a threat to national security. 
 
In a letter dated 19 December to Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs called into question how such a strike could be construed a national security threat. &quot;I totally reject that a strike in the glass sector might be considered a threat to national security and would welcome your urgent reply.&quot; 
 
Higgs further wrote: &quot;Kristal-Is legitimately represents some 5,000 glass workers at 13 of 15 factories in Turkey. Over the past 18 months, the Turkish Glass Employers' Association along with the Sisecam Group and its subsidiary Pasabahce have waged a systematic campaign to destroy the collective bargaining status of Kristal-Is.&quot; 
 
The glass industry and Pasabahce challenged the union's right to representation under the 10% rule of Turkey's labour code, meaning a union must have at least 10% membership in a given sector to have collective bargaining rights. Both a labour court and a higher court-on appeal in May 2003-ruled that Kristal-Is is over that threshold, but Sisecam and Pasabahce have continued to subvert the union. In October, after 700 workers and subcontractors at a relatively new Pasabahce glass plant in the city of Eskisehir voted for representation by Kristal-Is, the company responded by firing 350 union activists. 
 
Kristal-Is President Musatafa Bagceci is also critical of the Turkish government's decision to ban a strike. &quot;To claim that a strike in the glass industry threatens national security is absurd and unbelievable. There is no connection between a glass strike and the country's national security. Once again, the Turkish government has violated the right to strike. The hidden side of the decree is the employers' demands.&quot; 
 
Kristal-Is has vowed to appeal the government's decree to Turkey's Supreme Court.

ICEM Protests Turkish Strike Ban in Glass

B ridgestone Corp. has defied the Labour Ministry in Argentina by refusing to reinstate 73 sacked workers at a tyre factory in Buenos Aires. The firm circumvented the union contract of ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico de Trabejadores del Neumatico Argentina (SUTNA) in order to achieve rationalization over a new shift schedule. 
 
Local managers discharged the 73 workers unilaterally in October. Under Article 13 of the labour agreement, a stability clause exists that prevents any reduction in workforce without the consent of the union. SUTNA had hoped to commence bargaining toward an extension of the agreement, but management has refused to negotiate unless the union first agrees not to discuss the firings. 
 
On 5 December, following a hearing by the ministry, an officer ordered the 73 to be brought back to work with back pay. But when a representative of the ministry together with a SUTNA officer and discharged workers attempted to enter the plant the next day, Bridgestone refused entry. 
 
&quot;We call on senior Bridgestone management in both Japan and in the US, where local management in Argentina reports, to intervene and not only adhere to the ruling of the Labour Ministry, but to bargain in good faith with our affiliate,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
&quot;The protocol for the ICEM's Global Union Network of Bridgestone Workers affirms that local problems first should be resolved locally,&quot; continued Higgs. &quot;Due to local management's continued intransigence, this dispute must be taken to the international level and the ICEM intends to give it utmost attention.&quot; 
 
Members of SUTNA at the Buenos Aires factory did stage a six-day strike in October, which officially brought the dispute before the Labour Ministry. The union is also maintaining pickets at the plant, and has promised more strike action in 2004 if the dispute is not resolved. 
 
SUTNA has issued three demands to resolve the dispute: immediate reinstatement of the 73; good faith negotiations by the company with the intention of gaining an extension to the two-year labour agreement; and for Bridgestone to allow access to union officers of the plant, something that local management has consistently denied.

Bridgestone Managers in Argentina Bring Tyre Dispute

O n World AIDS Day, 1 December 2003, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers Unions (ICEM) and its affiliates in partnership with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' (ICFTU) Global Unions HIV/AIDS Campaign recognize the virus as having a devastating impact on the world of work, and call on unions across the world to step forward to educate workers and the public on preventive measures. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM also calls on all nations and global institutions to establish and then channel resources through a single agency that can best tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis on an international basis. 
 
