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ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, in a letter to Prime Minister İrsen K&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k last week, expressed anger at the police violence in Cyprus on Monday, 2 August, when a peaceful protest was attacked by police in riot gear. Twenty-four trade unionists were briefly arrested. 
 
Labour relations in the territory have worsened of late, due mainly to the local administration&rsquo;s plans to reduce the size of the workforce, and remove fundamental workers&rsquo; rights. Trade unions have become especially frustrated by the refusal of İrsen K&uuml;&ccedil;&uuml;k&rsquo;s authority to meet trade union representatives over the issues. The ruling National Unity Party (UBP) was elected to govern in April 2009 on the understanding that it would not implement austerity package cuts. 
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Trade unionists gathered outside the National Assembly building in Nicosia on 2 August, protesting the proposed austerity and privatization legislation, and calling on the authority to meet with trade union leaders and discuss workers&rsquo; concerns. Among the unions protesting was the ICEM affiliate EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers Trade Union. The peaceful protest was met with police violence, and among the 24 arrested were ten trade union presidents, including EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu. Ozan Elciner, an EL-SEN Executive Board member, was also arrested. 
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EL-SEN President Tuluy Kalyoncu
In the ICEM letter, Warda stated, &ldquo;The ICEM shares the belief of our affiliate EL-SEN that trade unions must be included in the social dialogue process and in all considerations over new legislation that will directly affect workers&rsquo; fundamental rights.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="169" />
Ozan Elciner, an EL-SEN Executive Board member
As was reported in ICEM last InBrief newsletter, No. 161, EL-SEN held its Congress recently under a banner of anti-privatisation, and a strong resolution was passed condemning the authority&rsquo;s lack of progress on holding the line on privatization and misleading the public on finances of the public companies up for sale. Those include KIBTEK, the electricity provider, the telecommunications network, and the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU).

ICEM Urges Northern Cyprus Administration End Trade Union Repression

After three days of a partial petrol blockade on the federal capital district of Abuja, Nigeria, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) affiliate, Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the union&rsquo;s tank-truck drivers, lifted the strike on 6 August. That occurred when government ministers and leaders of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, ICEM&rsquo;s Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association affiliate, met and crafted memorandums of understanding on both the worsening conditions of Nigerian roads and the repugnant and growing use of casual labour by oil and gas companies, particularly multinational concerns. 
 
NUPENG did, however, issue a 14-day strike notice to the government on another issue: that of rehabilitation of Nigeria&rsquo;s Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). If the federal government does not call together a forum to correct the lack of transparency and alleged willful mis-allocation of products to marketers, NUPENG will strike the oil and gas depots of several multinationals across the Niger Delta later in August. 
 
The Geneva, Switzerland-based ICEM supports NUPENG in its direct actions in Nigeria. 
 
&ldquo;There is serious corruption inside the allocation process of petroleum products,&rdquo; said NUPENG President Achese Igwe. &ldquo;We question the activities of the PPPRA in allocating products to marketers of unknown identity, and the PPPRA has shown no interest in revealing records or data on fuel allocations.&rdquo; 
 
Friday&rsquo;s meeting did create separate memorandums on road conditions and on casualisation. Meeting with Minister of Labour and Productivity Chukwuemeka Wogu, Minister of State for Works Chris Ogiemwonyi, officials of both the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Co. (NNLG), and the employers&rsquo; grouping of multinationals operating in Nigeria, the Oil Producers&rsquo; Trade Section (OPTS), leaders of NUPENG and PENGASSAN did get immediate commitments. 
 
Regarding casualisation and the ever increasing use of temporary or non-regular workers, a tripartite &ldquo;Technical Working Group on Casualisation and Contract Staffing in the Oil and Gas Sector&rdquo; was created. This working group will, between 30 and 90 days, produce a road map that will include analysis on why prior memorandums were not adhered to, and it must issue acceptable guarantees ensuring job security for casual workers. 
 
NUPENG and PENGASSAN insist that such staff, across all oil- and gas-producing companies, be given immediate opportunities for full-time staff positions if they have the prerequisite skills. When this is not possible, the unions demand that conditions of employment be published and strictly adhered to that grant temporary workers all work rights and social benefits that permanent workers get. 
 
Igwe said that the vast number of casual workers in oil and gas have no pension scheme and are without health insurance. 
 
