CANADA: Dozens of labour leaders from around the world gathered at a rally in Sudbury on March 23 to support workers on strike at Vale Inco’s operations in Port Colborne, Sudbury, and Voisey’s Bay in Canada.

Representatives from the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining, and General Workers Unions (ICEM) were part of the delegation denouncing Vale’s refusal to negotiate a fair deal and calling on the company to stop its aggressive and destructive actions against workers.

At the rally, the United Steelworkers, the union of the Vale strikers in Canada, announced its call for a Global Week of Action against Vale the week of April 5 to 11, 2010.

During the Global Week of Action unions representing Vale workers in different countries will undertake solidarity actions designed to show Vale that workers stand united.  Actions will take different forms depending on the culture and traditions of communities and unions, but they will all bring the same message – Justice at Vale.

Unions working together on Vale include dozens of unions from Australia, Brazil, Germany, France, Indonesia, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Norway, Peru, Sweden, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zambia, among others, as well as the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining, and General Workers Unions (ICEM), the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), and the Brazilian Union Centrals CUT (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores) and Conlutas (Coordenacao Nacional de Lutas).   

For further information go to the IMF website here,  or the the Fair Deal Now website at: http://www.fairdealnow.ca/

GLOBAL: The IUF has made an official submission to the United Nations’ Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, drawing attention to the many ways in which precarious employment is being systematically used to undermine trade union organization and bargaining power.

Professor Ruggie’s mandate, which runs through 2011, includes developing recommendations to strengthen states’ duty to protect all human rights from abuses by transnational corporations and other businesses, and to elaborate a concrete framework setting out corporations’ obligations in the light of international law.

The IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations) cites a number of cases involving some of the world’s largest food corporations including Nestlé, Unilever and Coca-Cola in the submission.

Based on its experiences, the IUF points out that, "Precarious work in all its forms – when it is not being praised, encouraged and promoted for contributing to labour market ‘flexibilization’ – is usually discussed in relation to declining living standards, discrimination, the feminization (of work) or poverty."  However, "There is another central rights dimension, namely the deliberate application of precarious work relationships to restrict workers’ ability to organize at the workplace and challenge poverty, insecurity, unsafe working conditions etc. through trade union organization and collective bargaining.

"By creating an intermediate network of indirect employment relationships, corporations evade employer responsibility for industrial relations and restrict the size of the collective bargaining unit or even completely eliminate the collective bargaining relationship. By generalizing insecurity through the undermining of direct employment, these practices also exercise a chilling effect on the general environment in which workers organize to exercise their collective rights…  It is in this context that precarious work emerges as a fundamental human rights issue demanding a strong response rooted in a comprehensive human rights framework."

The submission calls on the Special Representative "to fully integrate the relationship between precarious work and the effective realization of human rights into his investigations and recommendations as a matter of priority."

The submission is available on the website of the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, and can be found on the IUF website here (in pdf format).

PERU:  The Sindicato de Trabajadores Mineros Metalúrgicos de Empresa Minera Los Quenuales (the Mineworkers’ Union of Empresa Minera Los Quenuales) filed a criminal complaint, before the Prosecutor’s Office, on charges of tax fraud against Empresa Minera Los Quenuales SA, a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational Glencore.

The union stated that in the second quarter of 2008, the company took advantage of the economic crisis to justify their anti-labour and anti-union policies in the Iscaycruz and Yauliyacu production centers. In early 2009, the company laid off hundreds of outsourced workers in Yauliyacu, while also closing production at Iscaycruz, and displacing workers at the latter to Yauliyacu.

The union declared that an analysis of the economic losses reported by the mining company Los Quenuales found that operating income fell from $ 371 million USD made in 2007 to $ 155 Million USD in 2008, that is $ 216 Million USD, which represents a reduction of -140 per cent as compared to the previous year. In reality, the analysis of the financial statements reveals that the company, for fiscal year2008, undervalued in its favour the sale prices of zinc concentrate per metric ton, reaching selling prices of $ 160 USD in the fourth quarter and an annual average of $ 250 for each metric ton of zinc.