&quot;There is no single, effective body that is responsible for coordinating the many genuine efforts to control and reverse the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the international level,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;Until such a mechanism is in place, the responses from the international community, although welcome, will not achieve maximum effect.&quot; 
 
Higgs said International Finance Institutions, donor countries, donor agencies and inter-governmental bodies must make a commitment to establish a designated body to effectively combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic across the globe. He used as example the United States government's emergency plan to spend US$2.4 billion next year on AIDS projects in 14 countries. Such a pledge, Higgs said, is bi-lateral between the US and each respective country and none of the funding is channeled through any official global agency. &quot;Establishing such a dedicated entity will discourage governments and other donors from selective contributions based on their own interests and will ensure that resources are directed where most needed in a fair and equitable manner. That is the only way to maximize the impact globally,&quot; said Higgs. 
 
ICEM, with 420 affiliated unions in 121 countries, is currently in dialogue with major pharmaceutical companies on providing badly needed anti-retroviral drug treatments to persons living with HIV/AIDS. ICEM is strategically positioned for such a direct role in the HIV/AIDS fight because it not only represents chemical workers in the pharmaceutical industry at major drug-producing firms, but also industrial workers hardest hit by the virus in energy, mining and mineral extraction in developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. 
 
On the ICFTU's Global Unions Campaign, Higgs said ICEM affiliates in Central and South Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean have developed and implemented effective workplace programmes and are engaged on national levels to fight the disease. He cited the innovative initiative of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to forge formal agreements with employers for worksite education and awareness programmes. He also singled out NUM for its role in moving the South African government to a drug treatment and care programme. 
 
In Botswana, ICEM affiliate Mining Workers' Union has been key in getting the government to provide free HIV/AIDS drugs and education to all citizens. And the Pakistan Labour Federation (PLF), another ICEM affiliate, has established both an HIV/AIDS Center in Lahore and a Women's Group with its purpose to create awareness among workers in rural areas. 
 
Senzeni Zokwana, president of the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa, said the ICEM is correct in calling for a central agency to coordinate HIV/AIDS eradication efforts and said the process must be devoid of manipulation. &quot;Countries that do not have the means to afford vaccines must have equal access,&quot; he said. &quot;Developed nations and existing agencies must remain neutral and not allow their policies or politics dictate the way in which this epidemic is fought.&quot; 
 
Haji Muhammad Saeed, and founder and Secretary General of Pakistan Labour Federation, said, &quot;Although HIV/AIDS affects all levels of a population, poverty is in fact a close companion of the virus. The role of trade unions is essential to support and to ensure the rights of workers living with HIV are upheld.&quot; The PLF has also endorsed the ICEM's call for a single agency to coordinate efforts.

ICEM Calls for Coordinated Response to HIV/AIDS Pandemic

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Just hours before 130 paperworkers of the ICEM affiliate Svenska Pappers were about to strike an ABB Power Technologies paper mill near Oskarshamn, Sweden, on 15 November, a settlement was reached between the union and Swiss-based engineering firm. 
The agreement actually exceeds the standards in place in Sweden's paper sector. It guarantees workers at the paperboard mill the right to health care, education, all benefits and income development, plus ABB will pay Svenska Pappers 1.5% of the total salary cost for follow up and administrative costs during the term of the agreement. 
Pressure to resolve the two-year-long dispute was brought on management when,&nbsp;on 10 November, a Swedish labour court ruled the workers not only had the right to strike, but that sympathy strikes by other unions operating at the mill were lawful. 
The threat of a strike also was heightened when&nbsp;Finnish union Paperiliitto, another ICEM affiliate, announced it would engage in industrial action against ABB if Swedish workers&nbsp;at the ABB's Figeholm mill struck. Svenska Pappers was instrumental last spring and early summer in sympathy actions in support of Paperiliitto during a 7-week lockout of Finland's paper sector, affecting 25,000 paperworkers. 
&quot;We are happy to avoid a strike,&quot; said Svenska Pappers Negotiations Secretary Lennart Olovsson. &quot;But I am more relieved over the fact that we could stand up against ABB and their intention to introduce a completely new and inferior collective agreement into the Swedish paper industry.&quot;

