English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
ICEM'in d&ouml;rt yılda bir d&uuml;zenlenen Lastik İşkolu D&uuml;nya Konferansı 12-13 Mayıs 2009 g&uuml;nlerinde ABD'nin Tennessee Eyaleti&rsquo;nin Nashville kentinde 70'i aşkın katılımcıyla toplanıyor. ABD Birleşik &Ccedil;elik İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikası'nın ev sahipliğini yapacağı Konferans&rsquo;ı, aynı zamanda sendikanın genel başkanı olan, ICEM Lastik İşkolu B&ouml;l&uuml;m&uuml; Başkanı Leo Gerard y&ouml;netecek. 

<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="140" />
Leo Gerard, ICEM Lastik İşkolu B&ouml;l&uuml;m&uuml; ve Birleşik &Ccedil;elik İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikası Başkanı 
ICEM Kimya ve Lastik İşkolları Sorumlusu Kemal &Ouml;zkan &ldquo;K&uuml;resel Sekt&ouml;rel Trendler ve Sorunlar&rdquo; konusunda bir sunum yapacak. 
 
Konferans şu beş konuda yapılacak &ccedil;alışma toplantılarından oluşacak: &ldquo;K&uuml;resel Krizin Sekt&ouml;r &Uuml;zerindeki Etkileri ve Sendikal Sorunlar&rdquo;, &ldquo;&Ccedil;alışma İlişkilerindeki Zorluklar&rdquo;, &ldquo;K&uuml;resel S&ouml;zleşmeler, K&uuml;resel/B&ouml;lgesel Ağlar ve Kampanyalar&rdquo;, &ldquo;İş&ccedil;i Sağlığı ve G&uuml;venliğinin İyileştirilmesi: &Ccedil;evre Bağlamında İstihdam Politikaları&rdquo; ve &ldquo;K&uuml;resel Sendikal Dayanışmanın, Desteğin ve İşbirliğinin Koordinasyonu&rdquo;. 
 
ICEM İş Sağlığı, G&uuml;venliği ve S&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilirlik B&ouml;l&uuml;m&uuml; Sorumlusu Brian Kohler sekt&ouml;rde iş sağlığı ve g&uuml;venliği konusunda bir sunum yapacak.

ICEM&#039;in Dünya Lastik Konferansı ABD&#039;nin Nashville kentinde toplanıyor

Solidarity Needed: Finnish UPM Paper Strike 
 
Dear Activists in Pulp/Paper Sector, 
 
At 6h00 on Wednesday, 6 April, 1,000 members of the ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro in Finland began a two-week strike against UPM, the target paper company in a break-down of talks with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. In an insult to these dedicated paperworkers, the industry failed to give white-collar and technical workers a national wage adjustment, despite giving a second year 2.5% increase to blue-collar workers, members of Paperiliitto. Members of PRO deserve at least the same! 
 
(A full ICEM story on this&nbsp;can be found by <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates">following this link</a>.) 
 
This is most insulting because in the past few years, paper companies in Finland have downsized the ranks of Pro by 30% through redundancies. It means more work and greater responsibilities have been placed on the 4,000 members of Pro remaining in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector. Thus, Pro has targeted UPM&rsquo;s six mills and 20 workplaces throughout Finland with industrial action. 
 
The ICEM is asking you to immediately send the following message of support to Pro President Antti Rinne (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) and Chief Paper Sector Negotiator Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Please cut and paste this message, or something similar, and send today to the e-mail addresses above: 
 
Dear Brothers Antti and Jukka, 
We have heard through the ICEM of your strike, targeting UPM, from April 6 to April 20. We understand the work stoppage to be justified because the Finnish employers&rsquo; federation has failed to deliver a justified wage increase on the national level. To tell your union&rsquo;s members to go negotiate an increase on the local level is insulting considering the tremendous sacrifices they have made over recent years in keeping Finland&rsquo;s paper sector operating. Please tell all Pro members working in the paper sector that our union supports them! 
 
