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A global ICEM Conference dedicated to discussing CAL took place immediately prior to the ICEM Fifth Statutory Congress in Buenos Aires on 23 November. The Conference brought together more than 400 delegates from 69 countries to exchange stories of best practice, to evaluate work done on CAL, and to probe the future fight against Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). 
 
The meeting was chaired by Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice President for Latin America/Caribbean, with an introduction by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, who said, &ldquo;This conference is about an issue that has been one of the highest on the political agenda of the ICEM for many years. But despite our efforts, CAL is still spreading. In some countries it has become the regular employment situation.&rdquo; 
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Sergio Novais
For individual workers, Warda said, there is more job insecurity, less regular hours, lower and irregular pay, fewer benefits, and in many cases no access to social benefits and an increased health and safety risk. There is evidence that CAL is being used by employers to deny workers their right to freedom of association, and in many countries CAL workers are either legally or in practice prevented from joining a union. 
 
The conference began with ICEM CAL Project Coordinators and J&ouml;rgen Juul Rasmussen, General Secretary of DEF Denmark, introducing the CAL situation in Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Aranya Pakapath, ICEM CAL Coordinator for Asia, shared a number of recent developments in the fight against CAL. In India, following a number of training workshops conducted by the ICEM, the Indian mineworkers&rsquo; union managed to negotiate a clause on CAL in a new mining sector agreement. The language states that companies should not engage contract workers on work of a permanent nature and that payment of contract workers will either be by cheque or bank transfer &ndash; so there is proof there is a relationship. 
 
In Malaysia, said Pakapath, the government last year attempted to introduce legislation to legalise employment agencies. After a conference the ICEM held with the Malaysian Trades Union Confederation (MTUC), the confederation petitioned the government to withdraw the bill. The bill was withdrawn, but last month was reintroduced and Parliament approved it. Pakapath highlighted the efforts of unions in Indonesia &ndash;where the paper unions have been actively organising outsourced workers and succeeded in recruiting 580 workers &ndash; and the Philippines where unions have been trying to ban employment agencies through legislation and the industrial courts. 
 
In Pakapath&rsquo;s home country, she noted that at the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), EGAT-LU, with the solidarity and support of the Danish Electricians&rsquo; Union, managed to make fixed term workers into permanent workers, who are now entitled to social benefits. 
 
The ICEM and German affiliate IGBCE supported the Linde union in their struggle to get the industrial gas company to take responsibility for and respect the rights of CAL workers which finally resulted in the signing of an agreement between the company and the union. 
 
Elias Pintado of Brazil &ndash; who works together with Rosane Sasse to coordinate the CAL project in Latin America &ndash; highlighted some of the work carried out by ICEM affiliates to fight CAL and to improve legislation on outsourcing. Pintado explained that, with the exception of Brazil, all countries in the region have specific legislation to regulate outsourcing. 
 
Often these laws stipulate joint responsibility for employers who use outsourcing. In Brazil, the national congress is currently debating 26 bills to regulate outsourcing, most of which make it possible to outsource almost all functions. Brazilian unions are currently trying to collect one million signatures in support of one particular bill that would safeguard workers. 
 
Other Latin America unions have brought legal cases on the basis of legislation in force in countries, and in some cases have met with success. As a result of the many cases taking place in Brazil, the Higher Labour Court held a consultation on outsourcing. The chemical workers&rsquo; union has negotiated a code of conduct with Bayer in Brazil on outsourcing, which states that the employer is required to discuss CAL with the unions and inform the unions of the reasons why certain sectors would be subject to outsourcing. The code guarantees that user enterprises will pay wages and taxes for the CAL workers if the agency fails to do so. 
 
Before agencies can work for Bayer they must prove that they have no responsibility regarding workers&rsquo; wage arrears. Pintado informed delegates that on 28 July 2011, the Latin America Day against CAL was launched at a seminar in Colombia. Following the seminar, ICEM affiliates wrote to the head of Mercosur proposing unique legislation in the region on CAL. Many trade unions in the region have modified their statues and set up secretariats dedicated to CAL to monitor implementation of contracts and to represent workers. There are also shop stewards elected from among the CAL workers. 
 
