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A strike planned for today at two DuPont chemical plants in Spain was averted late last week when the American company significantly increased plant closing benefits. 
 
DuPont announced in March it would close both its Catalonia plants in Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute;, but union members affiliated with CCOO, UGT and USOC (Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Catalonia) voted on 8 May to take strike action due to proposed insufficient severance payments. DuPont&rsquo;s European restructuring plan calls for production from the two plants to be shifted to France and Germany, and offers of jobs to Rub&iacute; and Poliny&aacute; workers there. The plan also calls for the closure of a plant in Breda, The Netherlands, and the Hellac Lab in Germany.
DuPont opened talks with the Spanish unions in April by offering to pay buy-outs of only 25 days per year of work. The strike threat found the company returning to the bargaining table and offering 59 paid days per year, six less than the unions&rsquo; original demand. Some 246 workers are affected at the two chemical plants near Barcelona.

DuPont Increases Pay-outs to Avert Strike

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ExxonMobil in France has been found guilty of trade union discrimination, and ordered to pay &euro;322,000 to four trade union representatives affiliated with French federation CGT. The ruling was issued on 5 May from a court of conciliation in Nanterre. 
 
Three of the four CGT delegates work at Esso&rsquo;s Port-J&eacute;r&ocirc;me refinery, while the fourth is employed at an Esso facility at Fos-sur-mer. The largest award &mdash; &euro;210,000 &mdash; went to a key union person who had been on the job for 34 years. 
 
CGT said the court&rsquo;s findings and awards stand as a call to young workers that it is allowed for militant trade union members &ldquo;not to think like the boss, but on the contrary be free to think differently, not having your professional career sanctioned&rdquo; because you do.

Guilty: ExxonMobil in France for Trade Union Discrimination

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A rare first-contract lockout in the US ended successfully for workers on 2 May when members of ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) came to terms with Stepan Chemical in Fieldsboro, New Jersey. Workers ratified an initial contract with the specialty chemicals company with a 33-2 acceptance vote that backed Stepan away from continuing a wage freeze, and making health care cuts. 
 
The lockout began on 26 January 2006 after workers chose UE for representation last year. Typically in the US, a company that loses a union certification vote will merely stall the bargaining process, sometimes for years. But Stepan responded to a spontaneous plant-site protest by the 40 workers by locking out the workforce, and attempting to run the plant with managers and scabs. 
 
Direct action by UE at Stepan&rsquo;s shareholders&rsquo; meeting on 27 April triggered a 180-degree shift by management, and a first contract. UE produced documents that proved the company had spent US$1.8 million on expenses relayed to the lockout, including sums to clean up chemical spills. CEO F. Quinn Stepan, Jr., was shocked at the documentation, believing the figure to be only US$500,000. 
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Within two days, Stepan called offering a return to bargaining. The company and the UE workers&rsquo; representatives, led by Field Organiser Jim Ermi, then hammered together the initial labour agreement. 
 
&ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t have to endure a 14-week lockout to get a union,&rdquo; stated UE Director of Organisation Bob Kingsley. &ldquo;A courageous group of workers triumphed at Stepan based on protest and perseverance, but their struggle points out the deepening workers&rsquo; rights crisis facing all of us.&rdquo; 
 
Stepan manufactures intermediates for use in consumer products, and has operations in the US, UK, France, Germany, Indonesia and Brazil.

UE Wins First Contract with Chemical Firm Despite Lockout

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Goodyear Thailand Ltd. has refused to reinstate 18 contract workers it sacked last year, despite an Industrial Court Commission (IRC) ruling that it must do so. Sixteen of the 18 reported for work at Goodyear&rsquo;s Bangkok tyre factory on 3 May, but management refused entry. 
 
Later, the workers received letters stating that the company disagrees with the IRC directive and intends to file papers in Thailand&rsquo;s central labour court to reverse the decision. &ldquo;The IRC&rsquo;s order is not final,&rdquo; the letters read, &ldquo;not until we exhaust the labour court mechanisms and the company cannot reinstate you at this time.&rdquo; 
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The contract workers, employed in the warehouse and rubber stock department, were fired in October 2005 for attempting to exert their legitimate collective bargaining rights. Several had been working for Goodyear for up to 10 years under one-year contracts. Goodyear had been deducting union dues from their pay checks for as long as four years. The IRC delivered its reinstatement order in mid-April. The ICEM will continue to press for permanent employment at Goodyear for the Thai rubber workers.

