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A colliery in northern Notre de Santander state, Colombia, again became a death trap for miners. The La Preciosa coal mine in Sandinata municipality, where 38 miners have already perished over the past three years, was rocked by a methane gas explosion at the morning shift change on 26 January that saw 21 miners die. 
 
The locally-owned mine by La Preciosa Ltda. employs 110 staff and was ordered closed by the National Institute of Geology and Mines (Ingeominas) following the explosion. Twenty miners were killed inside a 600-metre horizontal shaft, while one worker died in an ambulance on the way to medical care. Six miners were rescued and are hospitalised in the city of C&uacute;cuta. 
 
The bodies of 16 miners were retrieved on the day of the disaster, while four were received on 27 January. 
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La Preciosa Miners Worry About Future
In unexpected candor, the Colombian government admitted that its mine safety laws and resources for stricter mine safety regulations are inadequate. Mining Minister Carlos Rodado arrived in Sandinata on 27 January and said the government lacks funds and staff &ndash; Ingeominas exploys only 17 mine inspectors &ndash; to monitor 6,000 legal mines. 
 
La Preciosa, which produces 3,000 tonnes of coal per month, is a legally-operated mine. But in October 2010, six miners died due to gas asphyxiation. In 2007, 32 miners died in a similar gas explosion to the one that occurred last Wednesday. In 2007, the mine stayed close for five months. 
 
A representative from an ICEM-affiliated miners&rsquo; union at another mine in Colombia said the government is too quick to award operating licenses to small- and medium-size companies which do not have the necessary mechanisms in place to monitor safe mining practices. Colombia has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
At a funeral service in the mountain town of San Roque on 28 January where ten of the 21 miners were remembered, thousand of residents turned out to mourn, with most residents of the mountainous town affixing Colombian flag to their homes. The mayor of Sandinata, Yamile Ragel, called the tragedy &ldquo;a crime&rdquo; that will &ldquo;not go unpunished.&rdquo; The ten were buried in a local cemetery following a Roman Catholic service. 
 
Ingeominas said that in 2010, Colombia recorded 84 mine accidents in which 173 workers died.

Methane Blast in Colombian Coal Mine Kills 21

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An ICEM and Public Services International (PSI) affiliated trade union, Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), has raised issue with the insolent social conduct of US managers of a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ. The conduct is pointedly contrary to standards GDF SUEZ only in November agreed to in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with three Global Union Federations (GUFs). 
 
The matter involves a US subsidiary of French-based GDF SUEZ, United Water Services Inc., a private utility that employs about 400 UWUA members in the US. UWUA called on the ICEM and PSI to rebuke United Water over an environment indictment levied in December by the US Justice Department, as well as troubling public comments made by United Water executives to minimize the seriousness of the alleged crimes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="112" height="112" />
After consulting with the third GUF that is signatory to the 16 November 2010 GFA, Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), the ICEM and PSI on 19 January issued the first complaint of this particular agreement, calling United Water&rsquo;s overall conduct a breach of GDF SUEZ corporate social responsibility. (That complaint can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2.GDFSUEZunitedwatLet.pdf ">here</a>.) 
On 8 December, the US government issued a set of 26 indictments against United Water for conspiracy and felony violations of the US Clean Water Act. The GDF SUEZ subsidiary and two of its executives are charged with tampering and manipulating water quality measurements at a Gary, Indiana, wastewater treatment plant that it had operated on behalf of the municipality&rsquo;s Sanitation Board. 
 
Specifically, over a five-year period, the US Justice Department charged United Water with a scheme that increased chlorine input levels immediately before US government E.Coli monitoring samples were taken, and then lowering the input levels afterward as cost-savings measures. United Water is accused of doing this 68 times. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="69" />
The practice, the US government claims, poses a serious health risk to the public. 
 
