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Strategic, year-long pressure by the Pulp and Paper Workers&rsquo; Branch of Australian ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) appears to have severed a supply contract between retail grocery chain Woolworths and Indonesian-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). The supply arrangement was for kitchen towels and tissue products. 

The pressure, countering Woolworth&rsquo;s environmental claim on packaging of its Select private-label towel and tissue products, came to a head last week when Woolworths announced it had &ldquo;concluded its contract commitments for the supply of Select paper products.&rdquo; 
The CFMEU is now looking for Australia&rsquo;s largest retailer to tell the country&rsquo;s consumers that it will, in fact, rely only on paper producers that adhere to sustainable forest practices. 

&ldquo;If Woolworths has finally decided to do the right thing, they need to show us by a clear and unequivocal statement they will never go back to APP,&rdquo; said CFMEU&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Secretary Alex Millar. They must now prove &ldquo;they will source their product from Australia and support Australian jobs the way they expect Australian consumers to support them.&rdquo; 
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The CFMEU campaign focused on a Woolworths packaging claim that its Select products were sourced from an &ldquo;environmentally managed company.&rdquo; In fact, Indonesia&rsquo;s Centre for International Forestry Research in 2007 found that APP relies on 60-70% of its wood fibre from clearing first-growth, protected forests in Sumatra. And much of that is by using illegal logging practices. 

The campaign then discovered that many Select products are made in APP&rsquo;s Chinese mills, where much of the wood fibre used is also derived through illegal means. 

After CFMEU appeals to Woolworths shareholders, most notably in November 2007, the retail chain pulled the Select brands from its shelves. But a few weeks later, those brands were back on the retail market, but without the environmental friendly claim. 

Millar says the CFMEU will now recommend to Woolworths paper-producing companies inside Australia which use proven, sustainable fibre sourcing in paper manufacturing.

CFMEU Forces Woolworths Hand on Sustainable Forest Products

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Rubber workers of Kiyan Tyre in Chahardangeh, Iran, continued their protests last week over wage arrears. Some 600 workers of the factory began striking on 16 July and the protests escalated last week when strikers began setting portions of the factory on fire. 
 
Shouting anti-government slogans on 22 July outside a management building in Chahardangeh, a western suburb of Tehran, workers threatened to bring their next protest to Iran&rsquo;s Majlis, or Parliament.
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&nbsp; 
On 12 April, 1,000 workers at Iran&rsquo;s biggest rubber plant took job actions because their wages had not been paid in five months. Then, the repressive State Security Force ran bulldozers into the protestors, and arrested all 1,000 using electric batons. Most were held for 36 hours, while some 100 strike leaders were held longer. They were finally freed, but as a condition for release, the workplace leaders were forced to sign statements that they would not protest again. 
 
The more recent protests are against a hand-picked management team which reportedly is under-paying wages, or denying payment altogether. Kiyan, formerly called Alborz Tyre Mfg. Co., was established in 1958 as a joint venture with the American company B.F. Goodrich Co. In 1979, it became part of state-owned National Iranian Industries, before being sold to private Iranian investors in 1994.

Tyre Manufacturing Workers in Iran Again Strike Kiyan

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At the Fifth Meeting of the Brazilian national network of trade unions at Dutch-based Akzo Nobel plants from 15-17 July in S&atilde;o Paulo, union representatives from British-based ICI chemical facilities joined the network. Akzo Nobel recently acquired ICI. 
 
The expansion of the network is expected to further the links of solidarity between workers of the two companies in Brazil. 
 
The 25 union representatives present came from plants located in Recife, Santo Andr&eacute;, Mau&aacute;, S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo, Jundia&iacute;, Itupeva, S&atilde;o Roque, S&atilde;o Paulo, Bahia, Guarulhos, and Rio de Janeiro. 
 
The network meeting opened with a presentation by the Brazilian national centre CUT on a multinational project surrounding the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union&rsquo;s Project of Life programme. That deals with the demands of life, health, and work, and introduces actions to ensure a better work environment. 
 
The coordinator of the network, Sergio Carrasso, then delivered a report on activities of the network since its inception in 2003. That was followed by the results of a survey done by the Social Observatory Network on working conditions at Akzo Nobel.
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The survey reflects a positive outcome through collective negotiations, with workers of Akzo Nobel in Brazil managing to establish better social dialogue practices in which civil rights have been guaranteed and wage differentials bridged. 
 
ICI trade unionists attending made a presentation on their individual plants, including numbers of workers, length of work days, discrimination problems, and social dialogue and corporate social responsibility experiences. 
 
The mid-July network meetings also served as preparation for the Third National Social Dialogue forum of Brazilian unions with Akzo Nobel. The network meeting concluded with a visit to the S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo plant. 
 
Akzo Nobel workers pledged to continue seeking contacts with workers of the company in Mexico and The Netherlands.

