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The funeral was held on 4 June for 22 year old worker Roshane Chanaka in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka. Chanaka was killed on 30 May, when police opened fire on workers protesting in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone, against the government&rsquo;s proposed &ldquo;Employees Pension Benefit Fund&rdquo; Bill. Hundreds of workers were injured, 60 seriously, at the hands of the police. 
 
Police repression in the Export Processing Zone escalated to the point that workers were blocked from leaving factories, and women were beaten. Police have now handed over security in Katunayake to the army, meaning workers can not exercise their right to assemble and protest. 
<img src="" width="130" height="137" alt="" />
The huge worker outcry forced the government to withdraw the controversial bill, but reserves the right to reintroduce it following further discussions. While the 26 Sri Lankan trade unions of the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) welcome improved pension legislation, they insist on tri-partite discussions at the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) before such an important change in the law is made. 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Free Trade Zones &amp; General Services Employees Union (FTZ &amp; GSEU) played a central role in the establishing of the JTUA, and together with the textile workers, were forefront in the fight to block the bill.

Unionists Mourn Sri Lankan Protester Killed by Police, Continue to Fight Government on Pensions

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The Pulp and Paper sector of the ICEM selected Jan-Henrik Sandberg, President of Sweden&rsquo;s Paperworkers Union (Pappers), as the new chairman of the global sector. Sandberg replaces Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland, who will become the head officer for the Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) on 1 June. 
 
Sandberg&rsquo;s nomination came from a work group meeting of Geneva-based ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper sector in late May, with the ICEM Executive Committee approving the nomination on 25 May. 
<img src="" width="131" height="110" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="" width="104" height="120" alt="" />
Jouko Ahonen, Jan-Henrik Sandberg
Sandberg, 52, has been President of 18,000-member Pappers since 2006. Prior to that, he worked for 17 years as a recovery boiler operator in the pulp mill of Korsn&auml;s AB in G&auml;vle, Sweden. He served as Pappers local branch chairman at Korsn&auml;s in G&auml;vle from 2001 to 2006 and previously served as education director of the branch union. 
 
Ahonen had served as President of Paperiliitto since 2003. In his new duties with TP, he will oversee collective bargaining and industrial policy for 14 Finnish trade unions. Petri Vanhala has been elected at Paperiliitto as General Secretary to succeed Ahonen. 
 
Both Ahonen and Sandberg steered their respective trade unions through pivotal and success bearing labour disputes in their home countries, Ahonen in a 2005 industry-wide lockout in Finland and Sandberg in a 2010 strike by paperworkers across industry in Sweden.

ICEM Pulp/Paper Sector Selects New Global Chairman

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A strike by over 200 militants of the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers&rsquo; Union (MANWU) from 6-9 June succeeded in winning salary and housing increases at the companies of the Plastic Packaging Group, a polymer manufacturing and recycling chain of companies that operates in Namibia, Angola, and the Northern Cape of South Africa. 
 
At Namibian workplaces in Windhoek and Okahandja, striking MANWU workers forced company managers back to the bargaining table on 9 June, where they increased a previously unacceptable pay and housing allowance offer. The bargaining was aided by mediation from the Namibian Labour Commissioner&rsquo;s office, which on 23 May had declared the collective agreement unresolved. 
<img src="" width="170" height="78" alt="" />
The strike caused Plastic Packaging managers to raise a prior and combined 12% offer closer to the 19% demands of workers. The compromise agreement will give each worker an N$280 (&euro;29) monthly pay and housing increase retroactive to March of this year. 
 
The dispute was fraught with charges and counter-charges of threats and intimidation on shop stewards who were calling for the strike. The Plastic Packaging Group is Namibia&rsquo;s only maker and distributor of polymer packaging products. It consists of Plastic Packaging Namibia, Polyoak Packaging Namibia, and Namibia Polymer Recyclers, as well as Plastic Packaging Cape and Agno Plastics. 
 
MANWU is affiliated to the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF).

Metal, Allied Namibian Union Wins Pay, Housing Gains in Packaging Strike

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From the International Union of Food &amp; Agriculture (IUF) Association
Business is doing well at Unilever&rsquo;s personal products factory at Doom Dooma in the Indian state of Assam. But nearly four years after management tried to destroy the union with a punishing six-week lockout, and almost one year since the IUF and Unilever formally concluded an agreement to settle the dispute under the auspices of the UK government, the workers are still waiting for their union to be recognized as their collective bargaining agent. 
 
The workers&rsquo; mood is one of deepening frustration. How has this happened? 
 
