USA: At the rally in Findlay, USW Secretary Treasurer Stan Johnson, who heads the USW’s tire industry sector bargaining, said Nezavisnost, the Serbian union which represents workers at Cooper’s recently purchased tire plant in Krusevac, Serbia, has demanded that the company end the lockout and pledged support and resources to bring that about.

In the United Kingdom Unite the Union, representing workers at Cooper’s manufacturing plant in Melksham, U.K. has distributed USW-provided literature to its members.

Unite members are sending messages of support and solidarity to United Steelworkers in Ohio. Unite will also be placing advertisements of support in US newspapers.

Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: "Manufacturing is now globalised and what happens in one country can happen in another. That’s why Unite and our members at Cooper Tire are standing up for our US brothers and sisters."

The United Steelworkers union is Unite’s partner union in the transatlantic union alliance Workers Uniting.

Other Cooper Tire facilities are in Mexico, Corporacion de Occidente, which is 58 per cent owned by Cooper Tire, employs 900 workers and produces 14,000 tyres per day, 70 per cent of which are exported, and in China.

USW has created a web page dedicated to the struggle at Cooper Tire, with campaign and video information, at http://stopcoopertire.usw.org/.

COP 17 was seen as the last chance to save the Kyoto Protocol due to expire at the end of 2012, which is the only legally binding agreement to cut emissions. The protocol was adopted in 1997 and ratified by 191 countries and came into force in 2005. Under the protocol 37 developed nations known in the protocol as Annex 1 countries commit to cut emissions by an aggregate minimum 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

There are number of developed countries that have been working towards having the Kyoto Protocol abandoned, calling instead for a new deal put in place. Immediately after COP17 concluded Canada, one of several developed countries that has largely disregarded its Kyoto commitments, became the first country to formally back out of the climate treaty.

Making the announcement, Canada’s environmental minister Peter Kent said that in order to meet its obligation under the protocol Canada would have to close down its agriculture sector and cut heat to every home, building and factory or take "every car, truck, ATV, tractor, ambulance, police car" off its roads. Failing this, Canada would have to pay $14 billion in penalties for not meeting its emission target under the protocol.

These scenarios have little to do with the real reasons for Canada pulling out of Kyoto that Kent fails to mention which mainly relate to Canada’s economic ties to the US. The US has refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol since its inception on the grounds that it does bind other major emitters, including China to legally binding limits. The conservative Canadian government that came into power in 2006 has continued to claim that it cannot move faster or further than its major trading partner on climate change.

With the refusal of the US to be part of the Kyoto treaty, industry groups in Canada have argued for years against plans to cut emissions on the basis that this would give US competitors an unfair advantage. Canada is the largest supplier of oil and gas to the US, accounting for 75 percent of Canada oil and gas exports. In 2002, Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers argued against ratifying Kyoto saying it would cut gross domestic product by up to 2.5 percent by 2010.

But by far the greatest reason for Canada’s backtrack on Kyoto is its thuggish transformation to a petro state. Canada is exploiting the world’s second largest reserve of oil known as the tar sands. The tar sands occur in an area the size of England which lies under the surface of pristine forests and marshes that is being destroyed for the largest opencast mining operation in the world. Refining tar sands requires two to three times as much energy as refining crude oil and these refinery operations are the largest source of emissions in Canada. The refining process consumes vast quantities of water with three barrels of water required to produce one barrel of oil. It creates toxic contaminated water stored in tailing dams that leak poisons into the rivers causing environmental damage and disease downstream. 

A statement made ahead of COP 17 by Canadian civil society and endorsed by a number of trade unions including IMF affiliate, the Canadian Auto Workers Union, decries their government’s inaction on climate change and links this to its oil lust. It states "The federal government has failed to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, in spite of our international commitments and the federal government’s own inadequate targets. The unsustainable pace of development of the tar sands will increase Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 100 MT or more in this decade. This disturbing pattern of inaction and attempts to undermine climate change policy by the current Canadian federal government, coupled with a staunch defence of Canada’s fossil fuel industry shows that this government has lost its moral compass."

