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B ridgestone Corp. has defied the Labour Ministry in Argentina by refusing to reinstate 73 sacked workers at a tyre factory in Buenos Aires. The firm circumvented the union contract of ICEM affiliate Sindicato Unico de Trabejadores del Neumatico Argentina (SUTNA) in order to achieve rationalization over a new shift schedule. 
 
Local managers discharged the 73 workers unilaterally in October. Under Article 13 of the labour agreement, a stability clause exists that prevents any reduction in workforce without the consent of the union. SUTNA had hoped to commence bargaining toward an extension of the agreement, but management has refused to negotiate unless the union first agrees not to discuss the firings. 
 
On 5 December, following a hearing by the ministry, an officer ordered the 73 to be brought back to work with back pay. But when a representative of the ministry together with a SUTNA officer and discharged workers attempted to enter the plant the next day, Bridgestone refused entry. 
 
&quot;We call on senior Bridgestone management in both Japan and in the US, where local management in Argentina reports, to intervene and not only adhere to the ruling of the Labour Ministry, but to bargain in good faith with our affiliate,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
&quot;The protocol for the ICEM's Global Union Network of Bridgestone Workers affirms that local problems first should be resolved locally,&quot; continued Higgs. &quot;Due to local management's continued intransigence, this dispute must be taken to the international level and the ICEM intends to give it utmost attention.&quot; 
 
Members of SUTNA at the Buenos Aires factory did stage a six-day strike in October, which officially brought the dispute before the Labour Ministry. The union is also maintaining pickets at the plant, and has promised more strike action in 2004 if the dispute is not resolved. 
 
SUTNA has issued three demands to resolve the dispute: immediate reinstatement of the 73; good faith negotiations by the company with the intention of gaining an extension to the two-year labour agreement; and for Bridgestone to allow access to union officers of the plant, something that local management has consistently denied.

Bridgestone Managers in Argentina Bring Tyre Dispute

O n World AIDS Day, 1 December 2003, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers Unions (ICEM) and its affiliates in partnership with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' (ICFTU) Global Unions HIV/AIDS Campaign recognize the virus as having a devastating impact on the world of work, and call on unions across the world to step forward to educate workers and the public on preventive measures. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM also calls on all nations and global institutions to establish and then channel resources through a single agency that can best tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis on an international basis. 
 
&quot;There is no single, effective body that is responsible for coordinating the many genuine efforts to control and reverse the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the international level,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &quot;Until such a mechanism is in place, the responses from the international community, although welcome, will not achieve maximum effect.&quot; 
 
Higgs said International Finance Institutions, donor countries, donor agencies and inter-governmental bodies must make a commitment to establish a designated body to effectively combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic across the globe. He used as example the United States government's emergency plan to spend US$2.4 billion next year on AIDS projects in 14 countries. Such a pledge, Higgs said, is bi-lateral between the US and each respective country and none of the funding is channeled through any official global agency. &quot;Establishing such a dedicated entity will discourage governments and other donors from selective contributions based on their own interests and will ensure that resources are directed where most needed in a fair and equitable manner. That is the only way to maximize the impact globally,&quot; said Higgs. 
 
ICEM, with 420 affiliated unions in 121 countries, is currently in dialogue with major pharmaceutical companies on providing badly needed anti-retroviral drug treatments to persons living with HIV/AIDS. ICEM is strategically positioned for such a direct role in the HIV/AIDS fight because it not only represents chemical workers in the pharmaceutical industry at major drug-producing firms, but also industrial workers hardest hit by the virus in energy, mining and mineral extraction in developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. 
 
On the ICFTU's Global Unions Campaign, Higgs said ICEM affiliates in Central and South Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean have developed and implemented effective workplace programmes and are engaged on national levels to fight the disease. He cited the innovative initiative of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to forge formal agreements with employers for worksite education and awareness programmes. He also singled out NUM for its role in moving the South African government to a drug treatment and care programme. 
 
