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Three European industrial trade union federations are on track now for delivering greater strength and power to workers in greater Europe. The European Mine, Chemicals, Energy Federation (EMCEF), the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF), and the European Trade Union Federation &ndash; Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF-TCL) have adopted a strict timeline in order to conduct dissolution congresses and a founding congress on 15-16 May 2012 in Brussels. 
 
A joint working group is expected to finalise statutes at a meeting on 8 November and that will be followed by discussion and ratification by the federations&rsquo; respective governing bodies in late November and early December. An initial joint executive committee meeting of EMCEF, EMF, and ETUF-TCL will then be held in Brussels on 30-31 January 2012. 
Also in the weeks and months prior to the May 2012 creation of a single European industrial federation, four joint political committees will begin charting the future structure of the organisation. Those political areas are Industrial Policy, Corporate or Company Policy, Social Dialogue, and Collective Bargaining. Future work in the yet-to-be-named federation will happen under those headings. 
 
Like integration on the global level between Global Union Federations, the European creation strives to reach workers&rsquo; hands across supply chains to make sustainable jobs the bulwark of future economies. The general secretaries of the three federations that are driving this are Michael Wolters (EMCEF), Ulrich Eckelmann (EMF), and Luc Triangle (ETUF-TCL).

EMCEF, EMF, ETUF-TCL Integration to Occur in May 2012 in Brussels

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The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) held its first mass mobilisation since a new team took over the 82-member confederation last spring. The 17 September march and manifestation in Wroclaw, Poland, against austerity platforms delivered the obvious: jobs and wages are not the enemy of the economy, but the engine. 
 
Some 40,000 trade unionists, representing national labour centres across Europe, manifested in the southwestern Polish city to meet head on the two-day meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN). They demanded that austerity measures not be part of any revamped European financial integration. 
 
While Member State economic and finance ministers were in Poland to craft greater monetary discipline in crisis-time Europe, unionists and their leaders said better economic governance must come in improved employment opportunities and higher social standards. 
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The ETUC condemned the European Central Bank, the Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for pressuring Member States &ldquo;to adopt an overambitious pace of fiscal consolidation, to deregulate job and social protection systems, to weaken and decentralise wage formation and collective bargaining systems.&rdquo; 
 
ETUC General Secretary Bernadette S&eacute;gol said, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re here to tell our politicians that they shouldn&rsquo;t be sawing through the branch they are sitting on.&rdquo; She said salary cuts and social benefit reductions do not lead to growth and do not reduce debt. 
 
&ldquo;We believe there are other options,&rdquo; said S&eacute;gol, &ldquo;such as European (finance) obligations, taxing financial transactions, ending tax havens and tax evasion&rdquo; and implementing a fair system of taxation. (See the <a href="http://www.etuc.org/a/9013 ">ETUC statement to ECOFIN</a> here.) 
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The Wroclaw manifestation was held jointly with ETUC&rsquo;s two Polish national labour centres, Solidarność and the All Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ). The colourful march started at Olympic Stadium and passed in front of Centennial Hall conference centre &ndash; venue for ECOFIN &ndash; before ending up in Wroclaw&rsquo;s old city. Throughout, the chants of jobs, workers&rsquo; rights, social rights, and solidarity were heard. 
 
ETUC President Ignacio Fern&aacute;ndez Toxo, the President of CC.OO of Spain, said neoliberal financial ideology has proven to be a failure and warned that current austerity agendas will not solve the crisis but only deepen it. ETUC Deputy General Secretary Jozef Niemiec, a former engineer from Krakow, Poland, and stalwart of NSZZ Solidarność, reiterated those comments, stating austerity measures &ldquo;will only worsen the current economic and social situation.&rdquo; 
 
The ETUC rally was attended by trade unionists from Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovenia, with the largest delegation hailing from Poland, which currently holds the presidency of Europe.&nbsp;

Economic Growth Through Jobs, ETUC Tells Euro Finance Ministers

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On 18-20 June 2012, a new Global Union Federation (GUF) will see daylight at a founding congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 
But what shall the new International be called? Now you have the chance to make a proposal. 
 
The organization will unite 50 million workers in more than 140 countries in mining, energy, metal, electronics, chemicals, paper, rubber, materials, garments, shoe, leather textile industries. 
 
It aims to connect workers, fight for labour rights and build global solidarity across entire supply chains. It will be a strong counterweight to multinational companies and promote social justice, democracy and a sustainable future for the whole world. 
 
