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The annual Regional Conference for the Eastern Europe/Central Asia Region of the ICEM was conducted in Moscow on 23 September. Participating affiliated trade unions came from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. 
 
The meeting was chaired by ROSUGLEPROF &ndash; the Russian Independent Coal Employees&rsquo; Union &ndash; President and ICEM Vice President Ivan Mokhnachuk. Each delegation briefed participants on today's situation in their respective country and union. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda spoke on the process of building joint structures with the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). The idea of creating a new Global Union Federation was supported by Mikhail Tarasenko, President of the Russian Mining Trade Union, a union invited as a guest to the meeting. 
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The ICEM&rsquo;s Regional Contact Person for the Eastern Europe/Central Asia Region and the Central Europe Region, Anatoly Surin, gave a report on the activities in the region since the last regional Council in September 2009, in Kiev, Ukraine. The participants of the meeting adopted a resolution of support to the miners of the enterprise &ldquo;STRATEX&rdquo; of Moldova in a struggle for fair wages. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Regional Conference in 2011 will take place in Uzbekistan.

ICEM Holds Eastern Europe/Central Asia Regional Conference

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The pharmaceutical industry has been one of the few industries which did not suffer a severe negative impact during the global financial crisis. In 2009, the market grew 7% to US$837 billion, compared with a 4.8% growth rate in 2008. Sales of the sector are expected to grow 4 to 6% this year. The size of the global market for pharmaceuticals is expected to grow nearly US$300 billion over the next five years, reaching US$1.1 trillion in 2014. 
 
But with this growth, global pharmaceuticals are experiencing a significant shift. The Asia-Pacific region is emerging as the fastest growing market. The reason attributed for this is lower costs and lack of stringent regulatory requirements. 
 
Pharmaceutical sales are growing rapidly in India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Indonesia due to rising disposable incomes and several health insurance schemes. China&rsquo;s pharmaceutical market will continue to grow at over 20% annually, and will contribute 21% of overall global growth through 2013, while the Indian market is expected to grow by 10% this year. 
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For South East Asia, Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) harmonization is a hot topic among pharmaceutical companies, as it will liberalize a number of highly regulated markets (ASETUC). 
 
Considering all these developments in pharmaceuticals and demands from affiliates, the ICEM, with the support of Germany&rsquo;s Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), organized a workshop for pharma industry unions in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 28-29 September. Attended by 30 trade union representatives from Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Pakistan, Singapore, Nepal, and Thailand, the workshop was hosted by Indonesian Pharmaceutical Industry and Health Services Union (FARKES), led by Djufnie Ashary. 
 
The ICEM was represented by Chemical and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, and Asia-Pacific Regional Contact Person Phee Jungsun, who ran the workshop. 
 
Following the opening speeches by Erwin Schweisshelm, Indonesian Director of the FES, Sjaiful DP, President of ICEM affiliated union of FSP KEP and Chairman of ICEM Indonesian Council, and Djufnie Ashary of FARKES, the workshop got a detailed presentation from &Ouml;zkan on both the global and Asian pharmaceutical markets, with recent figures, developments, and challenges set forth. Participants provided country and company information at the workshop. 
 
In Indonesia, pharmaceutical industry volume turns over at about US$2.7 billion each year. Pharma growth in Indonesia is about 10% annually. In 1991, multinationals controlled over 70% of market share, but now that figure has dropped to 25%. 
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Norihiro Tokunaga, Assistant General Secretary of ICEM-JAF, shared basic data on Japanese health care. According to Tokunaga, in Japan, with its low birthrate, society is rapidly aging. It is estimated that one-fifth of the population will be older than 75 by the year 2030, and that will extend to a full quarter by 2055. 
 
This development, said Tokunaga, has already made a huge impact on the cost of the social security system. If this trend continues further, naturally, expenditures on pension schemes and the national health system will increase, pressuring the country&rsquo;s finances. Therefore, Japanese public health care systems must respond urgently. Tokunaga explained that social dialogue in the pharmaceutical industry is considered the proper way for sustainable development of the sector and is the norm on how pharmaceutical unions must organize in Japan. 
 
