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Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

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Industrial development in mining and manufacturing sectors will continue to be an essential part of economic development in Latin America, for both the economic giants of Brazil and Mexico and for the other countries in the region, such as Argentina, Peru, Chile and Venezuela. 
 
Despite improvements over the last decade, poverty and inequality continue to be a major feature across the region both within and between countries. Ensuring the benefits of industrial and economic development flow to working people requires a strong and united trade union movement across all sectors, including in mining and manufacturing. 
 
Commodities, particularly oil, silver, copper and iron ore, are generating a lot of wealth in the region and Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have led the way in also developing a significant manufacturing industry, particularly in automotive, petroleum and textiles, on the back of this wealth. 
 
At the national level, the organization of companies often sees workers linked through highly integrated supply chains from one sector to the next. For example, in the Maquiladoras of Mexico there is a concentration of textiles, electronics and automotive parts production where workers face similar challenges in organizing and securing a fair share in the profits of the companies. 
 
Solidarity between Mexico&rsquo;s mine workers and automotive parts workers under the leadership of the Mexican Miners&rsquo; Union is creating opportunities for gaining freedom of association previously not achieved, as witnessed in the case of <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=23862&amp;l=2">Johnson Controls in Puebla</a>. After a long struggle and with the support of the Mexican Miners&rsquo; Union, Johnson Controls workers at the Resurrecci&oacute;n plant in Puebla were able to join a union of their choice and through this union reach an agreement at the plant. 
 
Meanwhile, in the Export Processing Zones of the Dominican Republic, textile and electronics workers live and work along-side each other facing many of the same problems and working conditions. Unions here have found that the same strategies are required to organize across both sectors. (See below Gertrudis Santana on cross-sector organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs.) 
 
In Brazil, more than three million workers are employed by mining and manufacturing companies in a very integrated cross-sectoral process. From mine sites to the production lines of airplanes, ships, and cars, workers are organized by mine, chemicals, textiles, and metal workers&rsquo; unions that fight together for better work conditions and benefits. 
 
For unions in Latin America and beyond, a strong international approach will also be required in tackling the transnational corporations that are emerging mostly from Brazil and Mexico in this region. Many of these &ldquo;multilatinas,&rdquo; such as Vale, Gerdau, Cemex, Grupo M&eacute;xico, and Tenaris, have a notorious history of anti-union and poor labour relations, which is being exported by the companies as they expand regionally and globally.

Latin American Industrial Landscape Requires United Cross-sectoral Approach

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More and more employers are moving away from permanent, direct employment in favour of contract, agency or other forms of precarious work. In response to surveys carried out in 2009 and 2010, 66 per cent of ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF affiliates indicated that precarious work had increased in their sector over the last year alone. 
 
Recognising the fact that precarious work was a growing problem in almost every sector, the Global Unions established the Work Relationships Group (WRG) in 2007, with a view to carrying out joint work on the issue. Since then, the group has met ten times and taken joint positions and engaged in a number of joint activities related to precarious work. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda is chairman of the WRG. 
 
A significant step was made last June, when all Global Union Federations agreed a set of Joint Principles on Temporary Agency Work. While acknowledging that there are many different views and approaches within the trade union movement towards dealing with precarious work, the joint principles set out the points which all of the Global Unions agree on. 
 
These include that the primary form of employment should be permanent, open-ended and direct; that agency workers should be covered under the same collective bargaining agreement as other workers in the user enterprise and should receive equal treatment in all respects; that the use of temporary agencies should not increase the gender gap on wages, social protections, and conditions; that temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships; and that the use of agency workers should never be used to weaken trade unions or to undermine organising or collective bargaining rights. 
 
One primary function of the WRG is to facilitate the exchange of information between the Global Unions, and to identify areas where joint action might be appropriate. One such action took place in October 2009, when the General Secretaries of ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF met with the Turkish Labour Minister, and expressed their support for President Abdullah G&uuml;l&rsquo;s veto of proposed amendments that would have permitted the charging of fees by labour brokers and permitted businesses or individuals to easily become certified as labour agencies. 
 
Since its inception, the WRG has been calling on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to take concrete steps to address the growth of precarious work. Our demands have included that the ILO must equip itself to address the many circumstances under which workers engaged in precarious work are denied the effective right to organize and bargain collectively. 
 
The ILO/ACTRAV Symposium 2011, which takes places in Geneva from October 3-7, will focus on precarious work. Among other topics, the Symposium will look at how different elements of precarious work, including triangular employment relationships and subcontracting, impact workers and their right to bargain collectively.

Global Unions Join Forces to Fight Precarious Work

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The union that attempted to rescue coal miners inside a Soreng district colliery in Pakistan last week has strongly criticised government indifference of the 20 March tragedy. ICEM-affiliated Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) held an angry protest on 22 March in front of the Quetta press club, demanding two resignations and calling for a judicial enquiry from the Balochistan High Court. 
 
