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Thirteen days after an explosion inside an eastern Ukrainian coal mine killed 101 workers, a second methane blast at privately-held Zasyadko&rsquo;s mine near Donetsk sent 44 miners to the hospital. This second explosion happened at 05h00 on Saturday, 1 December. 
 
And then on Sunday, 2 December, a third blast inside the stricken mine killed five rescue workers. Thirty-three rescue workers and 33 other miners were injured in this third blast. Many of the hospitalised are in serious condition. 
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The explosions follow the worst Ukrainian coal disaster in recent years. The death count from the 18 November explosion, deep inside several shafts of Zasyadko&rsquo;s Donbass region mine, reached 101 on 29 November, when a worker died in a Donetsk hospital. Ten miners remain unaccounted for from that methane explosion, which occurred 1,000 metres below ground. Another 40 miners remain hospitalised. 
The ICEM had sent its condolences to both the Ukrainian Coal Industry Workers&rsquo; Union (PRUP) and the Independent Miners&rsquo; Union of Ukraine. 
The cause of the 18 November explosion is believed to be defect electrical equipment. Reportedly, sensors did not show a build-up of methane gas. The mine was privatised by state-run Donetskugol and assets transferred to prominent Ukrainian politician Efim Zvyagilsky. Igor Gryaznov serves as director of the enterprise. It yields 10,000 tons per day, and is one of Ukraine&rsquo;s larger collieries. 
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The Zasyadjo mine has a history of tragedies. One worker died in February 2007, while in September 2006, 13 miners were killed due to a methane blast. In 2002, 20 miners were killed in the same manner, a tragedy which brought criminal charges to six managers of the mine for violation of safety procedures. Other tragedies happened at Zasyadjo in 2001, when 55 lives were lost, and in 1999, when 50 miners perished. 
 
Also in Ukraine, on 25 November, two miners were killed and one seriously injured when a rock slide caused a shaft to collapse. That occurred at the Arbis coal mine, also eastern Ukraine, but in the Lugansk region. The same day, a fire occurred inside a shaft in the Belorechenskaya mine in the same region. There were no fatalities there.

String of Blasts Hit Ukraine’s Zasyadko Coal Mine, Killing 5 More, Injuring 44 Workers

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South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) granted the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) certification to go on a 24-hour strike. The strike occurs on 4 December. The CCMA simultaneously worked out agreement between the powerful 300,000-member South African trade union and the Chamber of Mines over a safety protocol. 
 
Tomorrow&rsquo;s walkout marks the first time in 20 years that a general strike has occurred across the gold, diamond, platinum, and coal mining sectors in South Africa. Some 60 companies will be affected. 
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The strike certification comes with a successful protocol pact between the NUM and the Chamber of Mines, one that includes the right to a national mine-safety strike on 4 December. The agreement cites &ldquo;involvement of all role players&rdquo; to improve mine health and safety, including least senior employees in mining enterprises. 
 
It also creates a high-level, senior task force between the NUM, the mining houses, and the Department of Minerals and Energy that will engage and take actions early in 2008. The companies, through the Chamber, agreed to cooperate with all union structures to improve workplace conditions, and will better utilise NUM&rsquo;s health and safety representatives. The two sides agreed to expeditiously review and analyze existing recommendations regarding health and safety. 
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NUM and the Chamber also agreed to hold a full dialogue on the outcome of a presidential audit on mine health and safety. That audit will start this month in over 700 South African mines, and is a direct result of 3,200 miners being trapped at Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Elandsrand mine in October. 
 
In the meantime, the death rate in and around South African mines keeps climbing. 
 
Goldfields recorded two deaths within a day of each other on 23-24 November at separate worksites, and the same happened at two South African mines of Australian-based Aquarium Platinum &ndash; on 15 November and 24 November. Also, a NUM member at Impala Platinum&rsquo;s Marula mine in Limpopo province was killed on 22 November. All of these recent deaths were due to rock slides, except one of at Goldfields, where a worker was struck and killed by a train at Driefontein.

Safety Agreement Reached in South Africa; National Strike Tomorrow

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Less than a month after the US-based Ross International company agreed to joint talks with ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintravidricol at three factories, the company reversed course and said it would not recognise the union at two of those plants, or at two others in Colombia. The company manufactures metal moulding for the glass industry, and is a specific supplier to glassmaker Peldar, the Owens-Illinois subsidiary in South America. 
 
