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The UK&rsquo;s Transport &amp; General Workers Union (T&amp;G) says French-based Imerys has unilaterally decided to implement pension scheme concessions on its 2,500 UK workers. Without consultation with the union, the company says it will eliminate the final salary scheme for new hires and terms of the scheme for existing workers will be downgraded. T&amp;G points out that Imerys &ldquo;had taken a three-year pension holiday&rdquo; from 2000-03 that cost the scheme &pound;9 million. Imerys also announced it would cut 80 jobs in the UK by next spring.

Transport &amp; General in UK Has Pension Issues with Imerys

ICEM affiliate USWA, meanwhile, achieved a first collective agreement in the US for 130 Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber workers in Statesville, North Carolina. Workers there chose USWA for representation last February through a newly instituted card-check/neutrality agreement signed between the union and US rubber-maker in 2003 negotiations. The first labour agreement for the 130 at the tyre mold plant means they will come under the network of job security provisions agreed to in those 2003 negotiations, including the company&rsquo;s commitment to utilize USWA members before reaching outside for contract labour. The USWA is still negotiating at two other Goodyear plants where workers chose union representation through the card-check, or showing of interest procedure spelled out in the 2003 labour agreement with Goodyear. Those plants are a steel tyre cord plant in Asheboro, North Carolina, employing 350 workers, and a Goodyear textile plant in Utica, New York, employing 160.

USWA Reaches Agreement with Goodyear at Newly-Organized Site

The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and German-based Continental Tire are in disagreement over severance and health care benefits for 700 workers about to be sacked due to a plant closing in Mayfield, Kentucky. The company announced earlier this year it was discontinuing manufacture of auto and light truck tyres effective 31 December 2004 in Mayfield. The USWA on 17 September submitted a US$20 million costs-savings proposal to Continental, but the company rejected it, stating investment and lower-cost tyre production from Brazil, Mexico and China is the firm&rsquo;s priority. Continental will maintain warehousing and a mixing unit in Mayfield, employing only 200 workers.

USWA Takes Issue with Continental Tire’s US Plant Closing

The long, bitter dispute between ICEM US affiliate PACE and Continental Carbon is over. After a three-and-a-half-year lockout by the Taiwanese-based firm of 86 workers who make carbon black for the rubber industry in Ponca City, Oklahoma, PACE members ratified a new labour agreement this weekend that includes a satisfactory back-to-work agreement.

US Affiliate PACE, Taiwanese Continental Carbon Reach Terms

&nbsp;

	Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 9 February, the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO) adopted a moving statement that denounces violence against women in the workplace, most specifically a rape and murder earlier this week inside Anglo American Platinum Ltd.&rsquo;s (Amplats) Khomanani Mine in Rustenburg, North West Province.

	ICEM affiliate National Mine Workers (NUM) of South Africa has given North West police until the end of this week to arrest those responsible for this horrific act of violence. The SSARO statement follows:

	&ldquo;On the morning of 6 February, a 28- year-old female worker was violated and murdered underground at Khomanani Mine, which is owned by Amplats, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American.

	&ldquo;This barbaric and neanderthal act against an innocent young worker is the most glaring case of gender-based discrimination against women and abuse of power. Sexual assault is cruel, inhuman, horrible. A mineworker underground on a daily basis has to deal with death or injury that can come from a rock fall or machines. Having to deal with death and violation against your person sexually and otherwise compounds the insecurity of a human being. A fellow worker who was supposed to act as a fellow human being acted as an animal.

	&ldquo;The National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting to enable women to work in mines. This and similar incidents should not be misconstrued to undo the progress that women have made to achieve equal employment rights.&rdquo;

	He who does not love a woman, who does not respect a woman, despises his own mother having come out of a kind womb of a woman.

	&ldquo;As the ICEM African Executive Committee and the ICEM African Women&#039;s Structure, we strongly condemn this atrocious act of barbarism.

	&ldquo;Mines and all workplaces must be safe environments for women and men. It is up to the employer to ensure that the workplace is safe for all. We will be holding the employer accountable for this tragedy.

	&ldquo;We call for a speedy and thorough investigation into these crimes. We are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, whoever they are. We call on the police to do a thorough investigation as the mine has records of who works what shift. We call on them to use all the forensic technology at their disposal to find out who the perpetrator is. We will be following up on this case and checking that justice is done. We also call for a tough sentence for the perpetrator or perpetrators once found.

	&ldquo;This young woman was only 28 years old and had one child, and her future and dreams were destroyed by a barbaric act of violence by a male counterpart. This is the triple oppression that we need to continue to fight against to attain true liberation for African women.

	&ldquo;We call on comrades to rally around this slogan: Not Another Woman Must Be Reaped, Not Another Woman Must Be Murdered.

