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Four French unions are awaiting a meeting by the country&rsquo;s Work Minister to unravel bad-faith bargaining practices by the Plastics Federation, an employers&rsquo; grouping. In joint social talks on 1 February, which were inconclusive, the association indicated it wanted to break from a 2004 protocol over wages. 
 
Unions CGT-FO, CFDT, CFTC, and CFE-CGC filed a stern protest with French Work Minister Xavier Bertrand, and the unions are expecting a meeting. They also have alerted workers in the plastics industry of the dispute, and the unions said they would look &ldquo;very seriously&rdquo; at all forms of action to resist the employers&rsquo; stated aim. 
 
The Plastics Federation wants to re-calculate the formula for which wages are based on, as arranged in the social agreement that came in 2004. The unions charge the federation with deliberately using this issue to place a major impediment in current labour-management talks. They say employers&rsquo; are discarding several years of constructive bargaining by seeking a wage formula recalculation.
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&ldquo;The Fedechimie CGT-FO denounces and condemns this grave lack of respect for signed agreements, a fact that will lead to reduced purchasing power for workers,&rdquo; said the union in a statement. The four unions are adamant for the Work Ministry to find a solution to the &ldquo;irresponsible attitude&rdquo; brought on by the Plastics Federation. The talks affect 155,000 French workers in various plastics industries. 
 
Similarly, in the French glass sector, social talks have also been hindered by unreasonable employer demands. Negotiations broke down in December 2007, and five French labour unions brought the impasse to ministerial level for government intervention on 18 February. The unions at the table in the French glass sector negotiations are FCE-CFDT, CGT-Verre et C&eacute;ramique, FO-Chimie, CFE-CGC-Chimie, and CFTC.

French Unions Condemn Plastics Industry for Seeking Protocol Break to 155,000 Workers

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The President of Uruguay, Tabar&eacute; V&aacute;zquez, opened the 7th Festival of S&aacute;balo with a greeting of welcome to the ICEM, which will hold its World Conference for the Pulp and Paper Industries from 8-10 December 2008 in Montevideo, Uruguay. 
 
V&aacute;zquez made the statement while congratulating ICEM affiliate, the Central Union of Paper and Pulp Workers (CUOPYC), at a 7 February social event celebrating the S&aacute;balo festival in Juan Lacaze. CUOPYC used the occasion to mark 2008 as the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed on 10 December 1948.
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Uruguay President Tabar&eacute; V&aacute;zquez (right) 
and CUOPYC President Walter Silva (centre)
&ldquo;It is a great challenge for CUOPYC, but it is also an excellent opportunity,&rdquo; President V&aacute;zquez said of the ICEM conference. &ldquo;Not just for CUOPYC, but for all in Uruguay, and the national government has committed to organize this event. We declare the organization of this meeting to be of national interest.&rdquo; 
 
V&aacute;zquez commended the union for using proceeds from the festival for improvements to the Olof Palme Childcare Centre, a 20-year-old facility built in cooperation with the ICEM-affiliated Swedish Union, Svenska Pappers. V&aacute;zquez noted that Palme, the late Swedish Prime Minister who was senselessly gunned down in 1986 on a Stockholm street, welcomed to Sweden many Uruguayans in exile and &ldquo;supported the solidarity of struggle of the Uruguayan people to recover their democracy.&rdquo;
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The Swedish-Uruguayan project is located near the FANAPEL pulp and paper mill in Juan Lacaze, west of the capital city Montevideo. CUOPYC used the S&aacute;balo celebration to mark the importance of community involvement, as enshrined in Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, &ldquo;Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.&rdquo; 
 
CUOPYC President Walter Silva brought that to the festival in his address. He noted that in 1906, the first cooperative of consumers was organised in Juan Lacaze. And in the following years, he said many community projects were undertaken, including construction of the Olaf Palme Centre in 1988. He paid kind tribute to CUOPYC Secretary-General Omar Diaz, a workers&rsquo; leader, who was unable to make the 7 February event due to a severe illness.

Uruguay’s Pulp/Paper Union, CUOPYC, Lives ‘Declaration of Human Rights’ Spirit

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The 4th ICEM World Congress begins this Thursday, 22 November, and participants and others can find Congress information on a special sub-section of the ICEM website. Through <a href="/congress">www.icem.org/congress</a>, you will find all background information, including several Congress documents, as well as practical information on the venue, the Queen Sirikit Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand. 
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The week-long set of meetings around the Congress, which runs 22-24 November, actually began this past weekend. A two-day Women&rsquo;s Conference was held 17-18 November, and a Contract and Agency Labour Conference will run on Wednesday, 21 November. 
 
In addition, a special meeting of the ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector will occur, also on 21 November. 
 
During the Congress, this web-page will also be the place to look for updates and news on the Congress.