For South Korea, representatives of the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers&rsquo; Unions (FKCU) described the challenges of pharmaceutical workers as job security, particularly with mergers or closures of production lines, and restructuring caused by multinational company mergers occurs. A further challenge is a change of pharmaceutical policies by the government, which includes an incentive system for low-price purchases and the crime of dual punishment in case of rebate or kickback. 
 
The workshop was participated by a number of union representatives from such pharmaceutical multinationals as Sanofi Aventis, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer Schering, Takeda, Meiji, Tanabe, Hisamitsu, and Kawasumi. 
 
One country which has recently opened for international investments &ndash; Vietnam &ndash; has 39 registered foreign pharmaceutical companies with 6,500 employees. But only 14 of these are unionized with a total membership of 2,300, and just four collective agreements are in this sector in Vietnam. 
 
The workshop also received reports from the ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan on &ldquo;Global Dimension of Industrial Relations: International Mechanisms, Social Dialogue, Global Framework Agreements, and Global/Regional Networks,&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Rising New Threat Against Working Conditions: Precarious Employment.&rdquo; 
 
After the discussions, workshop delegates unanimously decided to form the ICEM Asia-Pacific Regional Pharmaceutical Industry Network. For using electronic technology, a list of e-mails was prepared and immediate exchange of information will begin very soon. 
 
&ldquo;Just prior to the ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Chemical Industries, to be held on 27-28 October 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey, the creation of this regional network is very promising,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;It has shown us the opportunities and challenges within pharmaceuticals, and trade unions should be able to take further initiatives.&rdquo;

ICEM Asia-Pacific Pharma Workers’ Network Formed at Workshops in Indonesia

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Over 3,300 garment workers in Kandal province, southern Cambodia, have been sacked after they took strike action in protest of the new monthly minimum wage for the sector. That wage, set in July, is for US$61 a month. 
 
There is also widespread discontent among workers in the sector over poor working conditions and unemployment. The main cause of anger now is the retaliatory sacking of strikers, and especially of the trade union activists for their roles in the strikes. 
 
Workers had demanded a raise of the minimum monthly wage from US$50 to US$93. The new minimum of US$61 does not constitute a living wage in Cambodia. Unions began a four-day strike on 13 September. The strike did not become an issue for employers until the third day, at which time an estimated 200,000 workers had joined the walk-out. It was stopped on 16 September so talks could resume. 
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ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert
But then further strike action was carried out by 10,000 workers on 17 September, calling for the reinstatement of 200 suspended union representatives, blocked from returning to work in blatant breach of their rights to organize, bargain, and strike. 
 
Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng called for the reinstatement of all sacked workers, and pleaded with unions not to strike. His call was followed by three factories in Kandal province employing 3,300 workers who announced their refusal to comply with the Minister&rsquo;s request. 
 
While it was the promise of more negotiations that stopped the strike, neither the government nor employers have indicated any likelihood of significant concessions. The government did call employers and unions back together on 27 September for talks. 
 
The International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) welcomed the meeting on September 27 brokered by the government, but criticised the strike-breaking tactics of Prime Minister Hun Sen&rsquo;s government. 
 
&ldquo;[The government] filed law suits against union leaders on charges of &lsquo;incitement,&rsquo; and appealed to the police to collaborate with the industry association GMAC in cracking down on the strike and in seizing materials which could be used in legal action against the strikers,&rdquo; said ITGLWF General Secretary Patrick Itschert. 
 
Clothing brands and retailers including Adidas, Gap, H&amp;M, and Levi&rsquo;s wrote to employers and unions to express their &ldquo;great concern&rdquo; at the unrest, but have expressed no concern over the poverty wages paid to those workers making their products. 
 
Global retailers must take responsibility for the social damage caused by the &ldquo;race to the bottom.&rdquo; It is impossible for workers to receive anything higher than poverty wages unless global retailers pay suppliers reasonable prices. Instead, suppliers are forced year on year to produce larger orders at lower costs. 
 
