English

Español

Français

Русский

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
ICEM Presidium Members and leaders of major affiliates paid a visit to Japan to convey a message of condolence and solidarity on the occasion of the National Conventions of Denryoku Soren and UI ZENSEN. The delegation was led by President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda, composed of Dave Coles from CEP, Canada, Andrew Vickers from CFMEU, Australia, Michael Mersmann, IGBCE of Germany, David Shier from Canada&rsquo;s Power Workers Union, and Phee Jungsun, ICEM Regional Contact Person. 
 
On 6 September, a meeting was conducted with representatives of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren. President Taneoka of Denryoku Soren and Mr. Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM-JAF facilitated the discussion on the current situation in the Fukushima plants. The chaotic and desperate situation immediately following the Tsunami attack was described, when about 600 workers on the site fought against the melt-down and were also concerned about the safety of their families. 
<img alt="" src="" width="303" height="161" />
International Delegation meets Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Denryoku Soren
The delegation paid tribute to those workers who sacrificed themselves in the recovery operations at the damaged power plants. According to the report from Mr. Hasekawa Takahiro, Unit Union Chair of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Union of Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union and Mr. Yukio Arai, President of the Tokyo Electricity (TEPCO) Union, two reactors out of the three that were destroyed and melted down are now under control in terms of cooling down and recycling radiated water. The level of radiation has been decreased to normal radiation outside of reactors. Robot equipment is being used to check the situation inside the reactors. A total of six workers had been exposed to radiation above the standard levels. The full scale report has just been constructed and submitted to the IAEA Board Meeting, to be held in late September. 
 
Manfred Warda commended workers still under precarious conditions, saying &quot;you are heroes&quot; and offered any necessary solidarity and technical assistance from ICEM and its affiliates. TEPCO has been working on the financial plan for compensation that requires more than US$2.5 Trillion and needs state subsidy. 
<img alt="" src="" width="222" height="160" />
Manfred Warda addresses UI Zensen National Convention
The ICEM delegation then moved to attend the National Convention of UI Zensen in Yokohama, President of which is Brother Ochiai, Vice President of ICEM and Chair of the Asia Pacific Region. UI ZENSEN has worked strenuously on an organizing drive, and now becomes the largest industrial federation in Japan with 1.2 million members. Brother Ochiai congratulated the merger agreement of the three GUFs and confirmed full support for the new organization. Manfred Warda expressed solidarity towards relief and recovery efforts and complimented the firm spirit of the Japanese people. &quot;We have come to express the grief we share with you and again convey to you, all your members and their families, to the Japanese people and to your country, our condolences for the loss of so many people, relatives, friends, neighbours &ndash; and we know that many of your members and their families were among the victims of the disaster. But let me also applaud you for the immediate determination you showed to take tremendous efforts to come to the assistance of all who needed your support and for all the personal sacrifices that you and many of the members of your union devoted during the process of rescue operations.&quot;

ICEM Solidarity, Condolence Visit to Japan

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A branch of the&nbsp;Indonesian trade union&nbsp;FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), will renew strike action this week, 15 September, with a month-long walkout at a leading global copper and gold mining complex, the Grasberg operation of US-based Freeport-McMoRan in eastern Papua province on New Guinea Island. 
 
The strike by 8,000 Indonesia miners would follow an eight-day strike in July that saw six union leaders sacked, only to be returned to their jobs when mine management relented and agree to re-start pay talks. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4549-Indonesia-Mine-Union-Wins-Strike-Reinstatement-of-Sacked-Union-Leaders ">ICEM news article</a> on that initial strike.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="184" height="89" />
4 July March to Kuala Kencana
Those talks did resume in Timika on 20 July but after a number of sessions, no agreement was reached on pay for 2011 to 2013 and negotiations broke off on 5 September. The FSP-KEP branch is seeking a doubling of miners&rsquo; US$1.50-per-hour wage rate, while PT Freeport is offering only an 11% increase, mostly in the form of bonuses. 
 
