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Plastics and packaging members of New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) won&rsquo;t be taking further industrial action against Sealed Air&rsquo;s Cryovac subsidiary. A week ago, on 22 November, 117 workers at a plastic bag and food packaging factory in Porirua ratified a two-year wage settlement that will bring them 3.19% pay gains for both 2010 and 2011. 
 
EPMU members had engaged in three weeks of industrial actions in late October and November that caught the attention of the ICEM. (An InBrief report from two weeks ago can be seen <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4109-EPMU-Members-Strike-Sealed-Air-Subsidiary-in-New-Zealand ">here</a>) 
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EPMU's Tim Awatere
Sealed Air&rsquo;s original wage offer of 2% for a one-year contract drove workers to take strike actions, which included a one day walkout on 8 November and a ban on all short-notice overtime work. 
 
&ldquo;This is a good outcome for EPMU members, highlighting the financial benefits of belonging to a union collective agreement,&rdquo; said EPMU Organiser Mark James. &ldquo;Our members took a stand to get a fair share in the company&rsquo;s increasing profits so this is a result they can be proud of.&rdquo; 
 
The Sealed Air Cryovac factory, on New Zealand&rsquo;s North Island north of Wellington, produces plastic bags primarily for the meat industry, as well as packaging for other food manufacturing.

New Zealand EPMU Members Win Pay Gains with Sealed Air

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For over a decade in Singapore, it had been common practice for employers to reduce salaries of workers by 10% once they turn age 60. That practice is now coming to a screeching halt as trade unions, in a united front, have convinced employers that the practice is degrading and discriminatory. 
 
Seven unions over the past several months, including the Chemical Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (CIWU) and the Metal Industries Workers&rsquo; Union (MIWU), have now negotiated an end to the cut-at-60 practice in an important labour development on the island-nation. 
 
Over 34,000 workers will this year no longer have to witness pay cuts just because they reach age 60. The recent initiative was not instituted by law, but rather came from a strong public urging to employers by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) General Secretary Lim Swee Say and Singapore Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong. 
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Under some of the negotiated agreements, workers age 60 or above must undergo performance-based indicators to retain their salaries, but in others they do not. The MIWU had elimination of the practice incorporated in all collective agreements. That affected 11,000 senior workers for the good. One union, the Singapore Airport Terminal Service Workers&rsquo; Union, will have the no-cut-at-60 language finalized in December, with payment of salaries that were cut back to January 2010 restored. 
 
Other unions that have succeeded in eliminated the practice include the NatSteel Employees&rsquo; Union, the Singapore Bank Employees&rsquo; Union, the DBS Bank Staff Union, and the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore. Elimination of the practice at scores of private-sector employers by the CIWU affects 4,500 senior chemical and petrochemical workers. 
 
The practice began in 1999 when the retirement age was raised to 62 in that year. The Retirement Age Act was then amended to give legal status to the cut-at-60 practice. 
 
NTUC Deputy Secretary General Heng Chee How said it was encouraging that a great number of companies from many different industries and sectors had reviewed with unions the regressive practice and decided to end it.

United Singapore Unions Achieving Voluntary End to Pay Cuts after Age 60

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Len McCluskey won election last week as the future General Secretary of Unite the Union. On the day his election was made official, 24 November, he told a packed news conference that mass resistance was needed to stem the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government&rsquo;s planned public spending cuts, as well as repressive anti-trade union laws that have set into the UK. 
 
&ldquo;I am not interested in subtlety,&rdquo; he told reporters. &ldquo;I understand what is happening to ordinary working people &ndash; their jobs are being lost, their families and the future of their children are being threatened, their houses are being repossessed, and they are looking around for someone to give them help. 
 
