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As part of a SASK of Finland sponsored Sub-Sahara Africa project on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), the ICEM held a regional meeting on precarious work 2-3 November in Togo for trade unionists from nine different African countries attended. The main aim of the conference was to assess and discuss how the ICEM&rsquo;s campaign has had an impact on solving some of the problems faced by millions of non-regular workers in the region. 
 
The region is no exception to the rule: CAL workers face many difficulties. Many of them are women and young workers. Typically, agency, temporary, and outsourced workers lose out in various areas, including salary levels, health and safety protections, as well as not receiving ordinary job benefits, vocational training, and job protection, and trade union rights. 

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Especially in mining, with examples cited from Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Sierra Leon, South Africa, and Togo, CAL problems appear to be chronic and shocking. But unionists also talked about CAL difficulties in other ICEM industrial sectors, including oil and gas, cement, and chemicals. There was a clear link for participants between the increased CAL problems and escalating investment on the continent by Chinese companies. 
 
The meeting also heard about a variety of success stories that have countered the worst abuses of precarious work. For example, several unions had organised previously unorganised CAL workers. Examples given &ndash; Guinea, Mauritius, Senegal, and Sierra Leone &ndash; were inspiring, with citations noted that workers of a few hundred at a time had been organised into trade unions. 
 
Sutids from Senegal is just one union that has managed to change hundreds of workers&rsquo; individual contracts into one giving permanent employment. This specific campaign topic was adopted by the union as part of the &ldquo;ICEM national seminar project plan.&rdquo; 
 
In Nigeria, ICEM oil and gas affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, report they now represent up to 60% of all CAL workers, admitting, however, that basic work conditions for these workers are still much lower than those of directly and permanently employed workers. 

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Actions by the ICEM Sub-Saharan Africa affiliates have not been limited to organising and collective bargaining. Several unions in Africa have also engaged their governments, seeking law changes. In South Africa, where the issue is a top political priority (see Ban on Labour Brokers, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3289-ICEM’s-Contract-Labour-Forum-in-Guinea-Forces-Expulsion-of-Russian-Mine-Boss">here</a>), labour brokers were said to receive 50-to-60% of the fees they charge companies for their own &ldquo;service fees,&rdquo; thus taking much directly from the pockets of agency workers themselves. 
 
Reportedly, for a number of labour brokers, having an office means having a laptop and an automobile. In Namibia, the law already bans labour brokers and, in Sierra Leone, the government agreed to review the country&rsquo;s labour laws after a campaign by the United Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (UMU). That review looked specifically at ending CAL abuses there, another result of a national plan adopted at an ICEM-CAL seminar. 
 
In Guinea, the government decided to start a process to review all mining contracts in the country after the ICEM-CAL seminar there last spring. Guinea&rsquo;s Labour Minister has also started the process of preventing sham subcontracting companies from operating in the country, which in some cases are owned by managers of primary employers, including human resources managers. A recent victory (see Guinea Forces Expulsion of Russian Mine Boss, click here) came despite the country being at high risk due to the current political situation. 

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Regretfully, good laws are often not respected, with Nigeria and Senegal serving as examples. This has led the ICEM CAL Campaign to emphasize &ndash; quite successfully in Mozambique &ndash; to trade unions that they engage governments to embark on labour inspections. Cooperation between the unions and the labour inspectorate was a main topic at the national CAL seminar in Mozambique. 
 
Unions are also examining their internal rules and structures, in efforts to attract more precarious workers into their ranks. In Mauritius, for example, Sindicatravayer offers membership to CAL workers for a symbolic 1 rupee (instead of 50). The union extended existing collective agreements to also cover contract and agency workers. The union furthermore won, in certain sectors, an extra payment of one day&rsquo;s salary per month for temporary workers. That money goes into a fund, making sure that also CAL workers at the end of their contract get a dismissal fee. Sutids from Senegal helps precarious workers with easier access to medical care and legal assistance. 
 
There has been much progress in ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Region, but the many problems still outweigh these important steps forward. Sadly, the progress itself is also precarious in some cases. 
 
Workers in Mauritius are facing a different, new &ldquo;precarious&rdquo; problem after the country&rsquo;s government, in February 2009, decided to change the labour law, turning virtually every worker into a &ldquo;contractual.&rdquo; This new law removes obligations to pay dismissal fees. At the same time, it also makes it possible to dismiss any worker at any time without good reason. 
 
