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Brazilian affiliate FUB-CNQ will conclude voting on a new collective agreement with state-run Petrobras tomorrow, thus preventing unions from striking operations of the oil and gas major by 40,000 workers. Workers stand ready to approve a 12.1% pay hike plus additional benefits for retired workers. Petrobras will also create a special body to study workers’ retirement plans.

Oil Union in Brazil Gains Deal with Petrobras

ICEM sectoral conferences on Mining and on Diamonds, Gems, Ornaments & Jewellery production are being held this week in Benoni, South Africa. The Diamonds/Gems conference is being held today with 130 global trade unionists attending. A joint session of the two sectors will be held tomorrow with the Mining Conference and its 190 registrants meeting on 24-25 November. The conference will develop a four-year ICEM work plan on Mining.

ICEM’s Mining, Diamonds and Gems Sectors to Merge

Members of ICEM affiliate BMWU took to the streets in Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana, 3 December over another mining dispute. This one is with Bamangwato Concession Ltd. (BCL), a copper, nickel and cobalt miner in eastern Botswana that sacked the entire 16-member bargaining committee of the BMWU branch last July following negotiations. 
The company sacked the union team because they possessed financial information on the firm’s mining operations. Such information is generally considered essential for unions in bargaining. 
Although most of the branch leaders have been recalled, BCL still refuses to rehire four—bargaining chairman and Deputy BMWU National Chair Golekanye Mogende, Kabelo Oitsile, Abel Bukha and Kealeboga Keakantse. BMWU timed the mass protest in which 2,000 turned out with BCL’s unveiling of a new company logo.

Copper, Nickel Dispute Now Concerning Botswana’s Miners

French union and ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT has all along suspected that the August 2004 takeover by Aventis of Sanofi-Synthelabo creating Sanofi- Aventis, the world’s third largest pharmaceutical maker, would have dire consequences on employment. The French union did not have to wait long for proof. In order to meet its goal for shedding €1.6 billion in operating costs by 2006, the merged firm’s first attack on workers will make redundant 431 pharmaceutical sales representatives and support staff, close Aventis’s Strasbourg headquarters idling 230 workers, and the spin-off of Research and Development of infectious diseases will cost even more jobs. FCE-CFDT says the company’s selective approach to early retirement is wrong, and the French company must negotiate with the union on age-related and across-the-board early-out packages.

Chemicals Merger Between Aventis and Sanofi Will Cost Jobs

Tomorrow, 22 March, marks a global day of solidarity for Nepal’s trade unions. On 1 February, King Gyanendra issued a decree suspending the government and declared martial law. The decree also banned trade union activities. ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates containing a sample letter and urges trade unions to register protests to Nepal’s embassies. ICEM affiliate Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers’ Union had received permission from a district administrator to conduct its national conference 1-2 April, but security forces have now cancelled that written permission.

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

FCE-CFDT is challenging Electricité de France’s (EDF) plan to reduce maintenance services in the utility’s hydraulic division. EDF wants to cut maintenance activities 20-30% which would include redundancies of 500 jobs in this 3,700-worker area. FCE-CFDT condemns the decision and calls on EDF hydraulic workers to stand and resist the rationalization.

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

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South Korea’s unions are joining to block an anti-worker Contract Labour Bill expected to come before the National Assembly next month. The legislation, put forth by the government and business groups, was delayed in February. 
Among other regressive measures, it would liberalise contract labour by extending terms of service from two to three years. Some 45% of the country’s workforce is now comprised of contract workers who, on average, receive half the salaries of full-time workers, but oftentimes work 50% more hours. 
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said on 18 March it would return to tripartite labour, management, government dialogue to prevent further liberalization on contract labour. KCTU is working with the country’s other national center— the Federation of Korean Trade Unions—to block the measure. “Our top priority is to protect irregular workers,” stated KCTU General Secretary Lee Soo-Hu.

Korean Unions to Block Labour Reform Bill over Contract Workers

A strike by glass workers of several Belgian unions at Glaverbel’s AGC Automotive Fleurus ended 15 March in a negotiated settlement over a restructuring plan. The strike, begun in December in the southern Belgian town of Fleurus, included ICEM affiliates CG-FGTB and white-collar SETCa-BBTK. Negotiators managed to soften the impact of those being retrenched by gaining additional severance pay, getting early retirement after age 50, and reducing the cuts from 284 to 247 at the 800- worker factory. Glaverbel is owned by Asahi Glass, the world’s second largest glassmaker.

Belgian Unions End Strike at Glass Plant

ICEM affiliate NUM has called for the South African government to revoke the mining license of Durban Roodeport Deep (DRDGold). NUM cites DRDGold’s atrocious safety record, as well as its negative labour relations practices. On 9 March, an earth tremor struck the firm’s North West mine operations at Hartebeestfontein leaving scores of miners trapped for several hours due to DRDGold’s insufficient rescue abilities. Two miners died and 23 were injured. And then a week later the company suddenly closed the Blyvooruitzicht mine near Carltonville without giving the necessary statutory notice. Some 300 women who haul waste rock from that mine for residual gold processing by DRDGold lost their jobs. NUM wants DRDGold to exit the mining business and hand operations off to a company with more integrity and more concern for workers.

NUM in South Africa Seeks License Revocation of DRDGold

A strike by 1,000 members of USWA also in Canada continues at Michelin’s B.F. Goodrich tyre plant in Kitchener, Ontario, despite renewed bargaining that took place in mid-July in Pittsburgh. Despite Michelin net income doubling to C$528 million in the first half of 2004, Kitchener management is seeking wage and benefit cuts amounting to 15%. “This isn’t about being asked to help a company that is in financial difficulty,” stated USWA Assistant Ontario/Atlantic Director Marie Kelly. “This is about feeding a corporate giant that has always been anti-union.” The strike began 1 June. In separate bargaining also in Pittsburgh, the USWA is engaged in hard bargaining with Michelin over the master rubber contract at three US tyre plants.

USWA Strike in Canada Against Michelin Continues

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