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Last month, North American ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) negotiated the biggest pay and benefit increase in the US coal industry since 1974, winning a 32% wage and pension increase over a five-year period. The union negotiated the agreement with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA), which will establish the pattern for several US coal operators in the coming months. 
 
UMWA membership of some 20,000 miners ratified the contract with 80% approval on 21 December. The contract took effect for 3,200 actives miners and 10,000 retirees in six US states at Consol Energy Inc. on 1 January. It includes a 20% across-the-board wage increase over the five-year period, and a future retiree benefit hike of $10-per-month for every year of service. In addition, UMWA’s members at Consol received a US$1,000 bonus at the first of the year. 
 
“There are no concessions, no givebacks in this agreement,” stated UMWA President Cecil Roberts. “There are only gains for current members, retirees, and their families.” 
<img height="98" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUMWA2.jpg" width="150"/>
“This is the largest wage increase we’ve negotiated since 1974. Over the life of the agreement, a miner working at the top rate will see over US$32,000 more in his paycheck for just working straight time,” said Roberts in a statement. A mineworker represented by the UMWA had been averaging US$20.42-per-hour prior to this contract taking effect. 
 
Coupled with funds guaranteed through the US government’s renewal of the federal Abandoned Mine Land Fund, the new contract assures that health care coverage, with all benefits included, will be maintained with no cost increases to workers for co-payments. Roberts said that other coal companies will be bound to the new BCOA contract’s pension provisions, since they are part of the UMWA’s 1974 Pension Fund.

UMWA in US Negotiates Highest Gains with Coal Companies since 1994

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Polish mining unions stood their ground with the country’s Economic Ministry over total privatisation of two coal mining companies, as well as the sale of several mines of Europe’s largest coal producer, Kompania Weglowa (KW). A compromise agreement was reached late on 22 January between 12 miners’ unions and Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak, an agreement which halted a planned 24-hour warning strike, scheduled to start on 24 January. 
 
Coal miners balloted to strike on 18 January after 62% of the country’s 122,000 affected miners voted by 97% in favour of industrial action. A general strike was to follow the warning strike on 1 February if the privatisations and a plan to link miners’ salaries with production were not reached. 
 <img height="53" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Polandsolidarnosc.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
The compromised consensus agreement states that the privatisation of mines will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and on condition that the government retain a majority stake in the coal sector. The Economic Ministry last September proposed the sale of state-run companies Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), as well as selling some of KW’s 17 pits, as part of the government’s mining sector reorganisation strategy for the years 2007 to 2015. 
 
The trade unions, including the ICEM affiliate Miners’ and Energy Workers’ Section of Solidarnosc, have been critical of the government’s minimum investment programme for coal mining, and feel that partial privatisation or management buy-ups of some mines could inject the necessary capital. 
 
The issue of the remuneration-to-productivity ratio is still unresolved, and the mineworkers’ unions are hopeful that continued dialogue with the government will solve this important issue.

Strike Threat Curbs Polish Government’s Privatisation of Coal Sector

In the name of God the most merciful and graceful 
From: Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions  
 
 
His Excellency The Oil Minister, 
Subject: Entitlements 

Sincere Salutations,
It was our hope, after the fall of that statue, to witness the dawn of a new era marked by the recognition of the legitimate rights of our members in the oil sector. This sector that for so long has suffered injustice and been denied equity. 
Since the advent of this new era, we focused our efforts into effectively thwarting all attempts to exploit this sector and tamper with our resources. You have been informed of how we stalled foreign companies in their attempts to control our oil fields and refineries, and how we forced them to leave. 
In addition, we worked hand in hand with the ministries and agencies to accelerate the pace of oil production, and to safeguard the means of production, and raise awareness amongst workers of investing to boost the chances of success for the new era. 
Unfortunately, our demands for entitlements were ignored, despite four years of continued promises by ministry and government officials. In fact, we took our demands to the highest levels of the government. We kept the prime minister apprized of our demands, but were disappointed when we came to realize that our demands fell on deaf ears. 
Throughout this period we worked to defuse anger and resentment and address criticism leveled by our members who mistakenly thought of us as the ones failing to put forth their legitimate demands. Henceforth: 
 
