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<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Rather than bargain in good faith, Caterpillar&rsquo;s Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) dropped a bombshell 3 February on locked-out Canadian workers: the company announced it was closing its train locomotive plant in London, Ontario. The US-based heavy equipment maker now leaves no doubt that it was playing a vile game of economic blackmail through collective negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers&rsquo; (CAW) union. 
 
The announced shutdown comes five weeks after Caterpillar&rsquo;s Progress Rail Services, the corporate entity of EMD, locked out 465 CAW Local 27 members after trying to slice their pay to C$16.50-per-hour from C$34 in collective bargaining. EMD also sought to eliminate a defined benefit pension plan and reduce overtime pay and holiday time. 
 
Friday&rsquo;s announcement comes only 18 months after Caterpillar bought the plant and was awarded C$5 million in tax breaks from the Canadian government to promote industrial development. 
<img alt="" src="" width="156" height="159" />
Ken Lewenza
&ldquo;Caterpillar had no intention of keeping this plant open,&rdquo; said CAW President Ken Lewenza. &ldquo;From day one, we believed that Caterpillar was trying to provoke a crisis, by forcing deep cuts that were not possible.&rdquo; 
 
This sting to Canada&rsquo;s industrial base comes seven days after Caterpillar reported record annual reports of US$4.9 billion in 2011, an 83% jump over 2010 earnings of US$2.7 billion. The closure announcement also came a day before Progress Rail Services was to hold a jobs fair in Muncie, Indiana, where the company opened a similar diesel locomotive plant in October 2011 and is now one-third toward a staffing level of 650. 
 
Average salaries in the start-up Muncie plant range from US$12-16-per-hour. (See prior <a href="/en/27-North-America/4823-CAW-Members-Victimized-in-Lockout-by-Caterpillar-s-Rail-Division">ICEM report</a> on this dispute.) On 1 February, Indiana became the first US state since 2001 to adopt a right-to-work (for less) law, meaning companies and trade unions are forbidden from entering into union security clauses in collective agreements. This means workers have the choice whether or not to pay union fees, yet are entitled to representation if their workplace has union certification. 
 
Caterpillar lobbied the Indiana state legislature ardently for passage and in full likelihood will zealously resist unionisation of the Muncie facility, a former ABB manufacturing site. This comes amidst Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman enjoying 2011 salary and perks of US$10 million, while his company was out to gouge C$30 million from the 465 CAW members in London. 
 
In Caterpillar&rsquo;s announcement to close the 62-year-old Ontario plant, it cited London&rsquo;s cost structure and the fact that assembly of locomotives will be shifted to plants in North and South America. Besides Muncie, EMD operates locomotive diesel plants in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais state, Brazil; Sahag&uacute;n, Hidalgo state, Mexico; and in the US city of LaGrange, Illinois, where members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) continue to work without a current collective agreement. 
 
The 1 January lockout and forthcoming plant closure in London has been met with complete indifference by the Tory-led Canadian federal government of Stephen Harper, as well as the Liberal Ontario provincial government of Dalton McGuinty. Only three days before the closure announcement and a month into this extortionist lockout, McGuinty urged EMD to return to the bargaining table. &ldquo;So far the owners of Electro-Motive have failed to live up to Ontarians expectations,&rdquo; he said in a speech to the London Chamber of Commerce. 
 
Within days, his words became hollow. The CAW&rsquo;s Lewenza pointed at government inaction and stated these job losses are casualties of an outdated and dysfunctional Investment Canada Act that attaches no commitment between Canadian jobs and corporate takeovers. 
 
&ldquo;The Stephen Harper government is entirely in the pocket of the corporate elite,&rdquo; Lewenza said. &ldquo;I am disgusted at this government and its indifference towards the suffering of workers and the unemployed.&rdquo;

Raging Insult to Final Injury: Caterpillar to Close Canadian Train Locomotive Plant

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The start of 2012 has seen deadly circumstances facing Colombian trade unionists deteriorate even further. The leadership of ICEM-affiliated Sintraelecol, the Electric Power Workers&rsquo; Union, is now being systematically threatened. 
 