Many participants in the ICEM-SASK seminar in Togo reported on the fact that the more successful CAL activities in their respective countries took off after, and as a result of, ICEM project seminars in the different countries. 

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ICEM Project Coordinator, Joseph Toe
The person most responsible for that has been ICEM&rsquo;s project coordinator, Joseph Toe. He, while organising the CAL seminars for the ICEM affiliates, almost invariably manages to get the respective country&rsquo;s Minister of Labour, or a high-ranking representative from that office, at CAL conferences. 
 
This was also the case at the most recent 2-3 November regional seminar, which was opened by Togo&rsquo;s Labour Minister, Mr. Broohm Octave Nicoue. The fact that Toe has succeeded in such organizing has improved access on the political level, and coupled with this high-level political participation, is the reason behind a number of the successes in the region.

Action on CAL Evident as ICEM African Affiliates Tackle Irregular Work

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The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada held its Eighth Bi-annual Women&rsquo;s Conference from 8-10 November in Ottawa. Entitled &ldquo;Breaking Down Barriers&hellip;Building Equality,&rdquo; the conference was attended by a record number of women from the 150,000-member union &ndash; 250 &ndash; making it the union&rsquo;s largest women&rsquo;s conference ever. 
 
The conference was organized mostly with workshops, with one on the opening day dealing with the new harassment policy of the Canadian union. Three other workshops were held over the ensuing days, including &ldquo;Confronting Harassment and Bullying,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Economic Crisis: We&rsquo;re Not Taking This Sitting Down,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Finding Our Voices.&rdquo; 

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Lara Acheson, CEP
Lara Acheson, a rank-and-file CEP member from the telecommunications sector, serves as chairperson of CEP&rsquo;s National Women&rsquo;s Committee. 
The conference paid special remembrance to what has become known in Canada as the Montr&eacute;al Massacre. Twenty years ago, on 6 December 1989, 14 women were shot dead at &Eacute;cole Polytechnique de Montr&eacute;al by a deranged man who stormed into a classroom, separated men and women, and shot dead the women in anti-feminist lunacy. Because of that, Canada designates 6 December as &ldquo;National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women,&rdquo; and that theme was carried out in CEP women&rsquo;s workshops last week. 

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CEP Women's Committee
The harassment workshops emphasized that there would continue to be zero tolerance for harassment on the job and in the union. The economic crisis workshop detailed the effects that the crisis was having on women. And in the &ldquo;Finding Our Voices&rdquo; workshop, CEP women were empowered to begin standing up and speaking, and begin to be heard. 
 
The Canadian crisis in the pulp and paper industry was one recurring theme at the conference, specifically on the toll such economic depravation is taking on women in communities. CEP women developed a set of demands for the Canadian government to counteract the adverse economic consequences, such as affordable childcare and reform of the employment insurance scheme.

CEP Women Turn Out in Record Numbers at Canadian Conference

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Newton B. Jones, the President of ICEM North American affiliate, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), was elected chairman of the Materials Sector at the ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for Materials, held 3-4 November in Izmir, Turkey. 
 
The conference was attended ay 118 delegates from 31 countries, and was aptly hosted by ICEM Turkish affiliates &Ccedil;imse-İş and Kristal-İş. Alan Black of ICEM UK affiliate GMB was elected vice chairman. Jones is leader of the 100,000-member Boilermakers, North America&rsquo;s leading cement and building materials manufacturing union, with members in other sectors as well. Black&nbsp;replaces Michael Decayeux of F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie-CGT FO, who retired after a long service career in the French and global trade union movement. 
 
The Materials Conference produced two resolutions, and saw lively discussions come out of a panel debate. That panel, entitled &ldquo;Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue in the Turkish Materials Industries,&rdquo; featured employers&rsquo; representatives from Turkey&rsquo;s cement, glass, and ceramics associations. 
 
The panel saw keen perspectives from Metin Bozkurt of &Ccedil;imse-İş and M&uuml;n&uuml;r Dinler of Kristal-İş. 
 
