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Global tools help solve local problems. That was the motto at a recent joint mission by ICEM and IMF to ease labour relations at Umicore&rsquo;s operations in South Africa. This mission was part of activities done in connection with the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) between the Belgium-based company and ICEM and IMF. Umicore is a chemicals, metal technology, and catalyst systems company. 
 
The South African visit was the third such joint mission since the GFA was signed in September 2007. The two previous ones were to China in 2009 and Brazil in 2010. The main objective of the missions, as a regular exercise in accord with the relevant provisions of the agreement, is to monitor compliance. 
 
Umicore&rsquo;s two South African plants are located in the city of Port Elizabeth and are called UACSA and UCPE. They are part of the company&rsquo;s automotive catalysts business segment, one of four business units of Umicore. The area is a leading producer for automobiles and auto parts. 
 
Representatives from the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) from both Umicore plants participated in the mission, as did the Regional Secretary and an Educator from ICEM- and IMF-affiliated National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). 
 
The CEPPWAWU representatives included Skhumbuzo Phakathi, Clement Chitja, David Nzanzeka, Khaya Mkefe, Lindelwa Gxavu, Ncedile Boyce, Sindiswa Silotile, Xola Dlova, and Camagu Mzinyati. NUMSA participants were Vuyo Bikitsha and Mziyanda Twani. 
 
Considering recent issues between local management and trade unions in the Port Elizabeth plants, the visit by ICEM and IMF representatives resulted in positive and constructive evaluations. The plant visits also assisted workers in resolving some outstanding local issues. 
 
The mission resulted in a number of concrete results, including a conclusion to improve local communication on a number of issues, including recruitment procedures, structure of employment, integration of both plants, and training and education. It was agreed that the latter would benefit from greater engagement by both parties. In doing this, the mission&rsquo;s results are in line with objectives of the GFA to create mutually beneficial relations and dialogue between the partners. 
 
The ICEM and IMF representatives were impressed by the excellent work of the local trade union representatives, and also recognized that local and corporate managers play a crucial role in creating better social dialogue throughout the company. This visit will be evaluated in April 2011 at the next GFA Monitoring Committee with management.

ICEM, IMF Complete Third Umicore Mission

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Organizing has always been a top priority of unions, requiring significant effort and resources to be successful. Particularly challenging is organizing workers in union hostile areas like Export Processing Zones (EPZs). 
 
The IMF affiliate in Dominican Republic, Federaci&oacute;n Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros y Metal&uacute;rgicos (FENATRAMIM), through the Federaci&oacute;n Nacional de Trabajadores de Zonas Francas (FENATRAZONAS), is specialized in organizing at EPZs, also known locally as Zonas Francas. 
 
When Gertrudis Santana, the national education secretary of FENATRAZONAS, first became active with her union, she was working at a shoe factory in one of the zonas francas of Dominican Republic. She became an organizer at the EPZ in San Pedro de Macoris. Soon Santana was responsible for organizing at other zonas francas, including both textile and electronics sectors. 
 
&ldquo;Initially,&rdquo; explains Santana, &ldquo;in the EPZs of the Dominican Republic one could see only textile factories present. Later on production of electronic chips also moved in and the metal sector became present through the use of gold in cloth manufacturing.&rdquo; 
 
Nowadays Santana does not organize workers directly; she is more involved in the political work within her union. As national secretary of education, she trains activists on issues of organizing. Her union constantly has to deal with challenges in organizing due to the problem of restricted access to workers. 
 
&ldquo;The working conditions in EPZs these days have changed,&rdquo; continues Santana. &ldquo;Before workers used to have fixed working hours, now they are paid for finished product. Despite claims that this will result in higher earnings, in practice workers&rsquo; income has shrunk and working hours have increased.&rdquo; 
 
From her experience Santana notes that in organizing at EPZs the organizing tactics and strategies in different industrial sectors are very similar as the conditions are often the same. However some of the sectors, like welding in metalworking, are notorious with health hazards, while in textiles it is much easier for an employer to change the location of an enterprise as in most cases the machines are rented. 
 
&ldquo;Freedom of association is still a dream for us,&rdquo; says Santana, giving the example of the EPZ in San Pedro de Macoris, which is the largest electronics industry area in the Dominican Republic. 
 