Sintraelecol leaders Marcelino Jos&eacute; L&oacute;pez Perez and Danuil G&oacute;mez Perez have escaped harm in three attempts on their lives in a period of six weeks, from 19 December, in the Northern city of Monter&iacute;a C&oacute;rdoba. The only way to ensure their safety is to arrange for them to leave the country, since no protection is offered by the authorities or by the employer. 
 
The ICEM is currently working on their exit. 
<img alt="" src="" width="131" height="122" />
Danuil G&oacute;mez Perez
Martin Porto and Walberto Figueroa are other Sintraelecol leaders working at Electricaribe, a subsidiary of Spanish energy provider Gas Natural, who have received death threats. The four trade unionists believe that the threats and attacks are directly related to their union activities. 
 
In the latest attempted murder on 1 February, hit men on motorbikes armed with revolvers approached the car of Marcelino L&oacute;pez while he was visiting an infirmed co-worker at his home. Fortunately for L&oacute;pez, he was not in the car at the moment of attack and his bodyguards managed to apprehend one of the thugs, taking him immediately to police. 
 
Sintraelecol has condemned the lack of urgency by the authorities and the National Protection Unit of the Interior Ministry&rsquo;s Human Rights Office in assessing the risk facing its leaders. And the ICEM has also. The investigation is still in the evaluation phase. 
 
Even full-time bodyguards cannot ensure safety for Sintraelecol&rsquo;s leaders, however. The ICEM is pursuing other avenues to ensure assassinations do not occur. Local management has failed to relocate Marcelino L&oacute;pez and Danuil G&oacute;mez to Bogota for their safety, although they are contractually obliged to do so in these circumstances. 
 
See a <a href="http://vimeo.com/27211869">moving documentary</a> into the effects of a culture of murders with impunity in Colombia, in Spanish.&nbsp;

Sintraelecol Leaders Targeted, ICEM Demands Colombia, Employer Give Protection

<img alt="" height="59" src="" width="120" />

	Tuluy Kalyoncu, the President of ICEM affiliate Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers&rsquo; Trade Union, or EL-SEN, easily admits it: without the ironclad clenched collective fist of each and every one of his union&rsquo;s 600 members, the state-run electric company, KIB-TEK, would be on unimpeded course straight into the hands of a private-sector generating company favorable to Ankara.

	And with that, so would a number of other state-owned enterprises in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus become pawns to the profiteers. EL-SEN, together with its national labour centre, T&Uuml;RK-SEN, deploying both fortitude and strategic vision, are clearly leading a growing mass movement in Northern Cyprus that includes opposition political parties, NGOs and most other unions.

	A sampling of that mass movement took place when many of those groups held a first-step manifestation in Lefkoşa on 30 January. This action was tame, but unless the ruling government retreats from Turkey&rsquo;s neo-liberal agenda, upcoming street actions will be powerful and ever more demanding.

	<img alt="" height="161" src="" width="224" />

	EL-SEN Leaders at 30 January Manifestation

	The EL-SEN and T&Uuml;RK-SEN leadership of this movement was vividly seen in a series of events that began 19 January with a paralyzing strike that shut the electric grid, except for parts that the union and its members deemed life-essential. And that was then reflected in government&rsquo;s retreat, albeit temporarily, when it published in its official gazette a union-submitted restructuring plan for KIB-TEK.

	That restructuring calls for a board of directors that is fully autonomous from the government, and one that will take decisive action to make KIB-TEK feasibly sound. EL-SEN objects to all government departments, agencies, and quasi-public institutions receiving free electrical power from KIB-TEK, for instance.

	The government&rsquo;s publication of the union&rsquo;s restructuring plan came five days after it declared the strike illegal and four days after EL-SEN did quit the strike, but continued a work stoppage through civil disobedience. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4849-Northern-Cyprus-Imports-Scabs-to-Break-Electric-Utility-Work-Stoppage">ICEM news article</a> here.) It also came after the union received broad support, including remarkable solidarity from the Free Pancyprian Union of Electricity Authority Employees (FPUEAE) on the Greek side of the island, who made sure no power from the south was exported northward.

