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The ICEM fully supports the work of the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan, an affiliate of the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF). The 723 contract labourers at Unilever&rsquo;s last directly-owned and operated Lipton Tea factory in Pakistan have organised to form the Unilever Mazdoor Union Khanewal. The newly organised workers, with the support of the IUF and ICEM, are preparing a new round of public action to press their case. 
 
The ICEM and IUF call for international support for the cause of these contract workers to form their union. To support their struggle click <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=396">here</a> to send a message to Unilever. Tell corporate management that the Lipton Khanewal temporary workers must be given permanent employment status - and the way to implement this is through direct negotiations with the affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan. 
 
Unilever's Khanewal factory employs 22 permanent workers, union members who are covered by a collective agreement. But another 723 workers are hired through six contract labour agencies. The union is assisting contract agency workers to file petitions in the Labour Court to secure their right to permanent employment. 

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The permanent workers receive a monthly base wage of PKR 18,000 - some US$226. The basic wage for non-permanent workers is PKR 6,000, if they are lucky enough to work a minimum 26 days per month. Otherwise the daily wage is PKR 232 - less than three US dollars a day. Where permanent workers receive double for overtime/holiday work, agency workers simply receive the basic hourly wage. Disposable workers have no annual or medical leave. From one week to the next, they do not know their assignments or work schedules - or whether they will have work. Through exploiting workers in this way, Unilever was able to send CEO Niall Fitzgerald into retirement with a &pound;17 million golden handshake. 
 
Unilever employees at the site are illegally blocked from becoming permanent workers, as national legislation states that after nine consecutive months employed under a temporary contract, an employee must be offered a permanent contract to stay. The majority of agency workers at the Khanewal site have been on the job for more than 10 years, with some there for as long as 30 years. But since they are not formally employed by Unilever, they are barred from joining a union of Unilever workers and bargaining with Unilever as their employer. The labour agencies who supply the temporary employees to the factory do not have any other client, and operate their offices inside the Unilever factory itself, clearly a false way of flouting labour law. 
Two Lipton workers dismissed in August after 30 years of working at Unilever's Khanewal tea factory at minimum wage and received no social security, medical benefits or pension. 
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The Lipton workers are fighting for the right of workers everywhere to decent work - secure employment, a living wage, health and retirement benefits, and the right to join a trade union with a collective bargaining relationship to their real employer. 
 
Copies of your messages will be sent to Unilever corporate and Pakistan management, to the union, and to the IUF secretariat. 
 
You can give additional support by taking a moment to visit <a href="http://www.unilever.com/sustainability">http://www.unilever.com/sustainability</a>. Scroll down the page to a section on the lower right entitled &quot;Sustainability during the credit crunch&quot; There you can &quot;vote&quot; yes/no to the question, &quot;Do you consider sustainability in your product purchasing decisions?&quot; This is followed by &quot;Please tell us what actions you are taking to make the world more sustainable,&quot; with fields for name/message. Please take a moment to send the following response, or a message of your own: 
 
&quot;Sustainability is about investing in sustainable jobs - over 700 workers at the Khanewal Lipton factory are disposable workers hired through labour hire agencies, with no employment security and inferior wages and benefits though many have worked continuously for decades. Make the Khanewal workers permanent through direct negotiations with the National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers of Pakistan!&quot;

Support Needed for Contract, Agency Workers Forming Union at Unilever Tea Factory in Pakistan

Estimados trabajadores de MASSUH SA y dirigentes de FOEIPCyQ: 
 
 
La ICEM, federaci&oacute;n sindical internacional del sector de la pulpa y papel, ha dado a conocer a nuestro sindicato la lucha que enfrentan con el fin de lograr que la empresa MASSUH pague como corresponde los sueldos a sus trabajadores. A pesar de que muchas empresas de diferentes partes del mundo enfrentan actualmente una p&eacute;sima situaci&oacute;n econ&oacute;mica, la mayor&iacute;a paga a sus trabajadores, porque saben que sus ganancias provienen exclusivamente del esfuerzo de los trabajadores. 
 
