Call For Action To Assist CEPPWAWA in SA

The global papermaker Sappi suspends union reps indispute over health & safety.

At the Enstra paper mill in Sappi's home country of South Africa, 19 shop stewards were suspended from work and now await discipline. They are charged with inciting workers to strike after a worker refused to do unsafe work. That worker is one of 23 other workers who remain on the job, but also face discipline for their roles in 3 short safety strikes. Sappi originally sought to sack 4 stewards, but when the union CEPPWAWU said no, Sappi suspended all shop stewards, leaving the 700-worker paper mill unrepresented. In the aftermath of the strikes, a joint labour-management group filed a report on the causes of the safety breach and subsequent strikes, complete with recommendations, but mill management ignored those recommendations and despite global calls to CEO Ralph Boettger from Sappi workers in 7 countries to drop this matter, Sappi is going ahead with the discipline.

Unite and USW have already sent letters of support to our sister union in SA and has written to the company.

The ICEM is leading the global campaign to support our comrades in struggle.

Paperworkers in Sappi plants across the globe are sending messages to the company and taking solidarity action to help get the reps re-instated.

So can you also help?

Write directly to the Industrial Relations people who are handling this matter through LabourStart at

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=550

"The Labour government cannot afford to turn the other way as bank workers across the country are losing their jobs"

Lloyds have announced over 2000 job cuts today - and its another hammer blow for hard pressed finance workers.

Unite was told that cuts will affect the firm's commercial and group operations, hitting offices across the country.

Unite National Officer for the finance sector Rob MacGregor said: "As a taxpayer-supported organisation, real questions need to be asked as to how far this bank can be allowed to go in this systematic slashing of staff. This loss of over 2,000 jobs marks the largest single job loss announcement since the formation of LBG in January".

Rob went onto say that "Morale is now truly low. Employees across Lloyds are in a permanent state of anxiety, as they see their employer announce hundreds of job losses every week.

"This Labour government cannot afford to turn the other way as bank workers across the country are losing their jobs. This horrendous news brings the total of job losses since January in Lloyds Banking Group to over 7,000.

"The thousands of staff in the commercial and group operations areas who are hit by this announcement will be seeking a commitment from the bank that there will be no compulsory redundancies."

Lloyds said the changes followed "careful and detailed reviews" of the group's operations and wholesale divisions, which will bring together a number of functions across the Lloyds TSB and HBOS areas.

Les Bayliss: "We hope that the lessons learned at Lindsey are not forgotten"

Unite and GMB members at the Lindsey oil refinery voted to accept a deal that will see them return to work after a bitter jobs dispute.

At a meeting at the North Lincolnshire site, unions recommended that workers back a deal thrashed out last week.
It will see 647 workers sacked for taking unofficial strike action get their jobs back an unprecedented victory.
Total said it was pleased the workers had voted to return.

The row had led to a number of sympathy strikes across Britain, with thousands of workers walking out and the wider significance of the strike cannot be ignored.

Les Bayliss Unite's assistant general secretary, said the decision showed "just how much can be achieved through constructive negotiations. We hope that the lessons learned at Lindsey are not forgotten. As the biggest union in construction we look forward to a new chapter of industrial relations in construction. I hope the employers do too."

Les Bayliss said his union would have accepted nothing less than full reinstatement of the workers. "The agreement also means that a Unite official has been appointed to represent Lindsey workers on a full-time basis until the end of the project" said Mr. Bayliss.

The BBC commented: "This was a dispute which ran outside the law and still succeeded. The strikers did not wait for a ballot to walk out, nor did they observe the legal obligation to notify the employers of their withdrawal of labour. Instead they just downed tools and left, to be rapidly followed by colleagues at other sites around the UK who also went on strike in sympathy, taking secondary action, which may well have been outside the law as well".

Workers Uniting Group - West Midlands

A meeting of Workers Untiting Group supporters in the West Midlands will take place at:

Forget - Me - Not Ex-Service Mens Club Ltd
1069 Tyburn Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B24 0TH

Saturday, July 11th at 11.00am to 1.00pm
Refershments provided

Facing The Future - The Way Forward For Unite.

All Unite members welcome.

VSC Statement on military coup in Honduras

VSC Statement on military coup in Honduras

Today (Sunday June 29, 2009) there was to be non-binding national consultation as to whether the people of Honduras agreed to hold referenda at the end of the year for a new Constitional Assembly and for a new constitution. Just on Saturday June 28, President Zelaya was meeting international observers regarding details of today's (29 June) referendum.

