English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy 

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2021-2025

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL 

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia 

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean 

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Logos of IndustriALL Global Union

Press

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
One of the ICEM’s long-standing mining union affiliates, Türkiye Maden-İş, lost its president last week, and the entire family of ICEM mourns his passing. Ekrem Fedai had been valiantly fighting lung cancer for some time, but the disease claimed his life on 26 June. He was 58. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.turkey.obit.ekrem.fedai.jpg" width="243" height="150"/>
Ekrem Fedai
Brother Fedai was a substitute member of the ICEM Executive Committee. He started his trade union career in the state-owned lignite company in the city of Tavşanli, and in 1986 was first elected as regional secretary-treasurer of the union in that city. He won election as regional chairman in 1996, and then was elected to the post of Secretary of Collective Bargaining and Legal Affairs for Maden-İş at union headquarters in Ankara. At an extraordinary congress in 2008, he was unanimously elected President of Maden-İş. 
 
In a letter to Maden-İş Vice President Murat Bekem today, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, “We know his many contributions to your union and his many achievements across Turkey on behalf of miners.” The ICEM extends its condolences to Ekrem Fedai’s family and to all the union members of Türkiye Maden-İş.

ICEM Mourns Death of Turkish Mines Leader, Maden-İş President Ekrem Fedai

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM’s 14 Turkish affiliates have launched into an organising campaign called “Organising and Social Dialogue,” which is being undertaken as a project with support from Dutch national labour centre FNV and its international solidarity arm, FNV Mondiaal. ICEM and its affiliate on The Netherlands, FNV Bondgenoten, are coordinating the effort. 
 
Approved by the ICEM Turkish Coordinating Committee in November 2008, the project started with an initial conference on 15-16 June in Ankara. Attended by more than 100 union officials, representatives, and experts, the conference examined different tools and instruments with a view to facilitate recruitment drives within unions. The conference also heard the experiences in other countries regarding organising and social dialogue. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.henk.FNV.jpg" width="130" height="124"/>
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk Van der Kolk
At the opening session Henk Van der Kolk, President of FNV Bondgenoten, gave special attention to the importance of international cooperation for trade union success. “Trade unions all over the world are losing their strength,” he said. 
 
“It is no longer a natural thing to join a trade union when you start work. A social Europe, a social world, cannot exist without respect for fundamental human and workers’ rights, as stated in ILO conventions,” added Van der Kolk. “The right to freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively on job conditions are basic. The right to a living wage, safe work, and social protections are also basic.” 
 
Thanking FNV and Dutch trade unions with active involvement of the Turkish unions, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda underlined the significance of international work in new member recruitment. “There are several examples, and one only needs to look within Turkey,” he said. “The case of Novamed and the global support received by the courageous women of this company in the Antalya free trade zone is an excellent example. We need to build on such cases, and grow the labour movement both in Turkey and globally,” Warda said. 
 
The mechanisms of the ILO, tools provided under the Guidelines of Multinational Companies of the OECD and the UN’s Global Compact, and performance standards of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation were discussed. Also, the notion of trade union networks among multinational companies and Global Framework Agreements were also discussed. 
 
The conference also saw active participation from trade union delegates from the Asia/Pacific Region, and from Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, and the US. All shared their experiences on organising and social dialogue with leaders from the Turkish unions. 
 
At the final session on 16 June, a panel composed of Turkish union representatives made an evaluation on the Turkish situation that was in line with the presentations and discussions during the two-day conference. 
 
Following this initial conference in Turkey’s capital city of Ankara, the FNV Mondiaal project will continue with regional seminars with local union officers and shop-floor representatives. A first seminar will occur in the city of Izmit on 8-9 October, while a second one is scheduled for Izmir on 5-6 November. 
For the programme and presentations, please click <a href="/index.php?id=22&la=EN&doc=3292" type="internal">here</a>.

Dutch FNV Supporting Organising, Social Dialogue Project with ICEM in Turkey

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Brazilian affiliate, the ABC Chemical Workers’ Union of São Paulo state, chose the motto “Strengthen Regional Integration and Decent Work” for its 10th Congress, which was held from 16-19 May. Aimed at promoting discussions over key challenges faced by workers in the workplaces as well as in the communities, the Congress extended over a period of 60 days and was divided into three stages. 
 