	But the struggle is far from over. The ruling government still has a draft bill before the Northern Cypriot Parliament to push ahead with privatisation. EL-SEN has put forth a different legislative proposal that would keep the utility in state hands and restructure it into a viable, low-cost energy provider that benefits all citizens of Northern Cyprus.

	EL-SEN leadership and Prime Minister İrsen K&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k and his team will meet this week to discuss this alternative legislation. Most importantly, a plan must come forward to make the ill-managed company solvent.

	&ldquo;Our struggle is now with the strength of our membership,&rdquo; said EL-SEN President Kalyoncu. &ldquo;We have proven that 600 workers can stand and resist a political decision,&rdquo; adding that resilient vigilance has now taken hold by El-SEN union members and it must resonate with all citizens of Northern Cyprus.

El-SEN Draws Cypriot Government into Electric Privatisation Stalemate

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	Oswell Munyenyembe, the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ) President since November 2011, was killed in an automobile crash on the Kitwe-Ndola motorway on 7 February in the southern African nation. The ICEM mourns his passing and recognises Brother Munyenyembe&rsquo;s long service to the MUZ, and expresses deep condolences to the MUZ in this difficult time.

	He was 59.

	His funeral was held in Mufulira on 11 February. Zambia President Michael Sata said the &ldquo;sudden loss is already being felt by both the employees and the management in our robust mining sector.&rdquo; Sata called his &ldquo;bravery, courage and maturity even in crucial moments &hellip; peerless.&rdquo;

	The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMSW) President Mundia Sikufele urged Zambia&rsquo;s labour movement to stop and reflect on the death. MUZ General Secretary Chishimba Nkole said the death leaves a big gap in one of the nation&rsquo;s oldest unions and he urged mourners to look after his children and widow.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 194px;height: 160px" width="390">&nbsp;

	Oswell Munyenyembe

	Munyenyembe is survived by six children and his wife Charity. Born in Muyombe in 1954, he did his secondary education in Malawi and studied architecture at Zambia Institute of Technology, now called Copperbelt University. Munyenyembe worked as a draftsman for the then Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), and continued his union activism while working at Mopani Copper.

	He held various positions in the MUZ for the past 24 years, including one short period previously as president, and since 2006 served as general secretary. He started in 1988 as a shop steward for the MUZ Butondo branch at ZCCM and became chairman for the MUZ Mufulira branch in 1990. He won election unopposed as President of MUZ on 4 November 2011.

	Oswell Munyenyembe was a passenger in a Toyota Prada that was operated by his driver when the vehicle lost control and overturned. He died enroute to the Wusakile Hospital in Kitwe.&nbsp;

MUZ President Oswell Munyenyembe: 1954-2012

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	from IMF

	From Seoul to Pretoria, Geneva to Mexico City, unions are taking joint action during the week of 19-25 February 19-25 to urge the government of Mexico to stop its attack on independent trade unions and freedom of association.

	International mobilizations kicked off in the main square of Mexico City on 19 February, in remembrance of 65 miners who died in the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion on that date six years ago. On 21 February, actions took place in Mexico, Geneva and London.

	And the United Steelworkers (USW) used the eve of the Week of Action to again condemn the actions of Canadian mining company Excellon for its damaging behaviour in Mexico.&nbsp;Excellon&rsquo;s only Mexican operation, the Platosa mine, brings problems for workers, landowners, and the environment.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 227px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The Tri-National Solidarity Alliance, which joins unions from Canada, Mexico and the US held a meeting of Solidarity at the headquarters of the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) in Mexico City.&nbsp; Speakers at the event, including IMF Executive Committee member and exiled leader of the National Union of Miners and Metal Workers of Mexico (SNTMMRM) Napole&oacute;nG&oacute;mez (via video conference), denounced the Mexican government&rsquo;s attacks on fundamental workers&rsquo; rights and called for the implementation of ILO recommendations adopted by the Governing Body in March 2011.

	In Switzerland, a group of 20 ICEM, IMF, UNI and IUF activists held a small action outside of the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the UN in Geneva. Manfred Warda, Jyrki Raina, Philip Jennings, Fernando Lopes, Kemal &Ouml;zkan met with Mr. Juan Jos&eacute; G&oacute;mez Camacho, Ambassador to the Mexico mission.

