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The deadline is 1 April 2009 for applications to two of the four Global Labour University (GLU) programmes offered in 2009-2010. Those programmes are at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, and at Germany&rsquo;s University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics. 
 
The one-year course work leads to a Masters Degree in Labour and Globalisation. The programme at the Tata Institute, which begins in July 2009, is entitled &ldquo;Globalisation and Labour.&rdquo; In Germany, where course work starts in September 2009, the Masters Programme is called &ldquo;Labour Policies and Globalisation.&rdquo; 

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The other two GLU programmes have application deadlines of 20 September 2009, and are scheduled for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), S&atilde;o Paulo State, Brazil. The South African programme is called &ldquo;Labour and Development, Economic Policy, Globalisation and Labour,&rdquo; which begins in January 2010, while the Campinas, Brazil, programme is entitled &ldquo;Social Economy and Labour,&rdquo; and begins in February 2010. 
 
Because of the enlargement of the GLU, there are additional scholarships available to trade unionists. This includes the possibility to support more European students. More details are available by visiting the GLU&rsquo;s website at <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org">www.global-labour-university.org</a>. 
 
Courses are offered in English, and applicants should, as a rule, be under the age of 40. The endorsement of a trade union is a requirement for a scholarship, and such scholarships are conditional on a &euro;1,500 contribution from a supporting trade union or another donor. GLU is an initiative of the ILO, with support from global trade unions, the respective academic institutions, and foundations.

Global Labour University Seeking Applicants for Germany, India Masters Programmes by 1 April

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The Main Workers&rsquo; Board of EPS Trade Union, representing 48,000 employees of Serbia&rsquo;s state-run Electric Power Industry, re-elected Milan Đorđević on 12 February as President. This is Đorđević&rsquo;s first full term, having succeeded Miroslav Veličković early in 2008. He had been Vice President. 
 
Đorđević is from the town of Barosevac, and worked for EPS as a coal miner at the Kolubara-Lazarevac open-cast coal mine, Serbia&rsquo;s largest colliery. He was a strong activist for miners&rsquo; rights and continues to be an effective advocate for all workers at EPS. 
 
Re-elected Vice President by the Main Board was Branko Tomić, who comes from an electric power distribution company in Kraljevo. 
 
EPS consists of 11 electric power distribution companies, 7 electric generating plants, and three coal production, process, and transport enterprises. The EPS Trade Union was founded in 1992.

EPS Trade Union of Serbia Re-elects Milan Đorđević as President

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ICEM Belgian affiliate FGBT/ABVV stepped up its campaign calling for protection of workers&rsquo; rights in the glass and ceramics sector. 
 
Six hundred workers in the sector have lost their jobs, and over 1,000 contract workers have been sacked as global companies operating in Belgium face the worst economic downturn in decades. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV accused several companies of taking advantage of the crisis by shifting production to countries where wages and social payments are much lower. The Vesuvius group, for instance, is accused of closing a profit-making site in a &ldquo;race to the bottom.&rdquo; 
 
The economic downturn has seen scores of temporary and contract workers in glass and ceramics rendered jobless in Belgium without notice, prospect of job reclassification, or retraining. 
 
The 1,000 short-term contract workers represent between 11-12% of the total workforce in these sectors. 
 
Saint-Gobain, the Paris-based glass producer, announced last year that it would cut 4,000 jobs globally this year, many in Belgium. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV calls attention to the obvious fact that although workers are hardest hit by the crisis, production quotas remain high and dividends to shareholders continue to flow. 
 
Considering the government assistance and programmes available to employers, there should be no need for dismantling these sectors in Belgium. 
 
The union pledges to continue the struggle throughout 2009 to restore workers&rsquo; jobs and rights, as well as to ensure that workers have the necessary purchasing power in Belgium.

Belgian FGTB/ABVV Outlines Steps in Glass, Ceramics to Meet Economic Crisis

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The ICEM expressed concern recently at the actions of Sinotex Lanka, Ltd., a garment producer which is owned by Hong Kong-based Cristal-Martin Group. The company has closed two factories after operating 27 years in Sri Lanka. 
 
Members of the Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union, who recently applied for affiliation to the ICEM, have called for international solidarity for the 2,500 workers that have lost their jobs. The ICEM insists that the company make the correct pay settlements to workers, in line with national legislation. 
 
Reports suggest that Sinotex has already made arrangements for the factories to reopen with new workers, a clear illustration of how a company uses the global economic crisis to destroy a trade union. Most of the Sinotex workers are women, and many are migrants from rural villages far from the factories in the Investment Promotion Zone of Katunayake. 
 
Many of the workers were sacked after up to 20 years employment. 