Comparing Los Quenuales’ selling prices with those of other zinc producers, with levels of production and operating income lower than Los Quenuales’, clearly shows that Perubar, which is another subsidiary of Glencore, owning 33 per cent of the shares at Los Quenuales, declared for the year 2008, an average sales price of $ 360 USD per metric ton of zinc concentrate, that is a 44 per cent higher price than the one declared by The Quenuales.

The company has prevented workers with direct employment relations with the company as well as outsourced workers to benefit in the distribution of the company’s profits.  In addition, the company’s actions have harmed the Peruvian State’s tax collection and also the distribution of the Peruvian mining tax revenue, such as was the case for the districts of Pachanga and Chicla that did not benefit from the mining tax revenue in 2009.  It is estimated that the economic damage caused by the company reaches up to $ 66 million USD.

The Mineworkers’ Union of Empresa Minera Los Quenuales (Yauliyacu section) filed the criminal complaint in cooperation with Sintramin CUT Minería and the Central Nacional de la Mujer Minera, which are partner organizations in the struggle against the multinational Glencore over the fraudulent dismissal of the brothers and sisters at Perubar and the illegal mine closure at ROSAURA at the end of 2008.  Both organizations call upon the trade union movement to join forces to stop and denounce the impunity over the plunder of natural resources, demand multinational companies to pay taxes, as well as demand Peruvian State authorities to faithfully perform their duties.

MEXICO: 30,000 technical and professional employees of PEMEX, Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company, who after a long and intense struggle won the right to belong to the newly registered union, Unión Nacional de Técnicos y Profesionistas Petroleros (UNTyPP), are now being forced to resign from the union or lose their job.

After two attempts by the government and company to deny workers the right to form their own independent union the UNTyPP was registered on December 16, 2009 and its leadership was officially recognized for the period  March 18, 2008 to March 17, 2012.

Following the successful court battle members of the new union were informed by company management that in order to retain their jobs, they would be required to sign two documents: one calling for the cancellation of the registration, the other a resignation from the union. Those who refused, along with organisers of the UNTyPP, were fired and violently removed from their workstations by paramilitaries, including the entire National Executive Committee of the union.

The workers’ struggle for an independent union dating back to 1994 and the relentless intimidation, harassment, firings and threats against UNTyPP members and their families is all too common in Mexico and documented in detail in the International Metalworkers’ Federation’s complaint (case no. 2694) against Mexico submitted to the International Labour Organisation in February 2009. The complaint exposes how workers in Mexico are repeatedly denied their fundamental right to Freedom of Association, guaranteed under ILO Convention 87 and ratified by the Mexican government, through the widespread use of protection contracts.

UNTyPP workers have asked the International Metalworkers’ Federation to join their struggle in calling for:

• The immediate reinstatement of workers fired for their union membership and organising activity;
• Worker rights, including Freedom of Association, must be respected under both Mexican and international law; and
• PEMEX is urged to come to the bargaining table and establish a working relationship with the UNTyPP.

Join the effort to defend Freedom of Association in Mexico: Visit the Labourstart campaign website here to write to President Calderón and PEMEX management, condemning these violations of labour and human rights against the new UNTyPP trade union.

Click here for more information about the IMF complaint against Mexico regarding Protection Contracts.

SLOVENIA: An agreement for wage increases in the metal and electronics sector in Slovenia was reached on January 14, 2010 after unions refused to accept wages that were less than the "subsistence basket".

IMF affiliate SKEI led a strike on November 13, 2009 demanding an increase of the sectoral minimum wage from €562, which is below the value of the "Subsistence basket". The Association of Slovenian Employers (ZDS) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GSZ) refused to discuss a substantial increase which led to three sector unions, SKEI, SKEM and SKEIE, calling for a new strike on January 13, 2010.