Por tanto, objetamos severamente la decisi&oacute;n de MASSUH de negarse a pagar los sueldos de sus trabajadores. Felicitamos a FOEIPCyQ, nuestro sindicato hermano en Argentina, el haber solidarizado con la lucha de los trabajadores de MASSUH. 
 
Exhortamos a los trabajadores para que se mantengan unidos en la defensa de sus derechos; la unidad en torno al sindicato es la clave del triunfo final. 
 
Saludos solidarios,

Transmit to e-mails: fedpapel@speedy.com.ar and alari@papeleros.org.ar

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ABD ile Kolombiya arasında yapılacak bir Serbest Ticaret Anlaşması &ouml;ncesinde, sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik cinayetlerin soruşturulmasında &Aacute;lvaro Uribe h&uuml;k&uuml;metinin sorumluluğunu tespite y&ouml;nelik &ccedil;alışmalar &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, ABD Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi, ge&ccedil;en ay cinayetlerle ilgili olarak tanık ifadesine başvurdu. 
 
Soruşturulan olaylardan biri, ICEM'den &ouml;nce maden sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde faaliyet g&ouml;steren Uluslararası Madenciler Federasyonu'nun (MIF) Kolombiya'daki koordinat&ouml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml;n&uuml; y&uuml;r&uuml;ten Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 2001'de katledilmesiydi. 

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Yessika Hoyos
Soruşturma sırasında, Washington'da, Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 25 yaşındaki kızı Yessika Hoyos tanıklık yaptı. Yessika Hoyos, polisin su&ccedil;un ger&ccedil;ek faillerinden iki kişiyi tutuklamasına rağmen, &ouml;ld&uuml;rme emrini verenlerin tutuklanıp kovuşturulması i&ccedil;in hi&ccedil;bir &ccedil;aba harcanmadığını s&ouml;yledi ve şunları vurguladı: &ldquo;Aralarında ordu mensuplarının da yer aldığı diğer faillerle ilgili kanıtlar bulunduğunu biliyoruz. Kanıtların &uuml;zerine gerektiği gibi gidilmiyor ve diğer failler saptanmıyor.&rdquo; 
 
O sıralar 61 yaşında olan Dar&iacute;o Hoyos 3 Mart 2001 g&uuml;n&uuml; Bogot&aacute; yakınlarında yaşadığı kent olan Fusagasuga'da paramiliter bir grubun a&ccedil;tığı ateş sonucunda &ouml;ld&uuml;r&uuml;lm&uuml;şt&uuml;. Hoyos 1984-1991 d&ouml;neminde MIF Kolombiya koordinat&ouml;r&uuml;yd&uuml;. Daha sonraki yıllarda &ouml;ğretmenlerin, banka emek&ccedil;ilerinin ve telekom&uuml;nikasyon emek&ccedil;ilerinin sendikalarında &ouml;rg&uuml;t&ccedil;&uuml; ve toplu s&ouml;zleşme danışmanı olarak &ccedil;alıştı. 
 
Şubat 2009'daki ABD Kongresi oturumunda, Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi şu saptamayı yapmıştı: &ldquo;Kolombiya h&uuml;k&uuml;meti sendika liderlerine karşı tırmandırılan şiddeti durdurmak ya da sendikacı cinayetlerinin &uuml;zerine gitmek i&ccedil;in yeterli &ccedil;aba harcamamıştır.&rdquo; Kolombiya Ulusal Sendika Okulu'nun bir s&ouml;zc&uuml;s&uuml; ise tanık olarak verdiği ifadede, d&uuml;nyadaki sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik t&uuml;m cinayetlerin y&uuml;zde 60'ının Kolombiya'da işlendiğini belirtti.

ABD&#039;de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

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ICEM 24 Mart 2009'dan itibaren Cenevre'deki yeni yerine taşınmış olacak. Cenevre'de eski kent yakınlarındaki yeni işyerinin adresi ş&ouml;yle: 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva. 
 
İşyerinin genel telefon numarası, faks numarası ve b&uuml;t&uuml;n cep telefon numaraları aynı kalıyor. 
 