At part one on 16 May, some 800 workers opened the Congress by starting political discussions over various topics dealing with more recruitment, and mobilization against the impact of global economic crisis. The session also took up the challenges at regional and national levels. 
 
The second portion of the Congress was realised from 29 May to 17 June when chemical workers and union members were invited to discuss union actions in four main areas: the workplace; local, regional, and national councils and committees covering health, social security, environment, employment, and development; the various segments of the chemical industry, including plastics, pharmaceuticals, paints, and petrochemicals; and the union movement at both national and international levels. 
 
In these sessions, participants adopted resolutions and elected delegates for the third and final step of the Congress programme, which will take place 17-19 July. This forum will approve and begin implementation of the main struggle points for the ABC Chemical Workers’ Union over the next three years. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.Paul.Lage.Brazil.ABC.JPG" width="250" height="186" alt=""/>
ABC Chemical Workers' Union President, Paul Lage
The President of the union, Paulo Lage, stated: “Instead of presenting prepared arguments and proposals to debate, we adopted a methodology that facilitates participation in the sessions and working groups, where arguments and resolutions are developed for debate and adoption at the final Congress round.” 
 
ICEM’s Latin American/Caribbean Region Vice-President Sérgio Novais, who is also an officer of the ABC Chemical Workers’ Union, also believes strongly in the innovative methodology of this process. He said it “improves the organization in the workplace, facilitates the organization of workers’ networks to understand globalization, and it presents real challenges and opportunities in which to find solutions.”

Brazil’s ABC Chemical Workers’ Union in Unique 60-day Congress Period

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Bridgestone Global Union Network held its 9th Steering Committee meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on 26-27 June, and is was hosted successfully by the ICEM’s Japanese affiliate, Rubber Workers’ Unions Confederation (GOMU-RENGO) and its member organisation, the Bridgestone Workers’ Union. 
 
GOMU RENGO President Toshiaki Hojo chaired the meeting with the assistance of Akihiro Nagasawa and Gen Tashiro, President and Vice President, respectively, of the Bridgestone Workers’ Union. (Gen Tashiro also serves as secretary of the Network.) 
 
Following the general report by ICEM’s Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal Özkan on developments and challenges in the tyre and rubber industry at global level, delegates to the meeting gave country and regional reports. They came from Japan, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.Bridgestone.Network.jpg" width="350" height="144" alt=""/>
As the central focus to the Network, delegates deliberated on industrial accidents within Bridgestone across the world. Delegates were informed of the circumstances around serious recent accidents in Japan and Brazil. A lengthy discussion then ensued on measures to improve occupational health and safety at the Japan-based company. 
 
The meeting also saw an extensive report by ICEM’s Özkan on the ongoing strike at a Bridgestone plant located in Frameries, Belgium, as well as problems in obtaining trade union recognition and health and safety concerns at a factory in Tatabanya, Hungary. 
 
The Japanese host union promised to put these problems before executives at Bridgestone headquarters in Japan. The delegates from Spain, Brazil, and South Africa extended solidarity both to ICEM affiliate FGTB Centrale Générale in Belgium and VDSz, the affiliated Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation in Hungary. 
 
Along with Hojo, Nagasawa, Tashiro, and Özkan, delegates attending included Daniel Demetrio and Batista Goncalves, Rubber Workers’ Union of Brazil (FUB); Jesus Delgado, Secretary of the European Works Council of Bridgestone and Eduardo Alonso, shop steward at Burgos, Spain, both members of the Federation of Related Industries of Spain (FIA-UGT); Nicholas Masilo from National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA); and Yoshio Sato, General Secretary of ICEM’s Japanese Affiliates Federation (ICEM-JAF). 
 
The next meeting of the Steering Committee is scheduled to take place during the last week of June 2010 in Spain.

Bridgestone Global Safety Steering Meets in Tokyo

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Japanese tyre-maker Bridgestone’s failure to listen to alternatives on redundancies in social talks has caused a fiery strike at the company’s airplane tyre factory in Frameries, Belgium. The strike by all 140 workers and led by ICEM Belgian affiliate FGTB Centrale Générale started on 11 June over eight job cuts. 
 
