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The North American Cement and Building Materials Union Network (NACBMUN) met at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US city of Pittsburgh on 20-21 October. This third network meeting was co-chaired by Steve Brady, Chair of the USW Cement Conference, and Jim Pressley, Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB). 
 
The main activity of the network, created in 2008, is information exchange via a collective bargaining database, which includes full analysis of each collective agreement in the cement and building products sector. The database is updated annually. Six managers from Lafarge, Cemex&rsquo;s St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement, Essroc were invited to receive a report on business trends and human resource issues. 
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Phee Jungsun, ICEM Materials Industries&rsquo; Officer, presented an industry report and explained the new global labour instruments on protection of trade union rights in supply chains, including the revised OECD Guidelines and the UN Governing Principles on Business and Human Rights. Ongoing labour disputes at Holcim Cement in India and in Guatemala, and a global action plan to combat Holcim&rsquo;s unfair labour practices were reported. 
 
The network extended full solidarity support to contract workers at Holcim&rsquo;s Ambuja Cement in India, who have long been fighting for the right to join a union and to bargain collectively. 
 
The meeting discussed a plan to regularly conduct social dialogue with human resource managers, and participants agreed to extend the dialogue agenda to cover comprehensive subjects including subcontracting and union work along supply chains. A plan on a common organizing drive at unorganized workplaces is set as the main agenda item for a 2012 network meeting, to be held in Canada.

North American Cement, Building Materials Network Meets in Pittsburgh

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The ICEM&rsquo;s Brazilian affiliate ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union project called &quot;The Chemical Industry in 2020 &ndash; A New Direction is Possible&quot; launched earlier this year was finalized with an international conference from 26-28 September in Santo Andre with 150 union leaders, government officials, and business and civil society representatives attending. 
 
The project&rsquo;s main goal is to promote sustainable growth in the Brazilian chemical industry through social dialogue and decent work. ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Kemal Ozkan was keynote speaker and the conference fostered many discussions toward achieving 2020 targets by the UN, as well as producing and using chemicals not harmful to human health and to the environment. 
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The event was also an opportunity to prepare the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, together with social partners, for the UN&rsquo;s Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) to be held in June 2012. 
 
With topics covering economic, social, and environmental dimensions, the conference deepened and expanded a series of discussions in three parts with participation of workers, entrepreneurs, public authorities, and others. Another highlight was presenting the ILO report called &quot;Restructuring the Brazilian Chemical Industry and its Impact on Employment and Social Dialogue.&quot; 
 
Paulo Lage, President of ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, opened the meeting by citing progress made since the first round of discussions in June 2011, especially a joint agenda between the union and the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (ABRIQUIM). &quot;Our industry has a terrible trade deficit which directly affects the jobs of workers, and only through debate and dialogue we will have a better world for everyone,&quot; said Lage. 
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Kemal Ozkan
At the conference&rsquo;s opening, Ozkan presented a detailed overview of the world&rsquo;s chemical industry, highlighting the prospects of growth in Asia, particularly China, which today is among the leaders in producing specialty chemicals industry. 
 
Yasuhiko Kamakura, senior ILO specialist for the chemical industry, addressed another important topic &ndash; Social Dialogue in the Chemical Industry. He gave worldwide data on restructuring and the effects of social dialogue, contents of which are contained in the ILO study. He also addressed the trend of mergers in the chemicals industry, saying some four million jobs were lost between between 2000 and 2006 due to corporate integration. 
 
The conference&rsquo;s closing was made by Artur Henrique, the president of Brazilian national labour center, Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and following, a proposed document was produced to strengthen the Brazilian chemical industry, which will be delivered by the unions and employers to the federal government.

Decent Work, Social Dialogue to Mark Brazilian Chemical Industry

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The 10th Congress of ICEM Turkish affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, the All Paper and Cellulose Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, was held on 15-16 October at the offices of Birleşik Metal-İş in Istanbul and it paid tribute to Kemal Yilmaz, the president of T&uuml;mka-İş who retired at the Congress after a sterling 50-year career in the Turkish labour movement. 
 
The Congress elected Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu to succeed the storied union leader, while İlhan &Ouml;zel was re-elected as the General Secretary. 
 