According to national legislation a union can be established with at least 25 workers. However the creation of a union is not the final goal, since these workers will achieve little at an enterprise employing thousands of workers. Instead the main goal is to form a union big enough to bargain collectively. The union&rsquo;s current campaign, &ldquo;Fuerte&rdquo; (from Spanish &ldquo;strong&rdquo;), has organizers communicate with workers at factory gates, bus stops and also try to obtain their addresses in order to contact them at home and convince them to join the union. 
 
The results of this work are promising: nine collective agreements were concluded by FENATRAMIM in EPZs, and considering that 50% plus one rule is an obligation for the union to start collective bargaining, this is a very serious achievement.

Gertrudis Santana on Cross-sector Organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs

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Turkish national union leaders and local leaders from the Thrace region &ndash; all leaders of unions affiliated with the ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF &ndash; convened recently to give mutual support and to tackle several cases of industrial discord in the rapidly-growing manufacturing zone. The February manifestation was the start of a unity coalition aimed at providing aid and assistance to affiliates of the three Global Union Federations (GUFs) in the Free Trade Zone of Corlu. 
 
The ICEM has 14 affiliates in Turkey, while the IMF has three affiliates, and ITGLWF four. This situation indeed makes Turkey a priority country for work by the three GUFs. 
 
The February protest centered on giving support to ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş in its two-month strike against India-base Polyplex company, a plastics and polyester company. (See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4212-Organising-Campaigns-of-Petrol-İş-of-Turkey-continue-but-with-Pain- ">ICEM news article</a> and join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=868">LabourStart campaign on Polyplex</a>.)&nbsp; 
 
Management had sacked trade union activists. The manifestation also addressed other trade union infringements, particularly at worksites where organising drives are underway. The five unions attending the protest pledged to support one another in the Thrace region in ongoing strikes and recruitment drives. 
 
The protest also was aimed at the Turkish government&rsquo;s recent efforts to modify labour legislation regarding casual, temporary, and precarious work. Thrace is an area of Turkey experiencing a high rate of foreign industrial investments, ranging from metals to textiles to natural gas, chemicals, and rubber manufacturing. 
 
&ldquo;For many days we have been striking at workplaces individually,&rdquo; said Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın. &ldquo;But today all the unions striking in the region have come together. We have unified our powers. We have decided to walk together and to organize joint demonstrations and actions. Our hope is that this bond now starting in Thrace will spread to the whole of the country.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Regardless of distinction or which confederation the union belongs,&rdquo; added Adnan Serdaroğlu, the President of Birleşik Metal-İş. &ldquo;We will defend the rights of dismissed workers.&rdquo; 
 
Musa Servi, President of the ITGLWF affiliate Deri-İş, representing leather and shoe workers, said, &ldquo;Employers will try to exploit by establishing factories in free trade zones where union rights are weak. If we act together, we can change this.&rdquo; The President of TEKSTIL, Ridvan Budak, also attended. 
 
Nearby to Corlu, 12 factories have been targeted for union organizing, but many union activists have been dismissed from their jobs because of their union membership. Besides Polyplex, factories of Yeşil Kundura (shoes), Disa Otomotiv (an auto supplier), Anakonda (metal fabrication), Astaş Al&uuml;minyum (aluminum), and Grup Suni Deri (leather) have been targeted for unionisation, and evidence of the disputes can be found with several tents of picketers to be found in front of plants. In some workplaces, achievements have been made while solidarity and support activities continue, as does several court cases. 
 
Turkish unions seek to enhance the Thrace region unity to the whole country since the three GUFs are in the process of doing the same on the global level.

Turkish Unions of IMF, ICEM, ITGLWF Form Unity Coalition

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Eighty years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of its dangers. In the 1960s, EU member states regulated or banned it. In 2009, it was outlawed in Turkey. Yet in today&rsquo;s global fashion industry, sandblasting remains the method of choice for giving jeans a trendy faded look. 
 
The process of sandblasting releases silicia dust which, when inhaled, causes infection and scarring in the lungs. Continued exposure can causes silicosis, an incurable disease that worsens over time even after exposure stops. 
 
