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The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 11, has announced that it will be issuing a second complaint against Continental General Tire, the US subsidiary of global tyremaker Continental. 
 
The new complaint will allege that the company engaged in further unlawful conduct during negotiations which led to the strike at Continental's site in Charlotte, North Carolina. That strike is now in its tenth month. 
 
Continental has faced worldwide trade union protests this week over its conduct of the Charlotte dispute. The action is being coordinated by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the Charlotte workers' union, the USWA, is affiliated at the global level. 
 
Action this week includes: 
 
- A sympathy strike by Continental's South African workers yesterday 
 
- Australian trade unionists' picket of the German consulate in Sydney today - Continental's world headquarters is in Germany 
 
- Protests at Ford Motor Co. dealerships in 61 US cities - Ford fits General tyres as original equipment on several of its models in the US 
 
- Protests at German consulates in several US cities 
 
- Protests by the ICEM-affiliated Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale/Algemene Centrale, the union representing Continental's Belgian workers, and in France by ICEM affiliate the FCE-CFDT, which organises Continental workers there. 
 
The ICEM and the USWA recently filed a complaint with the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning Continental's violations of basic worker rights in Charlotte. 
 
In the US, the NLRB had already issued a complaint against Continental General Tire this April, alleging that the company had violated the National Labor Relations Act by failing to provide five items of information necessary for the union to bargain on behalf of its members. 
 
The NLRB will now issue a second complaint alleging that the Company further violated the Act by: 
 
- failing to provide five additional items of information necessary to bargaining 
 
- engaging in unlawful surveillance of the striking employees' lawful union activities. 
 
The NLRB will also allege that all of these unfair labour practices were a motivating reason for the strike and that the strike has therefore been an unfair labour practice strike from its inception. As a result, the NLRB will also allege that the Company violated the Act by: 
 
- threatening to permanently replace striking employees 
 
- following through on this unlawful threat by &quot;permanently replacing&quot; striking employees (900 of them, on the company's estimation). 
 
By this ruling, the NLRB has made it clear that the company's hiring of &quot;permanent replacements&quot; and its continued insistence on keeping these replacements after the end of the strike is unlawful. The Company will now have to choose between bringing back all striking employees at the end of the strike or being in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

Continental Tyres Campaign: Continental Tyres Faces New US Charges Of Law-Breaking

That accident was on the agenda and received discussion at the founding conference of the International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Union Network (INWUN) at ICEM in Brussels 25-26 August. The independent network adopted a fees structure, passed bylaws and statutes, and elected officers. Those elected were Dave Shier, Power Workers Union of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (PWU-CUPE), president; Irina Micu, Energy Trade Union, Romania; executive vice president; Paul Reece, PWU-CUPE, general secretary; and Roland Glibert, Belgian Confederation of Executives and Management Staff at Belgonucleaire, Belgium, treasurer.

Independent Nuclear Network Elects Officers

A fifth Japanese worker died 25 August of severe burns incurred at the 9 August accident at the Kansai Electric Power nuclear site in Mihama. Another five workers are still hospitalized following the rupture of a steam pipe. Workers killed or injured were on the job as employees of Kiuchi Keisoku, a subcontractor doing preparation work on the plant&rsquo;s reactors. Public prosecutors are reviewing the accident to determine whether or not Kansai will be held accountable for Japan&rsquo;s worst nuclear plant accident ever.

Worst Japanese Nuclear Accident Claims Fifth Life

In Nigeria, legislation called the Labour Reform Bill that would severely weaken the labour movement continues to be pushed by the government in Senate hearings. The bill, which would impose restrictions on union membership and union operations, is seen as revenge on the Nigerian Labour Congress for its role in strikes and near strikes over fuel price increases. In vowing that the legislation will not get a reading in the National Assembly, PENGASSAN President Louis Brown Ogbeifun told trade publication Upstream, &ldquo;The government would be shooting itself in the foot if it pushed through measures to decimate organized labour, and I think they&rsquo;ll soon understand this fact.&rdquo;

Nigerian Labour Opposes Workplace Reform Legislation

A bitter diamond-mining strike in Botswana erupted last week when workers angered by a company take-it-or-leave-it pay offer defied union leadership and struck Debswana, the Botswana diamond monopoly run as a joint venture between DeBeers and the government of the southern African nation. 
ICEM affiliate Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) was pushed to the defensive as the company used a prior legal ruling to suspend union matters by charging 32 branch and national officers with contempt of court. Some 2,000 workers among 6,000 miners at four highly profitable Debswana operations struck 23 August over a pay and bonus offer that fell far inferior to one given supervisors. 
According to the BMWU, the workers walked because the inferior pay/bonus offer was pulled from the table after rejection, and also due to an industrial court ruling barring a strike, a clear sign that the justice system was one-sided. The BMWU was attempting to put together a settlement that would end the strike and halt the harsh court action by Debswana and the government at the weekend.

Botswana’s Miners Strike Debswana

The ICEM&rsquo;s North American Women&rsquo;s Conference will be held 13 September in Ottawa at the headquarters of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The statutory conference will coincide with a CLC march to protect Canada&rsquo;s national Medicare system as political leaders will gather that day to debate the future of the healthcare programme. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Minto Place Suite Hotel.

ICEM’s North American Women’s Conference Set for Ottawa

Paperworkers in the UK represented by Graphic Printing &amp; Media Union (GPMU) are on the verge of industrial action following a breakdown in talks with the Confederation of Paper Industry companies. The ICEM affiliate sent notices to some 12,000 members that industrial action could commence after 26 August if progress is not made in talks. Union workers in the paper sector voted for possible industrial action last June. GPMU has rejected a proposal by the industry for a 2.85% pay increase.

Paper Dispute in UK Threatens Entire Industry

The NUM of South Africa successfully concluded wage negotiations with DeBeers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Terms include a 7% increase in pensionable wages with the minimum basic rate of pay retroactive to May 2004 set at R 3,100 per month. &ldquo;The agreement paves the way toward enhancing a partnership that would enable both parties to benefit during the good and bad times,&rdquo; said NUM Deputy Gen. Sec. Archie Palange. The pact runs until 30 April 2005.

NUM, DeBeers Come to Wage Terms in South Africa

Following Japan&rsquo;s worst nuclear accident in history on 9 August in which four workers were killed and seven injured seriously, Kansai Electric Power announced it would temporarily close all 11 of its nuclear plants for inspections of pipes for corrosion. The deadly accident occurred at Kansai&rsquo;s Mihama nuclear plant north of Kyoto when a steam pipe ruptured. The pipe reportedly never had been inspected since the plant opened in 1976, and investigators after the accident found the once ten-millimetre-thick pipe had worn away to a thickness of only 1.4 millimetres. Minimum safety requirements mandate such pipes carrying superheated steam be at least 4.7 millimetres thick.

Japan’s Worst Nuclear Accident Occurs at Kansai Power Plant

ICEM New Zealand affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU) emerged from its biennial conference in Rotorua 24 July with a priority to achieve employer-funded superannuation schemes. The New Zealand Institute was established to promote policies and aid New Zealand&rsquo;s largest trade union with developing asset ownership funds held by workers. Andrew Little was re-elected EPMU national secretary at the conference for a second four-year term, while Trevor Ruby was elected president, Don Pryde senior vice president and Dennis Robertson junior vice president.

EPMU Leaves Congress with Focused Priorities

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