Comrade Yılmaz started work in the rubber industry in Turkey and was a member of another ICEM affiliate, Lastik-İş, the Rubber and Plastics Workers&rsquo; Union. While a regional officer for the union in the 1970s, he represented workers at factories defined in the paper industry. It was then that T&uuml;mka-İş was established and he became the first President of the pulp and paper union in the mid-1970s. He was also eleceted to the Executive Committee of Confederation of the Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), and during the military coup d&rsquo;etat of the 1980s, he was imprisoned for his trade union activity from 1980 to 1984. 
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Kemal Yilmaz
After DISK re-started activities in 1991, he again took the lead in organizing paper workers under the umbrella of T&uuml;mka-İş. He organised workers at several paper companies, including Procter &amp; Gamble, Kimberly Clark and Europackaging. At the Congress nine days ago, the T&uuml;mka-İş Executive Committee praised his achievements and committment to Turkish workers, and pledged that the banner and work of Kemal Yılmaz will never be scaled down. 
 
Delegates to the Congress discussed important legislative matters inside Turkey, as well as the country&rsquo;s paper industry in Turkey, particularly impacts from the financial crisis. According to official figures, employment in the industry dropped down from 34,075 in 2007 to 33,850 in 2008. By the end of 2008, however, Social Security Agency statistics showed an improvement and that has gradually improved to where in April 2011, employment was at 37,696 in 1,930 workplaces. 
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T&uuml;mka-İş Members Voting on 16 October
The Congress demonstrated its determination to organise in the post-crisis environment and precarious employment created through subcontracting was tagged as the main threat in union recruitment. 
 
This 10th Congress of T&uuml;mka-İş coincides with proposed mmodifications to Turkish trade union law to correct some of the deficiencies seen by the ILO. One specific modification relates to the paper sector in defining the exact number of sectors in which trade unions can operate. The proposed modification reduces the number of sectors from 28 to 18. 
 
If passed into law, the paper industry would be merged with the wood industry sector. This would require T&uuml;mka-İş to have to a Congress within a year of enactment to harmonizing its statutes with new provisions of the law. T&uuml;mka-İş and its national labour center, DİSK, find the proposal inadequate, and demand far more democratic measures in order to assure paperworkers the ability to enjoy freedom of association and other trade union rights.

Turkish Tümka-İş Pays Tribute to Retiring Leader, Kemal Yilmaz

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Broad strike activity accelerated a positive wage agreement in the Austrian metal sector. In the early morning hours of 18 October, Austrian trade unions PRO-GE and GPA djp, the Salaried Employees, Print, Journalism, Paper Union, emerged from bargaining on behalf on 170,000 metal and industrial workers with positive results. 
 
The 2011 pay awards will range from 4.2% to 4.4%, with the minimum wage in the sector increasing by &euro;80-per-month, or a sizeable 5.3%. The ICEM commends these wage gains as a sterling European example in creating consumer power to offset the dire financial climate of the Eurozone. PRO-GE and GPA djp are to be congratulated for negotiating &euro;300 million into the Austrian economy in this single set of talks. 
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This was made possible by strategic and early strikes on 13 and 14 October that moved third-round bargaining up from 20 October to 17 October, and forced the employers&rsquo; hand in raising their wage offers to above 4%. (See <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4719-Wage-Shame-Drives-Austrian-Metalworkers-into-Warning-Strikes ">ICEM report</a> on Austrian coordinated strikes last week here.) 
 
&ldquo;We have met our main demands of sustainable wage and salary increases, particularly for the lowest paid workers,&rdquo; said Rainer Wimmer, PRO-GE&rsquo;s chief negotiator. &ldquo;I thank the stewards, members, and supporters who made this deal possible. Without the 800 workplace actions and the pressure generated by the strikes, this would not have been possible.&rdquo; 
 
Those surprise strikes were to continue into the week of 17 October, but employers recognised the growing momentum among workers for fair wage gains and they reached settlement on union terms. That recognition came in hastily called exploratory talks held on Sunday, 16 October, that included &Ouml;GB national labour centre President Erich Foglar and the leader of the chief employers&rsquo; association, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WK&Ouml;). 
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Rainer Wimmer
The two sides then reached accord in the early morning hours of 18 October after a 14-hour bargaining session. 
The agreement grants a 1 November pay rise of 4.4% to bottom rung workers, 4.3 to mid-level, 4.2% to senior staff, and 4% to top level people. In addition, pay for apprentices increases by 4.3% and all benefit indemnifications increase by the same amount. 
 