In cement industry, M&uuml;rsel &Ouml;zt&uuml;rk of the Cement Employers&rsquo; Association of Turkey (CEIS), together with the trade union panelists, discussed some positive developments through social dialogue to avert job dismissals during the financial crisis. In ceramics, both the employers&rsquo; representative, Bekir Uzun, and the trade unionists expressed the hardships and challenges faced during the crisis. 

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From left, Kristal-İş President Bilal &Ccedil;etintaş, ICEM&rsquo;s Manfred Warda, Tes- İş President and ICEM Executive Committee member Mustafa Kumlu, Materials Sector Chairman Newton B. Jones, and &Ccedil;imse-İş President Ramazan Şafak 
In Turkey&rsquo;s glass sector, despite problems of union recognition in the past, the importance of mature and institutional labour relations was stressed. Hakan Yilirimoğlu represented the glass employers. 
 
A number of other presentations were made throughout the two-day event, including global sector reviews of cement, glass, and ceramics by Phee Jungsun, ICEM&rsquo;s Materials Officer, and on the ICEM&rsquo;s leading role among Global Union Federations regarding sustainable development by Brian Kohler, the Health, Safety, and Sustainability Officer. 
 
A further presentation was given by Warren Fairley of the IBB in the US. He stated how many employers have used the economic crisis as a pretext for facility closures, job cuts, and general cost cutting. He said an important lesson his union learned is to demand accurate financial information from companies seeking relief. 

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Kristal-İş President Bilal &Ccedil;etintaş, IBB International President Newton B. Jones, &Ccedil;imse-İş President Ramazan Şafak 
Another presentation was made by Rashid Arin, President of the Malaysian Cement Industry Employees&rsquo; Union (CIEU). He spoke on the large number of irregular workers in that sector in his country, and the fact that they are deprived of social benefits and medical care. Hwan-seop Shin of the Korea Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (KCTF) stressed that Asian unions need structural changes from company-based and plant-level trade unions to industry-wide unions. 
 
The resolutions included one giving full support to 29 members of Teamsters Local 455 in the US states of New Mexico and Colorado, who were locked off their jobs at an open pit mine on 7 October. The company involved, Harborlite, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys World Minerals, mines perlite, a substance used in building materials, insulation, and filler uses. 
 
The workers refused to agree to company terms to work longer hours at less pay. That resolution can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Imerys%20Resolution%20Harborlite%20Fact%20Sheet.2.pdf">here</a>. 
 
A second resolution, found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Events_pdfs/Resolution%20of%20Materials%20Conference.pdf">here</a>. 
 
dealt with the global economic crisis, as well as reiterating ICEM&rsquo;s commitment to its Contract and Agency Labour Campaign, achievement of Global Framework Agreements, and growing trade union bargaining power and strength through organising in the Materials Sector. It serves as the sector&rsquo;s four-year work plan. 
 
The ICEM highly appreciates the support given by the IBB, which enabled many delegates from across the world to attend the quadrennial World Conference for the Materials Sector in Izmir.

Leader of North American Boilermakers’ Union to Head ICEM’s Materials Sector

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we call again on ICEM affiliates to get involved in activities on World AIDS Day, 1 December. We report on, among other items, on the Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Workshop in Johannesburg, and we take up the debate on whether AIDS is still exceptional. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
 
This is the 50th issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin. There is no reason to celebrate. Much has been done by ICEM affiliates. Readers will have noticed that for more than two years now, news from ICEM affiliates on their HIV/AIDS activities and from the ICEM itself has covered the first pages of this e-bulletin. 
 
Much more needs to be done. We have put the workplace, where our affiliates can make a difference, in the forefront of awareness and prevention efforts. We will continue the fight with our limited means and we hope that more partners will join us. 

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African Regional HIV/AIDS Workshop Reviews Activities, Charts Way Forward 
 
How do traditional healers fit into the prevention, treatment, and support of infected and affected people? What are the latest developments in treatment therapies? How do peer educators respond to still widespread myths on HIV and AIDS? These were among the issues debated by 23 participants, of whom 11 were women, from 14 Sub-Saharan African countries at the Regional HIV/AIDS Workshop, which took place in Johannesburg from 9-11 November. 
 