Early this morning -June 29- (about 5:45 am Honduran time) heavily armed units of the military (according to eye witnesses, about 200 soldiers) occupied the presidential palace, arrested democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya in his personal residence, kidnapped him, taking him to an unknow destination. Eye witnesses inform that President Zelaya's personal residence is surrounded by soldiers. Telesur report that President Zelaya confirmed by phone that he is in Costa Rica.

The military then proceeded to close down Channel 8, the state TV channel to prevent it from informing the population.

President Manuel Zelaya's supporters are congregating in the streets of the capital and are moving to surround the presidential palace to demand the return of their president.

We totally and absolutely condemn the coup against democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya and demand his immediate and unconditional release as well as the immediater release of anybody else that might have been arrested by the plotters.

We demand:

1.- The immediate restitution of the constitutional order interrupted by the military coup underway in Honduras.

2.- No violence of any kind to be unleashed against the civilian population, or any of the those arrested by those carrying out the coup d'etat. There are worrying reports emerging from Tegucigalpa -Honduras cpital city- of military violence against civilians.

3.- We also urge the UK government to unequivocally condemn the coup and demand the release of President Zelaya, and the immediate return to the constitutional order.

4.- We also call upon President Barack Obama to demonstrate with acts his expressed desire to inaugurate a new period of respectful relations with the republics in Latin America, by also unreservedly condemning the coup d'etat, stating that the US will not recognise any other government in Honduras except that of the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya.

Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London, and President of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, has condemned the military coup in Honduras and demanded the release of the democratically elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.

Ken Livingstone said:

'I totally condemn the military coup and kidnapping of the democratically elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya.

'President Zelaya was working to free his country from decades hunger and poverty. This military coup is an illegal attempt to use armed force to overturn the course of democracy and social progress chosen by the Honduran people at the polls.

'The world should unite to stop this attempt to return Latin America to the bloody past of military coups to block the will of the people.

'I call particularly upon the British government to unreservedly condemn this military coup and to demand the immediate release of President Zelaya and to urge President Obama, who has promised a new era of relations between the US and South America, to do everything in his power to support the release of President Zelaya and restoration of democracy in Honduras.'

Francisco Dominguez
Secretary Venezuela Solidarity Campaign

TUC Conference - Trade union rights and collective bargaining in Europe

The TUC will be holding an important conference on July 17th.
9:30am-3:30pm, Congress House London

The past year has seen trade union rights being challenged by a series of judgements by the European Court of Justice.

These cases are likely to have a serious impact on collective bargaining and the right to strike and on the ability of governments to use national legislation and procurement arrangements to promote improved social policy and worker protection.

This timely conference will provide an overview of the implications of these cases for UK trade unions and workers and will map out future campaigns in the EU and in the UK to protect workers' and trade unions' rights.

It is expected that the programme will include:

keynote addresses by Brendan Barber (TUC) and John Monks (ETUC),

a panel discussion on the ECJ cases with Professor Keith Ewing and Catelene Passchier (ETUC) amongst others,

interventions by European trade unionists on the impact of the cases on their industrial relation systems

a discussion on the protection of fundamental rights at European and international level

The event will also include workshops on the rights to strike; public procurement and social clauses; and the impact of the ECJ cases on collective bargaining.

A detailed programme will be circulated shortly, for further information please contact Julie Lawrence

jlawrence@tuc.org.uk.

To register please fill in the form available

https://www.unionprofessionals.org.uk/register/add-form1.cfm

Please circulate details of this event to your colleagues, networks and newsletters and confirm your attendance.

Les Bayliss :"employers agree to reinstate sacked workers"

An agreement has been reached to end the dispute at the Lindsey oil refinery.

The agreement follows talks lead by Unite AGS Les Bayliss between unions and employers of the contract staff at the North Lincolnshire site.

Bayliss said the deal involved the reinstatement of 647 workers sacked for taking unofficial strike action and would be put to the workers on Monday.

The workers went on strike on 11 June after a sub-contractor at the refinery owned by Total cut 51 jobs.

Les Bayliss, said: "Following hours of detailed negotiations we now have proposals for a return to work which will be recommended by the stewards to the workforce. The employers have agreed to reinstate the sacked workers but the details have to be put to the workforce first."

Workers Uniting helps garment workers to victory

From the Mornng Star


Trade unionists from around the world celebrated after international solidarity helped garment workers in Bangladesh win a resounding victory against "corporate exploiters."