Kandal province, where the affected factories are located, completely surrounds but does not include the national capital Phnom Penh.

Cambodian Garment Workers Sacked for Striking

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Last week, the ICEM was involved in meetings in Ecuador to get acquainted with unions whose interests coincide with the Global Union Federation. These meetings were unfortunately overshadowed by events on Thursday, 30 September, in which a small band of disgruntled police officers attempted a futile coup. 
 
The Ecuador meetings were sponsored by the FNV, the Dutch trade union national centre, which also supported a study on Chinese investment in Latin America, carried out by social research organisations of the Red Lat network. The study was presented on 28 September, also in the presence of the Chinese ambassador to Ecuador. 
 
China portrays itself as a soft power, a promoter of development, but the harder side of Chinese investment is its quest for natural resources. Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Peru are the countries that are the most attractive to China. Mining, oil, gas, and the accompanying infrastructure are the targets of Chinese investment. 
 
Unfortunately, China concentrates investments in areas that do not generate great employment. And even then, worker participation and decision-making in the production process are not considered. The sectors in which China invests primarily entail greater risks for precarious work, that is, mining and energy. For example, practices in the mining industry in Peru worsened after the arrival of Chinese investors. 
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One further concern involves Chinese workers who accompany the investments. If there were more Chinese workers, most likely their presence would lead to a serious decline in labor standards. 
 
In general, trade unions expect an employment boost from foreign investment, and if the investment is not followed by greater employment, then the country could be even worse off. 
 
What needs to be considered is the balance between environmental, labor, economic, social, and even gender aspects. The investments must be followed by decent work and decent pay. What has to be prevented is the replication of the bad practices on the part of most European and North American multinationals in connection with labor relations. 
 
Trade unions have learned that they must be involved in the design of industrial policies as well as demanding a commitment to their implementation. Trade unions in Latin America must increase their exchanges in order to track the investments, since effects may prove to be similar. The best way to face the onslaught may be increase regional coordination. What is at stake is ultimately the Latin American model of development which provides for national sovereignty, followed by job creation and social inclusion. 
On 29 September, a study was presented on a Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) commissioned on post-subcontracting. It concerns mining, the oil industry, and electric power, and is the only study to date to deal with the effects of Ecuadorean legislation on the issue. 
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Ecuador is the only country to pass a law banning subcontracting. Chile, moreover, has a law from 2006 that intends to regulate subcontracting, and legislation is still pending in Brazil, but Ecuador's law prohibits it. 
 
Trade unions in Ecuador had been suffering from flexibilization of labor, but there had not been any analysis of it, there were no proposals to combat it, and no strikes had been called to fight it. 
 
The mining industry in Ecuador is geographically dispersed with little organizational capacity. Ninety percent of mining in Ecuador is informal. Thus, there is no need to make the miners any more precarious. 
 
Subcontracting has vital effects on health and the environment. 
 
Mandate 8, as the legislation is called, is not likely to have much effect in mining because there are no strong unions to implement the measure. In the oil sector, it is a state enterprise was responsible for subcontracting. Companies have found ways to circumvent the legislation. When they were required to reinstate the regular workers, they were reinstated at lower salaries with no seniority. 
 
The electric power industry was dismantled and many workers left. Very few were left over from the previous regime, others again came back as contract workers, with new and younger workers hired. What is certain is concern on the part of trade union for contract workers. The union also created a branch for contract workers. 
 
What the legislation shows is that it is possible to fight subcontracting successfully. Nevertheless, the effects can be reversed, and the problem may reoccur under another name. That is why strong trade unions are necessary more than ever to monitor and ensure implementation of legislation. 
 
The study will be revised with information from the unions and presented soon to the government.

Coup Attempt in Ecuador Does Not Derail ICEM Project

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ICEM&rsquo;s ongoing Turkey Organising and Social Dialogue Project, through the support of the Dutch national labour centre FNV, organised its seventh regional workshop in Bursa on 15-16 September 2010. 
 