At the outset of the workshop, participants, all national HIV/AIDS coordinators in their respective countries, reported on their work. New ideas and innovative interventions stirred much debate among participants and contributed to the learning process among them. Successful campaigns were presented by national coordinators Charlotte Nguessan, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, and Afolabi Olawala, Nigeria, and inspired participants were encouraged to follow these examples. 

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Campaigning will be a focus for the ICEM HIV/AIDS project in 2010, especially Know-Your-Status campaigns as the low uptake of voluntary counselling and testing still poses one of the biggest barriers on prevention and treatment. 
 
A number of countries also made good use of a special small grant for material production. Unions now have their own basic leaflets to enforce their awareness and prevention efforts. 
 
Working groups on training for awareness and prevention, work organisation, job security and job accommodation, voluntary counselling and testing and confidentiality came up with suggestions and conclusions for union action and collective bargaining. Similarly, the implications of new treatments on negotiations were discussed in working groups. 
 
With half of the participants being women, gender played a prominent role in the workshop. Their roles inside their careers was emphasised. The impact of their multiple roles on job performance and continued employment may discriminate against women. Experience from different countries also shows that women are more interested to know their status and are more active in support networks. 
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World AIDS Day 2009: A Call for ICEM Affiliates to Join the Campaign 
 
As with every year at this time, World AIDS Day will be held on 1 December. In the last issue of this newsletter we urged ICEM affiliates to get involved in the campaigns carried out during World AIDS Day. This is the last call on ICEM affiliates to plan their participation in national activities. 
 
The theme of this year&rsquo;s World AIDS Day is &ldquo;Universal Access and Human Rights.&rdquo; Campaign material is designed with the &ldquo;I AM&rdquo; theme, adopting the key slogans: I am accepted; I am safe; I am getting treatment; I am well and I am living my rights. 
 
Supporting material &ndash; four posters and two postcards &ndash; has been made available by the World AIDS Campaign. These can be downloaded from their website <a href="http://www.worldaidscampaign.org">www.worldaidscampaign.org</a>. 

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Is AIDS Exceptional? 
 
The idea that AIDS is exceptional is no longer going unchallenged. Critics calling for an end to &ldquo;exceptionalism&rdquo; have argued that lowered estimates of HIV infections signal a time to return to a &ldquo;normalised&rdquo; response to the epidemic rather than a response to a global emergency. This would, of course, have far reaching consequences on funding. 
 
The Second Independent Evaluation of UNAIDS underscores that AIDS exceptionalism remains a valid concept. It argues, among others, that the epidemic is exceptional in the magnitude of its impact on development in many countries, especially because of its impact on working adults. It is exceptional in its association with politically sensitive topics, such as sex and drugs, and with stigmatised groups such as sex workers and injecting drug users. In highlighting the continued importance of UNAIDS, the report stresses that addressing HIV and AIDS is not confined to the health sector. 
 
(Source: information provided by Robert E. Lovelace, HIV/AIDS Consultant based in Washington and Advisor to the Global Union AIDS Programme) 

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HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Russia out of Control 
 
Speaking ahead of an international conference on AIDS in Moscow, the head of the International AIDS Society, Robin Gorna, urged Russia to do more to prevent the spread of HIV among an estimated two million drug users. It is estimated that there are now at least one million people infected with HIV in Russia. This represents a dramatic increase over the past decade. 
 
The vast majority are people under the age of 30. Most were infected because they share needles for injecting heroin. To give drug addicts substances such as methadone as an alternative is illegal in Russia, which also does not finance any needle exchange programmes. 
 
(Source: BBC News, 28 October) 

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Patent Pool Could Ease HIV Drug Prices 
 
M&eacute;decins sans Fronti&egrave;res (Doctors without Borders) has launched an email campaign to pressure major pharmaceutical companies to share their patent rights of certain antiretroviral drugs. The organisation is urging the companies to release their patents into a collective pool that will increase access and affordability to treatment in developing countries. This is because companies using the patents can then develop generic versions. 
 
At least five million people living with HIV, and who need life-saving treatment, still do not have access to it. UNITAD, the international drug purchasing agency, will be in the forefront of the project, as it will be in establishing the patent pool for these HIV drugs. 
 