Brazilian Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network Brings in ICI Plants for Effective Solidarity

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&nbsp;The ICEM lodged a stern protest with the government of Turkey following excessive police force to quell a peaceful protest by ICEM affiliate Belediye-İş, the Municipal and General Workers&rsquo; Union. Due to stalled negotiations on behalf of 10,000 union members at different segments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality, the union issued a 60-day strike notice in mid-July. 
 
On 17 July, 2,000 Belediye-İş members, along with officials of the union, marched to an administrative building of the municipality to hang a banner announcing their legal strike. They were immediately repelled by police, using pepper spray and pressurized water cannons. 
 
The police force was a reminder of the force used on 1 May this year when trade unionists attempted to lay flowers at Istanbul&rsquo;s Taksim Square in memorial to the 37 comrades killed there by government forces on 1 May 1977.
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Police Water Cannons Impede Peaceful&nbsp;Belediye-İş March on 17 July 

&ldquo;The attitude taken by police against peaceful demonstrators reinforces the impression and opinion worldwide on your government&rsquo;s pursuit against (workers&rsquo; rights),&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 
 
&ldquo;Although Turkey has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98, we understand that neither in law or in daily life can these standards be freely exercised.&rdquo; 
 
The strike notice was issued because the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality has closed the door on negotiations after offering only an 8% increase. Belediye-İş is seeking a 40% increase. According to the union, daily consumer costs have rapidly escalated beyond the high inflation rate in Turkey, with water and transportation increases nearing the 35% mark.

ICEM Protests Police Force to Break up Belediye-İş Strike Call in Turkey

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Citing the common threat of decent work life being destroyed by rampant privatisation, six ICEM Turkish affiliates have joined with engineering associations and a&nbsp;consumer rights group in building an active coalition to block privatising. 
 
Called the Platform Against Privatisation, the coalition&rsquo;s declaration states that &ldquo;the Turkish Republic has been losing all values and accomplishments created with sweat and blood since (its) establishment.&rdquo; The mobilisation of public resources has been &ldquo;given as gifts to the capitalist class,&rdquo; the declaration says. 
 
The coalition issued a 10-point agenda, including a determination &ldquo;to continue a struggle for the rights and interests of labour and democracy, the fight to resist practices such as subcontracting, removing union coverage, low wages, (and) flexible employment,&rdquo; and to defend the &ldquo;public management of resources.&rdquo;
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The declaration specifically addresses the current privatising of Turkey&rsquo;s electric generating and distribution systems and calls energy a &ldquo;public right for human life.&rdquo; In July, auctions were held on Turkey&rsquo;s first two electric distribution networks, and the entire power grid in the Sakarya region is proposed for privatisation. 
 
Chambers of Engineers representing Chemicals, Electrical, Geology, Mechanical, Metals, and Mining are signatory to the declaration. Also, ICEM trade union affiliates including Tes-İş (Energy, Water, and Gas Workers Union), Petrol-İş (Oil, Chemical Workers', and Rubber Workers' Union), Genel Maden-İş (Coal Mine Workers' Union), the T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş (Mine Workers), Dev Maden-Sen (Mine Workers' Union), and ESM (Energy,&nbsp;Industry, and Mining&nbsp;Public Employees) are part of Platform Against Privatisation.

Trade Unions, Engineering and Consumers’ Groups Take Stand Against Turkey’s Privatisation

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Mining unions from Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Columbia met 19-21 August in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, in workshops to address enhanced union power in the face of mergers and consolidation within the mining sector. It was conducted by the ICEM, with sponsorship from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, union-related foundation in Germany. 
 
&ldquo;We made an important step by bringing so many unions together to address the continued fragmentation of power among mining unions,&rdquo; said S&eacute;rgio Novais, ICEM Vice President for the Latin America/Caribbean Region.
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&nbsp;S&eacute;rgio Novais 
 

The ICEM provided a presentation on major trends in the mining industry that addressed how Latin American countries were targets for the major mining houses, companies that have profited from the unprecedented coal and metal commodity prices. The ICEM pointed out that without mining union mergers in Latin America, and the building of regional and global networks, mineworkers will lose bargaining power and will not be able to secure a fair share of the profits. 
 
Featured during the workshop was a day-long presentation by Ecliff Tantsi and Eddie Majadibodu of South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). They explained how&nbsp;NUM has built its formidable power under the banner of a single union. Their presentation included background on the history of the NUM, its structures, how collective bargaining is carried out, and how the union maintains both its economic and political power. The NUM also discussed how it assists other mining unions in Sub-Sahara Africa in union building and organizing. 
 
Participants jointly signed a letter to the government of Mexico protesting the continued repression of trade union rights in an effort to destroy the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union. And ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintracarb&ograve;n, the major mineworkers&rsquo; union in Columbia, reported new death threats against Adolfo Llanos, a union leader at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s Puerto Bolivar, and against other community activists. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda responded with a strongly-worded letter to President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe of Columbia demanding protection against death threats from right-wing paramilitary squads. Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-cast coal mine and its export facility, Puerto Bolivar, is equal parts owned by mining giants AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
The workshop participants decided to: share information and work toward more unity among trade unions in the mining industry, particularly in Brazil; create Latin American regional networks among unions having common employers; explore innovative structures and legislative changes that would bring about greater unionization; and jointly develop solidarity actions and campaigns that focus on stopping subcontracting, gutting of social security benefits, and improving health and safety.
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Support for ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, was approved, and the need for increased cooperation between the ICEM and International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) was also a subject of discussion. Only Brazil and Peru have ratified ILO Convention 176 in ICEM&rsquo;s Latin America/Caribbean Region. 
 