Located in northwestern Turkey, Bursa is the country&rsquo;s fourth largest city with a population of 1.86 million. The city is an industrial and culturally charged one, once serving as one of the ex-capitals of the Ottoman Empire. Bursa is also referred to as Turkey&rsquo;s &ldquo;Detroit&rdquo; because it is the centre of Turkish auto and auto-component industries. 
 
Auto factories such as FIAT and Renault are located near Bursa, as are auto-supply factories operated by Bosch, Mako, and Contitech. In addition, textile and food industries are equally strong in the city. Traditionally, Bursa used to be famous for being the largest center of silk trade in the Byzantine and later the Ottoman empires, during the period of the lucrative Silk Road. The city is still a major center for Turkish textiles. 
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A number of national and multinational companies within ICEM&rsquo;s sectors have operations in Bursa. Recently, a labour conflict at French-based auto-plastics supplier Faurecia was provoked when the company sacked shop-floor leaders belonging to ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş. ICEM intervention and vigorous Petrol-İş manifestations won the jobs back. 
 
Trade unions are seeking to organise factories using new and modern tools, and the ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch project aims to provide those tools. 
 
The Bursa seminar was attended by around 70 trade union leaders, shop stewards, and militants from ICEM-affiliated unions, as well as leaders of other unions in the metals and textiles sectors. The meeting also welcomed national level union officials, namely Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın, President of Petrol- İş, and Alaaddin Sari, Vice-President of Lastik-İş. 
 
The Bursa seminar also hosted several international trade union leaders, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, FNV Bondgenoten Trade Union Officer Celil &Ccedil;oban, Spanish FITEQA-CC.OO International Secretary Isidor Boix, and Phee Jungsun and Kemal &Ouml;zkan from the ICEM staff. All guests exchanged their knowledge and experiences with participants. 
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Warda gave a detailed presentation about ICEM&rsquo;s structure, policies, and agenda on the first day, and also explained the global union movement&rsquo;s position and activities on job losses brought on by the global economic crisis. He also spoke on ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, and the necessity for Turkey to ratify this Convention. He discussed ICEM strategies regarding social dialogue, Global Framework Agreements, workers&rsquo; networks, sustainable employment, and the cooperation and integration process with other GUFs. 
 
In addition, Warda briefed the participants on labour relations, trade union structures, and social dialogue in his home country of Germany during the second day of the workshop. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan gave a perspective on the various parameters of globalisation, the changing structure of industrial production, global union structures and challenges, Contract and Agency Labour, and various international institutions such as ILO, OECD, Global Compact, and EU instruments. ICEM&rsquo;s Phee Jungsun shared his experiences in ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Region on organising within multinational companies, social dialogue, and labour practices in Asian countries. 
 
Participants heard a presentation by Turkish trade union expert &Uuml;zeyir Ataman, Director of Education and Collective Bargaining of Lastik-İş, on union history and the current labour relations situation in Turkey. Later, the seminar focused on Power and Weak Points, Challenges and Opportunities, and Concrete Organising Targets inside Turkey, with contributions and inputs by participants from the different towns around Bursa. 
 
&ldquo;The Bursa seminar was very well attended,&rdquo; said &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Participants expressed hunger for these workshops, allowing them to better know international trade union instruments at hand. 
 
&ldquo;I once again realise how important this project is in Turkey,&rdquo; added &Ouml;zkan, the coordinator of the two-year project. 
 
The project will continue with an upcoming special youth organising seminar, scheduled for 21-22 October 2010 in Kusadasi in the Eagean region. The project&rsquo;s two-year run will end with a final conference at the end of November in Ankara.

ICEM’s Dutch FNV Project Conducts Workshop in Turkey

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ICEM&rsquo;s Danish affiliated union 3F conducted its second Congress, 11-17 September, in the Aalborg Culture and Congress Centre. There were 855 delegates to the Congress, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, who attended as an international guest. 
 