Regarding road conditions, which has caused the deaths of eight NUPENG tanker-truck drivers in the past three months, a Roads Monitoring Team was created that will consist of two members from NUPENG. Within a two-month time frame, this team will monitor roads and determine which ones need immediate improvement. 
 
Igwe stressed the importance of this issue by stating that poor road conditions have caused unnecessary stops, resulting in robberies and kidnappings of truck drivers. The risk to public safety is also inherent since poor roads causing accidents has meant monumental disasters, considering the inflammable cargos that lorries carry. 
 
On the issue of the PPPRA, Igwe said it remains a mystery as to which ministry or department of government the pricing authority reports to. The issue of transparency and accountability by the PPPRA is all-important in Nigeria with the country about to enact the Petroleum Industry Bill. 
 
The ICEM is a Global Union Federation composed of 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries. 
 
For further information, contact ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin at <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, or +41 22 304 1842 (direct) or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).

ICEM Supports Direct Action by NUPENG in Nigeria over Roads, Casualisation

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Trade unionists of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) ratified a three-year labour agreement with a subsidiary of Votorantim Cimentos of Brazil on 29 July, ending a 20-week strike at a cement plant in Bowmanville, Ontario. The ratification vote, by 58%, reflected dissatisfaction by the plant&rsquo;s 87 workers for getting stuck with an inferior pension plan in two years time. 
 
And the outcome of the strike itself depicts the uneven playing field in collective negotiations when an employer can dictate terms with no law in place to prevent the use of scab labour during a dispute. 
 
The chief issue was the Brazilian company&rsquo;s subsidiary, St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement, demand that a change was necessary from a defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution plan. Nowhere in negotiations could the company prove that the current pension plan needed the financial relief that a weaker defined contribution plan would deliver. St. Mary&rsquo;s was also seeking wage and work-rules cuts. 
 
Negotiations, which resumed only in mid-July, did see the company move on some points, but the new agreement will see the defined contribution plan take effect in September 2012. Cement workers will get a C$1,000 lump sum pay-out both in 2010 and 2011, and will get a 2% wage increase in 2012. 
<img alt="" src="" width="159" height="230" />
CAW President Ken Lewenza
CAW Local 222 members in southern Ontario did prevent the company from outsourcing quarry operations and control room positions. Under the back-to-work protocol, staff began reporting to jobs on 4 August, with the last of the workers to be back on 16 August. 
 
&ldquo;The situation we experienced at St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement over the last number of months is just one example of how foreign-owned corporations, in this case Votorantim Cimentos, have been allowed to buy Canadian resource companies and wreak havoc on the workforce with few, if any, obligations to the country,&rdquo; stated CAW President Ken Lewenza. 
 
&ldquo;Congratulations to these workers for having the courage to stand up for their hard earned gains, including their pension, where our government has failed to do so.&rdquo; 
 
Votorantim is a privately-held S&atilde;o Paulo-based industrial conglomerate that controls one-third of the Brazilian cement market. It purchased Lafarge&rsquo;s Blue Circle cement operations in the US and Canada in 2001 and revived the original name of the company, St. Mary&rsquo;s Cement.

Canadian Auto Workers, Brazilian Cement Company Reach Terms

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The 42nd Congress of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) was convened in Mexico City, 5-12 August, under the theme &lsquo;Strong Unions &ndash; Sustainable Transport&rsquo;. The more than 1,000 Congress delegates saw outgoing ITF president Randall Howard deliver his last address as president, as he stands down also from his position as general secretary of the SATAWU South African transport workers&rsquo; union. Howard, who was elected at the 2006 Durban Congress, was appointed as an advisor to the South African minister of public services and administration last year. Newly elected president Paddy Crumlin was recommended by ITF&rsquo;s executive board and unanimously endorsed by the Congress&rsquo; 1,500 delegates. 
 
&quot;The ITF finds itself at a critical time for workers around the world following the global collapse of international economies. It is now our responsibility to protect the rights and futures of all transport workers against the excesses of capitalism set against a slow and uncertain recovery of transport related industries.&quot; stated Crumlin in his acceptance speech. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="122" />
Paddy Crumlin, incoming ITF President
Paddy Crumlin, National Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), is seen as a driving force in the development of regional strategic alliances and is widely respected for his central role in trade union development in East Timor and Papua New Guinea. He was previously the Chair of the strong Dockers&rsquo; section of the ITF. 
 
General Secretary David Cockcroft was reelected by Congress. 
 