Fifty-two miners died instantly 1,200 metres underground after three methane gas blasts occurred in a mine operated by an unregistered contractor. The mine is state-owned by the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC). 
 
Only two weeks earlier, PCMLF and concerned people in the Soreng area, 35 kilometres east of Quetta, demanded closure of the colliery because of high methane gas levels. 
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Sultan Muhammad at Quetta Press Club Rally
It took government rescue teams and emergency medical services eight hours to respond to the mine blasts. Miners of PCMLF first entered the mine in the aftermath of the explosions and dug with shovels and bare hands in hopes of finding survivors. What they found and brought to the surface were 12 mangled bodies. A 25-year-old miner who spent much of Sunday, 20 March, on the rescue described high levels of gas fumes and wood support structures that had crumbled, leaving massive debris blocking passageways. 
 
When mine safety officials did arrive, they blocked further efforts of miners to enter. &ldquo;Directly and indirectly, many people and many family members are affected by this disaster,&rdquo; PCMLF General Secretary Sultan Muhammad told the ICEM. &ldquo;We are helping the families of victims as best we can with our union&rsquo;s limited resources.&rdquo; One family reportedly lost seven members in the 20 March tragedy. 
 
&ldquo;It is a difficult job because miners and their families know they have to go five to seven thousand feet deep inside the mine,&rdquo; said PCMLF President Bakht Nawab Yousfzai. &ldquo;Nobody ever knows if they are going on their last journey.&rdquo; 
 
Efforts to correctly identify the deceased miners were made difficult because the contractor had kept no visible employee roster. 
 
At the Quetta manifestation last Tuesday, PCMLF demanded that PMDC pay one million rupees each (&euro;8,300) to the families of the dead miners. They also demanded the sacking of Baluchistan Mines and Minerals Minister Mushtaq Raisani and Chief Mines Inspector Iftikhar Ahmed. 
 
PCMLF seeks involvement in a tri-partite panel to investigate the blasts. The union also pointed to a number of threatening safety hazards at the same mine in recent months, but reporting of those incidents went unheeded. 
 
In a 22 March letter to PCMLF, ICEM Mining Sector Chairman Andrew Vickers of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia said: &ldquo;I offer my personal and our collective condolences to the families and friends of miners killed in this latest inexcusable disaster in the coal mining industry. Your suffering is understood and shared by us who have lost too many sons, brothers, and fathers to inexcusable disasters in our mining industry.&rdquo;

Pakistan Mine Blast Kills 52; ICEM Affiliate PCMLF in Strong Protest

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In Turkey, the ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş seeks to pre-empt an auto-parts rubber manufacturer from challenging a majority of workers in their right to collective bargaining. Standard Profil, a maker of rubber weather-sealing devices, met a public campaign last week by the union in the northern Anatolian city of D&uuml;zce, where the company operates its biggest factory. 
 
The public message was simple: Petrol-İş has succeeded in gaining well over 50% of Standard Profil&rsquo;s 2,300 Turkish workers seeking union representation, the Labour Ministry has deemed Standard a part of the oil, chemicals, and rubber sector, so the company must forego any appeal and begin good faith social dialogue with Petrol-İş. 
 
It is common in Turkey for employers to thwart union recognition drives with frivolous appeals in order to block workers&rsquo; their legitimate workplace rights. Such appeals can take up to two years. By taking the Standard Profil appeal public, Petrol-İş, with a strong presence in D&uuml;zce and other manufacturing zones of Turkey, is initiating a unique pro-active strategy inside Turkey intended to deflect company resistance to union rights. 
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Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin (right) at News Conference, with Nimetullah S&ouml;zen, Petrol-İş&nbsp;Organising Secretary
At a press conference in D&uuml;zce on 21 March that the ICEM participated in, Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin stated, &ldquo;We want to sit down at the negotiations table with Standard Profil and conduct a peaceful process of mutual understanding.&rdquo; Labour relations, he added should &ldquo;start with mutual good and consideration of mutual interests.&rdquo; 
 
On 19 March, Turkey&rsquo;s Labour and Social Security Ministry did formally confirm that Standard Profil staff work in Petrol-İş sectors. The company has 15 days to contest that verification and the message is that they do not. The governmental process is now underway to certify the union with majority interest from workers and that will likely be affirmed in a matter of weeks. Again, the message in D&uuml;zce and along Standard Profil&rsquo;s supply chain is meet Petrol-İş at the bargaining table. 
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Union justification that Standard Profil not challenge unionisation at its 1,850-worker D&uuml;zce plant and a smaller but growing plant in the city of Bursa is furthered by the fact that the company has positively addressed freedom of association and given workplace rights training inside the plants. 
 
