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ICEM&rsquo;s US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) opened up the possibility for strike action at Continental Tyre&rsquo;s North America plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. The decision by the union to authorise a strike if deemed necessary, a common action for trade unions in the US, is the logical result of the failure so far to get to an agreement between the workers at Continental and local management. 
Current collective bargaining has been ongoing for over half a year and remains dead-locked, due to the harsh demands by the company. The USW now said it wants a new agreement before April 30, when the current agreement ends. Continental, which threatened earlier to suspend tyre production indefinitely in Charlotte as of September 2006, wants to cut costs at the Charlotte plant by US$32 million. Amongst other things, this plan proposes across-the-board 35% pay cuts. 
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Last year, the company already announced that it would make redundant 510 of the plant&rsquo;s 1,083 jobs in 2006. In March,140 workers were dismissed, and 170 more are scheduled to suffer the same fate in May. 
The USW since made a few more realistic counter-proposals, which do include job security provisions and a guarantee towards future productivity. So far, to no avail. The USW also strongly protests against the company&rsquo;s threat that it may start to alter benefits for its retirees as soon as the insurance agreement expires, which would be 90 days after the expiry date of the current bargaining agreement.

Negotiations between US Workers and Continental Tyre Could Turn into Strike in North Carolina

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Turkish ICEM affiliate Cimse-Is (Cement, Ceramics, Pottery and Glass industry Workers' Union) announced this week its plan to start a series of strikes at 43 different cement plants throughout Turkey. 
The decision by the union&rsquo;s Executive Board follows the failure of negotiations with the Turkish employers&rsquo; organisation, which had started on March 17. Both parties were unable to reach a consensus, despite various efforts by the union. Actions will start at 23 plants on May Day, with an additional 20 plants being struck as of May 8.

Strikes Announced at 43 Different Cement Plants in Turkey

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Amicus representatives were successful in their latest round of talks with International Paper (IP) management in Scotland on Tuesday, held to resolve the ongoing dispute at the IP mill in Inverurie, Scotland. 
After a long day of discussions, which saw the involvement of the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), a deal was reached that forms the basis for an agreement for two years. According to Willie Wallace, Amicus Assistant Branch Secretary, the agreement will now be presented to the union members, with a recommendation to accept the offer, a process which may take some time. All announced strike actions are suspended. 
The renewed negotiations came after weeks of actions by the ICEM affiliate, who had been applying pressure on the company through a series of consecutive four-hour strikes. At the origin of the dispute was a company suggested pay freeze for 2006.

Talks at International Paper Mill in Scotland Successful

An alliance between two Global Union Federations (GUFs) covering oil and gas workers became stronger this week when delegates to the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) Congress in Durban, South Africa, gave rousing support to the ICEM/ITF Global Oil and Gas Industry Trade Union Alliance. The ITF and the International Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) have been jointly operating workers&rsquo; rights efforts in various parts of the world over the past two years. 
 
The ITF represents 4.5 million transport and logistics workers from 624 affiliated trade unions in 142 countries. The ICEM represents 20 million trade unionists from 379 affiliates in 123 countries.&nbsp;The ITF is&nbsp;based in London, while the ICEM is headquartered in Brussels.&nbsp; 
 
The two-year cooperative arrangement between the GUFs has mostly centered on the offshore portion of the industries. The official launch of the ICEM/ITF Global Oil and Gas Industry Trade Union Alliance now means that onshore work, from extraction and refining to distribution will get equal attention. 
 
&ldquo;The success that we&rsquo;ve had over the past two years demonstrates the strong synergies that exist between the two organisations,&rdquo; stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;Today&rsquo;s energy market and its inter-connecting infrastructure make this alliance a natural for workers&rsquo; and their trade unions to have far more power and influence at the very highest international levels of the major companies controlling these crucial markets.&rdquo; 
 
The union federations will organise on issues from the &ldquo;wellhead to the wheel,&rdquo; the motto adopted during the two-year-old project. It means forging a common bond of all workers engaged in work in the oil and gas sectors, from exploration, refining, to manufacture &ndash; ICEM&rsquo;s traditional sectors &ndash; through to distribution, including sea, road, rail, and pipeline, ITF&rsquo;s areas. 
 
The two GUFs have put in place a joint structure that includes affiliated trade unions of both organisations. Besides cooperating effectively on strategic issues that have arisen in such places as the Timor Sea, the Caspian Region, and Nigeria and West Africa, the alliance has mapped trade unions that exist across several oil companies and their major service contractors. The alliance will utilise ICEM&rsquo;s existing Global Framework Agreements to include transport services, and it will place a special emphasis on extending job protections to the massive number of contract workers employed throughout the oil and gas sectors. 

