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A complaint just issued by the official US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is the "first step toward possible prosecution" of Imerys, a leading materials, minerals and ceramics multinational. 
 
So says America's Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers Union (PACE). The new NLRB complaint found merit in several charges lodged by the union. 
 
Imerys is the target of a global trade union campaign launched by PACE and the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Organised labour worldwide is bolstering Imerys workers in Sylacauga, Alabama, as they fight to maintain union recognition there. The employer in Sylacauga is Imerys American subsidiary ECCA Calcium Carbonates, Inc. 
 
"Let there be no doubt - the company's vigorous effort to de-unionise even includes disdainful violation of US laws protecting workers from harassment," said Joe Drexler, PACE Director of Special Projects. "Our union allies at the company's operations in England and France can now see the stark contrast with the high-road industrial relations it practises closer to home." 
 
The NLRB complaint names ECCA Vice-President Ray Barker, Sylacauga Plant Manager Randy Sandrik and five other managers. The NLRB alleges that Barker instructed supervisors to maintain records of employees' union sentiments; that Sandrik threatened employees who supported union organising efforts; and that two supervisors interrogated employees about their union activities. All are violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the US National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employer interference, restraint or coercion of employees exercising their rights to organise. 
 
ECCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imerys USA, Inc., formed by the 1999 merger of Imetal and English China Clays, Inc. Prior to the merger, Imetal and ECC operated neighbouring plants in Sylacauga, with the Imetal facility represented by PACE. On the effective date of the companies' merger, Imerys withdrew recognition from PACE and repudiated the labour contract (collective agreement) signed by Imetal and PACE. 
 
"The issuance of this complaint by the Board puts the authority of the USA government behind the charges made by PACE and the Sylacauga employees beginning last September," said Attorney Robert Weaver, who filed the charges on behalf of PACE. "For months the company has said there was nothing to the charges, and more recently that the charges were 'insignificant.' The Board's investigation and this complaint show just how high up the corporate ladder the violations go." 
 
PACE and the ICEM have highlighted the company's hiring of professional union-busters in an aggressive drive against PACE efforts to organise workers in Alabama and elsewhere in the southeastern USA. 
 
The company drive includes obligatory meetings at which employees are shown anti-union videos, while not permitted to ask questions. In a recent trip to discuss the situation with European labour leaders, Sylacauga worker Keith Fulbright said the videos, the interrogation and company threats to cut wages and remove benefits have many workers "scared to death." 
 
The global labour campaign on Imerys is receiving strong support, notably from unions in France, where the company is headquartered and has production sites; in England, another big Imerys production centre; and in Belgium, where financiers the Frere family are major investors in the company. 
 
"Imerys is a chameleon corporation," said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in Brussels today. "It is preaching social partnership on one side of the Atlantic and bashing unions on the other. That is simply not on, and we have made this very clear to Imerys corporate management in Paris. Ultimately, the company's world headquarters bears the responsibility for the actions of its American management. We call upon Imerys to end immediately its anti-union campaign in the USA and to embark on a new, constructive relationship with the ICEM and its affiliated unions worldwide."

Imerys Could Be Prosecuted, US Union Says

Finnish chemical and energy workers ended their nationwide strike today, after their union Kemianliitto secured a substantial pay rise and a cut in working hours. 
 
International trade union solidarity played a major role in achieving the settlement, Kemianliitto's President Timo Vallittu said. 
 
Today, both Kemianliitto and the employers' Chemical Industry Federation approved the National Conciliator's proposal for a three-year national collective agreement, which covers around 15,000 workers in the oil, gas, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. 
 
The agreement ends a week-long strike by 5,000 workers. The union had targeted 22 key companies in a national dispute over pay and working hours. Had the conflict not been resolved by today, the union would have called out a further 8,000 workers in the plastics and chemical products sectors. 
 
Sympathy action pledged by Kemianliitto's sister union in Sweden, Industrifacket, played a key role in putting pressure on companies. From tomorrow, the Swedish union would have blocked all trade in industrial chemicals and gases between Sweden and Finland. This would have led to the closure of paper mills and metal industry plants from the weekend onwards due to a shortage of the chemicals and gases needed in processes. 
 
Industrifacket had backed Kemianliitto from the onset of the dispute, after the Swedes had been alerted by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Both Kemianliitto and Industrifacket are ICEM affiliates. 
 
In addition, the Finnish Transport Workers' Union and the Seafarers' Union would have blocked the transport of chemicals from tomorrow onwards. 
 
Earlier in the week, three companies in the sector had separately agreed to union demands in order to avoid losing orders and revenue. One of them had to disaffiliate from the employers' federation for breaking ranks. 
 
Kemianliitto has won wage increases of around 4 percent for its members, which is well over the general level of pay raises in this year's bargaining round in Finland. A reform of the wage structure will bring further increases in 2001 and 2002, on top of the general rises in manufacturing industry as a whole. 
 
Working hours will be cut by 8 hours or one shift annually without loss of pay. After the reduction, working hours in continuous shift work will be 34.6 hours a week, in semi-continuous shift work 35.8 hours, and in day work 36.2 hours. Further textual amendments improve the conditions for sick pay and tighten up on the use of subcontractors. 
 
