English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In Turkey, the ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş seeks to pre-empt an auto-parts rubber manufacturer from challenging a majority of workers in their right to collective bargaining. Standard Profil, a maker of rubber weather-sealing devices, met a public campaign last week by the union in the northern Anatolian city of D&uuml;zce, where the company operates its biggest factory. 
 
The public message was simple: Petrol-İş has succeeded in gaining well over 50% of Standard Profil&rsquo;s 2,300 Turkish workers seeking union representation, the Labour Ministry has deemed Standard a part of the oil, chemicals, and rubber sector, so the company must forego any appeal and begin good faith social dialogue with Petrol-İş. 
 
It is common in Turkey for employers to thwart union recognition drives with frivolous appeals in order to block workers&rsquo; their legitimate workplace rights. Such appeals can take up to two years. By taking the Standard Profil appeal public, Petrol-İş, with a strong presence in D&uuml;zce and other manufacturing zones of Turkey, is initiating a unique pro-active strategy inside Turkey intended to deflect company resistance to union rights. 
<img alt="" src="" width="217" height="201" />
Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin (right) at News Conference, with Nimetullah S&ouml;zen, Petrol-İş&nbsp;Organising Secretary
At a press conference in D&uuml;zce on 21 March that the ICEM participated in, Petrol-İş President Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkin stated, &ldquo;We want to sit down at the negotiations table with Standard Profil and conduct a peaceful process of mutual understanding.&rdquo; Labour relations, he added should &ldquo;start with mutual good and consideration of mutual interests.&rdquo; 
 
On 19 March, Turkey&rsquo;s Labour and Social Security Ministry did formally confirm that Standard Profil staff work in Petrol-İş sectors. The company has 15 days to contest that verification and the message is that they do not. The governmental process is now underway to certify the union with majority interest from workers and that will likely be affirmed in a matter of weeks. Again, the message in D&uuml;zce and along Standard Profil&rsquo;s supply chain is meet Petrol-İş at the bargaining table. 
<img alt="" src="" width="323" height="185" />
Union justification that Standard Profil not challenge unionisation at its 1,850-worker D&uuml;zce plant and a smaller but growing plant in the city of Bursa is furthered by the fact that the company has positively addressed freedom of association and given workplace rights training inside the plants. 
 
That came late in 2008 and early 2009 after Petrol-İş and its national labour centre, T&uuml;rk-İş, lodged a complaint with the World Bank&rsquo;s International Financial Corporation (IFC). The IFC and the accompanying Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) loaned the company development money, and criteria under that loan requires the company live up to social and environment standards. 
 
After assessment, a compliance office for IFC/MIGA determined that managers must undertake awareness and education efforts regarding labour rights and work conditions. At last week&rsquo;s news conference, &Ouml;ztaşkin reminded of that, emphasizing that the union stands ready and willing to make Standard Profil a quality, reliable, and globally-preferred supplier of automotive sealing systems. 
<img alt="" src="" width="172" height="170" />
Union Organisers at Standard Profil, &Uuml;nal Akbulut and Hakan Ko&ccedil;ak
The point was reinforced by letters presented at the press conference on behalf of the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/In%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-IS%20Workers%20at%20Standard%20Profil%20in%20Turkey%2018%20March%202011.pdf">International Metalworkers Federation</a> (IMF), the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/UAW%20Statement%20of%20Support%20.pdf ">United Auto Workers</a> (UAW) of the US, the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2011-03-18_09-37-04.pdf">Volkswagen Works Council</a> in Germany, and ICEM German affiliate <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/vl_160311_solistandardprofil.pdf ">IGBCE</a>. In the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/19.%20Solidarity%20with%20Petrol-Is%20on%20organizing%20efforts%20at%20Standard%20Profil.pdf ">ICEM&rsquo;s letter</a>, General Secretary Manfred Warda called on Standard Profil to embark on a &ldquo;peaceful and constructive labour relations atmosphere at your workplaces which will result in enhanced business performance.&rdquo; 
 
Leaders of several textile, metal, and other regional trade unions also attended the news conference, lending their support to the Petrol-İş message. Standard Profil, owned by London-based Bancroft Private Equity LLP whose investments mostly are in Central Europe, supplies door, boot, engine cover, and other rubber seals to a number of auto firms. Its larger customers are General Motors, Volkswagen/Audi, Fiat, Ford, and Honda.