United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard said: "The victory for RL Denim workers in Bangladesh - hundreds of young women - is perhaps the biggest victory for workers in the developing world to date."

In May, the world's third-largest retailer Metro Group announced that after years of profiting from super-exploitation at the Bangladesh factory, the company was scrapping its orders with the plant, just when the workers were on the verge of winning their legal right to form a union.

At that time, Workers Uniting, the world's first global union, was joined by the German Verdi union in signing an unprecedented solidarity statement in support of the workers.

Workers Uniting combines the might of the Unite union and the United Steelworkers, which operates in the US, Canada and the Caribbean.

Last week, Metro bosses vowed to immediately return all of its orders to the RL Denim factory and institute changes throughout its supply chain to guarantee that workers' rights are fully respected.

The Bangladesh National Labour Committee, which uncovered abuses at the factory, reported that Metro Group has recently fired bullying supervisors and has finally started to shell out for overtime and maternity leave.

Workers are now provided with child and health care, purified drinking water and a dining area.

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: "Our efforts helped hold a corporate exploiter accountable and showed what's possible when workers around the world stand together."

Update: Lindsey dispute talks adjourned

Talks relating to the unofficial strike at Total’s Lindsey oil refinery were adjourned last night until Thursday following five hours of talks. Some progress was made (according to the FT) but “significant barriers’’ remained.

Up to 1,200 Lindsey workers involved in building a £200m hydro-desulphurisation have been on strike since June 11 in protest against plans by Shaw, a subcontractor, to axe 51 jobs while another subcontractor was hiring people.

Total said it had “actively encouraged” talks between its contractors and the unions about how to achieve a return to work by the contractors’ workforces.

Workers at the Coryton oil refinery in Essex took action on Tuesday, joining more than 3,000 workers at construction sites including Longannet and Cockenzie power stations in Scotland, Aberthaw power station in south Wales, Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria and the Ensus biofuels plant on Teesside.

At least 11 sites were reported to have been affected. Others included Eggborough and Drax power stations in Yorkshire, Stanlow oil refinery in Cheshire, South Hook gas terminal in west Wales and Didcot power station in Oxfordshire.

About 1,000 workers demonstrated at the Lindsey gates on Tuesday.

Total said it was an observer at last night’s talks but not actively involved. According to the unions, subcontractors that have sacked strikers include R. Blackett and Charlton, SGB and Shaw but not all opted to do so.

Workers Uniting Group Meeting - DURHAM MINERS WEEKEND

Please pass onto Unite members

DURHAM MINERS WEEKEND
WORKERS UNITING GROUP MEETING

The Workers Uniting Group is the broad based
left-progressive organisation within Unite the Union

A meeting of Workers Uniting Group Supporters will take place at:
Three Tuns Hotel
New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AQ
Tel: 0191 386 4326

Saturday 11th July at 2.00pm to 4pm

Facing the Future –
The Way Forward For Unite

This is an important meeting which will discuss the key issues facing Unite the Union, Unite members, union structures and the involvement of lay members.
All Unite members welcome.

www.workersunitinggroup.com

Unite's Les Bayliss - "All the sacked workers at Lindsey must be reinstated"

Talks are tonight underway at a secret location in London betwen Unite and the GMB and the oil company Total.

Havng failed to turn up at ACAS for talks on Friday, Total has agreed to hold talks over sacked workers at its Lindsey refinery as unofficial action continued to spread across the UK.

The U-turn coincided with a demonstration by about 800 strikers and their supporters outside the £200m extension to the Lincolnshire plant, where industrial action has halted building work for 10 days.

Elsewhere, strikes continued, with workers at the Coryton oil refinery in Essex taking action for the first time, 900 construction and maintenance staff walking out of the Sellafield nuclear power complex in Cumbria, and more than 3,000 downing tools at 18 major sites in Teesside, south Wales, Scotland and Oxfordshire.

Unite assiatant general secretary, Les Bayliss, who has overall responsibilty for construction in Unite is leading the talks. Les said: "I am pleased to see that the company has changed its position. Unite will be meeting with the employers in London . We will make it absolutely clear that all the sacked workers at Lindsey must be reinstated. This is the only way there is going to be a settlement to this dispute."

The dispute centres on a contractor's redundancy notices to 51 steel erectors, platers and welders, which were allegedly given without the workers being notified that another subcontractor was taking on 61 new staff.

Outside Lindsey, a protester dressed as the Grim Reaper, who did not want to give his name, said the action was "about saving the British construction industry and its high standards".