Kemianliitto President Timo Vallittu praised the unity of his membership, which covers more than 90% of the blue-collar staff in Finnish oil, gas and chemical industries. He said that even though the advent of the single European currency will increase the pressure for harmonisation, the settlement proves that workers are entitled to have their share of good results in the industry, not only the executives in the form of share-option windfalls. 
 
"Special thanks go to our brothers and sisters in Sweden, " said Vallittu. "Their timely support destroyed the employers' attempts to prolong the dispute by importing from their plants in our neighbouring country to compensate for the loss of production. In today's globalised economy, we need practical international solidarity and co-ordination to ensure successful collective bargaining." 
 
The ICEM-affiliated Finnish paperworkers' union Paperiliitto is still in negotiations for a significant pay increase, shorter working hours and restrictions on the use of subcontractors.

Finnish Chemical, Energy Strike Wins Gains

In a new self-help move by some of the world's poorest workers, the National Union of Working Women (NUWW) last Friday launched a health protection scheme for its more than 300,000 informal sector workers in Chennai, India. The announcement came as the Asia-Pacific Women's Committee of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) was meeting there. The NUWW is an ICEM affiliate. 
 
Like most newly industrialising and developing countries, India has many "informal sector" workers who earn a pittance from unrecognised jobs on the fringes of the formal economy. The informal sector does not have access to social security or other public services. Nor is it covered by labour legislation. Overall, less than 10 percent of the Indian population have access to social security. 
 
Among the informal workforce are NUWW members working on the bottom rung of society. They do such jobs as making incense sticks, matchsticks and fireworks. Although they are making a contribution to society, they are still neglected. 
 
NUWW members pay 24 Rupees per year in subscriptions to their union. 
 
In 1981, a life insurance scheme was started. But it was discovered that, in fact, medical expenses are the biggest burden for the worst-off women workers in the informal sector. After childbirth, for example, they are heavily indebted. So the NUWW members decided to launch health programmes. They negotiated with an insurance company an annual premium of 70 Rupees, which provides coverage for up to 15,000 Rupees of medical expenses a year. It also provides them with good-quality health services and hospitalisation. 1,000 NUWW members have already registered for the scheme.

Indian Informal Workers Launch Health Scheme

Chemicals and pharmaceuticals multinational Novartis stands accused of anti-unionism and bad faith bargaining in Korea. 
 
Local subsidiary Novartis Agro Korea (NAK) has an "anti-labour business system and philosophy," says the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers' Federation (KCTF). At the global level, the KCTF is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Last October, the KCTF organised a company-level union at NAK. The management responded by transferring all union activists away from the company's headquarters to remote branch offices. By the use of threats, it also forced 20 of the new union's original 76 members to withdraw from the union. 
 
Management then ignored all collective bargaining requests by the company-level union, which therefore mandated the KCTF to negotiate on its behalf. 
 
After a campaign which included protests from the company's customers, as represented by the Korean Farmers' Association, NAK reluctantly agreed to open negotiations with the KCTF. However, it still refused to recognise the company-level union. 
 
So union members in the sales department launched a strike on 6 March, and three days later this industrial action spread to the company's Iksan factory. After 14 days, NAK promised to bargain in good faith, and the strikers returned to work. 
 
In fact, though, the company tabled an offer below what it had proposed to the KCTF before the strike. The union reports that its members are now "getting angry" over the company's bad faith. 
 
Novartis Agro Korea's opposition to wage bargaining is in breach of Korean law, the KCTF says. 
 
NAK's reluctance to recognise the union is, the KCTF points out, partly due to the "abnormal employment system" in the Iksan factory. Only 69 of the workers there are on permanent contracts. The other 130 are temporary. This set-up is "against Korean business culture," the union says, and "reflects NAK's intention to hire and fire at will." 
 
The KCTF is continuing its campaign for real collective bargaining, and says it is confident of victory. It points out that a defeat for "NAK's illegal activities" would strengthen the hand of all Korean workers employed by multinationals.

Novartis' Bad Faith Sparked Korean Dispute

80,000 workers across Norway will launch an indefinite strike from 6.00 a.m. local time on 3 May, the national union federation LO announced this afternoon. 
 
This means that over a third of all the country's private sector union members will take industrial action next week - and many more could be called out if the dispute drags on. 
 
The strike call follows a membership vote to reject a mediated settlement covering much of the private sector. 64.3 percent of the votes cast were against the proposed settlement, which was reached at the beginning of this month. 
 
The strikers will include 5,000 chemical and allied workers organised in the NKIF union, which is affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). Sectors affected will include cement, explosives, rubber products, paints, plastics and oil-based products. At the same time, warning will be given of strike action by another 500 chemical workers from 15 May onwards, when their agreements expire. For public health reasons, however, the pharmaceutical industry is among the sectors exempted from the strike. 
 
In oil and gas, members of the ICEM-affiliated NOPEF union in a number of onshore ancillary services and catering will strike from 3 May. 
 
However, NOPEF says that Norwegian oil output "will not be needlessly affected at this stage of the dispute." 
 
