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Leading into May Day, International Workers&rsquo; Day, news from Nepal is that King Gyanendra has met his fate, as defying protestors stood their ground on the streets during curfews and martial law. 
 
During what is now known as Popular Movement II, a general strike in Nepal, which lasted for 23 days, forced the despotic king late on 24 April to restore the country&rsquo;s Parliament, a first and necessary step toward a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. &ldquo; 
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With the sacrifice of nearly 20 people&rsquo;s lives, some 5,000 who were seriously injured, and the arrests of 2,000, continuous struggle has meant we have achieved something,&rdquo; wrote Binda Pandey, ICEM Vice President and a leader inside Nepal&rsquo;s labour federation, GEFONT. &ldquo;Let us celebrate this together as an initial victory, but there still is a long way to go to sustainable peace, prosperity and a dignified Nepal.&rdquo; 
 
April&rsquo;s general strike brought hundreds of thousands of Nepalese citizens to spontaneous demonstrations across the Kathmandu Valley. Wives, children and relatives of police and army personnel stepped to the front of barricades as a way of getting security forces to defy clear orders to beat and shoot demonstrators at will, highlighting the fact that it was a unified public action that crossed all castes, classes and ethnic origins. 
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On 22 April, some 300,000 marched to the centre of Kathmandu, to within 500 meters of Gyanendra&rsquo;s palace where they were met by soldiers with heavy weaponry. ICEM&rsquo;s four affiliated trade unions all played crucial roles in the organised movement. (The general secretary of the Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers&rsquo; Union was badly beaten and hospitalised with a broken knee.) Scores of leaders and activists from the unions were either injured or arrested. 
 
The ICEM issues an alert that resources and organisational support from the global trade union movement will be needed once Nepal reaches a full people&rsquo;s democracy in order that unions and trade union rights can flourish in the Himalayan country.

Peoples Movement Defies King in Nepal

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On 25 April, ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT signed the wage accord for the country&rsquo;s chemical industry following consultations with the union&rsquo;s regional structures. FCE-CFDT says the agreement will mean improvements and real progress for chemical workers, as well as marking a new social dynamic in the industry&rsquo;s collective negotiations. 
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FCE-CFDT added that the agreement opens up the possibility for more &ldquo;forward-looking steps,&rdquo; which may help to make jobs inside France&rsquo;s chemical industry more attractive. &ldquo;With chemical companies being hit by restructurings and job losses, this agreement removes some of the social problems in the sector,&rdquo; said the FCE-CFDT&rsquo;s statement. 
 
The union is now hopeful the accord will pave a positive path for negotiations that will commence later this year. These talks will cover pay adjustments to the conventional salary scheme in the chemical sector.

French FCE-CFDT Approves Chemical Industry Agreement

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Twenty-two workplace leaders from BASF chemical plants in South America convened 21-24 April in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for ICEM&rsquo;s Latin American BASF Network. Trade union leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Chile, together with German Works Council members and IGBCE union officials, met amongst themselves from 21-23 April and then on the final day, entered into social dialogue with BASF management. 
 
Trade union priorities included giving aid and support to a Peruvian chemical workers&rsquo; union in its efforts to organise a BASF factory, and adopting ICEM&rsquo;s stand over contract and agency labour. 
 

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Works Council members from BASF&rsquo;s huge Ludwigshafen complex in Germany, presented the challenges facing that body there, and IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Vasiliadis gave a report on the changing chemical industry relating to globalisation and the necessity to press global companies on their social responsibilities. 
 
On 24 April, senior BASF managers reported on which priorities from last year&rsquo;s social dialogue talks had been fulfilled. In follow-up discussions, led by ICEM Latin American/Caribbean Chair Sergio Novais of CNQ-CUT in Brazil, BASF South American managers agreed to accommodate efforts to organise the Peruvian plant. 
 
The discussions were hailed on both sides as promoting an atmosphere of trust, and it was agreed to begin planning more formal rules for the annual process.