&ldquo;The very fabric of our society is being dismantled before our very eyes and we have a duty to lead a resistance against this attack. It is slaughter by stealth.&rdquo; McCluskey expressed urgency that progressive forces in the UK build &ldquo;an alliance of resistance.&rdquo; He said the planned Trades Union Congress (TUC) manifestation for March 2011 must be &ldquo;so big it rocks the establishment and makes them step back.&rdquo; 
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Future Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey
The 61-year-old McCluskey, currently an Assistant General Secretary of Unite, won election in October and November mail balloting of union members in the UK and Ireland over three other candidates. He will succeed Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley when Woodley steps down in December 2011. The 1.6-million-member union&rsquo;s other Joint General Secretary &ndash; Derek Simpson &ndash; will retire next month. 
 
McCluskey captured 101,000 votes to easily defeat Jerry Hicks (52,000 votes), Les Bayliss (46,000), and Gail Cartmail (39,000). A former Liverepool dock worker, McCluskey rose up through the ranks of the Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (T&amp;G), first as a senior shop steward on the Liverpool wharf in 1968 and later, in 1979, as a national T&amp;G officer. 
 
In 1990, he became National Secretary for T&amp;G&rsquo;s general workers&rsquo; group, leading negotiations in several sectors, including building materials, paper and packaging, building services, and the process industries. In 2004, he was promoted to National Organiser for all the service industries, including public services, construction, and the voluntary sector. 
 
Upon the merger in 2007 of T&amp;G and Amicus, forming the UK and Ireland&rsquo;s largest trade union, Unite, McCluskey was appointed Assistant General Secretary, playing a leading role in developing the union's organising strategy, and currently he is AGS for industrial strategy.

Britain’s Unite the Union Elects Len McCluskey as Next General Secretary

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In late October, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union made a bold statement that it would unequivocally reject concessionary contract proposals from auto parts manufacturers. It drew a line in the sand with noon-hour demonstrations at over 100 employers in the province of Ontario. (See ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4084-Canadian-Auto-Parts-Workers-Hold-Day-of-Action ">here</a>.) 
 
Well, that line is fast proving to be a brick wall in which the no retreat mantra is being used against companies that seek worker givebacks in collective agreements. In the days and weeks after the 27 October manifestations, CAW local branches at two auto-parts suppliers have not only brought the national union&rsquo;s militancy into practice, but managed to carve out meaningful job security gains in renewal agreements. 
 
At Magna&rsquo;s Integram Seating plant in Tecumseh, Ontario, CAW Local 444 and its 725 members used a strike deadline to beat back threats to a collective agreement. A strike would have shut auto-assembly production at a nearby Chrysler minivan factory in Windsor, and that was something Integram managers needed to avoid. 
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The result was a two-year collective agreement that even though freezes wages, does grant two lump-sum bonus payments for workers. It also includes a cost-of-living adjustment in the final quarter of the second year, with a commitment to include cost-of-living increases in the subsequent labour agreement. What&rsquo;s more, improvements were made in post-retirement benefits, including age reduction from 60 to 55 for workers with 30 years service to qualify for full pension benefits. 
 
Ironically, the threat of an Integram strike and shutdown at Chrysler actually protected Local 444&rsquo;s future right to strike. Magna sought to tie the plant into the Framework of Fairness Agreement, a joint CAW-Magna 2007 arrangement that prohibits strikes at new company facilities in exchange for fair play regarding organizing efforts. Local 444 rejected imposition of that framework in this labour agreement. 
 
The other CAW success story occurred at thriving and ever-expanding Martinrea International, a Canadian-based metal-stamping chassis and frame supplier that also sells other auto parts to Chrysler, Ford, GM, and Volkswagen. At two Ontario plants of the company, Ridgetown and Dresden, CAW Local 127 since September had faced deep contractual reductions, including pay cuts from C$21-per-hour to C$14, elimination of the pension plan, cuts to health benefits, and to paid time off. 
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The 375 union members at the two plants rejected the company&rsquo;s backward proposals at a 30 October union meeting, and sent a strong message that Martinrea did not need relief and that Local 127 would set an example for the CAW&rsquo;s Auto Parts Workers&rsquo; United campaign. 
 