Members of ICEM-affiliated general workers' union Fellesforbundet will strike in a number of sectors, including asphalt production. 
 
Electricity workers in the ICEM-affiliated EL&IT union are not involved in the dispute at present, but could become so after 15 May, when their own agreement expires. 
 
Similarly, a further 10,000 NKIF members in the electrochemical industry, including Norsk Hydro, could join the action after 31 May, when their present agreement runs out.

Norwegians Call Nationwide Strike

Most of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the disputeMost of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the disputeMost of the Turkish tyre industry has been hit by a strike launched this afternoon over a bargaining dispute. 
 
Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone are among the companies affected by the action, the Turkish rubber workers' union Lastik-Is reports. 
 
Lastik-Is has been negotiating with the tyre companies since last November for a new agreement covering this year and 2001. At the global level, the union is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which organises tyre and rubber workers worldwide. 
 
The companies' final offer to Lastik-Is was a 22 percent pay increase for the first half of this year, followed by a further 6 percent in the second half, plus a small lump sum. For the year 2001, the companies propose to make an additional payment dependent on the prevailing exchange rate between the US dollar and the Turkish lira at the time. 
 
This is a wholly inadequate offer, the union points out, in view of the steep rise in the cost of living. Turkey's inflation rate last year was 68.8 percent. The tyre workers would need a pay rise of the same order simply in order to restore their purchasing power. 
 
Altogether, some 5,000 workers are involved in the dispute

Turkish Tyre Strike Hits Multinationals

Norway's nationwide strike will spread to more industries next Tuesday, union leaders told a press conference in Oslo this morning. 
 
102,119 workers will be on strike across the private sector from 6.00 a.m. local time on 9 May. These include the 84,600 union members who have been out since 3 May - already more than a third of the country's private sector union membership. 
 
Among the new strikers next Tuesday will be 5,200 pulp and paper workers organised by the general union Fellesforbundet. At the global level, Fellesforbundet is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
ICEM sectors already on strike in Norway include asphalt, cement, explosives, rubber products, paints, plastics and a range of ancillary and catering functions in the oil and gas industries. Electricity and electrochemical workers could join in later this month. 
 
The strike follows a membership vote to reject a mediated settlement covering much of the private sector. 
 
"It is true that we have national-level collective agreements and that we have a tradition of bringing out whole sectors of coverage during a dispute," commented Fellesforbundet President Kjell Bjørndalen at today's press conference. "We call out everything or nothing." 
 
No new offer has so far been received from the employers, Yngve Hågensen told the journalists this morning. He is President of the national trade union federation LO, which is coordinating the action. 
 
"We're going to conduct a big, solid strike without hitting 'third parties' too hard," Hågensen added. "We'll do it in such a way that it will be first and foremost the companies, the owners, who will feel it."

Norwegian Strike To Spread

Twenty-four tradesmen, members of EPMU in New Zealand, agreed to a two-year deal this week with Bridgestone at a tyre factory in Christchurch, ending a four-week strike. The agreement was termed satisfactory, but not reflective of the intense effort put in by the bargaining unit composed of highly skilled electricians and engineers. 
Contract labour will be a continual issue, and EPMU Southern Operations Director Ged O’Connell said, “We have a significant problem with contractors and agency temps who are able to work in our plants and are not covered by our Collective Agreements.” Although the union prevented contractors from doing bargaining unit work during the strike, salaried staff performed some of that work, and that is an issue with the EPMU. A separate bargaining unit represents about 200 production workers at the tyre factory on the South Island.

Skilled Trades Workers Reach Accord with Bridgestone in NZ

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Bargaining will continue today in efforts to end the lockout of 25,000 paperworkers in Finland. Six major paper companies, headed by the Forest Industries Federation of Finland, locked out members of ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto on 18 May for two weeks, and then tacked on another two weeks as a retaliatory measure for industrial action of 16-17 May. Employers are seeking harsh concessions including unlimited outsourcing, elimination of Christmas and mid-summer shutdown days, and greater job flexibility including 12-hour work shifts. 
Paper unions in Sweden and Norway have successfully turned back orders originating from Finland at mills and paper converters in those countries, and the ICEM has encouraged paper sector unions at all European operations to refuse production work from the closed Finnish mills. The European Works Council of Stora Enso has taken positive solidarity action, as has the European working committees of UPM Kymmene and M-Real. The other three major paper companies instigating this lockout are Ahlström, Metsä Tissue, and Myllykoski.

Paper Employers Lock Out 25,000 Workers in Finland

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) expressed disbelief that BP blamed workers for the 23 March explosion at its Amoco refinery in Texas City, Texas. BP said in an interim report that the “root causes” were a failure to follow operating procedures by workers and supervisors, but backed off that statement when the USW called the company on it. 
USW Region Six Director Gary Beevers said the blast that killed 15 and injured 170 could have been prevented had BP taken the union’s advice to properly vent hydrocarbons released from an isomerization unit and had not violated its own policy by granting a variance in placing contractors’ trailers in a dangerous location.

BP Wrongly Blames Workers, Managers in Deadly US Explosion

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