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Labour relations in Trinidad and Tobago tilt pointedly toward turbulent unrest, as witnessed by mounted riot police and barricades that met 200 labour protestors on 29 March at Whitehall, the prime minister&rsquo;s offices in Port-of-Spain. The 200 peaceful marchers were forced by the barricades and mounted patrols away from the site of their strategic protest, and into an adjacent park.
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Workers employed at national and global companies &ndash; firms that have either stalled collective negotiations, or refused to engage in them &ndash; marched on Whitehall during a cabinet meeting with PM Patrick Manning in protest of high food prices and nagging inflation. This economic hit on workers comes at a time when bosses are delaying salary increases. 
 
ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) organised the demonstration, together with its national ally, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Government Organisations (FITUN). 
 
The 29 March demonstration comes amidst a wave of job actions on the Caribbean island nation, including a strike two weeks ago by OWTU members at state-owned oil company Petrotrin. Job actions also included a dockworkers&rsquo; strike last week. 
 
At the Whitehall standoff, workers from Petrotrin, Trinmar, PowerGen, Hilton Hotels, Telecommunications Service (TSTT), and University of West Indies (UWI) marched to the beat of a rhythm section right up to the barricades. TSTT and UWI workers demand that their employers negotiate with their chosen trade unions, while Hilton protested their management&rsquo;s refusal to negotiate a pension plan.
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Errol McLeod, OWTU President
Errol McLeod of OWTU said workers&rsquo; patience is grows thin due to the slow pace of wage negotiations at several private and public companies. Dockworkers, in fact, represented by Seamen and Waterfront Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (SWWTU), struck port facilities in Port-of-Spain because wage talks continue now for two years. 
 
McLeod said government officials and companies must realize that by settling wage demands will result in the desired effect of economic growth. The absence of that, he added, either by government, or on the part of management in the public or private sector, will bring only further unrest. 
 
&ldquo;If employers were to meet the just demands of unions, then there would be no need to protest,&rdquo; FITUN President David Abdullah said in a news report. FITUN has been heavily engaged with the Communications Workers&rsquo; Union (CWU) is its fight to get TSTT managers into meaningful collective bargaining. 
 
From 26-30 March, some 400 OWTU took job actions at oil-well facilities of Petrotrin, and protested in front of the company&rsquo;s Santa Flora production headquarters. The OWTU is protesting improper safety practices, brought on mainly through under-staffing. OWTU members also protested Petrotrin&rsquo;s failure to upgrade temporary workers &ndash; some who have worked for as long as 25 years &ndash; to permanent and full-time jobs.

Workers in Trinidad/Tobago Fight High Food Costs, Delays to Wage Increases

The ICEM has condemned the killing of General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW) Union Leader Najim Abd-Jasem in a communiqu&eacute; to Iraq&rsquo;s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. 
 
The 20-million-member Global Union Federation (GUF) called this &ldquo;appalling murder another sign of a clearly systematic campaign underway in Iraq to eliminate the leadership of the newly formed independent and democratic unions that strongly oppose sectarianism.&rdquo;
Abd-Jasem, a husband and father of four children, was abducted in Baghdad on 27 March, and his body was found three days later, 30 March, with clear signs that he was tortured before his death. A staunch trade unionist, even as a member of the underground workers&rsquo; democratic movement during Saddam Hussein&rsquo;s ban on independent trade unions, Abd-Jasem was the elected General Secretary of the Mechanic Workers&rsquo; Union of the GFIW. 
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In the message to Nouri al-Maliki, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda cited recent attacks on the head office of the GFIW, as well as previous murders and abduction of trade union leaders. &ldquo;Workers and trade unionists must be able to carry out their normal activities in your country without fearing for their lives,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;We call on you to ensure full respect for the fundamental human and trade union rights of workers.&rdquo; 
Abd-Jasem was leader of the Mechanics Workers&rsquo; Union since 2003. He was also a founder of the Iraq Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and a trade union leader as the IFTU and two other labour federations merged to create the GFIW. During the Saddam regime, he worked as a mechanic in the Health Ministry, but was dismissed from that job for opposing Saddam&rsquo;s official union. 
 