ICEM'in 570 metre karelik yeni işyeri mek&acirc;nı modern bir binanın iki katına yayılıyor. Nisan 2008'den bu yana &ccedil;alıştığımız 150 metre karelik eski işyeri mek&acirc;nına g&ouml;re yenisi daha işlevsel ve sendikal &ccedil;alışmaya daha elverişli. 
 
ICEM &uuml;yesi b&uuml;t&uuml;n sendikaları ve onların temsilcilerini Cenevre'ye geldiklerinde genel merkezimizi ziyaret etmeye &ccedil;ağırıyoruz.

ICEM 24 Mart&#039;tan İtibaren Cenevre&#039;deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

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The Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF), affiliated to the Labour Confederation of Pakistan, staged a protest demonstration in front of the Quetta Press Club on 13 January 2009, and again ten days later in front of the Mines Inspectorate. The manifestations were in protest to a deadly incident at the Mach coalmine in which eight mineworkers lost their lives. 
 
That tragedy occurred on 4 January when a mine shaft collapsed, causing the mine to fill with poisonous gases. 
 
Comrades of the dead workers were maddened to see a week pass by following the tragedy with only one of the bodies being removed from the mine by the authorities. A further reason for the demonstration was that the First Information Report (FIR), which puts forth information on those responsible for industrial accidents, had not been submitted for the deadly Mach disaster. 

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The mine authorities had no prior registration of the contractors working there, including the victims. It became clear at the protest that it is common practice throughout the mines in the region not to register contract workers. This also stands as an obstacle to organizing workers. 
 
The Pakistani Department for Mines and Minerals received heavy criticism from throughout the country, as it failed to supply the required safety equipment to retrieve the bodies. Mines Inspector Mohammad Farooq stated that there had been eleven miners present at the time of the collapse, with three workers rescued and the others killed instantly. 
 
The colliery belongs to Balochistan Mines, which is owned by Federal Minister for Livestock Mr. Hamayun Aziz Kurd. The protest demonstration culminated with the unanimous adoption of a resolution calling for immediate efforts for the recovery of the dead miners&rsquo; bodies; the granting of compensatory money to the families; that those found guilty of negligence be rigorously punished; that the Mach mine where the tragedy occurred be immediately sealed; and that Pakistan&rsquo;s Mines Safety Act be strictly enacted in the case. 
 
The PCMLF asked for letters of protest to be sent to the relevant authorities.

Pakistani Manifestation Condemns Deadly Mine Accident, Inaction in Retrieving the Dead

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The Council of Finnish Industrial Unions (TP) is calling for higher cooperation with employers and business groups as the protocol to lessen the sting of the current economic crisis. The group of 14 trade unions last week called on Finnish business and social partners to join the unions in a set of talks aimed at ensuring a stable labour market and income maintenance so purchasing power does not drop. 
 
The Council has set a date of 25 February for an initial meeting with industrial and service sector employers&rsquo; groups to discuss the means in finding common ground on employment strategies and domestic market improvements. Several European Works Councils (EWCs) of leading Finland companies came out after the unions&rsquo; call and endorsed strengthened cooperation between TP and business. 

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The unions are eager to reach an accord in order to avert mass job losses, to strengthen and enhance company competitiveness, and to continue strong domestic demand for goods and services. Such an agreement, which would cover 90% of Finland&rsquo;s two million wage earners, would be the socially conscious approach to avoid mass redundancies that, TP claims, are not brought on by lack of Finnish competitiveness, but rather by a deep crisis that has hit hard on production and demand. 
 
&ldquo;Under these circumstances, freezing wages, curbing the growth of purchasing power, or weakening other terms of employment are not the right solutions&rdquo; to current economic problems, said TP in a statement. TP is calling for a social accord that would be binding on the unions, labour market confederations, central employer associations, and the Finnish public sector. 
 
