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In the US, USW returned to bargaining this week with Bridgestone/Firestone (BSFS) in hopes of sparking serious negotiations, something the Japanese tyre maker has failed to do in over two years of bargaining. At a meeting 12 May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bargaining committee leaders representing 6,000 rubber workers at the company&rsquo;s eight US plants set an agenda of action and mobilization that will lead to a 15 July strike if BSFS doesn&rsquo;t get serious at the bargaining table. 
That will include factory-by-factory mobilization meetings by the entire union committee in June, and a mass demonstration at the US headquarters of BSFS in Nashville, Tennessee, on 8 July. That action will be in conjunction with issuance of a mandatory five-day strike notice. USW is seeking job security measures and commitments of capitalization and modernization to BSFS&rsquo;s US tyre operations. Such assurances have already been won under a pattern agreement with other major tyre manufacturers.

USW to Take Bold Actions to Achieve Bridgestone Contract

The ICEM mourns the death of Hungarian trade union leader Lajos Főcze, retired president of the Chemical, Energy, Paper and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ). He died 3 May at age 68. Brother Főcze was the first Eastern and Central European trade union leader to seek solidarity and affiliation with the ICEF, predecessor to the ICEM. 
In 1990, he was a founding member of the Autonomous Trade Union Confederation of Hungary and served as its president until his retirement in 1999. He began his career with VDSZ in 1974 as a specialist in workers&rsquo; safety and social policy. He was president of VDSZ from 1988 to 1999. The ICEM, along with the entire Hungarian trade union movement, will remember Lajos Főcze as a tireless advocate of a free trade union movement globally.

ICEM Saddened by Loss of Hungary’s Lajos Focze

French workers of ExxonMobil are waging strike actions and manifestations against the US energy company&rsquo;s decision to close worksites, and make redundant thousands of workers. Backed by five unions, including ICEM affiliates belonging to CFDT and CGT-FO, 80% of all French ExxonMobil workers are engaged in stop-work actions from 11- 19 May. Despite record profits with each passing financial quarter, the world&rsquo;s largest energy company is following its plan to shut multiple French worksites, affecting hundreds of jobs. 
Unionised workers themselves took the initiative for the actions, and a refinery at Fos was shut off 13-14 May, while another refinery at Dunkirk was stopped 12-14 May. Last week prior to a two-day stoppage at the Port Jerome Seine-Maritime centre, all 700 workers of the facility staged a defiant manifestation. Actions are ongoing at nearly all the company&rsquo;s French operations: Esso, SAF, Mobil, ExxonMobil Chemical and Noroxo.

French Unions Strike to Stop ExxonMobil Retrenchments

EPMU members at a new tyre plant of Bridgestone began picketing that jobsite on 26 April in protest of the Japanese company's failure to meet demands. The 24 strikers are highly skilled electricians, engineers and mold changers who are also seeking the 5%, as well as shift allowances and a minimum nine statutory holidays. The actual work stoppage began 9 April.

Discord by Skilled Workers at Bridgestone Tyre in New Zealand

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Spontaneous solidarity strikes crossed the Finnish paper sector last week in support of paperworkers locked out at Stora Enso's Anjalankoski mill. Some 29,000 workers represented by ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto are staging industrial action due to anti-worker demands of the Forest Industries Federation of Finland. Stora Enso used the industrial action to lock out workers at that paper mill. 
The employers' group is now engaged in wage talks with Paperiliitto but it also is seeking increases in outsourcing and reduction in paper mill shutdown holidays. All of UPM Kymmene and Stora Enso's mills saw strike action last week and a number of M-Real mills also were temporarily shut.

Strikes Begin in Finnish Paper Sector

EPMU members at a Colgate-Palmolive factory in Petone, NZ, are continuing a series of one-day strikes over the pay issue. While the global chemicals and detergents company shows record earnings in New Zealand, it offers Petrone workers a 5% increase covering 15 months, rather than the 5% yearly increase sought by the EPMU.

Strikes Occurring in New Zealand at Colgate-Palmolive

After losing a contempt of court case against leaders of the Botswana Mining Workers Union (BMWU) last month, diamond-mining monopoly Debswana has chosen a different retaliatory route following a 13-day strike late last summer: internal disciplinary measures against BMWU leaders. Debswana, a joint venture between DeBeers and the government of Botswana, has summoned individual leaders of the union for hearings on the spontaneous strike action that broke out in only a few areas of the company&rsquo;s wide-ranging operations. Despite company rhetoric calling for healing and reconciliation over the August-September strike that saw participation by 450 of the firm&rsquo;s 7,000 workers, this latest action is proof that the company has no intention of forgiving and forgetting.

Debswana Continues to Retaliate Against Botswana&#039;s Miners

A strike by 21,000 members of NUM of South Africa ended in the Free State 6 April when the union and Harmony Gold came to terms over a number of issues, including an independent audit panel to examine racism issues at Harmony&rsquo;s Free State operations. Other issues resolved include conversion of hostels into family units with increased housing allowances, rectification of inaccurate pay deductions and workers&rsquo; rights to choice in health care treatments. Although the agreement did not cover the unilateral retrenchment of 4,900 miners in the Free State, talks are expected to continue on that issue.

NUM Ends Strike Against Harmony Gold in South Africa

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
NUPENG and PENGASSAN, ICEM affiliates in Nigeria&rsquo;s energy sector, reached agreement with oil companies and the country&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour and Productivity on 6 April, five days ahead of a threatened three-day warning strike. 
The signed accord compels all parties to monitor compliance of quotas on expatriate workers in the oil industry, as well as regulating casualisation and contract workers, redundancies and pensions.

Nigerian Unions, Government Reach Accord Over Issues

Nepal&rsquo;s monarchy continues its irrational restriction of civil liberties by targeting labour leaders for arrest on even the slightest provocation. On 8 April, national center GEFONT&rsquo;s Vice Chairman Lalit Basnet and Hetaunda Zonal Chairman Madhusudan Khatiwada were jailed for speaking out against curtailment of basic trade union rights, including assembly. 
Similarly, GEFONT&rsquo;s Bara Zonal Chairman Kamalesh Jha was arrested in Kalaiya while protesting King Gyanendra&rsquo;s harsh authoritative measures. GEFONT&rsquo;s Kanchanpur Zonal Chairman Dharmananda Panta was arrested 25 March hours after he was re-elected. He was released 6 April. Official government response to his incarceration: &ldquo;(Dharmananda Panta&rsquo;s) continued freedom would allow him to conduct interviews which are against the spirit of His Majesty&rsquo;s proclamations, and would further escalate unrest, thus hampering peace and tranquillity.&rdquo;

Nepal Clamping Down on Trade Union Leaders, Trade Union Rights

Archive

USW to Take Bold Actions to Achieve Bridgestone Contract

ICEM Saddened by Loss of Hungary’s Lajos Focze

French Unions Strike to Stop ExxonMobil Retrenchments

Discord by Skilled Workers at Bridgestone Tyre in New Zealand

Strikes Begin in Finnish Paper Sector

Strikes Occurring in New Zealand at Colgate-Palmolive

Debswana Continues to Retaliate Against Botswana's Miners

NUM Ends Strike Against Harmony Gold in South Africa

Nigerian Unions, Government Reach Accord Over Issues

Nepal Clamping Down on Trade Union Leaders, Trade Union Rights

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