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 The company rescinded its demand that workers sign individual work agreements promising not to engage in further work stoppages.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

Kumho Tyre Lifts Lockout on Metal Workers Union in Korea

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

ICEM Mourns Death of French Glass Sector Leader, Gaby Miranda

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

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

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The governing body of Metalliliitto, Finland&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, gave leadership of the union authority to establish a blockade of construction at Olkiluoto III, the country&rsquo;s long-delayed fifth nuclear power reactor now underway on the southwestern coast. The approval for industrial action was given because of wage arrears and noncompliance of Finnish social standards by a Polish subcontractor, KMW Engineering. 
 
The blockade could come as early as this week and will largely depend on an audit report by a regional state agency, and on further negotiations between the union and contractors. The blockade has the support of Finland&rsquo;s Construction Trades Union, the Finnish Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union, and Pro, the union for salaried workers in Finland. 
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Photo: YLE/Termonen Tapio
The Polish company is hundreds of thousands of euros in wage arrears, has failed to keep overtime pay records, and reportedly has been negligent over health and safety matters. Metalliliitto has asked for pay records for all of 2009 and 2010. The union also claims that KMW&rsquo;s employment practices are substandard to those established in the national metal sector collective agreement. 
 
The French nuclear company Areva is the main contractor for Olkiluoto III , which is being built alongside two other nuclear reactors by the private-sector Finnish energy company Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO). Metalliliitto has attempted to negotiate with all parties connected to the 1.6 gigawatt (1,600 megawatt) nuclear project but none have been willing to hold KMW responsible for its social dumping. KMW is building cooling units at Olkiluoto III. 
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Metalliliitto President Riku Aalto
Metalliliitto President Riku Aalto said the union has consistently been denied even the bare minimum of data on its information requests. He said social dumping continues at Olkiluoto III, in part, because unions in Finland are restricted from filing legal cases to stop such practices. Aalto said that is not the case in countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Germany. 
 
Olkiluoto III is already three years behind schedule, with construction now scheduled to end late in 2012. Commissioning of the reactor would then happen late in 2013. The original &euro;3.95 billion project is reported to be &euro;1.5 billion over budget and has been marked by litigation among contractors and between contractors and TVO.

Finland’s Metalworkers close in on Blockade of Nuclear Plant Work

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Second-year salary adjustments for some 20,000 white- and blue-collar Finnish pulp and paper workers ran separate courses over the past 12 days, with ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; representing 4,000 salaried professionals &ndash; issuing a strike notice on 23 March against one company. A two-week strike will begin on 6 April at all UPM operations if official government mediation beginning today fails. 
 
Meanwhile, Paperiliitto, representing 16,000 workers at some 60 paper operations, agreed to terms with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) on 16 March. Workers will receive a guaranteed 2.5%, or &euro;.41-per-hour increase. The union also granted other adjustments in the collective agreement. 
 
Both ICEM affiliates have been negotiating separately with the FFIF on wage terms for the back end of a two-year labour agreement. The parties had until last week to reach accord, or bargaining is automatically shifted into the government&rsquo;s dispute resolution process. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro, formerly Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni or TU prior to a merger in December with the insurance and banking union Suora, gave the strike warning because FFIF refused to put forward a similar national pay offer as the one given and accepted by Paperiliitto. Instead, there was no increase extended on the national level, with employers saying wage hikes will only be negotiated on a mill-by-mill basis. That stand quickly became an insult to dedicated staff.
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Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen
&ldquo;We seek a binding pay formula in this portion of the collective agreement,&rdquo; said Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen, chief Pro negotiator for the paper sector. &ldquo;We want a system that recognizes the increased work and greater responsibility taken on by our members.&rdquo; H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen said only a short few years ago, there were 6,000 white-collar workers in Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper sector. That number is now 4,000. 
 
The union will begin an overtime ban on 1 April, the date the current two-year agreement is terminated if no resolve is realized. And then at 06h00 on 6 April, a full strike by 1,000 Pro members at UPM will commence that is certain to affect production at the Helsinki-based company&rsquo;s Finnish mills. 
 
In the accord between Paperiliitto and the FFIF, blue-collar workers receive effective today a 1.5%, or &euro;.24-per-hour increase, and then another 1% (&euro;.17) will be negotiated on the local level. If that isn&rsquo;t accomplished by 21 April, then it reverts back to the national level where a process is established to guarantee that increase retroactive to 28 March. 
 
Paperiliitto also agreed to grant local branches the option to increase work shifts from ten hours per day to 12, although it is mandated that there be no accumulative increase in yearly working hours. The union also agreed to a mobility clause, granting paper firms the flexibility to make short-term transfers of new hires employed in maintenance areas to other company operations. For current maintenance workers, companies must get one-time or more consent agreements from the individual for such a temporary transfer. 
 
The union agreed to the mobility language as deterrent to the use of outside contract or agency labour, and to assure that maintenance work will continuously be performed by Paperiliitto members.

Finnish Paper Sector Wage Accords Divert Between ICEM Affiliates

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In the 2010 special ICEM newsletter on April 28, the ICEM stressed that the key to getting a global ban on asbestos lies in Canada. If Canadian support for the asbestos industry fails, then a global asbestos ban will succeed. Everyone who cares to examine the evidence by now knows that the link between all forms of asbestos (asbestosis, mesothelioma, other cancers) is irrefutable. 
 
An important step forward was taken by the Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) at the union federation&rsquo;s 11 March congress. The congress decided to withdraw the federation&rsquo;s traditional support of the Qu&eacute;bec asbestos industry. This was truly an historic and courageous stand, in a province where the asbestos industry is so closely tied with labour history. 
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Claudette Carbonneau, President of the 300,000 member organization, told the congress: &ldquo;Qu&eacute;bec, like many advanced industrial societies, has been shaken by the use of a resource which sows death. If health and safety conditions do not prevent these deadly illnesses in Qu&eacute;bec, it is difficult to pretend that there can be safe use of asbestos in developing countries.&rdquo; 
 
However, for every step forward, there seems to be at least one step backwards. Just this month, the Qu&eacute;bec government approved a C$52 million economic aid package to expand the Jeffrey asbestos mine, whose products will be exported principally to India, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian countries. Proof, once again, that the industry would not be viable without heavy government subsidies. 
 
Meanwhile, the body which regulates place-names in Qu&eacute;bec has given permission for the regional body known as MRC de L&rsquo;Amiante to delete the Amiante (Asbestos) from its title and rename itself &ldquo;MRC des Appalaches.&rdquo; So, evidently there are people even in the region of Qu&eacute;bec that mines asbestos who are perhaps disgusted by the shameless hypocrisy of politicians and profiteers and would prefer not to be associated with the export of this deadly fibre.

Québec Labour Federation CSN Takes Heroic, Historic Stand on Asbestos

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

ICEM, IMF Complete Third Umicore Mission

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

Gertrudis Santana on Cross-sector Organizing in Dominican Republic EPZs

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

Turkish Unions of IMF, ICEM, ITGLWF Form Unity Coalition

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

Sandblasting: the Human Cost of Fashion

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