The Grasberg mine is 91% owned by Freeport-McMoRan and 9% by the Indonesian government, and serves as the American mining company&rsquo;s biggest revenue producer. The mining house, which also faces a copper strike at its 53.7% held Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru, recorded a second quarter 2011 profit of US$1.37 billion. 
 
The FSP-KEP (SPSI)&nbsp;branch of CWMWU, the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers' Union,&nbsp;is reportedly asking now to negotiate directly with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s chairman and non-elective board member James Moffett, who took in a total compensation package last year of US$21.5 million. 
 
Grasberg is the world&rsquo;s largest gold mine and second largest producer of copper concentrates, with daily output of 61,000 tonnes of copper and gold ore. The eight-day strike in July cost the company 16,000 tonnes of copper output and 60,000 ounces of gold production.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Union Set to Renew Grasberg Mine Strike

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) renewed a Global Framework Agreement last week&nbsp;with Umicore, the Brussels-based global materials technology group with expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy, operating in four business groups, namely catalysis, energy materials, performance materials and recycling, with some 14,400 employees.
First signed in September 2007, the agreement has been the basis for joint union-management activities for proper implementation of the principles set out in the text. Representatives of the company, both Global Union Federations&nbsp;(GUFs)&nbsp;and the European Works Council conducted joint missions in China in 2008, in Brazil in 2009, and in South Africa in 2010, in addition to the regular monitoring activities defined in the agreement. 
<img alt="" src="" width="332" height="160" />
(left to right) Ignace de Ruijter, Marc Grynberg, Jyrki Raina, Kemal &Ouml;zkan
The four-year renewal was done with&nbsp;a ceremony held on 6 September in the Belgian capital with Umicore&rsquo;s Marc Grynberg, Chief Executive Officer, and Ignace de Ruijter, Senior Vice-President Human Resources, as well as IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina and ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs on behalf of General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
The agreement was also re-affirmed by the Belgian trade unions through the signatures of Marc De Wilde, President of ACV-CVC Metea, Paul Heykants, Secretary of LBC-NVK, Said Zaoudi, Secretary of CNE-GNC, Georges De Batselier, Vice-President ABVV Metaal, Angelo Basile, Deputy General Secretary of MWB-FGTB and Guy Vertommen, Secretary BBTK and Kurt Marysse, National Responsible of ACLVB/CGSLB. 
<img alt="" src="" width="226" height="160" />
(left to right) Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Marc Grynberg, Jyrki Raina
The agreement covers six major chapters, namely Human Rights, Working Conditions, Environment, Implementation of Agreement, Monitoring, and Validity of Agreement. Under Human Rights, Umicore pledges to adhere to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, as well as adherence to ILO core labour standards. The latter specifically includes ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and other Conventions regarding child labour, forced labour, and non-discrimination and equal opportunities' practices. With the renewal, the parties re-confirmed their political decisiveness over their global level commitments within the framework of the agreement. 

&ldquo;We believe that this agreement offers benefits for all stakeholders. All parties have benefited from the constructive relationship fostered by the original agreement and we look forward to this continuing in the coming years,&rdquo; said&nbsp;Raina, speaking on behalf of both GUFs. 
 
&ldquo;We are so proud of this international agreement with IMF and ICEM. This gives a big value in our policies towards the issues of sustainable development,&rdquo; said Umicore&rsquo;s&nbsp;Grynberg. &ldquo;This agreement supports Umicore&rsquo;s global vision on social issues and reflects our diversity and international presence. It will help us in our journey towards sustainability and in being considered a great place to work,&rdquo; added Umicore Vice-President&nbsp;de Ruijter.

ICEM and IMF Renew Global Agreement with Umicore

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
On 18-20 June 2012, a new Global Union Federation (GUF) will see daylight at a founding congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
 
But what shall the new International be called? Now you have the chance to make a proposal. 
 
The organization will unite 50 million workers in more than 140 countries in mining, energy, metal, electronics, chemicals, paper, rubber, materials, garments, shoe, leather textile industries. 
 
It aims to connect workers, fight for labour rights and build global solidarity across entire supply chains. It will be a strong counterweight to multinational companies and promote social justice, democracy and a sustainable future for the whole world. 
 
