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The Frente Autentica del Trabajo (FAT) will file, on behalf of ICEM US affiliate, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), a rare complaint tomorrow, 17 October, with the US Labor Department over the inability of public employees in the state of North Carolina to engage in collective bargaining. 
 
The complaint, to be filed under the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), a 1993 side agreement to the US, Mexico, and Canada free trade agreement (NAFTA), includes over 40 labour organisations as co-signees, including Global Union Federations ICEM and Public Service International (PSI). 
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A branch union of UE in North Carolina, Local 150, has aggressively built a membership of 3,000 public workers in the US Atlantic seaboard state. But state law bars the employees, both state and municipal workers, from collective bargaining rights. 
 
Such a prohibition not only violates NAALC, but is also a clear affront to established international labour standards. Two other ICEM North American affiliates have also co-signed the FAT/UE complaint: Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada, and the United Steelworkers (USW), which has membership in both the US and Canada. 
 
FAT and UE have had a decades-long relationship that has protected workers' labour and human rights on each side of the US-Mexican border. 
 
NAALC, the only agreement signed by the US government that deals with labour standards as a supplement to an international trade agreement, ensures that the three countries' labour laws provide for &quot;high labour standards and continue to strive to improve those standards.&quot; 
 
The FAT/UE complaint will be submitted to the US Labor Department's Office of Trade Agreement Implementation (OTAI), which has 60 days to either accept or decline to review the complaint. If accepted, consultations on the issue begin with the respective national administration offices for the trade pact of the other two countries.

US Affiliate teams up with Mexican Labour Federation on Complaint under Trade Pact

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The 12-day strike by members of US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. continues with no negotiations scheduled. The strike by 15,000 trade unionists at 16 US and Canadian plants began on 5 October, and is one of the biggest North American industrial strikes of this decade. 
 
Workers are striking the US-based tyre company for retention of job security guarantees won in 2003 negotiations. They also resist company proposals for steep wage and retirement benefit cuts. With Goodyear teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in 2003, the USW granted financial concessions in exchange for job security and job-retention protections. 
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This year, with Goodyear in excellent financial health, and with 2005 figures showing that North American production accounts for nearly one-half of its total US$19.72 billion in revenues, the company came to the bargaining table with intentions to take even more from its workforce. In addition, it proposes to close two tyre plants, employing 2,190 workers in Gadsden, Alabama, and Tyler, Texas. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs has called on all ICEM&rsquo;s rubber sector unions that represent Goodyear workers to monitor tyre inventories and production, so as to ensure that they are not undermining the USW's strike. The company claims that some US and Canadian production is continuing with supervisory personnel doing the work. Tyre production also continues from Goodyear's two non-union rubber facilities in Lawton, Oklahoma, and in Napanee, Ontario. 
 
The 12 US plants, eight tyre operations and four engineered rubber products operations in which 13,000 USW members are on strike, are located in: Gadsden and Tyler; Marysville, Ohio; St. Mary's, Ohio; Lincoln, Nebraska; Tonawanda, New York State; Topeka, Kansas; Union City, Tennessee; Danville, Virginia; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Akron, Ohio. 
 
The four Canadian plants in which 2,000 USW members are striking are at: Collingwood, Ontario; Owen Sound, Ontario; the Toronto, Ontario, logistics center; and the Toronto commercial retread plant.

No Talks Slated in USW Strike of Goodyear Rubber

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 
As you may be aware at the May meeting of our Executive Committee, I announced my decision to retire from my position as General Secretary of the ICEM as of the end of December 2006. This decision was taken on health grounds. 
In response the Executive Committee mandated the Presidium to appoint an Acting General Secretary to cover this position from January 1st 2007 up to our Congress in November 2007. At yesterday&rsquo;s meeting of the Presidium, Manfred Warda was unanimously appointed to fill this position of Acting General Secretary.
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From left to right: Manfred Warda, ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and Fred Higgs
Manfred is currently the International Officer of IGBCE, our German affiliate, and has had extensive involvement with the ICEM Executive and Presidium activities since our merger Congress in1995. Prior to this, for many years Manfred was deeply involved with the work of the Miners International Federation. Clearly Manfred&rsquo;s experience in the international trade union movement makes him an ideal candidate to fulfil the demanding role he will be undertaking as Acting General Secretary of the ICEM. 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support, comradeship and assistance given to me during my period as General Secretary. I am sure this support will continued to be provided to Manfred. 
I would like to end by saying how proud I am to have been a leader of this great federation and to wish each of you, and the ICEM, every success for the future. 
Yours fraternally, 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM Letter to Affiliates on New Acting General Secretary