The result was Martinrea completely backed off the concessions and the union won first-ever job security language. Even though the three-year agreements at the two plants contain no wage increases, Local 127 won guarantees that neither plant would face shutdowns or reductions-in-force, and also guarantees that future engineered products will not be outsourced but done in the CAW-represented plants. 
 
The new labour agreements at Martinrea stand as testament that CAW workers will have a voice in production decisions. 
 
The CAW&rsquo;s auto-parts campaign &ndash; one of unyielding rank-and-file belief that contractual retreat does not guarantee job security &ndash; is taking hold in Canada and serves as an excellent example of grass-roots activism meant to resist social cuts and preserve living and work standards. Congratulations, CAW!

CAW’s Auto Parts Campaign Paying Off

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A series of protests by Ukrainian trade unions has succeeded in delaying for now consideration of bitter amendments to the country&rsquo;s labour code by the Verkhovna Rada, its Parliament. The delay, mustered by a combination of trade union and opposition party pressure, means that the ILO will now have an opportunity to assess the revisions and make recommendations under its labour standards and laws process. 
 
On 17 November, in a letter to Ukraine Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, the ICEM signaled its desire that the labour code revisions be put on hold. That letter can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/140%20Prime%20Minister%20Ukraine.pdf">here</a>. 
 
Two days earlier, some 100 trade union demonstrators gathered in front of the Rada to protest the ruling party&rsquo;s rush to enact the law. At the time, a conciliation council of committee leaders and opposition leaders was meeting to take direction on the draconian measure. 
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Besides waiting on the ILO&rsquo;s recommendation, trade unions seek full parliamentary hearings on the proposed changes. The draft revisions were submitted to the ILO in July and it is hoped that an opinion will be rendered late this month or in December. 
 
The proposed revisions include lifting the standard work week from 40 hours to 48; reducing the amount of time for redundancy notice from 60 days to two weeks; and granting employers at small enterprises the option to reduce remuneration. 
 
In addition, a revision would weaken or even eliminate collective agreements by giving employers unilateral regulatory discretion over labour relations. One labour leader predicted that if this latter provision was enacted that within six months, up to 70% of Ukrainian employers would either terminate existing agreements, or avoid signing new ones. 
 
The ICEM stated that such revisions would be contrary to both international labour standards, as well as European standards.

Ukrainian Unions Succeed in Deferring Regressive Revisions to Labour Law

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Members of two ICEM affiliates in Belgium carried out a 24-hour strike at two glass factories in western Flanders on Friday, 26 November, as an immediate response to Japanese-based Asahi Glass&rsquo;s decision to radically downsize two AGC (formerly Glaverbel) plants near Zeebrugge. In an extraordinary meeting of the company&rsquo;s board a day earlier, the board failed to give reason why it would eliminate 101 of 297 jobs at AGC Zeebrugge and AGC Seapane. 
 
The strike was carried out by De Algemene Centrale ABVV, ICEM&rsquo;s Socialist affiliate in Belgium, and by Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond ACV, the Christian affiliate. The company must still negotiate with the unions over the redundancies. 
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The announcement is the second major restructuring by Asahi in Belgium in just over a year and the fourth in ten years. In October 2009, AGC Automotive caused industrial unrest in the Wallonia region of Belgium by making redundant over 200 of 475 workers employed at a factory in Fleurus and an administrative centre in Seneffe. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s announcement in Flanders comes as a blow to a pair of factories that have a reputation for innovation, advanced technical design, and high-value glass applications among Asahi&rsquo;s worldwide operations. The company also announced job sackings, numbering between 60 and 90, at glass production facilities in Kryry, Czech Republic, the AGC Klin factory near Moscow, and one in The Netherlands. 
 
In addition to the planned 101 sackings in Zeebrugge, eight temporary workers will be let go. 
 
At the ACG Zeebrugge factory, a maker of automobile mirrors and high-value glass used in the furniture industry, 72 of 176 jobs are proposed to be cut. At ACG Seapane, a maker of heat-insulated glazed architectural glass used in the construction industry that had seen its job ranks grow up through last year, 29 of 121 workers are scheduled for redundancies. 
 