The UWUA, ICEM, and PSI also took serious issue following the US Justice Department indictment with public comments made by United Water&rsquo;s president and senior vice president for Corporate Communications downplaying the charges. They stated that the indictments are mere technical disagreements, with the president of United Water, Robert Iacullo, calling the government&rsquo;s environmental charges &ldquo;an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.&rdquo; 
 
In the addendum to the GFA, GDF Suez states that it has &ldquo;responsibilities to society&rdquo; and that &ldquo;it will respect national law and regulations.&rdquo; The agreement also states: &ldquo;Among it activities, GDF Suez distributes energy and water, essential to the health and well-being of society.&rdquo; The ICEM/PSI intervention notes, &ldquo;If the US government&rsquo;s charges prove true, the discharge of untreated, or sub-standard wastewater into waterways poses a serious public health threat.&rdquo; 
 
The GUFs are currently awaiting reply from GDF SUEZ over the complaint.

US Affiliate, UWUA, Challenges GDF SUEZ Inside Global Agreement

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The lockout by U.S. Steel against 900 active workers and 9,000 retirees and widows at a steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario, gained national Canadian attention on 29 January when over 10,000 trade unionists assembled and manifested in wet snow in Hamilton. Some 75 busloads of citizens came to what&rsquo;s known in Canada as &ldquo;Steeltown,&rdquo; angry at their government and manifesting under the slogan &ldquo;The People vs. U.S. Steel.&rdquo; 
View video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAb_uR-UFv0">Hamilton Rally</a>. 
 
The Hamilton Day of Action for locked-out members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 served as a national rallying cry against the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper and other parliamentarians have failed to make accountable foreign multinationals which buy Canadian assets and then immediately furlough workers and cut living standards. 
 
Both the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL/CLC) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) lent heavy support in making 29 January this rallying cry, as well as national signal that this unprovoked lockout marks undeniably that Canadian investment law is deeply flawed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="269" height="179" />
Quebec Steelworkers in Hamilton 
Photo: John Maclennan
The day&rsquo;s speeches, placards, and slogans stated just that that. Local 1005 is defending workers, retirees, and widows against an American predator that three years ago bought Ontario-based steelmaker Stelco but immediately began side-stepping a weakened Investment Canada Act. The OFL claims that contrary to provisions in the Investment Canada Act, U.S. Steel has cut 2,200 jobs Stelco jobs in Hamilton and the Nanticoke Works in those three years. 
 
One of the main speakers of the day, USW President Leo Gerard, minced no words in describing the head-lock that corporations have on workers and governments: &ldquo;Everywhere on earth, these corporate bastards are trying to pick our pockets. I&rsquo;ll be damned if I&rsquo;m going to stand by and let them take our pensions. We have to demand that Harper stand up for Canada.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="231" height="169" />
USW President Leo Gerard. (At right, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann) 
Photo: John Maclennan
The Investment Canada Act is supposed to provide a &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to Canadians when foreign ownership acquires Canadian-based assets. Steelworkers of Local 1005, along with retirees and widows from the Hamilton Works, made the strong statement Saturday that they are victims, thrown off their jobs because they refuse to have their rightful benefits stripped from them.
The U.S. Steel lockout, now beginning its 13th week, centers on the company&rsquo;s demand that retirees and widows lose pension indexing calculations, a sum meant to meet inflation costs amounting to C$30 per year, depending on different pension levels. U.S. Steel also wants to close off the defined benefit plan for new workers, certainly no &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to young Canadian workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="369" height="161" />
Photo: John Maclennan
Bus-loads of loyal steelworkers from Quebec arrived and made USW Local 1005 supporters proud that such national unity crosses provincial boundaries. Buses of steelworkers also came from Sudbury, Ontario, where a foreign multinational also has slashed jobs and living standards, as well as from U.S. Steel&rsquo;s Great Lakes mill in the US state of Michigan. 
 
Union delegations turned out in full from the Canadian Autoworkers&rsquo; Union (CAW), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The OFL and CLC led the larger call across Canada. Scores of trade union delegations from teachers&rsquo; unions, to the Ontario Public Service Union, to ICEM-affiliated Power Workers Union (PWU) and the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union also lent their support. 
<img alt="" src="" width="218" height="163" />
Bill Mahoney
Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina, an outspoken critic of U.S. Steel&rsquo;s conduct in his city, spoke at Saturday&rsquo;s &ldquo;The People vs. U.S. Steel&rdquo; manifestation, as did MP Chris Charlton, the leading national politician currently out to refine the Investment Canada Act. Other speakers included CLC President Ken Georgetti, OFL President Sid Ryan, and Bill Mahoney, a victim himself who has put to words what Local 1005&rsquo;s fightback symbolises. 
 
