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The Serbian union, EPS Trade Union, has made a stand for some 7,200 displaced Kosovo workers, who lost their jobs from state-run Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) in 1999 due to war. Since then, unemployed workers have received 60% of median wages from the utility. 
 
But beginning in January, a government decree from the Ministry of Energy and Mining ordered that amount reduced to the minimum state-level wage, reneging on an agreement it had with the union in a 2008 EPS business plan. On 19 February, 5,000 of those workers showed up in freezing temperatures and a sleet storm in Gracanica and Priluzje to protest the cuts. EPS Trade Union President Milan Đorđević intervened to block the rollbacks, and the union has pledged to be vigilant in retaining the 60%. 

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Milan Đorđević
Separately, EPS Trade Union has issued a five-day deadline for earnest negotiations to begin with the government over several issues involving the public utility&rsquo;s mines and businesses. One of the chief demands is fulfilment of an agreement signed with the government on 23 October 2008 and another is dialogue on the 2009 business plan. 
 
Other demands include full consultation on several operational issues, as well as possible privatisation plans by EPS. 
 
The union will hold a press conference tomorrow in Belgrade to discuss the government&rsquo;s failure in February to address the demands and will follow that up with a protest on Thursday, 12 March, in front of the Government of Serbia building in Serbia&rsquo;s capital city.

Serbian Union Preserves Wage Payments for Kosovo Electric Workers

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Following a failed mediation session on 4 March, some 65,000 Polish coal miners are poised to strike state run and operated Kompania Weglowa (KW), Europe&rsquo;s largest coal producer. Miners, forcefully united behind the country&rsquo;s three main mining unions &ndash; ICEM affiliate NSZZ Solidarność, Kadra, and the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union &ndash; have been denied a fair wage proposal for 2009. 
 
Mediated talks will resume tomorrow, 10 March, but if no resolve occurs, Kompania Weglowa will face a two-hour warning strike on 12 March. If that doesn&rsquo;t force a change of stance by the company&rsquo;s board, a full strike at all of KW&rsquo;s 16 mines will then commence. 
 
Reportedly, the company&rsquo;s directors are offering a wage hike of 1.5%, while the unions are seeking 6%. In last week&rsquo;s mediated talks, the unions revised their proposal to delay the 6% increase from January to March. Miners are seeking increases in daily subsidies as well. 

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Also locked in wage talks are 40,000 miners at two other state-owned coal servicing and production companies, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Both companies are seeking to impose a wage freeze on miners this year. 
 
Talks with the same unions at JSW will continue on 11 March. But the unions consider KW the lead company, despite the managing board&rsquo;s reluctance to engage in earnest dialogue. In fact, the dispute has become exasperating because management has issued conflicting economic data. 
 
In January, the KW board boasted of significant profits from 2008, but countered that recently by informing the unions about losses. Meanwhile, KW&rsquo;s board members received a 6.9% salary increase for 2009 as part of a procedure in all Ministry of State Treasury enterprises, further inflaming the dispute. 
 
KW&rsquo;s coal production is 47 million tonnes annually, and it holds a 50% market share inside Poland&rsquo;s healthy coal-driven economy.

Miners’ Strike Looms in Poland at Europe’s Biggest Coal Company

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A strike by 190 Turkish paperworkers, members of ICEM affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, against Procter &amp; Gamble is now 16 days old, with little progress made in recent negotiations. The wage dispute began 21 February at a factory in Gebze, just outside of Istanbul, where the American company manufactures paper towels, tissue, and hygiene products, including nappies. 
 
Strikers and supporters held a rally at plant gates on 26 February, where messages of support were read from a number of trade unions from around the world. The ICEM, which generated the support, also lodged a protest with Turkish management of the company. That letter can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0903.Turkey.p&amp;g.pdf">here</a>. 
 
On the day of the manifestation, managers revised upward their wage offer, but not significantly. They also told leaders of T&uuml;mka-İş they were content to allow paper products once marketed from the Gebze plant to originate from expanded Procter &amp; Gamble operations in Poland. 

<img height="132" alt="" src="" width="180" />
Gebze Manifestation, 26 February
A prior two-year labour agreement expired on 31 August 2008. 
 
The wage revision proposal 11 days ago saw the company move its offer from no increase to 2% for the first six months, followed by three increases, separated in six-month segments, of two-thirds the rate of Turkish inflation. The union is seeking an 8% increase for the first six months, and revised its proposal for the remaining three periods to match Turkey&rsquo;s inflation rate. 
 
T&uuml;mka-İş General President Kemal Yilmaz and Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu, a union Executive Committee member who is the central T&uuml;mka-İş leader at the Procter &amp; Gamble plant, expressed gratitude to the family of ICEM trade unions in the Paper and Packaging sector who extended their support at the outset of the strike.

