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ICEM affiliate NUM has called for the South African government to revoke the mining license of Durban Roodeport Deep (DRDGold). NUM cites DRDGold&rsquo;s atrocious safety record, as well as its negative labour relations practices. On 9 March, an earth tremor struck the firm&rsquo;s North West mine operations at Hartebeestfontein leaving scores of miners trapped for several hours due to DRDGold&rsquo;s insufficient rescue abilities. Two miners died and 23 were injured. And then a week later the company suddenly closed the Blyvooruitzicht mine near Carltonville without giving the necessary statutory notice. Some 300 women who haul waste rock from that mine for residual gold processing by DRDGold lost their jobs. NUM wants DRDGold to exit the mining business and hand operations off to a company with more integrity and more concern for workers.

NUM in South Africa Seeks License Revocation of DRDGold

A 15 March manifestation in Paris over Total&rsquo;s decision to cut jobs at a petrochemical plant in Saint-Auban, Alpes-de-Haute Provence, has pushed the company off rationalisation of its Ark&eacute;ma subsidiary. Total&rsquo;s plan was to cut 548 jobs, 380 of them at the plant in southeastern France. ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT, along with CGT, took action with workers of the subsidiary in Paris and the company suspended the plan. Worker representatives and managers at the 1,000-worker Saint-Auban plant will now sit down to examine worker proposals for costs savings. FCE-CFDT predicted economic disaster for all workers in management&rsquo;s restructuring had occurred.

French Strike Cancels Total’s Chemical Plant Restructuring

In Brazil, the chemical workers union FEQUIMFAR in Sao Paulo, affiliated with CUT, won a reduction in weekly work time from 44 to 42 hours. The agreement was signed 8 March with pharmaceutical and other companies, and also includes a 2% increase in real wage terms for workers in chemicals, plastics, cosmetics, fertilizers and other industries. &ldquo;This is the first step toward a 40-hour week, which is our goal for all workers in all industries,&rdquo; declared FEQUIMFAR President Danilo Pereiro.

Chemical Workers in Brazil Win Gains Through Union

Elsewhere on 8 March, trade unions participated in the launch of a Letter to Humanity, written collectively in forums across all continents. The letter emphasizes freedom, justice, peace and solidarity. In Brazil, CUT organized a march in which 35,000 women participated and then passed the letter to activists in Argentina. CNG-CUT in Brazil demonstrated at factory gates and at other events denouncing violence against women.

South American Women Take Action on International Woman’s Day

Nepal&rsquo;s national labour centers GEFONT and NTUC, along with ICEM affiliates, had received permission from the district administrator to conduct silent commemorations on International Women&rsquo;s Day, 8 March. Banners and placards declaring support for gender equality in the workplace and in society were to be displayed by hundreds of trade union activists in Katmandu and in towns and cities across Nepal. But late the night of 7 March, security forces cancelled the permit and intermittent demonstrations the next day were met by baton-charging riot police. Some 226 arrested.

Nepal Cancels International Women’s Day Celebrations

German affiliate IGBCE used an innovative collective bargaining agreement with BASF to win 500 jobs for Berlin. The jobs and a new worksite, to be created late 2005 when BASF centralizes its financial, accounting and human resources into a shared service center, were possible after IGBCE proposed a forward-looking plan to the German chemicals producer, which had been considering many different sites. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt said the social partnership the union has with BASF doesn&rsquo;t just exist on paper, but has evolved into lateral thinking on how the two parties do things. The new service center &ldquo;benefits everybody concerned: the people who find work (at the Berlin site), the company that can run a cost-effective business operation, and it is an important testimony to Germany&rsquo;s industrial competitiveness,&rdquo; said Schmoldt.

IGBCE in Germany Achieves Innovation Agreement with BASF

UK affiliate Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union suspended industrial action against Michelin 2 March for seven days after the company determined it could do better on a pay offer. Action was to begin 4 March at a tyre plant in Stoke, Midlands, and 400 T&amp;G members were set to begin a ban on overtime, forego any cooperative efforts with management, and start a work-to-rule campaign inside the factory. On that day, French unions at Michelin were to stage a manifestation at Michelin&rsquo;s Paris headquarters in support of the UK union, while the Stoke workforce planned a mass protest at their factory. Industrial action will commence 11 March if Michelin does not improve on a non-consolidated offer of &pound;650 or 3%, meaning the pay hike would not count towards the formula for pensions and other benefits.

