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<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
Unions from France and Belgium convened early this month in Montreuil, France, to discuss a complete lack of information to workers over the merger plans of Owens Corning’s Reinforcements Business with Saint-Gobain’s Reinforcement Composites Businesses, known as Vetrotex. 
 
Under the auspices of the Fédération Nationale du Verre et de la Céramique CGT, the CGT Owens Corning l’Ardoise and Vétrotex St Gobain Chambéry met with representatives of the Belgian FGTB et CSC, representing Owens Corning workers in Battice, Belgium. 
<img height="52" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BelgiumFLAG.gif" width="80" alt=""/>        <img height="53" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFlag.gif" width="80" alt=""/>
The consultations concluded with the unionists condemning the fact that neither Owens Corning, a US multinational, nor French Saint-Gobain had taken the trouble to answer the questions posed by the unions since the announcement of the merger was made last July. Workers are extremely concerned about the planned merger’s impact, including a possible sale of one or more of the two companies’ entities. 
 
The trade unionists from the French and Belgian unions said that they have not been provided information on either a social or industrial plan, thus creating the fear of the negative consequences that workers could face if the merger becomes reality.

French, Belgian Unions Meet Over Possible Owens Corning, Saint-Gobain Merger

ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 18

The 86-day strike by members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at 12 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plants in the US ended 29 December, after rubber workers voted to approve a new accord at America’s biggest tyre producer by a two-to-one margin. USW announced yesterday that 10,000 of 14,000 striking union members voted in balloting, and that approval of the new three-year labour agreement was gained by a majority of members at all 12 branch locals.
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUSW.jpg" width="120"/>
Some 500 Canadian USW members at four rubber accessory plants in the province of Ontario are voting on a separate contract proposal. Both the US and Canadian Goodyear workers have been on strike since 5 October 2006. 
 
"It took a strike, but we achieved a fair and equitable contract that protects quality health care for active and retired members,” said USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. "And by winning major capital investment expenditures, it secures our jobs for the future." 

The strike in the US centered on heath care coverage and job security. USW won a guarantee from Goodyear that it would commit US$550 million in capitalisation investments at the 12 plants over the next three years. 

The union also pushed Goodyear in week-long talks beginning on 19 December to increase a health care trust fund for active workers and retirees. The US-based company agreed to place US$1 billion in a Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association, from which medical and prescription drug benefits for current and future retirees will come. Future contributions into this fund will include diverted cost-of-living payments and profit-sharing plants. 
During the strike, Goodyear announced that it would close a tyre plant in Tyler, Texas, in 2007, thus making 1,100 workers redundant. USW and Goodyear agreed in the December talks that closure would occur no sooner than 2008, and the union won sizeable retirement buy-outs, enhanced severance packages, and medical coverage for Texas workers for a full two years beyond closure of the private-label tyre operation. It also won a guarantee that future manufacture of such tyres will be done in a plant that had been on strike. 
<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
The 12-week strike was marked by the company circumventing the union and appealing directly to USW members to abandon the walk-out and return to work. But there were few defections among the nearly 15,000 strikers, and that fact no doubt forced Goodyear to compromise its original demands. 

“The credit really belongs to our members and their families, whose solidarity prevented the company from short-changing them, despite all of its attempts,” stated USW President Leo Gerard. 
 
This week’s contract ratification means workers will return to work on 2 January at both tyre and engineered rubber product plants in Akron, Ohio; St. Marys, Ohio; Marysville, Ohio; Gadsden, Alabama; Buffalo, New York; Lincoln, Nebraska; Topeka, Kansas; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; Tyler, Texas; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; and, Union City, Tennessee.

USW Ends US Goodyear Strike after Membership Vote Approval

The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Trade Union Federation representing workers in the mining industry, today commended its Colombian affiliate, Sintracarbón, and coal producer Carbones del Cerrejón for achieving a new collective agreement over the weekend. After the union’s National Assembly of Delegates issued a strike mandate on 25 January, Sintracarbón’s six-member bargaining committee met with the management of Colombia’s biggest coal enterprise throughout the weekend to achieve the new two-year agreement. 
 