ICEM Website Set for GUF’s World Congress

The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) is lending its support to the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation Local Union (GPOLU), and its allies, in calling for defeat of draft legislation that would, effectively, privatise Thailand&rsquo;s pharmaceutical drug industry. 
The ICEM is in full support of a manifestation on Monday, November 12, at the Ministry of Public Health in Nonthaburi. That rally, beginning at 13h00, is being organised by GPOLU, the Confederation of State Enterprise Unions (SERC), and allied consumer and civil society organisations. The ICEM encourages Thai citizens to attend. 
<img height="255" alt="" src="" width="300" />&nbsp;
Rawai Pupaga, GPOLU President and 
Chairman&nbsp;of the ICEM Thai Labour Committee
&ldquo;We lend the name of the global trade union for all chemical and pharmaceutical workers to defeat this bill,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We believe that removing the government as a provider of essential health needs, in any form, is a recipe for higher costs, with a bigger portion of the population going without adequate health care.&rdquo; 
In a letter to be read at the manifestation, the ICEM pledged to stand with the GPOLU as they &ldquo;prevail upon current government ministers and lawmakers &hellip; that government procurement of pharmaceuticals, first and foremost, must benefit Thailand&rsquo;s citizens.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM, representing 384 trade unions in 118 countries, will be holding its 4th Congress, 22-24 November, at the Queen Sirikit Convention Center in Bangkok. Some 880 trade union leaders from national unions representing workers in the oil, gas, mining, chemicals, pharmaceutical, and processed industries such as pulp, paper, cement, rubber, glass industries will attend the ICEM&rsquo;s quadrennial Congress.

Global Union Federation, ICEM, Calls for Defeat of Thai Public Health Amendments

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An ICEM affiliate in New Zealand, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), has rebuked a report from the New Zealand Institute, which suggests the country ought to follow rather than lead the climate control debate to avoid having businesses leave due to &ldquo;carbon flight.&rdquo; 
 
EPMU challenged that assertion, and said the country can not afford to follow on climate change, saying that a policy response &ldquo;must ensure a just transition for workers in emission-intensive industries.&rdquo;
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EPMU said the report brings forth the debate on just transition. 
 
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to see good, highly skilled jobs going offshore with no thought about how that skilled labour may be redeployed,&rdquo; said the EPMU in a statement. &ldquo;A just transition means encouraging investment in new technologies that demand new skills and therefore investment in training for the future. 
 
&ldquo;However, this should not be used as an excuse to drag our heels on climate change as the New Zealand Institute and other business lobby groups appear to be suggesting. The long term economic consequences of doing nothing are far more costly than emission-reduction actions now.&rdquo; The EPMU represents 50,000 New Zealanders, including workers in coal mining, manufacturing, electricity generation, and oil extraction.

EPMU Says New Zealand Must Lead, Not Follow Climate Change Transition

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In February 2006, 550 trade unionists and academics from around the world gathered in New York City for a conference called &ldquo;Global Companies, Global Unions, Global Research, Global Campaigns.&rdquo; Now, a book called &ldquo;Global Unions: Challenging Transnational Capital Through Cross-Border Campaigns&rdquo; has been published from the conference. 
 
Edited by Kate Bronfenbrenner, the book contains 11 narratives from the best of the papers submitted at the conference. It contains essays on Global Framework Agreements, Transnational Companies and Human Rights Abuse in the Global South, and National or European: Local Trade Union Politics within Transnational Business. 
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George Becker,&nbsp;1928 - 2007
The conference was organised by the New York State Industrial and Labour Relations School of Cornell University, and had strong support from the AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers (USW). The book is dedicated to former USW President George Becker, who was gravely ill at the time of the conference. A special tribute to him at the conference focused on his steadfast work during the 1994-95 strike at Bridgestone-Firestone in the US, and the international work that influenced that strike. 
 
The 280-page book is available by visiting <a href="http://www.Cornellpress.cornell.edu">www.Cornellpress.cornell.edu</a>, and orders and sales can be made by contacting Nathan Gemignani at <a href="mailto:ndg5@cornell.edu">ndg5@cornell.edu</a>. The book&rsquo;s cost is US$22.50, GB&pound;11.50, or A$39.95.

Book from New York Labour Conference Available from Cornell University Press

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The ICEM was saddened by the news on 20 October 2007 of the death of Shri Kantibhai Mehta, or Kanti Mehta, the great former leader of ICEM affiliate, Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF). He was 87. 
 