The ICEM, a GUF representing 389 trade unions in 124 countries, expresses deep sorrow to the family of Najim Abd Jasem, as well as to the leadership of GFIW, which has lost a true martyr in the struggle for free and democratic trade unions in Iraq.

ICEM Condemns Killing of Iraqi Trade Union Leader

Trade union leaders from Guinea, who have been leading efforts to topple the corrupt regime of President Lansano Cont&eacute; in the west African country, were in Brussels on 26-27 March, and they appealed to global trade unions to continue to apply pressure for democratic change there. 
 
The national centre leaders, which included the leader of ICEM&rsquo;s mining union affiliate in Guinea, visited the ICEM on 27 March. They told of the continued impasse to dissolve the corrupt and authoritative government of Cont&eacute; &ndash; despite the appointment of an acceptable prime minister &ndash; and they addressed the rampant poverty that has swallowed the resource-rich country, due primarily to that corruption. 
 
The three included: Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG); Dr. Ibrahima Fofana, General Secretary of the Trade Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG); and Yamodou Tour&eacute;, General Secretary of the National Organisation of Free Trade Unions of Guinea (ONSLG), who also heads the National Union of Mine and Quarry Workers (SYNAMIC). 
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From left to right: Ibrahima Fofana, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, Manfred Warda and Yamodou Tour&eacute;
Guinea&rsquo;s trade unions have become the voice and courage for all of civil society as they led mass strikes against Cont&eacute; and his military regime last year, and again in January and February of this year. In January, the three leaders were arrested for leading the three-week general strike, and the arrests were interlocked with direct negotiations with Cont&eacute;, talks that did make modest progress toward democratic reform. 
Cont&eacute;'s presidential guards killed a total of 113 people during this year's crisis. 
 
The Brussels visit was made possible by the ITUC, and included a visit to the European Union&rsquo;s Commission. 
 
At the ICEM, Rabi Diallo said the January-February general strike was only a partial success, and civil society is now waiting for new Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate to re-shape a government that will address the needs of the people. &ldquo;The stumbling block is that the president is still in power,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The commitments we have gained have not been implemented, so our struggle continues. Nothing is a given yet.&rdquo; 
 
Dr. Fofana added, &ldquo;We have initiated the first step, that government must be responsible to the people. We took action, the state tried to stop us, but we have persevered.&rdquo; Fofana and the others are calling for an international conference of trade union and civil society groups to be held in Guinea this year. The conference is intended to promote proper social dialogue inside the country, as well &ldquo;as to show the whole world what is occurring in Guinea today,&rdquo; according to Fofana. 
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Yamodou Tour&eacute; said the two biggest obstacles facing workers in Guinea are corrupt bosses, and the need for overhaul and drastic revisions to labour code and collective labour agreements. The three trade union leaders specifically told ICEM of the problems in Guinea&rsquo;s mining sector, where taxes that are charged to global companies end up in personal accounts of Cont&eacute; and his cronies. 
 
The country holds roughly half of the world&rsquo;s reserves of bauxite, the chief mineral in the manufacture of aluminium, and also is a significant producer of copper, gold, and diamonds. 
 
The trade unionists said Russian bauxite producer RUSAL is a real problem in Guinea. The company, which operates the Friguia alumina plant, as well as serving as the managing partner in a joint venture with Cont&eacute;&rsquo;s corrupt regime, called Compagnie des Bauxite de Kindia, utilises child labour in many of its work areas. The company also relies heavily on subcontractors, &ldquo;phantom&rdquo; companies which are tied to Cont&eacute;&rsquo;s associates. 
 
These enterprises operate in the black, and are the worst abusers of workers&rsquo; rights in a country in which workplace rights are nearly non-existent. 
 