Trade unions enjoined to TP include Paperiliitto, Kemianliitto, Finnish Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union, Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni (TU), or the Salaried Employees&rsquo; Union, Finnish Media Union, Finnish Metalworkers Union (Metalli), Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union, Construction Trade Union, Finnish Foodstuff Workers&rsquo; Union, Association of Business School Graduates (SEFE), Association of Graduate Engineers (TEK), Union of Professional Engineers UIL, and the Union of Machine Supervisors.

Finnish Council of Trade Unions Call for Framework Employer Agreement to Offset Economic Crisis

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The Norwegian government has announced that its US$300 billion sovereign wealth fund has divested of its stake in Canadian mining company Barrick Gold and US aerospace and weapons maker Textron. The divestments come after Norway&rsquo;s Council on Ethics determined the companies were not socially responsible. 
 
Textron was dropped because it manufactures cluster bombs, while Barrick Gold&rsquo;s shares were sold because of severe environmental harm at the 95%-owned Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea. 
 
Norway&rsquo;s Global fund, which includes pension funds derived from oil revenues that it invests in foreign equities, sold its US$174 million stake in Barrick Gold last year. An Ethics Council panel determined that Barrick&rsquo;s Porgera mine runs serious &ldquo;risk of accumulation and build-up of heavy metals, especially mercury in the environment. Pollution from the mine will potentially have serious negative consequences for human life and health.&rdquo; 

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The ethics panel determined that &ldquo;the company&rsquo;s assertions that its operations do not cause long-term and irreversible damage carry little credibility.&rdquo; Barrick Gold, now the world&rsquo;s leading gold producer, increased its stake in the Enga Province open-cast and underground gold mining operation in April 2007 when it purchased 20% of Emperor Mines Ltd&rsquo;s shares. It had earlier, in 2006, gained a 75% stake in Porgera with the takeover of PlacerDome. Porgera produced 542,000 ounces of gold in 2006, and has proven reserves of 9.42 million ounces. 
 
Textron, the corporate owner of Cessna aircraft, was taken off the safe investment list because Norway is signature to the Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibition. The Norwegian government divested US$41 million in Textron shares. 
 
Twenty-seven multinational companies have now been blacklisted from investment by Norwegian public funds due to ethical reasons. 
 
Earlier in 2008, the government sold its US$800 million Rio Tinto holdings because of environment degradation at the Grasberg gold and copper mine in West Papua, Indonesia. Rio Tinto, along with Grasberg partner Freeport McMoRan, had been found discharging 260,000 tonnes of tailings daily into a natural river system. Freeport McMoRan had been expelled from the fund in 2006. Other mining companies that have been excluded from Norway&rsquo;s investment fund include DRDGold of South Africa and India&rsquo;s Vedanta Resources.

Norway Divests Shares of Barrick Gold, Arms Maker Textron

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The ICEM last week joined the campaign calling for justice for Constantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker and trade union activist, who was attacked with sulphuric acid while on her way home from work. Ms. Kuneva is General Secretary of PEKOP, the Athens-based All Attica Union of Cleaners and Domestic Workers. 
 
The attack, which took place on 22 December 2008, left Ms. Kuneva without the use of an eye and her vocal chords. She is still in a hospital. 
 
In a letter to Greek Minister for Employment, Ms. Fani Palli-Petralia, General Secretary Manfred Warda heavily criticised the inadequacy of the investigation into the vicious attack. &ldquo;The ICEM strongly protests the unacceptable delay and most deficient investigation procedure into the murderous attack.&rdquo; 
 
Warda praised the reopening of the case by police, as well as the extended time allotted to collect information, but reaffirmed an &ldquo;urgent demand that the police and judicial authorities conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that the perpetrators are arrested and punished and the victim properly compensated.&rdquo; 

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The ICEM fully supports the work of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE), along with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in its work defending Ms. Kuneva. 
 
In a similar letter to the Greek Minister of Justice, Mr. Nikos Dendias, Warda clarified the suspicious nature of the attack. &ldquo;A few weeks before this awful attack, Constantina Kuneva had warned that she felt in grave danger as a result of her union activities. In an interview for the ITUC at the end of November, she had also denounced the poverty wages and harsh working conditions in this sector.&rdquo; 
 
The cleaning sector in Greece is 80% comprised of migrant workers and a vast majority are women. The ICEM will closely monitor the situation and call upon Greek authorities to prevent the spread of criminal activities that are related to labour relations.