After extensive deliberations, and based on the resolutions that came out of an Executive Board meeting with broad member representation on Thursday 26 April, 2007 at the Gas Corporation's premises in Basra, a strike was unanimously adopted, scheduled for May 10, 2007 in all the company's branches in the south and in the following provinces Basra/Missan Dhi Kar/Al Mouthnana. 
The strike will go ahead, should the following demands not be completely met: 
1. Make a determination on land allotment in the Shiite Province 52 and land distribution owned by oil companies, and the parcel in the Tannouma area, a property of the Southern Oil Company.
2. Make a determination on oil companies' profits margins on the basis of the amendments to which you agreed and to determine those margins according to the certification/attestation from the south region financial/tax jurisdictions, not according to the formula adopted by the Minister that has been deemed detrimental to our membership. 
3. Approval of accumulated ordinary unused vacations, and all vacations outstanding for more than 180 days. There is no justification for withholding any of these vacations. We also believe that the resolution issued by the State Advisory Council is not binding, for lack of legal foundation. We empathically insist that there be no salary deductions over the next few years for granted vacations days. 
4. Granting full time status to temporary workers, notwithstanding the length of service but rather apply a more humanistic approach with those workers who are Iraqi nationals and who deserve a life in this country. 
5. To hire new graduates of the last two classes.
6. Rescind the new unified payment schedule which benefits only a very small number in the sector.
7. Promote holders of elementary certificates to the next grade on par to their dismissed colleagues (for political reasons) and address the issue of stalled promotions for workers and others. 
8. Rescind the 20% deduction from profits paid to the army and recovery of previous years' deductions.
9. We ask that those premises become employee-run, similar to other state-owned agencies. We deem the wait and see policy inappropriate, and we are wondering why the oil sector is treated so unfairly. 
 
As we are stating the legitimate demands of our membership, it is our hope to obtain the support of those on whom we rely, and whom we supported with our blood in making the political process succeed. 
It is our hope to reinstate the rights of those who were aggrieved by Iraqi government officials, and eliminate the injustices bestowed on the southern region. 
We feel, up to the moment of this statement's drafting, that discrimination is continuing, and that the south is treated as the cash cow of Iraq. 
Our region gave so much to Iraq, but gained little in return. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that pollution in oil facilities has reached a peak, and the incidence of cancer has topped exceeded predictions. We also note, that the ministry pays little to no attention to these incidences that primarily impact the inhabitants in the southern area. 
We feel as if they are predestined to such a fate - to always give in vain. We are cautioning, that there is a limit to our tolerance. 
We ask that our demands be met. We feel that enough is enough. 

Peace and grace be upon you. 
Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions 
4/27/2007 
To: Top executives of oil companies 
CC: all media

Letter by the IFOU to Iraqi Oil Minister

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A peaceful protest by 1,000 members of ICEM’s two Nigerian oil workers’ affiliates – PENGASSAN and NUPENG – was met by 150 riot police last week, 17 May. The protest occurred at the national headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) in Abuja, while privatisation bidding on two NNPC refineries was going on elsewhere in the Nigerian capital city. 
 
Trade unionists blocked traffic in and out of the NNPC building for the better part of the day. 
 
The unions were not objecting to the privatisation of refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna, but rather to NNPC ignoring a memorandum it signed with the two unions only last week allowing them to carry out independent audits of the refineries before the sales occur. 
<img height="114" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaNupeng.gif" width="110"/>       <img height="105" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NigeriaPengassan.JPG" width="100"/>
The concerns of the two unions centre on the loss of 4,000 jobs, with no plan on how to meet the pension commitments of sacked workers. “We are saying, yes you can privatise, but let us sit down and thrash out the labour issues,” Williams Ibiba Inko, NNPC’s union chair and leader of the protest, told This Day newspaper. 
 
“This process is going to kill our pension. Most of the concerned staff has passed the employment age bracket,” said Inko, adding the memorandum calling for due process by workers’ representatives was signed by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE). “We believe (the process) is being hijacked by the BPE to suit its purposes.” 
 
As part of last Thursday’s protest, PENGASSAN and NUPENG also lodged stop-work actions at NNPC operations in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Mosimi, and Kaduna. All of the protests remained peaceful and no arrests were made. 
 
Bidding on the federal government’s 51% stake in the Port Harcourt refinery, Nigeria’s largest with a capacity of 210,000 barrels-per-day, was awarded to a Nigerian consortium called Bluestar Oil, for US$561 million. Bluestar is composed of the Dangote Group, Nigeria’s biggest cement producer, Zenon Oil, Transcorp, and the Rivers State government. Sale of 51% of the Kaduna refinery, however, was not completed after the lone bidder, China National Petroleum Corp., failed to meet the reserve price. CNPC’s bid was US$102 million. 
<img height="115" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Nigeria.png" width="250"/>
The BPE last week conducted privatisation bids on 18 public entities, including electric power, cement, and palm oil companies, as well as liquid petroleum gas depots, and coal and other mining blocks. 
 