In a 23 October letter to the INMF, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote, &ldquo;All of us will miss our great friend and most respected leader. Brother Kandi Mehta devoted his whole life to the development of the Indian trade union movement and played a key role in international labour work.&rdquo; 
 
Born in Calcutta, Kanti Mehta worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi, as well with other Indian leaders, including Kakasaheb Kalelkar and Vinoba Bhave. In 1942, he left university to join the Freedom Movement, at the side of Gandhi. He organised port and dock workers, and textile workers, before becoming a leader in the Indian National Trades Union Congress in 1948.
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&nbsp;Kanti Mehta in 1983 
 

A year later he helped found the INMF, and went on to serve as the trade union&rsquo;s General Secretary and President. He was the primary reason that some one million mineworkers&rsquo; united in India between the years 1956 and 1970. In honour, the Mineworkers&rsquo; International Federation (MIF) held its 1975 Congress in New Delhi. 
 
He was known for his selfless work on behalf of India&rsquo;s rural workers, reflected in the fact that so many mineworkers&rsquo; unified behind a collective voice, the INMF&rsquo;s. He served 15 years as a staunch workers&rsquo; representative on the ILO Governing Board. A deputy director general of the ILO called Brother Mehta one of just a few from the workers&rsquo; side &ldquo;who had first hand knowledge of the needs and problems&rdquo; of those in villages, small townships, as well as in urban areas. 
 
He was a strong advocate for worker education, and was founder of the Institute for Miners and Metalworkers Education, which later became known as the Ghandi Labour Foundation (GLF) in Puri, India. He headed the GLF for many years after his 1995 retirement. In 1978, he was recipient of the Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal Award for Industrial Peace. 
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He was an unlikely candidate for articulation of social issues affecting rural workers. He was born into a wealthy family of diamond merchants, and his life&rsquo;s work became diametric opposite to his upbringing. The quiet dignity that he learned at the side of Gandhi in his early 20s shaped his life. 
 
&ldquo;He will always be a role model in MIF unions,&rdquo; stated Warda. &ldquo;He more than anybody was responsible for bringing the first trade union in from Eastern or Central Europe when the Hungarian miners&rsquo; union joined MIF at the 1990 Berlin Presidium. And his final achievement globally was strong support for the MIF-ICEF merger in 1995.&rdquo; 
 
In 2005, a book was published on his life, entitled &ldquo;The Unsung Kohinoor: Kanti Mehta.&rdquo; That book can be found at the GLF website, <a href="http://www.gandhilabourfoundation.org">www.gandhilabourfoundation.org</a>.

ICEM Mourns Death of Indian Mineworkers’ Union Leader, Kanti Mehta

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Some 84 representatives from 15 rubber unions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the US were together 26-28 October at the holiday facility near S&atilde;o Paulo of the Rubber, Tyre and Related Industries Workers` Union (FUB). They were there to attend the Congress of the Latin American Rubber Workers&rsquo; Unions Front (FUTINAL). 
 
The Congress was opened by FUB President Terezinho Martins da Rocha, and delegates also listened to Paulo Pereira da Silva (Paulinho), President of For&ccedil;a Sindical and member of Brazil&rsquo;s Federal Parliament. 
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Another speaker was Sergio Novais, ICEM`s Vice-President for the Latin American/Caribbean Region. ICEM Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan made a thorough representation on the global rubber industry, covering tyre, non-tyre, and natural-synthetique rubber businesses, together with current networking efforts and the labour disputes now occurring in different countries. 
 
After country reports, the Congress heard the activities of the Global Union Networks of Goodyear and Bridgestone from Carlos Antonio da Silva, Latin American representative to the ICEM&rsquo;s GoodyearWorkers&rsquo; Network steering committee, and Daniel Demetrio, Latin American representative on the Bridgestone Network. Delegates also applauded the creation of the recently inaugurated Pirelli Latin American Regional Network. 
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The Congress conducted discussions on the new status of FUTINAL, to which the regional rubber workers&rsquo; network now becomes a Brazil-based association open to all democratic labour organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean organising in the rubber sector. The structures of FUTINAL were defined at this Congress, and they include Plenary, Executive, and Auditing Committees. 
 
On the final day, 28 October, elections were held for the Executive Committee, composed of ten secretaries to head Administration, Finance, Organisation, International Relations, Training and Culture, Communication, Tyre Industry Networks, Rubber Industry Networks, Health, Safety and Environment, and Contract and Agency Labour. Marcos Antonio da Silva Bernucio from FUB was elected Secretary of Administration and Political Coordinator, a position charged with heading the activities of the Executive Committee of FUTINAL.

FUTINAL Congress Enacts Structures, Focuses on Rubber-Worker Networking in Latin America

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The National Administrative Office (NAO) of Mexico&rsquo;s trade pact enforcement agency in the Labour Ministry has issued an immediate call for answers to questions on the progress in gaining collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in the US state of North Carolina. 
 