The statement also notes "Instead of positive efforts to confront the crisis in an equitable and morally acceptable way, we have witnessed Canadian government inaction and attempts to undermine climate change policy… Canada has a track record of acting more in the interests of big oil companies than Canadians at UN climate negotiations."

Canada has developed a reputation as a climate renegade. At the 2009 Bangkok Climate Change Talks, the South African delegation led a walk out by the group of 77 developing nations, with the exception of a group of small island states, during a presentation by the Canadian delegation. The presentation called for the Kyoto Protocol to be abandoned and suggesting it be replaced by a new pact.  Whilst Canada was not the only country that pushed for Kyoto commitments to cease at COP 15 in Copenhagen later that year, it is attributed as being a major instigator for the call which led to a walk out by most developing nations leading to the collapse of the talks. Then at COP 16 in Cancun, Canada was named by the UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres, as one of three along with Russia and Japan, blocking the second round of emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

African civil society and labour stepped up the pressure on Canada at COP17. The General Secretary Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zwelizima Vavi joined other African civil society leaders, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in signing a petition against Canada. The petition was published as an advertisement in the daily newsletter at the conference. The text of the petition states "Canada, you were once considered a leader on global issues like human rights and environmental protection. Today you’re home to polluting tar sands oil, speeding the dangerous effects of climate change. For us in Africa, climate change is a life and death issue… Now is the time for Canada to tackle climate change, which will impact millions of people, instead of supporting multinational oil companies."

Canada was considered the least popular nation at Cop 17. During a plenary discussion, it is reported that Kent could barely be heard above the applause when the Canadian youth delegation wearing T shirts that read ‘turn your back on Canada’ stood up and turned their backs on him. The stunt cost them their conference credentials but kept attention on Canada’s obstructive position.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) led a delegation of Canadian trade union representatives at COP 17 to lobby their government "for an ambitious commitment and credible plan for Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution as part of a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol". The CLC calls Canada’s decision to formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, "an international embarrassment that tarnishes Canada’s international reputation. The national centre goes on to say that it is an example of the Canadian governments, "support for short-term oil company profits over the long-term employment, economic and social justice needs of Canadians".

There is still a real threat to the Kyoto Protocol as there was only political agreement to extend the treaty. Emission targets for the second commitment period still need to be worked out and a formal amendment adopted. Canada’s formal withdrawal from its commitments destabilises future action on global warming and puts the hard work needed to have a more ambitious second period in jeopardy. It also undermines the very notion of the workability of a binding treaty. In fact, it could still lead to Kyoto being abandoned completely. Countries can now say, as Kent has said, that Kyoto "is in the past" and the Durban Platform is "the way forward" leaving the world with almost a decade of no binding commitment to reduce emissions.  Indeed it is a pity that developed nations such as Canada place such a strong value on financial debt owed by the south to the north and yet refuse to acknowledge the bourgeoning ecological debt already created by this growing reliance on fossil fuels.

The Durban Platform can potentially allow countries to escape its commitments under Kyoto whilst still holding claim to be addressing climate change through the Durban Platform.  But the Durban Platform is nothing more than an agreement to formulate an agreement on climate change by 2015 that will be enforced from 2020. Its greatest victory is that it commits countries including the US and emerging nations, most notably India and China, to negotiate an agreement for the post 2020 period.

Critics have warned that the Durban Platform agreement for an agreement is far weaker than the agreement that lead to the Kyoto Protocol as it does not specify that the new agreement will put in place emissions limitations and it is not clear on how legally binding this new agreement will be. But as UK journalist Adam Vaughan points out, what "Canada has shown is that a legally binding deal does not guarantee countries won’t walk away from their commitments".

TURKEY: The international delegation was led by IMF Assistant Secretary General Fernando Lopes and EMF General Secretary Ulrich Eckelmann, joined by metal workers representatives from Turkey, Italy, France, Hungary and Germany.

