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Copper Miners in Chile at Minera Escondida Ltda. were set to strike today, at 08h00, following an unacceptable wage offer made by management on Friday, 4 August. With 8% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply originating from Escondida in northern Chile, this dispute is being watched closely because it could send copper prices to new highs. 
 
Escondida Workers&rsquo; Union No. 1, representing over 2,000 copper miners, said over the weekend that an improved company offer still fell short of union demands. Management, led by BHP Billiton, had asked the government for the mandatory five-day cooling off period last week, making any strike before today illegal. 
 
The company&rsquo;s offer Friday raised a one-off traditional pay bonus for each worker to US$21,481 from US$15,000, but it held firm on its prior salary offer of 3% above Chile&rsquo;s inflation rate. The proposal also promises social improvements in the community of Antofagasta, as well as interest-free loans to workers. 
 
The union is seeking a 13% salary increase due to high inflation rates plaguing Chile&rsquo;s booming mining areas. It also seeks zone allocation pay and a US$29,629 one-off bonus. Workers&rsquo; Union No. 1 also claims that management has failed to address certain conditions for working women, particularly truck drivers. 
 
Any Escondida salary settlement is expected to be the defining pattern for upcoming wage and benefit negotiations with other mining enterprises in Chile, including bargaining units within huge state-run copper company Codelco. 
 
Minera Escondida Ltda., with two open pit mines in Chile&rsquo;s northern Region II, is 57.5% owned by BHP Billiton, 30% by Rio Tinto, 10% by a consortium of Japanese companies led by Mitsubishi, and 2.5% by the World Bank&rsquo;s International Finance Corporation.

Copper Miners Poised to Strike Today in Chile

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A pattern-setting agreement in the US rubber sector was achieved 5 August, following successful ratification by 4,000 members of United Steelworkers (USW) at three Michelin plants. The three-year labour agreement, now effective at Michelin&rsquo;s BF Goodrich plants in Fort Wayne, state of Indiana, and Opelika and Tuscaloosa, both in the state of Alabama, preserves job security and prevents future layoffs at the three plants for the contract&rsquo;s duration. 
 
USW trade unionists at all three facilities voted in favour of the agreement. The common contract needed acceptance by workers at two of the three plants in order to pass. 
 
&ldquo;We believe we achieved our industry goals when it comes to protecting retiree health care benefits and securing additional job protection measures for our active members,&rdquo; stated USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. 
 
The BF Goodrich agreement does grant the company some lowered operational costs. The accord makes room for 435 rubber workers at the combined plants to take retirement with an enhanced package that includes up to 40 weeks of pay, depending on length of employment. 
 
USW will now shift bargaining efforts to Bridgestone/Firestone (BSF), talks which have already begun. The union represents 6,000 BSF employees at eight manufacturing plants. The USW and Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber also are in negotiations, but the two sides are far apart on job security and other work terms. Goodyear is the biggest tyre-maker in the US, and the USW represents 17,000 workers at 12 plants. 
 
The prior three-year labour agreement in the US rubber sector expired on 22 July.

US Steelworkers Ratify Contract with Michelin’s BF Goodrich Unit

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South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will conduct week-long commemorations all this week in tribute to a defining mining strike that occurred 60 years ago on 12 August. 
 
Hundreds of miners, then part of NUM&rsquo;s predecessor, the Black Mineworkers&rsquo; Union, struck on that day in 1946 at Witwatersran for a wage increase of 60 shillings and an end to single sex hostels. The strike was met by white police and the private security forces of the mining bosses, who violently put down the strike, maiming and killing several mineworkers in the process. 
 
&ldquo;It is important to recall the contributions made by these black mineworkers, their resilience and resistance under difficult times,&rdquo; stated NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, who also is President of the ICEM. Zokwana specifically mentioned the names of J.B. Marks, J.J. Majoro, and Thabo Mofutsanyane as courageous trade union leaders who made a stand on behalf of black mineworkers. 
 
&ldquo;The fact that the NUM is here today is due to the early efforts of these leaders and workers in organising mineworkers,&rdquo; Zokwana said. 
 
The commemorations started yesterday when African National Congress Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe addressed a NUM memorialisation event in Welkom, Free State. All of NUM&rsquo;s 11 regions will conduct activities this week that will culminate in a march on Saturday, 12 August, on the offices of the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg. On Wednesday, 9 August, a tribute honouring the 50th Anniversary of the Women&rsquo;s March to Union Buildings will be held. This will recognise the constraints still facing women who work in South Africa&rsquo;s mining industry, as well as honouring women who have lost their husbands in mining accidents.

60th Anniversary of South Africa’s Witwatersran Mining Strike Occurs This Week

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ICEM affiliate Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Namibia (MUN) stepped in to resolve a strike by workers at a diamond cutting and polishing factory in the southern African country recently.
The strike, by nearly a quarter of the 500-member workforce at a plant operated by Israeli-based Lev Leviev Diamonds, occurred when management again attempted to impose restrictive individual contracts on workers. The activist-leaders shut down the plant in Namibia&rsquo;s northern industrial zone on 27 July by effectively blocking entrances, and then demanded representation by the MUN. 
 
