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The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU), or SP KEP SPSI, will re-enter wage negotiations with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Indonesian subsidiary tomorrow, 15 November, in hopes of narrowing a pay divide that has created a two-month strike at the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits. 
 
Last week, the union covering 10,000 miners at the American company&rsquo;s Grasberg mining complex in Papua province extended the strike another month because the two sides still remain apart on wages. The ICEM responded to the extension by putting a call out to trade unions to assist the union in feeding striking families. 
 
That call can be found in this <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/134.ICEM.Indonesia%20Mine%20Request.10November.pdf">10 November ICEM letter</a>; trade unions and others are encouraged to send contributions to the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union Solidarity Fund at the bank numbers listed in this letter. 

The union has been feeding 10,000 workers and their families from five open-air kitchens in southern Papua province near the port city of Timika. The ICEM was informed by the branch&rsquo;s parent union in Jakarta, as well as by ICEM Indonesian Affiliates&rsquo; Chairman D. Patombong Sjaiful, that food staples are running low and a Solidarity Fund is short of money. Several ICEM affiliates immediately responded to the call, and more financial assistance is needed this week. 

The union and management of PT Freeport Indonesia did conduct a meeting today, 14 November, that was coordinated by the local Mimika government to discuss possible solutions. Tomorrow&rsquo;s negotiations are to be bi-lateral, but Indonesia&rsquo;s Manpower and Transmigration Ministry is in Timika to offer assistance. The union&rsquo;s spokesman, Juli Parorrongan, said the leadership committee will meet with both managers and the national ministry representatives tomorrow. 

In talks that lasted from 7-10 November, the two sides did make some progress, but not enough to settle the bitter dispute that has seen production completely halted and the company declaring force majeure at its 175,000-ton per day mining operation. Management increased its two-year wage offer to 35% from 30%. The company is offering 24% in 2011 and 11% next year. 

Prior to the start of the 15 September strike, Grasberg miners earned a wage of between US$2.13 per hour and US$3.54. The union last week lowered its wage proposal from US$7.50 to US$4 for the lower-paid workers in 2011-2012, and then proposed a US$3.50 wage increase on 1 October 2012. 

There are also a number of other issues still in dispute, including housing loans, a savings programme, education assistance, and vacation leave. The major difference in all these issues is the company&rsquo;s insistence that they be based on variable costs, whilethe union wants them set at fixed costs.
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
Mile 28 Blockade&nbsp;
The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union continues to enforce a road blockade at Mile 28 that has hampered Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s ability to produce. A ruptured set of pipelines that carry gold and copper concentrate 114 kilometres from Grasberg to Timika is now being repaired, with the company using helicopters to ferry construction crews and materials to the damaged portions of the lines. 

In late October and early November, police threatened to break the blockade with force. But that threat &ndash; which would have been met with resistance and certain bloodshed &ndash; is no longer there and there is no police presence at Mile 28. But rather, strikers and their families are forced onto reduced food rations as union funds have dried up. 

The ICEM continues to advocate for the union&rsquo;s wage and other demands to be met. Miners work 12-hour shifts some 4,200 metres high in the Sudirman Range and most spend another four hours each day without pay getting to and from the Grasberg site via buses. Workers of the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union also undergo an excruciating roster schedule in which they work five days on, two days off, followed by six days of work and one day off, and then four days on, three days off. 

An <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4751-Grasberg-Talks-Resume-But-Tensions-High-in-Papua-Indonesia">ICEM report</a> from last week on this important strategic strike in the mining industry can be found here.

Wage Talks Begin Again Tuesday in Grasberg Mine Strike; ICEM Calls on Affiliates to Assist

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Members of the International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers (IAM) Lodge 778 will begin returning to work this week after ratifying a six-year labour agreement last night, 20 November, with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing &amp; Technologies LLC. in Kansas City, Missouri. 
 
The vote by a wide margin ends a 42-day strike by 940 workers against Honeywell at the US government owned Bannister Federal Complex, where the company makes non-nuclear components for the government&rsquo;s nuclear weapons system. 
<img alt="" src="" width="215" height="161" />
Although contract terms were not immediately known following last night&rsquo;s late vote, it is believed much of the American company&rsquo;s original offer was accepted. That includes a two-tier pay scheme for new workers hired after 1 January in which such workers come in at lower hourly rates and fall into slower wage progressions than current workers. It also will see reductions to retiree health insurance coverage for those retiring after 8 October 2017. 
 