The ICEM has issued a call to all its global trade union affiliates, particularly unions in the rubber sector, to support the strike by 15,000 North American rubber workers against Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co. ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) shut 16 plants down yesterday in the US and Canada.
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The USW conducted strike authorization votes at each plant in June. USW members at each plant voted overwhelmingly to grant union negotiators the right to call a strike. The two sides had been bargaining under a day-to-day contract extension since 18 July 2006, four days before the prior three-year contract expired. The USW issued the mandatory 72-hour notice to terminate the contract on Monday, 2 October. 
 
&ldquo;We call on our affiliated trade unions to send messages of support to the Steelworkers in North America,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We also call on trade unions in the rubber industry &ndash; particularly at Goodyear plants in Central and South America &ndash; to monitor their inventories and production to ensure that they are not undermining the USW&rsquo;s strike action.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM encourages trade unions to send immediate messages of support to USW President Leo Gerard at <a href="mailto:LGerard@usw.org">LGerard@usw.org</a>. The postal address for the union is 5 Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15222 USA. Fax messages can be sent to +1 412 562 2598. 
 
Collective bargaining reached a stalemate when Goodyear demanded removal of job-security commitments made in an agreement three years ago. The Akron, Ohio-based multinational is seeking wage and retirement cuts in this year&rsquo;s renewal contract. With Goodyear suffering financial losses during the last contract round, the USW made contract concessions in order to assist the rubber manufacturer, but achieved job-security and job retention guarantees at the tyre factories. 
 
The strike began at 13h00, US Eastern Time, yesterday, 5 October. &ldquo;(Goodyear) left us with no option,&rdquo; said USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover, who heads the union&rsquo;s bargaining team. &ldquo;We cannot allow additional plant closures after the sacrifices we made three years ago to help this company survive.&rdquo; 
 
Hoover added: &ldquo;We worked very hard with the company in 2003 to deal with a difficult situation. While more work can be done, Goodyear has rebounded and other stakeholders have been rewarded accordingly. Now the company seems determined to only take more away from our members.&rdquo;

ICEM Calls for Global Support to North American Goodyear Workers, Now on Strike

Meeting in Brussels today, the ICEM Presidium passed a strong resolution calling for Thailand&rsquo;s military to immediately end martial law, and called on interim Prime Minister Surayud to restore full civil rights and democratic freedoms to the country&rsquo;s citizens. 
 
According to the ICEM Presidium motion, the immediate priority is to end martial law in Thailand and move free and unencumbered elections to the earliest possible date. The ICEM feels that the current schedule for elections &ndash; October 2007 &ndash; is too far in the future, and Thailand&rsquo;s population deserves to have elections held as soon as possible. 
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Today&rsquo;s action by the ICEM body was delivered in a letter to Thailand&rsquo;s interim leaders. 
 
&ldquo;We feel it a matter of urgency that Thailand&rsquo;s coup leaders lift the broad range of restrictions placed on Thai citizens, particularly the ban on assembly, on the media, and the inherent rights of people to engage in democratic processes,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
The Thailand military coup occurred on September 19. The country&rsquo;s 1997 constitution was suspended, the Parliament, Senate and constitutional court system was dissolved, and political gatherings of more than five people were banned. The ICEM also noted that other restrictive measures were put in place, including prolonged detention without charges being brought, media censorship, and the shutting of some schools and universities. 
 
ICEM is scheduled to hold its Fourth World Congress in Bangkok next year, from 22 to 24 November 2007. The ICEM is a Global Union Federation with 379 affiliated trade unions in 123 countries.
The ICEM letter to the Thai Interim Government can be found <a href="/index.php?id=7&amp;doc=1982&amp;la=EN">here</a>.

ICEM Presidium Calls for Immediate Lifting of Thailand’s Martial Law

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UPM, formerly called UPM Kymenne, the global, Finnish-based wood products company, has angered the Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union of Finland by announcing it will sack its remaining 300 forestry workers. The company announced last month that it will restructure its forestry work by seeking &ldquo;prospective partners and assess their ability to offer different types of forestry work services.&rdquo; 
 
UPM, which owns 920,000 hectares of timberlands in Finland, said its objective is that workers would be taken on by companies providing forestry work services. But according to the Trade Union News of Finland, the Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union believes the real result will be the hiring of low-wage workers from other countries. 
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&ldquo;Never before have employees been contracted out to companies that do not even exist,&rdquo; said the union. The Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union, an affiliate of the Building Workers&rsquo; International, added that the plan is unrealistic and potentially damaging to UPM. &ldquo;It risks damaging UPM&rsquo;s quality system&rdquo; and threatens the company&rsquo;s accreditation under the social clauses of Finland&rsquo;s state forestry certification system, said the union in a statement to Trade Union News. 
 