	&ldquo;We call upon affiliates and sister organisations of ICEM to post this statement on their websites and to disseminate it widely to the press.&rdquo;

ICEM SSARO Condemns Grisly Rape, Murder of Woman inside Amplats Mine

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Over 140 paper packaging workers have been taking strike actions against the Austrian company Mayr-Melnhof at a food packaging plant in Bootle, near Liverpool. The industrial actions, which began 12 days ago, revolve around management&rsquo;s stubbornness over redundancy terms.

	UK&rsquo;s Unite the Union is leading the strike actions, which last weekend, 18-19 February, took a different turn when management locked workers out of the factory. The purpose evidently was so managers could move products and equipment to another plant. Workers responded to the lockout with a blockade, and demanded to meet with management. Those talks commenced earlier this week.

	The Vienna-based company had sought paring 49 staff at the 180-worker factory, but the union agreed to significant changes to terms and conditions to reduce the redundancy count to 37.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 232px;height: 140px" width="390">&nbsp;

	But talks broke down and workers voted for strike action in a ballot counted on 3 February. Mayr-Melnhof refused to lower the number and became miserly in awarding proper social terms and conditions.

	Unite has called it &ldquo;switch strikes.&rdquo; Workers first took strike action at midnight on 9 February, and then again the following week on 13 and 15 February, with weekend plant-gate demonstrations in between. Those were six-hour rotating strikes from 06h to noon, and then from noon to 18h. Workers were planning further actions last weekend when they faced the lockout.

	&ldquo;This is not the action our members wanted to take, but they felt they had no alternative,&rdquo; said Unite Regional Officer Phil Morgan. &ldquo;The redundancy terms on the able are significantly inferior to terms negotiated on previous occasions.&rdquo; The company had previously laid off about 50 workers and the reduced severance packages this time induced none of the workforce to apply for voluntary redundancy.

	Mayr-Melnhof makes several kinds of food packaging at Bottle ranging from tea bags to breakfast cereal to packaging for pet food. The firm operates another UK facility in Deeside, North Wales.

UK Packaging Workers Face Lockout at Mayr-Melnhof Plant in Merseyside

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	A 90-day strike planned by ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago against state oil company Petrotrin did not go ahead as scheduled on 18 February. OWTU and Petrotrin, in marathon talks mediated by Labour Minister Errol McLeod on 17 February, agreed to a three-year deal for 5,000 oilworkers that covers the years 2008-10.

	The agreement not only grants fair wage and allowance adjustments, but OWTU made great strides contract-wise for temporary workers, and fulfilled job safety issues by getting Petrotrin to agree to fill all job vacancies within three months.

	The settlement averted a fuel disruption on the twin-island nation during Carnival and OWTU&rsquo;s filing of strike notice had set off panic buying at the fuel pumps over the past two weeks.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="162" src="" width="130" />&nbsp;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget

	The deal includes a 9% wage increase following consolidation of all cost-of-living increases, and it will be allotted with 1% in the first year, 2% the second year, and 6% for 2010. The strike notice came about after Petrotrin refused to move above 5%.

	OWTU represents five bargaining units at the company, and it also won a 10% increase on all allowances, which include working heights, shift work, and excessive heat allowance. OWTU saw to it that full-time jobs will go to temporary workers, and that payment of all severance and gratuity to temporary workers over the age of 55 will be made.

	Earlier this week, the chairman of Petrotrin said the package will cost the company TT$271 million and that was far less than losses that would have accrued because of a strike. &ldquo;It was best for the company in coming to a settlement immediately because we really don&rsquo;t want a strike at this point in time.&rdquo;

	OWTU General President Ancel Roget left the Ministry of Labour following the 17-hour talks early on 18 February and was greeted by jubilant union members. At a car park near the ministry in San Fernando, Roget told them it was their &ldquo;militancy and commitment&rdquo; that forced the deal. &ldquo;You made us crack the 5% cap,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We secured a good settlement. We have gone where others said we could not go.&rdquo;&nbsp;

OWTU Reaches Excellent Terms with Petrotrin in Trinidad and Tobago

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The ICEM cries out in dismay that the 6 February murder of American Platinum (Amplats) employee Pinky Mosiane remains unsolved. She was raped and murdered inside a mine shaft of Amplats&rsquo; Khomanani Mine in Rustenburg, North West Province.

	The ICEM lauds affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) who insists that authorities get DNA samples from all staff working that fateful shift on 6 February.

	Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, three days after this despicable assault and murder, the ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan African Regional Organisation (SSARO) adopted a strong statement denouncing workplace violence against women, specifically in reference to the cold-blooded murder of Mosiane inside this Amplats mine. She was crushed in the face with a heavy rock after the sexual assault.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="221" />&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The SSARO statement follows:

	&ldquo;On the morning of 6 February, a 28- year-old female worker was violated and murdered underground at Khomanani Mine, which is owned by Amplats, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American.