That came late in 2008 and early 2009 after Petrol-İş and its national labour centre, T&uuml;rk-İş, lodged a complaint with the World Bank&rsquo;s International Financial Corporation (IFC). The IFC and the accompanying Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) loaned the company development money, and criteria under that loan requires the company live up to social and environment standards. 
 
After assessment, a compliance office for IFC/MIGA determined that managers must undertake awareness and education efforts regarding labour rights and work conditions. At last week&rsquo;s news conference, &Ouml;ztaşkin reminded of that, emphasizing that the union stands ready and willing to make Standard Profil a quality, reliable, and globally-preferred supplier of automotive sealing systems. 
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Union Organisers at Standard Profil, &Uuml;nal Akbulut and Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak
The point was reinforced by letters presented at the press conference on behalf of the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/In%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-IS%20Workers%20at%20Standard%20Profil%20in%20Turkey%2018%20March%202011.pdf">International Metalworkers Federation</a> (IMF), the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/UAW%20Statement%20of%20Support%20.pdf ">United Auto Workers</a> (UAW) of the US, the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2011-03-18_09-37-04.pdf">Volkswagen Works Council</a> in Germany, and ICEM German affiliate <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/vl_160311_solistandardprofil.pdf ">IGBCE</a>. In the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/19.%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-Is%20on%20organizing%20efforts%20at%20Standard%20Profil.pdf ">ICEM&rsquo;s letter</a>, General Secretary Manfred Warda called on Standard Profil to embark on a &ldquo;peaceful and constructive labour relations atmosphere at your workplaces which will result in enhanced business performance.&rdquo; 
 
Leaders of several textile, metal, and other regional trade unions also attended the news conference, lending their support to the Petrol-İş message. Standard Profil, owned by London-based Bancroft Private Equity LLP whose investments mostly are in Central Europe, supplies door, boot, engine cover, and other rubber seals to a number of auto firms. Its larger customers are General Motors, Volkswagen/Audi, Fiat, Ford, and Honda.

Petrol-İş Demands Immediate Recognition at Standard Profil in Turkey

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Showcasing unions fighting back against austerity cuts will be featured in the line-up for the Global Labour Film Shorts in 2011. Affiliates are invited to submit their films for possible inclusion in the one hour line-up of the best short films from around the world by April 1. 
 
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, trade unions internationally have denounced its fast and increasing negative impact on workers. Some of this action has been captured on film, an essential platform for communication in many union campaigns and actions today. 
 
Over the last four years, the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival has taken place in downtown Geneva enabling unions and working people worldwide to share their stories. This year, in order to reach a wider international audience, the festival is refocusing to an on-line and DVD presentation that will be submitted to over 36 labour related film festivals around the world. The line-up will also be available on DVD for affiliates of all Global Union Federations and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to use in their own events and activities. 
 
The one-hour DVD will focus on short films that are excellent examples of communicating labour stories and messages and the selection will include a range of different films from different parts of the world. The launch of the Global Labour Film Shorts 2011 will take place at the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) &ldquo;Unions in Motion&rdquo; film festival, coming up on June 10-11 at Landschaftspark Nord in Duisburg, Germany. 
 
Please send copies of your films on DVD with a short paragraph describing the film, why it was produced and how it was used. The IMF, coordinating the work, will need unfettered rights to show the film and publish it online, of course with full acknowledgement of who created the material. Due to resource constraints for interpretation, the IMF is only able to accept films in English language or with English subtitles. 
 
We need to receive copies of all possible films by April 1, 2011. 
 
Please send to: 
Cherisse Fredricks 
International Metalworkers' Federation 
Case Postale 1516 
CH1227 Geneva 
Switerland

Fight Back on Film!

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 67, April 2011

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM), a Geneva, Switzerland-based global union federation represented rubber workers across the world, announced today that it would lend its full support to the National Union of Metalworkers&rsquo; of South Africa (NUMSA) in its fight to keep Bridgestone South Africa compelled to wage terms negotiated in the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (NTMEIA). 
 
South African management of the Japanese-based company locked out 1,200 members of NUMSA at two former Firestone tyre producing plants, Brits and Port Elizabeth, on 22 March. At issue is Bridgestone South Africa&rsquo;s defiance of a private&nbsp;arbitrator's award that the tyre manufacturer is bound to certain wage terms contained in a three-year collective agreement that was negotiated between NUMSA and NTMEIA that ended a 30-day strike against four tyre producers on 29 September 2010. 
 
In a 31 March letter to Bridgestone South Africa CEO Kenji Shoda, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;Please know that the current situation in Brits and Port Elizabeth will be communicated to all Bridgestone facilities throughout the world and if your current labour relations conduct is not halted, we will begin to mobilise within these facilities.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM will support NUMSA as it ramps up a campaign against Bridgestone inside South Africa. And it will take that campaign into Bridgestone tyre plants from Japan and throughout Asia, to Europe and in North and South America. The ICEM is adamant that wage rates negotiated by the NTMEIA for 4,000 other rubber workers at Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop factories in South Africa also be instituted at Bridgestone&rsquo;s two factories. 
 