Petrol-İş Demands Immediate Recognition at Standard Profil in Turkey

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="49" />
Showcasing unions fighting back against austerity cuts will be featured in the line-up for the Global Labour Film Shorts in 2011. Affiliates are invited to submit their films for possible inclusion in the one hour line-up of the best short films from around the world by April 1. 
 
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, trade unions internationally have denounced its fast and increasing negative impact on workers. Some of this action has been captured on film, an essential platform for communication in many union campaigns and actions today. 
 
Over the last four years, the Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival has taken place in downtown Geneva enabling unions and working people worldwide to share their stories. This year, in order to reach a wider international audience, the festival is refocusing to an on-line and DVD presentation that will be submitted to over 36 labour related film festivals around the world. The line-up will also be available on DVD for affiliates of all Global Union Federations and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to use in their own events and activities. 
 
The one-hour DVD will focus on short films that are excellent examples of communicating labour stories and messages and the selection will include a range of different films from different parts of the world. The launch of the Global Labour Film Shorts 2011 will take place at the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) &ldquo;Unions in Motion&rdquo; film festival, coming up on June 10-11 at Landschaftspark Nord in Duisburg, Germany. 
 
Please send copies of your films on DVD with a short paragraph describing the film, why it was produced and how it was used. The IMF, coordinating the work, will need unfettered rights to show the film and publish it online, of course with full acknowledgement of who created the material. Due to resource constraints for interpretation, the IMF is only able to accept films in English language or with English subtitles. 
 
We need to receive copies of all possible films by April 1, 2011. 
 
Please send to: 
Cherisse Fredricks 
International Metalworkers' Federation 
Case Postale 1516 
CH1227 Geneva 
Switerland

Fight Back on Film!

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Neil Reimer, National Director Emeritus of the Canada&rsquo;s Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union (ECWU) &ndash; one of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union&rsquo;s founding unions &ndash; passed away on 30 March in Edmonton, Alberta. He was 89. 
 
Neil Reimer has been described as a &quot;giant of the labour movement,&quot; and surely no one could argue with that description. 
 
For nearly 70 years, Reimer was a strong and dedicated advocate of workers&rsquo; issues. Beginning his career in 1942 as an organizer for the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) while working at Consumers Co-operative refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan, he played a major role in organising his first energy workers&rsquo; union there. He 1951, he moved to Edmonton, where he organised oil and chemicals plants. He was also mayor of Edmonton. 
 
He helped found the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada in 1961, and was elected the first leader of NDP&rsquo;s Alberta branch in 1963. 
<img src="" width="133" height="190" alt="" />
Neil Reimer
He went on to become leader of the Canadian district of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), and ultimately founder of the independent Canadian union, the ECWU. 
 
His retirement from this position in 1984 only slowed him some, as he remained active in politics and social justice movements until his death. 
 
Canadian trade unionists and social leaders knew him as a &ldquo;visionary.&rdquo; He did not simply look toward the future, he tried to build it according to the principles he believed in. Those principles included decency, respect, and dignity for workers and their families. 
 
He understood the need to organize and he believed in the independence of the Canadian labour movement. He believed that Canada should control its own natural resources &ndash; especially energy resources &ndash; for the benefit of Canadians. Under his direction, some of the most progressive union policies of the day were produced on topics from energy and the environment, to working hours to national collective agreements, to health and safety. 
 
Neil played a big role inside the ICEM. He was a personal friend of many ICEM elected representatives and staff officers. He was an influential member of the then ICEF Executive Committee up until his retirement, and many of his ideas live on in ICEM policies. 
 