The Sub-Saharan Africa strand of the ICEM CAL project has carried out activities in Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa and Namibia. In the multitude of cases, the region has the aim of strengthening union negotiations and campaigns, to find solutions to negative practices, and to influence governments to introduce binding regulations on the use of CAL. 
 
A report by Joseph Toe, ICEM CAL Project Coordinator for the region, highlighted the fact that unions are joining forces on these common objectives. In Guinea, the three ICEM affiliates have formed a CAL Steering Committee; in Nigeria, the two ICEM affiliates in the oil and gas sectors are working closely together, and there is close cooperation between ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in South Africa and Namibia. 
 
Toe highlighted how Global Framework Agreements (GFAs) with Anglo Gold Ashanti and Umicore have been used to create space for collective agreements that cover all workers. In Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Labour has an action plan to stop the extension of agencies. In Nigeria, the Ministry for Petrol has published guidelines to control the activities of agencies. 
 
The guidelines cover industrial relations, collective bargaining for CAL workers, employment security and vocational training for CAL workers. In Mozambique, SINTIQUIAF has recruited into their ranks 300 CAL workers &ndash; the majority of whom are women aged 18-30. There is excellent cooperation between the labour inspectorate and the leadership of SINTIQUIAF, and labour inspectorate officials have attended all ICEM CAL seminars. The statutes of some unions have been amended &ndash; for example, Mauritius and Senegal &ndash; to make it possible for unions to recruit CAL workers. 
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Introducing the CAL situation in Europe, J&ouml;rgen Juul Rasmussen of Denmark, said that insecure work is the most rapidly-growing form of employment in Europe said that about 14% of all workers in Europe are on precarious jobs. At a company level, said Rasmussen, it is vital that shop stewards address the problem. In Denmark, the unions are fighting at the national level to include language on CAL in CBAs and the labour courts have ruled that when you have an agreement it must also apply to CAL workers. 
 
In Europe, for many years unions have demanded a Directive on agency work &ndash; this was agreed in 2008. All EU member states are implementing the Directive, although some countries are finding national solutions. Globally, unions can use ILO Conventions and Recommendations and, where necessary, engage in global campaigns. 
 
European labour organisations EMCEF, EMF, and ETUF: TCL have agreed that CAL is a major negotiating priority. 
 
Rasmussen highlighted some inspirational examples from Europe. For instance in Denmark, there is a major industrial agreement with a paragraph that says CAL workers should have the same rights as permanent workers. In Sweden, the unions and employers have joint committees to authorise the use of agencies and agency workers must have the same average wages as their permanent equivalents. 
 
A 2010 agreement, states that companies cannot hire agency workers if they have dismissed permanent workers over the previous six months. IF Metall in Sweden has agreed that employers must negotiate with the union before taking on agency workers for more than one month. In the construction sector in Belgium, the unions managed to ban the use of one-day contracts through collective agreements. 
 
The second part of the conference saw the exchange of best practice examples, with panels composed of ICEM affiliates from Mauritius, India, the Netherlands, Colombia, Senegal, Malaysia, Turkey and Argentina. Sascha Meijer described how FNV Bondgenoten is working to protect the rights of between 3,000 and 4,000 migrant workers involved in a major construction project in the Netherlands. The migrant workers, the vast majority of whom work through agencies or subcontractors, put in long days for low wages, do not get extra pay for working weekends, and are deducted amounts for accommodation and transport. 
 
The wrong social security regime is being used and the cheapest CBA &ndash; the wrong one &ndash; is being applied, all amounting to unequal pay for the same work. FNV Bondgenoten in the Netherlands developed a new, flexible approach to organising workers in this challenging context. They are building relationships with the workers, using the media to name and shame the exploitative agencies and employers, and making sure that relevant questions are put to Parliament. 
 
