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The transition to a low-carbon economy must guarantee employment and result in the development of new, decent jobs, say participants at global industrial unions&rsquo; meeting on climate change. That was the message coming from&nbsp;14-15 October multi-trade union meetings in Bad Orb, Germany.
The meetings were conducted under the auspices of the ICEM,&nbsp;the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the&nbsp;European Metalworkers' Federation, and&nbsp;the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) in a forum&nbsp;&quot;Cutting Emissions, Transforming Jobs.&quot; 

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The goal of the meeting was to discuss how industrial workers might present a common position at the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen Denmark. The UNFCCC COP-15 conference, as it is called, is expected to propose a new set of agreements on greenhouse gas emissions targets to renew or replace those contained within the Kyoto Accord. 
 
Speaking at the meeting, IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina said, &ldquo;Our industrial sectors are frequently seen as contributors to the current environmental crisis. Yet it is within these very industries that solutions already exist or are being developed. We want to reduce emissions, while at the same time increasing employment and protecting the environment.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="325" height="183" />
The industrial workers&rsquo; unions prepared a background discussion document taking into account work that had already been done, such as ICEM's recently-adopted policy on Sustainability. The meeting was structured around five panel discussions: environmental protection, sustainable development, sectoral concerns, sustainable job creation, and just transition. 
 
The lively discussion covered a vast territory, some of the points made include: 
- the environmental crisis is as much a failure of global capitalism as the recent and ongoing economic crisis 
- good jobs and a clean environment go hand in hand, we will have both; or we will have neither 
- developing countries must have their chance to develop. However, their development need not follow the same harmful paths as it did in developed countries that caused the environmental crisis in the first place. International institutions for capital and finance, resurgent protectionism, and restrictions on technology transfer, can create a new era of colonialism if we do not prevent it 
- trade unions must hold governments and employers to account, particularly regarding the social dimension of sustainability 
 
The delegates from all four organizations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the social and economic consequences of trying to solve the present environmental crisis. Overall, there was a consensus that industrial sector unions need to make our voices heard in Copenhagen, and particularly to be the champions of the social dimension of sustainable development. While there are certainly concerns within specific industries and regions, and therefore a need for strong Just Transition programs, there are also many opportunities for sustainable job creation. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="97" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="46" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="94" />
 
The ICEM, IMF, EMF and EMCEF will be reviewing the discussion document and comments received over the next couple of weeks. Following this review, we will finalize the materials we will bring to COP-15 in Copenhagen to make our points with the country representatives negotiating the new agreement. 
 
Following the meeting, Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary said, &ldquo;For industrial workers and their unions an important question for changing to a low-carbon economy is who pays for it and who benefits from the transition. We only have one planet and we all have an interest in protecting our future.&rdquo; 
All material from the meeting is available on the IMF website, <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=21012&amp;l=2">here</a>.
Additional information about climate change and the position of industrial workers can be found on the following web links: 
 
<a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/climatechange">www.imfmetal.org/climatechange</a>
<a href="/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety">/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety</a>
<a href="http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15">http://www.industrialpolicy.eu/COP15</a>

Cut Emissions, Transform Jobs

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Responding to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Istanbul on 6-7 October, Turkish trade unions organized a manifestation in Taksim Square, in the centre of the city. The protest against the IMF and World Bank was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK), the Turkey Union of Chambers of Architects and Engineers (TMMOB) and the Turkish Doctors Association (TTB). Organisers of the event instructed those taking part to carry out a peaceful protest. Other groups who planned a non-peaceful protest were told to wait until after the trade union event in Taksim Square had finished, before they took their protest to the IMF meeting, in the district of Harbive. 
 
The General Secretary of DISK, Tayfun G&ouml;rg&uuml;n, also Vice-President of ICEM affiliate mineworkers Dev Maden-Sen, spoke first to the crowd of 5,000. However, before speeches could continue, police attacked first with tear gas and afterwards with firearms and water cannons, using tinted water so that protesters would be easily identified later. 

<img alt="" src="" width="360" height="240" />
Not only protesters but also journalists and passers-by were affected by the heavy tear gas, as police did not use the gas to disperse the crowd, instead surrounding the crowd, causing confusion. ICEM affiliates reported extremely heavy-handed behaviour from police, &ldquo;There was more police violence and more tear gas than at the last three May Days,&rdquo; stated Kivan&ccedil; Eli A&ccedil;ik, Director of International Relations at DISK. 
 