"We've had long apprenticeships and training, and we do things properly," he said. "Total has run into trouble here because contractors have taken on people who don't have the same approach. They have tried to rip up the rulebook which management and workers have used successfully for 30 years."

Walkouts so far
1. Longannet power station Fife, Scotland 150 on strike
2. Cockenzie power station East Lothian
3. Sellafield Cumbria
4. Ensus refinery Teesside
5. Eggborough Near Goole, East Yorkshire
6. Drax power station North Yorkshire
7. Stanlow oil refinery Ellesmere Port, Cheshire - 500 people on strike
8. South Hook LNG terminal Milford Haven
9. Aberthaw West of Cardiff - 300 people on strike
10. Didcot A power station Oxfordshire - 60 workers on strike
11. Coryton refinery Essex - 200 walk out on strike

Source: BBC

Today programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00l348n/Today_23_06_2009/

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8114154.stm

Walkouts as Total start sackings

Hundreds of workers have walked out in support of nearly 900 construction staff sacked at the Lindsey Oil Refinery.

The sackings came after about 1,200 workers walked out unofficially at the Lincolnshire plant in a jobs dispute.

Workers at the Ensus biofuels site at Wilton, Teesside, and Aberthaw power station, in south Wales, are among those who have come out in support.

Union officials are at Lindsey for talks with plant owner Total.

The sacked Lindsey workers had been building a new plant next to the existing site, but withdrew their labour last week in protest at a sub-contractor axing 51 jobs while another employer on the site was hiring people.

The workers argued this broke an agreement not to cut jobs at the site, but Total insists no such agreement was in place.
A number of sites walked out in support of the contract workers who have lost their jobs in Lincolnshire:

At the Ensus site all 1,100 workers have walked out, according to a company spokesman

About 300 workers are protesting outside Aberthaw

More than 100 contract maintenance staff have walked out at the Stanlow Oil Refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

Workers have also downed tools at Ferrybridge power station in West Yorkshire.

Workers Uniting Group - Scotland

SCOTLAND REGION
WORKERS UNITING GROUP MEETING

The Workers Uniting Group is the broad based left-progressive organisation within Unite the Union.

A meeting of Workers Uniting Group Supporters in Scotland will take place at:

RAMADA INGRAM HOTEL
201 Ingram Street
Glasgow
G1 1DQ


Saturday 27th June at 10.00am until 12.00pm

“Facing the Future –
The Way Forward For Unite”


This is an important meeting which will discuss a number of issues facing the Union and its members in particular the structures and involvement of lay activists and members.

www.workersunitinggroup.com

Help Save Manufacturing in the UK

Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port and Luton plants face an uncertain future, as do the 5,000 skilled workers they employ directly, and the 20,000 other workers in the wider supply chain who depend on them.

They desperately need your help. Please show your support for these workers by asking your MP to support this campaign.

By asking your MP to back government action you'll help secure these vital British plants and the talents and skills of the workers associated with them.

Ellesmere Port and Luton are two of the most profitable and efficient plants of their type in Europe. The products they create and the skills of the workforce will play a critical role as the UK strives to emerge from recession.

The government can, and should, invest to support these jobs, skills and continued production.

Please show your support for UK manufacturing.

Got to http://www.savemanufacturing.co.uk/yourmp to write to your MP.

Let them know they must do all they can to invest in manufacturing jobs - and that we won't stand for the loss of these crucial plants and the 25,000 workers who depend on them.

Unemployment hits 12-year high

Unemployment in the UK reaches 12-year high

The number of unemployed people in the UK has reached a 12-year high.

The number of jobless in the UK has risen to a 12-year high of 2.261 million in the three months to April, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The UK job market is displaying the full effects of the recession with the unemployment rate rising to 7.2% in April – the highest it has been since July 1997.

The figure is up 0.7 over the previous quarter and up 1.9 over the year.

The total number of people in employment for the three months to April fell by 271,000 to 29.11 million. This drop in the number of people in employment is the largest quarterly fall since comparable records began in 1971.

The number of jobs also fell by 108,000 between December 2008 and March 2009 to only 31.19 million. The manufacturing sector suffered the most with the number of jobs dropping by 78,000 to 2.94 million in the quarter.

The number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance has also risen over the quarter and is the highest it has been in 12 years. The number of claimants in May 2009 was 1.54 million, up 39,300 from the previous month and up 726,100 over the year.

Job vacancies also suffered a drop over the quarter, falling by 38,000 to 444,000 in May.