ABVV Regional Secretary Luc Geerardyn said the board&rsquo;s decision last week is flawed. He said AGC failed to provide any hard evidence for the proposed sackings, nor did it provide any financial figures to justify the decision.

Belgian Glass Workers Strike Over Asahi’s Unwarranted Job Cuts

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The President of the Union of Workers&rsquo; of the Collahuasi Copper Mine, Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz, told the ICEM on Friday, 26 November, that the 24-day copper strike in Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I now enters a pivotal period. There is strong likelihood that mass violence could break out because of threatening, strong-arm tactics of company-controlled local police in Iquique, as well as by federal police. 
 
The company is Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, a leading global copper producer owned by Xstrata, AngloAmerican, with a smaller share held by Japan&rsquo;s Mitsui &amp; Co. The lurking possibility of violence surrounds the union&rsquo;s daily peaceful manifestations in the city of Iquique, 185 kilometres from the open cast copper mines of Collahuasi. 
 
What is exasperating Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi are company efforts to break the strike by offering individual miners a bonus and pay increase &ndash; above what it is offering the union &ndash; to quit the strike and return to work. Labour law in Chile allows workers to abandon a work stoppage and return to work after 15 days on strike without the union imposing repercussions. If over 50% of a workforce does that, the strike can be legally terminated. 
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Mu&ntilde;oz told the ICEM that as of early Friday, 100 of the 1,551 miners had accepted the offer and abandoned the strike, even though a local court ruling last week deemed that illegal. Collahuasi has inflamed tensions by making direct appeals to family members and coercing them to convince husbands and fathers to quit the strike. 
 
Collahuasi is nowhere near the 50% mark, and the company&rsquo;s strike-breaking tactic is reflected in the fact that it has extended the deadline for individual workers to accept the enhanced pay package. The copper mining concern said ten days ago that the deadline for strikers to accept a bonus of 14 million pesos (US$28,733) and a 42-month pay increase of 16.3% was midnight on 23 November. 
 
But even after stating early on 23 November that the deadline would not be extended, Collahuasi did just that later in the day, extending it until midnight 26 November. 
 
Mu&ntilde;oz is less concerned about Collahuasi breaking the strike than he is about police and renegade thugs that side with the company precipitating violence. 
&ldquo;We are in a state of worry because our strategy of peaceful protests might be met with violent conflict,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is frustration by our members because of company tactics including coercion on families and this has not helped.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="74" />
The union has attempted to re-start negotiations, both with a direct appeal to Chile&rsquo;s Labour Minister and an offer by Roman Catholic Bishop Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes to mediate the pitched copper dispute. Collahuasi has rejected the offer by the Catholic bishop, while the Labour Ministry told the union that its efforts ended in the run-up to the strike when it fulfilled its lawful duties by offering mediation services once the parties hit impasse. 
 
There was a small ray of light on 25 November when an Iquique Labour Court Judge, Marcela Diaz M&eacute;ndez, issued an order stating that under Section 492 of the Labour Code, the company has a legal obligation to declare collective negotiations with the union not complete. The order thus negates direct appeals to workers to abandon the strike. It is expected that Collahuasi will appeal the judge&rsquo;s order. 
 
For the Union of Workers&rsquo; of Collahuasi, the strike is about far more than gaining adequate pay and bonus claims against a mining enterprise that saw net earnings last year of US$1.56 billion. The union is also seeking an increase in company-paid health coverage from 80% to 100%, and education benefits for children of miners hiked from 50% to 100%. 
 
The health issue is a major concern. Collahuasi is located in the Atacama Desert, some 4,000 metres high in the Andes where oxygen levels are low and stress on the body is high. As well, a US$750 million mine expansion is underway that will lift production from the current 550,000 tonnes per year to one million tonnes, with new mining areas to be located in altitudes of 5,000 metres. 
 
In these open-cast copper mines, workers are exposed to dust clouds containing crystalline silica particles from crushed rock. Such conditions are prone to miners contracting silicosis, a deadly lung disease.