The contract also contains higher out-of-pocket health care costs for staff. Current workers will see a 13.5% wage increase over the six-year period, and an 11.7% pension hike also will be realized in that period. 
IAM Lodge 778 had given Honeywell with four different proposals up to 17 November through a US federal mediator, but all were rejected by the company. Finally on 17 November, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) official presented the six-year deal and Lodge 778&rsquo;s bargaining committee recommended it last night to membership. 
 
The 840 workers will return to Honeywell&rsquo;s payroll this week by undergoing four-hour re-orientation training, and all staff will resume their normal job functions effective 28 November.

US Machinists End 42-Day Honeywell Strike in Missouri

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Five days of bargaining last week failed to resolve the 53-day strike between 1,200 Peruvian miners of ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) and Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, Peru&rsquo;s third largest copper produce that is 53.7% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. 
 
According to the branch General Secretary of the FNTMMSP at Cerro Verde, Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a, bi-lateral talks brought the two sides no closer to agreement, and the legal strike in Peru&rsquo;s southern Arequipa region likely will last another two-to-three weeks while the union waits for the company to give it financial documents related to the operation. 
 
Cerro Verde management has offered a 3% pay increase and a US$735-per-worker bonus in the first year, while the union is seeking a 6-7% increase in the first year and a 5-6% hike in the second. Other unresolved issues include a union demand for proper food distribution, medical insurance, fixed working hours and restructuring of job classifications. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="161" />
While management has offered to submit the dispute to private arbitration, the union rejected that offer because doing so under Peruvian law would mean the FNTMMSP branch would have to suspend the strike during the arbitration process. The union prefers continuation of mediation by the Arequipa Region labour ministry. 
 
The strike started on 29 September and the very next day the government declared the strike legal. Cerro Verde is using some 600 &ldquo;volunteer&rdquo; workers and management staff to continue ore supply to the leaching platform and the mine&rsquo;s concentrator, but use of such scab workers during a lawful work stoppage is illegal. The government of Peru has termed this a &ldquo;serious infraction&rdquo; of the law and the company faces fines of between US$15,000 and US$26,383. 
 
Daily production of copper and its by-product molybdenum averaged 303,000 metric tonnes in 2010. Freeport-McMoRan has reported to markets that the strike will reduce average output this year by one-third, or 200,000 tonnes per day, which likely is a high estimate. The mine produced a net profit of US$1.05 billion last year. 
 
Besides the majority ownership that operator Freeport-McMoRan holds in Cerro Verde, SMM Cerro Verde Nederlands, a unit of the Japanese Sumitomo Corp., owns a 21% stake, while Peru-based Compania de Minas Buenaventura owns 19.3%.

FNTMMSP Continues Copper Strike Against Freeport-McMoRan in Peru

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The ICEM has extended support to Colombian mine union affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n and 1,200 miners who began strike action on 17 November against Swiss-based Glencore International. The strike at Colombia&rsquo;s third largest coal mining company, Glencore subsidiary CI Prodeco, broke out at the firm&rsquo;s Calenturitas mine in northern C&eacute;sar department over management intransigence in coming to a collective agreement that would grant just pay awards, benefits, a promotion schedule and job security. 
 
The La Jagua de Ibirico municipality branch of Sintracarb&oacute;n gave a list of demands to Prodeco on 21 September and the two sides began the legally required bargaining on 3 October. But after the mandatory 20 days of talks ended on 22 October, management cut off dialogue and announced it would unilaterally implement a previous set of work rules as a collective agreement for a five-year period. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4734-Sintracarbón-Fights-Glencore-Subsidiary-in-Colombia ">ICEM report</a> from last month.) 
<img alt="" src="" width="232" height="174" />
Sintracarb&oacute;n then presented workers two options in a vote at the open pit mine: to strike or turn the dispute over to a government arbitration tribunal. Despite Prodeco&rsquo;s harassment and intimidation at polling areas, including trying to block union leaders from conducting the vote, 97.4% of miners voted to strike, while 2% chose arbitration. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s walkout will cripple production by 30,000 tonnes per day. Prodeco was expected to mine five million tons of coal this year from the seven-year-old Calenturitas mine, and another 8.8 million tonnes from the La Jagua open pit mine, an operation that saw a 39-day strike from June to August 2010 by non-affiliated Sintramienergetica. That strike saw miners get a two-year labour agreement. 
 