(Source: Inter Press Service, 1 0ctober) 

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Important Changes in Indian CCM 
 
Earlier this year, the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in India made important changes to its composition. When the terms of office of the old CCM expired, a decision was taken to expand the size of the CCM from 33 to 40 members. 
 
While keeping the number of central and state government seats unchanged, this made it possible to increase the number of seats for civil society from five to eight and for the private sector from two to five. Of these five seats, three are to be taken by corporations. The selection process is to be conducted by the three Indian business coalitions. 
 
Comment: While the editor of this e-bulletin welcomes the inclusion of corporations in the CCM, it is to be regrettable that the opportunity was not used to also include representatives of workers&rsquo; organisations in the CCM. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 108, 27 October. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (<a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>). To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>. 

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Obama Lifts Ban on US Entry for HIV-positive People 
 
President Barack Obama lifted a 22-year old ban on allowing people infected with the AIDS virus into the US on 2 November. He made the announcement in signing an extension of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act, which provides for education, prevention, and treatment programmes for US HIV patients. 
 
&ldquo;We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic &ndash; yet we are one of only a dozen countries that bar people with HIV from entering our country,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it,&rdquo; he added. 
 
(Source: Reuters, 30 October) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Labour Advocacy Toolkit 
 
The World AIDS Campaign (WAC) secured funding from UNAIDS to produce mobilisation kits for four constituencies including youth, people living with HIV, and faith-based organisations. The fourth kit reaches out to labour. The kit presented the Global Union AIDS Programme with the opportunity to create a publication that serves a number of purposes, including drawing attention to the 2010 goal of achieving universal access. 
 
The kit, with the subtitle, &ldquo;Organising to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,&rdquo; is a tool for the country-based affiliates of the Global Unions to assess national HIV and AIDS responses with the aim of identifying gaps that labour is uniquely positioned to fill. It puts forward a structured process to plan campaigns to increase the role of labour in national responses and gain access to the required resources to do the work. 
 
The Labour Advocacy Toolkit was written by Robert E Lovelace who is an advisor to the Global Union AIDS Programme. The ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin will advise readers when and where to obtain the toolkit when it becomes available. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
News from Global Union Federations 
 
In its October Newsletter on Education for All and HIV/AIDS Prevention in Schools (EFAIDS &ndash; <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids">www.ei-ie.org/efaids</a>), the Education International (EI) reported, among other items, of the extension of the EFAIDS programme to Papua New Guinea and the implementation of the programme in post-conflict West Africa. 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports in its HIV/AIDS Update 74 of 15 October on the prominent role HIV/AIDS played at the Road Transport Section Conference in Uganda, the first international road transport conference held in Africa. The first pilot project on HIV and AIDS was started in Uganda ten years ago. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM Seeks Involvement on World AIDS Day, 1 December

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 50 November 2009

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The ICEM was saddened today to learn of the passing of Neil Kearney, the General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). Kearney died of a massive heart attack in his sleep last night in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
 
Kearney was a tireless advocate in halting ill-willed sweatshop practices around the world, child labour in its worst forms, and the horrid working conditions he saw throughout the developing world, conditions that Neil saw as a disgrace on humanity. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="100" />
&ldquo;He was a friend, a fighter for workers&rsquo; rights, and an extremely dedicated trade union leader,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;His passing must now stand as a juncture where all of global labour re-dedicates itself to the causes he strongly championed, the dignity, compassion, and justice for the dispossessed who work in the worse scenarios imaginable.&rdquo; 
 
Kearney, 59, became the General Secretary of ITGLWF in 1988. Born in Donegal, Ireland, he started his trade union career with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers in 1972. In 1998, he received the &ldquo;IL Natale, La Notta della Vita&rdquo; International Award for his work on the elimination of child labour worldwide. A year later, he received the &ldquo;Work and Environment Award&rdquo; of the Associaiazione Ambiente e Lavoro for his work to improve working conditions in the developing world. 
 
He is survived by his wife, Jutta, and two daughters, Nicole and Caroline. Funeral arrangements are pending. The ICEM mourns the loss of a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word.