Strike Threat, Finnish Pressure Wins Paper Mill Dispute in Sweden

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The nearly five-month strike by Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada at a plant of chemicals company Invista ended 28 October when the workforce to 350 voted by 77% to return to work. 
A back-to-work accord was reached in Ottawa on 25 October, and bettered the back-to-work protocol workers rejected 19 September that would have voided seniority provisions. CEP Local 28 and Invista, a wholly-owned subsidiary of giant US energy company Koch Industries, had agreed to terms contained in the new three-year agreement earlier. 
The strike at the nylon intermediates and polymer plant in Ontario began on 4 June.

Invista Strike By CEP in Canada Ends

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Copper-mining and smelter workers, members of US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW), voted 12 November to accept a collective agreement. The ratification ends a four-and-a-half month strike at Asarco, a unit of rich Grupo Mexico SA de CV, now a global mining company enjoying healthy profits from high metals pricing. 
Strikes by 1,550 steelworkers and members of other US unions at six mine and smelting operations in Arizona and Texas began in late June and early July and were followed by Grupo Mexico taking Asarco into US bankruptcy protection. 
Formal US government labour law complaints against Asarco moved creditors to settle the strikes, and the resignation recently of Asarco Chairman and President Daniel Tellechea helped clear the way for agreement. 
The dispute centered on further wage and pension freezes at a time when world copper prices are at an all-time high. Two other US affiliates of the ICEM have minority representation in some of the six Asarco southwestern US worksites, including the Boilermakers (IBB) and Operating Engineers (IUOE).

Copper Strike in American Southwest Ends

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A&nbsp;compromise was reached in the pension dispute at Shell Nederland that nearly shut all operations of the company in Holland, including the giant gas fields and plants of NAM Nederland BV, the joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil. 
ICEM affiliate FNV Bondgenoten and Christian union CNV Chemie en Energie reached the compromise on 3 November, three days after shutdown procedures began at the Pernis oil refinery in Rotterdam and a petrochemicals plant in Moerdijk. Workers at Shell and NAM won through their unions an agreement that the early retirement age would stay at 60, while pension contributions by workers would not exceed more than 2% annually. 
Some 10,800 Shell and NAM employees are covered under the pension scheme.

Pension Dispute at Shell Nederland Ends

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Five global union federations, including ICEM, joined together on 31 October and 1 November to start the union-building modernisation project in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 
The launch of the three-year project occurred in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and included unions from the host country, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Russia and Ukraine are also included in the project. 
Vsevolod Barbaneagra was appointed project coordinator, and an education unit of the unions will be established in Bishkek by the end of the year. 
Besides ICEM, GUFs involved include IFBWW, ITF, IUF and UNI. The project is funded by FNV Mondiaal of The Netherlands.

Joint GUFs Project in Central Asia Kicks Off

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A four-hour general strike across Italy is scheduled for 25 November in protest to the Berlusconi government&rsquo;s proposed 2006 budget. 
All three major trade union federations&mdash;CGIL, CISL and UIL, numbering 11.2 million workers&mdash;have called for the strike.
The Berlusconi budget, which must be approved by Parliament by year&rsquo;s end, calls for US$24 billion in spending cuts, plus regressive revenue-raising measures. Among the proposed cuts are US$2.4 billion in social security costs that companies now must pay for the welfare of workers.

Italy Poised for General Strike on 25 November

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A two-day strike by hundreds of Eni workers in Nigeria brought the Italian energy company and state-owned NNPC to the bargaining table. The strike occurred over wage arrears. 
The 19-21 October strike by ICEM Nigerian affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN was won when Eni&rsquo;s direct subsidiary Agip agreed to expedite pay. The strike affected Agip&rsquo;s Brass River export terminal on the southern coast. 
Eni is responsible for 7% of Nigerian oil production

Eni Oil Strike in Nigeria Ends

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