Bondgenoten is establishing better relations with unions in the home countries of the workers, and has signed a framework agreement with the energy employers on CAL matters, which includes a procedure for resolving conflicts and it also necessitates regular dialogue. Meijer highlighted the need for stronger international cooperation between unions to make union membership more worthwhile for migrant workers. 
 
Panellists shared examples of actions being taken at national, company and trade union levels in the fight for permanent direct employment and for equality of treatment. At the national level, Sutids, the industrial workers&rsquo; union of Senegal, launched an awareness-raising media campaign, communicated with employers and lobbied the President of Senegal, the national assembly, the Senate and the Ministry of Labour. These actions contributed to the passing of a bill on employment agencies. 
 
The provisions include employers can only use temporary workers to carry out specific tasks, and not for more than two years; that CAL workers must be paid the same as permanent workers; and that at the end of the contract the agency must pay 7% of the total gross remuneration during the whole period of the contract. Sutids also recruited 1,200 new CAL members. 
In Mauritius, in October, the ICEM affiliate SYNDICATRAVAYER signed the first ever collective agreement in the construction sector where permanent and CAL workers are both covered &ndash; there is a 15% wage increase for all workers and, most importantly, all workers doing work of the same value must be equally remunerated. 
 
ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Is drew attention to the protocol signed with T&uuml;praş, Turkey&rsquo;s largest industrial enterprise, which states that CAL workers must become permanent employees once they have worked at the company for seven months. The Chemical Mazdoor Federation of India reported that an affiliated union managed to recruit all 650 CAL workers in a chemical plant, who then got almost all the benefits given to permanent workers. 
 
At the same time, there are several cases pending in the Indian courts as unions have filed complaints against employers for using &ldquo;sham and bogus&rdquo; contracts. For more than ten years, Sintracarbon of Colombia has been organising CAL workers. Some 6,000 of the 11,000 workers at Carbones del Cerrejon, the world&rsquo;s largest open cast coal mines, are contract workers &ndash; they work long days, are far from their families, and are paid the minimum possible. Recently, the union had successes in organising mechanical workers and is working on a set of demands with the supplier company. Now 20% of Sintracarbon&rsquo;s members are contract workers. 
 
The panellists also discussed actions unions are taking to improve recruitment, active involvement and representation of CAL members. In India, dedicated unions have been established for CAL workers and others have opened their door to CAL workers &ndash; for example the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation has succeeded in organising 10,000 CAL members. In Mauritius, SYNDICATRAVAYER amended their rules and reduced membership fees from 50 Rupees to 1 Rupee. The union constructed a two-story building which members can use, created an IT school were CAL workers and their families can receive free training and established a credit union where members can take out loans. Within 18 months, 3,000 new members have been recruited in the construction sector alone. 
 
The final panel of the day, comprising the General Secretaries of the IMF, the ICEM and the ITGLWF and chaired by the Coordinator of the Council of Global Unions, Jim Baker, discussion centered on future strategies. Jyrki Raina, IMF General Secretary, said that the fight against precarious work must be one of the key priorities of the new global union federation, which will be founded in June 2012. Raina explained that cooperation with the ITUC and all other GUFs is vital as we are facing the powerful lobby of MNEs and Ciett who want to use international institutions to legitimise the spread of precarious work. 
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Employers argue that temporary agencies create new jobs but, said Raina, the fact is that temporary agencies make decent jobs, with social protections, precarious jobs. Unions should work to limit the use of precarious work in all its forms and if precarious work is used unions should work to guarantee the same level of wages and benefits for all workers. 
 
According to ILO figures, 80% of all workers have no social security protection &ndash; this has to be a priority for the new global union. ICEM&rsquo;s Manfred Warda reflected on the First Global CAL Conference in Bangkok in 2007, where the problem of CAL was identified. Since then, Warda said, serious work has been taken by ICEM affiliates and the affiliates of other GUFs, which must form the foundations for future work. 
 