Neil led a long and active life and his accomplishments helped make the world a better place. The Canadian labour movement, the CEP, the ICEM, and indeed all workers have much to thank Neil Reimer for. He will be well remembered and sadly missed.

Canadian Energy Union Stalwart, Neil Reimer, Dies at Age 89

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A three-day workshop in&nbsp;basic safety&nbsp;radiation training for workers employed around uranium and uranium mining was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 24-26 March. The ICEM-sponsored workshop was the second such workshop, the first one held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2009. 
 
The training was attended by 22 people, including 15 African mine union leaders and seven trainers. Funding came from the ILO and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. Besides the ICEM, the Power Workers&rsquo; Union (PWU) of Canada, the Untied Steelworkers (USW), and the Canadian Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Council committed resources. Nuclear power companies Cameco and Ontario Power generation also provided support and assistance. 
<img alt="" src="" width="289" height="179" />
The workshop addressed radiation sources, protection, detection measurements, as well as radioactive gases in underground, open cast, and milling workplaces. ILO Conventions 176 and 183 were also reviewed, and sessions on national legislative and regulatory frameworks were held. 
 
Instructors included Dave Shier and Bob Walker of the PWU; Nancy Hutchison of the USW; Michael Schultheiss of FES Namibia; Marko Baran of Cameco; and Brian Kohler of the ICEM. ICEM Sub-Saharan African Regional Officer Fabian Nkomo was also a facilitator and selected the 15 African trade unionists, with the aim to give them basic training in safe uranium&nbsp;processes in order that they carry the training back to their worksites.

Namibia: ICEM Conducts Second Uranium Training Programme

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Employment law changes in New Zealand&nbsp;took effect 1 April have given all employers the right to dismiss employees within a first 90-day &ldquo;trial&rdquo; period, with no rights to&nbsp;grievance procedure. This rule previously applied for small businesses of fewer than 20 employees.
Now it applies in all workplaces, no matter the side of the workforce.&nbsp; 
 
The regressive changes also include restrictions on trade union access to a worksite, relaxation of&nbsp;fairness tests on dismissals, the ability&nbsp;of employers to bypass the union in collective negotiations, the possibility to exchange holiday days for money, the&nbsp;right to shift public holidays without payment, and the right for employers to demand a medical certificate for one day&rsquo;s sick leave. 
 
There is nothing fair in the workplace law changes, according to ICEM-affiliated Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="124" />
EPMU National Secretary, Andrew Little
Click here to sign the <a href="http://www.epmu.org.nz/petition-2/">EPMU&rsquo;s petition</a>. 
 
&quot;We are approaching employers with either collective bargaining claims to stop things like the 90 day no rights law, or the new rules on medical certificates being used by employers, or seeking a pledge that they will not reduce themselves to the low level that the law represents,&quot; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. Some employers have already agreed not to use the bad new law, including Telecom, which employs 7,000 employees in New Zealand.

New Zealand Labour Law Changes Damage Worker Rights

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Turnout by EDF and GDF SUEZ workers for a day-long strike 7 April called by five French unions was enough to cut power output by over 15,000 megawatts across the country, according to one of the unions. Upwards of 80% of workers of the two former French government companies protested last Thursday, although the utilities said only half of total staff participated. 
 
The electric and gas workers were striking over a plan by the companies to reduce the preferential rates that workers get on electric and gas bills. French unions CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, and CFTC endorsed the industrial action as a way&nbsp;to express workers&rsquo; displeasure with the proposed take-aways. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="139" />
French workers have had the discounted rate plan since 1946, when the companies where chartered and nationalised following World War II. The partial rate discounts&nbsp;amount now&nbsp;to between &euro;1,000 and &euro;1,500 annually and workers consider the discounts a complement to their now stagnant wages. 
 