Called the &ldquo;Protest Poet,&rdquo; Mahoney has been retired from Stelco&rsquo;s Hamilton Works for five works and has penned some 25 poems on social erosion. One, entitled &ldquo;Scrooge Comes to Town,&rdquo; reads: 
We are fighting for our dignity, united young and old 
All across the country, the story is being told 
Of our proud community whose dignity won&rsquo;t be sold 
We are fighting for our country, Canada is our home. 
Prior ICEM reports on the struggle by USW Local 1005 in Hamilton can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4101-Flawed-Investment-Canada-Act-Again-Seen-in-Steel-Lockout ">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4190-Rally-Slated-29-January-in-Canada-to-Support-Locked-out-Steelworkers ">here</a>.

Over 10,000 Manifest in Hamilton Against Canadian Government, U.S. Steel

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The global mobilization of trade unions affiliated to four Global Union Federations, calling for trade union rights in Mexico, is now two weeks away. Affiliates of the ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), and UNI have planned coordinated actions across the world during the week that marks the five-year anniversary of the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster. 
 
In February 2006, an explosion happened in that mine and 65 miners were killed. The tragic blast followed continued pleas by the Mexican Miners Union, Los Mineros, for improved safety conditions at the mine. 
 
The campaign has now made available posters, hand-bills, and information backgrounders in various languages, available <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP">here</a>.&nbsp; 
<img alt="" src="" width="368" height="87" />
In Geneva, a high-level delegation from the four coordinating GUFs will meet with the Mexican ambassador to the UN in the Swiss city, to communicate the demands of the global action and seek explanations on sustained efforts to bust unions by the Calder&oacute;n government. An action in front of the Mexican mission in Geneva will be joined by other Global Union Federations, including the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), Public Services International (PSI), and the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF). 
 
Mexico&rsquo;s assault against trade unions, specifically against Los Mineros, continued last Monday, 24 January, when a US representative of the USW, Manny Armenta, was arrested by Mexican customs police on his way to assist attorneys for Los Mineros. He was accused of driving a stolen vehicle. Armenta immediately presented documentation for the car, but was still instructed to pay a fine to a corrupt officer of US$15,000. On refusing to pay, Armenta was arrested and detained, until Los Mineros posted a bond of US$7,500 for his release. Armenta&rsquo;s car is still impounded and his wallet was returned to him by police minus US$700. 
<img alt="" src="" width="261" height="177" />
USW's Manny Armenta in Mexican Prison Cell
Steelworker President Leo Gerard stated, &ldquo;It is ironic that although Mexican courts have issued 20 warrants for Germ&aacute;n Larrea &ndash; the owner of Grupo M&eacute;xico &ndash; the government has never been able to arrest him. Yet they can arrest Manny because he is in Mexico helping the mineworkers defend their rights.&rdquo; 
 
In a further clear example of the Calder&oacute;n government&rsquo;s complicit support for union-busting efforts, three leaders of the Los Mineros Section 142 were arrested at 5.30am on 26 January. Ministerial police violently pulled the men from their homes, still in their underwear in an effort to intimidate the section, currently on strike at the El Cubo mine, in Guanajuato. 
 
Those arrested were Juan Andr&eacute;s Villa Licea, President of the Strike Committee, Mart&iacute;n Reina Cruces, and Jorge Ram&oacute;n Monsiv&aacute;is Ortega, all senior members of the union.

14-19 February Mexico Days of Action Draws Near

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The global recession&rsquo;s impact on the rubber industry, collective bargaining, work relationships, health and safety, global solidarity, and a plan of action to address these issues were key topics discussed in the US at the ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Rubber Industries in Nashville, Tennessee, 12-13 May. 
 
The conference, which was hosted by US-based United Steelworkers (USW), attracted some 90 trade unionists from throughout the world. The swine flu epidemic and visa problems into the US prevented the conference from having even more participants. 
 