Such a powerful organization needs a fresh and identifiable name. Your contribution is welcome. Please send your proposal by e-mail to <a href="mailto:imf.icem.itglwf@gmail.com">imf.icem.itglwf@gmail.com</a> at the latest by 31 October 2011. 
 
A joint Executive Committee meeting of the IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF will decide upon a name at the end of February 2012.

What Name for New GUF? Suggest It!

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Three trade union leaders at Euroasian Steels in Kutaisi, Georgia, will be released from jail late this week after serving ten-day administrative arrests. Emilo Gumberidze, Irakli Iobidze, and Malkhaz Gogiava were rounded up in a marketplace in Kutaisi eight days ago, three days after <a href="/en/4-Chemicals-Pharmaceuticals/4667-ICEM-Scorns-Blatant-Police-Repression-in-Putting-Down-Georgian-Metal-Strike">Georgian police brutally broke a strike</a> there by ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia. 
 
The three were charged with narcotics possession/consumption and given drug tests. All three plainly passed. But in expressing the ridiculousness of the charge, the three were cited with disrespecting police. On 19 September, the Kutaisi City Court sentenced Gumberidze, Iobidze, and Gogiava to ten days in jail. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
The sentence was a ruse to lock up trade unionists who are leading a legitimate workers&rsquo; movement decrying a two-year-old worksite that has no wage structures, no plan on safety and health, no adherence to global labour standards, no overtime pay, but limitless and mandatory work at low pay. When workers exercised their global right to strike under such conditions, they were met by a police crackdown reminiscent of a police state. Twenty-nine steelworkers at Euroasian, or known locally as Hercules, have been fired in recent weeks for exerting their voice over the horrid and despicable working conditions. 
 
Euroasian Steels is an Indian-Georgian enterprise, 87.5% owned by Manaksia Ltd.&rsquo;s Euroasian Ventures, and 12.5% by Paata Chkhenkeli, a Georgian construction engineer who has close ties with a government eager for business but void of labour or regulatory statutes. Hercules is a mini-mill that rolls rebar and steel billet from molten iron scrap and then sells the steel bar to central Asia&rsquo;s construction industry. 
<img alt="" src="" width="275" height="160" />
Georgian police brutally break strike: 15 September 
Photo: RIA Novosti 
It employs 400 workers, including 130 Indian nationals who are segregated from the Georgian workers and who themselves are treated like indentured servants. Their passports are held by management, their salaries sent back to India, and they are given a small stipend to live on. On 21 September &ndash; separate from the Metallurgical, Mining, Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union&rsquo;s clash &ndash; Indian workers went on a two-hour work stoppage to protest their dire conditions. It was their second strike in recent months. 
 
The situation at Euoasian Steels in Kutaisi is gaining widespread attention, which cannot be good for the Georgian business climate or the country&rsquo;s social record. The ICEM sent a sharp letter of protest to Georgia President Mikheil Saakasvhili and Prime Minister Nika Gilauri on 19 September over the previous week&rsquo;s blatant human rights abuses by police and government authorities. (An <a href="/en/77-All-ICEM-News-Releases/4668-ICEM-Condemns-Georgia-Police-in-Suppressing-Union-Rights-at-Euroasian-Steels">ICEM news release</a> is here.)&nbsp; 
 
LabourStart has started a new <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1101">Georgia campaign</a> on the most recent repression and can be found here.&nbsp;And several protest actions by the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), NGO, and others in Georgian civil society were held last week at government ministries in Tbilisi and provincial offices in Kutaisi. These will continue this week, culminating in a mass action at Georgia&rsquo;s parliament on 1 October.

Georgian Trade Union Leaders Jailed for Passing Drug Test

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Government-mediated talks broke off last week and labour relations further soured between Freeport-McMoRan and 8,000 striking Indonesian miners of ICEM affiliate FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU). The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU this week meets the halfway mark of its 30-day strike that now could be prolonged at the world&rsquo;s largest gold and third largest copper mining complex &ndash; Freeport McMoRan&rsquo;s Grasberg mine in eastern Papua Province, New Guinea Island. 
 