The last time management of the then state-owned companies tried to eliminate the discounts, in 1983, strike participation by 96% of workers dissuaded the companies from following through. The unions met last Friday, 8 April, to assess what next step to take if the current plan to reduce discounts continues. 
 
Last Thursday&rsquo;s power outages saw the equivalent of ten nuclear plants out of France&rsquo;s 58 total plants that&nbsp;stopped generating electricity. Gas and supply deliveries were also halted across the country, as manifestations occurred in scores of French towns and regions, including a massive one attended by thousands of EDF and GDF SUEZ staff at la D&eacute;fense, Paris&rsquo;s corporate capital and site of headquarters of the two companies.

French Power Cut as EDF, GDF SUEZ Staff Manifest on 7 April

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="78" />
The ICEM expressed deep condolences to the families of 29 miners declared dead yesterday at the Pike River coal mine disaster in New Zealand, as well as to their trade union &ndash; affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
 
In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;It is with great sadness that the ICEM has learned of the deaths of 29 miners. Please accept my heartfelt condolences. 
 
&ldquo;We will now support your call for a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this terrible accident, and for all of the bodies to be returned as soon as possible to their families. The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in mines, and moving the New Zealand Government toward ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176, on safety and health in mines.&rdquo; (Full letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/145.ICEM.EPMU.New%20Zealand.24Nov.pdf">here</a>.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="208" height="161" />
Inside Pike River mine, before accident, Photo: NZPA
The miners, trapped since 19 November by a horrid methane gas explosion at Pike River Coal Ltd.&rsquo;s coking coal mine inside the Paparoa Range on the South Island, were declared dead yesterday by police charged with rescue. (See ICEM&rsquo;s initial report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4115-Hope-Still-Alive-for-29-Trapped-Inside-Pike-River’s-New-Zealand-Coal-Mine">here</a>.) The police announcement came minutes after a second massive explosion that lasted 30 seconds occurred inside the company&rsquo;s mine of the Brunner coal seam at 14h37, local time, Wednesday. The Pike River mine is located 50 kilometres from Greymouth. 
 
Rescue attempts proved prohibitive for six days because of high levels of methane gas and carbon monoxide that were registered inside. News of the secondary explosion&nbsp;yesterday and improbability that the 29 could have survived was brought to grief-stricken family members at 16h00 in Greymouth by Pike River CEO Peter Whittal. &ldquo;Exactly what we said would happen happened,&rdquo; he told reporters in explaining why rescuers had not been sent into the mine. Some 90 skilled mine rescuers, many flown in from Australia, were on standby for those five days. 
<img alt="" src="" width="182" height="173" />
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
EPMU National Secretary Little said: &ldquo;News of this second devastating explosion means there is now no prospect of a successful rescue and the lives of the 29 men trapped inside have been lost. It is time to let the families and the community grieve. 
 
&ldquo;Most of the miners killed were our comrades in the union, including Blair Sims who was an EPMU delegate at the Pike River mine,&rdquo; Little said. &ldquo;The EPMU will now make the practical arrangements to establish a fund to assist the families of the men whose lives have been lost.&rdquo; 
Little added the EPMU now calls on the government &ldquo;to establish an independent inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, including a public hearing in front of a senior judge and leading technical experts,&rdquo; adding the union will do everything possible to assist the investigation. 
<img alt="" src="" width="175" height="175" />
EPMU Delegate Blair Sims 
Sims was a 28-year-old loving husband and father of two small children. He was an exceptional rugby player who for the past two seasons was New Zealand West Coast player of the year. Eleven of the 29 miners were EPMU members. Those perishing included 16 full-time workers of Pike River Coal Ltd., owned 31% owned by New Zealand Oil &amp; Gas Ltd., and 13 contract employees. 
 