“The ICEM applauds the fact that both sides saw the rationale to continue discussions even after it appeared a strike was inevitable,” stated General Secretary Manfred Warda. “This is a testament to the commitment that Sintracarbón and the company has for the Social Dialogue process.” 
<img height="115" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="250" alt=""/>
Carbones del Cerrejón, with its three multinational stakeholders, AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, are partners with the ICEM and Sintracarbón in a unique Social Dialogue arrangement adopted in 2004 in Colombia. The agreement, which also covers other multinational companies and several other ICEM-affiliated trade unions in Colombia, established a formal process for meaningful labour-management discussions between parties. 
 
Warda said it was essential that the three parent companies asserted themselves in talks over the weekend. 
 
The agreement, covering some 4,000 miners, awards a pay increase of 7.7% in the first year of the agreement, with a second year increase of either 1.5% above Colombia’s consumer price index for 2007, or 6%, whichever is higher. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Sintracarbón and its membership for standing steadfast in these negotiations in order to meet their other contractual demands. Those include sizeable payouts in both years of the agreement for university educations for children of miners; a series of bonuses for Cerrejón’s workers, which includes a ratification bonus and a set production bonus that will increase when the company’s coal price exceeds US$48-per-tonne; additional employer contributions to a pension fund in each year of the agreement; and extra monthly medical stipends for family members. 
 
The ICEM is specifically proud of the achievements Sintracarbón made for contract workers employed at Carbones del Cerrejón in Guajira state. That includes bringing 80 temporary workers to full-time, permanent status; and enlarging the level of benefits for contract labourers once six months of employment is complete. One more requirement is for the company to conduct interviews with contract employers to ensure they are complying with Colombian law, and that this process is shared with the union. 
 
For further details: <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2105-Sintracarbón’s-Miners-Poised-to-Strike-at-Carbones-del-Cerrejón-in-Colombia" type="internal">/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2105-Sintracarbón’s-Miners-Poised-to-Strike-at-Carbones-del-Cerrejón-in-Colombia</a>.

ICEM Applauds Coal Agreement Reached in Colombia

The 20-million-member ICEM filed a strong protest yesterday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over this week’s assassination attempt on a prominent trade unionist. 
 
Rasem Al Bayari, deputy general secretary of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), managed to escape in the early morning hours of Monday, 29 January, when assailants fired rockets into his home. A day after this violent act, more attackers returned to his home and fired shots at the house. 
 
“The Palestinian Authority, as a responsible Authority, must uphold internationally recognised rights,” wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Abbas, “including full respect for the fundamental human rights of workers, such as their right to life.” 
 
The ICEM has demanded that the Palestinian Government ensure the safety of Al Bayari and his family, and urges “a thorough investigation into the rocket attacks and the shootings” so that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
<img height="203" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0701Saed.jpg" width="160"/>
 PGFTU Gen. Sec. Shaher Sae'd pionts to a bullet hole in the wall of the PCFTU conference room 
 

On 12 October 2006, the PGFTU’s headquarters in Nablus was attacked. This assault was followed by death threats to the union’s leaders. The Palestinian national labour centre then called it an escalation against trade unionism, because PGFTU leaders had been strongly speaking out on behalf of workers. 
 
The ICEM stands solidly behind PGFTU, and echoes the commitment of the Palestinian labour centre, at it reacted to this week’s cowardly and violent act on the Al Bayari’s home: “This act will not silence the workers and will not stop our activities to build the structures of the Palestinian State for the benefit of our people and workers.” 
Read the ICEM Letter to Palestinian Government <a href="/en/24-North-Africa-Middle-East-/2124-ICEM-Letter-to-Palestine-President-Mahmoud-Abbas" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Issues Strong Protest to Palestinian Government

The 20-million-member ICEM strongly condemns the Friday, 2 February, rocket blast that destroyed the Gaza headquarters of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Jebaliya in northern Gaza. The blast and subsequent assault destroyed the PGFTU’s Voice of Workers radio station. 
 
“The ICEM finds it totally unacceptable that peaceful trade unionists, working hard to promote the rights of workers, must work and live in fear of their lives and that of their family members,” ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said in a letter to Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
“The Palestinian Authority has a duty to ensure the personal safety of all trade unionists in accordance with internationally recognised rights, namely the right to life and freedom of association.” 
 
