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South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has challenged Harmony Gold Mining&rsquo;s sacking of 300 contract workers without consulting the union. Harmony fired contractor DBE Mining at the Kalgold mine in the Northern Cape, and will bring in a new contractor employing other workers. 
NUM, which has filed a complaint over the matter in a South African labour court, is demanding that Harmony, &ldquo;in the current climate of a boom in gold prices,&rdquo; hire the 300 on a permanent basis. 
In a statement, NUM said, &ldquo;Harmony would like to hide behind the myth that the 300 workers are employees of a contractor while in reality they do critical work in a Harmony mine &hellip; subcontracting and outsourcing are new forms of exploitation through which big companies try to exonerate themselves from the stain of careless laying off of employees.&rdquo;

Layoffs of Contract Workers Challenged by NUM

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Trade union members of Amicus, an ICEM affiliate in the UK, staged a second four-hour strike on 30 March at International Paper Co.&rsquo;s Inverurie mill in Scotland. The union and its 231 members at the paper mill will escalate industrial actions this week with two further strikes, tomorrow and Thursday, 4 and 6 April, if the company does not revise a pay offer for 2006 and 2007. 
Management has proposed an unacceptable pay freeze for this year and a minimal one-off payment in 2007. Workers for the past two years have contributed part of their weekly earnings to help fill a gap in the company&rsquo;s pension scheme. The industrial actions have boosted Amicus support inside the printing and writing papers mills, as well as in the nearby community of Aberdeenshire.

Further Strikes at IP Paper Mill in Scotland

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Belgian affiliate FGTB-ABVV was joined by two other trade unions 28 October in a second general strike against government plans to raise the nation&rsquo;s voluntary early retirement age from 58 to 60. 
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The center-left governing coalition led by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has conceded to several demands put forward by FGTB-ABVV over end of career issues and adequate funding of social security. But the age for early retirement is still outstanding. 
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A 7 October strike that did not include formal endorsement of Christian union CSC-ACV and the Liberals CGSLB-ACLVB paralyzed the nation of ten million, and the two unions decided to join FGTB-ABVV in the 28 October action.

Second Belgian General Strike Aimed at Retaining Early Retirement

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In ten days, the world will remember the tenth anniversary of the hanging of Nigerian human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa by that country&rsquo;s then military dictatorship. 
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Ken Wiwa, son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and Anita Roddick, environmental campaigner and head of Bodyshop Company 
(photo: Sion Touhig)
On 10 November 1995, Saro-Wiwa, a writer, environmentalist and leader of the Ogoni people of Nigeria&rsquo;s delta who sought to free his people from the bonds of Shell Oil, was sent to the gallows along with eight other activists. He stood for the reality&mdash;current today as it was then&mdash;that social and environmental justice and the rights of citizens residing in oil producing regions must be protected in a world dominated by oil politics. 
One of several memorials to Saro-Wiwa will be erected in the UK at Jubilee Gardens, which lies across the road from Shell&rsquo;s London headquarters.

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

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ICEM affiliate Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products&mdash;Refineries and Chemical Industry in Greece is engaged in a dispute with Chevron over the company&rsquo;s restructuring measures. 
On 12-13 October, 78 clerical and technical staff of Chevron&rsquo;s Lubricants Division involved in transport and storage operations struck over the company&rsquo;s disregard of terms in the national Collective Agreement for petroleum products and liquid gases. 
Despite social dialogue and consultation that did not reach mutual accord, Chevron has unilaterally imposed job cuts in certain departments and has said there could be further retrenchments to meet company-set competitiveness goals. 
The ICEM has intervened in the dispute with US-based Chevron.

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

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FNV Bondgenoten, an ICEM affiliate, and Christian union CNV Chemie will strike Shell Nederland this week after the company on 28 October refused to withdraw a demand over changes in energy workers&rsquo; pension scheme. 
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Workers are to meet on 31 October at an oil refinery in Pernis and a chemical facility in Moerdijk to finalize strike plans, and Shell workers at other locations are expected also to commence strikes. Shell has proposed to the Central Works Council and to the unions that the pension age be raised from 60 to 65, with all Shell workers paying contributions on future pension premiums. Currently, Shell employees earning &euro;60,000 or less annually are exempt for payments toward early retirement. 
The unions contend Shell itself must maximize premium payments to ensure adequate pensions for workers choosing to retire early. Workers at NAM Nederland BV in Groningen, the joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil that is Europe&rsquo;s largest onshore gas field, also fall under the Shell pension scheme and also are considering a strike.