ICEM Mourns Death of Neil Kearney, ITGLWF General Secretary

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Trade unions of the pulp and paper sector affiliated to the ICEM acted in concert with Dutch unions last week in their protest against inferior contract terms put forward by Sappi. On 15 October, 50 protesters from ICEM Netherlands affiliates FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Bedrijenbond, along with two other Dutch unions, made their way to Sappi&rsquo;s European headquarters in Brussels to present a petition signed by the 800 workers of the two paper mills stating they are dissatisfied with contract terms presented. 
 
The 50 shop-floor leaders from Sappi&rsquo;s mills in Nijmegen and Maastricht were joined by scores of protest letters by ICEM affiliates of the sectors. 
 
In mid-September, Dutch workers of all four unions rejected a 21-month pay deal with a 95% vote that would have provided only a miniscule pay rise. Sappi proposed a 0.4% increase effective on 1 July 2009, with a 0.9% increase proposed for 1 April 2010. 

<img src="" width="180" height="183" alt="" />
What&rsquo;s perhaps worse, the South African-based company proposed elimination of &ldquo;seniorendagen&rdquo; for workers 55 years or older. This is the Dutch system of granting days off annually to workers when they reach ages 45, 50, 55 years or older. The days-off do not amount to many per year, but are seen as a just reward to senior workers who have given valuable years of service to the company. 
 
Sappi told union negotiators that its pay proposal as presented was low because Nijmegen and Maastricht workers refuse to give up the senior days. In the ICEM&rsquo;s letter to Sappi European CEO Berry Wiersum on 15 October, General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;The ICEM, and its family of 470 unions in 143 countries, finds this type of dialogue repulsive, and implore you to intervene on behalf of a socially responsible company to change this type of attitude.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM and affiliated unions in the pulp and paper sector will be monitoring Sappi&rsquo;s collective bargaining dispute at its Dutch mills, as well as a developing contract dispute at a Sappi mill in North America and upcoming redundancy talks at three Sappi mills in South Africa, where the company is attempting to pare 500 jobs from ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Pulp, Paper, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU).

Pulp, Paper Unions Assist Dutch Unionists in Contract Dispute with Sappi

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
In late September, the ICEM continued to carry out reinvigorated activities in its Middle East/North Africa Region (MENA) by organising a workshop for chemicals and petrochemical unions of the region. The two-day set of workshops, sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert (FES) Foundation of Germany, were held in Beirut, Lebanon, on 28-29 September. 
 
Energy and particularly oil have been one of the major driving forces of the economies of the region, and of ICEM activities in MENA of late. But in addition, the region has increased its overall production capacity in petrochemicals, specifically ethylene and its derivatives such as polyethylene and ethylene glycol. 
 
The joint ICEM-FES workshops were entitled, &ldquo;A Seminar on Reinforcing Trade Union Representation, Industrial Relations, and Social Dialogue in the Petrochemical Industry in MENA.&rdquo; The seminar was chaired by Suleiman Hamdan, President of Chemical Workers Union of Lebanon. 

<img src="" width="332" height="89" alt="" />
It was attended by 30 participants from Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Palestine, Turkey, and France. Following a presentation by ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, entitled &ldquo;Main Developments and Global Challenges in the Global Chemical &amp; Petrochemical Industry,&rdquo; the seminar received reports from individual countries. 
 
The workshop was called &ldquo;Global Dimension of Industrial Relations: International Mechanisms, Social Dialogue, Global Framework Agreements, and Global/Regional Networks&rdquo;. Another session &ldquo;The Rising New Threat to Working Conditions: Precarious Employment,&rdquo; focused on the ICEM&rsquo;s global campaign on Contract and Agency Labour. 

<img src="" width="146" height="66" alt="" />
At the end of the meeting, the participants decided to create an &quot;ICEM MENA Region Chemical/Petrochemical Sectoral Network,&quot; with a series of suggestions for future follow-up activities. Those include social dialogue and industrial relations; labour legislation and international instruments; multinational companies in the sector; Contract and Agency Labour and precarious employment; and Health, Safety, and Environmental issues. 
 
&ldquo;This is a new area of work for the ICEM in the MENA Region,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;The enthusiasm and readiness which participants displayed at this seminar shows there is great potential for a MENA network of petrochemical unions. Reinforcing activities in areas of industrial production and manufacture will be one of the priorities of ICEM in the region.&rdquo;

Middle East, North African Chemical Unions Form Network

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The Mexican government of President Felipe Calder&oacute;n Hinojosa surprised many nine days ago by sending federal agents and police in to take over the country&rsquo;s second largest electrical power distributor, Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LyFC) or Central Light and Power. Calder&oacute;n used an executive decree to dissolve the debt-ridden utility, but in doing so he also sacked the entire 60,000 LyFC workforce, and disbanded their union, the 95 year old, Mexican Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union (SME). 
 