Goodyear Refuses to Reinstate Thai Contract Workers

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Continental AG, the German tyre manufacturer, wasted little time in slamming shut the negotiation process by announcing the closure of a union-represented plant in the US. Despite an offer by the United Steelworkers (USW) on 28 April to cut labour costs by US$16 million in order to keep an auto and light-truck tyre plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, operating, the company said the cuts were not enough. 
 
Managers then stormed out of talks and issued a formal letter stating negotiations had reached impasse. On 1 May, a day after expiration of a collective agreement for 800 rubber workers, Continental implemented its basket-load of cuts, totalling US$32 million, and announced tyre production in Charlotte would cease altogether by the end of September. 
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USW / IGBCE Press conference in Hannover
&ldquo;We consider this action unlawful and will take every step to see that the company&rsquo;s action is reversed,&rdquo; said USW Exec. Vice President Ron Hoover. The union has filed a US labour law charge against the impasse declaration and the unilateral implementation of pay and benefit cuts amounting to 35%. 
 
On 5 May, USW took its fight for job retention and fairness in Charlotte to the company&rsquo;s AGM in Hannover, Germany. The US Steelworkers, led by former Rubber Sector Chairman John Sellers, were joined by rubber manufacturing representatives of IGBCE in planning and implementing a protest and setting up a press conference denouncing Conti&rsquo;s harsh and abrupt actions.
The company, which sacked 140 Charlotte workers in March, says it will fire another 170 workers this month, with 480 slated to go in mid-September. Continental said only 200 workers will remain after September, performing mixing, calendaring and warehousing duties, while tyre production will shift to a non-union plant in the US and to plants in3 Mexico and Brazil. Continental realized record profits in 2005, as well as seeing share gains topping 25%.

Continental Gives No Ground in US Tyre Talks

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ICEM&rsquo;s paperworkers&rsquo; union affiliate in Finland, Paperiliitto, began a 48-hour strike today at some 64 paper mills owned by companies affiliated with the Finnish employers&rsquo; organisation, Forest Industries Federation. The strike by 20,000 Finnish workers is in protest to the harsh social measures through which the industry has chosen to improve profitability. 
 
The strikes, begun at 6h00 today and are set to run until 6h00 on 17 May, affecting all major paper firms including Stora Enso and UPM Kymmene. Other mills and paper converters owned by M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, Myllykoski, and other, smaller companies are also affected. Paperiliitto&rsquo;s Executive Committee decided to allow Stora Enso&rsquo;s mill at Panakoski and UPM Kymmene&rsquo;s mill at Voikkaa mill to operate. Stora has the Panakoski mill up for sale, while UPM intends to shut down the Voikkaa mill by year end, even though it is a viable operation that could be sold. 
On 17 May, office workers across the Finnish paper sector, represented by the Union of Salaried Workers Trade Union, will strike for 24 hours in similar protest. 
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Stora and UPM, the largest Nordic paper companies, announced broad restructuring plans of late. In order to cut production capacity to maintain high prices, Stora Enso announced in the last quarter of 2005 that it would slash 2,000 jobs and close 10 mills worldwide. UPM Kymmene said it would cut 2,560 jobs, and that three mills in Finland would be shuttered. The other companies have also cut jobs in Finland, although at smaller numbers. 
 
Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen, chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector, said the cuts to jobs and workers&rsquo; livelihoods reflect a disturbing trend as to social awareness by the paper manufacturers. &ldquo;Finland has moved to a management culture where shareholders are now the priority,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Paperworkers feel deeply insulted at the way they have been treated by employers.&rdquo;

Paperiliitto Launches 48-Hour Strike in Finnish Paper Sector

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On 3 May, Nigerian Labour &amp; Productivity Minister Dr Muhammed Hassan Lawal prevailed upon ICEM affiliate PENGASSAN and ExxonMobil&rsquo;s Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. to come to terms over a company breach on a procedural agreement with the white-collar union. Specifically, ExxonMobil agreed to pay 50% of unpaid housing allowances owed to some 300 workers by the end of May. 
 
