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The 20-million-member ICEM calls on the government of Serbia-Montenegro to meet the legitimate pay demands by ICEM-affiliated EPS Trade Union at three enterprises of the state-run electric power generation and distribution services, i.e. the PE Electric Power Industry of Serbia, the PE Elektromreža Srbije (the Serbian Transmission System and Market Operator) and the PE Underground Pit Mine Extraction. 
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Workers at these three enterprises are owed wage arrears for 2004 and 2005. The government has failed to respond to union demands, as well as to make an adequate wage offer for 2006. Workers at the three enterprises began a series of one-hour strikes on 10 January in protest of the non-payment of wages, and have conducted similar one-hour strikes every day since. 
 
&ldquo;The inflation rate in Serbia in 2005 reached 17%,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. &ldquo;It is unconscionable that the government is withholding payment of wages due for past years and refusing to make an acceptable offer this year.&rdquo; 
 
Serbia-Montenegro&rsquo;s government had requested that EPS Trade Union postpone any strike action until the end of February 2006. The ICEM says that such a request is irresponsible considering the non-payment of wages in 2004 and 2005. 
 
The ICEM fully supports the strikes, and has offered assistance to the 43,000-member EPS Trade Union in meeting their pay demands.

ICEM Calls on Serbia to Pay Backwages, Reach 2006 Pay Terms

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ICEM Norwegian affiliate Fellesforbundet has taken in the Norwegian Graphical Workers&rsquo; Union in a merger that will give the union greater strength in the graphical, cardboard and packaging sectors of Norway. The merger became effective 1 January. 
Fellesforbundet&rsquo;s executive board will increase by four seats with the addition of three members from the Graphical Division, plus former President Ander Skattkjaer, who will also direct Fellesforbundet&rsquo;s Collective Bargaining Department.

Norwegian Fellesforbundet, Graphical Union Merge

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In Nepal, GEFONT along with two other labour federations and the Teachers&rsquo; Union of Nepal have called on the Maoist Communist Part of Nepal to continue its cease-fire. The unions also ask the same from the monarchist regime. A four-month cease-fire by the Maoist front ended New Year&rsquo;s Day. 
Nepal&rsquo;s labour unions are in the lead calling for a peaceful restructuring of society toward democracy. The autocratic King Gyanendra has refused to listen to such a call. Instead, he is turning his back on initiatives from a 7-party coalition seeking peace and restoration of democracy. &ldquo;We demand with both the regime and Maoists not to push the nation and people towards bloodshed and the game of death again,&rdquo; read the declaration by the trade union federations.

Nepalese Unions Take Lead for Peace, Democracy

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Trade unions from Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and UK, representing the industrial gases sector, met in Blankenberge, Belgium, last month to discuss economic aspects of the industry, as well as the companies comprising the sector.
The conference was jointly sponsored by ICEM affiliates CG-FGTB of Belgium and Dutch FNV Bondgenoten. ICEM provided research and a presentation on the sector, available at <a href="/?id=4&amp;doc=1576&amp;la=EN">/?id=4&amp;doc=1576&amp;la=EN</a>.
The forum, attended by 35 trade unionists, pledged to develop further trade union cooperation, as well as to open the next conference to global trade unionists in the sector, as start to a world network for industrial gases. Companies that came under discussion included Air Liquide, Air Products, BOC, Linde and Praxair.

Unionists Meet in Belgium over Industrial Gases Sector

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Contract workers in Azerbaijan&rsquo;s oil and gas construction industry continue to unionise, following the successful lead by Azeri workers, employed by US contractor McDermott International, late in November 2005.
Some 2,000 workers at McDermott, BP and state-run SOCAR&rsquo;s largest contractor, engaged in strike actions to win 30% wage gains, medical care, and union recognition with ICEM affiliate Oil and Gas Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Azerbaijan (OGWU). Union Chairman Jahangir Aliyev now estimates 5,000 to 7,000 contract workers are seeking unionisation, as Azeri workers employed by western oil service companies seek equivalent pay to that of foreign nationals employed on Caspian energy projects.
On 19 December 2005, 1,600 workers employed at the offshore BosShelf site, a French-Azeri construction project partially owned by Bouygues, officially organised with OGWU following a strike.
Responding to the rush of workers to organise, BP Azerbaijan President David Woodward conceded, &ldquo;This is their right and no one can stop them from doing this. If they wish, we see the right for employees to take collective action.&rdquo;
In a related Caspian labour development, OGWU and another ICEM affiliate, ROGWU, Russia&rsquo;s powerful oil and gas workers&rsquo; union, agreed at ROGWU&rsquo;s Congress in Moscow 21-22 December 2005 to begin joint union-building activities in 2006 intended to lead to a protocol agreement between the two unions.

Contract Workers Organising in Caspian Oil/Gas Fields

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International Coal Group (ICG), the US-based company responsible for 12 mining deaths last week in the state of West Virginia, operates 21 US coal mines in America, all non-union. Yet, three emergency-response teams from nearby United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) staffed mines, plus the ICEM affiliate&rsquo;s Health and Safety director were involved in rescue efforts at ICG&rsquo;s Sago mine on 2 January after 13 miners became trapped following a gas explosion.
ICG has become a major eastern US coal supplier to utility companies at a time of high demand and high prices. The company is a creation of Wilbur L. Ross, a bankruptcy buyout opportunist who has a two-decade-long record in steel, textile and now coal bankruptcies. Ross uses US court bankruptcy proceedings to gain tax deferrals and cancel workers&rsquo; bargaining rights, pension benefits and retiree health care.
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ICG bought bankrupt Horizon Natural Resources, Anker Coal Group and CoalQuest Development, among others over the past few years. ICG gained a stake in Anker, the former owner of Sago, in the early 2000s and increased his holding as the company weakened and entered bankruptcy in 2002.
He only recently finalised buyout of the company for US$173 million, adding some eight coal mines and loading facilities to ICG. Also in late 2005, Ross took ICG&mdash;founded only in 2004&mdash;public, infusing US$250 million cash into the firm, and causing Ross to state: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all new money for the company. Neither my firm nor the founding shareholders are selling any stock on the offering at all.&rdquo; Ross&rsquo;s controlling stake increased from 9.2% to 13.7% on the initial public offering. 
 