(Signed) 
(Name of Union)
&nbsp;
<hr />
&nbsp;
Appel &agrave; la solidarit&eacute;: gr&egrave;ve des papetiers d&rsquo;UPM en Finlande 
 
Chers Militants de la Section P&acirc;te et Papier, 
 
A 6h00 ce mercredi 6 avril, un millier de membres du syndicat finlandais Ammattiliitto Pro, affili&eacute; &agrave; l&rsquo;ICEM, ont entam&eacute; une gr&egrave;ve de quinze jours contre UPM, entreprise cibl&eacute;e dans le cadre de la rupture de leurs pourparlers avec la F&eacute;d&eacute;ration des Industries foresti&egrave;res de Finlande. Dans une attitude insultante pour ces travailleurs appliqu&eacute;s, les entreprises ont refus&eacute; d&rsquo;accorder un ajustement salarial aux cols blancs et techniciens en d&eacute;pit d&rsquo;une seconde augmentation salariale annuelle de 2,5% accord&eacute;e aux membres de Paperiliitto, le syndicat des cols-bleus. Les membres de PRO m&eacute;ritent un traitement &eacute;gal ! 
 
Un r&eacute;cit complet de l&rsquo;ICEM, en anglais, sur ce sujet peut &ecirc;tre lui en <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates">suivant ce lien</a>. 
 
Ce geste est tr&egrave;s insultant parce qu&rsquo;au cours des derni&egrave;res ann&eacute;es, les entreprises papeti&egrave;res en Finlande ont r&eacute;duit les rangs de Pro de 30% en raison des licenciements. Cela signifie que davantage de travail et de responsabilit&eacute;s reposent maintenant sur les &eacute;paules des 4000 membres de Pro qui subsistent dans le secteur du papier en Finlande. En cons&eacute;quence, Pro a cibl&eacute; pour cette action les six usines et vingt sites d&rsquo;activit&eacute; d&rsquo;UPM en Finlande. 
 
L&rsquo;ICEM vous demande d&rsquo;envoyer imm&eacute;diatement le message de soutien suivant au Pr&eacute;sident de Pro Antti Rinne (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) et au n&eacute;gociateur en chef pour le secteur du papier Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Veuillez faire un couper-coller de ce message ou en composer un similaire et l&rsquo;envoyer aux adresses &eacute;lectroniques mentionn&eacute;es: 
 
Chers Camarades Antti et Jukka, 
 
Par l&rsquo;interm&eacute;diaire de l&rsquo;ICEM, nous avons pris connaissance de votre gr&egrave;ve qui cible UPM du 6 au 20 avril. Nous sommes inform&eacute;s que votre arr&ecirc;t de travail est motiv&eacute; par le refus de la F&eacute;d&eacute;ration patronale finlandaise d&rsquo;accorder une hausse de salaire justifi&eacute;e au plan national. Dire aux membres de votre syndicat d&rsquo;aller n&eacute;gocier leurs augmentations au plan local est une insulte compte tenu des sacrifices consid&eacute;rables qui ont &eacute;t&eacute; consentis ces derni&egrave;res ann&eacute;es pour maintenir en activit&eacute; le secteur papetier en Finlande. Dites &agrave; tous les membres de Pro occup&eacute;s dans le secteur du papier que notre syndicat les soutient ! 
 
(Signature) 
(Nom du Syndicat.) 
<hr />

&nbsp;
 
Llamado de solidaridad: huelga de trabajadores de UPM, sector papelero de Finlandia 
 
Estimados activistas del Sector de Pulpa y Papel: 
 
El mi&eacute;rcoles 6 de abril pasado, se inici&oacute; la huelga de trabajadores de la empresa papelera UPM, que estuvo involucrada en el colapso de las conversaciones con la Federaci&oacute;n de Industrias Forestales de Finlandia. Siendo las 6 de la ma&ntilde;ana del d&iacute;a indicado, 1.000 miembros de Ammattiliitto Pro, organizaci&oacute;n finlandesa afiliada a la ICEM, comenzaron una huelga de dos semanas en UPM, a consecuencia de la insultante negativa de esa industria, de no conceder un aumento salarial nacional a los dedicados trabajadores t&eacute;cnicos y de oficina, a pesar de haber otorgado a los trabajadores manuales un aumento del 2,5% por segundo a&ntilde;o consecutivo. Los trabajadores manuales son miembros de Paperiliitto: &iexcl;los miembros de PRO merecen por lo menos el mismo trato! 
 