Contact: Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer 
+32 2 626 2026 
+32 4 74 88 00 54 (mobile)

‘From Wellhead to Wheel,’ Global Oil and Gas Trade Union Alliance Surfaces

ICEM WOMEN&#039;S BULLETIN No. 14 - August 2006

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A highly successful ICEM women&rsquo;s conference for the Asia-Pacific Region was held 27-28 July in Bangkok, Thailand. Attended by 22 trade unionists from six countries, the conference generated much discussion and several ideas for communicating effective practices related to gender issues globally. 
 
Topics discussed included maintaining a manageable work-life balance, work inside Asia&rsquo;s pharmaceuticals industry, and maternity issues. Related to the latter, participants debated and devised model standards for trade unionists on maternity leave. 
 
ICEM affiliated trade unions attending came from India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand. ICEM-JAF of Japan helped to sponsor the two-day discussions.

Asia-Pacific Women’s Conference Fosters Maternity Leave Guide

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Some 20 months after arguing that it didn&rsquo;t have to adhere to a United Steelworkers (USW) plant-closing agreement in the US because not all tyre workers were being displaced, Continental Tyre last week said it was totally shuttering rubber operations in Mayfield, state of Kentucky. 
 
USW and German-based Continental became locked in dispute in late 2004 when the company announced it would no longer manufacture auto and light truck tyres at the Kentucky plant. The closure, which took effect 1 January 2005, cost 730 USW members their jobs. But Continental said it was not obligated to negotiate severance pay or other benefits for the sacked workers because it was retaining 100 jobs in Mayfield&rsquo;s moulding and warehousing departments. 
 
On 2 August, the company announced those and 50 management jobs would be lost by January 2007. 
 
&ldquo;The only surprise is that the company is finally acknowledging its intent to close our plant,&rdquo; said Terry Beane, USW Local 665 President. 
 
Ron Hoover, USW Executive Vice President, said, &ldquo;It was obvious to us long ago that Continental decided to abandon US production. Their business strategies and management teams never addressed the dynamics of this market and unlike other successful companies, they refused to develop a collaborative relationship with us.&rdquo; 
 
Continental bought the Mayfield plant in the 1980s from General Tire Corp. The operation once employed 2,400 rubber workers 
 
Continental also eliminated 800 union jobs this summer by closing a US tyre plant in Charlotte, state of North Carolina. The company demanded US$32 million in costs savings from the USW at this location, including 35% across-the-board wage and benefit cuts for each worker. 
 
Even before USW could put forward a compromise offer, Continental made its plant closing threat a reality by announcing total closure of the Charlotte plant. The USW has petitioned the US Contact Point for the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to conduct an investigation of Continental&rsquo;s rash and anti-worker conduct in Charlotte.

Contradicting Conti’s Labour Strategy, German Tyre-Maker Completely Shutters US Operation

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Some 1,100 rubber workers, members of ICEM affiliates Transport &amp; General Workers Union (TGWU) and Amicus, voted to take industrial action at two Pirelli tyre plants in the Midlands. Workers were balloted after the Italian tyre-maker offered only a 2.2% wage increase.
The balloting, which took place between 10 July and 3 August, showed that a full 75% of workers at Pirelli&rsquo;s plants in Burton-on-Trent and Carlisle accept industrial action as means to a fair contract. TGWU represents about 900 of the workers at the two plants, while Amicus represents 200. 
 
&ldquo;The overwhelming vote in favour of industrial action shows the strength of feeling against the company&rsquo;s 2.2% final pay offer,&rdquo; said TGWU National Manufacturing Organiser Peter Booth. &ldquo;Pirelli Tyres is one of the most profitable parts of the group and our members clearly feel that a below-inflation offer does not reflect their expectations, particularly with rising energy costs.&rdquo; 
 
The unions have submitted the vote to the company, and asked Pirelli to reconsider its pay offer. The exact industrial action agenda will be released today. Pirelli had previously announced its intention to issue an initial public offering for its tyre division, but early in July cancelled any spin-off of this business

UK Unions TGWU, Amicus Vote for Industrial Action Against Pirelli

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ICEM South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) ended an eight-day strike today against Kumba Resources. Following a series of meetings over the weekend at branch level with NUM&rsquo;s 4,000 members employed at Kumba, the strike ended after top executives of the company entered talks. 
 
National union leaders joined the talks beginning on Friday, and consultations continued with the company over the weekend. 
 