The IMF launched a full-scale international campaign to protest against the anti-union actions of German-based multinational GEA. The struggle of GEA workers in Turkey, dismissed for their union affiliation in IMF-affiliated Birlesik Metal-IS, was publicised globally, and unions all over the world have pledged their support.

More than 5000 protest letters have been sent to local and German GEA managements. Still GEA continued to ignore the demand to meet with the union.

"The global labour movement, including the IMF and the 25 million members we represent, are standing shoulder to shoulder with you" said Fernando Lopes to the gathered workers at the GEA picket. "Union members from transport to mining to agricultural to aerospace stand with you in solidarity."

"We know GEA management inside this factory is watching and listening, I am here today to ask GEA management to open the gate doors and meet us."

Lopes enumerated GEA’s anti-union actions:"GEA has broken an agreement with our affiliate Birlesik Metal. GEA has broken an agreement with the IMF. GEA has broken an agreement with German metalworkers and IG Metall. GEA is in breach of key international business commitments and yet still refuses to meet."

In a letter to GEA from IG Metall in Germany the union has expressed its support to the GEA workers and urged management to enter into meaningful dialogue with Birlesik.

Lopes said to the picketers that IMF will support Birlesik Metal-IS’ demands before the OECD and ILO if necessary, and is prepared to break the relationship with GEA if the company fails to resolve this issue.

"We will not stop until there is justice, we will not stop until GEA workers are reinstated."

Go to LabourStart campaign site.

INDONESIA: The agreement ends 94 days of strike by 10.000 miners at the world’s largest gold and second largest copper mining complex – Grasberg in Papua province. Work is scheduled to start again on Saturday, December 17.

The agreement was reached with the assistance of the Indonesian government. The miners will be paid wages for the three months they were on strike. Disciplinary actions against a number of strikers are withdrawn. The company will pay allowances for health care, housing and education, shift premiums, service-year bonuses, and a metal bonus, calculated on fixed costs, rather than on variable cost schemes, as Freeport-McMoRan had insisted. Grasberg miners’ wages will be boosted 24 per cent for the period to October 1, 2011, and with a further 13 per cent in October 2012.

Some 7,000 of the striking mineworkers had earned between 2.13 and 2.54 US dollars per hour. The 37 per cent raise is well below the union’s initial demands. Bargaining committee member Juli Parorrongan said "We made the decision to settle due to humanitarian reasons and out of concern for our workers."

For Freeport, the strike has been costly. The Grasberg mine holds the world’s largest gold and second-largest copper reserves, and in October 2011, the company had to declare force majeure to avoid liability as it couldn’t fulfil contractual obligations on existing orders. The Grasberg mine was operating at about 5 percent capacity during the strike.

On December 16 the bargaining team of PT Freeport Indonesian Workers’ Union, part of the national Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU) of SPSI, plans a mass meeting with strikers to brief them on the agreement, and then hold a ceremonial end to the blockade at Mile 28.

See a full report on the strike and blockade on the ICEM website here.

COLOMBIA: IMF affiliates FETRAMECOL, UTRAMICOL and ICEM affiliates participating in a trade union strengthening project held an evaluation and planning seminar in Bocayá, Colombia on November 20-22. The project’s main aim is to promote national trade union unity in the manufacturing sector and develop a proposal for national organising that improves on the current company-level trade union structure.

The seminar was attended by delegates from IMF affiliates, the ICEM in its capacity as a participating federation, the IMF Geneva office, the IMF’s Latin America Regional Office and Erland Lindkvist of IF Metall, Sweden. 

Nohora Tovar, national coordinator, explained that the seminar formulated new strategies for the next meetings, for example, the decision to continue the process of trade union unity, and to incorporate ICEM colleagues and unorganised and outsourced workers. He also welcomed the participation of women and young workers. “In 2009, at the first seminars, participation was 10 per cent. Now, we have already reached 20 per cent”, he said.

During the seminar, regional coordinators reported on developments during the last year, including progress with the National Unity Council. They identified problems, challenges and actions to develop the National Unity Council’s network and formulated an action plan for the project to strengthen the unions.

