ICFTU ONLINE...
243/981106/DD
November 1 - 6
Brussels November 6 ICFTU OnLine: The following is a summary of main trade union news for the last week. The numbers at the end of the paragraphs refer to the relevant issue of ICFTU OnLine.
Russia: The full payment of wage arrears, estimated at 15 billion US dollars, remains the top priority for Russian trade unions, leaders of the country's national trade union centres told a meeting in Brussels on November 5 and 6. The meeting, which was aimed at devising an internationally co-ordinated response to the present economic crisis in Russia, was organised by the ICFTU and attended by representatives from national trade union centres and from the International Trade Secretariats. Participants proposed a plan of action that will be tabled to the ICFTU Executive Board meeting in Elsinore (Denmark) later this month.
Belarus: The ICFTU is protesting to the Belarussian government about the detention of seven workers during a demonstration to protest for an improvement in wages and living conditions. At present many workers are receiving a salary of just $15 a month. The seven arrests occurred after 1000 workers and members of independent trade unions marched in Minsk at the call of independent trade unions. (242/981106)
Striking Miners killed in Zambia: Two people were killed in the north of Zambia, when the police violently broke up a demonstration by 6000 striking miners. The miners, from the Roan Mining Corporation, a mining company which has recently been privatised and bought out by an Indian company, were protesting over salary arrears. According to reports the protest turned violent after miners started pillaging shops, and the police used tear gas and opened fire on the strikers, killing two of them. The strike began last week after negotiations with the management of the new company, broke down.
Central American catastrophe: ORIT requests support. The ICFTU and its regional organisation for the Americas, Orit, are urgently requesting the trade union movement, NGOs to give support to humanitarian and solidarity actions set up to support and rebuild the countries of Central America worst hit by hurricane Mitch: Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. ORIT has already set up a Working Group which has come up with a strategy for immediate and longer-term action to aid these countries' reconstruction. These are being coordinated by ORIT which has set up a network to maintain contact with the unions in the four countries most affected. The ICFTU, CLC-Canada, and ORIT have already contributed financially to help reconstruction, and the ICFTU has written to affiliates and to all ITS requesting their support.
Update on lockout at Ghazi Barotha Project, Pakistan: As reported last week, the ICFTU is following the industrial crisis at Ghazi Barotha Hydel Power Project, where 5000 workers were locked out after negotiations with the management broke down. Because the Italian company Impreglio is involved in the consortium running the project, the CISL/Italy has put pressure on the Italian Embassy in Islamabad to convince the company to act responsibly towards the workers. The CISL has also met with Impreglio in Milan, which informed them that the Pakistan government had not paid it for work completed during the last eight months, and was considering withdrawing from Pakistan. The company also said they would negotiate with All Pakistan Federation of Labour (APFOL) and urged them to attend a meeting scheduled for November 6, with the government and the management of the Project.
UNTC wins its case in Cap-Vert: The ICFTU-affiliated UNTC-CS has won its case in the appeal court for the sole right to its trade union headquarters. For over six years the UNTC-CS has been in dispute over the ownership of its building, the First of May Social Centre, which was built with international trade union solidarity funds. In 1991 the authorities confiscated the keys to part of the centre, and handed them over to a breakaway union, which set up a new national union organisation, and claimed co-ownership of UNTC-CS property. After a long legal wrangle, the matter was handed over to the appeal court, which has now ruled in the UNTC-CS' favour. The ICFTU has written to the government, saying it hopes that the breakaway union will accept the tribunal's verdict.
Codes of Conduct Representatives of 20 national trade union centres and seven ITSs plus all three ICFTU regional organisations, completed a two day technical meeting on codes of conduct in Brussels this week. The meeting considered trade union policy with respect to both codes of labour practice that have being unilaterally adopted by companies in response to reports of exploitation and abuse of workers as well as framework agreements negotiated between trade union organisations and specific multinational companies covering their international labour practices. Among the conclusions the participants agreed that where companies unilaterally adopt codes they must be based on internationally recognised standards that include all the core ILO Conventions, and that these codes must be fully implemented including monitoring and the independent verification of their observance.
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