The first task is organise, organise, organise. CAL workers must be included in the bargaining unit, and unions should help them gain permanent employment status. Warda highlighted that factors contributing to recent mining disasters included that workers did not get adequate safety training and were not employed directly. Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP said that the responsibilities were shared by various subcontractor companies. 
 
Klaus Priegnitz, ITGLWF General Secretary, spoke about how conditions in textile plants in countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh are being driven down even further by the growing use of CAL. The only objective, he said, is to have cheaper and cheaper labour. 
 
He said we must fight this at a national level &ndash; organise, recruit and become stronger. We can use GFAs as tools to fight precarious work. We should also use the revised OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. In summary, the General Secretaries drew attention to the importance of continuing and expanding the joint work carried out through the Council of Global Unions Work Relationships Group. They said that the ICEM, the IMF and the ITGLWF must increase cooperation and the founding of a new GUF is the right next step &ndash; the three GUFs will be stronger together.

Affiliates Reaffirm CAL Fight at 2nd Global Conference

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Local 27 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union were locked out at the New Year by Caterpillar Inc.&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) in a callous display of corporate might that could lead to corporate flight from Canada. The 650 CAW members in London, Ontario, voted by 98% on 30 December for strike action and 24 hours later &ndash; just as they were returning to jobs on New Year&rsquo;s Eve following a holiday shutdown &ndash; they were locked out. 

The lockout indignation comes on the heels of deeper indignation: Caterpillar&rsquo;s EMD &ndash; run as part of the US company&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services Corp. &ndash; attempt to extract unreasonable wage and benefit concessions from Canadian union members as excuse to shift production of electric-powered diesel engines and associated railroad components to a start-up and lower wage plant in Muncie, US state of Indiana. 

EMD began operations in Muncie in October 2011. Until Saturday night&rsquo;s lockout, CAW and EMD had bargained under a seven-month contract extension, something the two sides agreed to in May 2011. However, EMD never once wavered from an initial, hostile and family-wrecking proposal demanding wage cuts from C$35-per hour to C$16.50, health benefits cut in half, and elimination of a pension scheme. 

At the same time, EMD was advertising for a Human Resources manager in Muncie with the stipulation that he/she have &ldquo;experience with providing union-free culture and union avoidance.&rdquo; 

EMD is paying average salaries between US$12-16-per hour in Muncie. Caterpillar and its wholly-owned Progress Rail Services is seeking to dislodge General Electric&rsquo;s (GE) Transportation Division as the US&rsquo;s premiere supplier of train locomotives at a time of government stimulus funding for infrastructure and transport needs. GE operates three major rail division plants that are unionised and pay average salaries of US$30-per hour or more. 

EMD&rsquo;s London, Ontario, plant was purchased by Caterpillar in August 2010 for US$820 million from Greenbriar Equity Group and Berkshire Partners. The two capital companies in turn bought the manufacturing plant in 2005 for a quarter of that amount from General Motors when GM was shedding its non-auto making businesses.
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CAW President Ken Lewenza&nbsp; 

Then, Caterpillar was interested in buying the southwestern Ontario plant but CAW opposed the deal because of Caterpillar&rsquo;s horrid labour relations record in the US. Now, with Caterpillar in control and deploying obvious whipsawing of CAW members against non-union Muncie workers that will number 650 this year, CAW Local 27 is forced to blockade the London plant to prevent equipment from leaving for the Indiana city 350 miles to the south. 

On Saturday, CAW President Ken Lewenza called the lockout &ldquo;a serious attack on working people, their families and the greater community of London. 

&ldquo;If (Caterpillar) is not going to do business in Canada, this wage cut is designed as a mechanism to blame workers,&rdquo; Lewenza said in a published report, referring to production flight and a possible plant closing. In mid-December, the CAW lodged a formal complaint with the government over Caterpillar&rsquo;s violation of the Investment Canada Act. 