Such a powerful organization needs a fresh and identifiable name. Your contribution is welcome. Please send your proposal by e-mail to <a href="mailto:imf.icem.itglwf@gmail.com">imf.icem.itglwf@gmail.com</a> at the latest by 31 October 2011. 
 
A joint Executive Committee meeting of the IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF will decide upon a name at the end of February 2012.

What Name for New GUF? Suggest It!

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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) condemns the cold-blooded assassination of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home at 16h on 26 September in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
 
&ldquo;This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO&rsquo;s call that Colombia&rsquo;s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia&rsquo;s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children. 
 
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.

Contract Workers’ Leader at Ecopetrol in Colombia Assassinated

In its decision of May 2011, the Mexican Tribunal for Freedom of Association reported grave violations by the Mexican government of workers&rsquo; freedom to organize unions, and denounced the intensifying climate of violence against union members. 
 
In August, under false premises the Mexican government ordered the detention of General Secretary Martin Esparza Flores and other leaders of the Mexican Electricians&rsquo; Union (SME). The employees of the Workers&rsquo; Support Center (CAT), an organization which supported the unionization of Johnson Controls in Puebla, Mexico, have been publicly charged with destabilizing the situation in that state. 
 
In addition, no just solution has yet been achieved to the conflict of the SNTMMSRM, which is led by Napoleon Gomez and affiliated with the IMF and the ICEM. August marked the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the strikes in Sonora, Taxco, and Sombrerete, with no response from the authorities: collective contracts are not recognized and the independence of the union is not respected. 
 
The IMF, ICEM, ITF, and UNI, together with the Tri-National Union Alliance and the ITUC, stand together with the Mexican unions in their struggle, as was shown by action of unions around the world during the action week of February 2011, as well as by international union participation in the 1 May event in Mexico. 
 
Also in May, the IMF organized a planning workshop attended by representatives of the international union federations and democratic unions of Mexico to jointly design union-building programs. With regard to international solidarity, it was agreed to concentrate work on opposing the PRI-PAN bill on the regressive Labor Reform and the bill on National Security, both of which are on the agenda for the September session of the Mexican Congress. If these reforms are passed, precarious employment will be legalized, employer protection contracts will be strengthened and it will be even more difficult to organize genuine workers&rsquo; unions. 
 
Given that prospect, and added to it the fact that the Government Secretariat intends to remove by 15 September the sit-in protest which the SME Union has been holding on the Zocalo for the last seven months, the unions have been intensifying their action and alliances to confront the new wave of repression. 
 
On 1 September, the fourth anniversary of the Felipe Calderon administration, a &ldquo;National Day of Outrage&rdquo; was held to denounce the disastrous results of his administration for the working class. More than 100 unions and 40,000 people participated in the day; a rally was held in front of the Chamber of Deputies, and later moved to the Zocalo. It demanded an end to the persecution of independent unions and reiterated the importance of building a sustainable and inclusive social model with fairness, justice and democracy.

Greater Unity of Democratic Unions in Mexico against Repression

In Chile, a recent strike by union members of Sindicato No. 1 Escondida of Chile&rsquo;s Federation of Miners (FMC) at the world&rsquo;s largest copper mine galvanized mining unions across the South American country like never before. In unprecedented solidarity, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of the private-sector FMC and those at state-run Codelco, the Federation of Workers of Cobre (FTC), are uniting to lay claim to a bigger portion of the world&rsquo;s copper profits for all Chileans. 
 
Recent joint meetings of the federations have discussed how companies circumvent labour laws and collective agreement conventions at the expense of mineworkers, and how natural resources are exploited to the detriment of Chile&rsquo;s national character. Unions are also united &ndash; at the private-sector multinationals to the Cobres at Codelco &ndash; resist privatisation of Codelco. 
 
Another testament to FMC and FTC unity is at a time when Chile&rsquo;s ministries are eager to meet with them, the federations insist that such meetings will not happen until leaders of the federations meet first. 
 
The labour-management match in Chile happens at a time of soaring demand and high prices for Chile&rsquo;s main export, copper. The same demand and volatile pricing of the red metal worldwide has created a &ldquo;Together We Can&rdquo; cry that says Chile&rsquo;s mineworkers believe unified action can affect the country for the better. 
 