The 2 February destruction of the PGFTU comes just days after the attack on the home of the labour federation’s deputy general secretary, Rasem Al Bayari. It also came amidst the worst sectarian violence in Gaza over the past year. Since 1 February, 28 people have been killed in Gaza and some 250 wounded. 
<img height="183" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/06PalestineShaherSaed.jpg" width="130"/>
PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae'd
Yesterday, 4 February, PGFTU conducted a march and labour demonstration in Ramalah, rejecting the recent violent incidents and attempts to silence the voice of workers. PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae’d said that workers reject the killings and destruction of property at a time when Palestinians need to face the impacts of poverty and unemployment. 
 
The ICEM, comprised of 384 trade unions in 125 countries, stands with the PGFTU in its call for a peaceful end to the sectarian violence in Palestine, and the need for a national unity government. 
 
To view the ICEM’s protest letter to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas, click <a href="/en/24-North-Africa-Middle-East-/2125-ICEM-Letter-to-Palestine-President-Mahmoud-Abbas" type="internal">here</a>. For background on the 29 January assassination attempt on Rasem Al Bayari, click <a href="/en/24-North-Africa-Middle-East-/2123-ICEM-Issues-Strong-Protest-to-Palestinian-Government" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Condemns Attack on PGFTU, Destruction of ‘Workers’ Voice’ Radio in Palestine

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
An advisor to the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, was found murdered on 31 January, three days after he and two colleagues were abducted in front of the Al-Nahrain University, where he was a law professor. The murders reflect the horrid circumstances that trade unionists and their allies are subjected to every day in attempting to build democratic unions in Iraq. 
 
Dr. Al-Abed was a known supporter of Iraqi unions, who used his expertise to write and publish frequently on labour issues, including revision of an ILO-sponsored draft labour law for Iraq. He was a frequent lecturer at the GFIW-affiliated Institute for Trade Union Education.
<img height="115" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Iraq.png" width="250" alt=""/>
Also on 31 January, a car bomb severely wounded Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani, vice president of the GFIW. It is believed he was the target of the bomb. Al-Mashhadani also serves as general secretary for the Arab Federation of Building and Woodworkers. Prior to the three-way merger of the GFTU, the IFTU, and the GFITU to form the GFIW, Al-Mashhadani served as president of the GFITU. 
 
Violent acts against Iraqi trade unionists didn’t stop with these attacks on 31 January. A car bomb exploded the same day at the GFIW’s branch office for the northern province of Nineveh, resulting in injuries to workers and trade union leaders. The car bomb went off in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province. 
 
GFIW issued the following statement after that morning bomb attack: “The terrorist acts, the annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement’s assets, and the placement of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement that is free of government and party hegemony.”

Violence in Iraq Aimed at GFIW Trade Unionists Continue

Señor Alvaro Uribe Vélez 
Presidente de la República 
Palacio Nariño 
Carrera 8 No. 7-26 
Bogotá 
 
By Fax: ++57-1-337.58.90 and ++57-1-566.20.71 
 
Brussels, 15 February 2007 
 
 
Mr. President, 
We are writing to you in the aftermath of two recent coal mine disasters in Colombia which saw, in total, the death of almost 40 people. 
 
As you know, the first catastrophe, the worst of its kind in Colombia in 30 years, took place on 3 February, in the San Roque and La Preciosa Mines in Sardinata, Norte de Santander department. Thirty-two miners lost their lives in this tragedy. You visited the mine site after the explosion. 
 
Although you stated a full investigation would occur, you said nothing publicly about the underlying safety and other problems plaguing Colombia’s mining industry. 
 
A short two days after your visit, another tragedy struck a mine in Gámeza, Boyacá department. There, 8 people lost their lives, including a 13-year-old boy who was working inside a shaft mining coal. The mine in Gámeza was operating illegally. 
 
At a time of high demand for coal, with the market situation pushing prices to near record highs, the 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the 168-million-member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are deeply concerned about the inadequate or non-existent safety measures that were behind these accidents. 
 
In this context, we condemn your government’s policy to weaken the role of the state in the monitoring and verifying process of working conditions in the mines. Through our affiliates, we have been informed of a resulting decline in both the quantity and the quality of labour inspections. This is especially worrisome given that Colombia has ratified ILO Convention No. 81 on Labour Inspections. 
 