Chile’s Collahuasi Copper Strike Now in Crucial Stage

Unions Make Work Safer: Today, 28 April, Every Day

Dear Colleagues, 
 
Svenska Pappers, the Swedish Paperworkers Union, and the Forest Industry Employers&rsquo; Association (SFIF) reached excellent union-friendly terms on a collective agreement last night, 26 April, just minutes before a second wave of strike action at six further Swedish pulp and paper mills was to begin. (See ICEM report of a week ago <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3709-Swedish-Paper-Strike-Continues">here</a>.) 
 
The union and its negotiating committee, led by President Jan-Henrik Sandberg, deserves a solid congratulatory note from all for holding firm against a business-backed employers&rsquo; group that was attempting to use the financial crisis to short-change workers. Indeed, the terms of this settlement reflect the very best industrial package achieved in and beyond Sweden of late, and Pappers truly deserves your congratulations. Please send a note in your own words, and your own language to Mikke Sterbeck at <a href="mailto:mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se">mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se</a>. 
 
Pappers is very pleased with the settlement, as well they should be. Following an 11-day strike at six mills, and on the verge of striking another six mills, the employers agreed to terms giving 18,000 paperworkers a 3.3% wage increase over 22 months. The first year&rsquo;s increase will be given 1 May, instead of the 1 June date that employers sought, and the second increase comes on 1 April 2011, again ahead of when the employers wanted to give it. Actually, in calculating the total pay package, it comes out to 3.4%, considering other items, including a 0.4% additional increase for the lowest paid workers in the sector. 
 
Pappers won excellent language regarding workers (and on behalf of these workers) who are hired through labour agencies, and the union won company-paid compensation for retirees in an aspect of the pension scheme that was at issue. In addition, Pappers won an additional month of company-paid maternity/paternity leave. The union is holding a teleconference with branch unions on Tuesday morning, 27 April, to explain this excellent package, a package that came about mainly due to the fact that 99.9% of its members were willing and did take industrial action. For this, the union deserves a congratulatory note from everyone in the global pulp and paper sector. Again, send to <a href="mailto:mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se">mikke.sterbeck.fk@pappers.se</a>.

Settlement in Sweden; Union Deserves Congratulations

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Uni&oacute;n Obrera Metal&uacute;rgical (UOM), the national Metalworkers&rsquo; Union of Argentina, reached accord with six employers&rsquo; associations recently in wage negotiations for 2010. Some three weeks after mandatory government reconciliation stopped a scheduled 10 April strike, the UOM and four employer groups agreed to a two-phase wage increase for 2010 that totals 26.5%. 
 
In early May, two other employer federations &ndash; the household goods association (FEDEHOGAR) and the metallurgical industry association (ADIMRA) &ndash; agreed to the salary package, which gives a 15% increase backdated to 1 April with another 10% due on 1 July 2010. The latter increase will be adjusted according to inflation, and workers should realize 11.6%. 

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The contracts cover 260,000 workers and will run until 31 March 2011. The four employer federations that initially agreed to terms included the small and mid-size metallurgical chamber (CAMINA), the auto and other component association (AFAC), electronic parts manufacturers (AFARTE), and the related metals industry association (CAIAMA). The UOM affiliates to the ICEM on its members in the nuclear power sector. 
 
The union had sought a one-stage 25% adjustment, which it said would cover what was lost due to Argentina&rsquo;s high inflation rate in 2009. Initially, employers offered 15% in three stages, but amended that to 20% in three phases upon the threat of a strike. 
 
The metals pact in Argentina is expected to serve as the benchmark for bargaining in other industrial sectors. Javier Sanchez of the UOM&rsquo;s Nuclear Branch credited UOM Secretary-General Antonio Cal&oacute; with leading difficult negotiations in delivering just wage adjustments for metalworkers without an industrial conflict.

Metalworkers in Argentina Negotiate 2010 Wage Gains of 26.5%

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