	Discussions between the Norwegian Foreign Ministry and trade union Fellesforbundet are underway ahead of a planned visit to Mexico by the Foreign Ministry later this month. The union has been briefing Norway&rsquo;s government on the issue of Protection Contracts in Mexico and the ongoing attacks on fundamental worker freedoms.

	Mexico&rsquo;s Embassy in London met with a delegation from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and unions Unite and GMB, and Amnesty International and the Southern and Eastern Regional TUC on 21 February. Similar actions are planned for major cities in the US, including Chicago, Tucson, Boston and Denver, and in Korea, Pakistan, South Africa and Canada.

	Unions around the world are also supporting the global action by sending protest letter to the Mexican government in care of their respective embassies and consulates.

	For more information go to: <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012">www.imfmetal.org/Mexico2012</a>

Week of Action Again Shines on Mexico’s Trade Union Abuses

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Job security and job creation was the foundation behind a new two-year national labour agreement between social partners in Denmark. That came together in marathon bargaining over the weekend, 11-12 February, in framework talks for 240,000 Danish manufacturing workers and 6,000 enterprises, the latter represented by Dansk Industri.

	The trade unions, led by the eight making up Co-Industri, including 3F, Dansk Metal and HK/Pivat, in concert with the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), set an agenda of wage moderation, instead focusing on winning excellent and precedent-setting job preservation protections such as training, seniority, and reduced work hours at full pay for both old and young workers.

	This industrial social accord now establishes the parameters for other work sectors. The agreement will run from 1 March 2012 to 1 March 2014. The national industrial agreement did establish minimum wage guideposts, but exact wage increases will now be negotiated at local levels and inside company agreements.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 58px;height: 57px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The framework agreement grants training at full pay with business downturns and when reductions in work time occur, and it also allows older workers to reduce their working time within five years of retirement by continuing their income levels through salaries and partial pension benefits. Workers will also have the option to tap into current pension plans as a supplement to salaries.

	A key element in the new agreement is an additional &euro;.05-per-hour worked will be added to the national Industrial Training fund.

	Employee discretion in taking training options increases from two weeks to six weeks, in some cases, and full seniority is granted to workers when they are called back from lay-offs within nine months. Previously, it was six months. As well, paid sick leave occurs after six months on a job rather than the previous nine months.

	The new pact is also kinder to lower-income earners and gives better pay-outs when such workers are laid off. Parental leave was made more flexible and added pension accrual was put in place for weekend, holiday or extra work performed.

	The recommended minimum wage increase is &euro;.18-per-hour effective 1 March, and the same amount again on 1 March 2013. A pay supplement of 1.4% each year is available for performing difficult work, and apprentices, trainees and interns will get a 2.25% pay hike in each year.

	The bargaining, which began in early January, nearly reached dispute when HK/Privat , the Commercial and Clerical Workers&rsquo; Union, sought to drop the 50% benchmark regarding number of staff needed before a collective agreement takes effect. A compromise was struck that gives employers the opportunity to sign labour agreements without the 50% threshold and HK/Privat coverage also was expanded to include administrative staff working as trainees and college students.

	The agreement was widely praised in Denmark as the necessary building block to restore some 80,000 industrial and manufacturing jobs that have been lost in the country since the onset of the financial crisis.

Danish Industrial Contract Gives Job Security Prime Seating

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="100" />

	Locked-out members of Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos &nbsp;d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490, the United Steelworkers (USW), took their fight against Rio Tinto Alcan to Qu&eacute;bec&rsquo;s largest city, last Friday, 17 February, where Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; was part of a spurious forum on youth in employment, sponsored by the Board of Trade Metropolitan Montr&eacute;al.