The National Unity Council is an experiment. It is designed to reflect the emergence of the new international federation. It is composed of 12 members, with two delegates from each affiliate (FETRAMECOL, UTRAMICOL) and the ICEM Union Council in Colombia, plus one leader from each of the six main unions in these three organisations.

Finally, the seminar set out the work required in 2012: promote the debate about how to achieve unity, improve communication between leadership and members, increase the participation of members and guarantee that regional coordinators and study circles are committed to carrying out the action plan. The intention is to complete the proposal and plan for building the new trade union structure by mid-November 2012.

Erland Lindkvist, representing IF Metall, noted the progress and efforts made, but underlined the need to organise a new structure, without looking for excuses and avoiding half-baked formulas.  

The IMF highlighted the efforts being made by Colombian leaders, who have made significant progress since the project began, and welcomed the work done by affiliates and the ICEM in achieving the objectives. Fernando Lopes said that the group needed to press on with the project and plan feasible steps. He stressed that this is a task for all! He added that he hopes and dreams that it will be possible to organise a large national meeting in November 2012 to approve and formally establish the new trade union structure for the manufacturing sector in Colombia. 

ITALY: The trade union confederations, CGIL, CISL and UIL jointly demanded changes in the Italian government’s austerity package, at a two hour meeting with the government on December 11. In place of pension cuts and a new home tax the unions among other things proposed steeper wealth taxes and measures to combat fiscal evasion. After the meeting the CGIL General Secretary, Susanna Camusso said "they tried to argue, without convincing us, that the cuts were balanced. Therefore we confirmed the strike".
 
Metalworkers affiliated to FIOM CGIL, and CGIL workers in Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara downed tools for eight hours on December 12. FIM-CISL and UILM affiliates joined in.
 
In the transport sector the confederations’ affiliates called for three hour strikes in ports, freeways, car rentals, goods transports and logistics. Essential public transports are excluded: air transport, local, rail and marine public transport, and emergency services.
 
Bank workers will strike on December 16, and on Monday, December 19 the strike moves to all of the public sector and the Italian Mail service.
 
The three main Italian unions showed a united front for the first time in six years. "The austerity package must be changed," said Susanna Camusso, of CGIL, "as it hurts workers, pensions and the country as a whole."

GLOBAL: The international trade union movement is unanimous in its harsh critique of the WTO: "Despite the criticisms expressed by millions of working women and men worldwide, there is still scant regard at the WTO for equitable growth, development or the creation of full, decent and productive employment based upon the respect of workers’ rights and other human rights.

While workers and families are the object of severe cutbacks in connection with the current debt crisis, "The existence of the WTO does nothing to prevent trade imbalances growing to unsustainable levels and many countries entering into deep recession. The deal currently on the table, untransparent and based on the December 2008 WTO negotiating modalities on NAMA and Agriculture as well as ongoing negotiations to liberalise services under the GATS, will not assist in enabling trade to result in economic recovery, employment creation and genuine economic development."

The Global Unions urge the WTO to negotiate a package for the least developed countries, to at least ensure a positive outcome for the poorest countries. Such a package should in the unions’ view include duty free and quota free market access for all products from the least developed countries. Cotton subsidies should be eliminated.

Moreover, in response to the current global financial problems, the WTO should not impede different commonly recommended financial regulatory measures, such as capital controls, bans on risky financial services, size limits on banks and "firewalls" between banking and investment services.  

All ITUC affiliates are asked to submit the statement to their Trade Ministers ahead of the upcoming 8th WTO Ministerial Conference.

See the full statement here.

 

UNITED KINGDOM: German automaker BMW in the beginning of December informed Unite that it intended to close its final salary pension scheme to new starters in the UK and that it wants to exploit a legal loophole in the Agency Workers Regulation called the ‘Swedish derogation’ to deny agency staff equal pay with regular employees after 12 weeks of employment.

The ‘Swedish derogation,’ named after a concession in the EU Temporary Agency Work Directive, means that a temp worker with an employment contract with an agency is not protected by the equal treatment provisions in the Directive.