Meanwhile, PENGASSAN President Peter Esele is pleading with militants in the Niger Delta to stop committing violent acts in the region, since such acts hamper legitimate development. Esele spoke out after three oil pipelines of Italian company Eni were blown up during the week of 7 May in Bayelsa state. 
 
“The effect of blowing up pipelines is grave,” he said in an interview with This Day. “It is very dangerous to the environment because it pollutes and it increases the costs” for development. PENGASSAN and NUPENG call for a truce in the unstable Delta region, so that development and investment can serve as a means to reduce poverty.

Nigerian Oil Unions Protest Lack of Transparency in Refinery Sales

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Justice was finally delivered last week for Australians after shareholders of building materials company James Hardie on 7 February voted by over 99% to fund a A$4 billion asbestos compensation fund. The vote, and the 9 February transfer by the company of the first A$184 million into the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund, is the final victory in a six-year fight that will assure victims of asbestos are adequately compensated. 
<img height="127" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Australia.png" width="250"/>
The James Hardie asbestos saga has become one of Australia’s greatest corporate fights, with trade unions, victim rights’ groups, and the state government of New South Wales taking on an arrogant company. In 2001, James Hardie announced plans to shift its headquarters from Sydney to The Netherlands in a move designed to avoid its legal obligations to thousands of people diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. In 2003, it made the move. 
That was after James Hardie CEO Peter Macdonald created an underfunded Medical Research and Compensation Fund, and declared to investors, “There will be no future provisions required,” adding that future liability will not impact company profits. In 2004, with revelations of deceptive stock market practices, including misleading investors, Macdonald departed the company. 
<img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AUSTRALIAAMWU.jpg" width="100"/>        <img height="103" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AUSTRALIACFMEU.gif" width="100"/>
This came as part of a comprehensive campaign by Australian labour unions, particularly AMWU and CFMEU, organisations such as Australia’s Asbestos Diseases Association, and hundreds of other civil society groups. The coalition staged shareholder protests, launched a global boycott on James Hardie’s products, and brought such intense public pressure to the company, that it was forced to acquiesce to a fair settlement. 
 
The settlement, A$4 billion into the fund over 40 years, was negotiated with James Hardie by Australia’s trade unions, the asbestos victims’ groups, and the government of New South Wales, which did exemplary work to bring the case to a successful close. 
 
"The pressure of unions, along with the NSW Government and the tireless work of the victim support groups and the community has been crucial to the success of this campaign,” said Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Secretary Greg Combet.

James Hardie Asbestos Case Finally Concludes Successfully

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Global Union/World Bank Consultations
The ITUC and four Global Union Federations (EI, ICEM, ITF and PSI) were invited to consultations on HIV/AIDS with the World Bank on 10 and 11 December. 
 
The objectives of the consultations were to identify complementarities between worker organisations and World Bank involvement in HIV/AIDS in Africa and to draft sector-specific action plans. 
 
The World Bank Group consists of the IBRD (middle-income countries loan facility), IDA (soft loan and grant facility for low-income countries) and IFC (commercial loan window, which has its own AIDS programme – IFC Against AIDS, Protecting People and Profitability and which published the HIV/AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector). 
 
Since 1986, and with the operation of the Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program (MAP) from 2000, about USD 2.6 billion have been committed. MAP alone committed some 1.5 billion since 2000 in 30 countries and five sub-regional projects. World Bank funds are usually channelled through the national HIV/AIDS coordinating body. 
 
50% of MAP funds were earmarked for NGOs. According to the MAP 2000-2006 publication The Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program 2000-2006, available at <a href="http://www.worldbank.org">www.worldbank.org</a>, 41,000 organisations in 25 countries benefited. More than 2.2 million workers were reached with workplace programmes. 
 
The World Bank continues its commitment to fight HIV/AIDS and has developed a new Agenda for Action 2007-2011. One of the objectives is to scale-up targeted multi-sectoral responses. Thus, the sector-specific meetings focused on mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in key sectors which include mining and energy – also ICEM key sectors. The ICEM will continue its work with the World Bank and include capacity building and knowledge sharing and generation for unions in infrastructure projects financed by the World Bank. 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
VCT Counsellors’ Training for ICEM Affiliates 
The low uptake of voluntary counselling and testing was a reason for the ICEM to focus on the training of counsellors from its own affiliates. With a grant from a major pharmaceutical company, training courses were held in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania with participants from all ICEM affiliates in these countries. 
 