USW Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson, who leads the host union&rsquo;s rubber sector, opened the conference. A 22-year veteran of the tyre industry, Johnson led a successful strike as a local branch president against Italian tyre-maker Pirelli at a Nashville plant in the mid-1990s. He was unanimously elected as ICEM&rsquo;s permanent chairman for the Rubber Industry at this conference. 

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="136" />
USW Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson
Johnson painted a picture of the current global economic crisis&mdash;a halt in the auto industry, collapse of the tyre market, and factories operating at low capacities. &ldquo;Our opportunity lies in making sure that work and the value of workers is once again important,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is our responsibility individually and collectively to step forward and change our future.&rdquo; 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda pointed out that bad policies allowed irresponsible corporate conduct to occur. He said corporate greed was behind &ldquo;casino capitalism,&rdquo; and that national solutions alone will not work to end the crisis. A global response is needed with unions playing an integral role. 
 
&ldquo;Recovery cannot mean the status quo,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;A sustainable economy must be created. There is a great need to build trade union unity to combat the excesses of unregulated globalization.&rdquo; 
 
Warda also presented a resolution on the US Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), important legislation currently before the American government that would eliminate the unfair advantages that employers commonly use to restrict workers from organising. (See the Resolution <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/EFCA%20Resolution.pdf">here</a>.) 

<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="114" />
USW scribe Lynne Baker (left) interviews Forestry, Logging, and Industrial Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia&rsquo;s (FLIWUL) Austin Natee and Edwin Cisco. At right, USW&rsquo;s&nbsp;Marilyn Brown 
Photo: Kenny Carlisle, USW Communications Department 
But the conference centered primarily on the global economic crisis. Presenters mapped out the problems confronting rubber workers throughout this crisis and the opportunities for positive change. The problems cited were common to all: layoffs, reductions in pay and hours worked, outsourcing to low cost countries, leave without pay, wage freezes, use of contract and agency labour, shutdowns, production declines, and lack of investment, all factors leading to increased family and community stress. 
 
Presenters told how some employers were using the economic crisis to avoid their commitments to workers, and rather to create new work structures, including the use of non-regular and short-term contract workers. 
 
&ldquo;Trade unions need to be at the vanguard of developing a new model that guarantees globalization of rights, an agenda to decrease poverty, and to better regulate the financial sector,&rdquo; said Fabio Lins from Brazil&rsquo;s CNQ/CUT union in Brazil. 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="120" />
Fabio Lins of CNQ/CUT, Brazil
Peter Bakvis, director of the International Trade Union Confederation/Global Unions office in Washington, D.C., presented a five-point strategy for the ICEM and other global unions to tackle the economic crisis and build a fairer and more sustainable world economy. 
 
The strategy focuses on job creation through public investment, including active labour market policies and protection of the most vulnerable; nationalization of insolvent banks and new roles and mechanisms to control global finance; extension of collective bargaining coverage and strengthening of wage-setting institutions; negotiation of an ambitious international agreement on climate change; and governance reform of the global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation. 

<img alt="" src="" width="377" height="160" />
ICEM Rubber Conference participants
At the conclusion of the conference on 13 May, Chemicals and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan presented an ICEM action plan that included campaigning for basic trade union rights and union organising; providing immediate solidarity during conflicts; providing effective and active solidarity for collective bargaining; striving for decent work in the rubber sector, meaning campaigning for sector-wide standards on use of contract and agency labour, equal pay initiatives, and use of Global Framework Agreements to address such issues. 

<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="114" />
ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan 
Photo: Kenny Carlisle, USW Communications Department 
As well, the work includes improving, strengthening, and creating new workers&rsquo; networks; creating a global level of industrial relations through existing instruments; establishing industry and company-wide standards for health, safety, and sustainable jobs; seeking to improve cooperation between Global Union Federations in the auto-parts and auto supply industries along the global production chain; and providing special solidarity to US unions for passage of the EFCA, to tyre workers at Hankook and Bridgestone in Hungary, to French and German workers of Continental AG, and to Mexican miners. 
To view the action plan in its entirety, as well as to see the presentations made by speakers, click <a href="/index.php?id=20&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=3207">here</a>.
Special thanks to Contributor Lynne Baker, USW Communications Department.