(Haga clic en este enlace para ver un art&iacute;culo completo de la ICEM, en ingl&eacute;s, <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4342-Finnish-Paper-Sector-Wage-Accords-Divert-Between-ICEM-Affiliates">sobre este problema</a>.) 
 
Esto es un gran insulto porque en a&ntilde;os recientes las empresas papeleras de Finlandia han despedido a muchos trabajadores, reduciendo en un 30% el n&uacute;mero de miembros de Pro. Debido a esto, se han recargado con m&aacute;s trabajo y responsabilidades a los 4.000 afiliados de Pro que quedan en el sector papelero de Finlandia. Por este motivo, Pro ha declarado la huelga en seis plantas y 20 lugares de trabajo de UPM en diferentes partes de Finlandia. 
 
La ICEM les ruega enviar inmediatamente el siguiente mensaje de apoyo a Antti Rinne, Presidente de Pro, (<a href="mailto:Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti.Rinne@proliitto.fi</a>) y a Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen, Negociador Principal del Sector del Papel (<a href="mailto:jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi</a>). 
 
Rogamos copiar este mensaje, o algo semejante, y enviarlo a las direcciones de e-mail que se se&ntilde;alan m&aacute;s arriba.: 
 
Estimados Cros. Antti y Jukka: 
La ICEM nos ha informado sobre la huelga que han declarado en UPM, del 6 al 20 de abril. Parece justa esta paralizaci&oacute;n de los labores, debido a que la federaci&oacute;n empresarial de Finlandia no ha concedido un aumento salarial justo a nivel nacional. Tomando en cuenta los enormes sacrificios que han hecho estos sindicalistas en los &uacute;ltimos a&ntilde;os para que contin&uacute;en las operaciones del sector papelero de Finlandia, constituye un insulto que les digan a los miembros de su sindicato que vayan a negociar un aumento salarial a nivel local. &iexcl;Rogamos informar a todos los miembros de Pro que laboran en el sector del papel que nuestra federaci&oacute;n sindical est&aacute; con ellos! 
 
(Firmado) 
(Nombre del sindicato) 

&nbsp;

Action Needed/ Votre intervention est souhaitée/ Se requiere acción urgente

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="49" />
Bahrain&rsquo;s authorities and business leaders are retaliating to a general strike led by the national trade union centre GFBTU with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved. The general strike was called on 13 March, and ended 22 March, in support of pro-democracy protests inside the island state near the western shore of the Persian Gulf. The agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation, by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
Estimates suggest over 1,000 workers will be laid-off during the crackdown including at employers Aluminium Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. All sackings were due to worker absence during the strike. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="169" />
BAPCO President Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain
The president of the union at Bahrain Petroleum (BAPCO), Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, has been sacked for his absence during the strike and also for &ldquo;inciting workers to strike&rdquo;. The company will begin legal prosecution of Hussain this week or next. Hussain was central in the creation of the GBFTU. All employees at BAPCO are now fearful of losing their jobs in the coming days. Absenteeism of BAPCO employees on 16-17 March was 60%. 
See <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/27.ICEM.Bahrain.6April.pdf">ICEM's letter to the King of Bahrain</a> here. 
 
Security forces have closed down the GBFTU headquarters and are expected to soon call the organisation&rsquo;s president, Salman Mahfooz, in for questioning. Roads leading to the union office were closed and workers were blocked from reaching the headquarters, most of those workers had been seeking guidance from their union following their sacking. The GBFTU website has been closed. Parliament is calling on the government to immediately refer trade union leaders involved in the strike to the public prosecution office. 
 
All members of the GBFTU executive, spanning all industries, have been suspended from work pending investigations. On top of this cynical multi-faceted attack on Bahrain&rsquo;s independent trade unions, companies are now planning legal cases against the unions in a further attempt to permanently end their activities. 
 
Over 300 activists have been arrested with many missing, and at least 20 killed since protesters took to the street in February, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The violent suppression of the Bahraini people&rsquo;s reform protest has been facilitated with armed forces from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. 
 
This disgraceful attack on core human and trade union rights of the Bahraini people must end immediately.

ICEM Angered by Brutal Attack on Trade Unions in Bahrain

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="49" />
The ICEM Secretariat was stricken with grief on 4 April upon learning of the death of Liv Undheim, former Vice President of Norwegian trade union affiliate IndustriEnergi (IE). Liv Undheim died at 07h00 that morning in an Oslo hospital after a period of illness. She was 61. 
 