After listening to workers&rsquo; grievances, MUN General Secretary Joseph Hengari began negotiations with the company. The union convinced strikers to reopen the plant on 31 July, and got the company to drop threatened disciplinary actions against strike leaders. 
 
After two years of operation, the plant&rsquo;s workers still have not been granted permanent status, instead held to 12-month temporary contracts. This round of temporary work agreements were issued in July, with the company demanding a signed return by 31 July. The individual contracts disqualified workers from earning a basic salary unless they reached certain production goals. Commissions would be paid to workers only when work exceeded a daily target of eight stones per day, or 170 diamonds per month. 
 
Hengari said the contracts fail on all counts of basic workers&rsquo; rights. He said that no overtime is ever paid, and standard double pay for work performed on Sundays and holidays is ignored. The MUN is awaiting official word from the company that it recognises the union, since nearly all workers have designated MUN as bargaining representative. 
 
Lev Leviev Diamonds is the world&rsquo;s largest cutter and polisher of precious gems and a major source of rough stones to other cutters. The conglomerate also owns a gold mine in Kazakhstan, two diamond mines in Angola, and a multitude of other global business ventures, stretching from real estate, to petrol stations to Vash Telecanal, Israel&rsquo;s Russian television station. The company, operated by Lev Leviev, a 1971 immigrant to Israel from the former Soviet Union state of Uzbekistan, has a long history of opaque transactions, particularly in diamond and gem trading.

Namibian Diamond Polishers Seek Representation by Mineworkers’ Union

After nearly three weeks of relentless bombing and ground attacks by Israel in Lebanon, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) today added its voice to the calls for an immediate cease fire by both Israel and the militia of Hezbollah. 
 
The ICEM believes that Israel&rsquo;s actions have reached an unbearable level, particularly after the killings on 30 July of 56 civilians and children in Qana, southern Lebanon, by an Israeli air strike. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM condemns the totally disproportionate use of military force by Israel in Lebanon,&rdquo; stated General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;Israel has effectively imposed collective punishment on all Lebanese people and destroyed the viability of the Lebanese state by destroying the country&rsquo;s infrastructure.&rdquo; 
 
Higgs stressed, &ldquo;There must be an internationally-imposed cease fire immediately so that a genuine and lasting peace for the region can commence.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM says the abusive way in which Israel is punishing the Lebanese people in hopes of destroying Hezbollah has created a humanitarian crisis that can only be addressed with the immediate cessation of lethal force and the acceptance by all parties to begin a process for a lasting peace. 
 
Across the Middle East Region as a whole, peace will only be achieved with resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, including the formation of a viable, independent Palestinian state. 
 
The ICEM is the Global Union Federation for the energy, chemicals, mining and other industrial sectors with affiliated trade union unions in both Lebanon and Palestine. The ICEM has 20 million members worldwide through its 403 affiliated trade unions in 122 countries. 
Click here for an <a href="/index.php?id=77&amp;doc=1898&amp;la=AR">Arab translation of this news release</a>.
Click here for an <a href="/index.php?id=24&amp;doc=2000&amp;la=AR">Arab translation of the Global Info article on an ICEM visit to Palestine</a>.

ICEM News Release: Call for an Immediate End to Israeli Aggression

Mid-July proved to another deadly period in the coal mines of China. In total, over 100 miners lost their lives in six separate and recorded tragedies occurring over in just over a week&rsquo;s time.
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&nbsp;The largest number of industrial deaths occurred in north China&rsquo;s Shanxi Province, at the Linjiazhuang Coal Mine in Lingshi county. A coal dust explosion on 15 July killed 57 miners, with only six miners managing to escape. Also on 15 July, a flash flood in the central Chinese province of Hunan killed 14 workers at the Shenjiawan Coal Mine. Only one of those workers was underground at the time, but the flooding also trapped rescue workers. 
 
Another mine flood in yet another province on 15 July took the lives of 18 miners. This occurred at the village-run Pianpoyuan Coal Mine in southwest China&rsquo;s Guizhou province, near the town of Anshun. On 16 July, an explosion at the Lilan Coal Mine in Junlian county, province of Sichuan province, claimed the lives of five miners. Thirty-four coalminers managed to escape. 
 
Eight miners were feared drowned inside a mine shaft that flooded on 10 July. This occurred in Shanxi province at the Dongchuan Coal Mine in Luliang City. Ten miners escaped, but rescue efforts were hampered by the necessity to pump some 2,000 cubic metres of water from mine shafts. On 8 July, a colliery in neighbouring Liulin county of Shanxi province, saw six miners trapped and presumed dead by flooding.

Spate of China Coal Mine Accidents Occur in Mid-July

The month-long strike by Norway&rsquo;s NOPEF union that is beginning to cripple energy production across the country&rsquo;s oil patch will get an airing today before a state mediator. It will be the government&rsquo;s second attempt to resolve issues that prompted NOPEF to strike a selective list of oil service companies on 21 June. 
 