Management spite was apparent at the strike&rsquo;s start on 15 September and it worsened following the breakdown of three days of talks with the Manpower Ministry in Jakarta on 22 September. PT Freeport managers relieved 138 union shop stewards of their job duties on Friday. The union responded by stating the strike likely will be extended beyond 15 October. 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="160" />
Since the wage, pension, and community funds strike started, managers have coerced workers to return to work with threats of dismissal, they have pressed contractors&rsquo; employees into production, and now they try to decimate the union by sacking union stewards and isolating the branch union&rsquo;s other leaders. 
 
PT Freeport management has attempted to coerce workers to sign a statement saying they will return to work or face getting fired. But despite this, only 500 workers are manning operations and many are staff of contractors. (See a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1109.indo%20contractors.docx ">list of contractors</a> here.) 
 
Freeport-McMoRan last week issued a statement last week saying it was losing three million pounds of copper production daily, and 5,000 ounces of lost gold output daily. To increase pressure on miners to abandon the strike, the company also warned of lost revenues to the Indonesian government and to the seven native groups around Timika, Papua, that Freeport-McMoRan is obliged to support. 
 
The opening salvo came at the strike&rsquo;s outset when Managing Director Armando Mahler announced a &ldquo;no-work, no-pay&rdquo; policy. After last week&rsquo;s mediation failure, union and government sources said &ldquo;complete distrust&rdquo; exists between Mahler and his team and the union. 
 
Thus, PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union asked that US-based Freeport-McMoRan Chairman James Moffett enter discussions. Mine union leaders remember Moffett&rsquo;s visit a few years ago when he encouraged workplace leaders to engage in &ldquo;win-win&rdquo; principles of labour relations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="159" />
At last week&rsquo;s mediation, PT Freeport, 91% owned by Freeport-McMoRan and 9% by Indonesia&rsquo;s government, said it would not budge from a wage offer of 11% in each year of a two-year accord. (The bi-annual contract comes due on 1 October.) The average miner&rsquo;s wage rate at Grasberg is US$1.50-per-hour. The union was seeking a doubling of that to US$3-an-hour but in mediation last week, the FSP-KEP miners&rsquo; branch union offered a compromise and proposed a 65% increase. The company would not move from 11%. 
 
It has offered slight increases in education and housing support and in shift pay, but has said it would not deviate from wage increments that other foreign investors pay in Indonesia. It also refuses to base a pension scheme &ndash; 50% paid into by workers &ndash; on multiplied years of service, or hear the union&rsquo;s demands for enhanced development and opportunities for the indigenous people of Papua. 
 
Grasberg is Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s biggest revenue maker and a year ago, the company&rsquo;s chief financial officer called it &ldquo;very low cost and a high cash flow generating asset with a very long life.&rdquo; The company&rsquo;s revenues this year from Grasberg are expected to be lower because it is mining lower-grade sections of the open pit mine. But Freeport-McMoRan is bullish on the future; it is developing a deep underground mine adjacent to Grasberg that contains high grades of copper and gold in the same ore body. 
 
The ICEM has intervened in this dispute and through its Indonesian Affiliates&rsquo; Union Chairman, D. Patombong Sjaiful of FSP-KEP, is giving direct aid and support to the Grasberg strikers. They need the solidarity and support of all miners and all trade unions in mining and other industrial sectors. Please send a short message in your own words to the <a href="mailto:Puk.fsp.kep.spsi.ptfi@yahoo.com; 2391936@gmail.com; Sudiro_930haulage@yahoo.com; pp.fspkep_spsi@yahoo.co.id; parorronganjuli@gmail.com; me2union@yahoo.co.id">PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union</a>. 
 
In ICEM outreach to the union, when asked to characterise the strike, one officer responded by saying, &ldquo;determination. That&rsquo;s the one word that describes workers. We&rsquo;re determined to change our future through the work we do for this company.&rdquo;

PT Freeport Mine Managers Turn Rabid on Indonesian Grasberg Strikers

Working groups established by the Executive Committees of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) took steps to finalize the Statutes and launched the discussion on an Action Plan for the new Global Union Federation. Members representing affiliates from all five continents met on 30-31 August in Geneva. 
 