According to a news report on Planet Labor and confirmed by SKEI, the need to strike was averted as the employers reached a draft agreement, which was signed on January 14 and published on February 12, 2010

The agreement for the metal sector provides for: 

• A five per cent increase of basic pay for all categories included in the job classification system as of January 1, 2010. In case the increase of the respective wages would endanger job security, the employer and the trade union in the company may, upon the consent of the trade union, decide not to increase wages or to give a lower increase.
• The new sectoral minimum wage to go from €562 to €724.51 gross. Since then, the Minimum Wage Act, which determines national minimum wage (€724.15 gross – €510 after tax), has been enforced.
• Annual paid leave compensation amounting to €750 gross in 2010.

For the electronic industry, the wage increase ranges between 1.54 per cent (mostly for demanding jobs) and up to 7.01 per cent (basic functions), depending on the classification. The parties also agreed that annual paid leave would amount to €750 gross in 2010.

The parties also agreed that the social partners would meet again after the first half of 2010 to evaluate the situation in the sector, look into the implementation of this agreement and what changes may be needed.

In the area of the metal materials and foundry industry, the social partners agreed on a 3.2 per cent wage increase for all professional categories as of January 1, 2010. Minimum wage in the sector amounts to €748.20 gross; consequently, it is higher than the new national minimum wage. The payment for the annual leave for the year shall amount to 760 € gross.

USA: A report released on March 16, finds that new vehicle technology and the right policy choices, including incentives for higher fuel efficiency vehicles, could create up to 150,000 jobs in the U.S.

In "Driving Growth: How Clean Cars and Climate Policy Can Create Jobs", the Natural Resources Defense Council, the UAW and the Center for American Progress, demonstrate that a new fleet of fuel-efficient vehicles would allow drivers to enhance energy security, reduce carbon emissions and put auto workers and many others back to work.

"Congress has the power to put thousands of Americans in some of the hardest-hit industries back to work and help protect the environment at the same time," stated a press release from the three organisations.

"This study shows that increasing automotive fuel efficiency will create jobs," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "By continuing the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program the federal government can make it much more likely that these jobs will be located in the United States. The ATVMIP is good for the environment and good for American workers."

The analysis emphasizes that improving vehicle performance would drive demand for a variety of manufactured components from engines to control valves, creating jobs in the supply chain as well as on the assembly line. In addition, the report demonstrates that creating the right business incentives is key to determining where these jobs will be located.

You can read the full report on the UAW website here.

RUSSIA: Evgeny Ivanov, leader of the IMF-affiliated Interregional Trade Union of Autoworkers (ITUA) union at a GM Auto plant in Saint-Petersburg, was reinstated in his job. On March 15 the district court ruled illegal management’s decision to fire him for his alleged no-show. The court also ordered the company to pay Ivanov three and a half months’ wages in arrears and compensate moral harm.

Ivanov was fired after the union began an "Italian" strike at the plant on November 11, 2009, demanding, among other things, a wage rise, introduction of clear annual vacation rules and a normal 40-hour week instead of summarized annual payroll.

In a few days of the work-to-rule strike workers managed to slash the production rate, however the administration broke down solidarity among the workers and took action against the «troublemakers». On November 20, 2009 Evgeny Ivanov was fired and forcefully deported from the plant. At the same time the management created a yellow union to downplay the role of ITUA.

However, ITUA union at the plant continued to fight despite the interference. The reinstatement of its leader which wouldn’t be possible without help and support of various NGOs and human rights groups will give new momentum to the struggle of GM Auto workers.

This violation of Ivanov’s rights is one of the examples included in a complaint recently submitted to the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International Labour Organization. The complaint, lodged on Januray 20, 2010 by the All-Russia Confederation of Labor (VKT) and the Russian Confederation of Labor (KTR) and supported by the International Metalworkers’ Federation, among others, documents a series of systematic violations against fundamental trade union rights and the failure on the part of the government to investigate and rectify these violations. The violations include:

• physical attacks on trade union leaders,
• the right to organize without prior authorization,
• discrimination again trade union membership,
• employer refusal to recognize newly formed trade unions
• denying trade union leaders access to members’ workplaces
• denying the right to bargain collectively
• government interference in trade union matters
• state law enforcement bodies failure to investigate and secure trade union rights.