Glencore has posted excellent results from both thermal coal operations and is on line to increase combined production to 19.9 million tones annually by the end of 2013, and to 20.7 million by 2015. Calenturitas has total deposits of 122 million tones, while La Jagua has contains 133 million tonnes.

Sintracarbón Launches Strike at Glencore’s Calenturitas Mine in Colombia

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The Sub-Saharan Africa arm of ICEM&rsquo;s Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Project held its regional conference in Accra on 25-26 October 2011. Next month marks the end of the first phase of the project, which began in 2009 with the support of Finnish solidarity organisation SASK, and Finnish trade unions TEAM and PRO. This CAL Project, coordinated by Joseph Toe, has been a great success in bringing CAL to the fore of trade union work in the project countries. 
 
Participants spoke about the various approaches, challenges and successes they had experienced over the three years of the project. 
 
A number of unions participating in the project have driven the adoption of legislation and industry guidelines on the use of CAL. In Senegal, for example, an innovative campaign by ICEM affiliate Sutids led to the signing of the President Decree to regulate short-term employment. This law limits the duration of a short-term contract to two years; makes the user-enterprise responsible for working conditions, as well as for salary obligations should the agency &ldquo;fail&rdquo;; requires that CAL workers must enjoy the same working conditions as similar workers at the user enterprise; and provides for the short-term worker, at the end of his or her contract, to receive a severance pay equal to 7% of the total gross remunerations paid since the start of the contract. 
<img alt="" src="" width="105" height="139" />
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile 
In Nigeria, ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN have worked closely together to raise awareness of CAL with the government, including through a three-day warning strike. Following pressure from the unions, the Ministry of Labour and Productivity convened a technical tripartite working group to review how CAL was being used in the oil and gas industries. This engagement led to the adoption of the Nigeria Guidelines on Labour Administration issues in Contract Staffing/ Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Sector. These guidelines, according to PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile, set the minimum standard for using CAL and are the first of their kind in any sector in Nigeria. 
 
Other unions reported a reversal of declining membership figures since efforts were focused on recruiting CAL workers and achievements in gaining permanent status for CAL workers. In Mozambique, about 400 workers have moved from CAL to indefinite contracts as a result of the work of the work of ICEM SINTIQUIAF. The union has also managed to recruit 360 CAL members. In Mauritius, from 2009-2011, a total of 3,000 contract workers joined ICEM affiliate CMCTEU. With the help of the CAL campaign, the union redefined its strategy to organise and bargain on behalf of contract workers, migrant workers, and workers in the informal economy. This included a decision to reduce the union&rsquo;s membership fees from Rs 50 to Rs 1 (one symbolic rupee) for the most vulnerable CAL workers. CMCTEU demanded that the government review the Domestic Workers Remuneration Order, which had been static for 25 years. This review led to domestic workers gaining an increase of 110% in salary, as well as other gains such as holiday leave, wedding leave, and end of year bonuses. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="164" />
In South Africa, ICEM affiliate CEPPWAWU, with the support of an international delegation organised as part of the implementation of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreement, encouraged Umicore in South Africa to change its practices with regard to CAL. Umicore signed an agreement stating that all new work contracts will be on a permanent basis, with all ensuing social protections. Unions participating in the conference declared that targeting multinationals must be a key component of future work on CAL and committed to increasing cross border trade union cooperation in this respect.

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Conference Reviews 3 Years of CAL Work

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A three-week strike by 4,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) spilled into the streets of Johannesburg this week, as workers at Xstrata&rsquo;s Boshoek and Wonderkop ferrochrome smelters near Rustenburg took a protest to the Swiss company&rsquo;s Alloys headquarters. NUMSA members presented a petition to company managers demanding wage parity with workers employed at the Xstrata Lion ferrochrome smelter in Tubatse, Mpumalanga province. 
 
Both operations are undergoing big expansions. Xstrata owns 79.5% of the ferrochrome complexes in South Africa, while publicly-listed Merafe Resources holds a 20.5% stake. Both companies also mine chrome in South Africa. 
 
The strike by NUMSA in the North-West province began on 24 October after conciliation efforts by the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) failed. NUMSA and Xstrata Alloys met two days earlier, but a revised pay offer by the company fell short and workers rejected it. 
 