A day into the strike, trade unionists convinced managers to stay away from the factory and the plant has been idle since. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.bridgestone.strike.jpg" width="250" height="171" alt=""/>
Bridgestone seeks to unilaterally lay off eight workers. FGTB and the 140 workers say that decision ridicules a plant rule on job security. They also point to the fact that Bridgestone employs 14 workers on short-term contracts at Frameries. The FGTB states that Belgium’s pre-pension plan qualifies 24 workers for leave, but Bridgestone will not consider other solutions to its reduction in force. 
 
The factory is a Bridgestone re-treading plant. The strike at the plant comes at a time when Bridgestone is boasting to global financial markets that its 2009 earnings sheet will be better that previously predicted because of a stronger yen and already-implemented expense reductions.

Bridgestone Tyre Strike in Belgium Erupts

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The ICEM has again registered sharp complaint to the Iraqi government over anti-social conduct at its State Company for Petrochemical Industries’ set of plants in Basra. The latest incident finds a new state manager harassing, and then filing police charges against Mohammed Zaki Ibrahim, the leader of ICEM affiliate Petrochemical Workers’ Union of Basra. 
 
Last month, Mohammed Zaki was verbally assaulted by the new general manager, who stated his trade union activity was an “obstacle” to the way he intended to operate the company. The manager also charged Zaki with being under the influence of “external forces.” 
 
The ICEM was compelled to harshly condemn that violation of freedom of association in a letter to Iraq’s Minister of Industry and Minerals. 
 
The letter also pointed out that after Zaki left the abusive meeting – witnessed by other managers – he was immediately charged by police with trade union activity, and labelled as a danger to the Iraqi national economy. As the Zaki case illustrates, managers have been vindictive in upholding Saddam’s decades-old decree banning trade unions in the public sector, a draconian labour code that continued under the occupation forces. 
On 28 January, a workers manifestation over wage arrears at the enterprise resulted in management calling in the army. Managers targeted four union leaders with leading the protest, and then brought cruel and unjust discipline on to one of them: Kareem Johi Sahan was banished from the petrochemicals enterprise for six months and his pay grade was lowered. 
 
“The ICEM has paid close attention to events at the Basra facility,” said General Secretary Manfred Warda. “The Iraqi government must also. This must become a worksite where trade union rights are respected and we will continue working from the outside with trade unionists on the inside to fulfil that.” 
 
The state-owned petrochemical facility employs 5,000 workers and contains six plants making ethylene, polyethylene, vinyl chloride, and other chemicals. The Basra Petrochemical Workers’ Union is affiliated to the Iraq Oil Workers’ Federation (IFOU).

Iraq: ICEM Again Condemns Union Harassment at Basra Petrochem

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
A unique happenstance followed an ICEM workshop on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) in Guinea recently: the Industrial Relations manager of Russian bauxite and steel producer RUSAL was expelled from the country following revelations at the conference of the company’s horrid labour practices in Guinea. 
 
Mineworkers in Guinea, backed by leaders of the trade union federations, provided vivid evidence on working conditions, including child labour, at Compagnie des Bauxite de Kindla, RUSAL’s joint venture bauxite mining concern with the government. 
 
The testimony resulted in the government, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to expel Anatoly Pantchenko from Guinea. 
 
Trade unionists told how the RUSAL manager had organized a culture of outsourcing at the mine and at RUSAL’s wholly-owned Friguia alumina smelting plant. The company utilises some 120 outsourcing companies. Discussion centered on how the system has aggravated poverty and created extremely poor work conditions and salaries, leaving workers under RUSAL’s umbrella with little means for improved living conditions. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703Guinea2.jpg" width="350" height="233"/>
From left to right: Ibrahima Fofana, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, Manfred Warda and Yamodou Touré
The report was not new to the ICEM. In 2007, after street protests in Guinea loosened the dictatorial powers of President Lansana Conté, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG), visited the ICEM in Brussels. She and other trade union leaders from Guinea then told how RUSAL relies heavily on “phantom” subcontracting companies that are tied to Conté associates. 
 
In December 2008, following the death of Conté, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and a team of military officers took over the country. They immediately forged relations with the three main trade union federations and pledged to end corruption in the mining sector. 
 
Since then, relations between RUSAL and the government have been tenuous, and ICEM’s CAL workshops in May provided all the evidence Moussa Camara needed to expel RUSAL’s top manager from Guinea. In mid-April, workers at the Friguia refinery staged a strike, and RUSAL – now the world’s second largest steelmaker – said the work stoppage was instigated by the government. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66"/>
The ICEM’s CAL conference agreed on a plan of action for Guinea’s mining sector, which will see trade unions and the government push for a review of the national mining convention, a code that became obsolete and neglected under the corrupt Conté regime. Such a review will make it possible to properly address outsourcing, as well as to include guarantees on working conditions in employment contracts. 
 
