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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Three days before the annual two-week summer shutdown at a Clariant plant in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, management of the Swiss-based chemicals company fired two Centrale Générale-FGTB union representatives. Kamel Bennaceur and Mohamed Loukili were sacked on 27 July for doing the trade union work they were elected to do by co-workers. 
 
Management of Clariant Benelux SA unilaterally installed two other workers to fill their duties. Managers cited “breach of trust” as the reason for dismissing the two delegates, who are of Moroccan origin. The ICEM last week in Switzerland registered a <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/99.ICEM.Clariant.Belgium.10August.pdf" type="internal">strong protest</a> with Clariant Chairman Jürg Witmer and CEO and Director Hariolf Kottman, and intends to press the breach of international labour standards on the global level unless the two are reinstated. 
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Kemal Bennaceur, Mohamed Loukili 
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ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA also has written to the Belgian trade unionists expressing its support. 
 
The FGTB has prioritised the dismissals and will hold a day of action at the plant on Wednesday, 17 August. The action will start at 09h30. It will occur on day three after the re-start of work at Louvain-la-Neuve, a city in Belgium’s Wallonia federal region some 40 kilometres southeast of Brussels. The plant is part of Clariant’s Masterbatches division and produces colour additives for inks and textiles. 
 
FGTB says the real reason for the firings is the pair are just too conscientious in the performance of their duties. They conducted work inspections and were in constant communication with the 45 other blue-collar workers employed at Clariant regarding work rules and social legislation. The 45 solidly support the union stalwarts, Bennaceur and Loukili. 
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FGTB Adjunct Regional Secretary Enzo Gramaglia Talks to Clariant Workers</div>
 
The union held two abbreviated meetings with plant managers – on 28 July and 10 August – but bosses refused to discuss the sackings or consider immediate reinstatement. FGTB said that recent and similar firings at <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4558-BRC-Belgium-Conflict-Settled-Sacked-Oil-Workers-Reinstated" type="internal">Belgian Refining Corporation (BRC)</a> in which shop stewards were also dismissed, but subsequently reinstated, will provide the template for this breach of Belgian work law and international labour standards. 
 
The ICEM vows to assist its Belgian affiliate in the entire legal process. 
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FGTB Delegates Sacked at Clariant Chemicals Plant in Belgium

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Swiss trade union UNIA has achieved significant steps in the campaign to save the jobs of 470 workers at Swissmetal, a company on the verge of bankruptcy. The first victory was ensuring all staff received salary payments for the month of July. This was achieved through pressure on Switzerland’s Secretary of State for the Economy, and on the cantonal governments of Soleure and Berne.
The federal, cantonal governments and UNIA provided the CHF 2 million to meet July’s payroll. Swissmetal no longer has the liquidity to pay wages. UNIA provided the majority of the payment, approximately 70%.
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">This payment means that the possibility still exists that the two Swiss operations of the company still might be purchased by French-based Le Bronze Industriel SA, a manufacturer of bronze and copper electrodes.</div>
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UNIA Occupy BNP Paribas Branch
Another major step UNIA in trying to save Swissmetal jobs came when the Swiss national union succeeded in pressuring bank BNP Paribas – a creditor of Swissmetal that is owed CHF 20 million – to release the company’s metal inventories, which the bank blocked at the two sites.
<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">On 8 August, UNIA and workers at the main facility in Dornach held a symbolic manifestation at the Basle branch of BNP Paribas, urging the bank to lift the blockade of raw metal stock. Hundreds of workers rallied under the slogan, “You occupy our warehouse, we occupy your bank!” The occupation of the bank proved successful.</div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">While work did re-start at the other plant, in Reconvilier, on 8 August, all attention today is on the Dornach site, where production must restart immediately. This depends on Swissmetal agreeing to operate and deal with pending orders before buyers look elsewhere. Reopening of operations in the immediate term would ensure Swissmetal’s ability to pay wages for August.</div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">As sale negotiations continue, redundancies are not necessary at this stage, and will be bitterly opposed.</div>
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">UNIA underlines the vital importance that the cantonal governments of Soleure and Bern have. They have a duty to prevent the massive dismantling of operations and stop closure of the factories.</div>

Uncertainty Continues for Swissmetal Workers

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st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }</style>The Coordinating Committee of ICEM affiliates in Colombia conducted a second educational seminar for trade union officers, 8-12 August, in Girardot Cundinamarca, 100 kilometres south-west of Bogotá. The educational program aims to develop an improved, stronger leadership of trade unions in the country.</div>
A total of 38 participants to the seminar came from ICEM six affiliates in Colombia, and trade union friends of the ICEM in the South American country. As in previous meetings, representatives of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) in Colombia participated, one activist from Sintraindumecol and two from Sintrametal.
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<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Topics covered included precarious work, globalization, political economy, and communications.</div>
The intensive workshop totalled 110 hours, with each participant receiving a diploma as an activist of ICEM Colombia. The participants will continue this training and development in 2012.
The organisers’ goal is to hold a major conference after 15 years of the programme, bringing together the large number of trade union activists who have been trained and educated by the program. This will represent a significant group of activists who can then influence management and government strategy.