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

ICEM-JAF Conducts Informative 30th Anniversary Congress 
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The Japanese Affiliates Federation of ICEM (ICEM-JAF) conducted its 30th Anniversary Congress on 28 October in Tokyo and together with ICEM trade union affiliates from 14 other Asia-Pacific nations, held an action-oriented seminar the day prior on the growing menace of HIV/AIDS in the region. 
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Both ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs and Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator Hans Schwass presented ICEM&rsquo;s ongoing work on the pandemic to the assembled trade union leaders, who vowed to strengthen the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s work on the issue both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific Region. The union leaders will organise a broad and high-developed workshop in HIV/AIDS in 2006 in the Asia-Pacific Region. 
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The 27 October seminar also focused on REACH, the European Union&rsquo;s proposed directive on the regulation of chemicals. On REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals), delegates discussed an international response to the directive, focusing on the effect REACH will have on Asia-Pacific&rsquo;s chemicals industry. At the European level, ICEM&rsquo;s sister trade union federation EMCEF is coordinating trade union responses there on the directive and with ICEM, has briefed trade unions globally on REACH developments. 
 
&ldquo;Asia-Pacific is unique in ICEM terms because it is a region with modern and developed economies with strong and vibrant trade unions, as well as one with developing economies and newly organised trade unions,&rdquo; stated Higgs. 
 
&ldquo;Historically, ICEM-JAF has engaged with us on global projects, and the 30th Anniversary commemoration today reflects a renewed commitment of continued assistance to the ICEM for coordination with all our trade union affiliates across the region,&rdquo; Higgs added. 
 
Kiyoshi Ochiai chairs ICEM-JAF, and Toshio Sato is general secretary. 
 
Founded in the mid-1970s, ICEM-JAF encompasses nine Japanese unions, representing a total of one million workers. ICEM, based in Brussels, Belgium, represents 20 million workers that are affiliated to 389 industrial unions in 122 countries.

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

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The first issue of ICEM&rsquo;s e-bulletin on HIV/AIDS was published in early October and can be found on the GUF&rsquo;s website, <a href="http://www.icem.org">www.icem.org</a>. 
The e-bulletin will be a regular monthly feature to ICEM&rsquo;s information strategy on the pandemic, and gives useful links to materials and websites for union activists who desire to deepen their knowledge on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

ICEM&#039;s HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

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Not Walking the Talk: DuPont&rsquo;s Untold Safety Failures is the name of a report issued by the USW in the US. The report challenged the chemical company&rsquo;s behaviour-based safety programme. 
USW asserts in the document that DuPont encourages under-reporting of injuries, and the company&rsquo;s own safety and environmental record belies a division inside DuPont that sells safety programmes to other chemical companies. Copies of the full report can be obtaining by visiting the union&rsquo;s DuPont website, www.dupontcouncil.org.

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont&#039;s Safety

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The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), together with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a number of NGO's has called on two South Korea companies to divest their interests in Burma. 
At a 14 October press conference and rally in Seoul, the centers called on Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corp. to review human rights, workers&rsquo; rights and environmental destruction being carried out by the Burmese military government. 
FKTU also asked the South Korean government, as a member of the ILO, to review its relations with Burma, and to take preventative measures against possible violations of human and labour rights.

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

Archive

Layoffs of Contract Workers Challenged by NUM

Further Strikes at IP Paper Mill in Scotland

Second Belgian General Strike Aimed at Retaining Early Retirement

Ken Saro-Wiwa: Commemoration of a Human Rights Hero

US-based Chevron Causing Problems for ICEM’s Greek Oil Affiliate

FNV Bondgenoten Braced to Strike Shell in NL

Japanese Affiliates Strengthen HIV/AIDS Fight

ICEM's HIV/AIDS Project Gets Newsletter

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont's Safety

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

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