In cooperation with professional service providers 40 VCT counsellors were trained in the course of 2007. The ICEM will monitor their deployment and work in 2008 in order to assess the impact of unionists in the up-scaling of VCT.
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Global Fund Round 8 Proposals 
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is scheduled to issue its call for proposals for Round 8 on 1 March 2008. From that date, applicants will have 120 days to prepare and submit their proposals. 
 
Although this seems a fair amount of time, the demanding proposal form and complicated procedures may require more time. There is no reason to start the process now. For unions that means getting membership on Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) to make sure that workplace projects are included in proposals to the Global Fund. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 82, 7 December 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>. To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Zambia: Women and AIDS
Domestic violence and poverty are preventing many Zambian women from accessing AIDS drugs, thus undermining the government’s ambitious treatment programme. 
 
About 16% of adults in Zambia are HIV-positive and, in urban areas, the prevalence rate exceeds 20%, with infection rates higher among women. The government provides antiretroviral drugs free of charge. 
 
A report by New York-based Human Rights Watch attributes the inadequate treatment of women to fear of violence from husbands which prevents women from getting tested. In other cases, women are left without financial means for transportation and a proper diet after divorce or death of their husbands leaves them destitute as property is seized by the husband’s family. 
 
(Source: Associated Press, 18 December 2007) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Nigerian Ministry Develops HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy
The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development recently developed a policy that provides a framework for addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The policy seeks to protect the rights of HIV-positive workers, as well as to foster a safe and healthy work environment for employees with a zero tolerance to psychological abuse, stigma and discrimination. 
 
HIV/AIDS should be treated as any other chronic illness in the workplace in terms of employee benefits, including health and life insurance, disability benefits and leave of absence. 
 
(Source: Daily Trust, 17 December 2007) 
<img height="35" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Aids%20ribbon.jpg" width="25"/>
Bono’s Brand
In January 2006, Bono, the Irish rock star, launched Product Red, to raise money for HIV/AIDS work in Africa. So far Red, which licenses its logo to brands including Apple, Motorola, Armani, Gap, Converse and American Express, has donated USD 50 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. 
 
While this is more than a lot of countries have contributed to the Global Fund, growth of Red has slowed down as few new companies have signed up and as the products are only available in a limited number of countries. 
 
(Source: Financial Times, 1-2 December 2007)
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (nos. 34 and 35 of 1 and 15 December) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports, among others, on its Latin American regional HIV/AIDS workshop, which focused on developing a prevention culture to control the epidemic; on the implementation of a workplace HIV/AIDS programme by the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and on programmes in India.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin

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Aquarius Platinum was flagged first for breaking the trust to jointly improve safety in South Africa’s mines. The company boasted to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that it had won a clean bill-of-health from the nation’s Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) at two of its South African mines. It had not. 
 
“I would like to state categorically that the DME has not yet cleared any SA mine as part of the audit process,” said the DME, referring to a President Mbeki-commissioned safety audit of all South African mines following the near-tragedy at Harmony Gold on 3 October 2007 when 3,200 miners were trapped for up to 38 hours. 
<img height="60" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaFlag.gif" width="100"/>
“Claims by the company that it has received a ‘clean bill-of-health’ or that it has ‘passed’ the ‘Presidential Audit’ are thus unfounded,” the DME said in the statement to refute Aquarius Platinum’s claim to capital markets. 
 
In the middle of last week’s controversy, which the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) aptly dubbed, ‘Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories,’ a contract worker was killed at Marikana, one of the mines in the Bushveld belt of North West Province that Aquarius claimed was DME certified. That death occurred on 8 January. A company spokesman, contacted 10 January by Mining Weekly, said the company would stand by its stock market statement.
<img height="142" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0610NUMFransBaleni1.jpg" width="100"/>
 NUM Gen. Sec. Frans Baleni 
 

The NUM was quick to denounce Aquarius for the false boast, calling it “a reflection of how playful the industry is when dealing with the lives of people.” NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said the company must be more sensitive and to refrain from such deviant behaviour. Baleni said NUM does not “have the slightest doubt that the audits are going to produce something contrary” at Aquarius mines. 
 
Aquarius Platinum operates the Kroondal, Marikana, and Everest platinum mines in South Africa, and is a joint venture partner in the Mimosa platinum mine in Zimbabwe. It also operates a chromite ore tailings treatment plant near Kroondal. Based in Australia, the 12-year-old company saw 300% income growth between 2005 and 2006, as well experiencing a sales growth of nearly 100% in that period. Impala Platinum controls a sizeable minority stake in Aquarius.