This labour relations shift is another attempt by owner Larry Ross to avert unionisation by both direct workers and contract workers at four of five of his Colombian factories. Sintravidricol has a collective agreement at Moldes Medellin, Ross&rsquo;s plant in Sabaneta, and it was in late October that the company agreed to hold joint, three-plant talks with Sintravidricol at Moldes Medellin, as well as at two other Ross businesses: Andes Tooling and Andes Cast Metals. 
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For over a year, the ICEM and its US affiliate, the United Steelworkers (USW), have campaigned, together with Sintravidricol, to pressure Ross, which established four other Colombian factories staffed with contract workers to weaken the union at Moldes Medellin. 
 
But in spite of the October guarantee by the company, Ross is not willing to recognise Sintravidricol at the other four plants. Colombian management recently informed the union that Larry Ross is not willing to sign any agreement that recognises trade union rights for workers in the other plants. 
 
Sintravidricol began a strike at the three factories on 27 November. In a letter to the company, the ICEM again reiterated its demand to Ross International that Sintravidricol workers are engaged in a basic &ldquo;struggle for trade union freedom.&rdquo; 
 
Among items Sintravidricol was hoping to resolve at the joint bargaining table are redress to low salaries, and a check on the widespread use of contract and agency labour. 
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In the US as well, the USW has again picked up the campaign against the privately-held, Pennsylvania-based company. The union has nominated Larry Ross as &ldquo;Grinch of the Year&rdquo; within the US-based labour and community organisation, &ldquo;Jobs with Justice.&rdquo; The union has submitted Ross&rsquo;s name as an example of a company &ldquo;engaging in a global race to the bottom, in search of low wages and the ability to violate workers' rights.&rdquo; 
 
The USW is allied with &ldquo;Jobs with Justice,&rdquo; an activist grouping that holds an annual election to get the grinch which has done most to harm working families. To cast your vote for Larry Ross, please go here: <a href="http://www.jwj.org/grinchnominate.html">http://www.jwj.org/grinchnominate.html</a>.

US Ross Company Breaks Colombian Pledge, Glass Workers Strike

Mr. Seung Hwa Suh 
CEO Hankook Tire Co., Ltd. 
647-15 Yoksam-dong, Kangnam-gu 
Seoul, 135-723 
South Korea 
 
By Fax: +82-2-2222-1100 
 
 
Dear Mr. Suh, 
 
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which represents 20 million workers from 118 countries, held its 4th World Congress in Bangkok last week, from 22 to 24 November. Present at the meeting were over 800 trade unionists, from 176 national trade unions in 75 countries, many of which are operating in the chemical and rubber sectors within their countries. 
 
After having heard about the ongoing dispute between the management of your company in Hungary and the local Hankook workers in Dunaujvaros, represented by ICEM Affiliate VDSZ (Federation of Trade Unions of the Chemical, Energy and General Workers in Hungary), the ICEM World Congress unanimously adopted a solidarity statement in response to the ongoing violation of workers&rsquo; rights by Hankook Tire Hungary Ltd. 
 
The statement reads: &ldquo;We protest, on behalf of 20 million workers, against this employer&rsquo;s behaviour, as it has been shown by Hankook Tire in South Korea and Hungary. It is unacceptable that the employer does not acknowledge an organisation set up by the workers voluntarily and rejects every request for bargaining. 
 
It is furthermore unacceptable that a multinational company keeps hurting the laws of countries and does not accept the rules relating to workers&rsquo; rights. 
 
ICEM cannot accept this behaviour and insists on the start of negotiations. Today, social partners all over the world promote bargaining, Hankook should not be an exception. Workers - who increase the value of the company through their work - want to bargain with the management of the company on the working conditions and the collective agreement. 
 
The behaviour by the owners and the leaders of the company against the workers is not acceptable. We support all the workers whose rights have been violated by Hankook Tire.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM, who agrees with VDSZ that refusing negotiations from your side is against the content of the Labor Code, therefore strongly insists for your company to enter into meaningful negotiations with the Hungarian Hankook workers, represented by VDSZ. 
 