NUMSA is seeking an immediate 10% pay increase for Boshoek and Wonderkop metalworkers and a reduction of job grading systems from eight to five. That would close the wage gap with workers at the Lion smelter and equalize the grading system. Currently, Boshoek and Wonderkop workers earn 14 to 39% less than at Lion, depending on pay grades. 
 
NUMSA is also seeking a housing allowance of R3,500.
<img alt="" src="" width="255" height="169" />
&nbsp;NUMSA President Cedric Gina (rear) has&nbsp;Xstrata's Edwin Hlatshwayo&nbsp;Sign Receipt of Petition
The petition handed to Xstrata Alloys management on 15 November states: &ldquo;(The company) has angered workers and instead of focusing on negotiations, they have decided to apply cheap apartheid-era tactics of bashing members through police intimidation of the strike. NUMSA is very angry that workers who went on a legal and protected strike have been treated like common criminals.&rdquo; 
 
NUMSA President Cedric Gina and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Second Deputy Vice President Zingiswi Losi led the march and handover of the petition. The petition asks the company to respond within 48 hours. 
 
Xstrata is world&rsquo;s largest producer of metal alloys, which besides ferrochrome includes vanadium and platinum, and accounts for one-third of total global production. The Boshoek smelter is currently seeing an expansion that will lift production to 240,000-tonnes-per-year by the end of next year. A second smelter, meanwhile, is now being constructed at the Lion operation that will see production double from the current 360,000 tonnes when it goes on line in the first half of 2013. 
 
The Xstrata-Merafe joint venture in South Africa will then yield 2.3 million tonnes yearly of ferrochrome, which is used in stainless steel production.

NUMSA Protests Pay Disparities at Xstrata’s Chrome Smelters

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The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) has strongly condemned the brutal campaign waged by employers on workers and unions in Faisalbad, Pakistan. 
 
Speaking in Brussels, ITGLWF General Secretary Klaus Priegnitz said, &ldquo;In July this year workers in Faisalabad were forced to go on strike to secure a 17% pay increase that was adopted by government but which employers refused to pay. Over 100,000 workers went on strike in Faisalabad and the surrounding areas. 
 
&ldquo;The employers responded by launching a brutal campaign of violence and intimidation seeking to silence workers and deny them their fundamental rights. As part of this campaign workers have been attacked by armed men employed by factory owners, and some have been shot while others have been badly beaten.&rdquo; 
<img border="1" alt="" src="" width="140" height="93" />
The Labour Education Foundation Director Khalid Mahmood highlighted the severity of attacks on workers. &ldquo;The owners and their henchmen resorted to violence by throwing stones and bricks on the peaceful march of workers from one side of the protest, while police used tear gas shells on the workers from the other end. Twenty-five workers were injured including Mr. Tahir Rana, the president of LQM Faisalabad district, who was critically injured. Around 100 workers were also arrested.&rdquo; 
 
The ITGLWF&rsquo;s Priegnitz continued, by stating, &ldquo;This vicious campaign has now culminated in a decision by the Anti-Terrorism Court to sentence six trade union leaders from the Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) to a total of 490 years in jail on falsified charges. The involvement of the police and the judiciary in this process shows that Pakistan&rsquo;s state agencies are actively working with employers to assist in the repression of fundamental human rights.&rdquo; 
 
Priegnitz concluded by calling for &ldquo;the immediate release of the union leaders and respect for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively.&rdquo;

ITGLWF Condemns Jailing of Pakistani Power Loom Union Leaders

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
The ICEM published another update of its PowerPoint presentation on &ldquo;Contract and Agency Labour and the ICEM CAL Campaign&rdquo;. 
 
This presentation contains not only a large number of statistics on contract and agency labour and other forms of precarious work - from all around the world - it also has a wide array of national and international &ldquo;best practice examples,&rdquo; highlighting, among other, what ICEM affiliated union are doing to counter the precarious work problem. 
 
The full-length English version of the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/11-11-03%20for%20the%20web-site%20CAL%20ICEM%20PPT.ppt">presentation</a> can be found - and downloaded - here.

Update of the ICEM CAL Facts and Figures Overview

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
Which sectors in Sierra Leone are most affected by CAL? 
 
There are CAL workers in almost every area of work. In some sectors, this is just beginning but in others there are big numbers of CAL workers. 
During the three years of the Sub-Saharan Africa ICEM CAL Project, what have been your biggest achievements? 
 