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The Joint Secretary of the union, Anton Marcus, sent a letter early in February to the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. That letter urged him to organize &ldquo;dialogue between social partners in order to overcome the challenges posed by the world economic crisis.&rdquo; 
 
The legislation that must be upheld is the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1978. In order for a different settlement to be agreed outside of the terms of this law, it must be carried out under a Memorandum of Settlement, covered in section 12(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act of Sri Lanka. This must be based on negotiations between the employer and employees before the Commissioner of Labour. 
 
Sinotex Lanka, Ltd. has violated all of these legal provisions, summoning workers one by one, and then terminating their services with a small stipend. Neither the union nor the Commissioner of Labour had been consulted, even though the union had requested a meeting. 
 
The ICEM believes this has set a dangerous precedent for other anti-union companies across Sri Lanka. Members of the union at Wheel Works Private, Ltd. have also been threatened by managers with discharge if they do not resign their membership.

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

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According to Brazilian health and safety standards, employers in all sectors must promote a yearly &ldquo;Workplace Accident and Disease Prevention Week,&rdquo; or SIPAT. This obligation creates an opportunity for trade unions to discuss the main issues related to health and safety, such as hazardous chemicals, HIV/AIDs, women&rsquo;s health, and emerging issues such as the health effects arising from the increasing use of nanotechnologies. 
 
The collective agreement in Brazil&rsquo;s chemicals sector thus requires chemical companies to include nanotechnologies and environment in workers&rsquo; training programmes. The agreement provides that companies can ask for the assistance of public health services when needed, and some of them do allow a trade union technical adviser. 

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Trade unions in the chemical industries in S&atilde;o Paulo State have been working closely with the Fundacentro&acute;s National Occupational Health and Safety Institute, and a trade union advisory body &ndash; Departamento Intersindical de Estat&iacute;sticas e Estudos S&oacute;cio-Econ&ocirc;micos (DIEESE) &ndash; to frame a strategic approach to the risks. 
 
The collective agreement signed in December 2008 between employers and the CUT-affiliated Chemicals Trade Union Federation of S&atilde;o Paulo State (FETQUIM) &ndash; representing 125,000 workers in the petrochemical, chemical, plastics, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, paints, and other industrial sectors &ndash; also includes recommendations that the companies share their environmental programmes and initiatives with workers during the SIPAT week. 
 
Currently, the main objective of Sindicato dos Qu&iacute;micos of the ABC Region, an affiliate of both FETQUIM-SP/CUT and ICEM, is to promote workers&rsquo; participation in workplace programmes regarding protection of the environment, as well as workers&rsquo; health from the impacts of the unknown risks of nanotechnologies.

Brazil: Collective Agreement in Chemicals Requires Nanotech, Environmental Training

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Last week, on 17 February, US-based International Paper Co. announced closure of its Inverurie mill following a 90-day consultation period with ICEM UK affiliate Unite the Union. The closure of the Aberdeenshire, Scotland, mill will happen at the end of March, and will cost 371 paperworkers their jobs. 
 
However, Unite and local politicians, during the mandatory consultation period, did find potential buyers for Britain&rsquo;s last uncoated freesheet paper mill. But International Paper (IP) refused to even consider selling the mill. 
 
Unite Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke said it was IP&rsquo;s intention all along to close the site and replace British paper production with paper made elsewhere. 

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That also is the position of a former owner of the mill, Thomas Tait, whose family began papermaking in the village of Inverurie in 1852. Tait, who sold the mill to another American paper company in 1987, told an Aberdeen newspaper late last week that IP received an offer from another paper manufacturer that could have saved the jobs, and perhaps even created more job opportunities. 
 
&ldquo;I know they were not willing to sell to another paper-making operation which made an offer,&rdquo; said Tait, who also told the Aberdeen Evening Express he had been involved three times in various plans to re-purchase the mill. &ldquo;It was an absolutely straightforward &lsquo;No,&rsquo; no discussion whatsoever.&rdquo; Tait said the Inverurie example should be used for a change in British legislation, mandating a sale to occur when a buyer intends to produce the same or a similar product. 
 
Meanwhile, IP presented Unite and Scottish paperworkers with an inferior redundancy package, pay and benefits and job retraining that the union would not consider bringing to union members. Talks on that issue between Unite and IP will continue this week. 
 
&ldquo;International Paper is one of the biggest paper-making companies in the world and can afford to pay decent severance terms given the loyalty and dedication of our members,&rdquo; stated Burke.

International Paper Ends Consultation, Announces Closure to Scottish Inverurie Mill

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ABD ile Kolombiya arasında yapılacak bir Serbest Ticaret Anlaşması &ouml;ncesinde, sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik cinayetlerin soruşturulmasında &Aacute;lvaro Uribe h&uuml;k&uuml;metinin sorumluluğunu tespite y&ouml;nelik &ccedil;alışmalar &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, ABD Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi, ge&ccedil;en ay cinayetlerle ilgili olarak tanık ifadesine başvurdu. 
 