Pending a fair and swift solution to the problem, we will use our offices to make sure that this trade union violation is known to all, and act, together with our affiliates, towards an end of this violation of workers&rsquo; rights. 
 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary 
 
 
Cc: VDSZ, Hungary 
Mr. Lee Eung Young, 2459 R&aacute;calm&aacute;s, Hankook t&eacute;r 1., Hungary 
FKCU - Federation of Korean Chemical Workers' Union 
KCTF - Korea Chemical &amp; Textile Workers' Federation

ICEM letter to Hankook Tyre Ltd.

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Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. of South Korea received sizeable development and training subsidies in 2006 from the Hungarian government when it built an auto and light truck tyre plant in Dunaujv&aacute;ros, south of Budapest. A year later and several months following the start of production, the pay-back has been broken labour laws and blatant discrimination of trade unionists. 
 
The world&rsquo;s seventh largest tyre producer, 10% owned by Michelin, has paid fines for labour code violations, has seen large portions of its subsidies suspended by the Hungarian government, and has sacked one leader of the VDSZ Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union, while refusing to negotiate with the ICEM affiliate, the Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ).
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Since production start-up early this year, the company has circumvented EU labour standards, and has violated ILO Conventions at its 28,500-unit-per-day tyre factory, now employing 800 blue-collar workers. Hankook Tire Magyarorszag Kft. has been found guilty or charged with non-payment of overtime pay, unsanitary work conditions, forcing a six-day work-week before a two-day leave, making work mandatory on public holidays, interrogating workers on their lawful right to join a union, and illegal dismissing workers. 
 
Besides using Hungarian subsidies to get the plant up and running this year, Hankook has used aid totalling nearly &euro;100 million from the European Commission. The company has reciprocated by paying fines for illegally employing 32 Korean workers and missing deadlines on registering employees to social security programmes. 
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Hankook&rsquo;s anti-social behaviour in Dunaujv&aacute;ros was a major talking point in mid-September discussions between South Korean Prime Minister Han Duk Soo and Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs&aacute;ny. 
 
VDSZ is adamant that Hankook respect EU, ILO, and Hungarian standards and regulations. The ICEM supports VDSZ in its struggle with Hankook. In a further letter to Hankook&rsquo;s managing director on 23 November, VDSZ President Gy&ouml;rgy Pasztern&aacute;k stressed that a Hungarian court has certified the union&rsquo;s Tire Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union as bargaining representative, and that the company must negotiate terms and conditions with the union, as well as deal with the VDSZ branch on matters related to EU Works Council elections.
At its 4th World Congress in Bangkok, from 22 to 24 November, the ICEM adopted unanimously adopted a solidarity statement in response to the ongoing violation of workers&rsquo; rights by Hankook Tire Hungary Ltd. The statement was conveyed by the ICEM in a <a href="/index.php?id=20&amp;doc=2495&amp;la=EN">letter to the company</a>.

Korea’s Hankook Tire Company Setting Bad Precedents in Hungary

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Tuesday, 4 December, is Unilever Day of Action in Europe, and beyond. European trade unions will manifest in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Unilever workers throughout the world are expected to take action. The Anglo-Dutch consumer products conglomerate is inflicting job cuts on 20,000 workers worldwide. 
 
Half those numbers are occurring in Europe. Already, Unilever&rsquo;s reorganisation has cost hundreds of jobs in The Netherlands, UK, and Italy. 
<img height="150" alt="" src="" width="150" />
The Rotterdam agenda tomorrow includes a 13h00 forum at De Doelen conference centre, Kruisplein 40, that will highlight adverse Unilever case studies of job abuse from six countries. European labour leaders will also speak. At 15h00, a march to Unileverhouse in central Rotterdam will happen. 
 
The ICEM has joined with the International Union of Food Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) to call attention to this Action Day against Unilever in workplaces and at union meetings globally. Unilever initially avoided proper social dialogue in its recent European reorganisation, and the company has violated workers&rsquo; rights in India, Pakistan, Chile, Colombia, and South Africa. IUF has brought abuses in India and Pakistan before the UK National Contact Point for OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 
 
ICEM and IUF encourages Unilever workers throughout the world to distribute the joint statement that can be found <a href="/index.php?id=154&amp;doc=2488&amp;la=EN">here</a>. 
Take action against Unilever on European Day of Action, 4 December!