ICEM Colombia Seminar of Trade Union Activists

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The worst forms of trade union repression are being conducted by the authorities and business leaders of Bahrain, punishing workers for protesting and carrying out a general strike on 13-22 March 2011. The general strike led by the national trade union centre, General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), was called in support of pro-democracy protests in the Persian Gulf island-state. 
 
The crackdown was immediate, with a campaign of mass sackings, intimidation, and violence against all workers involved, although the agreement to end the strike included a promise to GFBTU, an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), by authorities that strikers would not suffer repercussions. 
 
As trade unionists around the world condemned the violent repression, the worst estimates then were that over 1,000 workers would be sacked for strike activity, including staff at Alba Aluminum Bahrain BSC, Bahrain Telecommunications Company, Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Services, and APM Terminals Bahrain at the Khalifa Sea Port. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Bahrain.png" width="250" height="115" alt=""/>
Now, more than 2,600 workers have been sacked for their involvement in the uprising, including over 100 government workers in recent weeks, including health, education, and municipal workers. Reacting to international pressure, the Bahraini authorities have promised the reinstatement those illegally sacked. However, GFBTU reports that only 134 workers have been reinstated, with many only brought back in return for promises never again to join political activities – or a trade union. 
 
Jailed trade unionists and others are being passed through tribunal hearings in which they are not given an opportunity to mount a defense. 
 
The global union federation for teachers, Education International (EI), has issued a new appeal to Bahraini authorities to release Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi 'Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, Vice-President and President of the Bahraini Teachers Association (BTA), who face trial by a military tribunal. Send appeals to the Bahraini authorities on <a href="http://www.ei-ie.org/en/uaas/uaa_details/31">EI’s site</a> here.  
 
Six members of the GFBTU Executive Board remain dismissed, as well as 44 executive board members of GFBTU-affiliated unions.

Kingdom of Bahrain’s Trade Union Repression Continues

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A three-day strike last week by a branch of Indonesia trade union Federasi Serikat Pekerja Pulp Dan Kertas (FSP2KI), ICEM’s pulp, paper, and packaging affiliate, was suspended today in hopes that talks at the regional Parliament can bring a 2011 wage accord. Those talks should have happened late last week when union leaders and government officials entered the struck PT Tanjung Enim Lestari pulp mill to negotiate, but mill managers disappeared and made themselves unavailable. 
 
Today’s talks will be mediated by the provincial Manpower Ministry and came about through global pressure on Marubeni Corp. and the fact that FSB2KI’s branch union at the mill, SPPTTEL, had conducted such a thorough strike last week. If talks fail, SPPTTEL has promised another three days of strike action next week, 10-12 August. 
 
All 1,000 workers at the pulp mill, located near Muaraenim in southern Sumatra Island, began strike action on 27 July in response to repressive and rude bargaining table behaviour by managers of PT Tanjung Enim Lestari, a subsidiary of the Japanese holding company Marubeni. When local government officials attempted to mediate the dispute with local managers on 29 July, they found they had left the mill and could not be contacted. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.indonesia 1000 workers.jpg" width="286" height="160"/>
SPPTTEL Strike, 27 July
Last week the ICEM put out a solidarity appeal for support to the FSP2KI branch union, SPPTTEL, as well as information on registering protests with local managers. The ICEM continues to seek support and further pressure on local managers. Readers are encouraged to visit this <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4567-Indonesian-Paperworkers-On-Strike-at-Japanese-Marubeni-Pulp-Mill" type="internal">ICEM Pulp and Paper</a> link to participate.  
 
During wage talks in late June and again in mid-July – with government officials participating – PT Tanjung Enim Lestari managers offered only token salary increases for 2011, citing profit losses. In the July talks, the union pointed to increased production, rising market pulp prices, consistent profits from 2007 to 2010, and asked to see the employer’s most recent balance sheet. 
 
With that, managers became indignant and threatened worker layoffs and terminating bargaining committee members if the team persisted with their demands. They also promised any strike would be met by police force. Although a police presence was nearby last week, the strike was peaceful and void of conflict. Strikers wore red and white ribbons, while a number of South Sumatra supporters and KSP2KI members from other pulp and paper mills have joined the strike wearing black ribbons. 
 