ICEM’s BASF Network in South America Meets

Paperworkers at International Paper (IP) Co.&rsquo;s Inverurie Mill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, voted by a three-to-one margin to accept a new two-year accord. The vote is a union victory, preventing the US-based paper giant from imposing harsh and unnecessary contract measures. 
ICEM affiliate Amicus, which successfully negotiated the agreement, credited the solid resolve of workers at the printing and writing papers mill, as well as the ICEM&rsquo;s IP Global Workers&rsquo; Network with the win. 
After a series of industrial actions, which included four 4-hour strikes from 23 March to 6 April, International Paper moved from a pay freeze to agreeing to 2% wage increases, both in 2006 and 2007. The company also backed away from a proposal, inserted late into the negotiations, to only grant the 2% pay hike after workers ratified the agreement, with the 2007 raise kicking in a year later. Amicus succeeded in getting the 2006 pay raise backdated to the standard 1 January, with another 2% awarded on 1 January 2007. 
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&ldquo;Our membership did a magnificent job in standing up to one of the biggest pulp and paper groups in the world,&rdquo; said Amicus Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke. &ldquo;We had instant solidarity throughout the world, not only from unions at other International Paper mills, but from paperworkers&rsquo; unions everywhere.&rdquo; Burke added that Inverurie Mill workers were &ldquo;energised&rdquo; by such support, and that the industrial actions carved &ldquo;fierce resistance&rdquo; among workers, with 40 more workers electing to join the union during the dispute. 
International Paper agreed to the non-concessionary terms on 11 April, two days before workers were set to escalate the dispute into an 8-hour strike. The vote was counted by Amicus in Aberdeenshire today. 
 
Throughout the month-long industrial dispute, Amicus was publicly calling for outside mediation to bring the two parties together but IP management refused, preferring a &ldquo;negotiations-by-ultimatum&rdquo; style. Managers finally gave up that approach in day-long talks on 11 April, with the UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) participating. 
 
&ldquo;We appreciate the effort the ICEM put forward, as well as the efforts of all affiliated trade unions that showed such strong support,&rdquo; said Burke. &ldquo;The wage package, with it now backdated to January 1st, is a good result and it runs roughly in line with the current inflation rate in the UK.&rdquo; 
 
Upon hearing the bargaining result, ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs congratulated Amicus and its membership at the Inverurie Mill. &ldquo;The credit belongs with the workers and with their Union,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They stood strong and the ICEM is proud to have played a role in this successful outcome.&rdquo; 
 
For more background information on this dispute: 
 
<a href="/?id=112&amp;doc=1747&amp;la=EN">Eight-Hour Strike Next Week at International Paper&rsquo;s Scottish Mill</a>&nbsp;(ICEM InBrief - 6 April 2006)

UK’s Amicus Union Triumphs in International Paper Settlement

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On 24 May, tens of thousands of Ukrainian workers, led by their trade unions, took to the streets of Kiev. Led by Alexander Yurkin, former ICEM Vice President, who now leads the Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FPU), workers gathered in six main city squares and marched to Maydan Square, site of the 2004 Orange Revolution in the country.
In front of one of those squares, Mariyinskyy Park, some 500 trade union leaders picketed the Cabinet of Ministers&rsquo; building over the rapid and unjustified hike to both prices and tariffs on consumers&rsquo; utility rates. 
 
 
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Yurkin, addressing an estimated 50,000 protesters at Maydan Square, said the government has violated the trust of Ukrainian citizens by &ldquo;arrogantly and irresponsibly&rdquo; making a unilateral decision to increase utility pricing, thus breaking a General Agreement with trade unions. Trade unions insist that any increase in prices or tariffs must be preceded with definitive social protection measures.
A day before the 24 May demonstration, the country&rsquo;s National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) again raised tariffs on natural gas and electricity distribution, this time by 41%, effective 1 June.&nbsp; 
 
NERC and the Ukrainian government already had hiked&nbsp;tariffs on gas and electricity distribution by 25%, and yet another round of increases is&nbsp;scheduled for 1 July. The FPU is demanding a rollback in prices and tariffs, and is insistent that the government start immediate negotiations with trade unions in order to introduce social protections.