ICEM’s Rubber Conference Focuses on Problems, Opportunities in Economic Crisis

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The prestigious Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Trade Union Award was given last week to a woman trade unionist from Iraq, Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi, the President of ICEM-affiliated General Union of Electricity Workers and Technicians. 
 
The award is presented by FNV, a national labour centre in the Netherlands, and is given to a trade union leader who has worked under difficult circumstances, taken enormous personal risks, but has defended trade union rights in countries where such rights are routinely violated. 
 
Hashmeyia Muhsin, the tenth recipient of the award, was nominated by the ICEM. She was honoured at the FNV Congress in Amsterdam, and presented the award on 12 May. 

<img height="175" alt="" src="" width="170" />
In nominating her, the ICEM said Hashmeyia Muhsin &ldquo;has dedicated herself to the protection of both trade union rights and wider human rights in a country which remains under occupation &hellip; and which continues to apply trade union legislation from the Saddam era.&rdquo; 
 
She is the first woman to head a national trade union in Iraq, and is believed to be the first woman to lead a union anywhere in the Arabic-speaking world. The ICEM noted her courage in leading marches, demonstrations, and strikes in the Basra area, while under the threat of death. She also is a dedicated advocate for electricity access to all citizens of Iraq. 

<img height="181" alt="" src="" width="230" />
First elected to head the Electricity Workers and Technicians in September 2003, she has been re-elected twice since, and also is Vice Chairman of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW). In 2007, she was elected to the ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee. 
 
The Febe Elisabeth Velasquez Award was named after a Salvadorian trade union leader and former General Secretary of Fenastras. Velasquez was killed on 31 October 1989 when a bomb exploded at the offices of the trade union centre. Previous FNV award recipients include Kim You Mee of Korea, Frank Kokori and Milton Dabibi of Nigeria, Maria Alieva of Belurus, Dr. Taye Woldesmiate of Ethiopia, and Mansour Osanloo of Iran.

Dutch FNV Trade Union Award to Goes to Iraq’s Hashmeyia Muhsin Saadawi

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Hundreds of ICEM affiliates from every continent responded to an ICEM Circular to lend support to American trade unions in their legislative battle to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). In recent weeks, support letters arrived in droves to ICEM&rsquo;s nine US trade union affiliates, which together with the rest of the American trade union movement are waging a bitter fight against a rabid business lobby in order to enact the first meaningful labour law reform measure in the US in 50 years. 
 
The EFCA would simplify and make the process fairer for workers who choose to organise and win US government certification for collective bargaining. The proposed law would give workers the choice of union representation if a simple majority in any given workplace signed a card or petition seeking unionisation. 
 
Currently, it is the employer that chooses which of two methods &ndash; &ldquo;card-check&rdquo; recognition or a one-sided election procedure &ndash; to certify a bargaining representative. In nearly all instances, a company chooses the election method because the government-conducted vote is held at the worksite and trade unions have no on-the-job access to workers in the 30-45 days leading up to the vote. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="100" />
Instead, over the past three decades, employers have fine-tuned the process, using stop-work meetings to vilify the union, sacking workers who support the union, and utilising threats and intimidation by stating that if the union is voted in, layoffs or plant closures will occur. Although such union-avoidance tactics currently do violate US labour law, no penalties are attached so bosses have crafted the election process to their distinct advantage. 
 
If the EFCA is passed, financial penalties will be levied on employers who deploy such tactics. Perhaps most significantly, the proposed legislation contains a first-contract arbitration provision in which contract proposals are submitted to a government mediator if an initial collective agreement cannot be reached. Oftentimes at present, management&rsquo;s strategy following a union win in a government-supervised election is to &ldquo;surface bargain&rdquo; without ever intending to come to an agreement. After one year, the union can then be decertified. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s call to its global affiliates came immediately after Global Unions, comprising the 11 Global Union Federations, plus the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD, issued a statement, demanding passage of the EFCA: &ldquo;There is no defense for employers who interfere in workers&rsquo; decisions to form trade unions &hellip; It is time for the United States to join the other democracies around the world that respect the fundamental rights of workers to form trade unions and bargain collectively with their employers. Members of the US Congress should muster the courage to resist a massive, multi-million dollar employer campaign of propaganda, scare tactics, and distortion. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="100" />
&ldquo;We, the Global Unions, representing around 200 million workers on all continents and in all industries, call on the United States Government to adopt the EFCA.&rdquo; 
 