Around 100 arrests were made for peoples&rsquo; role in the protest. One man died of a heart attack in the violence, after it was very difficult to get him to the hospital, through police lines. 

<img alt="" src="" width="348" height="233" />
In other news in Turkey, Turkish trade unionist, Murad Akincilar, from ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, has been arrested in Turkey with no motive for the arrest communicated with his family. The ICEM is working with its Turkish affiliates to communicate with the country&rsquo;s authorities and demand a swift release or fair trial. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="114" />
Murad Akincilar
International solidarity for the struggle of Turkey&rsquo;s trade unions was illustrated through a successful seminar in the city of Izmit, 8-9 October. Part of the ICEM &lsquo;Project of Capacity Building for Social Dialogue and Organising in Turkey&rsquo; funded by FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands, the seminar was supported by unions from France, Holland, Spain, and Brazil, exchanging trade union success stories from around the world. 

<img alt="" src="" width="290" height="187" />
Presentations included the &lsquo;Global Perspective&rsquo; by ICEM&rsquo; Kemal Ozkan, the &lsquo;European Perspective&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Sylvain Lefebvre, the &lsquo;Holland: National Example&rsquo; by FNV Bondgenoten&rsquo;s Mail Űrker and Patrick Van Klink, the &lsquo;Spain: National Example&rsquo; by Isidor Boix of FITEQA-CC.OO, &lsquo;Brazil: National Example&rsquo; by Nilton Freitas of Quimicos ABC-CUT, &lsquo;France: National Example&rsquo; by FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s Marc Blanc, and the &lsquo;Turkey: National Example&rsquo; by Uzeyir Ataman of Lastik-İş. 
 
The project aims to contribute to the ability of ICEM&rsquo;s Turkish affiliates to recruit new members, as well as to organize discussions on establishing a base to create a functioning industrial relations system, prioritizing fundamental human and trade union rights, together with good social dialogue.

Police Violence, Turkish Trade Unions Protesting IMF, World Bank Policies

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Whether or not the South African National Assembly passes legislation to ban labour brokers is a question likely to be answered early in 2010. But there is little doubt that the matter has fast become the hot-button employment issue in the country, judging from the current intensity of the debate. 
 
Following two days of raucous public hearings in Cape Town by the Assembly&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee on Labour in late August that firmly pitted political parties against one another, the debate whether to pass a ban or to impose tighter regulations on labour broking moved to four provinces in early October where parliamentary regional hearings were held. 

<img alt="" src="" width="146" height="66" />
And in between, the Congress of South African Unions (COSATU) weighed in strongly in favour of a ban at its Tenth National Congress and immediately launched a national campaign to ban the 25-billion-rand business in coordination with global labour&rsquo;s World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) on 7 October. 
 
In COSATU&rsquo;s congress declaration, the federation states, &ldquo;&hellip; as part of the struggle for decent employment, we call for the elimination of the practice of labour broking.&rdquo; At a press conference following the 21-24 September congress, General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said labour brokers often take up to 20% of a worker&rsquo;s wages in fees. 
 
Three weeks earlier, at the Assembly&rsquo;s Portfolio Committee hearings, Vavi called the system a &ldquo;social ill,&rdquo; likening it to &ldquo;HIV and AIDS or crime and corruption. It&rsquo;s an arrangement made to take advantage of the weak and most vulnerable in a society.&rdquo; 

<img alt="" src="" width="102" height="111" />
One of COSATU&rsquo;s WDDW activities occurred on 6 October where 400 members of the affiliated Communication Workers&rsquo; Union (CWU) rallied in front of a postal centre in Ormonde. There, some 80% of the total workers are supplied by labour brokers. A CWU representative said eight labour brokers are used and what&rsquo;s worse, he added, is that some of the postal managers are part-owners of the labour-broking agencies. 
 