3F is the largest trade union in Denmark, with 352,588 members from the following sectors: Transport, Building &amp; Construction, Manufacturing industries, Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture/Market Gardens, Cleaning, Hotel &amp; Restaurants, Delivery and distribution of newspapers and magazines. 
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3F President Poul Erik Christensen
The 3F Congress sets policy and elects the union&rsquo;s leadership and Executive Committee members. The six sections of 3F held separate conferences to discuss internal affairs of the section and to elect representatives to be put forward for election to the Federation&rsquo;s Executive Committee. Also elected in the section conferences are the section leaders, and negotiation secretaries. Those six sections are: Industry, Public-Sector, Transport, Construction, Private-Sector Services, and Green. 
 
Among those re-elected at the Congress were President Christensen, and Per Soerensen 3F&rsquo;s delegate to the ICEM Executive Committee. 
 
3F President Poul Erik Christensen proposed the at the union makes large financial backing to enact a change in government of Denmark, his proposal was accepted by Congress. Christensen will spend US$1million, &ldquo;The question is not whether we can afford to support this, but whether we can afford not to,&rdquo; stated President Christensen. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addressed an event at the Congress for international guests. Warda praised 3F for its international solidarity work.

Denmark’s 3F Conduct 2nd Congress

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The ICEM offers continued solidarity to glass workers of Tyneside Safety Glass, members of UK affiliate Unite the Union, as they begin today, 4 October, a second week-long industrial action against an intransigent employer. Some 72 Unite members at two glass factories of the privately-held, family-owned Tyneside Glass/Suntex Glass Industries company in North-East England have been without pay increases for two years, and are now being asked to work longer hours. 
 
The company has refused to negotiate, with the last bargaining occurring in June. Workers subsequently voted for industrial action in a strike ballot and went on the first seven-day work stoppage on 20 September. On 25 September, they met to consider further action, and buoyed by a number of union support letters, voted to issue the mandatory seven-day notice for ongoing action. 
 
That leaves the possibility for further action throughout the autumn. The ICEM rallied to the support of Tyneside glass workers during the first walk-out, and that letter can be found here. As well, other support to glass workers in Gateshead, near Newcastle, came including hearty support from the Glass Section of the United Steelworkers (USW) union in the US through its Chairman, Tim Tuttle. 
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Unite North East Regional Officer, Bill Green
Unite and the USW originated Workers Uniting, a trans-Atlantic workers&rsquo; cooperative that is a registered trade union in four countries. 
 
Tyneside Safety Glass pays just barely over the British minimum wage and used the financial crisis to deny wage increases over the past two years. Now, with salaries even closer to the minimum, the company seeks to preserve a freeze, yet also wants to change shift patterns that would see staff working another ten hours per week. 
 
As stated in the ICEM letter, this would compromise safety on the job, particularly because the company has already made workers redundant and closed a third factory at Gateshead. &ldquo;The ICEM is deeply concerned that longer work hours will result in unsafe work conditions at the glass factories of Tyneside in the North-East,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda, adding that management of late has noted a pick up in orders so restoration of lost wages could be made. 
 
&ldquo;We have experienced bullying and harassment by management, but no willingness to continue bargaining,&rdquo; stated Unite Region Officer Bill Green, adding that Unite members gathering at the 25 September meeting were fortified by global trade union support for a relatively small labour dispute. 
 
Tyneside Safety Glass and Suntex Glass Industries is a specialty glass producer that toughens and laminates glass windshields. It buys sheet glass from nearly Pilkington factories, owned by the Japanese company Asashi, and treats the glass for use in earth-moving and heavy equipment. Caterpillar, JCB, and other heavy-industry equipment makers comprise the company&rsquo;s customer list.

UK Glass Workers Begin Second Week of Industrial Actions

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In an attempt to oust a legitimate trade union at tyre multinational Continental, the Mexican government of Felipe Calder&oacute;n again sided with a corporate employer to support a company-supported union that does not have workers&rsquo; support. Workers at the Llantera Potosinafactory of Continental, in San Luis Potos&iacute;, Central Mexico, are members of the National Union of Tyre Workers of Mexico (SNTGTM). 
 