	Some 200 of 780 metalworkers from Alcan&rsquo;s Alma aluminium smelter in the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean region, Qu&eacute;bec, boarded buses and travelled 460 kilometres to Montr&eacute;al for a noisy protest at this business luncheon, their first manifestation away from the 488,000-tonne-per-year smelter. They were joined by another 100 steelworkers from Montr&eacute;al, and some 100 college students who joined the USW rally in mocking protest to a future of youth theme that now sees business teaming with the Liberal provincial government of Qu&eacute;bec to raise their university tuition fees.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 248px;height: 161px" width="248" />

	17 February Manifestation, Montr&eacute;al

	This &ldquo;Hot Issues@Lunch&rdquo; theme was billed to &ldquo;foster the success of the next generation of Qu&eacute;becers.&rdquo; &nbsp;&nbsp;The Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos d&rsquo;Alma found deep irony in Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; participating, since Alcan in Alma is using a lock-out to replace C$36-an-hour permanent jobs with outsourced and presumably younger workers at C$16-an-hour.

	C&ocirc;t&eacute; was not expected to address the lockout at the hot-plate lunch, but when pressed by reporters on the sidelines, she called the dispute a &ldquo;regional issue&rdquo; and &ldquo;it will be settled in Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean&rdquo; by managers who &ldquo;have my full confidence.&rdquo;

	Earlier last week, when the lockout entered week seven and with the remote mining and manufacturing region starting to feel the economic effects of a lost wage base, one such manager told Reuters he &ldquo;wouldn&rsquo;t put a timeline to (talks restarting) right now because nothing is scheduled.&rdquo;

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 199px;height: 159px" width="199" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Dan Roy and Marc Maltais

	foto: France Paradis/Le-Lac-St-Jean

	With aluminium prices hovering now at very low, the Alma lockout serves as a convenient strategy to restrict supply to lift prices. It also fits Rio Tinto&rsquo;s strategy of divesting and devaluing Alcan by C$8.9 billion in view of its US$39 billion purchase of the Canadian company in 2007, although the modern and high-tech tooled Alma smelter, with its low-cost hydroelectric supply, will not likely be jettisoned.

	Perhaps this should have been a more apt business theme to the Board of Trade elite last week, and it certainly best explains the anger of metalworkers and students alike gathered on the other side of the barricades. In this vein &ndash; with Rio Tinto&rsquo;s share price dropping &ndash; it is worth mentioning that C&ocirc;t&eacute; herself exhibited a timely corporate mentality last week by shedding 3,671 shares of Rio Tinto to pocket US$213,500, money not likely to find its way to Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean.

	USW District Five Director Daniel Roy addressed the disparity between full-time, family-supporting jobs in the region to the sub-contract and lower-wage jobs that Rio Tinto is trying create with the. &ldquo;Accepting this would cause a dramatic downward spiral not only for the workers but for members of the community, which would see income, local business sales and tax revenues drop precipitously.&rdquo;

	USW Local 9490 President Marc Maltais added, &ldquo;By using subcontractors to do the work of union members, we are asked to concede on behalf of future generations. This is an attack on our children and grandchildren.&rdquo;

	The buses departed Montr&eacute;al late on Friday afternoon for the return trip to Alma, but first stopped at a plant-gate demonstration in Sorel, Qu&eacute;bec, where workers and members of ICEM-affiliated FIM-CSN (Conf&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Syndicats Nationaux) at a Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium metal powders plant lent their support. This stop again depicts the long-erected barriers between Canadian trade unions that Local 9490 are erasing inside this lockout.

	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 114px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

	Rio Tinto Alcan CEO, Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute;

	With Canada currently undergoing an unprecedented rash of corporate hostility, it is notable to witness trade unions and other groups galvanising behind victimised union workers.

	Last week, members of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 2301 at a Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter in Kitimat, British Colombia, voted to take C$1-an-hour of their pay and donate it to &nbsp;Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma Local 9490. That represents C$60,000 per month.

	On 8 February, the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada contributed C$25,000 to the Alma metalworkers, and a day later the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) contributed C$10,000. USW Local 9700, one of the first unions to respond at the time of the 30 December lockout and representing Alcoa ABI workers at B&eacute;cancour, Qu&eacute;bec, voted unanimously to draw C$25-per-week from their paychecks, donating C$25,000 weekly to Local 9490.