One such worker abused by the system and involved in the protest said he earns a monthly salary one-quarter of that of a permanent employee in the postal centre, while another said working in precarious employment is no better than being unemployed. &ldquo;They use us like condoms. One mistake, you are out and they get another one in your place anyway.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM affiliate, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), called on parliamentarians of the African National Congress (ANC) to use its majority to pass a law banning labour brokers. NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim said under the latter-day apartheid employment system, the focus of employers is on labour agencies, not workers. &ldquo;In a society with high levels of inequalities, it is a crisis to allow this system to flourish,&rdquo; he said. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
The political lines have been drawn in the debate. While most ANC legislators favour a ban, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance (DA) is on the defensive and merely calling for regulating labour broking. The fledging Congress of the People (COPE), with little political power following spin-off from the ANC, has been relatively silent on the issue, but is believed to favour tighter regulation rather than an outright ban. 
 
The business lobby says 500,000 people in South African are employed through labour brokers, but it is believed the real number could be triple that. The lobby does admit that of 6,000 labour brokers in the country, only 3,000 of them are properly registered. 
 
In neighbouring Namibia, labour brokers were banned in 2008. But the industry and business lobby has now challenged that law on constitutional grounds, something South African business interests would likely do as well if a ban is passed. 
 
On 27 August, the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), together with its South African affiliate, the Building and Construction Allied Workers&rsquo; Union, held a forum in Johannesburg entitled &ldquo;Multi-Sectoral Conference on Decent Work Towards and Beyond 2010,&rdquo; aimed primarily at work issues in preparation for South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="103" />
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Construction Coordinator Isaac Ntshangase pointed out that 32% of the country&rsquo;s building and construction industry is carried out using informal workers. The conference passed a resolution calling for a ban on labour brokers and condemned the sub-standard wages and work conditions common in subcontracting arrangements. 
 
Whether or not section 198 of South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act of 1995 gets amended to ban labour brokers totally, or if a compromise is struck placing tighter regulations on the practice, is an open question right now. But there is little question that some form of legislative action will result, which will be good news to the global union forces that are now marshalling efforts to rollback non-sustaining work through labour-hire agencies and indirect employment.

Issue to Ban ‘Labour Brokers’ in South Africa Coming to a Head

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The day following the ICEM&rsquo;s 9 October Presidium meeting in Hannover, Germany, ICEM Vice Presidents and several others, including representatives from host German union IGBCE, piled on a bus for a four-hour trip to the North Sea port of Brunsb&uuml;ttel. 
 
Their mission: to meet the Hong Kong-flagged MV Fedagawa, a vessel laden with 35,000 tonnes of copper concentrates that originated in Voiseys Bay, province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, where union members of the United Steelworkers (USW) have been on strike against Vale-Inco since 1 August. 

<img alt="" src="" width="290" height="218" />
The purpose of the trip was to alert the ship&rsquo;s captain and crew of the Canadian strike, who hopefully in turn would relay that message to Vale and the end-users of the copper. The mission proved successful, in large part, because of the intervention of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) and its Hamburg and area ports Inspector Ulf Christiansen. 
The mission was planned meticulously by the IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department, together with the USW and the supporting Global Union Federations. At about 19h00 on 10 October, a team of six representatives from the international trade union contingent entered the locked-down Brunsb&uuml;ttel port authority and met with the ship&rsquo;s captain and a representative of the ship&rsquo;s owner. 

<img alt="" src="" width="275" height="206" />
Senzeni Zokwan&nbsp;and Manfred Warda
That delegation consisted of ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana, General Secretary Manfred Warda, USW Canadian National Director and ICEM Vice President Ken Neumann, USW Local 9508 striker Curtis Saunders from Voiseys Bay, USW Local 6500 striker Aaron Beaudry from Sudbury, Ontario, and IGBCE International Department Officer Michael Wolters. 
Neumann reported that both the captain and the ship owner&rsquo;s representative were supportive and promised to raise the issue directly with Vale-Inco and with the metal companies that were purchasing the Brazilian company&rsquo;s resources. Following the visit, the USW rank-and-file strikers left for R&ocirc;nnsk&auml;r, Sweden, where the MV Fedagawa was delivering part of the copper cargo to a nearby Boliden smelter. The copper concentrates had been stockpiled in eastern Canada since before the strike. 