In Botswana, ICEM affiliate Mining Workers' Union has been key in getting the government to provide free HIV/AIDS drugs and education to all citizens. And the Pakistan Labour Federation (PLF), another ICEM affiliate, has established both an HIV/AIDS Center in Lahore and a Women's Group with its purpose to create awareness among workers in rural areas. 
 
Senzeni Zokwana, president of the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa, said the ICEM is correct in calling for a central agency to coordinate HIV/AIDS eradication efforts and said the process must be devoid of manipulation. &quot;Countries that do not have the means to afford vaccines must have equal access,&quot; he said. &quot;Developed nations and existing agencies must remain neutral and not allow their policies or politics dictate the way in which this epidemic is fought.&quot; 
 
Haji Muhammad Saeed, and founder and Secretary General of Pakistan Labour Federation, said, &quot;Although HIV/AIDS affects all levels of a population, poverty is in fact a close companion of the virus. The role of trade unions is essential to support and to ensure the rights of workers living with HIV are upheld.&quot; The PLF has also endorsed the ICEM's call for a single agency to coordinate efforts.

ICEM Calls for Coordinated Response to HIV/AIDS Pandemic

A n eight-day strike by ICEM affiliate United Auto Workers (UAW) of America sent a sharp message to French-based Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. that workers in Massachusetts are growing tired of the firm's stall tactics. The strike began on 5 November and ended 13 November. 
 
The 800 UAW-represented workers at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester, Mass., voted the union in as bargaining representative in August 2001. But the company has consistently stalled and delayed efforts to reach a first collective agreement. The only company offers presented would radically reduce terms and conditions of employment. 
 
In the process, Saint-Gobain has committed 15 separate unfair labour practice violations of US federal labour law, including unilaterally reducing workers' health care benefits and bypassing the UAW on workplace health and safety concerns. The strike came a day after workers overwhelmingly voted to reject a take-away contract proposal. 
 
&quot;We had no other choice,&quot; stated Tony Quitadama, a 30-year mechanic at the plant and UAW activist. &quot;We've been bargaining with them for almost two years and just as they threatened they would in trying to defeat the union vote in 2001, they continue to violate the law and make contract proposals that would take us backward not forward.&quot; 
 
&quot;What this company is doing and has done is an absolute travesty and an affront to these hard working people,&quot; said UAW Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler. 
 
The ICEM continues to coordinate international support for the struggle with French unions F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT-FO and F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie Energie FCE-CFDT, both of which represent workers at Saint-Gobain plants in France. The ICEM together with the UAW and US labour federation AFL-CIO has raised a case with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) over Saint-Gobain's clear violations of the OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
The labour organisations brought the case to the OECD's US National Contact Point, the US State Department's Office of Investment, detailing Saint-Gobain's anti-worker practices. The labour unions call for &quot;a prompt and thorough response&quot; by Saint-Gobain and the French National Contact Point to the charges; ask that a meeting be arranged by the French Contact Point with top officials from both Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and the UAW over OECD violations; and sought removal of all company &quot;consultants, attorneys and other advisors responsible for the company's anti-union conduct that is in violation of the OECD Guidelines.&quot; 
 
Saint-Gobain Abrasives, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, manufactures abrasion materials and products used in cutting, shaping and polishing at its Worcester facility.

UAW Members Strike Saint-Gobain in First Contract Dispute

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ICEM&rsquo;s Turkey Coordinating Committee, set up in 2007 by 14 Turkish affiliated trade unions, met in Izmir on 2 November for its annual meeting. The meeting, chaired by Mustafa Kumlu, Committee Chairman and ICEM Executive member, as well as President of the T&uuml;rk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş trade union, was attended by leaders of Turkish unions. The meeting was held just before the ICEM World Materials Conference, jointly hosted by ICEM&rsquo;s two affiliates in that sector, &Ccedil;imse-İş and Kristal-İş. 
 