As a result of long working hours in cramped unventilated areas with little or no protection, workers in the denim industry contract silicosis much more quickly than workers in other sectors, often after four or five years of exposure, and in some cases after as little as twelve months. 
 
Around five billion pairs of jeans are produced every year and a growing and very profitable segment of the market is for faded or &ldquo;distressed&rdquo; jeans. In Turkey, the world&rsquo;s third largest exporter of jeans and the only country so far where the effects of sandblasting have come under scrutiny, 550 former sandblasting workers have been diagnosed with silicosis since 2005 and 46 have so far died of the disease. These officially-documented cases are just the tip of the iceberg both in Turkey and globally. 
 
In April 2009, following a campaign led by workers, their unions, doctors and civil organisations, sandblasting was banned in Turkey. Following the ban, however, sandblasting was relocated to other countries. 
 
The ITGLWF is calling on its affiliates to take the lead in investigating the use of sandblasting in their respective countries. Where it exists, they should campaign to eliminate the practice and exert pressure to ensure that past and present workers are tested and that those affected receive adequate medical care as well as compensation. Workers should be made aware of the dangers and of the need for strong union organization, as well as meaningful worker participation in factory safety programmes to protect them from such abuses. 
 
Governments in producing countries should outlaw the process or enforce existing bans and those in consuming countries should ban the import of sandblasted jeans. And the ILO and the WTO should be called upon to intervene to help impose a global ban. 
 
However, in the absence of effective government regulation brands and retailers urgently need to take voluntary action. Even if brands and retailers adopt rigorous standards regarding sandblasting, there will always be suppliers that do not enforce those standards, thus putting unsuspecting workers at risk. Therefore the best policy is to ban sandblasting altogether in the garment industry. 
 
In January, the ITGLWF convened a meeting of jeans&rsquo; brands and retailers to raise awareness of the need to eliminate the use of sandblasting. 
 
Says ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert: &ldquo;The initial meeting was very positive. It was clear that participating companies were committed to moving forward. Joint efforts are now underway to draft a protocol on the elimination of sandblasting to be tabled at a follow-up meeting within the next couple of months, as well as to invite more brands to become involved in the process. 
 
&ldquo;Sandblasting is an issue that puts the morality of the fashion world to the test and unions must not rest until the process has been effectively eliminated,&rdquo; he concluded.

Sandblasting: the Human Cost of Fashion

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The ICEM expressed satisfaction today that the Kumho Tyre subsidiary of Kumho Asiana Group lifted its eight-day lockout on 3,400 rubber workers, members of the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU). Korea&rsquo;s second biggest tyre maker locked out workers on 25 March at factories in Gwungju and Gokseong following a one-day warning strike. 
 
The lockout ended at 14h30 today. The company rescinded its demand that workers sign individual work agreements promising not to engage in further work stoppages. In return for lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union said it would end its industrial actions in front of the two plants. 
 
The union executed the warning strike on 25 March because Kumho refused to engage in dialogue over relevant issues in the middle of a two-year labour agreement. Those issues included giving workplace union leaders the right to maintain their union representation duties while on the job, revisions to severance packages, and health factors inside the factories. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4347-Warning-Strike-Leads-to-Lockout-at-Kumho-Tyre-Factories-in-Korea">ICEM report</a> from 28 March.) 
 
In lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union recognised the company&rsquo;s fragile financial and market situation. The ICEM is encouraged that the two sides engaged in meaningful dialogue to end the mid-term dispute.

Kumho Tyre Lifts Lockout on Metal Workers Union in Korea

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The ICEM was deeply saddened early last week to learn of the sudden passing of Gabriel Miranda, a leader in France of the CGT glass and ceramics section. Comrade Miranda, long active in the ICEM&rsquo;s Materials Sector, died of an aneurysm late in the evening of 21 March. He was 59. 
 