Many of the ICEM affiliates that wrote to the US unions alluded to the current global economic crisis, and the best means to rise out of that crisis. &ldquo;We know that a strong economy depends on workers given the opportunity to join a trade union and to bargain collectively so that fair wages and social benefits are lifted for all in a society.&rdquo; 
 
The letters concluded by stating: &ldquo;Please pass to your union membership, as well as to your elected officials, that our union fully supports EFCA, and that we consider it an essential element in a free society that workers be allowed to join a trade union in an unobstructed way.&rdquo; 
 
American trade unions are currently pushing members of the US Senate to adopt the bill. US unions played the major role in electing members of the Democratic Party to substantial majorities in both the Senate and US House in last year&rsquo;s elections. But a number of supposed pro-worker Democrats in the Senate have come under the influence of the business lobby&rsquo;s misinformation campaign putting passage of EFCA in jeopardy. 

<img alt="" src="" width="227" height="100" />
As committees of Congress prepare to debate EFCA, Democrats in the Senate are suggesting compromises, such as workers submitting &ldquo;card-check&rdquo; authorization directly by mail to the US labour board, or proposing alterations to the first-contract arbitration procedure. 
 
This is the fourth time in recent years that EFCA has been proposed in the US Congress, but the first time it has a realistic chance of enactment. This is due to President Barack Obama&rsquo;s pledge to sign it, as well as the US labour movement&rsquo;s yeoman work in elections six months ago that gave a political mandate to do away with George Bush&rsquo;s draconian policies. 
 
In March 2007, the last time the measure was before Congress, it passed the US House by a 241-185 vote. But it died in the US Senate when proponents failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture, or the vote to shut down filibustering on a piece of legislation. In the coming weeks, Democrats are expected to have exactly 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate. Labor&rsquo;s strategy this time is to first gain passage of EFCA in the US Senate before taking it to the House.

Trade Unions Worldwide Respond to ICEM’s Call for Fair Organising in the US

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The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada launched a national fight-back campaign Friday, 15 May, in front of the Montr&eacute;al headquarters of AbitibiBowater, the world&rsquo;s biggest producer of newsprint. AbitibiBowater is seeking to avoid its pension obligations through bankruptcy filings. 
 
The ICEM affiliate&rsquo;s main target, however, is the Canadian government. The federal government has done too little to protect the jobs of forestry workers, asserts the CEP. 
 
&ldquo;Workers are not responsible for the crisis in the forest industry, but we are the ones facing demands for cuts to our wages and pensions,&rdquo; said CEP President Dave Coles. 
 
&ldquo;It is totally unfair that a company like AbitibiBowater can use bankruptcy protection to avoid paying severance and making payments to the pension plan,&rdquo; he added. 

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="145" />
CEP President Dave Coles
On 7 May, a Superior Court in the Province of Qu&eacute;bec issued an order that the paper company could suspend pension payments into its unfunded liabilities account for workers, thus shrinking that account and pushing workers&rsquo; pension payments on Abitibi&rsquo;s creditors list. 
 
&ldquo;There is something seriously wrong with a system that puts workers&rsquo; pensions in the same category as hedge fund credit,&rdquo; said CEP Secretary-Treasurer Ga&eacute;tan M&eacute;nard. &ldquo;When workers go to work to earn a living and a pension, they certainly don&rsquo;t see themselves as venture capitalists making a risky investment. 
 
Last Friday&rsquo;s CEP action in Montr&eacute;al was the first in a string of manifestations that the union will do in attempts to shake the Conservative government of Stephen Harper into taking action on behalf of forest industry jobs. CEP is demanding that the Canadian federal government weigh in with loan guarantees to halt paper and wood mill closures, and to protect jobs and pensions. 
 