The action to bust SME disturbed many in the global union movement, as well as activist groups that monitor trade union rights within Mexico, but did not come as a surprise, considering the repressive measures taken by Calder&oacute;n against trade unions. 

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In July, SME members re-elected Secretary-General Mart&iacute;n Esparza, but the government has refused to certify the election, citing voting irregularities. But the real reason for the government&rsquo;s elimination of SME is the union leadership&rsquo;s opposition to Calder&oacute;n&rsquo;s economic policies, specifically regarding privatisation of the utility. Not incidentally, Esparza&rsquo;s opponent in last summer&rsquo;s elections, Alejandro Munoz, has joined with Esparza in condemning the takeover and has pledged to resist the dissolution. 
 
In a joint letter last week to Calder&oacute;n by the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), General Secretaries Manfred Warda and Jyrki Raina called the action &ldquo;retaliatory because the leadership of the union opposed your anti-worker, anti-societal economic policies.&rdquo; See the letter <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/67%20ICEM%20IMF%20letter%20to%20Mr%20Calderon%20-%20Mexico%20-%2015Oct09.pdf">here</a>. 
 
The non-affiliated SME, which has not taken many strides to join the global trade union movement, deserves the support of unions everywhere because it has now become a victim of the current Mexican government&rsquo;s systematic plan to eliminate any workers&rsquo; group which stands in the way of business interests and unencumbered markets. 

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The SME has vowed to resist through peaceful methods the late-night, 10 October takeover, which was carried out by military police. The government has already offered redundancy packages, with the maximum up to 33 months pay, and said it would recall 10,000 of the electrical workers. But the SME has urged workers to reject the packages, and to participate in peaceful manifestations, the latest of which occurred on 15 October, when 100,000 people marched through Mexico City and gathered in the City&rsquo;s main square the Zocalo. The full day of large scale demonstration passed without incident and was widely supported in the capital, including from the left-wing city government. 
 
The huge manifestation of 15 October coincided with an international trade union forum on the issue of Multinational Corporations and their Protection Collective Agreements, sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert (FES) Foundation of Germany. The contracts represent an enormous obstacle to free trade unionism in Mexico, and allow companies to sign &lsquo;collective&rsquo; agreements on work conditions and salaries, without including workers in negotiations, and without workers even being aware of the agreement made in their name. Calder&oacute;n&rsquo;s government encourages this practice and continues to block new democratic unions by repeatedly delaying official recognition for years, blacklisting trade unionists, and allowing company managements to act with impunity. The Forum issued a statement of solidarity with the SME. 

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A noteworthy statistic in Mexico is that 95% of companies have a collective agreement, whereas union membership in the country is at 10%, clearly the vast majority of collective agreements are signed with yellow unions. Many union leaders are millionaires, due to mafia-style deals with management. Visit the campaign website <a href="http://www.democraciaylibertadsindical.org.mex">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
The Calder&oacute;n government has temporarily rolled LyFC&rsquo;s day to day operations into the country&rsquo;s largest utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, from which LyFC buys most of its generated capacity, but the speculation is that LyFC will now be sold to private sources. LyFC serves Mexico City and portions of the surrounding states of Mexico, Hidalgo, Morelos, and Puebla.

Mexican Government Shuts Major Electric Utility, Crushes Trade Union SME

On 15 October 2009, 50 workers from four Dutch unions, including ICEM affiliates FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Bedrijvenbond, will assemble at the European headquarters of Sappi in Brussels. There, between 14h00 and 15h00 European time, they will present a petition signed by nearly 800 paperworkers at Sappi&rsquo;s Nijmegen and Maastricht mills. 
 
Since early in the summer, the unions have been unsuccessful in negotiating a new collective agreement with Sappi at these two mills. Finally on 17 September, Sappi presented a final offer. It called for a 0.5% increase effective 1 July 2009, and a 0.9% increase on 1 April 2010. Workers rejected it with better than a 95% vote. 
 