Little Progress Made to Resolve Two-Week Procter &amp; Gamble Strike in Turkey

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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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Miners at Europe&rsquo;s largest coal company, Poland&rsquo;s Kompania Weglowa, are now taking measures that could lead to an early April strike following a 19 March mediation session. Those talks produced little movement in efforts to resolve 2009 wage negotiations. 
 
The state-run company&rsquo;s 65,000 miners at 16 colleries are led by ICEM affiliates NSZZ Solidarność and Kadra, and the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union, with some nine other smaller unions also involved. Miners engaged in a two-hour warning strike at Kompania Weglowa on 12 March. But during the 19 March talks, management&rsquo;s 4.6% wage offer still fell several percentage points short of miners&rsquo; demands. 
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Also locked in wage talks are 40,000 miners at two other state-owned coal servicing and production companies, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Both companies are seeking to impose a wage freeze on miners this year. At JSW, a formal labour dispute was declared on 19 March. 
 
A strike is also a distinct possibility at Poland&rsquo;s copper company, KGHM, after management also proposed a 2009 wage freeze. This dispute, also led by Solidarność, is fueled by management&rsquo;s decision to ignore recommendations made by workers&rsquo; representatives on the company&rsquo;s supervisory board in a 2009-2018 business plan. 
At Kompania Weglowa, management has threatened to lay off 3,000 workers if it was forced to meet the unions&rsquo; wage demands. The two-hour warning strike 11 days ago saw the company&rsquo;s coal output drop by 8,000 metric tonnes. Kompania Weglowa&rsquo;s annual production of coal is 47 million tonnes annually.

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

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Two ICEM Nigerian oil workers&rsquo; affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, are ready to shut down the Niger Delta&rsquo;s oil and gas industry beginning early on Wednesday, 25 March, because of government indifference toward rescinding a plan to deregulate the downstream sector. 
The unions, together with their national labour centres &ndash; the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trades Union Congress &ndash; issued a 21-day strike notice on 3 March following the decision by the Presidential Steering Committee on the Global Financial Crisis to divest the government of its four refineries. The committee&rsquo;s policy announcement also means withdrawing all petroleum subsidies to Nigeria&rsquo;s citizens. 
The industrial action will come in the form of a three-day warning strike. The strike is also aimed at growing insecurity in the Niger Delta region for oil workers, who have become targets of kidnappings. 
According to an action plan drawn up by the unions joint National Executive Council, &ldquo;all operations/ services are to be safely shut down beginning from midnight of 24 March. There should be no gathering of any kind by members during the strike. All members not in field/offshore locations should stay at home during the strike. 
<img height="103" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="95" alt="" src="" width="90" />
&ldquo;Members in field/offshore locations shall bring down the operation within the days and remain at those locations.&rdquo; 
The strike is also in protest to outsourcing of 21 export terminals by the government and a continuing dispute at Conoil-Belbop, a publicly-listed oil and gas exploration company, as well as a marketer of petroleum products. The company has been engaged in blatant union-busting since 2007. 
<img height="90" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Peter Akpatason
Regarding the sell off of the refineries and removal of fuel subsidies, NUPENG President Peter Akpatason argued that &ldquo;the timing of the deregulation is very wrong&rdquo; and it is being proposed at &ldquo;a period when salaries are stagnant and the value of a falling naira is working against Nigerians and would inflict hardship.&rdquo; 
Akpatason added, &ldquo;Our major concern is that we are increasingly seeing a situation where people with little or no knowledge about the petroleum industry are being charged with formulating policies for the sector.&rdquo; 
Former NUPENG General Secretary Frank Ovie Korkori also lent his voice against deregulation. He called the government&rsquo;s plans &ldquo;too simplistic, (too) pedestrian. (If) they deregulate now, you will see free market methodology Nigerian style and I don&rsquo;t support that because you cannot have a limitless or blanket deregulation in any economy.&rdquo; 
<img height="120" alt="" src="" width="80" />
Bayo Olowoshile
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile said protest rallies began simultaneously late last week by oil and gas workers in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Asaba, and the capital city of Abuja in preparation for the warning strike. Today, a final protest rally is scheduled for Abuja. 
In other Nigerian news last week, the Investments and Securities Tribunal granted an interim injunction for a restraining order against the country&rsquo;s Securities and Exchange Commission. The injunction is aimed at preventing the agency from divesting its 60% stake in the former downstream operations of Texaco, now Chevron Nigeria Holdings. The injunction expires 7 April. PENGASSAN is one of several bidders for the downstream operations of the company.

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

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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. 

<img height="122" alt="" src="" width="120" />
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; 

<img height="120" alt="" src="" width="120" />
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

Archive

Serbian Union Preserves Wage Payments for Kosovo Electric Workers

Miners’ Strike Looms in Poland at Europe’s Biggest Coal Company

Little Progress Made to Resolve Two-Week Procter & Gamble Strike in Turkey

ABD'de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

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

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

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

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