Efforts just prior to the start of the strike by the state mediator failed.
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&nbsp; 
The strategic strike by 87 NOPEF trade unionists is aimed at normalising the national oil services&rsquo; work agreement with other national contracts inside Norway&rsquo;s energy sector. Work schedules and working terms and conditions common to other staff inside the sector remains the central issue to the strike. 
 
The striking NOPEF members are employed by Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Oceaneering. Other oil service companies such as Aker Kvaerner, Geoservices, and Acergy are also affected. Major oil companies that are losing time and money on well development projects, new drilling exploration, and maintenance include Statoil, ConocoPhillips, Norsk Hydro, Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. 
 
Work has been interrupted at Statoil&rsquo;s Snorre and Stratford platforms, and at the Norwegian state company&rsquo;s northern Sn&oslash;hvit and Kristin oil fields, while the strike has slowed work at Norsk Hydro&rsquo;s Heidrun and Oseberg platforms, and at ConocoPhillip&rsquo;s Ekofisk platform.

Mediation Today in NOPEF’s Oil Services Strike

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After successful lobbying by ICEM Peruvian mining affiliate FNTMMSP and a national labour centre, Confederaci&oacute;n General de Trabajadores del Per&uacute; (CGTP), ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health Mines Convention, is one step closer to ratification in the South American country. The Commission of Work of Peru&rsquo;s Congress approved a motion encouraging the government to ratify the 11-year-old convention. 
 
Both unions submitted documents favouring passage, including ICEM materials and documentation supporting ratification. &ldquo;We believe that ratification of Convention 176 will serve as an instrument to prevent accidents in Peru&rsquo;s mining sector,&rdquo; said FNTMMSP Sec. Gen. Luis Castillo Carlos. &ldquo;The strengthening of trade union organisations is the other tool towards better working conditions, including health and safety conditions.&rdquo;
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Peru&rsquo;s Ministry of Energy and Mines reports that in 2006, 66 miners died in industrial accidents and of those deaths, 37 were contract workers employed in mines. Part of the documentation submitted to the congressional panel was ICEM&rsquo;s reporting on global contract and agency labour. 
 
In mid-January, the Peruvian government signed a memorandum with ILO Sec. Gen. Juan Somavia on principles and polices, including the government&rsquo;s intent to ratify eight labour conventions. The party of Democrats, which currently controls Peru&rsquo;s Congress, is supporting adoption of ILO Conventions, and insists such conventions be contained in the country&rsquo;s free trade agreements.

Mine Safety Convention 176 Passes Key Committee in Peru’s Congress

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The future of the German hard-coal industry was given new life early in February. Shaped by a combination of hard bargaining by German Union IGBCE in a top-level national summit and a timely demonstration in D&uuml;sseldorf by 10,000 miners, a workable plan was achieved to preserve the industry until at least 2018, and possibly beyond. 
 
The summit was necessary after some federal politicians, as well as politicians from the coal-producing regions of Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia proposed eliminating coal subsidies as German coal and industrial enterprise RAG becomes a publicly-traded company.
<img height="146" alt="" src="" width="100" />
&nbsp;IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt
&ldquo;Our central tenets have been fulfilled,&rdquo; declared IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt. &ldquo;Social compatibility, a legal financing mechanism until 2018, and keeping a future door open beyond that.&rdquo; Revenues gained from RAG&rsquo;s stock offering will be placed in a non-profit foundation for that purpose. 
 
&ldquo;We negotiated hard and at a crucial moment, our ability to mobilise materialised,&rdquo; said Schmoldt. He was referring to the 10,000 miners who left their workplaces on 1 February and protested in front of the state parliament building in D&uuml;sseldorf. Miners were demonstrating against North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister J&uuml;rgen R&uuml;ttgers&rsquo; proposal at the summit to stop all coal subsidies by 2014. IGBCE and mining industry works councils organised the protest. 
 
Schmoldt said it was that demonstration which blocked the R&uuml;ttgers plan. 
 
Now the Germany Bundestag will draft a hard-coal financing plan from the results of the summit. Coal industry aid will begin in 2009 from the newly-created foundation. The IGBCE and German mineworkers are pleased with several major features produced by the recent coal summit, and with one in particular: that in 2012, a full review of the coal industry will occur in order to sustain it beyond 2018.

German Coal Industry Preserved Until 2018, Possibly Beyond

<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/RTnews[1].pdf">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 1</a>
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Issue2.pdf">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 2</a>
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Issue%20No%203.pdf ">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 3</a>
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Issue%20No%204.pdf ">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 4</a>
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Issue%20No%205.pdf">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 5</a>
<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/RioTintoNewsMay.pdf">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 6</a>
<a href="http://www.cfmeu.asn.au/national/int_issues/20040513_Riotinto.html ">Rio Tinto Workers' Global Network Newsletter 7</a>&nbsp;

Rio Tinto Network Newsletter overview

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