What&rsquo;s more, Sappi seeks to eliminate days off that senior workers, age 55 and over, have accrued due to longevity of service. These no-work days, called &ldquo;seniorendagen&rdquo; in Dutch, are very few per year for each worker of that age, but Sappi made it clear in negotiations that its wage offer was so low because Dutch workers insist on keeping this rightful benefit. These no-work days have been earned by Dutch staff who have long years of service, and they should not have to be given up. 
 
Below, please find a letter that ICEM is hopeful your union can send to the European CEO of Sappi on 15 October. Please cut and paste it (or feel free to change it to fit your union&rsquo;s style), attach it your letterhead and send to the e-mail address of Mr Berry Wiersum, as well as the two fax numbers of Sappi&rsquo;s Brussels office. 
 
It is important to do this on Thursday, 15 October, in order to support our Dutch colleagues who will be traveling to Brussels to present a petition on that day. Thank you for your support and initiative on behalf of our colleagues in The Netherlands.
Please be sure to copy your letter to the following:
Ans van den Akker
<a href="mailto:ansvandenakker@orange.nl">ansvandenakker@orange.nl</a>
Ilja Philippen-Nijssen
<a href="mailto:I.Philippen@bg.fnv.nl">I.Philippen@bg.fnv.nl</a>
Mariska Razoux Schultz-Helbig
<a href="mailto:M.Razouxschultz@bg.fnv.nl">M.Razouxschultz@bg.fnv.nl</a>
(do not hesitate to send your own solidarity message to these trade union leaders.)
&nbsp;
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&nbsp;15 October 2009 
 
Mr. Berry Wiersum 
CEO, Sappi Fine Papers Europe 
154 Chauss&eacute;e de la Hulpe 
B-1170 Brussels 
Belgium 
 
Transmit to <a href="mailto:berry.wiersum@sappi.com">berry.wiersum@sappi.com</a> and fax numbers +32 2 676 9601 and +32 2 676 9660 
 
Dear Mr. Wiersum: 
 
Our trade union, representing pulp and paper workers, has learned of the contract dispute at Sappi&rsquo;s two mills in the Netherlands, at Nijmegen and Maastricht. We understand that in late September, 800 workers at these two mills, represented by all Dutch unions solidly rejected a very inferior company proposal. 
 
We want it to be made known that Sappi&rsquo;s pay offer over the next 21 months is insulting. We also want it to be made known that Sappi&rsquo;s insistence on taking away the &ldquo;seniorendagen&rdquo; for workers with long-time service to the company is unfair. Workers age 55 and over have earned these days off and Sappi must adhere to contractual commitments it has made in the past. 
 
We urge you to instruct your managers in the Netherlands to return to dialogue with the workers&rsquo; representatives and raise the level of salary adjustments over the next two years, as well as assuring that senior workers retain what they have earned in their many long years of employment service to Sappi. 
 
Our union will be watching closely this dispute at your two mills in the Netherlands, and we intend to take further action if need be. We will strongly support our Dutch colleagues in all ways possible, and urge you now to prevent a dispute that will only deepen if Sappi does not return make an acceptable contract offer to Nijmegen and Maastricht workers. Thank you. 
 
Sincerely,

Sappi Dispute in Dutch Paper Mills; Act 15 October 2009

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The Global Labour University (GLU), together with the ILO, recently founded the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD). The centre announced last week that it is offering 20 PhD scholarships for students from developing and transition countries. 
 
The ICDD is an interdisciplinary and international scientific network, with headquarters at the University of Kassel, Germany, which works with partner universities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. 

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The PhD school will offer three areas of research: Sustainable Value Creation for Decent Work; Instruments for Promoting Decent Work; and Strategies of Empowerment for Decent Work. 
 
Applicants for the scholarships are encouraged to apply soon, with a deadline scheduled for 15 November 2009. The start date for the programme is 1 March 2010. 
 
Visit GLU&rsquo;s website <a href="http://www.global-labour-univeristy.org">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
Find more details, and the application form, visit the link <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/ICDD_Graduate_School_Call_for_Applications.pdf ">here</a>.

GLU’s Centre to Offer Decent Work PhD Scholarships

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