EMD has other railroad manufacturing facilities in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and Sahag&uacute;n, Hidalgo state, Mexico, a facility it operates jointly with Bombardier. EMD sells locomotives, replacement parts, and diesel powered engines for marine propulsion, oil drilling and power generation in 130 countries, and currently has major contracts with companies providing equipment for state railways in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. 

Caterpillar&rsquo;s deep contract concession proposals, the lockout, matched with lucrative incentives from Indiana&rsquo;s anti-union state government for the Muncie start-up are a cause of great concern, particularly for two countries that each lack socially-minded industrial policies in the wake of a financial crisis.

CAW Members Victimized in Lockout by Caterpillar’s Rail Division

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The ICEM extended condolences today to its affiliate, the Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU) following this weekend&rsquo;s sinking of the Kolskaya oil rig in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Kolskaya, owned by a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Zarubezhneft OJSC, sank in stormy waters while being towed from off the Kamchatka Peninsula to Sakhalin Island in Russia&rsquo;s Far East. 
 
Fifty-three oil workers went down with the rig, while 14 were rescued by the icebreaker Magadan and the tow ship Neftegaz-55, which were bringing the rig to port. The rig sank in icy waters 1,042 metres deep (3,400 feet) in the Sea of Okhotsk. Only four bodies were recovered and the rig&rsquo;s four rescue boats were found, but with nobody in them. 
 
The Kolskaya had been drilling for Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot on the West Kamchatsky shelf since September before this tragedy in which it was capsized in a storm and sank in 20 minutes. 
 
The ICEM calls immediate attention to this oil rig disaster as another example of the perilous work that offshore oil workers must endure to meet world energy supplies.

ICEM Mourns Deaths of 53 Oil Workers off Russia

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A three-week strike by 4,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) spilled into the streets of Johannesburg on 15 November, with workers employed at Xstrata&rsquo;s Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters near Rustenburg took a protest to the Swiss company&rsquo;s Alloys headquarters. NUMSA members presented a petition to company managers demanding wage parity with workers employed at the Xstrata Lion ferrochrome smelter in Tubatse, Mpumalanga province. 
 
Both operations are undergoing big expansions. Xstrata owns 79.5% of the ferrochrome complexes in South Africa, while publicly-listed Merafe Resources holds a 20.5% stake. Both companies also mine chrome in South Africa. 
 
The strike by NUMSA in the North-West province began on 24 October after conciliation efforts by the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. NUMSA and Xstrata Alloys met two days earlier, but a revised pay offer by the company fell short and workers rejected it. 
<img alt="" src="" width="211" height="140" />
NUMSA President Cedric Gina (rear) gets Xstrata's Edwin Hlatshwayo Sign Receipt of Petition
NUMSA is seeking an immediate 10% pay increase for Boshoek and Wonderkop metalworkers and a reduction of job grading systems from eight to five. That would close the wage gap with workers at the Lion smelter and equalize the grading system. Currently, Boshoek and Wonderkop workers earn 14 to 39% less than at Lion, depending on pay grades. 
 
NUMSA is also seeking a housing allowance of R3,500. 
 
The petition handed to Xstrata Alloys management last week states: &ldquo;(The company) has angered workers and instead of focusing on negotiations, they have decided to apply cheap apartheid-era tactics of bashing members through police intimidation of the strike. NUMSA is very angry that workers who went on a legal and protected strike have been treated like common criminals.&rdquo; 
 
NUMSA President Cedric Gina and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Second Deputy Vice President Zingiswi Losi led the march and handover of the petition. The petition asks the company to respond within 48 hours. 
 
Xstrata is world&rsquo;s largest producer of metal alloys, which besides ferrochrome includes vanadium and platinum, and accounts for one-third of total global production. The Boshoek smelter is currently seeing an expansion that will lift production to 240,000-tonnes-per-year by the end of next year. A second smelter, meanwhile, is now being constructed at the Lion operation that will see production double from the current 360,000 tonnes when it goes on line in the first half of 2013. 
 