After meeting with ICEM Gen. Sec. Manfred Warda and ICEM staff, Warda stated, &ldquo;The people of Guinea deserve our support and solidarity. They are living and working under the worst circumstances imaginable. It is incumbent for global trade unions to follow the lead of Guinea&rsquo;s heroic unions, and to join their struggle for justice and democratic reforms.&rdquo;

Struggle Continues for Trade Unionists in Bringing Democracy to Guinea

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The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) is heading a global union campaign to draw attention to occupational cancer, the most common work-related cause of death. Titled &ldquo;Occupational Cancer/Zero Cancer,&rdquo; the campaign is endorsed by all Global Union Federations, as well as the ITUC, and contains materials and useful information for preventing cancer in the workplace. 
 
Those materials, and background information, can be found at <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/cancer">www.imfmetal.org/cancer</a>. 
 
An IMF cancer prevention guide, for instance, states that an occupational cancer death occurs once every 52 seconds. The IMF maintains that one in ten cancer cases can be prevented because that percentage, at the very least, is due to predictable workplace exposure. 
 
&ldquo;Asbestos alone accounts for an estimated 100,000 deaths each year and yet there is not a worldwide ban on its use,&rdquo; said IMF Gen. Sec. Marcello Malentacchi. The IMF says too little attention is given to preventing workplace hazards by employers and government regulators, and Malentacchi points to the fact that &ldquo;only a small minority of countries have signed up to the ILO conventions on occupational cancer and asbestos.&rdquo;

IMF Spearheads Global Campaign on Occupational Cancer

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Another victory for workers in Iraq was won last week with major significance. A sit-in by street vendors in the southern city of Nasiriya produced a compromise by authorities in negotiations. Street vendors are represented by the Union of Unemployed in Iraq (UUI), part of the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions in Iraq (FWCUI). 
 
On 22 March, scores of street vendors staged a sit-in and protest aimed at municipal and occupational authorities, who previously have evicted the vendors under a &ldquo;reconstruction plan of cities&rdquo; dictum. Last week&rsquo;s action forced negotiations with street vendor leaders, the UUI, and authorities. The compromise gives street vendors &ldquo;an alternative location to set up their kiosks/carts on which they depend to support their families,&rdquo; according to UUI Nasiriyah Branch President Almad Salem. 
 
&ldquo;This agreement is a first-timer in the recent history of our class struggles with the governorate and will mobilise more of the exploited and oppressed to come forward in unified ranks around their real representatives in order to demand their rights,&rdquo; he added.
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Iraqi street vendors' protest on 22 March&nbsp;
Stated FWCUI Nasiriya Branch Head Ahmad abdel-Sattar, &ldquo;Authorities did not move towards solving the problem or planning in any way to rid the hundreds of thousands of the unemployed from this decades&rsquo; old situation (of poverty). Moreover, they have deepened the crisis by dividing work opportunities among sectarian and political party groups. These authorities further exposed their irresponsibility when they announced their plan of eviction of all street vendors.&rdquo; 
 
Last week&rsquo;s breakthrough is only the initial victory in the long fight for Iraqi workers in their attempt to live and earn decent livings under dire and frightful circumstances. The FWCUI has issued a call to all the people of Nasiriyah to support the street vendors&rsquo; just and humane demands, and the ICEM supports that call to trade unions everywhere.

FWCUI in Iraq: Sit-in Action Moves Nasiriya Authorities to Respect Street Vendors

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A scheduled strike was set to begin this morning, 26 March, by union members of Le Syndicat National des Agents du Secteur de l&rsquo;Electricit&eacute; (SYNASEG), ICEM&rsquo;s electric affiliate in the Ivory Coast. The strike is against CIE, the country&rsquo;s electricity operator and a subsidiary of French-based Bouygues Group. 
 
