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Talks could begin today on the dispute that has shut down much of Norway's private sector. 
 
National labour federation LO called its secretariat into special session immediately after a press conference in Oslo this morning. LO President Yngve Hagensen told journalists that exploratory discussions have already taken place with the employers' federation NHO. 
 
"These could - and I emphasise the could - lead to a resumption of negotiations with NHO as early as today," Hagensen said. 
 
But strike action could continue in parallel with any negotiations, he stressed. 
 
"If we are to succeed in the negotiations, we must demonstrate our strength," Hagensen explained. 
 
84,600 Norwegian workers have been on strike across the private sector since 3 May, following the membership's rejection of a previous mediated settlement offer. The strike is scheduled to spread at 6.00 a.m. tomorrow local time, after which a total of 102,119 workers will be out. 
 
Industrial unions affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) are playing a major part in the campaign.

Norwegian Strike Talks Today?

UK affiliate Transport & General Workers’ Union suspended industrial action against Michelin 2 March for seven days after the company determined it could do better on a pay offer. Action was to begin 4 March at a tyre plant in Stoke, Midlands, and 400 T&G members were set to begin a ban on overtime, forego any cooperative efforts with management, and start a work-to-rule campaign inside the factory. On that day, French unions at Michelin were to stage a manifestation at Michelin’s Paris headquarters in support of the UK union, while the Stoke workforce planned a mass protest at their factory. Industrial action will commence 11 March if Michelin does not improve on a non-consolidated offer of £650 or 3%, meaning the pay hike would not count towards the formula for pensions and other benefits.

Michelin Returns to UK Bargaining Table to Avoid Industrial Action

UK’s BPB Paperboard announced suddenly 3 March that it was closing a plasterboard liner-paper mill in Aberdeen, Scotland, throwing 276 workers out of jobs. The announcement of the closure, to occur in June, brought sharp rebuke from ICEM affiliate Amicus. The UK union’s Graphical, Paper and Media Section recently went through a 90-day consultation period with paper mill management of the building materials company, and no mention of the closure occurred. “The decision to close had evidently been made well before the formal consultative period started,” said Amicus’ Scottish Branch Secretary Jimmy Robertson.

Amicus in UK Resists Paper Mill Closure

German affiliate IGBCE used an innovative collective bargaining agreement with BASF to win 500 jobs for Berlin. The jobs and a new worksite, to be created late 2005 when BASF centralizes its financial, accounting and human resources into a shared service center, were possible after IGBCE proposed a forward-looking plan to the German chemicals producer, which had been considering many different sites. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt said the social partnership the union has with BASF doesn’t just exist on paper, but has evolved into lateral thinking on how the two parties do things. The new service center “benefits everybody concerned: the people who find work (at the Berlin site), the company that can run a cost-effective business operation, and it is an important testimony to Germany’s industrial competitiveness,” said Schmoldt.

IGBCE in Germany Achieves Innovation Agreement with BASF

Frank Hanley, president of US affiliate International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) since 1989, retired effective 1 March. Secretary-Treasurer Vincent Giblin will serve the remainder of Hanley’s term to April 2008.

Operating Engineers President In US Retires

Nepal’s national labour centers GEFONT and NTUC, along with ICEM affiliates, had received permission from the district administrator to conduct silent commemorations on International Women’s Day, 8 March. Banners and placards declaring support for gender equality in the workplace and in society were to be displayed by hundreds of trade union activists in Katmandu and in towns and cities across Nepal. But late the night of 7 March, security forces cancelled the permit and intermittent demonstrations the next day were met by baton-charging riot police. Some 226 arrested.

Nepal Cancels International Women’s Day Celebrations

In Brazil, the chemical workers union FEQUIMFAR in Sao Paulo, affiliated with CUT, won a reduction in weekly work time from 44 to 42 hours. The agreement was signed 8 March with pharmaceutical and other companies, and also includes a 2% increase in real wage terms for workers in chemicals, plastics, cosmetics, fertilizers and other industries. “This is the first step toward a 40-hour week, which is our goal for all workers in all industries,” declared FEQUIMFAR President Danilo Pereiro.

Chemical Workers in Brazil Win Gains Through Union

UPM Kymmene and other Nordic paper companies are retaliating against affiliate Paperiliitto and paperworkers in Finland over industrial action banning overtime. At a UPM Kymmene mill in Kajaani, the company refused to pay workers already on the job when a paper machine was forced to stop because of the overtime ban. Other paper companies are applying the same tactic, unusual in such circumstances. 
Workers demonstrated late last week at Stora Enso mills in Kaukopää and Tainionkoski over lack of progress in paper industry bargaining, and demonstrations also occurred earlier at Metsä-Botnia mills in Joutseno and Rauma. Paperiliitto called the overtime ban because the Forest Industries Federation of Finland, after dropping from the national incomes policy agreement, is stalling in reaching agreement for 29,000 paperworkers.

Finnish Paper Companies Taking Hard Approach Against Union

Nepal’s monarchy continues its irrational restriction of civil liberties by targeting labour leaders for arrest on even the slightest provocation. On 8 April, national center GEFONT’s Vice Chairman Lalit Basnet and Hetaunda Zonal Chairman Madhusudan Khatiwada were jailed for speaking out against curtailment of basic trade union rights, including assembly. 
Similarly, GEFONT’s Bara Zonal Chairman Kamalesh Jha was arrested in Kalaiya while protesting King Gyanendra’s harsh authoritative measures. GEFONT’s Kanchanpur Zonal Chairman Dharmananda Panta was arrested 25 March hours after he was re-elected. He was released 6 April. Official government response to his incarceration: “(Dharmananda Panta’s) continued freedom would allow him to conduct interviews which are against the spirit of His Majesty’s proclamations, and would further escalate unrest, thus hampering peace and tranquillity.”

Nepal Clamping Down on Trade Union Leaders, Trade Union Rights

Industrial action in New Zealand is escalating over ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s (EPMU) call for 5% wage increases across all sectors of the country’s buoyant economy. On 15 April, 238 EPMU miners at collieries of Solid Energy in Huntly East and Rotowaro struck. Coal miners across NZ are seeking a 6% pay hike to offset lost wages from government passage of the Employment Contracts Act in the late 1990s. Miners are also seeking pay parity between operations of the North Island and South Island. Underground miners in the South are paid less than workers in the North, while open cast miners on the North Island earn less than those of the South. Metals and manufacturing workers, also represented by EPMU, are on the verge of striking if the 5% demands are not met.

Miners in New Zealand Take Strike Actions

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