The Xstrata-Merafe joint venture in South Africa will then yield 2.3 million tonnes yearly of ferrochrome, which is used in stainless steel production.

NUMSA Takes Xstrata Ferrochrome Smelter Strike to Streets of Johannesburg

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From the IMF website
ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF will hold the joint event &ldquo;Cutting emissions - transforming jobs&rdquo; at the UN climate change conference in Durban (COP17) to discuss a sustainable foundation for Just Transition and develop a common industrial strategy for the future of industrial workers. 
 
GLOBAL: The 17th conference of the parties (COP17) to the UN framework convention on climate change will be held in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9, 2011. The international trade union movement led by ITUC will urge the governments to agree on a legally-binding climate regime and a concrete climate finance scheme, including provisions for a Just Transition. 
 
To support ITUC's contribution, ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF will hold a joint event, &quot;Cutting Emissions - Transforming Jobs&quot; on November 30 at 14.30-16.00 in the COP17 World of Work Pavilion, at the Civil Society Space - University of KwaZulu, Howard College Campus, King George Av., Berea, Durban. 
<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="134" />
The event will promote a common industrial workers' position to ensure the &quot;greening&quot; of existing jobs, the creation of new, sustainable jobs, and a Just Transition, with concrete policies for green technology innovation and a sustainability fund securing the future for both today's and tomorrow's workers. 
 
The discussions will focus on: 
 
&bull;Post Kyoto framework: Could a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol be a solution to avoid a gap in emission reduction commitments and to re-build the legally-binding framework covering all countries in the future negotiation process? 
&bull;Building a Foundation-Climate Finance: How should the funding be designed/realized to achieve sustainable jobs and a Just Transition? What are the components of a strong financing scheme e.g. mandatory contributions from governments, the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), levy on maritime transportation &amp; aviation, or? 
&bull;Just Transition: What kinds of programme are needed for industrial workers who are most dramatically affected by the climate change issues? How can both today's and tomorrow's workers benefit from the transformation to a sustainable economy? What support will be needed? 
&bull;Developing Industrial Strategy: Industrial strategies which aim towards sustainable production, the transformation and enhancement of existing jobs, and the creation of new, greener jobs are needed at local, national, regional and international levels. How could developed and developing countries be engaged to harmonize/develop respective industrial policies. 
&bull;Union&rsquo;s role for the future: How should unions get involved to transform industry and create new, greener jobs be designed and implemented with the full participation? 
 
For more information on the ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF event, contact Brian Kohler, ICEM Health, Safety and Sustainability officer (<a href="mailto:Brian.Kohler@icem.org">Brian.Kohler@icem.org</a>) or Kan Matsuzaki, IMF Director of Shipbuilding-shipbreaking, Non-Manual Workers and climate change (<a href="mailto:kmatsuzaki@imfmetal.org">kmatsuzaki@imfmetal.org</a>). 
 
See also ITUC's contribution to COP17 at <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_durbancontribution.pdf">http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ituc_durbancontribution.pdf</a>. 
 
More information on COP17 WoW will be posted at 
ITUC: <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/climate-change-and-green-economy.html">http://www.ituc-csi.org/climate-change-and-green-economy.html</a>.

Industrial strategy on climate change to be discussed

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The threat of a walkout last week by union members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) served to force German tyre and auto-parts manufacturer Continental AG to back away from a concession-ridden labour contract at a research and development center in Chatham, Ontario. 
 
Members of CAW Local 35 voted by 83% for a three-year renewal agreement at strike deadline 15 November in an accord that preserved full rights for new hires, including inclusion in a defined benefit pension plan, all other post-retirement benefits, and the same level of work benefits as existing staff. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="75" />
The CAW branch union also won annual wage increases totaling over 9% for the three years, improved retirement incentives, and a signing bonus. The union represents 37 highly skilled workers employed at a research and development for engine management systems. 
 