The mining workshops were attended by Jorge Almeida, Latin American Regional Secretary for the IMF. The ICEM and IMF are closely cooperating in efforts to build trade union power among Latin American unions.

South American Mine Unions Meet in Hopes of Consolidating Union Power

The ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector convened 21 November 2007 and formulated an expedited work plan for 2008. The plan is ambitious in scope and timely in light of paper industry developments. It will centre on intense networking and communication between global trade unions in the pulp and paper sector, specifically in coordinated bargaining, health and safety, contract labour, trade rules, climate change, retraining, and peak attention to social responsibility matters. 
 
The 50-plus delegates to the sector meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, agreed to form a rapid response network to deliver key information on bargaining, health and safety incidents, and corporate reorganisations. They also agreed to form a geographic-diverse work group that will meet in the early weeks of 2008 to prepare and implement an action plan.
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That plan will take into account first-half 2008 labour bargaining in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, it will meet restructurings with unified actions, and it will develop common policies shared by different national unions on global warming, contract labour, trade, and jobs skills relating to restructuring and health safety. Regarding social responsibility, leaders of pulp and paper unions pledged to use leverage to force the sale of mills during reorganisation, rather than closures and capacity reductions. The work group will also examine the unbalance of supply and demand in paper production. 
 
These exact policies will take hold when the ICEM conducts its Pulp and Paper Industry Conference in December 2008, a date chosen by the assembled delegates, and one moved up from a scheduled Industry Conference the following year. The delegates agreed to hold that Conference in Latin America in order to better link trade unions from the global north and the global south, and to draw sharp attention to work terms, working conditions, and trade union and human rights in the global south, as well as in ICEM&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific Region. 
 
The ICEM has endorsed the agenda, and will expand trade union participation by inviting Global Union Federations representing forestry workers and workers in the graphical papers sector. The ICEM global networking activities will also tie work together with the European Works Councils of the major pulp and paper companies.

Global Pulp, Paper Unions Put Forward Solidarity Action Plan

Delegates to the 4th World Congress of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) elected Senzeni Zokwana, President, and Manfred Warda, General Secretary, for four-year terms. 
Some 840 trade union leaders from 75 countries are attending the Bangkok, Thailand, Congress, which concludes tomorrow with a crucial motion on the occupation of Iraq, the country&rsquo;s the oil industry, and support for emerging trade unions. Other business tomorrow includes action on Burma, Thailand and closer co-operation with other Global Union Federations. 
 
Zokwana serves as President of the 300,000-member National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa, and was first elected by the ICEM&rsquo;s Presidium in a special election in October 2005. He is a 24-year members of the NUM and got his start in the labour movement as a shop steward in a gold mine in South Africa&rsquo;s Free State.
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Manfred Warda and Senzeni Zokwana
Zokwana, NUM President since 2000, is a forceful advocate of bringing modern safety techniques to the developing world&rsquo;s mining industry. He is also an outspoken campaigner for ending the marginalisation of Africa by using the continent&rsquo;s resources to end poverty and to create opportunities for African people. 
Warda has been Acting General Secretary of the 20-million-member Global Union Federation since January 1 of this year. He is a 44-year member of Germany&rsquo;s Industrial of Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers (IGBCE) and its predecessor, the Industrial Mining and Energy Union (IGBE). 
He began his trade union career with IGBE in 1971, and after serving as an assistant and then Head of the President's Office, he became Head of IGBE's International Department from 1990 to 1997. Following the 1997 merger that created IGBCE, he continued as Head of the IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department. He began working in the industrial sector in 1963 in his home city of Bochum, North Rhine Westphalia. 
 
Today&rsquo;s ICEM Congress also elected its first Vice President from the Middle East/North Africa Region. Elected was Mohamed el-Sayed Morsi of Egypt&rsquo;s Public Syndicate of Public Utilities. ICEM delegates also changed the federation&rsquo;s statutes to permit a head office move from Brussels, Belgium, to Geneva, Switzerland. That move is to occur in the first half of 2008. 
 
Tomorrow&rsquo;s motion on Iraq calls for the &ldquo;swiftest possible withdrawal of coalition troops,&rdquo; and states that &ldquo;the oil and gas resources of the country remain the property of all the people of Iraq.&rdquo; The motion commits ICEM to intensify its work with the trade unions of Iraq.

ICEM elects Senzeni Zokwana, Manfred Warda to lead 20-Million-Member Global Union Federation

4th ICEM World Congress - Speech by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda

4th ICEM World Congress - Opening Speech by ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana

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