Most sectors have experienced fewer vacancies during the three months to April, with the finance and business services sectors suffering the most.

The redundancies level for the three months to April 2009 was 302,000, up 36,000 over the quarter and up 191,000 over the year, and is the highest figure since records began.

Surprisingly, average earnings increased during the quarter, up 0.8% including bonuses. Excluding bonuses, average earnings increased by 2.7%. However, this is the lowest annual growth rate for earnings excluding bonuses since records began.

Derek Simpson, of Unite, said: “Unemployment is still unacceptably high. The increase is less than expected but unemployment has still risen to a 12 year high, so this is no time for complacency. Working families’ jobs and homes are under threat.”

Workers Uniting Group - LONDON & EASTERN REGION

LONDON & EASTERN REGION WORKERS UNITING GROUP MEETING

The Workers Uniting Group is the broad based left-progressive organisation within Unite the Union.

A meeting of Workers Uniting Group Supporters will take place at:

RAMADA HOTEL COLCHESTER
A12/A120 Ardleigh Junction
Colchester
Essex
CO7 7QY

Tuesday 21st July at 7.00pm until 9.00pm

“Facing the Future –
The Way Forward For Unite”

This is an important meeting which will discuss a number of issues facing the Union and its members in particular the structures and involvement of lay activists and members.

All Unite members welcome.

Derek Simpson on Question Time

Derek Simpson appears on Question Time: Calls PM "The Joe Bugner of politics",

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00l2sbf

Definately worth watching on the web or this weekend on the BBC Parliamentary channel - various times.

UK "On The Sidelines" at Vauxhall's - Derek Simpson.

The future of the UK’s automotive industry remains uncertain with LDV filing for bankruptcy and the fate Vauxhall hanging in the balance.

The news that Midlands van maker LDV has failed to find a buyer has resulted in its workforce being slashed from 850 to just 40 by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The move puts the future of an estimated further 5,000 jobs at dealerships and suppliers at risk.

Even if a buyer is found there are fears that production will be taken overseas, ending decades of production at the former British Leyland plant in Birmingham.

Tony Woodley, said: “This is a bitter blow for manufacturing and the West Midlands region in particular.”

The future of Vauxhall also remains uncertain despite the European arm of General Motors, of which it is a part along with German-based Opel, being sold to Canadian car parts maker Magna International.

Full details of what the purchase will entail may not emerge until later this year.

There are also underlying fears amongst Vauxhall’s UK workers that as their sale was brokered by the Germany government, British rather than German plants will bear the brunt of any redundancies and plant closures, despite Vauxhall having a greater domestic market share than Opel.


"The Germans have been central to this. We appear to have been on the sidelines," said Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary. "With the German plants literally guaranteed security, thanks presumably to the German government's involvement and the billions of euros that they seem to be putting up, that causes a worry for everyone else.


"Thousands of jobs are at stake at Luton and Ellesmere Port. Once lost they won't return; our manufacturing capability and the UK's R&D base will be left hamstrung. It's no good providing billions to the banks but buttons for manufacturing.”


Any losses and closures will have major ramifications for suppliers, with the sipplies industry - glass, platics, rubber and packagaing already reeling from the downturn in the automotive sector, with workers facing job losses again.

Workers Uniting on Union TV

The creating of the first global union Workers Uniting is the subject of a special TV programme on the Community Channel (Sky 539), known as Union TV which highlights how British, American and Canadian workers are joining forces to create Workers Uniting.

According to the Workers Uniting press release "Politicians and corporations, notably in the UK and USA, promote the virtues of one global economic model at the expense of all others. This is a model based on privatisation and unfettered capitalism. 57 per cent of the world’s wealth is currently owned by 1 per cent of the population. Unite, the UK’s biggest union, and the USW, the largest private sector union in the USA and Canada, have signed an agreement creating the first global union.

The world's first international union is bringing workers together from both sides of the Atlantic to campaign for jobs justice. USW members from America are sharing their experiences of working in the private health sector with the UK's Unite union which is dealing with the privatisation of elements of the NHS. In education USW members from Canada are working with Unite as well as workers in the paper and pulp industries.

Workers Uniting is building its organisation to bring unions from other countries into the fold. The union will be working closely with unions from Australia on a submission for the Copenhagen climate change conference in December. The strategy will focus on protecting the planet and our member’s jobs and their standard of living at the same time.