SPPTTEL is insisting on a total halt to the bargaining table threats and intimidation, and an across-the-board monthly increase of IDR 632,000, or US$74. PT Tanjung Enim Lestari has offered IDR 210,000, or US$24. The average median salary in the pulp mill is IDR 2 million, or US$235-per-month. 
 
The ICEM will monitor today’s dialogue at the provincial seat in Muaraenim and, if necessary, continue to press Maurabeni for accountability. The mill has capacity to produce 450,000 metric tonnes of market pulp annually and is Indonesia’s third largest pulp mill.

Paperworkers Strike Indonesian Pulp Mill; Pressure Brings Marubeni to Table

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Issues in the eight-day strike involving 150,000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in the coal industry, as well as a five-day strike covering the same number of NUM gold miners might be resolved when the union and Chamber of Mines meet today in mediation conducted by South Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
The NUM and Chamber are close on wage terms, with coal and gold mining houses said to be in agreement on finally awarding double- digit wage increases for 2011. The central issue today will be the new length of the collective agreement – either one or two years. Coal talks are scheduled for 10h00, while the gold negotiations commence at 14h00. 
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Lesiba Seshoka
NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said past CBA durations have generally been two years, but this year could be different. In mediated bargaining with the CCMA on 28 July, the NUM and Chamber seemed in agreement on a retroactive 1 July pay rise of a double-digit figure. Seshoka said if a second year is agreed to, the 2012 increase would likely add up to inflation plus a certain percentage higher. 
 
NUM members at AngloCoal SA, Exxaro, Xstrata Coal, Delmas Coal, Optimum, Springlake and others shut down the country’s coal industry on 24 July. That strike was followed four days later – on 28 July – by 150,000 NUM gold miners striking AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Goldfields, and Rand Uranium operations. 
 
Gold mining talks failed down on that day between the union and Chamber, two days after the NUM issued the mandatory 48-hour strike notice upon receiving CCMA certification of non-resolution. In coal, in meeting again with the Chamber on Friday, 29 July, labour and management narrowed their 2011 wage differences. 
 
In platinum mining, the NUM bargains individually with the three major producers, AngloPlatinum, Impala, and Northam. Although a dispute has been declared, the combined 8,000 miners have yet to down tools. But that could change this week. After 28 July talks with the world’s number one producer, AngloPlatinum, the company and NUM remained far apart, AngloPlatinum offering 6-7% while NUM seeks 15%. Negotiations are slated for today with Impala and on Wednesday, 3 August, with Northam. 
 
A third and likely final round of negotiations is also scheduled for today between the NUM and state-run electricity provider Eskom. There has been no dispute declared in those talks. NUM represents 16,000 Eskom staff, while the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) covers 5,000. 
 
Maybe the most contentious NUM bargaining has occurred with the world’s largest rough-cut diamond producer, DeBeers Consolidated Mines. Some 5,000 NUM members downed tools on 22 July at Venetia in Limpopo state, Voorspoed in the Free State, and a tailings treatment plant in Kimberly. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.de beers num.jpg" width="192" height="160"/>
No talks have been slated. The NUM has demanded 15% while DeBeers, with record sales in the first half of 2011 of US$3.8 billion on production of 15.5 million carats, has offered a paltry 7.5%. “We will make them move,” stated the NUM’s Chief Negotiator at DeBeers, Peter Bailey. 
 
“The offer is totally unacceptable to us. Last year we settled for between 9.5% and 10%, now we are told 7.5%, plus an ex-gratia one-off payment of ZAR 2,500 (US$375). We totally reject this.”

South African Coal, Gold Strikes Face Key Talks Today

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A two-year campaign by the Building & Wood Workers’ International (BWI), it’s North American affiliate, the International Association of Machinists (IAM), and BWI affiliate GS of Sweden paid off on 27 July when union representation was won at IKEA’s only Swedwood manufacturing plant in the US. 
 
Workers at the three-year-old plant in Danville, Virginia, voted by an astonishing 76% affirmation, 221-69, to have IAM represent them in a US government-supervised election. The vote brings relief to an agonising and frustrating period for BWI, IAM and GS, which sought to make IKEA live up to commitments in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) that calls for voluntary recognition and good faith-dialogue when workers indicate a desire for a union. 
 
