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Canadian offshore oil workers at Hibernia, members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union, are voting over the next few weeks on their first collective agreement. CEP organized the 450 workers in 2001, was certified by the Newfoundland provincial labour board in October 2001, but was met by union-blocking legal challenges since by Hibernia’s lead company, ExxonMobil. “We felt it was time for our members to have a say on what has been settled and tabled in bargaining,” said CEP National Energy Sector Coordinator Joe Gargiso. The successful organising of the offshore oil workers by the CEP was the first of its kind in North America.

Canadian Offshore Oil Workers Near Deal at Hibernia

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ICEM affiliate FNV Bondgenoten will find out today how serious Shell Nederland is to resolving a pension dispute. The company will present an alternative over a prior, inadequate proposal to the union and the Central Works Council. 
If the offer does not improve and further bargaining is not renewed by 21 June, Bondgenoten is prepared to commence strikes by late summer. Shell needs to maximize premium payments for workers under the Dutch pension system so they too, like nearly all Dutch workers, become eligible for early retirement.

FNV Bondegenoten, Shell Work to Resolve Pension Issues

United Steelworkers (USW) and Bridgestone-Firestone in the US reached tentative labour agreements on 8 June covering 6,000 workers at eight plants. The proposed agreements include the union’s master rubber contract for plants in Akron, Ohio, Des Moines, Iowa, LaVergne, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Noblesville, Indiana, and Russellville, Arkansas, and accords at plants in Bloomington, Illinois, and Warren County, Tennessee. Steelworker members at those locations will review and vote on the proposals over the next few weeks. 
The labour agreements will run until 23 July 2006. If ratified, the Bridgestone agreement will complete master rubber bargaining in America the USW, which represents 70,000 workers in the industry. Prior contracts were achieved with Goodyear, Michelin’s BF Goodrich tyre unit, and Yokohama Corp.

Steelworkers Reach Accord with Bridgestone in US

Multiple gold strikes by affiliate NUM in South Africa may have been tempered some by a court decree late last week declaring an end to one strike, Gold Fields involving 30,000 miners. But ongoing stoppages and potential strikes could still pull 100,000 NUM members out, shutting down the country’s gold mining industry. On 23 March, 21,000 NUM miners at Harmony Gold’s Free State mines struck after the company reneged on a labour agreement from last summer. Harmony unilaterally terminated that agreement and announced job cuts to 4,900 workers without NUM consultation, thus shredding an understanding between Harmony and NUM reached last July. 
The 30,000 Gold Fields miners could return to strike lines once NUM serves a legal notice. A key issue at Gold Fields is housing. The company still provides only common-sex hostels in mining areas, a throwback to apartheid days. Pay disparity between black workers and white workers also is an issue, as is the fact that white women receive maternity leave while black women do not. At the weekend, NUM worksite leaders from South Africa’s other third big gold mining house, AngloGold Ashanti, were meeting to consider their options.

Retrenchments Cause of Mining Strikes in South Africa

Oil workers in France at Total won a major victory to preserve holidays by successfully conducting a five-day strike in mid-May. The job actions at five Total refineries saw the French supermajor back down by agreeing to keep Pentecost as a holiday even though the French government abandoned it as a national holiday this year. That means Total will assume all government payouts, giving workers the extra paid day in 2005. Total also agreed to pay workers during the 16-20 May strike. The unions involved were the CFDT, CGT and Force Ouvriere. The Total refineries that were shut: Gonfreville, in northern France; Feyzin and La Mede plants in the south; Grandpuits near Paris; and Donges in western France.

Strike at Total in France Protects Holidays

On June 12, the ILO will focus a day on child labour in the mining sector in celebration of its fourth World Day Against Child Labour. The ICEM and mining employers’ organisation International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) last week signed an accord calling for an end to child labour in all mining and quarrying activity. 
The ILO’s International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has found that most child miners are employed in small-scale enterprises which are unregulated and undocumented. IPEC has undertaken pilot projects on child labour in mining in Mongolia, Tanzania, Niger and the Andean countries of South America. Results show the best way to halt such practices is direct involvement in local mining communities and providing access to quality education with real prospects of meaningful employment when children leave school.

ILO’s Child Labour Focus to be on Mining Sector

NUM, meanwhile, welcomed South Africa’s first woman to high office. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, was sworn in last Thursday as deputy president. She replaces the former number two official in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who was sacked by President Thebo Mbeki in connection with a bribery scandal. Mlambo- Ngcuka, 49, a leader in the anti-apartheid struggle, was elected from the ANC party to Parliament in 1994 in the country’s first all-race elections, and served as head of Minerals and Energy beginning in 1999, a post from which she helped draft the Mining Charter giving more black South Africans ownership in mines. 
In welcoming her selection by Mbeki, NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe cautioned against the position being caught up in politics. “We are concerned that she’s been thrown into a lion’s den, given the controversies surrounding the office of the deputy president at this juncture. We therefore hope that she is not compromised as a result. We trust that her experience of overcoming challenges in her past portfolio will come to the fore.”

Mines, Energy Minister Appointed South Africa's Deputy President

US affiliate USW proved Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. workers, no matter which process is used, will choose unionization every time. On June 14-15, in a secret ballot election conducted by the US government, workers in Asheboro, North Carolina, chose USW representation by a 173- 147 count. It marked the second time a majority of workers at the steel and tyre cord plant chose the USW. 
As part of the September 2003 collective agreement between the union and Goodyear, card check and company neutrality language was established. That means workers can choose union representation through a show of support by signing cards, as is the case in most countries. Regrettably an anti-union organisation given free reign over the Bush administration’s labour board challenged that portion of the collective agreement on legal grounds, and the remedy to the challenge was the government-supervised election two weeks ago.

Steelworkers in US Organise Goodyear Tire and Rubber Workers

In Chile, 500 miners are striking at Placer Dome’s Zaldivar copper mine in the northern region. The miners, members of Zaldivar Mining Union No. 1, rejected a pay offer 23 June, but Placer Dome invoked Chilean law calling for a return to talks before a strike could occur. In those talks, the Canadian company stuck to its 3.5% wage offer, far below Chile’s 6% inflation rate and the union’s bottom line, and miners struck 4 July. 
The company last week said it would attempt to resume 75% of production at the mine using supervisors and contract workers. The Zaldivar mine produced 148,000 tonnes last year and accounts for 1% of the world’s copper supply. Placer Dome, which operates 17 mines in seven countries, is the world’s fifth largest gold miner. The company is also engaged in contentious salary talks behind the Chamber of Mines in South Africa with the National Union of Mineworkers.

Copper Miners in Chile Strike Placer Dome

Another North American mining contract involving the USW was settled peacefully. Some 900 miners in the state of Montana ratified a three-year contract last week with Stillwater Mining, the US’s only producer of palladium and platinum. The workers at a mine and metal recovery facility won pay and benefit increases. Stillwater is majority owned by Russia’s Norilsk Nickel, the world’s leading nickel and platinum metals miner.

USW Comes to Terms with US's Only Pladdium/Platinum Miner

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