A copy of the complaint is published here on the IMF website.

NORWAY/MEXICO: The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) sent a letter yesterday, March 15, requesting the divestment to The Council on Ethics, which is charged with overseeing responsible investments of the Government Pension Fund, the second largest pension fund in the world. Grupo Mexico is accused of labor rights violations, environmental destruction and shareholder fraud. The letter also requests divestment in Southern Copper, Grupo Mexico’s wholly-owned subsidiary.

"We are supporting this action on behalf of trade unionists in Mexico to call attention to the extreme abuses of Grupo Mexico and to ask the Council on Ethics to drop Grupo Mexico as an investment in accordance with the Fund’s very high standards and Norwegian law," said Fellesforbundet President Arve Bakke. "The wealth of future generations in Norway must not be invested in companies which systematically attack labor unions and damage the environment, as Grupo Mexico has done."

Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, stated, "We have national mining unions in over 60 countries, and nowhere have we found more despicable behavior than that demonstrated by Grupo Mexico."

The overt attempt by Grupo Mexico to crush the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMSRM or Los Mineros) and gross violations of workers’ rights to freely associate and collectively bargain as defined by the International Labor Organization are core arguments for divestment set forth in the letter. 

"The illegal practices of Grupo Mexico, unfortunately supported by a corrupt Mexican government, include seizing the union’s assets, attempting to replace the legitimate union with one selected by the company, and launching a protracted campaign of repression against the union’s leadership," said IMF General Secretary Jryki Raina,

In August 2007 the government and Grupo Mexico forced workers at eight mines to join a company-sponsored union using "elections" in which workers had to vote publicly in front of their employer. One union leader has been imprisoned without bond since December 2008. There are also credible allegations that Grupo Mexico is responsible for the violent deaths of two workers on two separate occasions.

Despite these attacks, Los Mineros continues to negotiate wage increases across the country that average twice the government-imposed wage cap, which unions believe is a major motivation for Grupo Mexico’s attacks. It is especially noteworthy that Los Mineros maintains non-confrontational labor relations with most employers and has some 70 collective bargaining agreements with multinational employers such as Goldcorp, Bombardier and ArcelorMittal.

The company is accused of gross health and safety violations at the Pasta de Conchos mine, where 65 workers died in an explosion in 2006, and the copper mine at Cananea, where workers have been on strike since July 2007.

Studies of Grupo Mexico smelter operations in Mexico illuminate the company’s shameful environmental record where abnormal levels of toxic minerals such as lead, zinc, copper, cadmium, mercury, and magnesium were found among the general populations, including high levels of arsenic and cadmium among children. In Peru, Grupo Mexico was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to remediate its contamination of water and air. In Chile the company is accused of developing a mining project on indigenous land without consultation with local natives or assessing environmental damage.

According to sources cited by the trade unions submitting the letter, the cost to shareholders of Grupo Mexico’s abysmal labor practices exceeds $3 billion (USD) on top of the hundreds of millions required to remediate the company’s environmental destruction in Peru.   Grupo Mexico was convicted by a U.S. court in 2009 of defrauding shareholders of a wholly-owned subsidiary.  Another  subsidiary has been linked to drug trafficking.

Covalence Ethical Quotation System, which tracks the ethical reputation of multinational companies, ranked Grupo Mexico 573rd out of 581 global companies in 2009.

The trade unions and labor federations submitting the request for disinvestment anticipate that the Council on Ethics will thoroughly investigate the information and make an expedient decision to divest.

Los Mineros is affiliated with both the ICEM and IMF.  The Norwegian trade unions signing the letter are Fellesforbundet, Handel og Kontor i Norge, Industri Energi and Norsk Arbeidsmandsforbund.