Kumlu stressed the challenges that the Turkish trade union movement faces, particularly on union recruitment, and praised the ICEM&rsquo;s pro-active efforts in Turkey. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda gave a detailed report on ICEM activities and projects since the last Coordinating Committee meeting, 20 November 2008. Warda&rsquo;s remarks served as a base for discussions on the effects of the global economic and social crisis. 
 
Turkey&rsquo;s leaders reported on the difficulties arising from the crisis in the country.
<img alt="" src="" width="340" height="183" />
ICEM&rsquo;s Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, who worked inside Turkey&rsquo;s trade union movement, reported on ICEM past and future activities in Turkey, and gave special focus to the ICEM and FNV Mondiial Project on Capacity Building for Organising and Social Dialogue, on the campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 176 (the Safety and Health in Mines Convention), and on regional cooperation in the Middle East, Euro-Asia, and Balkans. 
 
A highlight of the committee&rsquo;s proceedings was Turkish trade union leaders welcoming the ICEM World Conference for the Chemical Industries, which will take place in October 2010 in İstanbul, thanks to the formal invitation of Petrol-İş, the Oil, Chemicals, and Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union in the country. 
 
Also at the 2 November meeting, leaders of &Ccedil;imse-İş and Kristal-İş discussed details of the 3-4 November World Conference for the Materials Industries, and two special reports were given by Turkish unions. 
 
Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın, President of Petrol-İş, presented a detailed report on the union&rsquo;s recent organising campaign in Turkey that included a short video. He suggested that this media tool be expanded across Turkey. Commenting on the proposal, ICEM&rsquo;s Warda proposed a special international session for sharing recent organising experiences and campaigns among all the ICEM affiliates. 
 
Bircan Akyıldız, President of T&uuml;rk Enerji-Sen, the Energy, Mine, and Industrial Public Employees&rsquo; Union, who also serves as head of a major public sector confederation, T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen, gave a detailed report on severe conditions that public employees face. 
 
He explained that public-sector workers have no right to collective bargaining, or the right to strike, and this weakens them in their struggle to develop proper protections. Because of that, T&uuml;rkiye Kamu-Sen and KESK, another major public-sector confederation, will jointly organise a one-day strike on 25 November throughout Turkey. The ICEM pledged to support the day-long strike, and will extend its global solidarity to this action, since it has members from both confederations. 
 
The next meeting of the Committee will take place in October 2010 in İstanbul.

Turkish Coordinating Committee Meets; ICEM Pledges Support to 25 November Public-Sector Strike

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ICEM affiliate Sintraelecol reported last week that the union has signed a collective agreement with ISA Transelca for a period from 2009 to 2012. 
 
The triumph for the union brings significant pay rises to the 110 workers, with more than 80% of those workers receiving increases amounting to 10% above inflation. 
 
And perhaps even more significantly, the new agreement brings Contract and Agency Labour staff used by the company into full, direct employment, complete with all the legal protection that full-time employees receive.
<img src="" width="140" height="138" alt="" />
The ICEM commends this achievement by Sintraelecol, which is significant not only because of the improved work conditions achieved for workers in Colombia in the electric sector, but also because Grupo ISA Transelca operates in many neighbouring countries, such as Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador. The hope is that this agreement will serve as an example and precedent for management and unions in those countries to reach similar agreements, and bring contract and agency staff onto the company&rsquo;s books. 
 
The rate of collective bargaining in Colombia is the lowest in the entire Andean region. Trade unionists face anti-union repression from the national government, as well as fear of killed or assaulted while deploying legitimate trade union activity. These facts make the agreement with ISA Transelca all the more commendable. 
 
Also in Colombia, ICEM affiliate Sintravidricol last week reported a victory in forcing Havells Sylvania, a maker of lighting fixtures, to reinstate workers who had been illegally dismissed. Reintegration into the workforce will take place on 17 November. 
 