One important delegate to the Congress was missed, Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Vahed Syndicate Tehran bus workers&rsquo; union in Iran is still in prison, in spite of a fierce international campaign for his release, and in spite of an announcement last month by the Iranian authorities that he soon would be released. There are 52 other trade unionists in prison currently in Iran. 
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The ICEM participated in the Congress in Mexico City and, together with the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) sought to highlight the struggle of Los Mineros to delegates. 
 
On Sunday 8 August the Congress sponsored a forum on freedom of association, where Los Mineros were centrally featured, along with the Electricians Union SME. The two unions have recently formed an alliance. ICEM Director of Industry &amp; Corporate Affairs Joe Drexler appealed to unions in attendance to join a broad solidarity committee, currently being formed for those free trade unions under attack in Mexico. The symposium educated 400 trade union leaders about the repressive conditions faced by Mexican trade unions.

42nd ITF Congress in Mexico City Elects MUA&#039;s Paddy Crumlin President

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The ICEM&rsquo;s statutory quadrennial World Energy Industries Conference will be held in Stavanger, Norway, 6-8 September, followed by the annual ICEM International Nuclear Workers&rsquo; Union Network (INWUN) on 9 September. Some 115 global delegates representing ICEM affiliates and others are expected to attend. 
 
The World Energy Conference will feature four panel discussions, including ones on Future Energy Resources, Global Framework Agreements in the sector (Statoil, EDF, Lukoil), Campaign Experiences from five countries, and ICEM&rsquo;s various Energy Networks and the ongoing networking occurring in those workers&rsquo; networks. 
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ICEM&rsquo;s Energy sector Chair, Lars Mhyre
The conference will also feature a representative from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate speaking on Offshore Safety and Environmental Protection, challenges stemming from deepwater drilling. 
 
The Energy Conference will highlight a presentation by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda on the building of a new global union trade structure in manufacturing. The ICEM&rsquo;s Energy sector is chaired by Lars Myhre of IndustriEnergi (IE) of Norway. 
 
The ICEM World Energy Conference and the INWUN Conference will be held at the Radisson Blu Atlantic Hotel in Stavanger, beginning at 9h30 on 6 September with welcoming and opening by IE President Leif Sande.

ICEM Energy Conferences Coming to Stavanger, Norway, 6-9 September

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In what has been described as a move to win back support from France&rsquo;s right-wing, President Nicholas Sarkozy is pushing adoption of new legislation to push back the retirement age, and increase public sector workers&rsquo; pension contributions in France. Trade unions plan a national protest strike on 7 September. 
 
The National Assembly&rsquo;s social affairs committee voted in favour of the Bill on 22 July, enabling it to go to Plenary debate in France&rsquo;s lower house on 7 September, and to the Senate in October. The Bill would raise the legal retirement age from 60 to 62 in the year 2018, and increase the number of years of contributions to 41.5 before workers receive a full pension. 
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Sarkozy&rsquo;s low opinion poll ratings were recently compounded by claims of his and UMP party former chief fundraiser Eric Woerth&rsquo;s financial misconduct, accepting illegal political cash from L&rsquo;Or&eacute;al heiress Liliane Bettencourt. With the President seeking re-election in 2012, defeat of his pension reform bill would conserve workers&rsquo; conditions, but also strike a significant blow to Sarkozy&rsquo;s right-wing UMP party&rsquo;s election chances. 
 
The mass mobilization planned by France&rsquo;s trade unions will coincide with the Plenary Session in the lower house, debating the pension bill. The action will seek to fight the proposed pension reforms, and also defend jobs and demand government action for economic recovery. 
 
ICEM French affiliated union FCE-CFDT describes the pension reform and other government austerity measures as &ldquo;carriers of social injustice&rdquo;, adding that it is unacceptable that all the financial burden of the economic downturn is passed onto employees in both the public and private sector.

French Trade Unions to Strike in Protest of Sarkozy’s Cuts to Pensions

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ICEM Serbian affiliate Sindikat Nezavisnost, the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy, and Mining Industries Union, will decide today if a proposal by the pharmaceutical concern Srbolek AD is good enough to end a 15-day strike by some 70 workers in Belgrade. On Friday, 20 August, a Serbian state mediation agency moderated an exchange of proposals between the union and company regarding this most recent strike over wage arrears. 
 
The strike began on 9 August, and workers and Nezavisnost leaders have been subjected to physical and psychological abuse by managing director Jovica Stefanovic Nini and his hired security team. Workers of the privatized pharmaceutical producer and distributor have not been paid in six months, with social contributions, taxes, statutory severance packages, and retirement earnings also withheld. 
 