We further understand that, with the exception of the major mining companies of the world, which operate vast mineral export businesses in your country, the level of technical and other modern safety devices is totally inadequate in most Colombian underground mines, including in the many illegal ones. 
 
We believe that your government bears much responsibility for this, since safety failures in the mining industry are a result of structural problems that need governmental attention. 
 
We urge your government to assume its direct decision-making role in this regard. We note that Colombia has ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention. But we also note that Colombia has ratified neither ILO Convention No. 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, nor Convention No. 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention. 
 
We therefore call on the government of Colombia to start the process toward ratification of Convention Nos. 155 and 176 at once. And we urge you, as leader of the growing industrial economy that Colombia has become, to spearhead this effort. 
 
In closing, we state that the right to a safe and secure working environment is an inherent right for all workers. It is the responsibility of governments to assure that right. We look forward to your comments on this important issue. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary 
Guy Ryder 
ITUC General Secretary 

Cc: Embassy of Colombia in Brussels 
International Labour Organisation 
International Council on Mining & Metals

Joint ICEM-ITUC letter to Colombian President on mining disasters

<img height="40" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
A miners' strike in Kazakhstan that started following the deadly 20 September methane blast in a coal mine that killed 41 has ended. Some 24,500 workers at eight coal mines in central Kazakhstan, owned by the world's largest steelmaker, Arcelor Mittal Steel, returned to their colleries on 5 October after safety and pay demands were partially met. 
 
The strike, which started on 25 September, was joined a few days later by steelworkers from Mittal's steel enterprises in the Karaganda region, as well as by iron ore miners employed by the company. 
<img height="67" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/KazakhstanFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
The metalworkers' union had experienced little movement in two months of negotiations prior to the strike, but significant wage gains were won on that front as well. Arcelor Mittal officials admitted that the strike, which stopped production at all eight coal mines, had caused a 30% decline in steel output. 
 
The Korgau coal miners' trade union reported that Arcelor Mittal gave pledges of new mining equipment to replace antiquated machinery already in use prior to 1995, the year that the company purchased the mines as well as vast steelmaking facilities from a state-run company. Miners also realised a doubling, effective 1 October, of their pay. New pay packets will now be the equivalent of US$700 per month. 
 
Steelworkers, who previously had an average pay of US$300 per month, won a 1 October increase of 20%, and will receive another 10% in February 2007. 
 
The methane explosion at the Lenin mine that claimed the 41 lives was the worst mining disaster on record in the central Asian republic. Last week, Arcelor Mittal announced that it made a one-time allowance equivalent to ten years' pay to each of the deceased miners' families. In addition, those families with children under 18 will receive monthly allowances. The one-off payments, however, hardly compensate for the pain and loss of a primary wage-earner. The average payment amounts to US$63,000. 
 
The strikes and protests that followed the explosion, which also seriously injured six miners, had the support and endorsement from Kazakhstan's government. The lower house of Parliament, the Majilis, moved to seek a change in the Kazakh labour code in which core industries such as mining and metallurgy have defined and set levels of minimum pay. 
 
"Foreign investors economise on everything from equipment to sick leave, making miners work in inhuman conditions," said Parliament Deputy Mukhtar Tinikeyev. He added that Arcelor Mittal had attempted to shift blame of the Lenin Mine disaster "to three person -- the chief engineer and two mechanics. But the blame rests with foreign investors who economise on equipment." 
 
Arcelor Mittal, with 61 steel plants in 27 countries, derives 8% of its total steel-making capacity from its operations in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Miners' Strike Ends with Significant Gains

<img height="40" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief 1.gif" width="100"/>
The Fédération des travailleurs de l’Energie, des Mines et Eau et Assimiliés (FESYNEME) held its first Congress in Benin, West Africa, on 2 September 2006. 
 
Delegates from each of its five member-unions, all from the energy sector, were present at this first Congress, including from Syntra-Sonacop (Syndicat des travailleurs de la société nationale de commercialisation des produits pétroliers), the ICEM’s affiliate in Benin. FESYNEME is, in turn, an affiliate of Benin’s national centre CSA. 
 
The Congress chose Syntra-Sonacop’s General Secretary Dieudonné Lokossou as General Secretary for FESYNEME for the next four years.

First Congress for Energy Union Federation in Benin

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