Little, who received the news 90 minutes after the blast yesterday, told New Zealand media that &ldquo;miners are special people. They are the foundation rock that much of New Zealand was built on. When you lose special people like that, 29 all in one go, it is a hard thing. I don&rsquo;t think any of us can imagine what the families will be going through tonight.&rdquo; 
The EPMU is assisting by setting up the &ldquo;EPMU Pike River Miners Family Support Trust&rdquo; to collect donations to support the 29 families.&nbsp;See more information on how to give financial support to the families of the dead miners <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1011.EPMU%20Pike%20River%20Miners%20Family%20Support%20Trust%20-%20flyer.pdf">here</a>.
&quot;Miners around the world are grieving their fallen comrades,&quot; said ICEM and South Africa's NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, &quot;our struggle continues to enure our members&nbsp;safety at work.&quot; 
 
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said at a press conference a special commission will be established and that the country&rsquo;s Cabinet, to meet on 29 November, will establish the perimeters of that inquiry.
See photos of all the lost Pike River miners <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-miners/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503001">here</a>.&nbsp;

Together with EPMU, ICEM Mourns Deaths of 29 Miners in New Zealand

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM affiliated oil and gas workers&rsquo; trade union in Nigeria, the white-collar Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) is calling on the Nigerian government to enforce existing labour law and stop companies from blocking collective bargaining agreements with their employees. 
 
It is a practice far too common in Nigeria. Oil and gas companies negotiate collective agreements but refuse to implement the agreements. PENGASSAN will soon mobilise to disrupt operations at operations of the different companies if the government does not step in. 
 
Specifically, the union&rsquo;s call went to the Federal Ministries of Petroleum, Labour, and Productivity, as well as to the Ministry of the Interior, arguing that collective agreements will guarantee industrial stability in the oil and gas sectors. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="210" />
PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun
PENGASSAN has identified two prominent oil and gas servicing companies, Baker Hughes Nigeria Ltd., and BJ Services, neither of which has a collective agreement of record. These will be the first target companies of the campaign. 
 
Speaking on the issue, PENGASSAN President Babatunde Ogun said that the union will work together with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and will not tolerate any company without a CBA to operate in Nigeria. 
 
&ldquo;BJ Services lacks respect for Nigerian law, Nigerians, and the government, while Baker Hughes is operating without a union or a negotiated CBA,&rdquo; said Ogun. &ldquo;This turns Nigerian workers to slaves in our own country. 
 
&ldquo;No company will be allowed to work in our sector if workers do not have union representation and a negotiated CBA. Government, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), and the multinational companies operating in our sectors must stop awarding contracts to these two companies, because we will not allow them to complete them,&rdquo; said Ogun 
 
As a member union of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), PENGASSAN was directly involved in the decision to call a three-day general strike last week, demanding the government of Goodluck Jonathan implement a new minimum monthly wage of N18,000 (&euro;87 euros). 
 
Organised labour accepted an offer from President Jonathan to postpone the strike on 10 November as the Minimum Wage Bill will go to the Nigerian National Assembly in the first week of December. Nigerian trade unions warned the President that if his promise to forward the bill to Parliament and then to ensure speedy passage is not fulfilled, he will face another general strike in December.

Nigerian Oil Workers Threaten Actions in Fight for Bargaining Rights

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Re-emphasizing the immediate need for Chile to take complete regulatory overhaul of mine safety, two workers were killed and a third seriously injured on 8 November when dynamite was mishandled inside the Los Reyes copper mine. 
 
The incident happened 60 kilometres northeast of Copiap&oacute; in the country&rsquo;s northern Region II, a short distance from the San Jos&eacute; mine, site of the dramatic rescue last month of 33 miners after 69 days underground. 
 
Chile&rsquo;s National Geology and Mining Service said the underground Los Reyes mine was new, unregistered, and operating illegally. 
<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="132" />
The two dead miners, one age 40, the other 26, were working their first full day inside the mine. The injured worker, a 21-year-old, suffered a head injury that likely will result in the loss of his left eye. Reportedly, old detonators reacted to heat and humidity and exploded prematurely. 
 