On July 15, 2007 a dispute over the breach of a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) led to a lockout of 700 union members of the Hindustan Lever Workers&rsquo; Union. Management&rsquo;s condition for ending the lockout was that the legitimate union disbands and that all workers transfer their membership to a hastily improvised construction dubbed the Hindustan Unilever Democratic Workers Union (HUSS). Workers were forced to sign forms to this effect as a condition for returning to work on September 3. Shortly after this, a CBA with the new organization was registered with the local authorities &ndash; and workers found that their union check-off was being paid to the sham union against their wishes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="161" />
On December 5, 2007, the union protested this illegal subsidy to a non-representative trade union to management &ndash; together with a petition with 372 signatures, of names and employee numbers. 
 
In October 2007, the IUF followed a complaint about these union-busting practices with the UK National Contact Point (NCP) responsible for the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises. Nothing happened, either in Doom Dooma or at the NCP. 
 
In June 2008, the NCP suspended the complaint because the legitimate union petitioned the Assam High Court to hold a state-supervised election to determine which organization represented the workers for collective bargaining purposes. The Court took its time. Unilever continued to illegally deduct the check-off subsidy for their own creation. 
 
In February 2010 the High Court finally got around to issuing a decision: it had no jurisdiction to supervise an election, but there was no legal obstacle to the parties agreeing on an election procedure outside the court. 
 
In July 2010, Unilever and the IUF agreed, under the auspices of the NCP, to do just that. The illegal dues check off would cease, the authorities would be asked to conduct an election under agreed conditions, and should the authorities refuse a procedure was agreed to hold voluntary elections under a third party. 
 
The deductions stopped for a month &ndash; and then resumed. Only in February this year, did illegal deductions to the yellow union definitely cease. But workers cannot use the check-off to support the work of their own union &ndash; there is no check-off. And the elections exist only on a paper signed in London, with one excuse after another invoked to explain why they don&rsquo;t take place. 
 
For four long years, workers at the plant have been denied the right to support, with a contribution from their wages, the union they have repeatedly declared should represent them. By consistently refusing to implement an agreement signed by the IUF in good faith, Unilever has shown contempt for the Assam workers, for their union, for the IUF and for the UK National Contact Point. The IUF will take all necessary action in support of its members in Doom Dooma. 
 
See the full <a href="http://cms.iuf.org/?q=node/951">IUF report</a> here.&nbsp;

Patience Thin at Unilever-India as Company Evades Union Rights

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The ICEM and Public Services International (PSI) last week supported the OECD petition under the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of joint US affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) against United Water, Suez Environnement, and GDF SUEZ for alleged environmental deceit and unfair labour practice complaints lodged by the US government against United Water. 
 
GDF SUEZ is signatory to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with ICEM and PSI, and compliance with the OECD Guidelines is one framework inside the GFA. In a 14 June letter to the National Contact Points of the French and American governments, ICEM and PSI General Secretaries Manfred Warda and Peter Waldorff called on the respective contacts points to intervene and mediate the charges contained in UWUA&rsquo;s petition. 

&ldquo;We have been aware of United Water&rsquo;s negligent social conduct in the United States since December 2010, first related to the felony indictment of the Clean Water Act by the US Justice Department, and later (May 2011) of the US National Labor Relations Board&rsquo;s (NLRB) issuance of labor law complaints against United Water for breach of standard collective bargaining practices with the UWUA,&rdquo; wrote the two Global Union Federations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="86" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="90" height="90" />
Under the GFA, ICEM and PSI had previously criticised GDF SUEZ over United Water&rsquo;s derisive social conduct in America. United Water is wholly owned by Suez Environnement, which in turn is 35% by GDF SUEZ. The GFA, signed in November 2010, covers all GDF SUEZ businesses, including ones in which the company holds a minority stake. 
 
The UWUA&rsquo;s OECD complaint cites the NLRB&rsquo;s unfair labour practice complaints against United Water at two separate locations where the UWUA represents workers and is now negotiating with the company over renewal agreements. The US government agency charges management with failure to provide relevant information to the union related to bargaining. The GFA specifically references transparency in labour-management forums in pledging adherence to the OECD Guidelines and the ILO Tripartite Principles, both of which have clear language regarding exchange of information for &ldquo;meaningful negotiations&rdquo; in social partnerships. 
 
The alleged environmental infractions already had seen the ICEM and PSI take issue with United Water. Those charges stem from December 2010 when the Justice Department issued a criminal indictment charging that United Water intentionally manipulated E.coli bacteria monitoring tests at a wastewater treatment plant in the US state of Indiana. The indictment alleges that United Water engaged in a scheme in which it increased chlorine levels on government-mandated E.coli inspections, and then lowered chlorine input levels after such testing. The US government alleges United Water did this as a costs-savings measure. The company has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4208-US-Affiliate-UWUA-Challenges-GDF-SUEZ-Inside-Global-Agreement">ICEM report</a> on that alleged environmental crime here.)&nbsp; 
The UWUA filed the OECD petition on 8 June at the French embassy in Washington, DC, along with the American NGO Food and Water Watch, at the French embassy in Washington, DC, as well as to the US government&rsquo;s National Contact Point. Under the OECD complaint process, both the US and French governments are obligated to forward the submission to the French parent companies and to the US subsidiary for a formal reply.