Perhaps the crowning achievement was hiking the minimum wage by 5.3%, or up to &euro;1,584-per-month. The wage agreement positively affects the buying power for 25,000 autoworkers, 16,000 who work in basic steel and iron, 5,000 in non-ferrous metals, 5,000 in utility work, and tens of thousands more in machinery, metal goods, and other industrial production. 
 
Austria&rsquo;s metal sector agreement now sets the template for 450,000 retail sector workers, who began bargaining through their unions with retail employers on 19 October.

Surprise Strike Brings Austrian Metalworkers Sizeable Wage Gains

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By a 61% vote on 15 October, members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 in Hamilton, Ontario, ended U.S. Steel&rsquo;s chokehold on the livelihoods of 900 Canadian workers. Union members accepted a three-year labour agreement that ended a 49-week lockout at the steel mill. 
 
The agreement meant workers began returning to their rightful steel mill jobs on 18 October for week-long health and safety training. Further recalls for the training are expected this week and next. The new pact is not altogether satisfactory because it creates a two-tier pension scheme with new hires placed in an inferior plan, and it ends cost-of-living indexing for 9,000 retirees, a key issue in the 14-month dispute. 
 
U.S. Steel pressured steelworkers into submission by first imposing the lockout on 7 November 2010, and then supplying its Canadian customers from the former Stelco mill in Hamilton with finished steel from American mills. In the end and after nearly one year, most of Local 1005&rsquo;s members were on the verge of losing unemployment insurance benefits, which coupled with the USW&rsquo;s C$200-a-week strike benefit gave workers about two-thirds of their normal income. 
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The agreement contains a C$3,000 ratification bonus, to be paid within 60 days of the 15 October vote, and it also includes a lump sum pay-out of C$1,000 to retirees taking in less than C$1,500-per-month in lieu of annual pension indexing. Active workers will also see reduced cost-of-living annual increases. 
 
A profit-sharing plan for active employees will be implemented in the fourth quarter 2011. It will come from a pool of money totalling 6.5% above C$25 million in earnings from the Hamilton Works and could mean an added C$3,500 in income per worker. Union members will receive credited service for the 11 months of the lockout, meaning some workers will be closer to taking retirement. 
 
All workers will be guaranteed 26 weeks of employment at 40 hours per week. That countered a U.S. Steel proposal from mid-September in which the company sought call-back language that would have left many workers without jobs long after ratification and the end of the lockout. As it is, U.S. Steel will only re-start the coke ovens, the cold line, and the Z line. There are no plans in the near future to re-start Hamilton&rsquo;s blast furnace. 
 
The new agreement, which took effect on 15 October, calls for new hires not to be included in the existing defined benefit pension scheme and placed in a union-administered plan that will see U.S. Steel contribute C$2.50-per-hour worked. 
 
On USW Local 1005&rsquo;s website, union leaders said, &ldquo;We have made a huge effort so that the members can make an informed vote on whether to accept or reject this contract. We wanted to ensure that they are fully aware of the situation they face and of the responsibilities towards not just themselves and their families, but also towards the retirees, the future generation of workers, their union and their community. This whole process has shown that there are serious challenges facing us going forward.&rdquo;

U.S. Steel Canadian Lockout Ends

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Pressure is building on US-based Freeport-McMoRan as talks again broke down with striking miners at the Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde copper and molybdenum mine in southern Arequipa region. A branch union of the ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) of Peru met with management on 20 October in an attempt to end the strike, but once again company negotiators refused to move closer to union demands. 
 
Management originally offered a 2,000-sol (US$735) one-time bonus and a 3% pay rise but the union has demanded an 11% increase to current wages. 
 