It is evident Ross&rsquo;s &ldquo;new money&rdquo; and current coal revenue profit-taking are not intended for miners&rsquo; social welfare, whether it be retirement benefits or job safety. On 30 August 2004, 17 UMWA members were arrested by police when they and 800 others protested before a US bankruptcy court in Louisville, Kentucky. Some 3,000 UMWA members, both active and retired, were about to lose job security, and health care coverage as Ross and IGC took control of Horizon at a discount value in the bankruptcy court.
Early last week, the UMWA was actively involved in saving lives at the Sago mine. In a statement by the union expressing deep sadness to miners&rsquo; families, and reflecting on the &ldquo;inexplicable confusion&rdquo; over initial reports that the miners were alive, President Cecil Roberts said, &ldquo;Though not members of UMWA, the miners who work in the Sago mine include neighbors and relatives of UMWA members.&rdquo; The efforts of rescuers, he added, &ldquo;demonstrate once again that we are all brothers and sisters in the coal fields, and we pull together to help each other in times like these.&rdquo;
Roberts had another message last week, published in a West Virginia newspaper. It concerned the effect that energy demand and high coal prices have on marginal properties with inferior safety records when pressed into service: &ldquo;We hope we don&rsquo;t lose the focus on how dangerous this business is,&rdquo; stated Roberts.

Sago Mine Disaster: Safety, Workers’ Rights Victimized by Bankruptcies

Eighteen Russian miners have been underground now for nearly a week, engaged in a hunger strike against mine operator Sakhalinugol in Uglegorsk area on Sakhalin Island over unpaid wages. The miners are due 34 million roubles (US$114,000) dating back to 2002. They have mined 44,000 tonnes of coal so far in 2005, yet have been paid nothing by interim management following financial failure by the company. The miners, protesting 142 meters below the surface, got the support of Sakhalin Governor Ivan Malakhov, who declared, &ldquo;The failure to pay the wages miners&rsquo; have earned is a direct violation of law.&rdquo; Wives and children of the 18 were expected to join the protest today at the mineshaft.

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

Another USW metals strike, now entering its eighth week in the Canadian province of British Colombia, will get a chance for resolve with renewed mediation on 9 September. The union and Teck Cominco Ltd. At a zinc, lead and metals refinery in Trail, BC, are locked in dispute over wage and pension benefits conceded in the 1990s. USW maintains the current windfall of high zinc and metal prices has lifted Teck&rsquo;s bottom line, and such profitability warrants adequate adjustments for the 1,300 strikers. British Colombia provincial leaders, however, have turned a deaf ear to legitimate demands by the USW that it halt the company&rsquo;s sale of hydrogenerated power across the border to the US while Canadian steelworkers of Teck Cominco are on strike.

USW&#039;s Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

The 1,550 USW copper-mining members who are on strike in the states of Arizona and Texas against Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Asarco got a boost last month when thousands of Mexican mining and metallurgical workers engaged in hour-long stop-work actions in support of both the American trade unionists, as well as Mexican steel mill workers on strike in L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Michoac&aacute;n state. The US copper strike, begun at different locations in late June and early July, has now been complicated by the Mexican subsidiary filing bankruptcy in US federal court in Texas. That action, the USW says, is result of non-investment in facilities while copper prices were low, thus restricting Asarco&rsquo;s ability now &ldquo;to reap the full rewards of the ongoing copper boom.&rdquo;

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

Today marks Labour Day in North America and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) Local 484 in Meredosia will more than double the 1,100-populated town in west-central Illinois with a march and rally. 
The union has been locked out since 6 June by Celanese, an emulsions, adhesives and polymers producer owned by corporate trading goliath Blackstone Group. The rally will feature pro-labour Illinois State Governor Rod Blagojevich. An ICEM Circular last month produced scores of Solidarity messages to the 148-member branch union. 
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&ldquo;The support letters from all around the world really mean a lot to our members,&rdquo; said IBB Local 484 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Craig. &ldquo;It let us know that we are not fighting this battle alone.&rdquo; Blackstone bought the plant in February and when workers rejected harsh health care concessions and company plans to cut 41 jobs in favour of contractors, management locked out workers. 
Following Local 484&rsquo;s second rejection of the same company proposal in late June, Celanese came to the bargaining table in July demanding 20- 40% in pay cuts.

US Boilermakers&#039; Lockout Gains Global Attention

Archive

ICEM Calls on Serbia to Pay Backwages, Reach 2006 Pay Terms

Norwegian Fellesforbundet, Graphical Union Merge

Nepalese Unions Take Lead for Peace, Democracy

Unionists Meet in Belgium over Industrial Gases Sector

Contract Workers Organising in Caspian Oil/Gas Fields

Sago Mine Disaster: Safety, Workers’ Rights Victimized by Bankruptcies

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

USW's Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

US Boilermakers' Lockout Gains Global Attention

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