The ICEM is proud that SNTGTM has applied for ICEM affiliation and a positive recommendation will likely come at the Presidium meeting in Istanbul, 26 October. 
 
The SNTGTM refused to accept the yellow union, forcing an arbitration meeting with the Labour Ministry in August. The Labour authority, in an attempt to destabilise the SNTGTM effort, called the meeting with only one day&rsquo;s notice. Employees of the Continental plant voted at the meeting 640 to 1 in favour of the SNTGTM. 
 
We salute this victory of democratic trade unionism in Mexico, against a fierce anti-union effort by federal and state governments. 
<img alt="" src="" width="199" height="182" />
Alberto Espinosa Rocha, Secretary-General SNTGTM
Collective agreements with yellow unions, known as Protection Contracts, are prevalent in San Luis Potos&iacute; and throughout Mexico. 
 
This victory enabled the San Luis Potos&iacute; plant workers to use their legitimate bargaining power with management to bring back 200 workers who were made redundant due to the global recession. As production at the plant has seen significant growth in recent months, local Continental managers sought to make workers fulfil six days&rsquo; work in five days, and to fill new posts with outsourced contract workers. 
 
The SNTGTM resisted these efforts, forcing management to follow stipulations in the collective agreement. Job positions were offered to those ex-employees who held them previously. Many of the returning workers were, and still are, SNTGTM members. The financial crisis was used by management as an opportunity to sack trade union activists. 
 
The struggle to reinstate those workers has seen 135 returned to their jobs last month, and a further 87 will return early next year. The San Luis Potos&iacute; local of SNTGTM, led by General Secretary Jos&eacute; Alberto Espinosa Rocha, has received solidarity and support from a number of national unions across several sectors.

Mexico’s National Tyre Workers Rebuff Government’s Yellow Union

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A 30-day strike by 6,000 rubber workers of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at six tyre plants ended on 29 September when the union accepted the three-year wage and other terms put forward on behalf of three of four global rubber companies by the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (NTMEIA). 
 
But NUMSA and one of the tyre manufacturers operating in South Africa, Bridgestone/Firestone, remain at odds over a current agreement. The union suspended the strike last week at two Firestone plants that employ 2,500 of those 6,000 rubber workers, and an internal meeting among NUMSA national, regional, and shop-floor leaders at the two Firestone plants &ndash; Brits near Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth &ndash; will be held in mid-October to shape a strategy over this unresolved bargain. 
 
Bridgestone/Firestone, through the NTMEIA, is offering two percent less each year in wages than the other three companies, Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="78" />
With those companies, NUMSA secured fair wage gains over the three years, as well as higher gains for workers who had been stuck in low-end pay grades of many job classifications. NUMSA also won important new language on the use of labour brokers. 
 
A first-year increase, backdated to 1 July, was set at 9%. The second- and third-year increases will each be 7.5% or South Africa&rsquo;s consumer price index in 2011 and 2012, whichever is higher. In comparison, Bridgestone has on the table increases of 7%, 5%, and 5%. 
 
Commencing in July 2011, for those workers with three or more years of service, the difference between the minimum and maximum pay grades in several job categories, about 10% now, will be bridged over a three-year time frame beginning. Thus, roughly half of all rubber workers in South Africa&rsquo;s six factories will see well over the 7.5% increases both in 2011 and 2012. 
 
Regarding labour brokers, NUMSA and the NTMEIA agreed to continue a policy of non-usage of brokers and adopted a policy to begin phasing out all labour brokers. The two parties agreed to a joint monitoring committee on the issue, and that work will begin early in 2011. Goodyear and Continental factories do not rely on labour brokers, but the Firestone and Apollo-Dunlop plants do. 
 
NUMSA has hardened its policy against labour brokers and has won company-paid social benefits and medical aid for contract workers. Along with many South African unions, NUMSA was seeking a total ban on labour-hire firms, with an alternative plan to give contract workers full-time and permanent jobs.