We were able to coordinate a network to create a national committee to champion CAL workers. We have had some success where we brought the Ministry of Labour and the Commissioner of Labour to our discussions. 
 
When we first engaged with the Ministry of Labour we made an appointment to meet them in their offices. We explained why we were there, how best we could work with them. We invited them to seminars and workshops and they gave positive statements expressing desire that CAL is addressed at all levels. The difficulties seen by unions and civil society were presented to them in a report. 
<img alt="" src="" width="123" height="140" />
Ezekiel Dyke
We also tried to bring CAL into our negotiations to try to make them see that there&rsquo;s a need for CAL workers to be protected. We have been able to bring on board provisions relating to health and safety, medical treatment for CAL workers, and the maximum duration of fixed-term contracts after which workers must be given permanent status. 
 
In one or two mining companies, they do it anyway. We have achieved a level of sensitisation &ndash; workers themselves will come and say I&rsquo;m now working over six months, next month I should receive permanent status and be given benefits like every other worker. 
 
Currently, there&rsquo;s a review of the law. CAL is in the law but the law did not go too far. It has specific provisions on the length of contracts, health and safety provisions for CAL workers. Some of these are gazetted. 
 
What demands is your union prioritising with regard to CAL? 
 
Our demands are that we want significant improvement in the situation. We want CAL to be abolished completely. In the absence of our demand for abolishment, we want CAL workers to have similar benefits to permanent workers. Why not give them medical treatment? Their wages should be increased &ndash; the wages were US$1 to US$1.5 per day, some companies have increased it to US$2.50 per day. We hope to build on that because not all companies are paying CAL workers the higher wages. 
 
In the mining sector, the minimum wage for permanent workers is US$3-4 per day. That does not include overtime, rent, education allowance, and transport allowance in some cases. Altogether permanent mining workers receive US$120-150 a month minimum in general. In some companies. CAL workers get overtime and sometimes transport allowance. Also, there are provisions for medical treatment but that does not take into account the family, as it does for permanent workers. 
 
One company gave 200 workers permanent contracts as a result of our unions&rsquo; demands. We are conducting training for casual workers &ndash; you are engaged for three months, then given training and brought into permanent positions, for example a driver can be given skills to drive heavy machinery. This is happening in a number of companies carrying out training for locals. 
 
Your union has also made an effort to sensitise the public to the problems of CAL, how have you done this? 
 
In the seminars and workshops, we try to bring on board electronic media. We try to engage them on what we do. We have a radio program once a month roughly. We talk about CAL issues; we do it with our Labour Confederation because CAL is in all sectors and all areas. Don&rsquo;t forget people have died as a result of not having personal protective equipment. 
 
I was happy when I went to one mining company and I was approached by 20 women workers who said we are now due for permanent positions. Initially, all members of our union were permanent, now our strategy has changed &ndash; we must organise all workers and bring them on board, even though they may not initially pay dues. 
 
How is your union dealing with mining companies who exploit CAL workers? 
 
Mining companies said security had to be outsourced. When we tried to organise the workers they said the companies&rsquo; workers are not allowed to join a union. The union said they were already members [before they were outsourced]. They received US$200-300 a month before they were outsourced &ndash; then afterwards they received only half, they must pay for their own uniforms, they receive no medical treatment for their family, sometimes they get no transport allowance. We made representations to the Ministry of Labour. We helped the workers become members in secret. We had secret members&rsquo; meetings &ndash; they empowered us to seek a meeting with the Ministry of Labour. That case is going on now &ndash; 300 have filled out forms and next week we will have a meeting with the Ministry. 
 
Negotiating a collective bargaining agreement depends on the company. Some say as far as we are concerned, the CAL workers can sign work contracts or not. 
 
Soon, we will have final negotiations and the signing of a general national agreement for all mining companies in the country. One agreement is that if a worker has served three months and their contract is not renewed they are obliged to receive three months wages as a severance payment. 
 
How does the Sierra Leone National CAL Committee function? 
 
We came up with the idea for the committee at the 2010 CAL seminar. The object is to bring on board unions to assess the level of CAL in various sectors and to assess the conditions of service for CAL workers. We did a questionnaire to get this information. In 2011, the Committee was properly established. We meet regularly, about once a month. We look at what is happening in the different sectors on CAL and what we can do with companies refusing to give permanent status. One of the big challenges is resources; we think the government should assist in this. 
 