Very important to the struggle was a government declaration on 30 September that the strike is legal. This is the first time a strike at the mine has been declared legal in its 40-year history. This judgement means Freeport cannot hire temporary replacement workers, or scabs. The company is however using 600 volunteers and management staff to continue operations. This is illegal and has been confirmed to be so by the government, which has ordered the mine to stop its unsafe use of replacement workers or face a fine of 72,000 soles (US$26,500). 
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Replacement workers damaged an ore-crushing facility at the mine, causing a three-day total shutdown until repairs could be made. The copper mine has now exhausted its stockpiled ore. No new blasting is being carried out. Pressure is high on management to meet the union demands. 
 
The indefinite strike is respected by all 1,220 FNTMMSP members at the third largest copper mine in Peru. Miners downed tools on 29 September. 
 
Some strikers went on hunger strikes on 17 October, demanding the company and regional authorities respect their demands. Leoncio Amudio, the secretary general of the branch union of FNTMMSP reported that workers marched on 18 October to the Arequipa regional government headquarters. 
 
The Cerro Verde mine produces some 2% of the world's copper mine. Miners of Cerro Verde are unwilling to accept anything less than an 11% pay increase.

Peru’s Mineworkers’ Strike against Freeport-McMoRan Now in 26th Day

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The ICEM has been saddened and concerned by the worst flooding in Thailand for five decades. The flood is causing immediate danger, already killing 350 people, but also is threatening industrial production and the country&rsquo;s economy as waters creep toward capital city Bangkok. Rough early estimates suggest 400,000 workers will lose their employment, at least in the short term, because of the flooding. 
 
We urge affiliates and supporters to provide all possible relief aid through international humanitarian aid agencies in their home countries, such as the International Red Cross. 
<img src="" width="214" height="160" alt="" />
ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath
ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath&rsquo;s house is under water after large amounts of water entered the area where she lives on 18 October, she was evacuated by truck that evening. 
 
Roughly one third of all Thai provinces are affected. Authorities are attempting to drain the flood water from areas east and west of Bangkok, out to sea. However the sheer volume of water building from heavy monsoon rains since the end of July have forced authorities to open the sluice gates outside Bangkok and northern parts of the city are now under water.

Thailand Floods Kill 350, Threaten Industry

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Unions organising employees of the world&rsquo;s largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd., achieved a significant hike in profit-linked annual bonuses for 300,000 members on 17 October. The annual bonus for permanent employees will now be INR21,000 (US$438), up from 17,000. 
 
Negotiators also achieved a bonus for contract and agency workers, who have never before received bonuses at Coal India. Unions compromised on their original 23,500 INR demand. 
 
The settlement, which also includes an INR1,000 INR Diwali gift to all workers, avoided a proposed three-day strike last week. 
 
When negotiations broke down at earlier stages, all five trade union confederations in India, INTUC, BMS, HMS, AITUC and CITU, jointly organised large actions, and jointly backed strike actions. Strong unity throughout the campaign is a positive development for all Indian workers. 
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INMF General Secretary B. K. Das
Talks were brokered by the Indian Coal Minister, between Coal India, and the ICEM affiliate Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) and other unions, following a concerted campaign which included a one-day strike by 300,000 miners on 10 October at eight coal producing subsidiaries of Coal India. In reaching settlement, all parties agreed to seek to finalise negotiations for the next national annual wage agreement by 31 December 2011. 
 
Coal India&rsquo;s decision to reward shareholders with a 39% dividend pay-out on profits strengthened the workers&rsquo; resolve with all 400,000 employees standing to share only 13% of all profits. 
 
Coal India is India&rsquo;s largest employer. Last financial year, it posted a 12.9% (US$2.4 billion) jump in net profit. 
 
There was more positive labour news in India on 17 October, as the government&rsquo;s Minister of Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge, told the Standing Labour Committee in New Delhi that the Labour Ministry is making efforts to extend all benefits now available to permanent workers to contract workers. Specifically, unions campaigned for amending the Contract Labour Act of 1970 so that contract workers would be automatically absorbed into permanent employment, especially when contract labour is blocked. 
 
The Minister also gave positive indications on the need for a National Labour Code for minimum wages, maximum hours of work, and minimum standards of safety and health at the workplace.