ICEM Demands Full Investigation into Assault of Woman Trade Unionist in Greece

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ICEM&rsquo;s largest affiliate in Africa, South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), last week welcomed the release of the Presidential Safety Audit by the Department of Minerals and Energy. As reported by the ICEM (click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2871-South-African-Parliament-Passes-Mine-Safety-Reform;-Year-long-Safety-Audit-Still-Held-up ">here</a>) there had been a significant delay in the publication of the report. 
 
The NUM criticized the industry for using the report to misrepresent conditions as acceptable. A shocking figure to emerge from the report was that 100 cases against mine bosses have been allowed to collect in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), with no progress. This alarming evidence of justice being blocked for those responsible for deaths of miners has angered the NUM. 

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NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
&ldquo;This is very worrying that the NPA can allow criminality to take place without any proper action,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;It is worrying that in cases where action has taken place, companies have been fined between R2,500 (US$260) to R5,000 (US$520) for negligently claiming the life of mineworkers.&rdquo; 
 
The audits were conducted in 355 mines across the country, under 12 categories. Gold and coal mines were the safest at 70%, followed by platinum and diamond mines at 67% and 66%, respectively. 
 
The long-awaited report describes worrying trends, including poor hazard identification and risk assessment processes, slow reporting of accidents, failure to submit occupational hygiene returns and others. 

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NUM &amp; ICEM President, Senzeni Zokwana
The audits were ordered by former President Thabo Mbeki after 3,200 workers were trapped deep underground at gold producer Harmony Gold's Elandsrand mine in October 2007, when a falling pipe damaged mine shaft infrastructure. Miraculously, all 3,200 miners were rescued after some 38 hours. 
 
Senzeni Zokwana, NUM President and also President of the ICEM, said the union has zero tolerance for mine fatalities. &quot;No condition should justify why a worker should lose a life.&quot;

Safety Audit Release in South Africa Gives Cause for Concern

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The ICEM has learned from one its Iraqi affiliates, the Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Basra, that union members were targeted by Iraq&rsquo;s military for leading a peaceful demonstration on 28 January in Basra. The protest was held in demand of wage arrears from a petrochemical facility, one of the state-operated petroleum operations in the south. 
 
In a communication to the ICEM from the union, management of the company requested that the army break up the demonstration &ldquo;in a step reminiscent of former fascist policies.&rdquo; The army did intervene and brought protesters to a military holding camp for interrogation. 
 
On 2 February, management of the company began its own inquiry into the peaceful right of assembly, and targeted four workers with leading the protest: Kifaah Hassan Ibraheem, Qasim Abbas Muhsin, Kareem Johi Sahan, and Waleed Salih. The union is filing complaints with the government over the company&rsquo;s handling of this dispute. 
 
The ICEM condemns the Iraqi state company&rsquo;s interference of workers&rsquo; right to assemble, and subsequent infringement and suppression of other rights. The Geneva-based ICEM will continue to monitor events in this one particular enterprise, as well as human and labour rights abuses that occur at any Iraqi workplace.

Iraqi State Petrochemical Company Uses Military to Bust Peaceful Protest

Archive

Support Needed for Contract, Agency Workers Forming Union at Unilever Tea Factory in Pakistan

Transmit to e-mails: [email protected] and [email protected]

ABD'de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

ICEM 24 Mart'tan İtibaren Cenevre'deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

Pakistani Manifestation Condemns Deadly Mine Accident, Inaction in Retrieving the Dead

Finnish Council of Trade Unions Call for Framework Employer Agreement to Offset Economic Crisis

Norway Divests Shares of Barrick Gold, Arms Maker Textron

ICEM Demands Full Investigation into Assault of Woman Trade Unionist in Greece

Safety Audit Release in South Africa Gives Cause for Concern

Iraqi State Petrochemical Company Uses Military to Bust Peaceful Protest

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