Soruşturulan olaylardan biri, ICEM'den &ouml;nce maden sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde faaliyet g&ouml;steren Uluslararası Madenciler Federasyonu'nun (MIF) Kolombiya'daki koordinat&ouml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml;n&uuml; y&uuml;r&uuml;ten Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 2001'de katledilmesiydi. 

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Yessika Hoyos
Soruşturma sırasında, Washington'da, Jorge Dar&iacute;o Hoyos'un 25 yaşındaki kızı Yessika Hoyos tanıklık yaptı. Yessika Hoyos, polisin su&ccedil;un ger&ccedil;ek faillerinden iki kişiyi tutuklamasına rağmen, &ouml;ld&uuml;rme emrini verenlerin tutuklanıp kovuşturulması i&ccedil;in hi&ccedil;bir &ccedil;aba harcanmadığını s&ouml;yledi ve şunları vurguladı: &ldquo;Aralarında ordu mensuplarının da yer aldığı diğer faillerle ilgili kanıtlar bulunduğunu biliyoruz. Kanıtların &uuml;zerine gerektiği gibi gidilmiyor ve diğer failler saptanmıyor.&rdquo; 
 
O sıralar 61 yaşında olan Dar&iacute;o Hoyos 3 Mart 2001 g&uuml;n&uuml; Bogot&aacute; yakınlarında yaşadığı kent olan Fusagasuga'da paramiliter bir grubun a&ccedil;tığı ateş sonucunda &ouml;ld&uuml;r&uuml;lm&uuml;şt&uuml;. Hoyos 1984-1991 d&ouml;neminde MIF Kolombiya koordinat&ouml;r&uuml;yd&uuml;. Daha sonraki yıllarda &ouml;ğretmenlerin, banka emek&ccedil;ilerinin ve telekom&uuml;nikasyon emek&ccedil;ilerinin sendikalarında &ouml;rg&uuml;t&ccedil;&uuml; ve toplu s&ouml;zleşme danışmanı olarak &ccedil;alıştı. 
 
Şubat 2009'daki ABD Kongresi oturumunda, Temsilciler Meclisi Eğitim ve Sendika Komitesi şu saptamayı yapmıştı: &ldquo;Kolombiya h&uuml;k&uuml;meti sendika liderlerine karşı tırmandırılan şiddeti durdurmak ya da sendikacı cinayetlerinin &uuml;zerine gitmek i&ccedil;in yeterli &ccedil;aba harcamamıştır.&rdquo; Kolombiya Ulusal Sendika Okulu'nun bir s&ouml;zc&uuml;s&uuml; ise tanık olarak verdiği ifadede, d&uuml;nyadaki sendika aktivistlerine y&ouml;nelik t&uuml;m cinayetlerin y&uuml;zde 60'ının Kolombiya'da işlendiğini belirtti.

ABD&#039;de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

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ICEM 24 Mart 2009'dan itibaren Cenevre'deki yeni yerine taşınmış olacak. Cenevre'de eski kent yakınlarındaki yeni işyerinin adresi ş&ouml;yle: 20 rue Adrien Lachenal, 1207 Geneva. 
 
İşyerinin genel telefon numarası, faks numarası ve b&uuml;t&uuml;n cep telefon numaraları aynı kalıyor. 
 
ICEM'in 570 metre karelik yeni işyeri mek&acirc;nı modern bir binanın iki katına yayılıyor. Nisan 2008'den bu yana &ccedil;alıştığımız 150 metre karelik eski işyeri mek&acirc;nına g&ouml;re yenisi daha işlevsel ve sendikal &ccedil;alışmaya daha elverişli. 
 
ICEM &uuml;yesi b&uuml;t&uuml;n sendikaları ve onların temsilcilerini Cenevre'ye geldiklerinde genel merkezimizi ziyaret etmeye &ccedil;ağırıyoruz.

ICEM 24 Mart&#039;tan İtibaren Cenevre&#039;deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

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Miners at Europe&rsquo;s largest coal company, Poland&rsquo;s Kompania Weglowa, are now taking measures that could lead to an early April strike following a 19 March mediation session. Those talks produced little movement in efforts to resolve 2009 wage negotiations. 
 