Strike Averted as Indian Coal Miners Win Improved Bonuses

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Queensland mineworkers employed by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) soundly rejected a direct company enterprise agreement proposal by 92% on 12 October. The 4,000 miners, represented by three Australian unions that are negotiating as the Single Bargaining Unit (SBU), then launched the longest work stoppage since strikes began in June. 
 
They staged a 30-hour walkout from midnight on 18 October to 06h00 on 20 October. 
 
The strike cut production at the world&rsquo;s largest supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal. The strike and contract rejection also sent another sharp message to BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi that miners at BMA&rsquo;s seven collieries in central Queensland will not accept compromises on work-life balance, or to their job security. 
<img src="" width="121" height="110" alt="" />
&ldquo;The result shows that our members currently have little trust in the company as a whole, and they have seen through the waffle and spin,&rdquo; said Stephen Smyth, District Vice President of the Construction, Forestry, Mine and Energy Union (CFMEU), the largest of the three unions. 
 
After some 32 bargaining days dating back ten months, BMA used a part of the Fair Work Australia law to take its unwanted contract proposal directly to miners. The mail ballot, conducted between 29 September and 12 October, was rejected by a vote of 2,432 to 201. &ldquo;(BMA) can&rsquo;t ignore the message that the workers themselves have delivered,&rdquo; said Smyth. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get a clearer picture than this.&rdquo; 
 
SBU and BMA resumed bargaining over this past weekend for three days in Rockhampton, Queensland. The other two unions comprising the SBU are the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU). All three unions are ICEM affiliates. 
<img src="" width="80" height="80" alt="" />
Even though BMA says it will put a 5% pay rise on the table, the SBU first wants agreement that there will not be a lowering of working conditions or diminished quality-of-life standards. SBU is resisting unwanted extensions on work rosters, which will negatively affect family life, and they oppose BMA in its will to gain contracting out flexibility. BMA wants to move from a five-day weekly roster to a seven-day one, and also seeks greater rule over operators&rsquo; jobs. 
 
Past ICEM reports on this crucial Australian labour struggle can be found <a href="-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4463-Aussie-Coal-Miners-Vote-92-to-Strike-BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi-Alliance ">here</a>. 
 
The Bowen Basin mines of BMA have aided BHP Billiton in giving the world&rsquo;s largest extractive resource company fiscal 2011 net profits of US$23.65 billion, 86% higher than in 2010 and a record for an Australian-based company. BMA&rsquo;s seven mines produce 58 million tonnes of coking coal annually.

Australian Miners Reject BMA’s Contract Proposal by 92%

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The ICEM Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), announces 2012 nominations are now open for its third annual Arthur Svensson International Award for Union Rights. The award, which comes with a cash prize of NOK 500,000 (&euro;63,000), is given to a person or organization for outstanding contributions for promoting trade union rights and strengthening of trade unionism on the international and national levels. 
 
The deadline for nominations is 31 January 2012, and the award will be bestowed to the serving recipient on 14 June 2014. Nominations must include valid arguments on behalf of the nominee, and it must be made clear the organization or person making the nomination, and the nominator&rsquo;s relationship with the candidate. 
<img alt="" src="" width="143" height="160" />
Arthur Svensson
Nominations, in Norwegian, English, French or Spanish, must come from representatives or employees of Norwegian and international trade unions. The nominations should be made to Espen L&oslash;ken at <a href="mailto:espen.loken@industrienergi.no">espen.loken@industrienergi.no</a>, or faxed to +47 23 06 1360. 
 
The inaugural winner in 2010 was <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4056-Zimbabwe-s-Wellington-Chibebe-Receives-First-Norwegian-Labour-Prize ">Wellington Chibebe</a>, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, while this year&rsquo;s winner was <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4418-Palestine-s-Shaher-Sae-d-Winner-of-Norwegian-Arthur-Svensson-Union-Rights-Award ">Shaher Sae&rsquo;d</a>, Secretary-General of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). 
 
Arthur Svensson was the longtime leader of Norsk Kjemisk, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged with NOPEF in September 2006 to form IE. He died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
Mr. Svensson was a driving force from his various leadership positions with the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union for implementation of Norwegian environmental law and a proponent of clean energy in driving clean industries.

2012 Nominations Open for Norwegian Arthur Svensson Trade Union Award

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