The mine is owned by Sociedad Legal Compa&ntilde;ia Minera Del Sur, a mining company that not much is known about except that it extracts copper from small deposits. A principal of the company, Mexican national German Statures Bazan, immediately fled Chile after the accident on a flight from Santiago to Argentina. Chilean authorities were seeking his capture.

Two Dead in Dynamite Blast Near Chile’s San José Mine Rescue Site

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On the evening of 7 November, U.S. Steel Corp. locked out 900 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 at the American company&rsquo;s Hamilton, Ontario, steel mill. The reason given: the union&rsquo;s refusal to submit a concession-laden contract to members for a vote. 
 
In 2007, U.S. Steel bought Canadian steel producer Stelco Inc. and its two steel mills, the Hilton Works in Hamilton and Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, for US$1.1 billion. The 1985 Investment Canada Act contains a provision stating that foreign investment in Canadian enterprises must provide a &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to Canada. 
<img alt="" src="" width="238" height="158" />
Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator
The lockout eight days ago frames that flawed premise. In fact, beginning in August 2009 and continuing for eight months, 1,000 steelworkers at the Lake Erie Works were locked out while U.S. Steel extracted pension cuts and other concessions. 
 
Now, in Hamilton, the situation is much the same. The American steelmaker is demanding closure of the defined benefit plan to new hires, an end to pension indexing for 9,000 Stelco retirees, cuts totalling 80% of the value of cost-of-living adjustments, and elimination of two weeks vacation time. 
 
A provincial mediator delivered these social cuts to Local 1005&rsquo;s bargaining committee on 4 November, three months after a prior collective agreement expired. With the union refusing to adhere to a company demand to put the proposal to a vote, U.S. Steel imposed the lockout. Local 1005 seeks status quo in a new labour agreement. 
<img alt="" src="" width="204" height="151" />
Photo: Cathie Coward/Hamilton Spectator
&ldquo;These workers and their community were promised by their government and U.S. Steel that they would benefit from this foreign multinational&rsquo;s takeover of Stelco,&rdquo; stated USW Canadian National Director and ICEM Vice President Ken Neumann. &ldquo;Instead, the takeover has resulted in pain and suffering for working families. U.S. Steel&rsquo;s &lsquo;net benefit&rsquo; has consisted of plant shutdowns, productions cuts, lost jobs, and labour disputes.&rdquo; 
 
Twice in the past two years, U.S. Steel has defied the Investment Canada Act. Only five weeks ago, on 8 October, the company shut Hamilton&rsquo;s blast furnace and idled all steel-making, citing weak customer orders. Although no workers were made redundant then, the shutdown was the harbinger to the 7 November lockout. 
 
From November 2008 to March 2009, a mere 15 months after buying Stelco, U.S. Steel laid off 1,500 of 2,000 workers at both operations as it moved production to steel mills in the US. The Canadian government is attempting to enforce the Investment Canada Act. It has brought a lawsuit in federal court against U.S. Steel for breaking job and production level promises with the 2008-2009 shutdowns. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="152" />
USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann
The government is seeking fines of up to C$10,000 per day for breaching the Act. 
 
But in court arguments, still underway, U.S. Steel used the economic recession to justify curtailments in Canadian steel production. Adding to production flight &ndash; and yet another slap at the Canadian law &ndash; near parity between the Canadian dollar and US dollar now has made a shift in production economical for the company. Slab steel made in both Hamilton and Nanticoke has been destined southward for finishing, and the weak American dollar has now made raw steel production cheaper in the US. 
 
Neumann has seen the Investment Canada Act trampled on too many times. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s Vale in Sudbury and Labrador, or U.S. Steel in Hamilton and Nanticoke, foreign corporations show no qualms about breaking their commitments and inflicting economic pain,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Neumann, the USW, and all Canadian industrial unions seek a re-write to the Investment Canada Act, revisions that give genuine social and economic guarantees to workers in the wake of corporate takeovers.

Flawed Investment Canada Act Again Seen in Steel Lockout

Archive