Workers Uniting will also be reaching out to trade unionists in Columbia where activists are regularly murdered for opposing the exploitation of workers by multinational companies. Companies that sponsor the suppression of trade unionism with the gun are using their political influence to negotiate a free trade agreement between Canada and Columbia. If successful, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost in Canada and Columbian trade union members will continue to suffer. Workers uniting will be campaigning to oppose the deal throughout this year.

Workers Uniting represents three million working people from every industrial sector in Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the Caribbean. The agreement to form a global union was initiated by the leaders of the two unions in response to the challenges of globalisation. In particular, the casualisation of employment and reductions in pay and conditions for millions of working people in North America and Europe."

The programme on Community Channel Sky 539, will be shown at 4.30pm and 10.30pm on 11th and 12 June.

As soon as it gets posted on the Workers Uniting website we'll let you know.

United Action Wins Linmar Convenor His Job Back

Following a succesful vote to take indefinate strike action Unite convenor at Linmar Rob Williams was reinstated to his post at the Swansea plant of car components maker the company and the union announced following negotiationa between Unite's Len McClusky and the company.

The decision reverses last month's dismissal of Mr Williams by the company and means that the strike planned to secure his reinstatement, due to start on Thursday has been called off.

"Unite and Linamar will now work together to ensure the plant's future success" said a Unite press release.

And while the crisis continues - LDV workers told "meetings off"

From the BBC

LDV's parliament lobby cancelled

Managers and workers at Birmingham van maker LDV have been forced to cancel a lobby of parliament because of the cabinet reshuffle.

The group was told there would be no ministers to meet them because of events at Westminster.

Some 850 jobs are under threat at the Washwood Heath plant, after a deal with Malaysian firm Weststar collapsed at the last minute.

LDV's owners are expected to put the firm into administration on Monday.

Guy Jones, LDV's marketing director, said they felt let down by events that had forced them to call off the lobby.

He said they had been planning to ask for a £60m loan to secure the firm, which would cost the state much less than the collapse of the business.

The firm hopes the government will agree to the plan, even at this late stage in negotiations.
"The Government may be imploding," Mr Jones told BBC WM, "but there are thousands of jobs at stake here."

A spokesman for Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, said: "Liam Byrne is in Westminster, and is standing ready to meet LDV workers, as part of a number of actions he's taking today to try to help LDV."

Last month Weststar agreed a deal to acquire the company and the government pledged a £5m four-week loan until the deal was sealed.The firm's plant has been at a near-standstill since before the end of 2008, while intensive efforts were made to save it.

In addition to the workforce, LDV employs 1,200 people in dealerships and is a major customer for local suppliers.
When Weststar initially agreed to buy the company from its Russian owners, it was it planned to restart production in July.
The firm said it intended to maintain production at the company's plant in Birmingham, but also to expand manufacturing in Malaysia.

Call for Solidarity With CEPPWAWU in South Africa

Workers Uniting Group is aware that the International Chemical, Energy and Mineworkers (ICEM) is seeking support for one of their affiliates in South Africa. The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) is under attack from the multi-national paper and pulp group Sappi.

ICEM is calling for immediate supportive action after Sappi at its Enstra Mill in Springs, South Africa suspended 19 CEPPWAWU shop stewards and 23 other workers.

Starting on 6th May, Sappi began systematically taking disciplinary actions against CEPPWAWU reps at the Enstra sulfate pulp and printing papers mill. The facility employs 650 worker, 90% of whom are CEPPWAWU members.

The company are alleging that the union used company property for union purposes and that the union had harrassed workers.

At a 28th May meeting, Sappi said it would start disciplinary hearings against the reps - hearings that the union believes will be one-sided and unfair.

ICEM says it "finds it reprehensible that Sappi refuses meeting participation by CEPPWAWU’s National Coordinator for Sappi branches", and called it “a blight on Sappi everywhere,” in a letter to the management of Sappi in South Ajavascript:void(0)frica. ICEM has accused Sappi of a blatant violation of basic trade union rights and the attempt to de-unionise the plant merits immediate condemnation.

CEPPWAWU is our sister union in South Africa and have supported Unite members whenever they have been asked to.

Therefore ICEM is asking for letters of support to be sent to CEPPWAWU at secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za or Regional Secretary Chief Seatlholo chief@ceppwawu.org.za

Please copy your emails to Dick Blin at dick.blin@icem.org

Unite e-activist now available.

New Unite e-activists Number 35 now available at

http://unite.newsweaver.co.uk/-hgtwzxhovh-47daw5oyt3?email=true