Much was made of the fact that on a single day &ndash; 30 July &ndash; 10% of the world&rsquo;s copper production stopped when FMC miners at Do&ntilde;a In&eacute;s Collahuasi (AngloAmerican and Xstrata) joined a strike by Sindicato No. 1 at Minera Escondida Ltd. (BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto) in a display of simple unity. Although grievances reflected separate sets of negligent circumstances at the two mining complexes, the unity of purpose was clear. 
 
FMC President Cristi&aacute;n Arancibia said that workers are hearing a national calling, that unions of his federation feel a responsibility to the people and communities of mining regions. He said agreement has been reached with the FTC that mineworkers will not be &ldquo;accomplices to Chile&rsquo;s resources sold away for foreign investment.&rdquo; 
 
This very specifically is FMC recognition that Codelco is chipping away at FTC&rsquo;s membership in order to partially privatise the world&rsquo;s largest copper company. 
 
On 30 July, union branches of the FTC supported the symbolic strike of the two FMC branches. Now with common understanding that tripartite dialogue will occur over Chile&rsquo;s export revenues, the unity, decisiveness, and single voice of FMC and FTC will ensure that all Chileans have a stake in copper.

Chile: Mineworkers’ Unity in Times of High Mineral Prices

An oddity has struck Germany: as unemployment has reached the lowest levels in decades, the number of precarious workers in low-wage temporary jobs has risen dramatically. The increase in temporary work in 2010 jumped 32.5% over the previous year, reports Germany&rsquo;s Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden. 
 
A full 75% of all recruitments in 2010 came in the temporary sector and temporary work accounted for 50% of all salaried recruitments, data that places a different light on Germany&rsquo;s economic success story. 
 
This trend has not caught Germany&rsquo;s unions by surprise, with national labour centre DGB making it a priority at its May 2010 Congress to campaign for equal pay, equal rights, and fixed probation periods on temporary workers at its May 2010 Congress. Replacing permanent employees with temp workers (&ldquo;Stammbelegschaft&rdquo;) is regressive and Germany&rsquo;s unions look upon it as wage slashing. In the metal industry alone, wages of temporary workers average &euro;776 per month less than permanent staff. 
 
In 2010, according the Wiesbaden Office, 7.4 million people took low-wage temporary work, or &ldquo;mini-jobs&rdquo;, as created by 2003 legislation with the intent that such work would lead to a full-time, permanent job. It has not as evidenced by Germany&rsquo;s temporary employers&rsquo; federation predicting that double-digit jumps in temp work will occur in 2011 and beyond. 
 
Consider: in hotel and catering work, there is one temp for each German worker in which full social contributions are paid. In trade and retail, that ratio is two to one. 
 
One answer advocated by German unions is a cross-sector minimum wage through legislation, and tougher legislative measures to discourage all forms of precarious work. Equal pay for equal work has become a battle cry for Germany&rsquo;s trade union movement and moving toward that will restore a fairer order of the labour market.

In Germany, Precarious Labour Spikes Even with Low Joblessness

Working groups established by the Executive Committees of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) took steps to finalize the Statutes and launched the discussion on an Action Plan for the new Global Union Federation. Members representing affiliates from all five continents met on 30-31 August in Geneva. 
 
The Statutes Working Group examined the key points agreed at a joint Executive Committee meeting in May and made some final adjustments in the draft Statutes. The new International will be governed by an Executive Committee of 60 members until 2016, after which it will be reduced to 40 members. At least 30% of the members shall be women. 
 
The Statutes foresee regional structures and offices that will implement the organization&rsquo;s general policies and address matters specific to the region. There will also be 14 industrial sectors as well as sections for women and non-manual workers. 
 
The Action Plan Group agreed on producing a short and punchy program, which will summarize the main priorities for the new global union. Some of the suggested headlines are building union power by organizing workers throughout supply chains and creating a powerful counterweight to transnational companies by uniting the workers in networks for solidarity and joint action. 
 
Later the same week, the IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF held a first joint global staff seminar in Geneva. The participants shared their experiences about the way of working of the three organizations and identified opportunities to combine strengths for more powerful action. 
 
The Statutes and Action Plan will be discussed at the decision-making bodies of the three partner federations, including ITGLWF&rsquo;s Executive Committee in September, ICEM&rsquo;s Congress in November and IMF&rsquo;s Central Committee in December. The final proposals are expected to be adopted at a second joint Executive Committee meeting in February 2012, to be presented to the Founding Congress in June 2012 in Copenhagen.