What are the biggest challenges with regard to CAL? 
 
Fear of joining a union is a challenge. Some (workers) are very positive, but some think if management knew they wanted to join, they would be terminated or dismissed, or subjected to threats and intimidation.

Interview with Ezekiel Dyke, General Secretary of the United Mineworkers&#039; Union, Sierra Leone

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="45" />
To what extent is CAL an issue in Belarus? 
 
At the moment, there is no legislation on employment agencies &ndash; our agencies are only for matchmaking. 
 
Contract work came about a result of a Presidential Decree, which was issued in July 1999. The main purpose of the decree was to strengthen labour discipline &ndash; to use the additional contract benefits to single out the input of individual workers. The decree said it was imperative for employers to offer one to five additional holidays and salary rises of up to 50%. The law says the contract must be for a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years. 
 
However, if the employee wishes, the contract can be for less than one year. Trade unions initially opposed the decree and lobbied against it, but it took effect and the results were quite interesting; employees were standing in line to switch to (fixed term) contracts. Back then, many people saw the contract system as a benefit, they only thought of the advantages. Contracts eventually expired, some were not extended, and later people saw the disadvantages as well. At the moment, the percentage of contract workers is quite high. In the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industry, there are 94% contract workers 
<img alt="" src="" width="122" height="140" />
Svetlana Klochok
How is your union dealing with these disadvantages? 
 
As time moved on, there were additional legislative acts to change the contract system. Now after some years it transpired &ndash; through union efforts &ndash; that contracts must be evaluated by trade unions before they are signed. This is done to make sure that the union expert has the opportunity to compare the contract with the provisions in the collective agreement and with the labour law. In some industries, employers must extend contracts if no violations have been registered (by 3&ndash;5 years, if employees are highly skilled). 
 
We had to take some employers to court when they failed to renew the contracts. Trade union legal inspectors monitor contracts around the country on an annual basis. In terms of improvements, we have helped to achieve a raise of 30-50% for most people, newcomers have one year contracts, but those with experience have longer contracts. 
 
Our objective is to switch people to open ended employment. There is also a legal mismatch according to the new decree &ndash; the employer can switch any worker to an open-ended contract but there&rsquo;s nothing that says they can retain their wages. Mothers with children under the age of five are entitled to five-year contracts, or their contract must be renewed until their child reaches the age of five. 
 
What impact has privatisation had on the use of short term contracts? 
 
If a foreign firm operates here, they have to adhere to Belarusian labour law. But it is possible for them to sign one-year contracts, this is not illegal. The worst thing with private companies is the short term of their contracts. 
 
There are many mechanisms and avenues of influence that we are continuing to explore. There are new private companies where the salary is pretty good, but the employer doesn&rsquo;t want workers to join a union. 
 
Why is CAL a priority for your union? 
 
Trade union people must forecast the future and imagine what could happen here &ndash; we should forecast the blows of the future. 
 
How can the ICEM CAL project assist you in dealing with these issues? 
 
We need information we get at seminars like this, we need to know about the mechanisms unions elsewhere are using. We need arguments to contradict some of what we hear. 
 
We are grateful for the solidarity of the ICEM. In Belarus, we don&rsquo;t have agencies but the world may change and we have to be ready.

Interview with Svetlana Klochok, Chairperson, Belarusian Chemical, Miners and Oil Workers’ Union

Archive

Wage Talks Begin Again Tuesday in Grasberg Mine Strike; ICEM Calls on Affiliates to Assist

US Machinists End 42-Day Honeywell Strike in Missouri

FNTMMSP Continues Copper Strike Against Freeport-McMoRan in Peru

Sintracarbón Launches Strike at Glencore’s Calenturitas Mine in Colombia

Sub-Saharan Africa Region Conference Reviews 3 Years of CAL Work

NUMSA Protests Pay Disparities at Xstrata’s Chrome Smelters

ITGLWF Condemns Jailing of Pakistani Power Loom Union Leaders

Update of the ICEM CAL Facts and Figures Overview

Interview with Ezekiel Dyke, General Secretary of the United Mineworkers' Union, Sierra Leone

Interview with Svetlana Klochok, Chairperson, Belarusian Chemical, Miners and Oil Workers’ Union

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