The Finnish experience in forestry, the union adds, is that there are not enough forest service companies to handle the work, thus the belief that UPM is gearing to acquire such services from abroad. The union is convinced that UPM&rsquo;s plan, expected to be implemented this fall, would violate the corporate social responsibility principles that UPM is signatory to.

Finnish Paper Company, UPM, to Replace 300 Forestry Workers for Contract Labourers

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A spate of disasters in Chinese mines occurred over the past month, including two on 29 and 30 September that claimed the lives of 17 miners. In all, at least 52 deaths occurred over the past 31 days, as reported by either the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety or the official news agency Xinhua. 
 
Four miners were overcome by carbon dioxide and suffocated on 29 September at the Changsheng coal mine in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region of northwest China. A day later, 13 miners were killed after a gas explosion at the Tianlong coal mine in the town of Hada, Heilongjiang province. Eight miners were rescued in that tragedy. 
 
On 22 September, two catastrophes occurred in Yunnan and Hebei provinces. At the Songzhu coal mine in Hauping County, Yunnan, a gas combustion explosion claimed the lives of two miners, while 27 others were injured. At an iron ore mine owned by Laiyuon Iron and Steel, a landslide also killed two miners, while injuring two others. The mine is a former state-owned enterprise that was operating without a work safety permit. 
 
Two separate accidents also happened on 13 September, claiming the lives of eight miners. At the privately-owned Xiren coal mine in Jilin province, work safety officials determined that miners inadvertently opened an adjacent mine tunnel, causing mass flooding. Seven died, while another 12 either escaped or were rescued. A gas leak at the Danangou coal mine, Datong city, Shanxi province, claimed one miner, while 45 were rescued. Both of these coal operations were licensed and qualified to operate. 
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In the central Chinese province of Hubei on 3 September, a mine shaft was flooded and six miners perished. That occurred at the Zhenxing coal mine in Daye city. A day earlier, eight miners died and four were seriously injured following a methane gas explosion at an illegal coal mine in southwest province.
On 31 August, nine workers died due to a gas blast inside the Lianyi coal mine in Lianyi city, Hunan province. They were killed after the mine owner hired them to repair tunnels. The owner had failed to measure the gas density inside shafts, and the workers&rsquo; electrical tools ignited, causing the explosion. 
 
Official statistics of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) state that for the first eight months of 2006, through August, mine accidents have claimed 2,900 lives. SAWS claims that this is a 25% decline over the same period in 2005. All told, China has witnessed 1,824 colliery accidents during the first eight months of 2006. 
 
Separately, the Coal Mine Safety bureau said it will close a total of 4,861 small coal operations this year and in 2007. Coal production by small mines, considered less than 30,000 tonnes annually, accounts for one-third of the country&rsquo;s total production. The agency says that such mines bring two-thirds of the total deaths from Chinese mining operations.

Deaths in China’s Mines Rise in September

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On the five-year anniversary of the Toulouse, France, chemicals explosion at the AZF plant, ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT has called on French energy company, Total, to explain the reasons why it disagrees with reports by multiple experts on the cause of the blast. 
 
On 21 September 2001, one of the worst industrial explosions in France occurred in Toulouse, killing 29 workers and injuring 2,442 others. The nitrogen fertiliser and chemical intermediates facility was then owned by TotalFinaElf. 
 
FCE-CFDT said that the conclusive and final expertise reports state that it was an accident that could have been prevented had the proper safeguards been in place. &ldquo;Total, for its part, does not agree with the conclusions of the expert magistrates. It is, for that reason that FCE-CFDT insists that the management of Total come out with its own explanation on why the tragedy occurred.&rdquo; 
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The union&rsquo;s statement added that the experts&rsquo; reports bring pressure both on not only the soci&eacute;t&eacute; Grande Paroisse, Total&rsquo;s chemicals and fertilisers business, but also on senior Total management itself to explain its contradictions. &ldquo;For the truth to come out is the best way to honour the victims of the tragedy. Without the real reasons, society cannot learn the lessons needed to avoid such future industrial accidents,&rdquo; stated the union. 
 