Working Groups Pave Way for New Global Union Federation

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) today registered strong condemnation with the Government of the Republic of Georgia over the police crushing of a legitimate workers&rsquo; strike and formation of a trade union at Euroasian Steels in Kutaisi, Georgia. Police began using forceful tactics last Thursday evening, 15 September, to break a peaceful strike at the 400-worker steel mill, and on 16 September and over the weekend, arrested, detained, and threatened scores of union workers seeking union representation at Euroasian Steels. 
 
In a letter today to Georgian President Mikheil Saakasvhili and Prime Minister Nika Gilauri, the ICEM calls for restoration of human and trade union rights to members of the ICEM affiliate, Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, and immediate release without charge of three leading union activists, who were picked up and arrested Saturday, 17 September, on bogus charges obviously related to trade union activity. They ICEM also demands job reinstatements for some 20 other workers. 
 
Emilo Gumberidze, Irakli Iobidze, and Milkhaz Gogiava will appear today in court in the provincial capital of Kutaisi and they could face jail sentences. Last Thursday, Georgian police, unprovoked, broke up a strike by 200 metalworkers in front of the Euroasian steel rolling mill in Kutaisi. They detained up to 40 strike participants and the next day police officers raided the homes of many workers, ordered them into police cars, and then incredulously took them to the factory for work shifts. (An <a href="/en/4-Chemicals-Pharmaceuticals/4667-ICEM-Scorns-Blatant-Police-Repression-in-Putting-Down-Georgian-Metal-Strike">ICEM report</a> on this is here.) 
 
In today&rsquo;s formal complaint to Georgia&rsquo;s Government over the police actions, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote, &ldquo;This is an embarrassment to Georgia, a serious stain on Georgian trade and commerce, and it is the opinion of the ICEM that these overt acts of repression bring Georgia back to another time era.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM charges Georgian police and the country&rsquo;s Internal Affairs Ministry with blatant violation of guaranteed social and human rights common in several international charters. The ICEM pledged to stand with the union and the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC) in their fight for workers&rsquo; rights at Euroasian Steels. 
 
The ICEM is demanding that internal Georgian security forces stop acting as a front for Euroasian Steels, a two-and-a-half-year-old steelmaking enterprise in Kutaisi that has failed to establish even a rudimentary system of employee relations. The enterprise is 87.5% owned by Dubai-based Euroasian Ventures Ltd., itself owned by Indian steel company Manaksia Ltd., and 12.5% by a holding concern controlled by Georgian national Paata Chkhenkeli, who himself is connected to Georgia&rsquo;s political and economic elite. 
 
The ICEM is a Geneva, Switzerland-based Global Union Federation, representing 20 million workers that belong to 467 trade union affiliates 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 22 203 1842.

ICEM Condemns Georgia Police in Suppressing Union Rights at Euroasian Steels

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State police in Georgia brutally broke a strike by metalworkers last week in Kutaisi, in western Georgia. In the evening of day three (15 September) of a walkout by some 200 workers at Eurasian Steels that was sparked by ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union and the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), dozens of police cars escorted Imereti Region Governor Lasha Makatsaria across picket lines and into the steel rolling mill. Police then left those cars and rushed the strikers, taking many away. 
 
As some strikers fled, police rounded them up. Around 40 strikers, including four hunger strikers at the factory&rsquo;s plant gates, were taken to police headquarters. They were held for several hours, lectured on strike activity, and then made to sign a document stating they would engage in no further action. Some of the 40 were summarily fired by the police who issued dismissal papers from Euroasian Steels. 
 
Twenty-one trade union activists have now been sacked at Euroasian Steels, or Hercules Steel, as it is called, including six on 11 August. Last week&rsquo;s mass strike was on their behalf, and on many inept management practices that have plague the newly built plant over the past two years. A two-hour warning strike occurred on 2 September that was joined in support by the Georgia Automobile Transport and Highway Workers&rsquo; Union, the Independent Trade Union of Agricultural Workers, a food processing union, and two professional unions &ndash; the Representatives of Educators and Scientists and the Union of Artists. 
 
Management of the steel mill, led by a prominent Georgian, has refused to address the union or the workers&rsquo; serious concerns. 
 