<img alt="" src="" width="257" height="233" />
Federal Nakagawa's captain and the ship owner&rsquo;s representative
The 9 October ICEM Presidium meeting opened with a review of the three-month Vale-Inco strike at three Canadian locations, and a unanimous resolution by the body to give support to striking USW members in every way possible. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had labour disputes with Inco before,&rdquo; Neumann told the Presidium, &ldquo;but since Vale bought out Inco in 2006, this is the first time they have tried to use scabs to begin production. This struggle will not be won by just walking picket lines, but with linking arms with global trade unions everywhere.&rdquo; 
 
The strike by 3,500 miners and metalworkers began on 13 July in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, following Vale-Inco&rsquo;s demand for steep pension concessions, relaxed language on the company&rsquo;s right to contract out bargaining unit work, an elimination of a production bonus. The strike spread to Voiseys Bay after 500 of the miners, working under a separate labour agreement, faced the same rash concessions. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="226" />
Ulf Christiansen
&ldquo;We owe tremendous gratitude to the ITF and especially Ulf Christiansen for arranging this intervention,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s Warda. &ldquo;This is just more evidence that the ICEM, together with its trade union partners, will broaden the strike to ensure that Vale knows, and its customers know, that mineral resources from Vale-Inco in Canada will be challenged in the global marketplace.&rdquo;

ICEM, ITF, IGBCE in German Port Protest Against Vale-Inco Mine Shipment

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From start to finish of IGBCE&rsquo;s Congress in Hannover last week, the focus was on youth. From leaders now taking leave who, for over a decade, have honed union policies with a keen eye to jobsite apprenticeships and training, to election on 13 October of the youngest president now inside the DGB national labour centre, IGBCE&rsquo;s Fourth Statutory Congress declared that a German future &ndash; despite recent elections &ndash; will continue to have human needs prioritised above an unbridled market economy. 
 
Convening under the banner &ldquo;Think Ahead, Act Responsibly,&rdquo; the Congress deftly paid homage to 14 years of a modern, amalgamated trade union that has been at the vanguard of German social thinking, while simultaneously posing a blunt challenge to a new centre-right governing coalition that a longstanding social compact will stay in place. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="196" />
Newly-elected President Michael Vassiliadis, centre
With outgoing President Hubertus Schmoldt saying that Germany&rsquo;s social model has withstood the financial crisis better than any profit-only market economy, newly-elected President Michael Vassiliadis defined the modern industrial society as one in which the twin pillars of co-determination by works councils and flexible, innovative collective bargaining will continue to provide workers with life-long security, and give the German youth new career opportunities. 
 
Schmoldt, who has headed the 690,000-member IGBCE since 1997, was heralded by Social Democratic (SPD) Chairman Franz M&uuml;ntefering as &ldquo;a man who does not just push the task of work toward the politicians, but someone who gets in there and does the work himself.&rdquo; Schmoldt himself called IGBCE a trade union of stability built on public identity and internal solidarity that has preserved and succeeded against years of neo-liberalism. 
 
Vassiliadis, 45, said the biggest challenge in Germany is to shore up an education structure. &ldquo;Our education system is in contradiction to social justice. We cannot let the wallet or your country of origin determine your educational opportunities,&rdquo; he said. He also called it an opportunity for the future that half of all new IGBCE members are young workers, and that in 2010 many shop stewards will be retiring. Already, he added, some 5,500 apprentices have been elected shop stewards, accounting for 4% of the total. 

<img alt="" src="" width="281" height="194" />
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda
A second-generation Greek immigrant who began his union work in IGBCE in 1986, Vassiliadis has been on the union&rsquo;s six-member Governing Board since 2004, covering areas of works councils, shop steward development, trade union education, and youth activities. Originally from a Bayer plant near his home in Essen, he sits now on the supervisory boards of chemical companies BASF and Henkel, as well as serving as deputy chairman of the potash producer Kali and Salz and Evonik Steag. 
 
With this Congress reducing the Governing Board from six to five, those re-elected include Vice President Ulrich Freese, and General Board members Edeltraud Gl&auml;nzer and Egbert Biermann. Like Schmoldt, another Governing Board member who is retiring is Werner Bischoff. Peter Hausmann has been elected in his seat. 

<img alt="" src="" width="307" height="201" />
Outgoing President Hubertus Schmoldt with ICEM's Warda, &Ouml;zkan, Zokwana
Responsible for collective bargaining and several other IGBCE functions, Bischoff has been the architect of the union&rsquo;s unique approach to bargaining, one that has delivered results such as life-long work security, shortened work time for senior workers in coordination with creating youth opportunities, and training and apprenticeship slots in scores of companies, thus guaranteeing young workers a secure future in an industrial Germany. This success is most distinct in the country&rsquo;s chemicals sector. 
 