A four-day strike in May 2010 resulted in retaliatory action being taken by the managing director against strike leaders. He unilaterally reduced the pay of union leaders by 60% then. Another strike over wage arrears occurred in August 2009. 
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The ICEM intervened on 11 August in the most recent strike, calling into question the extreme anti-social behavior of management, including overt discrimination against women workers who are pregnant or who have given birth since August 2009. 
 
Following the first day of strike activity on 9 August, the company made a proposal through a state mediator that it would pay one month&rsquo;s salary if workers halted the strike. Nezavisnost declined to consider the offer. The very next day, another trade union at a plant of Srbolek affiliated with the Sindikat Samostalni Federation of Serbia (SSSS) joined the strike, thus ratcheting up pressure on Stefanovic Nini. 
<img alt="" src="" width="252" height="189" />
But again security of Serbia&rsquo;s third largest pharmaceutical company undertook brute tactics by prohibiting union leaders from entering the state mediation agency&rsquo;s offices. 
 
Finally, following near constant negotiations last week, state mediators crafted a set of proposals that appears to satisfy the strikers. Srbolek, for the first time since the outset of the strike, also submitted a proposal on 20 August that could end the strike. It is that proposal which union leaders and strikers will examine today. 
 
The ICEM will continue to monitor the dispute and even if proposals are accepted to end the current strike, the Geneva-based Global Union Federation will follow future labour-management developments between Srbolek and trade unions.

Wage Arrears Again Fuel Bitter Serbian Pharmaceutical Strike

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Ukrainian trade unions are furious with the International Monetary Fund&rsquo;s (IMF) unlawful interference into domestic policy, following agreement of a US$15 billion crisis loan. The conditions of the loan see workers hit hard, through a raft of social cuts. 
 
Opposition has been lead by the main Ukrainian national labour centre, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU), an ITUC affiliate. A demonstration staged by trade unionists outside the IMF regional office in Kiev, on 17 August, condemned a wage freeze for 4 million public sector workers, increased gas prices, fines for delayed payments for utilities, and a 5-year increase to the retirement age for women from 55 to 60, which will slash opportunities for young professionals seeking first-time employment. Gas price rises will double the average household&rsquo;s monthly bill. IMF loan conditions also oblige Ukraine to increase the minimum period of employment that qualifies for a state pension from 5 to 15. 
<img alt="" src="" width="210" height="142" />
While the IMF conditionalities demand penalties for overdue payment of utilities bills, they do not address the common problem of overdue payment of wages. 
 
Trade unions demand that the IMF hold joint consultations with the Ukrainian cabinet and trade union representatives, leading to a lifting of the social restrictions, especially the raise in retirement age. 
 
Ukraine&rsquo;s heavily industrialized economy was hit hard by the global financial crisis. The US$15 billion IMF loan will be paid back over 2.5 years. Ukrainian trade union leaders requested international solidarity and support, stating that the IMF&rsquo;s intrusion into domestic policy will increase poverty levels in the country and create a permanent dependence on IMF credit.

Ukrainian Trade Unions Protest IMF Interference in Domestic Policy

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Members of ICEM UK affiliates GMB and Unite, at pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca have voted for strike action over cuts to pension benefits of 2,500 staff, based mainly in Macclesfield, Cheshire, North West England. 
 
Public-sector trade union GMB recorded 70 percent support for strike action in a recent ballot of their members at Astra Zeneca. The multinational refused to back down during three months of talks earlier 2010, maintaining its proposal to end its final-salary pension scheme for workers. Some workers&rsquo; pensions would be frozen forever if they accepted the changes proposed by management. 
 
GMB National officer, and ICEM Materials Section Vice-Chair, Allan Black described the result of the ballot as a &ldquo;clear mandate for a strike in the midst of the current economic circumstances (which) ought to be a wake-up call to Astra Zeneca to resume negotiations&rdquo;. 
<img src="" width="247" height="164" alt="" />
Unions agreed in 2000 to close the company&rsquo;s defined benefit pension scheme to new recruits. Now, new joiners have been offered membership to a defined contribution pension scheme instead. Since that date, workers have contributed &pound;645 million. Now the multinational is attempting to push members of the defined benefit scheme to choose between continuing making their contributions, but with their pensionable salary frozen at current levels, or moving to the defined contribution scheme. 
Astra Zeneca employees in the UK have tolerated huge job losses and radical changes of working practices over the last three or four years, to increase to the company's profits. &nbsp; 
 
Strike action will take place next month, although the unions are hoping for a return to the bargaining table by management. 
 