Sintravidricol issued a statement praising all union members, as well as ICEM Colombia Project Coordinator Carlos Bustos, for their help and solidarity. However, focus and work remains on the company in Bogota, as not all workers who lost their jobs have been reinstated. The ICEM is demanding that those workers are back on their jobs immediately. Send messages of solidarity and support for these employees to the Havells Sylvania management at <a href="mailto:info.co@havells-sylvania.com">info.co@havells-sylvania.com</a>.

Rights Achieved for Contract Workers by Sintraelecol in Colombia

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ICEM&rsquo;s last newsletter, 14 days ago, reported on the end of a strike and the pending payment of a long-awaited pay increase for Peruvian mineworkers at the Marcona mine of Shougang Hierro Per&uacute;. That salary increase had been agreed to in July 2009, through mediation by Peru&rsquo;s Labour Ministry, but never paid, so miners again went on strike for 15 days in October. 
 
However, on 4 November, after resuming work and again being promised July&rsquo;s salary increase, Shougang miners again went on indefinite strike action following the company, yet again, failing to make payments. 
 
This time, the company transported non-striking workers around the mine in illegal and unsafe vehicles, as transport drivers joined miners on strike. Such practices are against both national and regional law in the Ica District of southern Peru, and coupled with failure to pay the negotiated and agreed-to salaries, depicts a multinational metals company, albeit state-owned, exhibiting contempt for Peruvian law and its workers.
<img src="" width="120" height="83" alt="" />
The ICEM affiliate in Peru, the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP), last week called upon Labour Minister Manuela Garc&iacute;a Cochagne to act and deal harshly with the latest illegalities of Shougang Hierro. The Chinese company has been mining iron ore near the town of San Juan de Marcona since its 1993 purchase from the state. Since then, the union says that Shougang has only poverty levels in the area, and has blocked local residents from owning land. 
 
Elsewhere in Peru&rsquo;s mining industry, the Ministry of Labour is attempting to avoid a strike at the Los Quenuales zinc mine, owned by the Swiss transnational Glencore. The dispute there runs consistent with many stories from around the world; Glencore is using the current global economic crisis to renege on a prior salary agreement for some 1,800 workers. The weekly raise that the Swiss holding company refuses to pay is 2 Peruvian Soles per week, the equivalent to US$0.68.
<img src="" width="160" height="120" alt="" />
FNTMMSP Gen. Sec. Luis Castillo Carlos&nbsp;
The branch union at Los Quenales represents workers also from contract companies operating at Los Quenuales. The union has been attempting to negotiate with management since 15 October, with no positive results. FNTMMSP General Secretary Luis Castillo Carlos has been negotiating on behalf of the workers. 
 
A collective of multinationals face another Peruvian dispute at the Antamina copper and zinc mine. Antamina is controlled by BHP Billiton and Xstrata (33.75% each), with Teck Cominco of Canada and Mitsubishi of Japan holding smaller stakes. Management of one of South America&rsquo;s largest copper/zinc mines is offering no pay increase, while FNTMMSP is seeking a raise of living wage each day. Negotiations will continue on 17 November, and if they fail, a strike mandate could be in order.

Chinese Mine Firm Shougang Hierro Perú Again Reneges on Salary Hike

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
State-owned Solid Energy of New Zealand once again has to pay the price for actions of coal-mining sub-contractors. Following a short &ldquo;go-slow&rdquo; job action at Solid Energy&rsquo;s Rotowaro colliery on the North Island in protest over eight months of stalled bargaining, contractor RWE Mining locked 160 workers &ndash; members of Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) &ndash; off their jobs on 27 October. 
 
That caused 120 other EPMU members at the nearby Huntly East coal mine, also without a current agreement, to strike in sympathy. On 2 November, at Solid Energy&rsquo;s Stockton mine complex on the South Island, 500 EPMU members went on strike, partly in sympathy and partly over their own grievances over a new shift roster imposed by contractor Downer EDI Mining of Australia, originally a New Zealand company. 
 