GENEVA/MEXICO: On February 22, 2010, the Telephone Workers’ Union of Mexico, the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM,) the Democratic Lawyers Association (ANAD), and the labor organizations, unions, and other allied organizations who are CJM members presented a complaint to the Freedom of Association Committee ILO regarding violations of Mexican maquiladora workers’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The complaint demonstrates a persistent and systematic pattern of violations to the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining as established in the Mexican Constitution, the Federal Labor Law, and International Conventions 87 and 98 of the ILO as exemplified in the following cases: Sony, Han Young (Hyundai), Custom Trim (GM, Ford & Chrysler), DURO (GAP), LAJAT (Levi’s), y KSS (GM, Ford & Chrysler).

According to the CJM the purpose of presenting the complaint is to denounce and redress violations of workers’ rights by multinational corporations and the Mexican government, which protects management-friendly unions through "protection contracts".

Earlier, in February 2009, the IMF also lodged a complaint against the Mexican Government calling on the ILO to condemn Mexican laws which prevent freedom of association and contravene ILO Convention 87, which guarantees core labour standards to all workers.

ILO Case No. 2694 relates to the vast majority of collective agreements under Mexican law that are so-called "protection contracts", which force workers to join unions nominated by company management rather than one of their own choosing.

Another complaint on Mexico, Case No. 2478, also lodged by the IMF is on government interference in union autonomy of its affiliate the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM).

The IMF continues to support workers’ denied their rights in Mexico and will monitor and report on the progress of these complaints before the ILO.

COLOMBIA: An International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) delegation of Tenaris delegates and union representatives of the Tenaris Workers’ World Council visited Colombia from February 26 to March 2 this year, in solidarity with workers at the Tubos del Caribe plant in Cartagena.

The visit to Colombia was decided at last year’s meeting in Bergamo, when Jairo del Río, SINTRATUCAR president, reported on the workers’ problems with company management at the Cartagena plant and the many death threats received by members of the union executive.

The delegation was composed of trade union representatives of workers at Tenaris plants in Argentina, Canada, Brazil and Italy and an IMF Latin American and Caribbean region delegate. The delegation had a meeting with the Manos Muertas Foundation, which works with women who have occupational diseases, and visited a crèche that the government wants to privatise in a workers’ neighbourhood.

A meeting was held to discuss the working conditions of Tenaris workers in various countries as well as the situation of Colombian workers. This meeting was attended by 160 SINTRATUCAR workers.

The delegation also visited the Tubos del Caribe plant. However, inside the plant, the delegation had to remain on the minibus it was travelling in and was not allowed to enter the production facilities. It was therefore unable to see conditions in the facility at first hand or have any direct contact with the workers there. Company management argued that access was not possible on safety grounds, given the unavailability of the appropriate safety equipment for the visitors. The delegation withdrew to outside the factory gates, where it expressed its dissatisfaction with these restrictions but used the opportunity to meet workers who were arriving for the afternoon shift and workers who were leaving the plant.

The World Council condemned the death threats against the SINTRATUCAR executive committee. It said that the rule of law is incompatible with restrictions on trade union freedoms, including workers’ rights to choose their own union representatives and stand for election themselves. Finally, SINTRATUCAR expressed its appreciation of the solidarity offered by the delegation.

The delegation resolved to:

• Continue its support and solidarity for SINTRATUCAR;
• Write to Sr Rocca and the Colombian government, calling on them to guarantee the safety of SINTRATUCAR leaders;
• Organise an Internet campaign calling for guarantees for the safety of SINTRATUCAR leaders;
• Write a declaration of support for anyone dismissed from the Valentín Alsina plant and against the use of contract workers at all Tenaris plans;
• Organise activities on April 28: International Workers’ Memorial Day.
• Organise the next meeting of the council in São Paulo during the week commencing  November 22, 2010.