Ukrainian Labour Protests Hikes in Utility Tariffs

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Canadian Ivanhoe Mines, one of the larger foreign investors in Burma, has been forced to temporarily close its copper mine in Burma for a few weeks last month. Problems related to the mine&rsquo;s bank and insurance broker ending its relationships with the operation, a result of the economic sanctions that the US government installed on Burma. According to Ivanhoe, the mine has been reopened in the meantime, albeit at a lower level. 
Company sources reportedly acknowledged that the US sanctions are making it increasingly difficult to work in Burma. The company also admitted having a few technical problems with the Burmese government, including on import permits. The Monywa Copper Project is operated as a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and the Burmese government. The Burmese government forces joint ventures on all foreign investors operating inside Burma, guaranteeing the dictatorial regime a steady flow of income.

Canadian Investor Needs to Temporarily Close its Mine in Burma

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Pharmaceutical workers, members of US affiliate United Steel Workers (USW), were locked out off their jobs by Medco Health Solutions on 5 April. Some 500 pharmacy technicians at Medco's prescription mail-order business in Las Vegas, Nevada, are faced with an illegal and unilateral reduction of health care benefits. 
The lockout has been deemed illegal when the US National Labor Relations Board issued an unfair labour practice complaint against the company on 31 March for retaliating against technicians who took part in solidarity actions, protesting the health care cuts. 
Some 25% of the company's prescription business is done through union-sponsored health care plans, and Medco itself admits that six million union workers in the US are covered under Medco prescription plans. The USW has mounted a campaign among unions tied to those plans to protest directly to the Medco's CEO.

Union Prescription Drug Provider Locks Out USW Members in US

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ICEM&rsquo;s US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) opened up the possibility for strike action at Continental Tyre&rsquo;s North America plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. The decision by the union to authorise a strike if deemed necessary, a common action for trade unions in the US, is the logical result of the failure so far to get to an agreement between the workers at Continental and local management. 
Current collective bargaining has been ongoing for over half a year and remains dead-locked, due to the harsh demands by the company. The USW now said it wants a new agreement before April 30, when the current agreement ends. Continental, which threatened earlier to suspend tyre production indefinitely in Charlotte as of September 2006, wants to cut costs at the Charlotte plant by US$32 million. Amongst other things, this plan proposes across-the-board 35% pay cuts. 
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Last year, the company already announced that it would make redundant 510 of the plant&rsquo;s 1,083 jobs in 2006. In March,140 workers were dismissed, and 170 more are scheduled to suffer the same fate in May. 
The USW since made a few more realistic counter-proposals, which do include job security provisions and a guarantee towards future productivity. So far, to no avail. The USW also strongly protests against the company&rsquo;s threat that it may start to alter benefits for its retirees as soon as the insurance agreement expires, which would be 90 days after the expiry date of the current bargaining agreement.

Negotiations between US Workers and Continental Tyre Could Turn into Strike in North Carolina

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Turkish ICEM affiliate Cimse-Is (Cement, Ceramics, Pottery and Glass industry Workers' Union) announced this week its plan to start a series of strikes at 43 different cement plants throughout Turkey. 
The decision by the union&rsquo;s Executive Board follows the failure of negotiations with the Turkish employers&rsquo; organisation, which had started on March 17. Both parties were unable to reach a consensus, despite various efforts by the union. Actions will start at 23 plants on May Day, with an additional 20 plants being struck as of May 8.

Strikes Announced at 43 Different Cement Plants in Turkey

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Amicus representatives were successful in their latest round of talks with International Paper (IP) management in Scotland on Tuesday, held to resolve the ongoing dispute at the IP mill in Inverurie, Scotland. 
After a long day of discussions, which saw the involvement of the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), a deal was reached that forms the basis for an agreement for two years. According to Willie Wallace, Amicus Assistant Branch Secretary, the agreement will now be presented to the union members, with a recommendation to accept the offer, a process which may take some time. All announced strike actions are suspended. 
The renewed negotiations came after weeks of actions by the ICEM affiliate, who had been applying pressure on the company through a series of consecutive four-hour strikes. At the origin of the dispute was a company suggested pay freeze for 2006.

Talks at International Paper Mill in Scotland Successful

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