The dispute is over pay. SYNASEG and CIE last negotiated on 20 March, with officials of the Labour Ministry, Mines and Energy Ministry, and a representative of Ivory Coast&rsquo;s work inspectorate mediating. When the company did not provide a response to the union&rsquo;s ultimate proposal by late last week, the strike was called for early today. A meeting is scheduled for 15h00 today in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast.
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SYNASEG Gen. Sec. Fran&ccedil;ois Yao
&ldquo;We agreed to lower our salary demands from 25% to 15%,&rdquo; stated SYNASEG Gen. Sec. Fran&ccedil;ois Yao. &ldquo;We consider this our final offer.&rdquo; 
 
CIE and government officials held a private meeting late last week on the dispute, but did not inform the union of the contents of that meeting, an obvious breach of common social dialogue. 
 
Besides a 15% salary hike for workers, SYNASEG is demanding 12% for supervisors. CIE&rsquo;s did increase its salary proposal in talks prior to 20 March, but only to 7% for workers and 5% for supervisors.

Electric Workers Strike Set to Begin Today in Ivory Coast

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Photos - Imerys demonstration South West 18 November 2006

Photos of the march and rally can be found <a href="/index.php?id=21&amp;doc=2038&amp;la=EN">here</a>.
A march and mass rally against Imerys&rsquo; rash restructuring in the UK'S&nbsp;South West was held on Saturday, 18 November, in St. Austell.
Sponsored by UK trade unions Transport &amp; General Workers Union (TGWU), Amicus, and GMB, the colourful march&nbsp;featured French, American and global union representatives, who reminded Imerys workers in the Cornwall and Devon region that the company will grant nothing without a fight. The march culminated with the rally and speeches at Polkyth Carpark. 
 
The march and rally, in which 450 people participated,&nbsp;was part of a build-up to an industrial ballot that the UK unions will take in the South West Imerys, a Paris-based multinational that produces building materials. Imerys is targeting some 610 jobs to be made redundant at its kaolin mine and processing operations in the South West by the end of next year.
<img height="50" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The restructuring has gained global attention through the TGWU&rsquo;s outreach to other unions representing Imerys workers around the world. 
Speakers at Saturday&rsquo;s event included Serge Gonzales, from the French trade union F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Force Ouvri&egrave;re (FO) Mat&eacute;riaux, C&eacute;ramique et Thermique, who is Secretary of Imerys&rsquo; European Works Council; Keith Fulbright, a shop-floor leader at Imery&rsquo;s Sylacauga, Alabama, calcium carbonate mine and plant, who is President of Local Branch 3-0516 of the United Steelworkers (USW) of America; and Dick Blin, a representative of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers' (ICEM) Unions, the Brussels-based Global Union Federation, which includes Imerys&rsquo; trade unions worldwide. 
 
Also speaking were&nbsp;Jennie Formby, TGWU National Secretary, and Laura Lamprell, TGWU Regional Industrial Organiser. 
 
&ldquo;Imerys has exhibited utter contempt in regards to workers, their families and, indeed, the entire well-being of communities built by the labours of English China Clay,&rdquo; said Formby. &ldquo;That contempt has stretched from the manner in which they made the announcement last July, to the manner in which they&rsquo;ve conducted the consultation process with the workers&rsquo; representatives.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;We have told Imerys that their anti-social policies in the UK will affect their reputation globally,&rdquo; said Serge Gonzales. &ldquo;We demand of Imerys a reversal to the anti-worker conduct that it is displaying in various countries throughout Europe.&rdquo; 
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="62" alt="" src="" width="113" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="70" />
In Sylacauga, Alabama, Imerys also has demonstrated a record of union-busting and non-adherence to its social obligations. The USW has fended off two de-unionisation efforts by the company since the turn of the decade, and it is only now, through renewed strength of the USW among the 500-member workforce, that the company has tempered its anti-worker agenda. 
 