Swedwood is 100% owned by IKEA and exclusively provides home furnishings to the retailer. The Danville factory provides many of the furnishings to IKEA’s 37 US stores. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1107.swedwood danville.jpg" width="308" height="142"/>
Senior managers at IKEA rebuffed BWI at several junctures in the Global union Federation’s efforts to get the company to acknowledge and correct anti-social practices at Swedwood in Danville. That included health and safety deficiencies, mandatory overtime at risk of punishment – something that is contrary to IKEA’s written code of conduct – and failure to allow shop-flow freedom of association as outlined in the GFA. The only choice left was the government-mandated union certification process through the US National Labor Relations Board. 
 
Swedwood workers at Danville, to their credit, responded resoundingly last week. 
 
“Despite the ‘persuasive’ tactics and intervention strategies that the Swedwood management installed throughout the entire union election process, and to be frank, prior to that, the workers at Swedwood have emphatically said yes to the union,” stated BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0912.bwi.ambet.yuson.png" width="101" height="101"/>
BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson
Swedwood must now reach a first collective labour agreement in Danville, one that must come without stalling and through honest negotiating that meets the social needs of workers. 
 
The Director of IAM’s Woodworking Department, Bill Street, said it best: “IKEA, you have a choice to make. You can recognise what we’ve been saying over the past is in fact true and then begin bargaining with us in good faith, or you can continue this fight.” 
 
The ICEM congratulates BWI, IAM, and GS for actively working with Swedwood workers in America to ensure they have a voice at work.

BWI, Machinists Succeed in Bringing Union to Swedwood’s US Plant

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In March, the ICEM had the assistance of the IMF in a public campaign in support of ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş in Turkey to get Standard Profil, a manufacturer of rubber products, to begin bargaining. Petrol-İş had gained well past the necessary 50% of Standard Profil’s 2,300 employees workers seeking union representation, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security certified that the company’s product line fell into the Petrol-İş negotiating jurisdiction of petroleum, chemicals, and rubber. 
The purpose of the public campaign, which included global letters of endorsement to Petrol-İş by unions and Works Councils representing Standard Profil customers in the automotive sector, was to dissuade the company from appealing the Ministry’s industrial sector determination. The union called on the company, in the words of Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin, to “start with mutual good will and consideration of mutual interests.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.petrol is president.JPG" width="217" height="201"/>
 Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin
The maker of rubberized automotive sealing systems had already engaged with the union over freedom of association and workers’ rights training through intervention by the Multinational Investment Guarantee Agency, a monitoring agency of the World Bank’s International Finance Corp (IFC). The IFC has loaned Standard Profil development money at its two factories in Düzce and Bursa and criteria for the loan compels the company to foster proper social and environmental conduct. 
In April, the company ignored the workers’ olive branch made by Petrol-İş and filed an appeal with the government. The company claims its jurisdiction is in the metal industry. Such an appeal in Turkey is meant to thwart union recognition and negotiations by tying the matter up in court procedures for two years or more. And following jurisdiction outcome, an appeal on the 50% plus one is automatic, which further binds the hands of legitimate workers’ rights to join a union and bargaining collectively. 
This is a main reason why Turkey’s archaic labour code is currently under scrutiny at the ILO. 
Despite Standard Profil’s labour rights training in 2008-09 under its IFC responsibilities, the company signalled ill-will in sync with its appeal last month by sacking five union activists, including one who is a disabled worker. 
In fact, ICEM and Petrol-İş developed the public campaign with a back-up strategy in the event Standard Profil turned hostile. The Istanbul-based company manufactures rubber sealers for doors, boot, engine covers, and other seals for automobiles. It was owned by Bancroft Private Equity LLP but in early May was sold to the Pawan Ruia Group of India. 
The Ruia Group is heavily involved in the rubber industry and holds big equity stakes in Dunlop Tyre, Monotana Tyre, and Falcon Tyre of India. It also holds a big share of the automotive fastener market, making it a strategic company in the automotive supply chain. ICEM and Petrol-İş will now focus on that fact.

ICEM at Standard Profil: Halting Union Avoidance in Turkey’s Rubber Sector

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On 24 February, Juan Linares was released after spending two years in jail. His release came just days after worldwide mobilization of unions in the 14-19 February global days of action demanding trade union rights in Mexico. Linares has been a member of SNTMMSRM (or Los Mineros) since 1972 as a mine worker at the ArcelorMittal Sicartsa steel mill. 
 
Why were you imprisoned and what was the impact of this on your union? 
 
I was imprisoned under false charges of fraud, on which no evidence was ever presented. This is clearly an anti-union measure taken by the government of Felipe Calderón to undermine and attack the Miners' Union. There was an investigation and an audit was carried out which shows that there has been no embezzlement of funds at all. The anti-union attacks from the government have been constant, firstly starting with the accusations against the General Secretary Napoleón Gómez Urrutia; secondly, the freezing of the bank account and thirdly, imprisoning me. This just serves the government’s intention to finish off our union. 
 