Many of the workers killed or injured in southern France on that fateful day were members of FCE-CFDT, or ICEM affiliate F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT-FO.

Total Pressed to Explain It’s Side to 2001 Toulouse Blast

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The French joint trade union front against the privatisation of Gaz de France (GDF), consisting of CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, and CFTC, called for a second national manifestation day tomorrow, 3 October, in Paris and in other French cities. This new call for demonstrations follows the union&rsquo;s first day of action on 12 September. 
 
Tomorrow is the day when the National Assembly in France is set to vote on proposed legislation that, if adopted, would clear the way for the government-planned merger between GDF and the Franco-Belgian utility, Suez Group. 
 
Another demonstration day is scheduled to occur 14 October. According to a report published by the unions, who quote banking sources &ndash; specifically banking giant ING &ndash; some 20,000 jobs could be lost over the next three years if the merger deal goes through. The unions have also written to President Jacques Chirac, asking him to stop the privatisation of GDF. 
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Opposition to the merger deal, which was brokered by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to fend off a hostile bid of Suez by Italian energy company Enel, appears to be growing, with not only opposition parties and trade unions fighting it, but also with some members of the ruling UMP Party resisting. 
 
In spite of this growing resistance, the first legal step to the merger process was taken last week when deputies in the National Assembly voted in favour of one key article of the proposed law, a measure to reduce France's stake in GDF from over 70% to 34%. However, as far as the unions are concerned, this &ldquo;file has not been closed yet.&rdquo; The proposed merger has yet to be voted on in its entirety, nor is it yet a done deal. 
 
The CGT, the union with the largest membership inside GDF, as well as Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF), said in a statement: considering &ldquo;the growing opposition by French citizens to the privatisation of GDF, it is no longer tolerable in this country for fundamental dossiers, such as the privatisation of the energy sector, to be dealt with only in the interest of one political party.&rdquo; The union found it surprising that &ldquo;with 80% of the French being against the privatisation, the Prime Minister announces this as a victory.&rdquo; 
 
On 20 September, GDF and Suez announced a proposal of five measures, including asset transfers, in reply to the EU Commission&rsquo;s anti-trust demands. FCE-CFDT seriously questions these proposed remedies forwarded by the two companies, saying wide ramifications would occur that have not been properly thought through. 
 
Problematic issues include, for example, the fact that competing companies would get easy access to a public resource without guarantees on pricing. The FCE-CFDT reiterated its demand to examine the alternative solution of developing partnerships between Suez and GDF, which would keep GDF in the public sector.

French Unions Continue Resistance to GDF-Suez Merger

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On 18 September, energy company Repsol signed a national framework agreement with the two relevant Spanish ICEM affiliates, FITEQA-CC.OO. and FIA-UGT. Present at the signing in Madrid were the President of Repsol, Antonio Brufau, and the two General Secretaries of the respective unions, FITEQA&rsquo;s Joaquim Gonz&aacute;lez Muntadas, and FIA-UGT&rsquo;s Antonio Deusa Pedrazo. 
 
The agreement with Spain&rsquo;s largest oil company includes specific protocols on work and family life, on the hiring of people with disabilities, on equal opportunities between men and women, and on victim protection when family violence occurs. 
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Affecting 15,000 Repsol workers in Spain, the agreement also contains a salary increase, a clause on maintaining purchasing power, and language on partial retirement at age 60 for some 1,000 workers. These workers will all be replaced by other workers, all with permanent contracts.
Many other issues are dealt with in the agreement, from a reduction in work time for about 7,000 workers, pension plans and training and education, to the recognition of seniority acquired while working under temporary work contracts. The agreement is valid for three years. 
 
FITEQA&rsquo;s Joaquim Gonz&aacute;lez Muntadas said in his speech at the signing that Spanish national labour federations CC.OO. and UGT have begun work on similar industrial relations issues in other regions where Repsol operates, referring specifically to Latin America, and to Argentina in particular. He added that he hopes Repsol engages in maximum collaboration in those efforts. 
 
In a report in the Spanish publication El Mundo Bursatil, Repsol President Brufau stated, &ldquo;The signing of this framework agreement is not only a reflection of our ability to dialogue, but also of the confidence we have in one another and of the transparency in the relationship between the management of the company and the union representatives.&rdquo;

Repsol Signs Spanish National Agreement with Two ICEM Affiliates

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