Schmoldt said two out of every three trainees over the past few years have joined the IGBCE, which, he added, is a testament to Bischoff and the union&rsquo;s viable, functioning collective bargaining system. 
 
The IGBCE Congress from 11-16 October covered several resolutions dealing with the financial crisis, and chartered a recruitment course, based on demographic targeting, to provide services and assistance to workers on the edges of the economy, including migrant workers.

‘Generational Change’ Comes to IGBCE; Social Path of Past Will Shape Germany’s Future

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Strike actions occurred in Europe in recent days against South African pulp and paper producer Sappi. Workers holding memberships in four Dutch unions continue to be in dispute with Sappi at two mills in the Netherlands, Nijmegen and Maastricht. 
 
And at one of two mills in Finland that Sappi purchased from M-real one year ago, Kirkniemi, members of the local branch of ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto took a four-day industrial action 19-23 November over serious safety issues. 
 
At Nijmegen on 26 November, workers staged a 24-hour strike over the company&rsquo;s failure to come to a terms in meeting minimal union demands for a new labour agreement. More actions are expected this week at Nijmegen and Maastricht. 

<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="81" />
On 24 November, Dutch unions FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Bedrijenbond, ACV, and De Unie issued a demand for a one-year wage increase, July 2009 to July 2010, of 1.5%. The unions, representing 800 workers at the two paper mills, also demand retention of &ldquo;seniorendagen,&rdquo; the annual reward days off for workers with long service careers. If this is to be lost in a new collective agreement, the unions said in a demands declaration, a financial equivalent for both senior workers and younger workers for the social benefit must be substituted. 
 
Sappi Europe has been stingy in its pay offer, as well as unfair in benefit takeaways. In mid-September, workers rejected a 21-month Sappi proposal that was deemed inferior by a 95% vote. On 15 October, in a protest joined by ICEM and its global pulp and paper unions, 50 of the two mills&rsquo; workplace leaders took a petition to Sappi&rsquo;s European headquarters in Brussels. (See InBrief No. 142 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3455-Pulp-Paper-Unions-Assist-Dutch-Unionists-in-Contract-Dispute-with-Sappi-">here</a>.) 
 
Following a revised company offer a few days later, union leaders again decided to take the proposal to Dutch workers at Nijmegen and Maastricht for a vote. They rejected that with a 99% vote. 

<img alt="" src="" width="180" height="109" />
At Kirkniemi in Finland, earlier this year, Sappi thinned job ranks by 63 workers from a workforce of 400. The 19-23 November strike was over the fact that the remaining workers have taken on more work duties and occupational safety has been jeopardized. Sappi bought five European coated paper mills from M-real in early 2009 and intends to completely close one of those mills &ndash; Kangas, Finland &ndash; by the end of this year, thus giving the sack to 150 members of Paperiliitto. 
 
At a Sappi mill in North America, another labour dispute is coming to a head. Members of the United Steelworkers (USW), early in the week of 16 November, made a statement about a regressive Sappi contract proposal with an 82% rejection vote. Some 600 union members at a pulp and coated paper mill in Cloquet, Minnesota, have been without a current labour agreement since 1 May 2009. Sappi&rsquo;s less than adequate pay offer contains no retroactive wages to that date. It also falls short in meeting pension offsets and the company has ignored a USW request to assist Sappi in finding lower-cost private health care alternatives.

Paperworkers in Finland, Netherlands Take Strike Actions against Sappi

<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="63" />
Turkish public sector employees have legally had the right to organise and form their own unions since 2001, as stipulated by the Public Employees' Trade Unions Act No. 4688. Although the law recognizes the right to organise, there are numerous groups of employees who are excluded, lawyers, civil servants at the Ministry of Defence and Turkish Armed Forces, employees at penal institutions, special security personnel, public employees &quot;in positions of trust&quot;, presidents of universities, and directors of high schools. 
 
In terms of negotiating and taking strike action, these workers have no rights at all. Act 4688 allows for &ldquo;collective consultative talks&rdquo; for the negotiating of working conditions with government, it is then the government that makes the final decision on salaries, allowances, compensation, and bonuses. Likewise, there is still no formally recognised right to strike for public employees. This clearly is not in line with core ILO Convention 98. The International Labour Organisation repeatedly criticises this and urges the Turkish Government to make necessary modifications to the Act. 