She was an ICEM Vice President, representing the Nordic region, and had served on ICEM statutory bodies for the past 20 years, dating to her tenure as an officer of Norsk Kjemisk Forbund, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association. She was the driving force inside ICEM in the development of gender equality and women&rsquo;s activities. 
 
In a letter to IE President Leif Sande, General Secretary Manfred Warda said her advocacy in this regard made the ICEM a leading Global Union Federation on gender issues. 
 
She began working in an industrial setting in the late 1960s at Figgjo AS, a ceramics and pottery manufacturer near Stavanger. She then became a federal secretary of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and served in that capacity for nine years before being elected organisation secretary of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO). In that capacity in 1997, she also became deputy minister with responsibility for energy issues. 
 
In 2001, she became Vice President of the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association and in 2006, upon the merger of that union with the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemicals Workers&rsquo; Federation (NOPEF), she was elected Vice President of IE. She retired in October 2010 but retained the exemplary role she always performed as IE&rsquo;s head of international affairs.
<img alt="" src="" width="112" height="150" />
She also had served on a number of boards and public bodies, including the research institute FAFO, Norway&rsquo;s Labour Directorate, the Labour Inspection Authority, and many others. 
 
She was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and in February 2011 was stricken and hospitalised with pneumonia, which prevented cancer treatment. The ICEM&rsquo;s Warda said she always delivered a great deal of energy and passion to global trade union work, and &ldquo;we held hope that this same energy and passion would allow her to overcome this illness.&rdquo; 
 
He added: &ldquo;Her passing at the age of 61 is a sad moment for us here. The extraordinary work she performed for the ICEM &ndash; and for all trade unions &ndash; will carry on in her honour. We pledge to re-dedicate the many workers&rsquo; issues that she championed in her memory.&rdquo; 
 
In a statement this week from Oslo, IE President Sande said, &ldquo;Following her long and devoted service to the labour union movement we all felt with all our hearts that Liv had deserved a long and pleasant retirement together with her dear Elisabeth. The holiday to Thailand was booked and she was looking forward to spending her time reading, travelling and generally enjoying life. Instead she was struck down with cancer, having to spend her last days in a hospital. It seems so unfair. She will be deeply missed.&rdquo;
Liv Undheim's funeral will be 14 April in Oslo. Following, a memorial and commemoration of her life will be held at&nbsp;IE's offices&nbsp;there.&nbsp;

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

<img src="" width="120" height="59" alt="" />
The ICEM expressed satisfaction today that the Kumho Tyre subsidiary of Kumho Asiana Group lifted its eight-day lockout on 3,400 rubber workers, members of the Korean Metal Workers&rsquo; Union (KMWU). Korea&rsquo;s second biggest tyre maker locked out workers on 25 March at factories in Gwungju and Gokseong following a one-day warning strike. 
 
The lockout ended at 14h30 today. The company rescinded its demand that workers sign individual work agreements promising not to engage in further work stoppages. In return for lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union said it would end its industrial actions in front of the two plants. 
 
The union executed the warning strike on 25 March because Kumho refused to engage in dialogue over relevant issues in the middle of a two-year labour agreement. Those issues included giving workplace union leaders the right to maintain their union representation duties while on the job, revisions to severance packages, and health factors inside the factories. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4347-Warning-Strike-Leads-to-Lockout-at-Kumho-Tyre-Factories-in-Korea">ICEM report</a> from 28 March.) 
 
In lifting the lockout, the Kumho Tyre Workers&rsquo; Union recognised the company&rsquo;s fragile financial and market situation. The ICEM is encouraged that the two sides engaged in meaningful dialogue to end the mid-term dispute.

Kumho Tyre Lifts Lockout on Metal Workers Union in Korea

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Bumper pay packages were negotiated last week between British unions, including Unite the Union, and Corus, the steel producer owned by India&rsquo;s Tata Group. In what Unite termed a &ldquo;breakthrough&rdquo; in talks that dated to last May for 12,000 UK steelworkers, labour and management agreed to a 2010 pay deal of 3.2%, backdated to 1 April. 
 