A new committee was established with the government that is tasked with carrying out the review. The committee is composed of 13 members, two of whom are trade union leaders. 
 
The West African nation of Guinea holds two-thirds of the world’s bauxite deposits. A second multinational bauxite miner, called Halco, also operates in Guinea. But trade unionists tell the ICEM that work conditions there are far superior to those existing at RUSAL. Halco is an enterprise 51% owned by US-based Alcoa World Alumina and Alcan of Canada, with the remainder owned by Guinea’s government.

ICEM’s Contract Labour Forum in Guinea Forces Expulsion of Russian Mine Boss

“National Project Conference of Turkey: 
Organising and Social Dialogue” 
 
15 – 16 June 2009 
Ankara, Turkey 
 
A g e n d a 
 
 
15 June 2009, Monday 
 
09:30 - 10:30 Opening : 
 
Bayram Eren, General Education Secretary of Tes-İş 
Henk Van Der Kolk, President of FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/henk.fnv.speech.pdf" type="internal">speech</a>) 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary 
 
10:30 - 11:00 Break 
 
11:00 - 12:30 First Session: “Organising and Social Dialogue: International Mechanisms” 
 
Gülay Aslantepe, ILO Turkey Representative 
Zergül Özbilgiç, Undersecretariat of Treasury, General Directorate of Foreign Capital, Head of Department of International Relations (OECD Turkey National Contact Point) 
Kemal Özkan, ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer 
Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary and Board Member of “Global Compact” (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.manfred.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch 
 
14:00 – 16:00 Second Session : “Organising and Social Dialogue : International Trade Union Tools” 
 
Kemal Özkan, ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.kemal.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
Marc Ferron, EDF Global Agreement TU Secretary, France (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.ferron.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
Yücel Top, Coordinator of Turkey-EU Trade Union Integration Com. 
Jorgen Juul Rasmussen, Danks El-Forbund, Denmark (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.jorgen.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>)  
 
Discussions 
 
16:00 - 16:30 Break 
 
16:30 – 17:30 Third Session : “Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue” : Experiences from North America and Asia 
 
Joe Drexler, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.drexler.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
Phee Jungsun, ICEM Materials Industry Officer (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.phee.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
19:00 – 22:00 Dinner 
 
16 June 2009, Tuesday : 
 
09:30 – 10:30 Fourth Session : “Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue” (continuation) : Experiences from Europe-1 
 
Michael Wolters, IG BCE, Germany (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.wolters.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
Marc Blanc, FCE-CFDT, France (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.blanc.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
 
Discussions 
 
10:30 - 11:00 Break 
 
11:00 – 12:30 Fifth Session : “Different Country Trade Union Structures, Experiences and Strategies for Organising and Social Dialogue” (continuation) : Experiences from Europe-2 
 
Isidor Boix, FITEQA-CC.OO., Spain (<a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/fnv.bois.pres.pdf" type="internal">presentation</a>) 
Lobé Gevaerts – Mail Ürker, FNV Bondgenoten, The Netherlands 
 
Discussions 
 
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch 
 
14:00 – 15:30 Sixth Session : “In line with discussions, Strategy and Action Plan for Developing Organising and Social Dialogue in Turkey“ 
 
Fikret Sazak, Türkiye Maden-İş (mining) 
Üzeyir Ataman, Lastik-İş (rubber and chemical) 
İsmail Hakkı Kurt, Petrol-İş & Belediye-İş (oil/public service) 
Resul Limon, Tes-İş (Energy) 
Bahri Topçu, Türkiye Çimse-İş (Materials) 
 
15:30 – 16:00 Break 
 
16:00 - 17:00 Wrapping-up of two-day works and Proposals for the future 
 
17:30 End of the Conference

FNV Turkey Project Conference

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Strike actions occurred in Europe in recent days against South African pulp and paper producer Sappi. Workers holding memberships in four Dutch unions continue to be in dispute with Sappi at two mills in the Netherlands, Nijmegen and Maastricht. 
 