&ldquo;We fought hard to preserve the rights of new hires and to prevent the creation of two tiers of workers in this workplace,&rdquo; said CAW National Representative Richard Laverty. &ldquo;This small group of workers stood together and pushed back numerous concession demands from this profitable and huge multinational corporation.&rdquo; 
 
The union agreed to take contract concessions in 2008 during the onset of the financial crisis and subsequent collapse of North American manufacturing segments. This came a year after Continental bought this and other automotive parts operations from Siemens VDO. Then, the Chatham plant made parts for emission control systems but with the sale to Continental, the German company cut the workforce and turned the operation into a R&amp;D centre.

CAW Preserves Benefits for New Hires at Continental AG in Canada

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The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU), or SP KEP SPSI, resumed wage negotiations this morning with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Indonesian subsidiary tomorrow in hopes of getting the 93% owner of the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits to increase its pay offer. 
 
A strike that has crippled all production at the 175,000-ton-per-day mine is now in its ninth week. 
 
From 14-18 November, the union covering 10,000 miners at US-based Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Grasberg mining complex in Papua province did engage in give-and-take negotiations and although some progress was made on wage differences, the two sides remain far apart. 
 
Earlier, the union had given PT Freeport Indonesia, the Indonesian government, and local government leaders official notification that the strike would be extended another 30 days to 15 December. The ICEM, which has been directly involved in the dispute, responded to the extension by putting a call out to trade unions to assist the union in feeding striking families. 
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That call can be found in this <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/134.ICEM.Indonesia%20Mine%20Request.10November.pdf ">10 November ICEM letter</a> and trade unions and others are encouraged to send contributions to the union&rsquo;s official name in Papua province, the SPSI Freeport Indonesia Dana Perjuangan, at the bank numbers listed in this letter. 
 
The union has been feeding 10,000 workers and their families from five open-air kitchens in southern Papua province near the port city of Timika. The ICEM was informed by the branch&rsquo;s parent union in Jakarta, as well as by ICEM Indonesian Affiliates&rsquo; Chairman D. Patombong Sjaiful, that food staples are running low and a Solidarity Fund is short of money. Several ICEM affiliates immediately responded to the call, and more financial assistance is needed now. 
 
The union and management also met two weeks ago for four days, from 7-10 November, with management increasing its two-year wage offer to 35% from 30%. The company is offering 24% in 2011 and 11% next year. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
Prior to the start of the 15 September strike, Grasberg miners earned a wage of between US$2.13 per hour and US$3.54. The union recently lowered its demands from US$7.50 to US$4 for lower-paid workers in 2011-2012, and proposed a US$3.50 wage increase on 1 October 2012. 
 
There are also a number of other issues still in dispute, including a metal bonus, a production bonus, and housing, education and vacation benefits. The major difference in all these issues is the company&rsquo;s insistence that they be based on variable costs, while the union wants them set at fixed costs. 
 
The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union continues to enforce a road blockade at Mile 28 that has hampered Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s ability to produce and caused the company to declare force majeure on 22 October. A ruptured set of pipelines that carry gold and copper concentrate 114 kilometres from Grasberg to Timika, again site of this week bargaining, is now being repaired, with the company using helicopters to ferry construction crews and materials to the damaged portions of the lines. 
 
In late October and early November, police threatened to break the blockade with force. But that threat &ndash; which was certain to have been met by resistance and bloodshed &ndash; is no longer there and police are no longer present at Mile 28. But rather, strikers and their families are forced onto reduced food rations as union funds have dried up. 
 
The ICEM continues to advocate for the union&rsquo;s wage and other demands to be met. Miners work 12-hour shifts some 4,200 metres high in the Sudirman Range and most spend another four unpaid hours each day getting to and from the Grasberg site via buses. Workers of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union also undergo an excruciating roster schedule in which they work five days on, two days off, followed by six days of work and one day off, and then four days on, three days off.

