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The NUM has settled strikes at two of the world&rsquo;s largest platinum producers, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum. The pay disputes were settled for increases between 7.75% and 9.5%, depending on job grades, and cycle shift workers who work on public holidays won added improvements.

NUM in South Africa Settles Two Platinum Strikes

South African affiliate NUM sees no harmony, only dishevel in the hostile takeover of Goldfields by smaller gold-mining company Harmony. In a statement, NUM said that considering the high gold price, companies should be investing in development and job growth rather than consolidation and shrinkage. Both South African companies have retrenched numerous workers this year alone. NUM is calling for dialogue between the two companies instead of hostile &ldquo;approaches that send jitters into the market and economy,&rdquo; in the words of Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe. NUM is also opposed to a Goldfields preferred deal with Canada&rsquo;s Imagold and said the mining industry in South Africa suffers an &ldquo;anti-patriotic spirit&rdquo; in terms of abandoning national investment.

South Africa’s NUM Chastises Harmony’s Takeover Bid

20 October will go down as a day of death in China&rsquo;s coal mines. Four disasters found 123 dead, including&mdash;at last count&mdash;77 miners of state-owned Zhengzhou Group at Xinmi, Henan province, the worst mine catastrophe in recent years. At the weekend, 71 are still missing from the 20 October gas explosion that tore through several shafts at one of Zhengzhou&rsquo;s larger coalmines. Two other gas blasts added to the death count. Five were killed, 8 still missing at a blast in the southern province of Guizhou and near the southwestern Chinese city of Chongquing, another 12 perished in a natural gas explosion. The fourth 20 October disaster occurred at the Desheng coal mine in Wu&rsquo;an, Hebei province, when flooding cased the deaths of 29 miners.

Day of Death in Chinese Coal Mines, 20 October 2004

Nigeria&rsquo;s House of Representatives will carefully scrutinize an already amended Labour Reform Bill passed by the Senate. The measure, introduced by President Olusegun Obasanjo to punish NLC and trade unions for opposing past fuel price hikes with strikes, did have &ldquo;no strike&rdquo; language removed by the Senate before passage, but other restrictive measures that would weaken the NLC and trade unions remain. House leaders promise comprehensive hearings to ensure Nigerian people are heard on the legislation. Further amendments are likely.

Nigerian Labour Seeks to Further Weaken Labour Reform Bill

Leaders from the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union face continued legal harassment by Debswana, the diamond-mining joint venture between DeBeers and the government of Botswana. The union faces a 15 October deadline to file affidavits on why leaders should not face jail terms. Debswana is seeking jail sentences of the leaders over a two-week strike staged by some union members at Debswana despite a BMWU plea to continue bargaining. Debswana had received a positive ruling from a Botswana&rsquo;s Industrial Court in early August declaring any strike illegal. The ruling came at the peak of a bitter wage dispute.

Debswana Taking Hard Line Against Botswana’s Miners

Malaysian ICEM affiliates together with national center MTUC conducted nationwide pickets on 28 September protesting the government&rsquo;s lack of response over complaints on failure to implement ILO Convention 87. Malaysian unions have been beset by undue court delays over union recognition and collective bargaining cases, and by ministerial delays over trade union disputes that include worker discharge cases. The government has ignored the calls for response and instead has introduced further restrictions on trade union activity.

Malaysian Unions Protest Government’s Labor Rights Abuses

ICEM affiliates in Colombia are on course to a unified strategy on how best to organize and face the many obstacles of building free and democratic trade unions in the war-torn country. After three weeks of meetings through April, leaders of the affiliates working with ICEM resource people have identified a number of hurdles including contract labour as major threats to organizing.

Colombia Affiliates Dialogue Under ICEM Education Project

Workers at Chernobyl, and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations, will go on strike unless a dispute over unpaid wages is resolved by tomorrow (6 March). Nationally and globally, unions are warning that the crisis could have implications for safety. 
 
Over the past few weeks, the nuclear workers have gradually been escalating their protests over the wage backlog, which now amounts to more than US$15 million. They have repeatedly warned that serious underfunding of the sector poses a threat to nuclear safety. 
 
Their union, the Atom Trade Union (ATU), issued the strike alert after the government and the nuclear energy utility Energoatom had persistently failed to tackle the wage debt crisis. The union has particularly criticised the government's foot-dragging over a decree that would open new credit lines for the cash-starved Ukrainian nuclear industry. 
 
ATU President Alexander Jurkin is now in negotiations with the Deputy Prime Minister in a last attempt to avert a full strike. 
 
At the global level, the ATU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;Our Ukrainian brothers and sisters can count on the full support of their colleagues worldwide,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;The Ukrainian nuclear workers must be paid what they are owed, and the ICEM stands ready to back their campaign. 
 
&quot;Non-payment of any group of workers is wholly unacceptable,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;In the case of nuclear workers, it also poses a threat to the wider national and global community. 
 
&quot;Workers are a key factor in nuclear safety. They have to remain fully alert throughout their shifts. Nuclear workers who have serious financial worries, and who may have to take second jobs out of hours in order to make ends meet, could experience difficulty in concentrating. 
 
&quot;The Ukrainian authorities must ensure full payment of the nuclear workers' wages without further delay,&quot; Thorpe insisted, &quot;and they must provide the nuclear industry with the financial resources needed for safe operation. 
 
&quot;The global community must also shoulder its responsibilities,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;Part of the international funding devoted to nuclear safety in Ukraine must be earmarked for the full, immediate payment of the nuclear industry's wage backlog. And the world's governments must insist that, from now on, wages be paid in full and on time to the workers on whom the world's safety depends.&quot;

Chernobyl Workers To Strike?

The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers Union of Canada would welcome global trade union support in its effort to block the Canadian government from selling its 19% state in Petro-Canada. Log on to www.cep.ca, click on the &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t Sell Petro-Canada&rdquo; link on the home page, and you can draft and send a short message against divestment to the prime minister that is automatically copied to the finance minister.

CEP of Canada Seeks Petition Help on Petro-Canada

Korean elections on 15 April proved historic for progressive forces including the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and ICEM affiliate Korean Chemical &amp; Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (KCFT). For the first time in the nation&rsquo;s 56-year history, progressive labour as represented by the DLP won seats in the National Assembly&mdash;ten, to become the country&rsquo;s third largest political party. KCTF is a member of the thriving national labour center, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which backs the DLP.

Korean Elections Bode Well for Union Movement

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