South African Tyre Strike Ends; NUMSA Still in Conflict with Bridgestone

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Hundreds of thousands of trade unionists voiced their anger across Europe last week and the week before against the growing number of austerity measures being proposed by governments. Demonstrations occurred in 11 European cities on 29 September. 
 
A general strike by 70% of all workers occurred across Spain also on that day that saw 10 million people participate, and 80,000 protesting trade unionists from 24 countries converged in Brussels on 29 September. The actions were advanced by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which fears workers will for years pay the price of reckless speculators who caused the financial morass. 
 
Instead of budget cuts affecting social and employment programmes at a time of already high joblessness, the ETUC is calling for jobs and economic growth as the catapult to recovery. Participating trade unions fear that workers will be the biggest victims of austerity measures, brought about by an economic crisis that was set off by bankers and traders, many of whom received big government bailouts. 
<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="135" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="152" />
Part of the German IGBCE Delegation
&ldquo;This is a crucial day for Europe because our governments, virtually all of them, are about to embark on solid cuts in public expenditures,&rdquo; said ETUC Secretary-General John Monks in Brussels last Wednesday. 
 
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re doing this at a time where the economy is very close to recession, and almost certainly you&rsquo;ll see the economy go back into recession as the effects of these cuts take place.&rdquo; 
 
The Brussels protest, coincidentally, came on the day the EU Commission proposed levying large fines on governments that fail to reduce public spending. That proposal comes when several Member-States began flinching at making social cuts in the face of mass street protests. The commission wants to fine countries that surpass the EU&rsquo;s debt ceiling of 60% of GDP. 
 
Brussels police barricaded banks and the headquarters of the EU as streams of unionists marched by, mostly without incident. Among those marching were 400 Romanian police officers, marching under the banner of their union. Five days earlier, they had surprised many by joining a mass civil society march in Bucharest, where demonstrators protested 25% wage cuts on all public-sector workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="294" height="185" />
Romanian Police Union in Brussels
The 6,000 participating police turned the Bucharest manifestation on the Interior Ministry, causing Interior Minister Vasile Blaga to resign. 
 
Also protesting in Brussels were scores of German and Polish coalminers, who specifically called on the EU to delay its plan to make coal-producing Member-States cut their coal subsidies to power plants. Across Europe over the past two weeks, workers have taken to the streets to protest wage cuts, budget slashing, unjust tax increases, and pension-cutting austerity measures by governments seeking to control debt. 
 
Manifestations were held in Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Serbia, and Greece, where doctors in hospitals staged a 24-hour strike. In Slovenia, 29 September was the third day of a general strike by roughly half of the country&rsquo;s public-sector workers. In the Czech Republic on 21 September, 40,000 trade unionists protested a proposed 10% wage cut for all public workers, as well as planned sackings of workers, abolishment of wage guarantees for longtime workers, and introduction of performance-based pay. 
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Perhaps the biggest European protests last week occurred in Spain with the general strike. With unemployment at a European high mark of 20%, the Spanish government of Socialist Prime Minister J&oacute;se Zapatero last May introduced a &euro;15 billion austerity package that includes a 5% reduction in civil service pay, cuts in pensions, increase to the retirement age, and cuts to government funding. 
 
Led by the national labour centres CC.OO and UGT, Spanish trade unionists answered by staging the country&rsquo;s first general strike since 2002, causing a halt to transportation, daily newspapers not to publish, and television to go off the air. The 29 September strike came one day before Zapatero presented his 2011 budget to parliament. 
<img alt="" src="" width="370" height="182" />
From European Metalworkers' Federation
Commenting in a UK newspaper on the EU Commission&rsquo;s tough reprisal to fine governments who do not adhere to austerity measures, former Danish Prime Minister and European Socialists Leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said, &ldquo;Governments are not always right. If governments were always right, we would not have the situation that we have today.&rdquo; Rasmussen accused the commission of lacking &ldquo;an understanding of how ordinary people are suffering.&rdquo;

European Unions Ardently Protest Government Austerity Cuts

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