Day of Action on Unilever Rings Tomorrow in Europe

On August 2nd, Unilever announced to the financial community its intention to cut 20,000 jobs world-wide over the next three years, with 60 factories to be closed or disposed of. 
 
Under pressure from shareholders and ratings agencies, Unilever has over the last 7 years closed or sold off over 125 factories around the world, halving the global workforce to 179,000. Over these years, profits have steadily risen. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="" width="100" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="86" alt="" src="" width="100" align="absMiddle" />&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Systematic outsourcing has led to the elimination of permanent jobs at Unilever in many parts of the world and the creation of vast complexes of precarious labour. Outsourcing is now set to increase from 15 to 25% of volume. Many workers who produce for Unilever have been employed on renewable, &quot;temporary&quot; contracts for over a decade! 
 
By looting its own resources, Unilever management has been paying itself bonuses and buying back its own shares with cash made available through job cuts and outsourcing. Cash freed up through restructuring will be used to finance &euro;25-30 billion in dividends and share buybacks. The money will not be invested in the long-term future of the company. 
 
Through closures, job cuts, outsourcing and labour contracting, Unilever is destroying jobs and livelihoods across the globe, harming communities, and weakening the collective strength of Unilever unions. 
<img height="161" alt="" src="" width="150" />
Europe is now being targeted in a major way: 10-12,000 of the announced job cuts will be carried out there. 
 
On Tuesday, December 4th, Unilever unions in Europe will organise a day of action featuring a protest march and public assembly in Rotterdam. Concurrently and throughout the week, unions will stage actions at Unilever plants throughout Europe. 
 
Unilever's attack on jobs in Europe is only the latest in a continuing world-wide attack on employment. Unilever unions throughout the world are called on to support their comrades in Europe and to take global action as part of the fight to halt the global job destruction and to expand global union power at Unilever!

4 December 2007 Joint ICEM/IUF Unilever Message

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Jeff Lawrence, the 17-year president of ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality, and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), won selection last week as Secretary-elect of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). 
 
He will succeed Greg Combet, who will stand down late this year as the day-to-day leader of the Australia&rsquo;s national labour centre and run for Parliament from the New South Wales district of Charlton in 2007 elections. Combet has served as secretary of the 1.9-million-member ACTU since the year 2000. 
<img height="187" alt="" src="" width="200" />
Jeff Lawrence, new ACTU Secretary-elect
Lawrence, 55, was the only person nominated for the post at the ACTU&rsquo;s Organising Conference on 13 June at the University of New South Wales. He began his trade union career in 1977 for the Federated Miscellaneous Workers Union, one of several predecessor unions to the 130,000-member LHMU. 
 
&ldquo;I am determined to work hard to see off the Howard government and its unfair IR laws,&rdquo; Lawrence stated. &ldquo;As ACTU Secretary, I want to work with Australian working families to ensure that they and their rights are given respect. (That includes) respect for them to be heard &hellip; in the workplace and in society in general; respect for their role as parents and carers; (and) respect for their skills and their ability to improve themselves. 
<img height="56" alt="" src="" width="350" />
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what WorkChoices, the Howard government&rsquo;s industrial law, has taken away.&rdquo; 
ACTU President Sharan Burrow called Lawrence a trade unionist who has led the charge against the Howard government&rsquo;s draconian labour relations reforms. &ldquo;He is from a union that has members at the forefront of the impact of WorkChoices,&quot; she said. &ldquo;I look forward to working with Jeff Lawrence and to developing a new partnership to lead the community campaign to restore the rights of working Australians taken away by the Australian government.&rdquo;

LHMU’s Jeff Lawrence to Succeed Greg Combet as head of Australian Council of Trade Unions

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Stefan L&ouml;fven was elected President of Nordic IN at a Congress held 15 June in Reykjavik, Iceland. Nordic IN is a regional trade union federation, representing 1.2 million workers of 22 affiliated national unions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. 
 