The Statutes Working Group examined the key points agreed at a joint Executive Committee meeting in May and made some final adjustments in the draft Statutes. The new International will be governed by an Executive Committee of 60 members until 2016, after which it will be reduced to 40 members. At least 30% of the members shall be women. 
 
The Statutes foresee regional structures and offices that will implement the organization&rsquo;s general policies and address matters specific to the region. There will also be 14 industrial sectors as well as sections for women and non-manual workers. 
 
The Action Plan Group agreed on producing a short and punchy program, which will summarize the main priorities for the new global union. Some of the suggested headlines are building union power by organizing workers throughout supply chains and creating a powerful counterweight to transnational companies by uniting the workers in networks for solidarity and joint action. 
 
Later the same week, the IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF held a first joint global staff seminar in Geneva. The participants shared their experiences about the way of working of the three organizations and identified opportunities to combine strengths for more powerful action. 
 
The Statutes and Action Plan will be discussed at the decision-making bodies of the three partner federations, including ITGLWF&rsquo;s Executive Committee in September, ICEM&rsquo;s Congress in November and IMF&rsquo;s Central Committee in December. The final proposals are expected to be adopted at a second joint Executive Committee meeting in February 2012, to be presented to the Founding Congress in June 2012 in Copenhagen.

Working Groups Pave Way for New Global Union Federation

In its decision of May 2011, the Mexican Tribunal for Freedom of Association reported grave violations by the Mexican government of workers&rsquo; freedom to organize unions, and denounced the intensifying climate of violence against union members. 
 
In August, under false premises the Mexican government ordered the detention of General Secretary Martin Esparza Flores and other leaders of the Mexican Electricians&rsquo; Union (SME). The employees of the Workers&rsquo; Support Center (CAT), an organization which supported the unionization of Johnson Controls in Puebla, Mexico, have been publicly charged with destabilizing the situation in that state. 
 
In addition, no just solution has yet been achieved to the conflict of the SNTMMSRM, which is led by Napoleon Gomez and affiliated with the IMF and the ICEM. August marked the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the strikes in Sonora, Taxco, and Sombrerete, with no response from the authorities: collective contracts are not recognized and the independence of the union is not respected. 
 
The IMF, ICEM, ITF, and UNI, together with the Tri-National Union Alliance and the ITUC, stand together with the Mexican unions in their struggle, as was shown by action of unions around the world during the action week of February 2011, as well as by international union participation in the 1 May event in Mexico. 
 
Also in May, the IMF organized a planning workshop attended by representatives of the international union federations and democratic unions of Mexico to jointly design union-building programs. With regard to international solidarity, it was agreed to concentrate work on opposing the PRI-PAN bill on the regressive Labor Reform and the bill on National Security, both of which are on the agenda for the September session of the Mexican Congress. If these reforms are passed, precarious employment will be legalized, employer protection contracts will be strengthened and it will be even more difficult to organize genuine workers&rsquo; unions. 
 
Given that prospect, and added to it the fact that the Government Secretariat intends to remove by 15 September the sit-in protest which the SME Union has been holding on the Zocalo for the last seven months, the unions have been intensifying their action and alliances to confront the new wave of repression. 
 
On 1 September, the fourth anniversary of the Felipe Calderon administration, a &ldquo;National Day of Outrage&rdquo; was held to denounce the disastrous results of his administration for the working class. More than 100 unions and 40,000 people participated in the day; a rally was held in front of the Chamber of Deputies, and later moved to the Zocalo. It demanded an end to the persecution of independent unions and reiterated the importance of building a sustainable and inclusive social model with fairness, justice and democracy.

Greater Unity of Democratic Unions in Mexico against Repression

In Chile, a recent strike by union members of Sindicato No. 1 Escondida of Chile&rsquo;s Federation of Miners (FMC) at the world&rsquo;s largest copper mine galvanized mining unions across the South American country like never before. In unprecedented solidarity, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of the private-sector FMC and those at state-run Codelco, the Federation of Workers of Cobre (FTC), are uniting to lay claim to a bigger portion of the world&rsquo;s copper profits for all Chileans. 
 