&ldquo;Our members are pleased with the outcome as presented to them after our talks with the chief executive of Kumba,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;The discipline of our members while on strike deserves praise and their ability to compromise for purposes of settling the strike is commendable.&rdquo; 
 
The strike severely affected operations at some six Kumba mines, including iron ore pits, three coal mines and a dolomite mine. The NUM was the largest of four unions in negotiations with Kumba, currently 67% controlled by AngloAmerican. The union struck on 30 July and union members of the Black Allied Mining and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (BAMCWU) followed NUM out on strike. Trade union Solidarity staged a two-day strike on 31 July and 1 August, but then accepted the company&rsquo;s wage offer. ICEM affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) represents a small number of workers at Kumba 
 
NUM struck in efforts to achieve an equitable wage package, and to gain maternity leave improvements and housing increases. Those issues were achieved, with top leaders of the company agreeing to the NUM&rsquo;s demand of 9% for low-wage workers over the weekend. NUM&rsquo;s demand for an 8% pay hike for higher wage earners was compromised when the union accepted 7.75%. But it is understood that various allowances will now be implemented to push that to 8%. The NUM paid special tribute to the 900 workers of BAMCWU who stood strong with South Africa&rsquo;s dominant miners&rsquo; union. 
 
Kumba is a product of South Africa&rsquo;s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). AngloAmerican is currently in the process of splitting the company in half, with the global mining house to retain iron ore operations. Kumba&rsquo;s coal and base metals production, including zinc and titanium, will be split into South Africa&rsquo;s largest black controlled company, Exxaro Resources, after sale is finalised to Eyesizwe of South Africa. That is expected to occur later this year.

South Africa’s NUM Ends Strike at Kumba Resources

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Fifty years ago, on 8 August 1956, 262 coal miners at Bois du Cazier in the Belgian town of Marcinelle lost their lives in a gruesome chain of events inside a 975-metre mine shaft. On 8 August 2006, the timing of those events will be commemorating on the hour they occurred. 
 
Beginning at 08h00, the time when a shaft elevator malfunctioned and crashed, clipping high-voltage electrical lines, a bell tower clock at Bois du Cazier will ring 262 times as the name of each victim is read. At 10h00, flowers will be laid at a monument at the mine that is dedicated to the many accidents that have occurred at Bois du Cazier since 1901. At 11h00, a ceremony will be held at the Marcinelle cemetery, followed by another commemoration at 12h30 at the mine site, now a museum. 
 
The shaft elevator blocked the flow of fresh air and the resulting electrical explosion created a firestorm. Some of the 262 coal miners, including 136 Italian immigrants, died from the furnace-like firestorm caused by the blast, while others who may have found refuge from the fire died from subsequent carbon monoxide poisoning. The deadly day of 8 August 1956 at Bois du Cazier stands as the worst industrial accident in Belgium&rsquo;s history. 
 
The aftermath of this tragic worksite story is depicted in a book entitled &ldquo;Tutti Cadaveri: The Trial of the Catastrophe at the Bois du Cazier in Marcinelle,&rdquo; co-authored by Belgian FGTB trade union Federal Secretary Paul Lootens. The book&rsquo;s title, &ldquo;Tutti Cadaveri,&rdquo; comes from the Italian rescuer who, after surfacing from the mine, said, tragically, &ldquo;All corpses.&rdquo; 
 
This French language book, by Lootens and historians Marie-Louise De Roeck and Julie Urbain, was published only on 1 May 2006, but is already in its second printing. It is available from Aden Publishers for &euro;22, and can be ordered by contacting Aden at <a href="mailto:editionsaden@skynet.be">editionsaden@skynet.be</a>, or calling +32 2534 46 61. 

More information on the book, plus ordering information,&nbsp;can&nbsp;be found at <a href="http://www.aden.be/tutti_cadaveri.html">www.aden.be/tutti_cadaveri.html.</a>.

Worst Belgian Industrial Disaster: 8 August 1956

Archive

Negotiations between US Workers and Continental Tyre Could Turn into Strike in North Carolina

Strikes Announced at 43 Different Cement Plants in Turkey

Talks at International Paper Mill in Scotland Successful

‘From Wellhead to Wheel,’ Global Oil and Gas Trade Union Alliance Surfaces

ICEM WOMEN'S BULLETIN No. 14 - August 2006

Asia-Pacific Women’s Conference Fosters Maternity Leave Guide

Contradicting Conti’s Labour Strategy, German Tyre-Maker Completely Shutters US Operation

UK Unions TGWU, Amicus Vote for Industrial Action Against Pirelli

South Africa’s NUM Ends Strike at Kumba Resources

Worst Belgian Industrial Disaster: 8 August 1956

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