The tentative agreement, which also includes a &pound;200 lump-sum bonus, will now be voted on by Unite&rsquo;s 8,000 members, with results due in early September. Two other UK unions representing Corus workers, GMB and Community, accepted the same deal, with its bargaining leaders empowered to ratify the agreement. 
 
The 2010-2011 collective agreement covers steelworkers at some 15 Corus worksites. 
 
In June, the pay offer by Corus was between one and two percent. The culmination of hard bargaining last week pleased trade union leaders of all three organizations, particularly since workers agreed to take a pay freeze last year that was included in &pound;1 billion in savings served up to the steelmaker in order to help the company through the recession. 
<img alt="" src="" width="150" height="153" />
&ldquo;This new deal offered by Corus will go some way to rebuilding trust with management,&rdquo; stated Unite National Steel Officer Terry Pye. &ldquo;Whatever the outcome of the ballot with our members on the revised pay offer, we are pleased that the company has made a significant improvement to the pay offer, which we are recommending to our members.&rdquo; 
 
GMB National Secretary Keith Hazlewood said, &ldquo;After last year&rsquo;s pay freeze and a very turbulent 18 months it would be nice to think that we have seen the worst, and have the makings of a foundation to build on for a secure future for our members and local steel communities going forward.&rdquo; 
 
India&rsquo;s Tata Group bought Anglo-Dutch Corus in 2006 for US$12 billion. UK unions remain hopeful that one Corus site that was partially shuttered in February in North-east England will reopen under new ownership. Union leaders, together with national and local officials have been negotiating with Sahaviriya Steel Industries of Thailand to operate the Teesside Cast Products mill.

UK Metal Workers Realize Pay Dividends with Tata’s Corus Steel

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Oil and transport trade unions in the Suleymania area of Iraqi Kurdistan returned home from a recent meeting of the ICEM, International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) Oil &amp; Gas Trade Union Alliance in Beirut and quickly organized a wider meeting of unions from both petroleum and transport sectors at the regional level. (See the ICEM/ITF story <a href="/en/3-Energy-Oil-and-Gas/3932-'Well-to-Wheel'-Forum-in-Beirut-Focuses-on-Oil-Transport-Work-in-Iraq ">here</a>.) 
 
Salam Rachid of the Iraqi Kurdistan Workers Syndicat Union of Suleymania arranged the meeting of local union activists to report back on the results of the seminar and explain the importance of the Alliance. 
<img alt="" src="" width="240" height="160" />
ICEM, ITF, and the Solidarity Center of the US, which supports the &ldquo;Well to Wheel&rdquo; Alliance in Iraq, are delighted to see the immediate follow-up work at local level, which is considered essential to the success of the Alliance. This is especially important given the draconian measures taken recently against trade unions of electric power workers&rsquo; in Iraq, in what has become the latest attempt by the Baghdad government to destroy independent trade unionism. 
 
The ICEM views the recent crack-downs on electric power workers as an extension of failure by Iraq&rsquo;s government to enact ILO-compliant labour legislation and its excuse to impose old legislation from the Saddam era, which banned trade unions in the public sector and heavily restricts all trade union activity and work.

Rapid Iraqi Follow-up to ICEM, ITF ‘Well-to-Wheel’ Work Praised

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In the US, recruiting new union members was to become easier with passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a solid piece of labour reform legislation meant to balance the current one-sided advantages that employers have in blocking workers&rsquo; from joining a union. But despite mass support generated by US unions and their members in 2008 to elect Barack Obama and Party Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, reciprocation by prioritizing EFCA for passage never happened. 
 
Last week, on 1 August, the new President of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Bob King, turned that page by telling the annual Management Seminars of the Center for Automotive Research that American workers deserve to have their constitutional First Amendment rights of free association and free speech protected. He called on senior managers to help make that happen in good faith by signing a union election protocol. 
<img alt="" src="" width="135" height="190" />
Bob King, President of the United Auto Workers (UAW)
King said the UAW will not passively &ldquo;sit and wait&rdquo; for passage of EFCA, but instead will present to executives of auto and auto-related industries &ndash; now operating without unionization &ndash; a &ldquo;Principles and Fair Union Election&rdquo; protocol that guarantees workers will have their basic rights upheld in free and unencumbered union certification elections. The UAW will make those principles public following an upcoming executive board meeting of the union. 
 