<img alt="" src="" width="205" height="133" />
Centre&nbsp;Sami Evren, President of KESK,&nbsp;right Bircan Akyıldız, President of T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen
The collective consultative talks have proved inadequate in achieving the deserved working conditions for public sector employees, two major Turkish trade union confederations, T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen and KESK, have decided to take joint strike action on 25 November to urge the government to change the law and recognise the right to bargain and strike. On that day, both confederations report, aircrafts, trains and ships will not work, education will not be done, taxes will not be collected, &ldquo;all the public services will be stopped&rdquo;. 
 
The President of T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen Bircan Akyıldız stated that eight years of commitment to collective consultative talks have produced nothing for workers. &ldquo;The strike on 25 November will not just be done on behalf of Kamu-Sen and KESK, but also for defending the rights of all public emloyees&rdquo;, he added. The President of KESK, Sami Evren, stated that the parties have never bargained from equal positions during the collective consultative talks, leading to the Government ignoring the demands of public employees. &ldquo;We have exhausted all internal judicial possibilities, and then applied to the European Human Rights Court, which ruled that Turkish public employees should have the right to bargain collectively&rdquo;, he added. 

<img alt="" src="" width="350" height="74" />
The ICEM has affiliates from both confederations and fully supports the strike on 25 November, in line with the decision of the ICEM Turkish Coordinating Committee, which met on 2 November in Izmir. In his letter to the Presidents of T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen and KESK, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda has conveyed the solidarity of the whole ICEM family to the Turkish public employees in their struggle for bargaining and striking rights. &ldquo;We cordially convey to you our deepest sympathy and solidarity for your rights which are guaranteed by international conventions that have been ratified by Turkey. It is our firm belief that your struggle, fought since the 1990s, for empowered unions with all rights, will be successful. The joint strike on 25 November is a clear signal for this. The ICEM has been and will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this honourable and rightful fight&rdquo;.

Turkish Public Employees to Stop Work on 25 November Calling for Right to Bargain, Strike

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Peruvian mineworkers of the Chinese-owned Shougang Hierro company lifted a 15-day strike on 13 October, following agreement with management. As previously reported by the ICEM, the Chinese state-owned steel company, Shougang Group, owns Peru&rsquo;s only iron ore mine, Marcona, and the company had been living up to its reputation of paying the lowest wages in the entire Peruvian mining sector. 
 
The strike began with management&rsquo;s refusal to follow through on commitments made in July 2008 to raise miners&rsquo; salaries by a mere US$1.91 a day. That July agreement was reached through arbitration by Peru&rsquo;s Labour Ministry. All 1,200 mineworkers at the Marcona mine, in the Ica region of Peru&rsquo;s south, joined the strike, with an industry report suggesting that the company lost some 500,000 tonnes of iron ore output during the 15-day strike. 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="172" />
The settlement will see the company pay the promised wage raise to workers, along with an outstanding bonus payment of US$35 to each worker. The company also committed not to retaliate against the workers following their strike action, said union leader Rey Fernandez Pati&ntilde;o. 
 
Production at the mine last year reached 7.49 million tones. The Chinese company is undertaking a US$1 billion expansion, which will increase production to ten million tonnes annually. Mining makes up 60% of Peru&rsquo;s GDP. 
 
The ICEM affiliate, National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) successfully carried out a national mining strike on 19-20 October, with one of the top priorities giving support and solidarity to the Shougang miners. The FNTMMSP was also demanding compliance from the Labour Ministry for the negotiated raise to Shougang Hierro miners&rsquo; wages. The national strike, as well, demanded the signing of a mining retirement bill by the government. In addition, FNTMMSP is seeking passage and enactment of mining-profits legislation from the country&rsquo;s National Assembly, a law which will assist all miners financially.

Shougang Mineworkers Reach Settlement to End Strike

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
An 18-month contract dispute between the ICEM North American affiliate, the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB), and Lafarge at a cement manufacturing plant in the US state of Missouri was finally resolved on 22 October. 
 
A tentative agreement was reached at the Sugar Creek, Missouri, plant between IBB Lodge D-27 and American managers of the French- based company that will see retirees receive the same medical benefits that active workers get, and will push back a different retiree health-benefit scheme for any new employee hired after 1 January 2012. 
 