The ICEM is the global union federation for 20 million workers in the energy, chemical, rubber, mining, and other industrial sectors. It is composed of 467 trade unions in 132 countries. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842, +41 79 734 8994.

Global Union Federation Supports Besieged Tyre Workers in South Africa

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Neil Reimer, National Director Emeritus of the Canada&rsquo;s Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (ECWU) &ndash; one of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union&rsquo;s founding unions &ndash; passed away on 30 March in Edmonton, Alberta. He was 89. 
 
Neil Reimer has been described as a &quot;giant of the labour movement,&quot; and surely no one could argue with that description. 
 
For nearly 70 years, Reimer was a strong and dedicated advocate of workers&rsquo; issues. Beginning his career in 1942 as an organizer for the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) while working at Consumers Co-operative refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan, he played a major role in organising his first energy workers&rsquo; union there. He 1951, he moved to Edmonton, where he organised oil and chemicals plants. He was also mayor of Edmonton. 
 
He helped found the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada in 1961, and was elected the first leader of NDP&rsquo;s Alberta branch in 1963. 
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Neil Reimer
He went on to become leader of the Canadian district of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), and ultimately founder of the independent Canadian union, the ECWU. 
 
His retirement from this position in 1984 only slowed him some, as he remained active in politics and social justice movements until his death. 
 
Canadian trade unionists and social leaders knew him as a &ldquo;visionary.&rdquo; He did not simply look toward the future, he tried to build it according to the principles he believed in. Those principles included decency, respect, and dignity for workers and their families. 
 
He understood the need to organize and he believed in the independence of the Canadian labour movement. He believed that Canada should control its own natural resources &ndash; especially energy resources &ndash; for the benefit of Canadians. Under his direction, some of the most progressive union policies of the day were produced on topics from energy and the environment, to working hours to national collective agreements, to health and safety. 
 
Neil played a big role inside the ICEM. He was a personal friend of many ICEM elected representatives and staff officers. He was an influential member of the then ICEF Executive Committee up until his retirement, and many of his ideas live on in ICEM policies. 
 
Neil led a long and active life and his accomplishments helped make the world a better place. The Canadian labour movement, the CEP, the ICEM, and indeed all workers have much to thank Neil Reimer for. He will be well remembered and sadly missed.

Canadian Energy Union Stalwart, Neil Reimer, Dies at Age 89

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A three-day workshop in&nbsp;basic safety&nbsp;radiation training for workers employed around uranium and uranium mining was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 24-26 March. The ICEM-sponsored workshop was the second such workshop, the first one held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2009. 
 
The training was attended by 22 people, including 15 African mine union leaders and seven trainers. Funding came from the ILO and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. Besides the ICEM, the Power Workers&rsquo; Union (PWU) of Canada, the Untied Steelworkers (USW), and the Canadian Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Council committed resources. Nuclear power companies Cameco and Ontario Power generation also provided support and assistance. 
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The workshop addressed radiation sources, protection, detection measurements, as well as radioactive gases in underground, open cast, and milling workplaces. ILO Conventions 176 and 183 were also reviewed, and sessions on national legislative and regulatory frameworks were held. 
 
Instructors included Dave Shier and Bob Walker of the PWU; Nancy Hutchison of the USW; Michael Schultheiss of FES Namibia; Marko Baran of Cameco; and Brian Kohler of the ICEM. ICEM Sub-Saharan African Regional Officer Fabian Nkomo was also a facilitator and selected the 15 African trade unionists, with the aim to give them basic training in safe uranium&nbsp;processes in order that they carry the training back to their worksites.

Namibia: ICEM Conducts Second Uranium Training Programme

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Employment law changes in New Zealand&nbsp;took effect 1 April have given all employers the right to dismiss employees within a first 90-day &ldquo;trial&rdquo; period, with no rights to&nbsp;grievance procedure. This rule previously applied for small businesses of fewer than 20 employees.
Now it applies in all workplaces, no matter the side of the workforce.&nbsp; 
 
The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to a worksite, relaxation of&nbsp;fairness tests on dismissals, the ability&nbsp;of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, the&nbsp;right to shift public holidays without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day&rsquo;s sick leave. 
 
There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes, according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
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EPMU National Secretary, Andrew Little
Click here to sign the <a href="http://www.epmu.org.nz/petition-2/">EPMU&rsquo;s petition</a>. 
 
&quot;We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law, or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers, or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents,&quot; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which employs 7,000 employees in New Zealand.

New Zealand Labour Law Changes Damage Worker Rights

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