But they are certain to include equal access to workers seeking to form a union by both the union and management, and the principles would ban derogatory, insulting, and false statements by either party. Perhaps more significantly within the US landscape of union, the UAW principles ban any threats, coercion, or pressure by either management or the union in the run-up to or after elections. 
 
King told the US auto industry&rsquo;s leading management seminar that for those companies that sign on and abide by the principles, &ldquo;we will respect the decision of their workers whether they vote to join the union or not. 
 
&ldquo;However, if companies do not agree to these principles, and instead engage in threatening behaviour towards workers who want to organise a union, or fire workers who try to organise, or close down facilities to thwart union activity, then the UAW will not tolerate the violation of workers&rsquo; First Amendment rights.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="110" />
King added, &ldquo;So, any company that does not agree to the UAW Principles is essentially declaring war on freedom of speech and assembly, and it is our duty and mission to enforce that right.&rdquo; 
 
King, who was newly-elected to head the 400,000-member union in June, told the industry that &ldquo;the 21st century UAW&rdquo; will be less adversarial and has already proven to the three major US automakers to be a partner in flexibility, innovation, quality, teamwork, productivity, continuous cost-savings, and mutual respect. 
 
&ldquo;We respect not only the employers with whom we have relationships, but we also have enormous respect for the transnational companies who have build factories in the US,&rdquo; said King. &ldquo;We welcome you as partners and colleagues in the industry. We appreciate the fact that you are providing good jobs here. We admire many of your good policies and practices, including the focus on continuous improvement, quality, and productivity. The transplants are an important and essential part of preserving, maintaining, and growing our manufacturing base in this country.&rdquo; 
 
King, the first UAW President to speak before the US auto industry&rsquo;s managers&rsquo; forum since 1994, told executives that the choice was up to non-union employers whether or not to sign the UAW&rsquo;s Principals. But, he suggested, &ldquo;the best business practice, the best way to deliver shareholder value, is to partner with the UAW on quality, productivity, attendance, employee morale, and the overall goal of providing the best product at the best price to the customer.&rdquo;

US Auto Workers Seek Bilateral Accords with Employers over Unionisation

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Good relations between the ICEM affiliate Mexican National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, and Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal have made it possible for the union to post 14% overall gains in renewal negotiations recently. 
 
The contract covers 4,000 steelworkers at massive ArcelorMittal&rsquo;s L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas SA de CV complex in Michoacan state. 
 
The new agreement was signed on Wednesday, 4 August, in Vancouver, Canada, between Los Mineros General Secretary Napole&oacute;n Gomez Urrutia, Sergio Beltr&aacute;n Reyes, Javier Zu&ntilde;iga Garc&iacute;a of the union&rsquo;s executive, and Mario Garc&iacute;a Ort&iacute;z of Los Mineros in Michoacan state, with William Chisholm, CEO of ArcelorMittal Mexico, and Jose Luis Fuentes Quiroz Director of Human Resources. 
<img alt="" src="" width="229" height="172" />
from left, ArcelorMittal&rsquo;s Jose Luis Fuentes Quiroz-Pacheco and William Chisholm, Los Mineros General Secretary Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez, Sergio Beltr&aacute;n Reyes, the union&rsquo;s Secretary of Interior, Exterior and Acts
The agreement was signed in Canada where Napole&oacute;n Gomez continues to lead the union while in exile. 
 
There was no involvement by the Mexican Ministry of Labour in the negotiations. 
 
The new agreement increases direct wages by 8%, and benefits by 6%, to be paid retroactively from 1 May 2010. The agreement also includes a one-time payment of US$1,300 to each worker for outside social benefits, including those permanently employed and those employed through subcontractors. 
 
Los Mineros and ArcelorMittal had been negotiating for several weeks prior to a 1 August expiration of a prior agreement. It was extended by three days to allow the Los Mineros leadership to attend the 14th National Mineworkers Forum on 30 July in Cananea, marking the third anniversary of the Cananea copper strike in northern Sonora state. 
<img alt="" src="" width="230" height="145" />
Standing: Javier Zu&ntilde;iga Garc&iacute;a, Los Mineros Secretary of Labor, and Mario Garc&iacute;a Ort&iacute;z, Los Mineros Section 271 Special Delegate from Michoacan 
ArcelorMittal posted net profits in second quarter 2010 of US$1.7 billion. This compares to a net loss of US$792 million for the same period in 2009. At L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Los Mineros gave approval in May for merger of the company&rsquo;s four business units, a move that will give the company greater flexibility and mobility of raw materials and resources between its flat steel and slab steel production processes. 
 