	&ldquo;This barbaric and neanderthal act against an innocent young worker is the most glaring case of gender-based discrimination against women and abuse of power. Sexual assault is cruel, inhuman, horrible. A mineworker underground on a daily basis has to deal with death or injury that can come from a rock fall or machines. Having to deal with death and violation against your person sexually and otherwise compounds the insecurity of a human being. A fellow worker who was supposed to act as a fellow human being acted as an animal.

	&ldquo;The National Union of Mineworkers has been fighting to enable women to work in mines. This and similar incidents should not be misconstrued to undo the progress that women have made to achieve equal employment rights.&rdquo;

	He who does not love a woman, who does not respect a woman, despises his own mother having come out of a kind womb of a woman.&nbsp;

	&ldquo;As the ICEM African Executive Committee and the ICEM African Women&#039;s Structure, we strongly condemn this atrocious act of barbarism.

	&ldquo;Mines and all workplaces must be safe environments for women and men. It is up to the employer to ensure that the workplace is safe for all. We will be holding the employer accountable for this tragedy.

	&ldquo;We call for a speedy and thorough investigation into these crimes. We are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, whoever they are. We call on the police to do a thorough investigation as the mine has records of who works what shift. We call on them to use all the forensic technology at their disposal to find out who the perpetrator is. We will be following up on this case and checking that justice is done. We also call for a tough sentence for the perpetrator or perpetrators once found.

	&ldquo;This young woman was only 28 years old and had one child, and her future and dreams were destroyed by a barbaric act of violence by a male counterpart. This is the triple oppression that we need to continue to fight against to attain true liberation for African women.

	&ldquo;We call on comrades to rally around this slogan: Not Another Woman Must Be Raped, Not Another Woman Must Be Murdered.

	&ldquo;We call upon affiliates and sister organisations of ICEM to post this statement on their websites and to disseminate it widely to the press.&rdquo;

Ghastly South African Rape, Murder of Woman Miner at Amplats Unsolved

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Swiss-based cement multinational giant Holcim continues to anger the ICEM with its illegal treatment of contract workers in India. Attempts by contract and agency workers employed at Holcim&rsquo;s subsidiaries, ACC Ltd. and Ambuja Cement Ltd., to organise and establish collective bargaining with management are being crushed with intimidation, coercion, and dismissal.

	On 12 January, the ICEM joined a complaint to the OECD submitted by the local union Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh (PCSS).&nbsp; PCSS is a member of the ICEM global family and represents 1,500 contract workers in the state of Chhattisgarh.

	The complaint focuses on a number of breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises at Holcim&rsquo;s cement companies. Other than the clear violation of the contract workers&rsquo; right to organise and bargain collectively, Holcim is also cited for refusing to engage in collective bargaining with PCSS, which is officially registered as the trade union representing workers at the cement installations.&nbsp; Further violations are outlined in the complaint with respect to the surrounding communities around the Holcim plants.&nbsp; The companies acquired land from local farmers and went on to destroy living conditions in local communities, namely shoddy water management and destruction of homes by blasting and mining. The subsidiaries also refuse to give permanent jobs to locals.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 245px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Today in New Delhi, ICEM participated in a press conference with the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI) and PCSS and their national federation, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI).&nbsp; ICEM Asia-Pacific Representative Phee Jungsun said at the press conference, &ldquo;It is through such practices as these that clearly violate workers&rsquo; basic rights to representation of their choice, as guaranteed by the UN, OECD and ILO, as well as the Indian constitution. That Holcim has doubled its profit margins through Indian operations stand as further disrepute in terms of the rights&rsquo; abuses of contract and agency workers.&rdquo;

	Holcim celebrates its 100th anniversary this week and claims &ldquo;We have placed Sustainable Development at the heart of our business strategy for many years, because we believe it contributes in adding value and ensuring continued success.&rdquo;

	Holcim is in breach of Indian legislation, namely the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act that stipulates that contract workers may only be hired to perform non-core functions, and that those who perform the same or similar kinds of work as regular workers must receive equal treatment in terms of wages and conditions.

	However, contract workers in both plants are employed to carry out tasks which are fundamental to production, but receive only one third of permanent workers&rsquo; wages.&nbsp;

	Holcim-ACC last year refused to respect a Chhattisgarh State High Court ruling that it is using &ldquo;sham and bogus&rdquo; contracts, and should regularise 27 contract workers. It was proven that contract workers at the plant do not have basic personal protective equipment, such as gloves, boots and masks, and are denied access to medical facilities, including basic first aid, in the factory.