&ldquo;There will be a lot of pressure,&rdquo; said Coles. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to take to the streets and we&rsquo;re going to make noise until we&rsquo;re heard.&rdquo; Further actions will target Canadian federal cabinet ministers and a mass rally is scheduled in the capital city of Ottawa on 2 June. 
 
Meanwhile, due to AbitibiBowater&rsquo;s bankruptcy filing, the CEP and ICEM American affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), have taken a wait-and-see position before entering into bargaining with AbitibiBowater. The CEP and USW have agreed to coordinate bargaining at the newsprint producer&rsquo;s 12 mills in eastern Canada, where the CEP represents 7,000 workers, and at a USW-represented mill in the state of South Carolina. 
 
A pulp and paper collective agreement covering the entire industry in eastern Canada, with AbitibiBowater expected as the lead negotiating company, expired on 30 April, while a labour agreement in Catawba, South Carolina, covering 1,000 workers expired on 24 April for USW branch locals there.

CEP Launches Canadian Forest Jobs Campaign; Demands Canadian Government Support

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The merger of six Finnish unions is down to five, and the effective date has been delayed one year &ndash; to 1 January 2011 &ndash; in order to make the merged union structure, to be called TEAM, fully operational. 
 
A joint project management committee of the unions made that announcement on 5 May, stating the extra time is needed because of the deep economic recession and the demands caused by it on staff. Among those demands is administration of unemployment funds. 

<img src="" width="90" height="72" alt="" />
Meanwhile, an ICEM affiliate, the Electrical Workers&rsquo; Union, has withdrawn from the planned merger. On 6 May, a majority representation group from the union decided to withdraw. As it now stands, merger partners include: Kemianliitto, the ICEM-affiliated Chemical Workers Union; Metalli, the Finnish Metalworkers&rsquo; Union; the Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union; the Finnish Media Union; and the Finnish Railwaymen&rsquo;s Union. 

<img src="" width="106" height="71" alt="" />
The Railwaymen&rsquo;s Union is currently conducting a referendum on the new merger, which will be completed on 20 May, while the Media Union has already adopted the name TEAM as its new moniker. In February 2008, Kemianliitto members passed a binding vote in favour of the merger, while Metalli also saw members give approve to the merger in a consultative vote that same month. 
 
The merged Finnish industrial union would comprise 330,000 members, and would be governed by a Congress occurring five years, with delegates to that Congress electing both a General Council and an Executive Committee.

Finnish Union Merger to be Delayed One Year, Effective Date: 2011

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A UK Trades Union Congress (TUC) study released 12 May on workers now forced to take involuntary part-time work reveals a sharp increase. On the eve of the UK releasing its first quarter unemployment numbers, the TUC said the number of workers forced into involuntary part-time work had increased to 829,000, the highest figure in 15 years. 
 
One in nine people work only part-time because they cannot find a full-time job, states the TUC. Most of the part-time workers are women, 451,000 compared with 378,000 men. Women who work part-time earn, on average, 36% less than men who work full-time, while men working part-time earn 27% less. 
 
&ldquo;As unemployment rises, people are doing whatever they can to stay in work,&rdquo; said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. &ldquo;But while part-time work is better than no work at all, people will be shocked by the pitiful pay rates on offer &ndash; a disgrace that millions of women have suffered for many years.&rdquo; 
 
Workers in part-time employment are subjected to a double jeopardy, because their rates of pay are low and they are unable to work enough hours to make financial ends meet. UK government statistics cite that in job placement centres across the country, more than one in four work vacancies are filled for fewer than 16 hours per week. 
 
On 13 May, the government released figures showing that the number of jobless had risen by 244,000 for the first three months of 2009. That is the biggest quarterly jump in unemployment statistics since 1981. The 2009 increase in those without jobs raised UK&rsquo;s official unemployment rate from 6.3% to 7.1%. 
 
Also in the UK, hundreds of construction workers converged on the site of the 2012 Olympics in the east London community of Stratford on 6 May. Workers were protesting the wide use of agency labour by contractors on the &pound;9 billion site, undercutting a promise that contractors would pay union-negotiated pay rates and full-time construction workers.

Involuntary Part-time Work on Steep Rise, TUC Study Shows

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