The next day, 120 miners at the Spring Creek mine, also on the South Island, struck, meaning 900 miners in New Zealand have downed tools, shutting the nation&rsquo;s coal industry. The miners had been bargaining through EPMU with Solid Energy and its contractors under a Multi-Employer Collective Agreement, which expired on 31 March 2009. The different mines also have individual agreements related to work rules, however.
<img src="" width="160" height="153" alt="" />
At Rotowaro, where coal deposits will start to be exhausted by late next year, workers became frustrated with RWE Mining stalling on adequate redundancy provisions, as well as remuneration for going to a 24-hour, seven-day operation that sparked the &ldquo;go-slow&rdquo; action. The dispute was inflamed there when Solid and HWE consulted on pay and working conditions without involving the EPMU&rsquo;s bargaining unit. 
 
On the South Island, shift rosters and remuneration also are serious issues. 
 
RWE Mining is part of Leighton Contractors of Australia, while Downer EDI is a major engineering, infrastructure, and mining contractor based in Sydney. In 2007, again after a contract expiration, HWE Mining locked out EPMU miners at Huntly Rotowaro, causing a wave of sympathy strikes at Solid Energy&rsquo;s other collieries. 
 
The current dispute was intensified last week when Solid Energy began running advertisements calling the EPMU irresponsible and encouraging miners to return to work. The state company said it would not return to bargaining until the strikes ended, and also threatened job cuts if the strikes continue. 
 
&ldquo;Solid Energy is out of touch with its workers,&rdquo; stated EPMU Assistant National Secretary Ged O&rsquo;Connell. &ldquo;The company needs to realize that this strike action is a result of their behaviour towards their workers and all of their workers will stand up together to fight it.&rdquo; 
 
EPMU mine leaders from all the sites will meet today to determine their next steps in the dispute.

Contractors at State-Run Coal Mines Bring National Strikes to New Zealand

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As a priority, the ICEM has been building union networks within major multinational companies and sectors at global, regional, and national levels. These networks engage in exchange of information and experiences, organizing strategies, occupational health/safety, as well as building cross-border trade union solidarity through joint actions and campaigns. 
 
Some networks have provided valuable social dialogue lessons, with participation by various managements of companies. This is particularly the case in Latin America, where ICEM-affiliated unions have established a number of workers&rsquo; networks, with several of them operating quite well. 
 
With this, the ICEM held a 9-10 November conference called &ldquo;Latin American Regional Company Networks in the Chemical Industry&rdquo; in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil with the support of the German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES). The main objective was to make an evaluation on activities, and to harmonise and coordinate the activities of these networks.
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="173" />
FES Workshop in&nbsp;S&atilde;o Paulo last week
In communication with the Latin American affiliates, ten multinational companies were included, namely Bayer, BASF, Akzo Nobel, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, Lanxess, Solvay, Dupont, Dow Chemicals, and Bunge. 
 
Chaired by ICEM Latin America/Caribbean Regional Vice President S&eacute;rgio Novais, some 70 trade union representatives attended the two-day meetings from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru. The conference also welcomed Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer; Michael Wolters, International Secretary of Germany&rsquo;s IGBCE; Isidor Boix, International Secretary of Spain&rsquo;s FITEQA-CC.OO; Kent Holsing, a local union president of the United Steelworkers (USW) in the US; Brian Finnegan of the US Solidarity Centre; and Fons Welters, Chairman of the Works Council of Akzo Nobel, representing FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands. 
 
Participants received solidarity messages from Belgian Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale, French FCE-CFDT, and Switzerland&rsquo;s UNIA. 
 