The US, Mexico, and Canada share the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in which a side accord, the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), is being used to challenge the lack of labour rights in North Carolina.
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NAALC is the only NAFTA side agreement signed by the US government that addresses labour standards. 
 
The NAO in Mexico sent a six-page query to its American counterpart. It asked for answers to questions related to a state law that prohibits collective bargaining in the public sector, as well as a progress report by the US NAO following a rebuke of the state law by the ILO&rsquo;s Freedom of Association Committee. Specifically, the Mexican government asks, &ldquo;What have the governments of the United States and North Carolina done in respect to the recommendation of the Freedom of Association Committee?&rdquo; 
 
The action in Mexico is a result of action by trade union Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT), on behalf of their northern comrades, the ICEM affiliate United, Electrical, Radio, Machine Workers of America (UE). FAT&rsquo;s Mexican petition, and one by the UE to the US government, has 53 co-signers, ranging from community organisations to labour groups, including Global Union Federations ICEM and Public Services International (PSI). 
 
Local 150 of the UE, the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, has build a strong union membership of 3,000 workers in the US state, but most are without bargaining rights due to an archaic state law.
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In March 2007, the ILO committee said that failing to comply &ldquo;with freedom of association principles in North Carolina has resulted in grievous working conditions for many public sector workers.&rdquo; The Committee on Freedom of Association specifically cited ILO Conventions 87, 98, and 151, and stated that &ldquo;although these Conventions have not been ratified by the United States,&rdquo; the ILO&rsquo;s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work makes the US government &ldquo;obligated to respect, promote and realise the principles embodied in these Conventions regardless of ratification.&rdquo; 
 
Workers of UE Local 150 see other rights being abused as well. On 26 October, the union and supporters delivered a petition to University of North Carolina President, Erskine Bowles. 
 
The petition demanded that Bowles lift a censorship decree on university workers who had submitted an article to a university publication. The workers composed the article as part of its yearly Employee Forum contribution and it spelled out basic information and education on collection bargaining. Administrators at the state-run school censured and stopped the article from appearing in the magazine. 
 
UE Local 150 is comprised of low-wage workers such as janitors, garbage haulers, groundskeepers, housekeepers, medical helpers, and bus drivers, who are mostly employed in different government sectors.

Mexican Government Cites US over Public Sector Bargaining in North Carolina State

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Tetra Pak International managers in Switzerland have accepted a proposal from the Economic Department of the Vaud Canton to hold another meeting with a delegation of Korea trade unionists, members of ICEM-affiliated Korean Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (KCTF). The meeting, agreed to last week, means two trade unionists within the delegation have suspended their 34-day-old hunger strikes to hear the company again. 
 
The director of the Vaud Canton Economic Department will preside over the meeting between the trade unionists and Tetra Pak South Korean managers, who will come to Switzerland specifically for the meeting. Labour groups backing the workers, including the ICEM, will not be permitted to attend the meeting.
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Hunger Striker Chung Janghun
The Korean unionists are camped in Lausanne&rsquo;s Parc de Milan, through arrangement with local authorities. ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, as well as another Global Union Federation, the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF), has generously assisted the Koreans in Switzerland since early September. The ICEM has intervened on several occasions in the eight-month dispute. In early October, the company refused to let the ICEM attend a meeting in Bern between the unionists and the Swiss National Contact Point (NCP) of the OECD. 
 
The trade unionists had filed a formal brief seeking a full investigation on worker rights regarding Tetra Pak&rsquo;s plant closing under the OECD&rsquo;s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
Tetra Pak closed a 20-year-old factory in Yoju on 9 March 2007, citing a lost export business, which accounted for 45% of all sales from the factory. The company, however, did not provide explicit financial information related to the closing. 
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Instead, they offered redundancy packages and some 70 union members accepted. But 22 others did not, and some of them are now in Switzerland where they protest Tetra-Pak&rsquo;s treatment and seek earnest negotiations to rectify that treatment. Prior to Switzerland, the Korean delegation arrived in Sweden on 22 August in efforts to get senior management&rsquo;s attention there. Tetra Pak, a Swedish founded and Swiss-based manufacturer of beverage packaging products such as juice and milk boxes, also is a global leader in the technology and design of packaging equipment. 
 
The ICEM encourages trade unionists to send letters of support to the Korean colleagues, at <a href="mailto:weareapart@naver.com">weareapart@naver.com</a>, and messages of protest to Tetra Pak, care of J&ouml;rgen Haglind, senior vice president of Communications, at <a href="mailto:jorgen.haglind@tetrapak.com">jorgen.haglind@tetrapak.com</a>. (Please copy all messages to <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>) And the ICEM reiterates its call to Tetra Pak to continue dialogue with all parties concerned in order that a mutually acceptable solution is achieved on this matter.

Korean Tetra Pak Dispute Enters Next Phase on European Stage

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