Unite National Officer Roger Maddison said: "BMW face a New Year of unrest unless the company reverses its plans to attack the pension scheme and erode the rights of agency workers by exploiting legal loopholes. Unite believes exploiting these loopholes to worsen the rights of agency workers is immoral."

The new UK Agency Work Regulations come into force in October 2011. Agency workers would have been able to look forward to equal pay with regular employees after 12 weeks.

An agency worker comments on the Unite blog: "Having worked for an agency on the same job for a number of years I am now being forced to sign the Swedish contract with the agency that will result in me earning just short of 4 Pounds an hour less than their own staff."

Unite is planning to meet all shop stewards at BMW early in the new year to organise a campaign of resistance up to and including a ballot for industrial action if necessary.

The day started with a march where workers sang songs of solidarity in recognition and sympathy with those affected by HIV and AIDS. Comrade Japhet Moyo, Secretary General of the ZCTU congratulated participants for the consistency in commemorating these two important days over the years; The World Aids Day and Human Rights Day. NEWU leadership and members were present in support of the commemorative action.

Moyo spoke of the thousands of workers in Zimbabwe that continue to lose their lives as a result of the HIV epidemic.  He said that HIV and AIDS interventions have been largely driven by the private sector and the ZCTU would like to see the government doing more than merely collecting the 3% AIDS levy from workers.  "This scourge calls for combined and concerted efforts from all key stakeholders because we can no longer stand by while thousands of workers lose their lives. If one worker loses their life there is a ripple effect because there are people who are dependent on that person," said Moyo.

The ZCTU is pushing for current interventions in the workplace to go beyond providing the infected worker with the medication and counseling. "The gospel of prevention and emphasis on treatment has been preached. But now we have to go beyond that and also look at ways of taking care of HIV and AIDS orphans for former workers at the workplace. This is an initiative that we have to vigorously pursue because existing HIV and AIDS schemes within our communities are hamstrung", said Moyo.

NEWU joins the ZCTU in demanding that there is accountability, efficiency and transparency in the distribution of free ARV drugs, food packs and funds to those affected by the HIV epidemic and calling for an immediate review of the current legislation on HIV and AIDS

ZCTU is stepping up efforts to fight HIV and AIDS through intensifying programmes with the support of the Global Fund. The ZCTU is moving towards mainstreaming HIV and AIDS activities in all trade union programmes including those involving women and young workers. The main thrust of these programmes is to encourage openness through voluntary counseling and testing and disclosure of one’s status. Of concern to the unions, including NEWU is the lack of adequate documentation of HIV at workplace and sectoral level. 

Human Rights Day is very important to NEWU engaged together with other unions under the ZCTU in a long battle for human and trade union rights. Zimbabwe remains one of the worst violators of human and trade union rights.

Moyo raised concerns of human rights violations especially at election time; "Elections are inevitable and we all know that elections in this country are associated with violence and trampling of human and trade union rights. As we commemorate this day we need to come up with ways that can guard against gross human rights violations during elections".

At the march, the ZCTU called for the observance of freedom of expression and association rights and the right to organize. NEWU supports the demands of the federation that the Zimbabwe government  puts a stop to human rights violations, enact legislation that protect the rights of its citizens, that have a human face and repeal the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Access To Information and Privacy Act (AIPA). NEWU and other unions under ZCTU also want the right for trade unions to organize without interference to be respected as well as a commitment from government and employers on decent and secure work.

Article by Miriam Chipunza, NEWU

SOUTH AFRICA: Herman has been a sector coordinator for NUMSA including iron, steel and energy companies. Prior to this he was the NUMSA sector coordinator for the automotive and tyre sectors. He has come up through the union as an organiser, starting out Ford Motor Company where he worked as a spray painter.

Herman’s task will be to assist affiliates in building stronger, independent and self-reliant trade unions in metal and other industries in Africa. He will help unions to develop organizing, collective bargaining, networking and joint actions. Should the new global union be formed next year, Herman will be joined by regional personnel from ICEM and ITGLWF, increasing the pool of knowledge and experience from which affiliates will be able to draw from as we move forward.