	Syndicat des M&eacute;tallos&nbsp; d&rsquo;Alma&rsquo;s&nbsp; journey to Montr&eacute;al to confront Rio Tinto Alcan CEO Jacynth C&ocirc;t&eacute; is just the first sally outward. This week Local 9490 leaders will visit Rio Tinto&rsquo;s borax miners in California, where members of ICEM affiliate International Longshore &amp; Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 30 defended themselves courageously in a Rio Tinto-imposed lockout. And they&rsquo;ll follow that solidarity visit with to Australia to meet with unions represented Rio Tinto there.

	On March 31, a day after the ICEM North American region meets in Alma, a manifestation will occur there with scores of global trade union leaders attending. And on 1 April, a workshop will occur in Alma to verse an exact fightback strategy against Rio Tinto on the global level.

Locked-out Alcan Workers Take Dispute to Business Doorstep

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	From the ITGLWF website

	On the evening of 12 February 2012, the President and General Secretary of the Coats Bangladesh Ltd. Employees Union went to the Coats Head Office at Novo Tower, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka in order to try to meet and discuss with company management with a view to resolving an industrial dispute.

	Instead of negotiating with the union leaders, company officials confiscated their mobile phones and forcibly detained them in their building overnight only releasing them when trade union colleagues alerted the local newspaper media of their disappearance.

	Management at the thread factory called Coats Ltd. in Bangladesh had failed to reach agreement with trade union negotiators. Having exhausted the bargaining procedures, a vote of the workers resulted in 98.12% in favour of strike action.&nbsp;The management somehow obtained a court order declaring the strike illegal.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 180px;height: 83px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	The workers at Coats Ltd. are paid poverty wages of only BD TK1,625 (US $18.90). The trade unions in Bangladesh consider BD TK7,000 to be the minimum that could be considered a living wage.&nbsp; During the negotiations, the local trade union negotiators reduced their demand from 100% to 30% pay rise.&nbsp;The union demands also included increases in housing and other allowances all of which were refused by the management negotiators.&nbsp; Despite trade union compromises the employer remained intransigent and refused to bargain in good faith.

	The Coats Employees&rsquo; Union is part of the Bangladesh Garments Textile &amp; Leather Workers Federation (BGTLWF), which is an affiliate of the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).&nbsp; The BGTLWF has called for solidarity from the wider trade union movement.&nbsp; The ITGLWF is preparing a complaint to the OECD Contact Point for the UK over the matter.&nbsp; Coats Plc. is based in the UK and is a leading global company that manufactures thread.

	The ITGLWF has written to Mr Paul Forman, CEO of Coats Plc. demanding that they intervene.

	Klaus Priegnitz, ITGLWF General Secretary, said to the Coats CEO, &ldquo;Your employees have clearly been mistreated and exploited for some considerable time.&nbsp; Theunion hasacted responsibly and with restraint in pursuing their justifiable and moderate demands.&nbsp; We call on you to instruct your local management to engage in constructive dialogue with the local trade union with a view to resolving this dispute on terms which are acceptable to the workers.&rdquo;

	See the joint ICEM-IMF letter to Coats management <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18%20ICEM-IMFletterCoats%20Bangladesh%2022Feb.pdf">here</a>.

Bangladesh Union Leaders Held Captive by Factory Managers

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	The Australian High Court recently refused to hear an appeal by Rio Tinto over the company&rsquo;s illegal non-union collective agreements imposed on iron ore miners in West Australia. The denial is a victory for ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which took the case forward, and a victory for legitimate collective bargaining rights.

	It also stands as a rebuke to Rio Tinto in its efforts to avoid 2009 changes in Australian labour law.

	The 10 February ruling not to hear Rio&rsquo;s appeal to a 25 July 2011 determination by the full bench of the country&rsquo;s Federal Court means Rio&rsquo;s sham labour agreement from July 2008 is not a genuine collective agreement. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4571-Australia-s-CFMEU-Wins-Major-Bargaining-Ruling-Against-Rio-Tinto">ICEM report</a> on Federal Court decision from 1 August 2011.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 145px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	It also serves as an invitation for iron ore miners &ndash; and others &ndash; in West Australia&rsquo;s rich Pilbara region to take membership in the CFMEU, with the aim to negotiate real enterprise labour agreements through the union.&nbsp; The High Court ruling will also negate other mining firms such as BHP Billiton, which also converted individual work agreements into non-union labour agreements that were intended to keep trade unions away from workers and workers without a union voice.