L&ouml;fven, who is the president of Swedish ICEM affiliate, IF Metall, the metal and chemical workers&rsquo; union, succeeds Kjell Bj&oslash;rndalen, who retired. Nordic-In&rsquo;s biennial Congress, attended by 70 delegates, also elected Thorkild Jensen, from Denmark's CO-industri, and Mari-Ann Krantz, from Sweden's Sif, as vice presidents. Jyrki Raina continues as general secretary. 
<img height="170" src="" width="150" alt="" />
New Nordic IN President Stefan L&ouml;fven
The federation&rsquo;s action programme 2008-2009 adopted at the Reykjavik Congress states that Nordic unions will work together to: 
<ul>
 <li>
 <div>safeguard the Nordic model with a high unionisation rate, strong collective agreements, social security and workers' participation; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>work towards fair globalisation and to ensure the respect of trade union rights in all parts of the world; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>promote proactive trade, energy and environmental policies; </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>train union officers and European Works Council members on networking and on how to handle cross-border restructuring cases in multinational companies; and to </div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <div>promote recruitment of new members and stronger union structures in the Baltic states. </div>
 </li>
</ul>
As part of the Congress, a thematic session was held that included participation by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and trade union leaders representing the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the European Metal Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMF), and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF). 
<img height="139" src="" width="98" alt="" />
Nordic IN General Secretary Jyrki Raina
That session centered on discussion on the future of the trade union movement in the global economy. &ldquo;The work Nordic IN is doing is a prime example of what can be accomplished when trade unions unite and follow a common agenda,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s Warda. 
 
Nordic IN, founded on 1 January 2006 with the merger of Nordic Metal and the Nordic Industry Workers&rsquo; Federation (NIF), has as a basic mission to coordinate the policies and action of Nordic trade unions, especially within European industry federations EMF, EMCEF and the European Textile, Clothing, and Leather Federation, as well as within ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF. 
 
The Congress confirmed that Nordic unions will continue to work to bring industrial workers into one federation in Europe and in the world, in order to maximise our resources in a globalised world.

Nordic IN Holds Biennial Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland

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One of ICEM&rsquo;s UK affiliates, Unite, has released a comprehensive study detailing the use and misuse of agency workers in the UK. The union, Britain&rsquo;s largest and the product of a recent merger between Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, released the results of the study to the Department of Trade and Industry early this month. 
 
The study finds systematic abuse and misuse of agency and temporary workers at some of the most visible corporations operating in UK, including Coca-Cola, BMW, Harper Collins Publishers, Norwich Union, Honda, Unisys, and WH Smith. The study was conducted by Unite&rsquo;s Amicus section, throughout the sectors of manufacturing, finance, construction, and graphical/media. 
<img height="142" src="" width="100" alt="" />
&ldquo;Regardless of how you define a McJob, many employers are using agency workers to undermine pay and conditions, and replace permanent workers with cheaper, less qualified labour, leaving hundreds of thousands in a cycle of insecure and low-paid employment,&rdquo; stated Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary. 
 
The study cites a situation at Unisys in which a contract employer, Right4Staff Agency, had up to five South African data-processing workers share one bed. The workers took turns sleeping, with those not sleeping being at work. At a Honda Civic plant in Swindon, due to growth in sales, the Japanese automaker found it needed an additional 800 workers. But rather than hire and train full-time, permanent staff, local managers turned to an agency called Best Connection. Workers from this agency are paid ₤2-an-hour less than the Honda starting rate and receive a third less holidays. 
 
At Coca-Cola in Wakefield, an agency specifically recruits Polish workers to do quality checking at ₤7-an-hour, nearly half the hourly wage negotiated by Amicus at the plant, and they miss out on a 38% shift allowance. At a BMW plant in Hams Hall, the company&rsquo;s canteen operates with a two-tier pricing system &ndash; with prices higher for temporary staff. Some temp workers at BMW here have laboured for more than five years without being called for full-time employment. 
<img height="50" src="" width="100" alt="" />
Unite blames the UK government with failing to provide equal employment rights to agency and temporary workers, despite a commitment from the 2004 Warwick agreement to do so. That agreement saw the Blair government pledge to implement the measures contained in the proposed EU Directive on Temporary and Agency Workers. Nothing was done. 
 
&ldquo;We expect the new leadership of the Labour government to right this wrong, and implement the measures contained in the proposed (directive),&rdquo; said Simpson. 
 
Earlier this year, a private member&rsquo;s bill in Parliament brought by Labour MP Paul Farelly of Newcastle-under-Lyme was introduced that would have given agency workers the same rights, pensions, and working conditions as full-time workers. But the bill was talked out and denied a vote in the House of Commons.

Unite Study in UK Finds Rampant Abuse of Agency Workers

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