Michelin Returns to UK Bargaining Table to Avoid Industrial Action

Australian affiliate CFMEU sent a clear message to the Howard government last week on how it would resist proposed radical industrial relations reform: together with the Maritime Union, it dispatched 400 trade unionists from Perth to Collie in Western Australia to support striking construction workers at BHP Billiton&rsquo;s new Worsley alumina refinery. Throughout February, strikers&mdash;including CFMEU members and members of ICEM affiliates Communications, Electrical &amp; Plumbing Union (CEPU) and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)&mdash;downed tools over pay and dispute over their classification as individual contractors under the federal awards system, a system already denying them basic workplace rights. Under the proposed Howard reform plan, among other regressive measures, such individual workers could be sued for taking strike action. Last week&rsquo;s 200 km solidarity caravan to Collie convinced two of BHP Billiton&rsquo;s site contractors to settle the pay dispute and if another agrees to the higher pay, construction workers could be back to work early this week.

CFMEU Will Resist Howard Government’s Labour Reforms

A new ICEM Workers' Network of SAPPI paperworkers will be formed 30-31 March near Hannover, Germany. ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa will be the lead union for the network. SAPPI, headquartered in South Africa, has paper mills in Austria, Germany and the US.

South African CEPPWAWU Affiliate to Head ICEM’s SAPPI Network

Support to miners and other workers in Russia campaigning for payment of wage arrears was today reaffirmed by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). In particular, the ICEM Executive Committee called upon all ICEM affiliates worldwide to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia. 
 
 

<img height="294" alt="" src="" width="200" />
&nbsp;Unpaid Russian miners blocking a railway line. 
&quot;We can no longer bear to look into our children's hungry eyes,&quot; their placard says. &quot;We have nothing to lose.&quot; 
(Photo: Vyacheslav Voyakin, Vladivostok News) 

Full text of the resolution unanimously adopted by the ICEM Executive in Blankenberge, Belgium, today: 
 
We, participants of the 3rd Executive Committee meeting of the ICEM, observe with great concern the developments in Russia. 
 
Our colleagues, the Russian miners, were brought to the edge of despair by systematic delays in wage payments and severe erosion of social benefits, which pushed them to launch nationwide protest campaigns involving strikes, blocking of coal supplies and paralysing railroad traffic in several regions of Russia. 
 
 

<img height="207" alt="" src="" width="319" />
 
The coal industry in Russia is in a very difficult situation: it is planned to close 120 mines in 1998, leaving 300,000 miners unemployed. Miners appear to be hostages of the unwise economic policy of the Russian government and that is the background against which miners are not paid their salaries on time. 
 
In the course of the campaign, there were several cases when union leaders were harassed and threatened with prosecution by local authorities and employers. The Russian government threatened to undermine the effectiveness of collective actions by importing additional coal into Russia. We raise our voice against any persecution of union activists in Russia, and also appeal to ICEM affiliates to block any attempts to export additional coal to Russia. 
 
For the time being, coal miners have forced the government into extraordinary measures, which resulted in the paying out of wage debts in several regions, and we congratulate our colleagues on this victory. 
 
However, our Brothers and Sisters in other industries continue to suffer from the immoral policy of wage arrears. The ICEM, at the request of Russian affiliates, has several times expressed solidarity in support of their struggle and sent letters of protest to the Russian authorities with reference to wage arrears. The ICEM has launched a worldwide cybercampaign on the Internet supporting Russian workers and their struggle. 
 
Today, we, the representatives of workers of 115 countries united in the ICEM, declare that in future, the ICEM will use all its possibilities to support the just struggle of Russian workers for their rights. 
 
We urge the Russian authorities and employers not to bring workers and their families to the edge of rage and despair, but to solve all problems in a civilised way, on the basis of respect for human rights, justice and law.

Block Extra Coal Exports To Russia, Union International Says

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