In a statement of sympathy to CGT General Secretary Bernard Thibault, the ICEM said: &ldquo;Many ICEM affiliates across the globe are indebted to Comrade Miranda for his selfless and devoted works of solidarity not only in France, but throughout the world. ICEM recognised Gaby as always the first person to respond to a call for solidarity and he never hesitated to extend support to the struggle of glass workers from Thailand to Korea to Australia and in many other countries.&rdquo; 
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Gabriel Miranda
Miranda served as secretary of CGT&rsquo;s glass sector from 1987 to 2005. He was mayor of his village of Saint-Beno&icirc;t de Carmaux, in province Tarn near Toulouse, beginning in 2009. He served on the town council there since 1983. On the evening of his death, he was leading a meeting of his communist compatriots regarding an agenda on community affairs for upcoming local elections. 
 
He was a working man who stayed true to his political convictions of liberty, freedom, and justice for the common person throughout his life. He fought for retaining post offices in small villages, public-sponsored day-care centers, and public health clinics. 
 
Miranda began as a glass fitter at a factory in Albi and also worked for Saint-Gobain in Tarn province. He had been secretary of the French Saint-Gobain Works Council. He is survived by his wife Brigitte and four children. A celebration of his life and work was held in the Saint-Beno&icirc;t town hall on 25 March.

ICEM Mourns Death of French Glass Sector Leader, Gaby Miranda

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A strike by 450 mostly Hispanic foundry workers in the US enters its second week today. The strike by members of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (GMP) is against Pacific Steel Castings in Berkley, California. 
 
Workers began the strike at midnight, March 20, at contract expiration after the privately-held company refused to move from a concession-laden contract offer that contained skyrocketing increases to the share of employee-paid health care. A leading American trade union journalist, David Bacon, reported that the out-of-pocket increase in health coverage to US$300-per-month would mean a 10% drop in workers&rsquo; salary earnings. 
 
The company also seeks to increase the yearly deductible for health coverage from the current US$1,500 to US$6,000. 
<img src="" width="240" height="144" alt="" />
Bacon reported that Pacific Steel Castings is seeking a two-year wage freeze, with only miniscule raises after that. Workers of GMP Local 164B have gone without pay raises for the past two years. 
 
Pacific Steel also wants work-rule changes that will inhibit seniority and promote job speed-ups, discrimination, and favouritism. GMP International Vice President Ignacio De La Fuente told Bacon that wage freezes over the past two years were meant to offset rising private health insurance costs. 
 
On 22 March, Berkeley police in riot gear used force to disperse strikers who were attempting to discourage truck drivers from making deliveries into the plant. A seven-month pregnant worker, Norma Garcia, was pushed to the ground and hospitalised. 
 
Pacific Steel&rsquo;s customers are in the petroleum, truck assembly and repair, and heavy equipment industries. It is one of the largest steel casting foundries in the US with revenues totalling US$100 million annually. It is wholly-owned by the holding company Tri-Pacific &amp; Pvt. 
 
GMP was a long-time affiliate of the ICEM but dropped global union activity in the early 2000s. The ICEM has been encouraging the Media, Pennsylvania-based union to return to the ICEM family because of joint work being done in the glass industry in Colombia.

Bitter Strike Breaks Out Between US GPM Union, Pacific Steel Castings

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />Affiliates of the ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF are uniting in action around the world in support of the United Steelworkers (USW) campaign to push Rio Tinto &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo;. Scores of affiliates are writing to and taking action at the national representatives of the International Olympics Committee in their home countries. Take another action now to express our collective anger that Rio Tinto can tarnish the London Olympics with their abuse of worker rights and the environment, by casting your <a href="http://c.plma.se/?q=55761153701412040024">vote here</a>. As has been widely reported, the metal used for medals at the upcoming London Olympics comes from Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Kennecott Bingham Canyon mine in Utah, USA, and its Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 190px;height: 160px" width="390" />A great advert for the mining conglomerate, scandalously linking Rio Tinto to the high ideals of the Olympic games. The multinational has a record of catastrophic pollution, and violation of human rights and public health. But the lockout of 780 workers at the aluminium smelter in Alma, Quebec has particularly angered the international trade union movement, as workers there are being punished for rejecting management attempts to halve salaries and outsource the workforce. The Kennecott union, USW Local 392, whose members mined the metal for the majority of the 4,700 medals also want the company &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo; because of the labour violations in Alma. Vote now on the <a href="http://c.plma.se/?q=55761153701412040035">London Mining Network&rsquo;s campaign</a> and ensure Rio Tinto is properly portrayed as a company not deserving of a relationship with the Olympics.