Several other matters were discussed, and the three parties agreed in a joint statement that industrial action would be suspended, with lingering issues taken up in further dialogue between the union and Mobil Oil management. 
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However, PENGASSAN&rsquo;s National Executive Council has now issued an ultimatum to the company over its reluctance to curb the use of contract labour. The union&rsquo;s Executive said that if this all-important matter is not immediately resolved in compliance with the laws and policies currently in place on expatriate quotas and local content, industrial action is imminent. PENGASSAN cites several companies within the country&rsquo;s oil and gas industry for violations, but specifically targets Mobil Oil for industrial actions unless the grievances are rectified. 
 
PENGASSAN noted &ldquo;with grave concern the disturbing trend in the recruitment, releases and compensation of well skilled and qualified Nigerians that are being employed as contract workers with no hope of security of employment.&rdquo; 
 
On 2 May, local community members protested at a Mobil Oil export terminal at Qua Iboe over the company&rsquo;s failure to pay compensation and adequately clean up an oil spill. Some 70 workers &mdash; many of them PENGASSAN members &mdash; had been detained by the protestors, but were later released. Production at the 420,000 barrel-per-day terminal was interrupted, but was later restored through efforts of members of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, Nigeria&rsquo;s blue-collar oil workers&rsquo; union.

PENGASSAN in New Dispute with ExxonMobil in Nigeria

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ICEM&rsquo;s rubber and chemical workers&rsquo; affiliate in Turkey, Lastik-Īş, announced late in April that it would strike the four Turkish plants of three major tyre producers if the companies did not take a different track in negotiations. But that announcement was pre-empted by one of the companies, Goodyear Lastikleri AS, which locked out 1,300 workers at its two Turkish factories. 
 
Lastik-Īş has been negotiating with Goodyear, Pirelli Lastikleri, and Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci since mid-December over a renewal agreement covering 3,500 workers. Demands by employers for concessions on health care provisions, lower rates of pay for new workers, reductions in paid holidays, and flexibility regarding the use of contract workers caused the union&rsquo;s Executive Board to call strikes at the plants starting on 22 May. 
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In a statement issued by Lastik-Īş, the union said: &ldquo;The main reason why the conflict has continued so far is not the demands of our union, but the attitudes of employers who insist on dismantling our gained rights.&rdquo; 
 
Goodyear Lastikleri AS, 74.6% owned of Goodyear Tire and Rubber of the US, sacked a total of 109 workers at its tyre plants in Izmit and Adapazari in November 2005, as part of a restructuring move. Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci, in which Bridgestone of Japan controls a 40% stake, employs 1,000 workers at a plant in Izmit, while Italian Pirelli employs another 1,100 workers at a facility, also in Izmit.

Goodyear Jumps Gun; Locks Out Turkish Tyre Workers

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A dispute has been settled and a first collective agreement is in place in Malaysia&rsquo;s paper industry. ICEM assisted its affiliate Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees&rsquo; Union (PPPMEU), as did Norwegian trade union Fellesforbundet in achieving recognition and a contract at a Malaysian Newsprint Industries mill in Pahang. 
 
Malaysian Newsprint is 34% owned by Norske Skog, with whom ICEM and Fellesforbundet have a Global Framework Agreement. The matter was brought before the Norwegian-based company by Fellesforbundet. 
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A union was formed at the nine-year-old mill in October 2004 and, in March 2005, a government ministry verified PPMEU certification. The union submitted proposals toward a first collective agreement in July 2005, but the company stalled in meeting its bargaining obligations. When the company finally did meet with the union, it informed the union that 70 of 220 workers were in &ldquo;executive&rdquo; capacities and exempt from the union, even though they perform manual tasks. 
 
The ICEM and Fellesforbundet attention to the dispute, and no doubt the formal intent-to-strike notice issued by PPPMEU on 15 May, brought pressure on management to settle. The initial three-year collective agreement will be backdated to 1 October 2005. Even though the scope of the bargaining unit wasn&rsquo;t resolved, it will now be submitted to a Malaysian Industrial Court. Other partners in the newsprint mill include the Hong Leong Group of Malaysia (34%), the New Straits Times newspaper (21%), and Rimbuan Hijau Group of Malaysia (11%).

Global Agreement, Strike Threat Brings First Accord to Malaysian Paper Mill

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 11

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