IBB Vice President Warren Fairly reported that the new agreement, once ratified by the 55 Lodge D-27 members, will run until 1 January 2012. A prior agreement expired on 30 April 2008. 

<img alt="" src="" width="127" height="39" />
The ICEM and the Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI), the two Global Union Federations that are signatory to a Global Framework Agreement with Lafarge, brought North American management&rsquo;s unjust social cuts before senior Lafarge managers in Paris in September and October 2008. 
 
Lafarge had sought to exclude entirely new hires from any future retiree medical plan, and wanted existing workers to enter into a separate, inferior health-care plan upon retirement. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the IBB for its bargaining table endurance to finally get Lafarge to move away from its concessionary 2008 contract agenda. The Sugar Creek cement plant underwent a major modernisation in 2002, and is currently in a ten-week partial shutdown that is expected to last until 11 January 2010 due to the economic downturn in the construction sector. 
 
Some 35 to 40 IBB members are on temporary furloughs, but the union has negotiated retention of their benefits. Teamsters Local 541 represents about ten truck drivers at the Sugar Creek plant as well.

US Boilermakers US Succeed in Moving Lafarge Off Contract Concessions

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A full four years after BP paid US$21.3 million in penalties and made promises to the US government to correct safety deficiencies at its Texas City, Texas, oil and petrochemicals refinery, the British energy company is still not in compliance. 
 
On 30 October, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor slapped BP with a further US$87.4 million fine for failure to rectify safety problems identified following a deadly March 2005 explosion at the east Texas refinery. 

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The fine is four times higher than any previous safety fine issued by OSHA in its 39-year history. The previous high was the US$21.3 million penalty assessed BP in September 2005 when the company reached a settlement agreement with the agency to fix the causes of the 23 March 2005 explosion, which killed 15 contract workers and serious injured another 80 workers. 
 
The US trade union representing workers at BP&rsquo;s former Amoco refinery at Texas City, ICEM affiliated United Steelworkers (USW), warned of the industry&rsquo;s reluctance to seriously undertake efforts to improve safety and health in the downstream sector during US collective agreement negotiations early in 2009. Then, the union had made safety the primary issue in negotiations, but the industry stonewalled the union and workers on joint approaches to improve safety. 

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USW Vice President Gary Beevers
&ldquo;Hopefully, Friday&rsquo;s non-compliance fine will serve as a wake-up to the public and industry that oil and gas companies must get serious on safety,&rdquo; said USW Vice President and ICEM Executive Committee Gary Beevers. &ldquo;We intend to continue working closely with BP to improve process safety at all their US facilities.&rdquo; 
 
Late in 2007, the USW and the Tony Mazzocchi Center for Health, Safety and environmental Education published a book entitled &ldquo;Beyond Texas City: the State of Process Safety in the Unionized US Oil Refining Industry.&rdquo; The book critiques operating practices in 51 US refineries and offers sets of &ldquo;Urgent and Critical Actions&rdquo; needed to improve safety. The pdf version of &ldquo;Beyond Texas City&rdquo; can be found <a href="http://legacy.usw.org/usw/program/adminlinks/docs/BeyondTexasCity.pdf ">here</a>. 
 
The US OSHA agency last week issued BP with 270 notifications of failure to stem hazards that caused the 2005 explosion, with total fines of US$56.7 million. Each notification represents a penalty of US$7,000 times 30 days, the period that that the condition have gone unabated. In addition, the US government identified 439 new willful violations for failures to follow industry-accepted safety standards, resulting in further fines of US$30.7 million. 
 
BP said it would formally contest these latest violations and fines before a review commission of OSHA, which can amend and reduce the violations. 
 
Stated US Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Jordan Barab: &ldquo;BP was given four years to correct the safety issues identified pursuant to the settlement agreement, yet OSHA has found hundreds of violations of the agreement and hundreds of new violations. BP still has a great deal of work to do to assure the safety and health of the employees who work at this refinery.&rdquo; 
 
The 23 March 2005 deadly blast was caused by a broken gauge and flammable hydrocarbons that overflowed from an isomerisation tower used to boast octane levels of petrol. Those vapors were ignited from the equipment of contract companies that were operating too close to the isomerisation unit.

BP Fails to Correct Safety Errors at Texas Refinery, Ordered to Pay Another US$87.4 Million

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