	In Rio Tinto&rsquo;s case, it brought ten new hires of its Pilbara Iron Company Pty. Ltd. subsidiary into a bogus Pilbara Iron Employee Agreement for a five-year duration that was meant to include all other new hires during that time. The ploy was done to avoid changes in law that took effect with the July 2009 effective date of the Fair Work Australia law.

	Some 20 such delusionary labour agreements are said to have been put in place to avoid the Fair Work law, and Rio Tinto&rsquo;s legal failure last week is expected to strike the ones that are still in effect null and void.

	&ldquo;Rio Tinto made a cynical attempt to circumvent their obligations under the Fair Work laws,&rdquo; said CFMEU Mining General Secretary Andrew Vickers. &ldquo;It has tried to dodge its obligation to recognise the rights of its workers to genuinely collectively bargain for future pay increases and improved conditions.

	&ldquo;It has been a long legal battle, but it&rsquo;s been worth it to safeguard the rights of our members in the Pilbara and demonstrate that Rio Tinto is not above the law,&rdquo; added Vickers.

Australian High Court Denies Rio Tinto’s Appeal to Evade Union Contracts

<img alt="" height="39" src="" width="100" />

	Chemical Workers&rsquo; Unions from the Trans-Caucasus region voiced their concerns and expectations through a sub-regional workshop entitled &ldquo;Union Organising, Social Dialogue and Multinational Investments.&rdquo; Held Tbilisi, Georgia, on 2-3 February, the workshop was jointly organized by the ICEM and its project partner, German-based Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES). 
	 
	It was attended by 30 trade union representatives from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Russia. The meeting also welcomed ICEM and Norway&rsquo;s IndustriEnergi (IE). 
	 
	The Eastern European chemical industry has been experiencing important growth over the last several years. However, this trend has not extended to the Trans-Caucasus region and the chemical industry loses importance in countries&rsquo; industrial outputs. This situation leads to a non-sustainable future for the sector and for workers of the sector.

	<img alt="" height="160" src="" width="278" />

	In Armenia, for example, a company called Nairit is the only chemicals concern with meaningful employment, and the future of Nairit is unclear due to bankruptcy. In Azerbaijan, through the Chemical Industry Improvement decree of 2 April 2010, by which the chemicals company Azerikimya was incorporated into the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). 
	 
	In Georgia, a company by the name of Azoti in the city of Rustavi remains the largest chemical enterprise in Georgia but the situation in both Georgia and Azerbaijan presents repercussions to unions, since in both countries unions have become part of bigger unions. This is likely to occur in Armenia, as well. 
	 
	&ldquo;International solidarity and cooperation is the only way for securing the future of members of our unions&rdquo; said Irakli Petriashvili, President of Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) during an opening speech. Petriashvili was given the Elisabeth Velasquez Award of the Netherlands&rsquo; FNV Confederation for 2011 for the defense of trade union rights during World Day for Decent Work in October 2011.

	&ldquo;Union solidarity is needed in Georgia at this time when the government exerts systematic attacks on trade union rights,&rdquo; said Matthias Jobelius, FES Regional Director for the South Caucasus, based in Tbilisi. 
	 
	Following an analysis of the global chemicals industry through an ICEM presentation, trade union representatives delivered country reports. The main issue in all countries of the sub-region is organising new members and establishing a mature and productive industrial relationship based on social dialogue. Another key problem in the region is the issue of how to cope with multinational investments. Trade unions often have difficulties in acquiring the necessary competences in this area of work. 
	 
	Union representatives from Turkey, Russia and Norway shared their experiences with participants. 
	 
	The workshop gave clear lines on how to give a boost to union organising and to develop social dialogue, particularly with and within multinational companies. Along with this, the meeting opened a way for continuous cooperation among the unions of the sub-region. 
	 
	&ldquo;This workshop addressed the needs of our members in the chemical industry in the region,&rdquo; said Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs. &ldquo;Our focus to support the unions of the Trans-Caucasus region will remain a priority for the ICEM.&rdquo;

Chemical Unions in Trans-Caucasus Region Push for Decent Work, Union Rights

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