ICEM, PSI Join US, French OECD Complaint Against GDF SUEZ

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The Council of Global Unions (CGU), at its meeting in Geneva on 10 June, adopted two statements; one on labeling chrysotile asbestos in the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) category of the Rotterdam Convention, the other condemning the assault on public sector workers in the US state of Wisconsin, and endorsing Wisconsin as a pilot site in this week&rsquo;s campaign launch of &ldquo;Quality Public Services &ndash; Action Now.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU, founded on 10 January 2007, is the coordinating body for nearly all Global Union Federations (GUFs), the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). CGU&rsquo;s charter calls for &ldquo;a common determination to organise, defend human and trade union rights and labour standards everywhere, and promote the growth of trade unions for the benefit of all working women and men and their families.&rdquo; 
 
The 10 June statement on chrysotile asbestos is aimed at this week&rsquo;s Rotterdam Convention meetings in Geneva and urges an override past objections to PIC listing &ldquo;by a tiny number of countries who have a vested interest in maintaining their lucrative trade in this potent human carcinogen.&rdquo; 
 
The Rotterdam Convention establishes controls on the trade of toxic substances. With chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, unlisted, countries can export it without warning labels or safety precautions. The five biggest export nations of it are China, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Canada. 
<img alt="" src="" width="93" height="128" />
The CGU statement cites the mineral with causing 100,000 deaths annually and cautions that failure to classify it risks the spread of even more deaths particularly in the developing world. 
 
&ldquo;The Global Unions asbestos policy stipulates that the only &lsquo;safe use&rsquo; of asbestos is no use at all,&rdquo; reads the CGU statement. &ldquo;We call on Canada and other asbestos stakeholders to accept that the time has come to include chrysotile on the PIC list so that developing countries can make informed decisions on a subject of such deadly importance.&rdquo; 
 
The CGU&rsquo;s Wisconsin statement reads: &ldquo;The attack that public employees and their unions are now facing in Wisconsin is part of a larger design by those who want to create a powerless and compliant workforce, and to plunder the common good of public services. 
 
&ldquo;Turning back this tide is not a local or even national challenge. Trade unions worldwide and our allies are working together with a shared determination to organize, defend human and labor rights, promote the growth of unions and advance quality public services for the benefit of all people.&rdquo; 
 
On 14 June, in a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin state Supreme Court struck down a lower court decision that blocked implementation of Governor Scott Walker&rsquo;s law, clearing the way for the gutting of public sector bargaining rights for 300,000 teachers, nurses, and other public workers. (See a prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4308-Wisconsin-Eliminates-Public-Sector-Bargaining-Resistance-Continues ">ICEM report</a> on the midnight passage of Walker&rsquo;s legislation here.) 
The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) and other US unions will now bring the fight to federal courtrooms in further lawsuits to block Walker&rsquo;s anti-social, anti-people measure.

Global Unions Issue Statements on Chrysotile Asbestos, Public Sector Assault in Wisconsin

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 59px" width="390" />

	A two-day strike by ICEM Indonesian affiliate KSP2KI at one of the world&rsquo;s largest paper mills this week produced sizeable salary increases for over 13,000 workers. With strike support from nearly all workers at Asia Pulp and Paper&rsquo;s (APP) PT Pindo Deli&rsquo;s twin mills in Karawang, West Java, the union achieved substantially more than the minimum government-mandated increase that APP was at first willing to distribute.

	The two-year accord becomes retroactive to 1 April and grants workers, in some cases, a doubling of that provincial government minimum. KSP2KI, or &nbsp;Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas, the Pulp and Paper Union of Indonesia, announced a three-day strike on 7 May but by yesterday, management had resumed talks and agreed to across-the-board increases.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 249px;height: 150px" width="390">

	Last month, managers of the 900,000-metric-tonnes-per-year paperboard, writing papers and tissue mills had unilaterally decided on the minimum increase while still in bargaining. The strike and yesterday&rsquo;s bargaining lifted the wage increase from 9.14% to 18% for most workers, with increases to 14.14% and 11.14% in other job classifications.

	That translates to an average IDR (Indonesia Rupiah) monthly increase of 139,363 (US$15.12). The minimum monthly pay at PT Pindo Deli in Karawang had been IDR 1,450,000 (US$157), so the pay grid for most workers will climb to above US$180-per-month.