Prior to the signing of the ArcelorMittal collective agreement, meetings were held in Canada between Napole&oacute;n Gomez and another General Secretary of an ICEM-affiliated Latin American mining trade union, Luis Castillo Carlos of the National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP). 
 
Meeting in Vancouver on 21-24 July, the two General Secretaries discussed regional issues facing mineworkers, looking towards building a strategic regional alliance. 
 
The two unions share common difficulties with Grupo M&eacute;xico, the mining corporation that is accused of corrupt ties with the Calder&oacute;n government in Mexico. Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s Southern Copper subsidiaries in Peru include mines at Toquepala and Cuajote, and smelters and refineries in the Moquegua and Tacna regions. FNTMMSP has been attempting to negotiate with Southern Peru Copper for eight months in the Tacna region, but has faced repeated refusals from management on union demands. 
 
Both unions face governments that systematically side with employers in disputes with workers. Currently, the Peruvian Minister of Labour, Manuela Garc&iacute;a Cochagne, is refusing to mediate talks to resolve the Tacna conflict. Instead, he is carrying out bilateral discussions with the company. This is in breach of the Peruvian Constitution.

Los Mineros of Mexico Achieves 14% Gains with ArcelorMittal

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A deadly accident killed four maintenance workers at the Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n mine complex in La Guajira department, north-eastern Colombia, on Wednesday, 4 August. The ICEM affiliated trade union at the mine, Sintracarb&oacute;n, represents 3,500 direct employed workers, and has been fighting to organise many of the 4,000 outsourced at Cerrej&oacute;n, Latin America&rsquo;s largest coal mine. 
 
As prior ICEM reports indicated, organising efforts were countered with harassment and persecution by contractors, while Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management refused to intervene. 
 
This latest fatal accident underlines the urgent need for free trade unions among all the contractors of Cerrej&oacute;n in order to end unsafe working conditions. Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, and its owners Xstrata, AngloAmerican, and BHP Billiton, cannot continue to turn a blind eye to anti-union contractors. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="185" />
Wednesday&rsquo;s accident occurred at 19h50, when a high platform holding 16 workers collapsed and fell. Contract employees of Conconcreto and Ticom were carrying out repair work in one of two coal storage silos in the massive facility&rsquo;s crushing plant. 
 
Three workers died at the scene. While 12 of the 16 were injured and taken to hospital, one died en-route. The bodies of the three dead workers could not be recovered until late into the night. 
 
Seven of the hospitalized workers have since been discharged, and the others are all in stable condition. 
 
Sintracarb&oacute;n, as well as communicating shock and sadness, moved quickly to demand a full inquiry into the accident, with a view to fully understanding its causes, and establishing a strict safety policy throughout the Cerrej&oacute;n operations. The company has responded, with external investigators due to release findings in two weeks. 
 
Production at Cerrej&oacute;n reached 30.5 million tonnes in 2009, and is expected to reach 40 million tonnes by 2011.

Contract Workers Killed at Colombia’s Cerrejón Mine, Renewing Cry for Unionisation

Archive

ICEM'in Dünya Lastik Konferansı ABD'nin Nashville kentinde toplanıyor

Action Needed/ Votre intervention est souhaitée/ Se requiere acción urgente

ICEM Angered by Brutal Attack on Trade Unions in Bahrain

ICEM Mourns Death of Presidium Member Liv Undheim

Kumho Tyre Lifts Lockout on Metal Workers Union in Korea

UK Metal Workers Realize Pay Dividends with Tata’s Corus Steel

Rapid Iraqi Follow-up to ICEM, ITF ‘Well-to-Wheel’ Work Praised

US Auto Workers Seek Bilateral Accords with Employers over Unionisation

Los Mineros of Mexico Achieves 14% Gains with ArcelorMittal

Contract Workers Killed at Colombia’s Cerrejón Mine, Renewing Cry for Unionisation

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us