Recent joint meetings of the federations have discussed how companies circumvent labour laws and collective agreement conventions at the expense of mineworkers, and how natural resources are exploited to the detriment of Chile&rsquo;s national character. Unions are also united &ndash; at the private-sector multinationals to the Cobres at Codelco &ndash; resist privatisation of Codelco. 
 
Another testament to FMC and FTC unity is at a time when Chile&rsquo;s ministries are eager to meet with them, the federations insist that such meetings will not happen until leaders of the federations meet first. 
 
The labour-management match in Chile happens at a time of soaring demand and high prices for Chile&rsquo;s main export, copper. The same demand and volatile pricing of the red metal worldwide has created a &ldquo;Together We Can&rdquo; cry that says Chile&rsquo;s mineworkers believe unified action can affect the country for the better. 
 
Much was made of the fact that on a single day &ndash; 30 July &ndash; 10% of the world&rsquo;s copper production stopped when FMC miners at Do&ntilde;a In&eacute;s Collahuasi (AngloAmerican and Xstrata) joined a strike by Sindicato No. 1 at Minera Escondida Ltd. (BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto) in a display of simple unity. Although grievances reflected separate sets of negligent circumstances at the two mining complexes, the unity of purpose was clear. 
 
FMC President Cristi&aacute;n Arancibia said that workers are hearing a national calling, that unions of his federation feel a responsibility to the people and communities of mining regions. He said agreement has been reached with the FTC that mineworkers will not be &ldquo;accomplices to Chile&rsquo;s resources sold away for foreign investment.&rdquo; 
 
This very specifically is FMC recognition that Codelco is chipping away at FTC&rsquo;s membership in order to partially privatise the world&rsquo;s largest copper company. 
 
On 30 July, union branches of the FTC supported the symbolic strike of the two FMC branches. Now with common understanding that tripartite dialogue will occur over Chile&rsquo;s export revenues, the unity, decisiveness, and single voice of FMC and FTC will ensure that all Chileans have a stake in copper.

Chile: Mineworkers’ Unity in Times of High Mineral Prices

An oddity has struck Germany: as unemployment has reached the lowest levels in decades, the number of precarious workers in low-wage temporary jobs has risen dramatically. The increase in temporary work in 2010 jumped 32.5% over the previous year, reports Germany&rsquo;s Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden. 
 
A full 75% of all recruitments in 2010 came in the temporary sector and temporary work accounted for 50% of all salaried recruitments, data that places a different light on Germany&rsquo;s economic success story. 
 
This trend has not caught Germany&rsquo;s unions by surprise, with national labour centre DGB making it a priority at its May 2010 Congress to campaign for equal pay, equal rights, and fixed probation periods on temporary workers at its May 2010 Congress. Replacing permanent employees with temp workers (&ldquo;Stammbelegschaft&rdquo;) is regressive and Germany&rsquo;s unions look upon it as wage slashing. In the metal industry alone, wages of temporary workers average &euro;776 per month less than permanent staff. 
 
In 2010, according the Wiesbaden Office, 7.4 million people took low-wage temporary work, or &ldquo;mini-jobs&rdquo;, as created by 2003 legislation with the intent that such work would lead to a full-time, permanent job. It has not as evidenced by Germany&rsquo;s temporary employers&rsquo; federation predicting that double-digit jumps in temp work will occur in 2011 and beyond. 
 
Consider: in hotel and catering work, there is one temp for each German worker in which full social contributions are paid. In trade and retail, that ratio is two to one. 
 
One answer advocated by German unions is a cross-sector minimum wage through legislation, and tougher legislative measures to discourage all forms of precarious work. Equal pay for equal work has become a battle cry for Germany&rsquo;s trade union movement and moving toward that will restore a fairer order of the labour market.

In Germany, Precarious Labour Spikes Even with Low Joblessness

Archive