	The ICEM commends the KSP2KI &ndash; a union with 7,650 members at the twin Karawang mills &ndash; for the well-organised strike action and subsequent result, and encourages all workers at Karawang, including workers of outsource companies operating inside the mills, to take up union membership.

	APP is part of Indonesian Sinar Mas Group and operates some ten paper machines and 14 paper-coating machines in the Karawang No. 1 and No. 2 mills in West Java. It also operates wholly-owned or majority-controlled pulp and paper mills &ndash; some nine in total &ndash; in other parts of Indonesia.

Short Strike Wins Big Pay Gains at APP Paper Mills in Karawang, Indonesia

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 80, May 2012

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

	Some 200 delegates and international guests gathered 11 May in the Serbian city of Kragujevac for the founding Congress of Industrija, Energija, Rudarstvo, or IER Nezavisnost, the new 35,000-member industrial front of UGS Nezavisnost that brings together the ICEM-affiliated Chemicals, Non-Metals and Mining Trade Union, or GSHNER Nezavisnost, with the federation&rsquo;s metalworking union (GSM Nezavisnost), and the Trade Union of Textile, Leather and Shoe Industries (GSTKO Nezavisnost), an affiliate of the International Federation of Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).

	The merger marked the first time in Serbia that trade unions combined to gain greater strength, rather than past trends of pulling apart.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 221px;height: 79px" width="390">

	Guest speaker, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, made note of this fact and drew the parallel of this historic achievement to what is now occurring on the global level with the creation of IndustriALL.

	The founding Congress was held in Serbia&rsquo;s fourth largest city, a community now gearing up with production of a 2,500-worker Fiat automotive plant in which union recruitment will be essential. The Congress saw guests come from the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF), IndustriEnergi (IE) of Norway, FIM-CISL of Italy, FNME-CGT of France, Petrom of Romania, EKN of Croatia and KNG of Slovenia.

	Also in attendance were several representatives from regional-based companies, which signal realistic expectations that tri-partite and bi-lateral social dialogue is on the horizon.

	The Congress elected former GSHNER Nezavisnost President Milorad Panović as President and Dragon Vesić of that former union as General Secretary. Elected as Vice Presidents were former GSM Nezavisnost President Nenard Matić and former GSHNER Nezavisnost Vice President Zoran Pantelić. GSTKO Nezavisnost is represented on the eight-member Executive Committee by Bo&scaron;ko Karalić.

Serbian Branches of UGS Nezavisnost Merge Into Single Industry, Energy, Mine Union

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

	A strike by ICEM Indonesian affiliate KSP2KI at one of the world&rsquo;s largest paper mills last week produced sizeable salary increases for over 13,000 workers. With strike support from nearly all workers at Asia Pulp and Paper&rsquo;s (APP) PT Pindo Deli&rsquo;s twin mills in Karawang, West Java, the union achieved substantially more than the minimum government-mandated increase that APP was at first willing to distribute.

	As well, KSP2KI won substantial increases for the lowest paid paperworkers and an APP pledge that it would engage in continuous social dialogue with the union.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 212px;height: 159px" width="390">

	FSP2KI Strike Leaders

	The two-year accord became retroactive to 1 April and grants workers, in some cases, a doubling of the provincial government minimum. KSP2KI, or&nbsp; Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas, the Pulp and Paper Union of Indonesia, announced a three-day strike on 7 May but because of the large strike turnout, management resumed talks and agreed to the across-the-board increases on the day the strike started.

	In March, managers of the 900,000-metric-tonnes-per-year paperboard, writing papers and tissue mills had unilaterally decided on the minimum increase while still in bargaining. The strike and immediate return to the table saw wages lifted from 9.14% to 18% for most workers at low-end classifications, with increases to 14.14% and 11.14% in medium- and top-level classifications.

	That translates to an average IDR (Indonesia Rupiah) monthly increase of 139,363 (US$15.12). The minimum monthly pay at PT Pindo Deli in Karawang had been IDR 1,450,000 (US$157), so the pay grid for most workers will climb to above US$180-per-month.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 225px;height: 169px" width="390">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	The ICEM commends the KSP2KI &ndash; a union with 7,650 members at the twin Karawang mills &ndash; for the well-organised strike action and subsequent result, and encourages all workers at Karawang, including workers of outsource companies operating inside the mills, to take up union membership.

	APP is part of Indonesian Sinar Mas Group and operates some ten paper machines and 14 paper-coating machines in the Karawang No. 1 and No. 2 mills in West Java. It also operates wholly-owned or majority-controlled pulp and paper mills &ndash; some nine in total &ndash; in other parts of Indonesia.&nbsp;

Indonesian Paperworkers Win Big Pay Gains in Short Strike

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