&quot;Our confederation supports and encourages conferences like this, because this is fundamental to strengthening our activities around multinationals,&rdquo; said Silvan Antonio Oliveira, president of CNTQ, the National Confederation of Chemical Workers of Brazil. &ldquo;Through these kinds of events, we know these companies better and we have a full explanation of the problems that affect workers in the industry.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan made two presentations, &ldquo;The Global Chemical Industry&rsquo;s Main Developments and Global Challenges, &ldquo; and &ldquo;Global Dimension of Labour Relations Through International Mechanisms &ndash; Social Dialogue, Global Agreements, and Workers&rsquo; Networks.&rdquo; 
 
Later, BASF and Repsol were examined as successful examples of regional network and social dialogue, while Bayer, Akzo Nobel, and Solvay were presented as successful examples of national networks. 
 
On 11-12 November, six different networks, including BASF, Bayer, Lanxess, Akzo Nobel, Solvay, and Dow Chemicals met individually and discussed how to move forward successfully. The ICEM was also represented in these individual meetings through &Ouml;zkan. 
 
Related to US-based Dow Chemicals, both For&ccedil;a Sindical and CUT unions of Brazil, the Argentine unions, and the USW shared their learning experiences from the ICEM seminar, and agreed to compile the contributions into a DOW network bulletin within the next 30 days. The Solidarity Centre agreed to support another meeting of the present members of the network in the first quarter of 2010. 
 
On Belgium-based Solvay, this meeting thanked the ICEM for making possible the conference which did much to improve communication and exchange of information necessary for the expansion of the network in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. 
 
The follow-up 11-12 November sessions served to evaluate recent activities, as well as to analyze the challenges that will be faced in 2010 regarding expanding the network and pursuing social dialogue with managements. 
 
For BASF, the final meeting discussed deeply the actions needed to promote decent work for contract employees. This network is completing a survey on Contract and Agency Labour in Latin America that will enable participating organisations to identify problems and promote decent work. The parties have major differences on how to use new technologies, such as the internet during work hours, and BASF has been neglecting to involve workers&rsquo; representatives in this process. The network will invite management of BASF to accompany workers on a visit to BASF Colombia, scheduled for March 2010, and also report on how BASF workers in Peru are creating a union there.

Social Dialogue, Networks In Latin American Chemicals Focus of FES Workshops

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
With the Canadian winter already set in and four long months already on picket lines, 3,000 striking members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, remain upbeat. Their fight to retain living standards and working conditions opposite an interloping landlord, Vale of Brazil, has turned into a test of wills between a profitable multinational and working-class Canadians. 
 
This match-up pits Vale, intent on taking much more than just rich nickel reserves from Canadian soil, against miners and metalworkers, who together with their families see now experience unique fusion through their union in protecting their livelihoods. 
 
Strikers here, as well as 500 other striking steelworkers at Port Colborne, Ontario, and Goose Bay and Voiseys Bay, Labrador, know now their walkouts will last through the long Canadian winter. They know by Vale&rsquo;s reticence to return to bargaining, by the firm&rsquo;s secretive and intimidating posture to resume production, and by the fact that global nickel prices have not risen &ndash; following the collapse &ndash; to levels that will further maximize Vale&rsquo;s profits.
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="131" />
&nbsp;USW Local 6500 President John Fera 
 

So they&rsquo;ve prepared for a long winter without pay checks. While teams of strikers fan out across the world to spread a message of corporate greed, Local 6500 President John Fera remains in Sudbury and tends to what is necessary &ndash; nurturing unity and fraternity, and waging the fight against Vale on the local front, a relentless task considering company assaults on picket lines and in courtrooms. 
 
&ldquo;Everyone here knows what this fight is about,&rdquo; Fera told the ICEM. &ldquo;Every worker on strike is fully engaged and every family member knows what is at stake for this community. And that is a credit to the Steelworkers union.&rdquo; 
 
He then ticks off an ever-expanding list of local actions, activities, and self-help programmes that USW Local 6500 is engaged in through its newly-built union hall. Strikers receive C$200-a-week in strike benefits from the international union. That is supplemented by a big food bank, a special-needs fund, as well as social service professionals on duty &ndash; all operated out of a union hall that was rebuilt from a costly fire 14 months ago. 
 