Indonesian Miners Resume Talks Again Today with Freeport-McMoRan

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Birlesik Metal-Is, an affiliate of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation, is fighting for basic trade union freedoms at German-based GEA in Gebze, Turkey. In a cynical move, local management locked out 62 workers while claiming they had conducted illegal strike action. That illegal strike action coincided with break times at the company, and separate investigations have proven that no strike action took place. The ICEM joined the growing international campaign calling for an end to the lock-out, full reinstating of four workers dismissed on 31 May, and an end to the police protection being awarded to the company in its anti-union struggle. 
 
The company behaviour in Turkey is in breach of an international minimum standards agreement with the IMF, in which it pledges respect of labour rights throughout its international operations. The IMF reminded the company and locked out workers of this fact at the picket line, as part of a large international solidarity visit to the GEA factory gates. 
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ICEM was also present at the picket, and a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM_Letter_to_Workers.pdf">message of solidarity</a> was read out. See also the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM%20Letter%20to%20GEA%20Group%20(17%2011%202011).pdf">ICEM letter</a> to the company here.&nbsp; 
 
Support the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1167">LabourStart campaign</a>, and write to company management here. 
 
The ICEM has been invited and will participate at the Congress of Birlesik Metal-Is on 16-18 December.

Turkish Metal Workers Still Locked Out by GEA

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The right wing government of Viktor Orb&aacute;n in Hungary has systematically over the past year and a half dismantled many trade union freedoms and social dialogue relationships. The new Labour Code is not only completely undermining workers&rsquo; ability to fight for just conditions in the workplace, but is now empowering companies to re-open old conflicts and punish trade union activists for actions taken under the previous legislation. 
 
ICEM affiliated unions were shocked to be informed at Congress of Japanese rubber conglomerate Bridgestone&rsquo;s move to initiate a penal procedure against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, president of VDSZ, the Hungarian chemical workers union. The case against the union president is focused on a 2009 report in the union journal &ldquo;Vegyipari Dolgoz&oacute;&rdquo; or &ldquo;Chemical Worker&rdquo; on the treatment of a company employee. 
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VDSZ President Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely
Tibor Skoflek suffered occupational health problems in the spring of 2009 and Bridgestone at the time rejected any responsibility for this. Local management even failed to supply transport to hospital for Tibor Skoflek, and he was taken by a bus driver. 
 
This is the first time in 20 years of Hungarian trade union work that a company initiates a penal procedure against a union leader with absolutely no negotiations or consultation beforehand. 
 
The clear policy of the Orb&aacute;n regime is to create fear among Hungarian workers so that they rescind trade union membership. 
 
The ICEM condemns in the strongest terms this crackdown on fundamental labour rights in Hungary, and specifically in this case against Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely, and will be exerting pressure at company and government levels.

Bridgestone Hungary forces the President of VDSZ to court

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IG BCE together with Verdi, the service sector union of Germany, reached agreement in bargaining with German energy group RWE on 29 November on a 13 month deal for the company&rsquo;s 25,000 employees in Germany. The new deal provides a 2.7% salary increase from 1 December 2011, and sets out new talks on improving job security and trainee prospects. 
 
European utility provider RWE is the second largest energy producer in Germany. The issue of fair salaries at RWE has caused widespread discontent through the workforce in recent times. In January the ICEM reported on warning strikes of IG BCE members at RWE who were close to full strike action. (See the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4216-German-Power-Workers-Close-to-Full-Dispute-with-RWE">ICEM report</a> here) More strikes were averted in January by a company offer of 3.4% salary improvement. Unions again threatened warning strikes in mid-November in the run up to settlement. This latest deal will see the union negotiating committee push for continued and better salary improvements in the collective agreement for 2013. 
 
A key achievement in this settlement was the binding agreement to open discussions in the second quarter of 2012 on the renewal of the Job Security Agreement, due to expire end of 2012, to safeguard jobs in the group. 
 
The union bargaining committee recommended the deal for adoption by the joint tariff committee.

German IG BCE Secures 2.7% Increase for 25,000 Energy Workers

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