These plans for cost cutting come at a time when Anglo-Swedish Astra Zeneca is making record profits. In 2009, operating profits rose by 24%, and by a further 11% in the first quarter of 2010.&nbsp;
In a letter to CEO David Brennan, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda described management&rsquo;s demands as &ldquo;unacceptable and warrants a critical re-evaluation by corporate management of AstraZeneca&rdquo;. &ldquo;Please know that if the dispute escalates, and GMB members do vote to take industrial actions, the ICEM will not hesitate to communicate this dispute to other AstraZeneca workplaces in the world, as well as to all our chemical and pharmaceutical trade unions across the globe,&rdquo; Warda added. 
 
ICEM Swedish affiliate IF-Metall also wrote to corporate management, urging a change to the draconian measure. 
 
The Macclesfield plant is the company&rsquo;s second largest facility worldwide. Workers there produce the drug Zoladex, used to treat cancer of the prostate and breast cancer.

AstraZenica Workers in UK to Strike against Pension Cuts

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Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day this year will use the moniker &ldquo;Unions Make Work Safer,&rdquo; as global labour moves 28 April &ndash; the Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers &ndash; as the one day that every day must bring in the fight for safe, healthy, and risk-free workplaces. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has designated that theme for 2010 in order to emphasize the vital role trade unions play in constantly improving occupational health and safety. 
 
In the UK, the government became one of over 20 countries worldwide to officially designate 28 April as Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day when Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper announced formal recognition of the day on 28 January. After beginning consultations in July 2009, it became clear to the government that the growing number of observances and health/safety renewal commitments on 28 April each year merited official designation. 

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What UK recognition now means is that the government will encourage commemorations of the day throughout the country, with ministers committed to support and promote public commemorations. &ldquo;Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day has been an important date in the trade union calendar for many years and we look forward to working with ministers to increase its profile,&rdquo; stated Trades Unions Congress (TUC) General Secretary Brendan Barber. 
 
The ITUC expects 2010 to exceed the 10,000 activities that occurred in over 100 countries around 28 April 2009. The ITUC itself will produce and release background materials, campaign ideas, and additional tools as 28 April 2010 nears. 
 
&ldquo;Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day gains more local, national, and international recognition with each passing year,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;And it is only fitting this year to draw attention to workers who, through their unions, have done so much to improve everyday workplace safety and health.&rdquo; 
 
The facts bear this out. In Canada, a recent report by the Ontario Safety and Health Agency found that 79% of unionised worksites report high compliance with health and safety legislation, while between 54% and 61% of non-union workplaces report such compliance. 
 
In Australia, unionised workplaces are three times more likely to have a safety committee and twice as likely to have performed a safety audit as non-union-sites. 
 
The ICEM encourages affiliates to begin preparing now for 28 April. The day became officially recognized by the ILO in 2001 as the &ldquo;International Day of Action for Safety and Health at Work,&rdquo; but had its origins before then. The ITUC marks the day to 1996 when the UN lit Commemorative Candles for the 188 victims of the Kader toy factory in Thailand in 1993. 
 
But the commemoration day has its true roots in the Canadian trade union movement, where unionists worked for several days before the Canadian Parliament in 1989 passed Bill C-223, designating 28 April as the official &ldquo;Day of Mourning&rdquo; for the North American country.

‘Unions Make Work Safer’ Theme for 28 April, Now Official Day in UK

Archive

ICEM Urges Northern Cyprus Administration End Trade Union Repression

ICEM Supports Direct Action by NUPENG in Nigeria over Roads, Casualisation

Canadian Auto Workers, Brazilian Cement Company Reach Terms

42nd ITF Congress in Mexico City Elects MUA's Paddy Crumlin President

ICEM Energy Conferences Coming to Stavanger, Norway, 6-9 September

French Trade Unions to Strike in Protest of Sarkozy’s Cuts to Pensions

Wage Arrears Again Fuel Bitter Serbian Pharmaceutical Strike

Ukrainian Trade Unions Protest IMF Interference in Domestic Policy

AstraZenica Workers in UK to Strike against Pension Cuts

‘Unions Make Work Safer’ Theme for 28 April, Now Official Day in UK

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