Local 6500 continues to launch activities on a weekly basis, including a &ldquo;coats-for-kids&rdquo; drive, in which donations from unions, organizations, and individuals will fund new winter wear. A recent &ldquo;Family Day&rdquo; on picket lines underscores what Fera speaks of. The union also will sponsor several Christmas events to forge even greater cohesion.
<img alt="" src="" width="260" height="103" />
Union Meetings Produce Huge Turnouts
As testament to this unity is that not one striker has crossed picket lines to return to work since the strike began on 13 July. 
 
While dozens of striking steelworkers have taken the strike to Vale worksites and Vale showcase events on four continents, hundreds other Sudbury activists have been just as active at home. They have protested at Vale offices in Toronto, at provincial offices, and against a national Tory government that has turned a deaf ear to the Investment Canada Act, a law that is meant to protect Canadian jobs and resources when non-Canadian enterprises take over. 
 
Sudbury strikers have also taken the fight to Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement, a Conservative who at the outset of the strike said the Sudbury region would be a &ldquo;valley of death&rdquo; had it not been for Vale buying Canadian-based Inco in 2006. 
 
Now, as a fading day&rsquo;s light turns rapidly to another winter night, the only semblance of death is on picket lines with Vale&rsquo;s black-suited security guards trying to prod strikers into violent acts for the sake of cameras and the courtroom. Since early October, the company has feigned start-up of production. But there has been no real output, only Vale&rsquo;s false tricks to psychologically intimidate workers. 
 
The company has manipulated unionised administrative and technical workers, who remain on the job with a working labour agreement, to begin training for production. Fera says maybe 50 out of 450 such workers might be doing Local 6500 work, adding that three of the six mines might have limited activity. Workers and non-union personnel are also active in a nickel refinery, but there is no activity inside the huge, 100,000-metric-tonne-per-year smelter. 
 
&ldquo;The company wants us to believe that one shipment has gone out from the Clarabelle refinery, but our sources in transportation say this is not true,&rdquo; Fera said.
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="142" />
From left: USW Local 6500's Nick Larochelle; Andi Karman, President of FSP-KEP Soroako; and Local 6500's Tim Kiley in Indonesia&nbsp;
Meanwhile, trade union activity across the world continues. Last month, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) joined the campaign to press Vale for a fair collective agreement in Canada. Today, in Seoul, Korea, the ICEM and IMF facilitated two Canadian strikers in a public &ldquo;head-shaving&rdquo; protest in front of Vale offices in Seoul. 
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34Af4nT7mw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34Af4nT7mw</a> 
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="179" />
Canadian USW members at head-shaving today in Seoul: Doug Olthuis, Nick Larouche, and Tim Kiley&nbsp;
The protest today was also brought before Korea Zinc, a company whose subsidiary &ndash; Korea Nickel Corp. &ndash; is 25% owned by Vale. In a letter to CEO and Chairman Chang Keun Choi, USW President Leo Gerard, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, and IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina, said: We request &ldquo;that you contact Vale and demand that they treat workers fairly around the globe, including by returning to the bargaining table in Canada and ceasing to use replacement workers.&rdquo; 
 
The letter requested that Korea Zinc &ldquo;refrain from the purchase, receipt, or processing of nickel and nickel products produced in Canadian facilities where members of the USW are on strike.&rdquo;
<img alt="" src="" width="280" height="139" />
Manifestation in Seoul, Korea, today, 16 November
Thirty Korean activists turned out today for the manifestation outside of the office tower housing Vale, including all three&nbsp;ICEM Korean&nbsp;trade union affiliates, and eight of their officers.&nbsp; 
 
The same team of Canadian strikers now in Korea &ndash; Nick Larochelle, Tim Kiley, along with the USW&rsquo;s Doug Olthuis, and Brazilian CNM-CUT Metalworkers&rsquo; General Secretary Sergio Guerra &ndash; accompanied the ICEM and Indonesia Chemicals, Energy, Gas, and Mining affiliate, FSP-KEP, and its President D. Patombong Sjaiful, to Vale&rsquo;s remote PT Indonesia Nickel Corp. at Soarako, Sulawesi. The delegation attempted to meet with miners there, themselves victimized by Vale&rsquo;s corporate policies. 
 