And at one of two mills in Finland that Sappi purchased from M-real one year ago, Kirkniemi, members of the local branch of ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto took a four-day industrial action 19-23 November over serious safety issues. 
 
At Nijmegen on 26 November, workers staged a 24-hour strike over the company’s failure to come to a terms in meeting minimal union demands for a new labour agreement. More actions are expected this week at Nijmegen and Maastricht. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/paper logo.jpg" width="300" height="81"/>
On 24 November, Dutch unions FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Bedrijenbond, ACV, and De Unie issued a demand for a one-year wage increase, July 2009 to July 2010, of 1.5%. The unions, representing 800 workers at the two paper mills, also demand retention of “seniorendagen,” the annual reward days off for workers with long service careers. If this is to be lost in a new collective agreement, the unions said in a demands declaration, a financial equivalent for both senior workers and younger workers for the social benefit must be substituted. 
 
Sappi Europe has been stingy in its pay offer, as well as unfair in benefit takeaways. In mid-September, workers rejected a 21-month Sappi proposal that was deemed inferior by a 95% vote. On 15 October, in a protest joined by ICEM and its global pulp and paper unions, 50 of the two mills’ workplace leaders took a petition to Sappi’s European headquarters in Brussels. (See InBrief No. 142 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3455-Pulp-Paper-Unions-Assist-Dutch-Unionists-in-Contract-Dispute-with-Sappi-" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
Following a revised company offer a few days later, union leaders again decided to take the proposal to Dutch workers at Nijmegen and Maastricht for a vote. They rejected that with a 99% vote. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0810PaperRollArt.jpg" width="180" height="109"/>
At Kirkniemi in Finland, earlier this year, Sappi thinned job ranks by 63 workers from a workforce of 400. The 19-23 November strike was over the fact that the remaining workers have taken on more work duties and occupational safety has been jeopardized. Sappi bought five European coated paper mills from M-real in early 2009 and intends to completely close one of those mills – Kangas, Finland – by the end of this year, thus giving the sack to 150 members of Paperiliitto. 
 
At a Sappi mill in North America, another labour dispute is coming to a head. Members of the United Steelworkers (USW), early in the week of 16 November, made a statement about a regressive Sappi contract proposal with an 82% rejection vote. Some 600 union members at a pulp and coated paper mill in Cloquet, Minnesota, have been without a current labour agreement since 1 May 2009. Sappi’s less than adequate pay offer contains no retroactive wages to that date. It also falls short in meeting pension offsets and the company has ignored a USW request to assist Sappi in finding lower-cost private health care alternatives.

Paperworkers in Finland, Netherlands Take Strike Actions against Sappi

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The campaign for preservation of coal mining jobs at Xstrata operations in New South Wales by the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) in Australia intensified late last week when miners took protected strike action at the Tahmoor mine. 
 
In late July, Swiss and London-based Xstrata said it was cutting 158 of 493 jobs at Tahmoor, a mine producing coking coal, and another 122 jobs – or 20% of the permanent workforce – at its Ulan mine. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AUSTRALIACFMEU.gif" width="90" height="93"/>
Last Friday, CFMEU took strike action at Tahmoor over the job redundancies and demanding that safety standards be upheld. Miners took four-hour work stoppages on 28 and 29 November, and the CFMEU is enforcing overtime bans and not loading coal onto trains. The legal industrial actions began over the weekend of 21-22 November when miners struck for two hours. If management is not willing to negotiate by today, a 24-hour work stoppage will take place this week. 
 
In a statement, CFMEU said, “All we are asking from Xstrata is a deal that protects job security and maintains safety standards at Tahmoor mine. Tahmoor mineworkers work long and hard to deliver Xstrata their healthy profits each year, with the company taking more than A$924 million from its Australian coalmines such as Tahmoor” in 2008. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/XstrataPoison.jpg" width="240" height="76"/>
In early September, 500 residents of the town of Mudgee, New South Wales, marched there in protest to the redundancies at the nearby Ulan mine. CFMEU fears Xstrata’s overall goal is to reduce its permanent workforce and replace it with contractors. 
 
Xstrata bought the Tahmoor mine in 2007 from Centennial Coal, while it acquired majority control of Ulan in 2002 and now has a 90% stake in that mine, with Mitsubishi Development Corp. of Japan holding the remainder 10%.

CFMEU Begins Industrial Actions at Xstrata’s Coal Mines in Australia

Archive