Vote to Condemn Rio Tinto as Olympics Medals Provider

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 63px" width="390" />At a critical moment for ICEM&rsquo;s glass worker affiliate in Colombia, Sintravidricol, write to the company management that is attempting to crush the union at the Cogua Cundimarca plant, the largest in Colombia.The US-based glass packaging manufacturer Owens Illinois has a long history of mistreatment of its Colombian employees, with violations including reducing workforce levels to dangerous levels, increased worktime with no rest, no worker replacements, outsourcing sections of the manufacturing process, acting unilaterally and ignoring union offers of cooperation, repeated breach of the collective agreement, and causing unsafe working conditions.Owens Illinois, the company that monopolises the industry in Colombia is now pushing hard to destroy the Sintravidricol union inside Owens Illinois by systematically replacing Sintravidricol members in permanent jobs with outsourced contract and agency jobs.Some of the workers being laid off have worked ten years at the company, and only now are being dismissed because of company policy to get rid of the union. Workers attempting to use their labour rights are given various reprisals by management, including administrative complaint procedures against them. All culminating in a multifaceted attack on basic labour freedoms.Our Colombian comrades request letters from all supporters to demand that management ends this attack and begins to respect their employees&rsquo; core trade union rights. Click <a href="mailto:juan.posada@i-com;%20Ricardo.torres@o-i.com;%20Sintravidricol@yahoo.com;%20icemcol@hotmail.com">here to write</a>&nbsp;to Juan Manuel Posada Pinzon, Human Resources Director at the Cogua plant, Ricardo Torres Lopez, Labour Relations Manager, Sintravidricol, and ICEM Colombia.

Colombian Glass Workers Fight against Union-Busting

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	Members of the Swiss trade union UNIA are fighting against the proposed site closure in Geneva of pharmaceuticals giant Merck Serono which threatens 1,500 jobs. Today the workers took their protest to the company headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and conveyed the message to management that their threat of strike action is only postponed and can be activated if the consultation period that ends 4 June fails to reach real settlement. The clear expectation is for the multinational to admit the economic viability of the Geneva site and maintain the jobs through negotiating on the proposals submitted by the union.

	The fight against closure of the Geneva site will determine the future of 2,500 jobs in Germany, and 450 in France, as the group plans massive relocation of its operations abroad. The widespread international anger at the company proposals are compounded by the excellent profit margins posted and the recent 20% increase in dividend payments to shareholders. The Merck group announced on 15 May profits of &euro;152 million in the first quarter of 2012. The ICEM strongly supports UNIA&rsquo;s calls for Merck to put &ldquo;Workers before Shareholders!&rdquo;

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	Photo: Unia/Julien Fabr&egrave;gue<img alt="" border="0" class="spacer-gif" height="5" src="" style="margin-top: 10px" title="" width="1" />

	Today in Darmstadt, UNIA militants rallied together with 1,000 members of the German IGBCE at the Merck Serono site, in loud demonstrations with whistles and cowbells and dressed in white overalls. With protests continuing outside the Geneva UNIA delegation of Alessandro Pelizzari and Hubert Godinot, IGBCE representative and European Works Council vice-president Iris G&uuml;rtler met with Dietmar Eidens and Kai Beckmann of the general management, and the chairman of the board Fran&ccedil;ois Naef. Continued disappointing attitude of management now makes renewed conflict after 4 June a real possibility, as the Geneva workforce is even prepared to make concessions on conditions and pay the company looks likely to ignore them.&nbsp;

	A key proposal of Geneva Regional Secretary of UNIA, Alessandro Pelizzari, and the members, is for a centre for biotechnology research is maintained by the company in the region, protecting at least 300 of the jobs threatened with relocation abroad.&nbsp;<a href="http://lolitaoutfits.com/Lolita-Skirts_l95">goth skirt </a>&nbsp;

	Messages of solidarity can be sent to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:info@ms-employees.org">info@ms-employees.org</a>.

Workers Across Europe Unite to Save Jobs at Merck Serono

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