	Between September 2010 and March 2011, 80 members of PCSS were dismissed by Holcim-Ambuja. Management of the plant repeatedly refused to participate in conciliation efforts by the Regional Labour Commissioner in Raipur.

	The Chapters and Paragraphs of the OECD Guidelines in violation are: Chapter II ( General Policies) specifically paragraphs A (1), (4),(9); Chapter IV (Human rights) specifically paragraphs 1, 2; and Chapter V specifically paragraphs 1 (a), (b), (d), (e), 3, 5.

	See the full text of the PCSS OECD complaint <a href="http://cal.icem.org/images/documents/OECD%20Complaint%207%201%202012.pdf">here</a>.

	See more information on the BWI Company Monitor webpage <a href="http://blogs.bwint.org/mnc/category/mnc-info/holcim/">here</a>.

Holcim’s Violations in India Taken to OECD

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Schlumberger, the world&rsquo;s largest oil services company, has been scrambling to defend actions of local management in Egypt who sacked the entire leadership of a nascent trade union.&nbsp; Pressure has been exerted by the ICEM and its affiliated Norwegian and Canadian unions, IndustriEnergi (IE) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP/SCEP), on senior management to intervene and remedy this unacceptable violation of rights in Egypt.

	Schlumberger employs around 2,500 workers in Egypt, 40% of whom are workers of subcontractors at 10 different worksites.&nbsp;

	In April 2011, the process to establish an independent company-level trade union at Schlumberger Egypt was begun, as part of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), the trade union centre established during the final days of the Mubarak regime. In May 2011, signatures and required documents were collected to complete the legal process of establishing the union.

	On 11 May, local management was informed of the new union structure, at which time management responded with threats leading to the dismissal of General Secretary Mohamed Abd Elrahman. On 3 July, the day of the union&rsquo;s general congress, local management dismissed the union&rsquo;s President, Brother Essam. On 5 July, local management summoned union members to the head office and threatened them with dismissal if they did not leave the union. And then on 7 July, local management followed through on an earlier threat and dismissed the union&rsquo;s Assistant General Secretary, Ayman Abd Elmonem.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 195px;height: 161px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	ICEM&rsquo;s Jim Catterson with Sacked Union President, Brother Essam, at left

	No reason or dismissal letter was given to Abd Elmonem, he was simply blocked from entering the workplace. On 12 July, another union member was dismissed in similar circumstances, Mr. Hossam Al-deed Mostafa, again no written dismissal notice was produced.

	Under Egyptian law, workers can only be dismissed from their employment following a due legal process and a court ruling. The court procedure cannot even be initiated without justifiably serious reasons. Arbitrary unilateral decisions such as these cannot stand. Four sacked workers have been without income for several months now.

	&ldquo;I write seeking your immediate intervention to remedy shocking violations of labour rights at Schlumberger operations in Egypt. In a vicious attack on workers&rsquo; rights to organise and bargain collectively, Schlumberger employees&rsquo; nascent trade union has been illegally dismantled through the sacking of its leaders,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda in a letter to Schlumberger.

	Register your protest to Schlumberger Chairman Andrew Gould, CEO Paal Kibsgaard, and Egypt Area Manager Amr Essawy by clicking <a href="mailto:gould1@exchange.slb.com; pkibsgaard@exchange.slb.com; AEssawi2@exchange.slb.com">here</a>.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 80px;height: 107px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The company has responded to ICEM and IE calls with an investigation into the sackings.&nbsp; ICEM will continue to monitor the situation closely and will mobilise the next phase of the campaign with Schlumberger&rsquo;s clients, the oil and gas multinationals that use Schlumberger&rsquo;s services, if positive action by the company is not taken soon.

	IE of Norway organises Schlumberger employees, and those workers registered their protest with Norwegian national management and local managers over the last ten days. Local Schlumberger union reps in Norway are meeting today with the ICEM.

	Egyptian activists in Paris on 18 February conducted a picket at Schlumberger headquarters and met with the manager of Schlumberger France, who has also now been mobilised to intervene into the case.

Oil Services Giant Schlumberger Pressured over Egyptian Union Busting

Archive

Transport & General in UK Has Pension Issues with Imerys

USWA Reaches Agreement with Goodyear at Newly-Organized Site

USWA Takes Issue with Continental Tire’s US Plant Closing

US Affiliate PACE, Taiwanese Continental Carbon Reach Terms

ICEM SSARO Condemns Grisly Rape, Murder of Woman inside Amplats Mine

UK Packaging Workers Face Lockout at Mayr-Melnhof Plant in Merseyside

OWTU Reaches Excellent Terms with Petrotrin in Trinidad and Tobago

Ghastly South African Rape, Murder of Woman Miner at Amplats Unsolved

Holcim’s Violations in India Taken to OECD

Oil Services Giant Schlumberger Pressured over Egyptian Union Busting

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