The state-run company&rsquo;s 65,000 miners at 16 colleries are led by ICEM affiliates NSZZ Solidarność and Kadra, and the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union, with some nine other smaller unions also involved. Miners engaged in a two-hour warning strike at Kompania Weglowa on 12 March. But during the 19 March talks, management&rsquo;s 4.6% wage offer still fell several percentage points short of miners&rsquo; demands. 
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Also locked in wage talks are 40,000 miners at two other state-owned coal servicing and production companies, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Both companies are seeking to impose a wage freeze on miners this year. At JSW, a formal labour dispute was declared on 19 March. 
 
A strike is also a distinct possibility at Poland&rsquo;s copper company, KGHM, after management also proposed a 2009 wage freeze. This dispute, also led by Solidarność, is fueled by management&rsquo;s decision to ignore recommendations made by workers&rsquo; representatives on the company&rsquo;s supervisory board in a 2009-2018 business plan. 
At Kompania Weglowa, management has threatened to lay off 3,000 workers if it was forced to meet the unions&rsquo; wage demands. The two-hour warning strike 11 days ago saw the company&rsquo;s coal output drop by 8,000 metric tonnes. Kompania Weglowa&rsquo;s annual production of coal is 47 million tonnes annually.

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

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Two ICEM Nigerian oil workers&rsquo; affiliates, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, are ready to shut down the Niger Delta&rsquo;s oil and gas industry beginning early on Wednesday, 25 March, because of government indifference toward rescinding a plan to deregulate the downstream sector. 
The unions, together with their national labour centres &ndash; the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trades Union Congress &ndash; issued a 21-day strike notice on 3 March following the decision by the Presidential Steering Committee on the Global Financial Crisis to divest the government of its four refineries. The committee&rsquo;s policy announcement also means withdrawing all petroleum subsidies to Nigeria&rsquo;s citizens. 
The industrial action will come in the form of a three-day warning strike. The strike is also aimed at growing insecurity in the Niger Delta region for oil workers, who have become targets of kidnappings. 
According to an action plan drawn up by the unions joint National Executive Council, &ldquo;all operations/ services are to be safely shut down beginning from midnight of 24 March. There should be no gathering of any kind by members during the strike. All members not in field/offshore locations should stay at home during the strike. 
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&ldquo;Members in field/offshore locations shall bring down the operation within the days and remain at those locations.&rdquo; 
The strike is also in protest to outsourcing of 21 export terminals by the government and a continuing dispute at Conoil-Belbop, a publicly-listed oil and gas exploration company, as well as a marketer of petroleum products. The company has been engaged in blatant union-busting since 2007. 
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Peter Akpatason
Regarding the sell off of the refineries and removal of fuel subsidies, NUPENG President Peter Akpatason argued that &ldquo;the timing of the deregulation is very wrong&rdquo; and it is being proposed at &ldquo;a period when salaries are stagnant and the value of a falling naira is working against Nigerians and would inflict hardship.&rdquo; 
Akpatason added, &ldquo;Our major concern is that we are increasingly seeing a situation where people with little or no knowledge about the petroleum industry are being charged with formulating policies for the sector.&rdquo; 
Former NUPENG General Secretary Frank Ovie Korkori also lent his voice against deregulation. He called the government&rsquo;s plans &ldquo;too simplistic, (too) pedestrian. (If) they deregulate now, you will see free market methodology Nigerian style and I don&rsquo;t support that because you cannot have a limitless or blanket deregulation in any economy.&rdquo; 
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Bayo Olowoshile
PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile said protest rallies began simultaneously late last week by oil and gas workers in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Asaba, and the capital city of Abuja in preparation for the warning strike. Today, a final protest rally is scheduled for Abuja. 
In other Nigerian news last week, the Investments and Securities Tribunal granted an interim injunction for a restraining order against the country&rsquo;s Securities and Exchange Commission. The injunction is aimed at preventing the agency from divesting its 60% stake in the former downstream operations of Texaco, now Chevron Nigeria Holdings. The injunction expires 7 April. PENGASSAN is one of several bidders for the downstream operations of the company.

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

Archive

Global Labour University Seeking Applicants for Germany, India Masters Programmes by 1 April

EPS Trade Union of Serbia Re-elects Milan Đorđević as President

Belgian FGTB/ABVV Outlines Steps in Glass, Ceramics to Meet Economic Crisis

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

Brazil: Collective Agreement in Chemicals Requires Nanotech, Environmental Training

International Paper Ends Consultation, Announces Closure to Scottish Inverurie Mill

ABD'de Kongre Komitesi Kolombiyalı Sendikacının Öldürülmesiyle İlgili Tanıkları Dinliyor

ICEM 24 Mart'tan İtibaren Cenevre'deki Yeni Yerine Taşınıyor

Polish Miners Now Ready for April Strike After Mediation Fails

Nigerian Oil Workers Prepare for 3-Day Warning Strike over Downstream Deregulation, Delta Insecurity

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