&ldquo;The lesson that I bring about Imerys from America to workers of the South West is this: &lsquo;Stay united, stay focused,&rsquo;&rdquo; said the USW&rsquo;s Keith Fulbright. &ldquo;Our experience is that Imerys will attack when they know the union is weak. It was only after we signed nearly every worker into the union that everyone began displaying that fact on the shop floor. It was only then that Imerys backed off.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Imerys must begin making real commitments to workers and communities of the South West,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;The ICEM guarantees that unless fairness and respect are granted, we will do everything in our power to bring this dispute into all the company&rsquo;s global workplaces.&rdquo;

Anger at Imerys Expressed at Rally in UK&#039;s South West

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Another Colombian trade unionist was murdered, continuing a trend that labels the South American country as one of the worst in the world with respect to trade union rights and human rights. 
 
Jes&uacute;s Marino Mosquera, an activist in the rural workers&rsquo; agricultural union of SINTRAINAGRO, was murdered last month while returning home from the farm that he worked at in Carepa, Urab&aacute; state. He served as a union representative for SINTRAINAGRO on a joint labour-management committee for the past 12 years. 
 
Following the mid-October assassination, two members of the union&rsquo;s national executive received death threats. On 26 October, masked gunmen broke into the home of one of those members, Medardo Cuesta, who was not there, and left a death note for him.
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SINTRAINAGRO, an affiliate of the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; (IUF), and of the Colombian national labour centre CUT have denounced the murder and death threats, and have called on the government to provide all necessary protective measures for SINTRAINAGRO officers and members. 
 
Far more trade unionists are murdered in Colombia each year than in any other country in the world. Last year, the count was listed at 70, although it is believed another 25 trade union leaders were victims of death squads. 
 
The IUF provides further information on this latest instance of trade union killings in Colombia, as well as a link to send a message of protest to the government on its website. To get there, click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.iufdocuments.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&amp;uid=default&amp;ID=3823&amp;view_records=1&amp;ww=1&amp;en=1">here</a>.

Agricultural Trade Unionist Slain in Colombia

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The former battery workers at two Gold Peak Industrial Holding plants in China who had been diagnosed with excessive levels of cadmium had their case heard in a Chinese court on 3 November. Some 146 workers &ndash; mostly young women &ndash; are being victimised by the Hong Kong-based company.
In 2004, some 400 workers at two of Gold Peak&rsquo;s battery plants in China engaged in strike action to overcome the company&rsquo;s refusal to carry out health tests. Now, Gold Peak is arguing that the 146 workers have no legal basis for claims to compensation, claims for lost working time, or re-employment. 
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The 146 employees, 95% of whom are women between ages 20 and 30, worked at the Gold Peak battery plants of Huizhou Xianjin and Huizhou Chaoba in Guangdong province. In documents, the workers said they were terminated from employment and given little compensation when high levels of cadmium were found in their bodies. The Huizhou city government had certified that a total of 177 Gold Peak workers had been tested and that excessive levels of cadmium had been found in their blood systems. 
 
The Chinese court, after hearing the case on 3 November, adjourned without issuing a verdict. 
 
Investor-based Gold Peak operates several battery-producing factories in China, and sells the batteries under different brand names worldwide.

Gold Peak Battery Workers Have Their Day in Court in China

Archive

Workers in Trinidad/Tobago Fight High Food Costs, Delays to Wage Increases

ICEM Condemns Killing of Iraqi Trade Union Leader

Struggle Continues for Trade Unionists in Bringing Democracy to Guinea

IMF Spearheads Global Campaign on Occupational Cancer

FWCUI in Iraq: Sit-in Action Moves Nasiriya Authorities to Respect Street Vendors

Electric Workers Strike Set to Begin Today in Ivory Coast

Photos - Imerys demonstration South West 18 November 2006

Anger at Imerys Expressed at Rally in UK's South West

Agricultural Trade Unionist Slain in Colombia

Gold Peak Battery Workers Have Their Day in Court in China

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