The ICEM reacted with contempt to last week&rsquo;s police actions. &ldquo;We witnessed Georgia&rsquo;s internal police use force to break a strike and now attempt to manage the labour conduct inside this enterprise,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;It is ludicrous, against all rationality, and there has to be sinister reasons behind it. We demand to know why our affiliated trade union&rsquo;s concerns on behalf of workers have not been heard.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="210" />
ICEM will continue the stand with Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Ubnion of Georgia and with the GTUC. (In 2010, ICEM's Warda and GTUC President Iraki Petriashvile, left)&nbsp; 
 

After the round-up and release of strike activists in the early morning hours of 16 September, police then began raiding the homes of many Euroasian workers &ndash; including several strikers from the day before &ndash; and forcibly brought them to work. A report said a worker not involved in the strike and who was scheduled to work a late shift on 16 September, was forcibly taken from his home and bought in earlier than usual to work. 
 
Police are controlling shift attendance by workers and internal reports are regularly made to police authorities. When workers inquire as to why the police involvement, they are told it is necessary to prevent another strike. 
 
On Friday, workers returning to the steel mill were met with a mandate to either sign a statement denouncing Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union, or face dismissal within three days. The ICEM has learned many are resisting and believes this is due to a core group of 180 union activists who are gaining in strength and remain steadfast in their determination not to be deterred from a union voice at Hercules.
The ICEM has vowed to support them through an international outcry in coordination with other labour groups. 
 
Meanwhile, there has been a constant police presence outside the factory over the weekend, 16-18 September. At 13h on Saturday, 17 September, internal security&nbsp;police rounded and arrested three union leaders: Emilo Gumberidze, Irakli Iobidze, and Malkhaz Gogiava. 

The three have been key in coordinating support for the 21 dismissed union members&nbsp;among civil society groups,&nbsp;and the ICEM calls the Georgian government out on violating common&nbsp;freedom of association principals. 

Euroasian Steels is an Indian-Georgian enterprise, 87.5% owned by Dubai-based Euroasian Ventures Ltd., which itself is owned by India&rsquo;s 12th largest steelmaker, Manaksia Ltd., a company specializing in caps, crowns, and metal containers as well as a metal trader. The Kutaisi mill began in spring 2009 to produce rebar and steel billet for a Central Asian market. Built on the former site of a concrete structures plant in Kutaisi, it employs 400 workers, including 130 Indian nationals. 
 
They are treated like indentured servants. Management is in possession of their passports, their salaries are sent back to India, they are given meagre stipends to live on in Kutaisi, and they are instructed not to make contact with Georgian workers. The Indians work dirty and dangerous jobs on four of the operation&rsquo;s eight furnaces and they work apart from Georgian workers. 
 
Some months ago, the Indian workers staged a strike of their own, which resulted in the beating of the Indian plant director, Raji Kumar Sureika. 
 
At Euroasian Steels in the Imereti region, sweatshop conditions persist. There is no Human Resources department, no wage structures, and no adherence to internationally recognised work standards. Work-weeks can last up to 80 hours, there is no overtime pay, workers are routinely refused to use paid vacations, and there is an inordinate amount of industrial injuries.
<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="154" />
As in 2010 in Georgia, ICEM will&nbsp;Vehemently Protest Trade&nbsp;Union Repression in Georgia&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 

In July 2010, workers protested because of wage arrears. Seven of the leaders of that protest were arrested and were jailed for 20 days. 
 
The Georgian who controls Euroasian Steels and whose holding company owns a 12.5% stake is Paata Chkhenkeli. He is general director of the operation and in 2005, he formed a joint venture with the Manaksia Group called Georgia Metalix Ltd. in order to export scrap steel from Georgia. A short time later, he bought a controlling stake of the Georgia-based scrap-metal salvage firm Meoshavliti, and the deal was soon realised between Chkhenkeli, Manaksia, and the Georgian government to construct the Kutaisi mill. 
 
Paata Chkhenkeli, 52, has close connections to senior level figures in the Georgian government. From 2000 to 2003, fresh from a 11-year tenure as director of Iberia Construction Co. in Russia and Georgia, he served as state advisor to Georgia&rsquo;s Minister of Economy. 
 
The ICEM this week will lodge protests with the Georgian government over last week&rsquo;s ruthless actions. While union activity inside Euroasian is certain to be stymied temporarily because of last week&rsquo;s police put-down, the flames of discontent are still very much alive. ICEM will remain connected to shop-floor activists in Kutaisi and their union representatives of the Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union and GTUC.

ICEM Scorns Blatant Police Repression in Putting Down Georgian Metal Strike

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