The unions produced a joint statement. It can be seen <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/3495-Joint-Statement-of-Vale-Unions-from-Soroako">here</a>. 
 
In Brazil, a team of strikers from Canada, including those from both Ontario and Newfoundland/Labrador, were inside during a Vale investors meeting in Rio de Janeiro, raising questions related to the company&rsquo;s social responsibilities. They also are meeting with politicians, civil society groups, and will address worker delegate assemblies of trade unions representing Vale miners and metalworkers, who are themselves considering ratification of tentative collective agreements with Vale in Brazil. 
 
A week ago in the UK, a team of USW members joined top leaders of Unite the Union in a protest in front of Deutsche Bank in the City of London, while Vale was inside giving a report on its performance in global metals market. 
 
In addition, LabourStart, the trade union activists&rsquo; portal to the global union movement, began an on-line protest against Vale two weeks ago. To lodge a protest with Vale in Brazil on its maltreatment of Canadian workers and there families, click <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=595">here</a>. 
 
And back in Sudbury, all the latest strike activity by Local 6500, and Local 6200 in Port Colborne and Local 9508 in the Canadian maritime province, can be accessed by visiting the union&rsquo;s excellent website, <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca/">here</a>.

Miners Dig In: Steelworkers Ready Nickel Strike for Long Canadian Winter

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The fruits of the ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour campaign were revealed last week when the first sub-contracting company at massive Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n recognized a newly-formed union. Chaneme Comercial S.A., a mechanical maintenance contractor, has recognized the trade union Sintracheneme, and with the assistance of ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarb&ograve;n, is currently negotiating a first collective agreement for 300 maintenance contract workers. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM salutes the leaders and dedicated union members of Sintracarb&ograve;n,&rdquo; said General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Through their diligence, and the diligence of Project Coordinator Carlos Bustos, they made this possible. History has been made at one of the world&rsquo;s largest coal mines.&rdquo; 

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Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, equally owned by BHP Billiton, AngloAmerican, and Xstrata, employs some 3,500 miners, who are represented by Sintracarb&ograve;n. But another 4,000 workers at the sprawling mine pits in La Guajira state are employed by contract workers. 
 
This past summer, Sintracarb&ograve;n assisted 150 drivers with union organization, but that employer, SOTRANS, has refused to consider the transport workers&rsquo; demands or recognise their union, Sintrans. (See that story <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3290-Sintracarbón-Seeks-Unionisation-for-Subcontractor-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia">here</a>) The ICEM has taken the matter up with the parent companies of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n. 
 
But with Chaneme Comercial, however, talks are now underway regarding work conditions at Cerrej&oacute;n, education allowances for both workers and their children, and on community development. Chaneme employs another 400 maintenance mechanics in other mines of northern Colombia. 

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Jaime Deluquez, centre, with Jes&uacute;s Brochero and Jos&eacute; Nicol&aacute;s Brito Mendoza
Workers of Chaneme repair and maintain the massive 240-tonne and 320-tonne trucks, as well as doing the same for the heavy digging equipment that inhabits the eight open cast mines of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n. 
 
&ldquo;This is an important precedent here and more important is that we reach an amiable and effective collective agreement,&rdquo; said Jaime Deluquez of Sintracarb&ograve;n, who together with Edilberto Contreras of national labour center CUT has been assigned to assist the bargaining committee from Sintracheneme in reaching a first labour agreement. 
 
That accomplishment may be only days away, since the employer &ndash; unlike SOTRANS &ndash; has displayed a willingness to reach terms.

Metal Maintenance Contractor Recognises Union in Colombia’s Cerrejón Coal Pits

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