How did you manage to secure your release after two years in jail? 
 
International support, particularly from the IMF, ICEM, AFL-CIO, and the United Steelworkers, that mobilized international opinion about my case and in particular the global days of action held in February had considerable impact on my release. I was imprisoned for two years, two months and 20 days. 
 
Is the government persecution of Los Mineros continuing? 
 
Yes, the government continues daily to persecute Los Mineros and this is because it is a right wing government. This already started in the time of Vicente Fox and is now continuing with Felipe Calderón. Persecution is particularly harsh from the Minister of Labour. 
 
What is the situation for Los Mineros and the independent trade union movement in Mexico today? 
 
I think that things are slowly improving. The questions that we are discussing today on the merger at the global level will be particularly beneficial for Mexico. For example, another union under attack - SME - will soon be together with us and I think that we could achieve a really strong and independent labour movement in Mexico. 
 
How can international solidarity support Los Mineros and other independent unions in your struggle? 
 
One thing in which we need the support from the international organizations is to be able to continue organizing and recruiting new members in our union and that is what we would ask the international organizations to which we are affiliated. I also would like to share with you my great joy because we just heard on 25 May that our leader Napoleón Gómez has now been cleared of all accusations against him and we are looking forward to having him back with us in Mexico and to continue our struggle. We believe that the union movement in Mexico is really advancing.

Interview: Juan Linares, National Mexican Mine and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMSRM) 

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The 26th Congress of ICEM Turkish affiliate Oil, Chemical, and Rubber Workers’ Union (Petrol-İş), was held 17-18 September in Istanbul and provided an open platform on discussing labour’s current shape in Turkey with expectations for the future. Attended by a large number of guests from political parties, trade unions, professional groupings, employers, and civic society organizations, the Congress also welcomed ICEM representatives Manfred Warda and Kemal Özkan, as well as EMCEF General Secretary Michael Wolters. 
 
Members of the Presidium of South Eastern European Energy Unions’ Network (RETUNSEE) were also present. 
 
Participants on 17 September viewed two documentaries prepared by Petrol-İş, namely “Trade union is Your Future” and “What Did They Say for Petrol-İş at its 60th anniversary?” In his opening address, President Mustafa Öztaşkın said that the economic crisis first occurring in developed countries and then impacting the whole world caused political, economic, social, and cultural crunches. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1109.petrol is congress.jpg" width="243" height="160"/>
“The crisis brought inequality and injustice to humankind,” said Öztaşkın. “We witnessed continuous rising unemployment and poverty, causing human death through starvation, and we saw a polluting environment caused by for profit.” 
 
He also cautioned that human health is being threatened by genetically modified products. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Warda, in his address, praised the determination of Petrol-İş in defending the rights and interests of its members. He cited struggles undertaken by the union at multinational companies such as Novamed, Bericap, and Polyplex. 
 
“It is shameful that multinational companies, particularly Western European MNCs, do not recognize internationally accepted trade union rights in Turkey, while they do it in their home countries,” said Warda. 
 
The delegates discussed and approved a series of political resolutions under different chapters which included World, Turkey, Society, Economy, Industrial Relations, the Trade Union Movement, as well as Action Principles and Programme. A special resolution was unanimously voted on that gives full support to the coming creation of a new Global Union Federation for industry. 
 
“Petrol-İş believes international solidarity of the working class has great importance over attacks by capitalism against the union movement,” states the resolution, adding “unification under the roof of single Global Union Federation in manufacturing with three existing organizations, including the ICEM, will create a promising initiative, and the Congress pledges fully supports it.” 
 
The Congress also amended the union’s statutes by bringing new mechanisms into the current structure, particularly for special groups of workers. One union objective has been “to struggle against child labour and to strive protecting and promoting the rights of young workers.” Another now enshrined in Petrol-İş statutory objectives is gender equality, with the union pledging “to take all necessary measures in practices at home, in workplaces, and within the trade union to build equality and struggle against all forms of gender violence.” 
 
Mustafa Öztaşkın was unanimously re-elected President of Petrol-İş, while Ali Ufuk Yaşar won election as General Secretary, İbrahim Doğangül as Finance Secretary, Nimetullah Sözen as Organizing and Education Secretary, and Ahmet Kabaca as Administrative Secretary. The five trade unionists were named as members of the union’s Executive Committee.

Turkey: Petrol-İş Congress Endorses Creation of New Trade Union International

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