Aquarius Platinum: Integrity on Mine Safety Broken in South Africa

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A lockout by Canadian petroleum company Petro-Canada will hit the two-month mark on 17 January, with no talks occurring between the company and the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union since the start of the lockout. The lockout of 267 union members at an oil refinery in Montréal, Québec, is an attempt to reverse Petro-Canada’s own pattern-setting energy bargaining established at a company refinery in Edmonton, Alberta, on 13 May 2007. 
 
The ICEM-affiliated CEP and Petro-Canada there agreed to a three-year contract for 300 workers. Since May 2007, the CEP has signed labour accords with other companies set by the Petro-Canada/Edmonton agreement, including Petro-Canada operations in Ontario province. The CEP established Petro-Canada as the lead company in its National Energy and Chemical Bargaining Programme for 2007-2008, nearly one year ago. 
<img height="225" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0801CanadaPetro.jpg" width="380"/>
Managers at the Point-aux-Trembles refinery in the east end of Montréal are insisting on a six-year labour agreement, and they seek contract revisions that will reduce health and safety personnel. The company also seeks to erode workers’ rights concerning scheduling and assignments, and wants an accelerated training and progression system in which job safety will be jeopardised. Petro-Canada is attempting to operate the refinery during the lockout with 130 managers and scabs, contrary to Quebec’s labour law. 
 
In 2007, under CEP staffing, the refinery experienced an average production increase to 130,000 barrels-per-day, from 105,000 b/d in 2006. In a statement immediately following the 17 November lockout, Petro-Canada said the lockout was necessary because the refinery was in a “constant state of standby” from the labour talks. The company later admitted it had been training managers since September 2007 to run the facility, apparently anticipating the lockout. 
<img height="266" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0801Canada2.jpg" width="200" alt=""/>
Local 175 rally, 9 January
“Running an oil refinery requires highly specialised skills and dedicated safety training,” said CEP President Dave Coles, who joined workers on picket lines and in a mass meeting on 9 January. CEP Local 175 “members are on the front lines of the fight to protect pattern bargaining, which is at the very foundation of our union,” added Coles. 
 
In a protest in front of the refinery on 21 December, the CEP issued a warning to the Montréal community that 130 managers cannot adequately replace 260 skilled workers in a safe and hazard-free manner. The ICEM has joined the CEP in calling for support to the locked-out workers of Local 175, and on calling on Canada’s third largest oil company to adhere to terms it had initially negotiated in the current pattern settlement.

Canadian Petrol Refinery Lockout Nears 2-Month Mark

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During the July-August 2007 sector-wide tyre strike by 6,000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), 150 contract workers defied bosses at one of the producers – Goodyear – and joined NUMSA on picket lines. The ICEM-affiliated union then successfully defended the contract workers in court cases, while their rights after the American company challenged their right to strike. 
 
Those 150 contract workers have been rewarded for making their stand during that strike. As a result of language won by NUMSA regarding labour brokers, the contract workers are now former contract workers, as of this year. That means they have job security, medical assistance, and they are covered by the Tyre Industry’s Provident Fund.
<img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMrubber.JPG" width="100" alt=""/>
And they are also full-fledged union members of NUMSA. 
 
Contract workers at Goodyear’s 800-worker Uitenhage tyre-making plant near Port Elizabeth have pressed hard for entitlement to legitimate job rights. In April 2006, a strike by 300 contract workers was narrowly averted when NUMSA members at the auto, truck, industrial tyre plant threatened to join the strike. They won concessions from Goodyear and contract employers then. 
 
NUMSA News, the union’s monthly journal, credits the contract workers for “their discipline over the last five years and the fact that they have appreciated all efforts that NUMSA undertook for them.” 
<img height="60" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
The NUMSA industry-wide strike last year achieved first-year wage gains of 8%, and 7.5% for both the second and third years. Contract workers employed by Goodyear’s labour brokers took keen interest to know that NUMSA also won skill-based development training, five months maternity leave, 15-day annual leave, and a 10.5% contribution increase by employers to the Provident Fund.
NUMSA also reports that 21 contract workers at Dunlop-Apollo Tyre’s production plant in Durban – another plant struck last year – won permanent job rights, effective early in 2008. The ICEM commends NUMSA for these important achievements, as well as salutes contract workers in South Africa’s rubber industry for standing up to assert their rights.

2007 South African Tyre Strike Pays off for Contract Workers at Goodyear

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Two former General Secretaries of ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa won major leadership posts in the country’s ruling political party, the ANC. At the Polokwane conference of the ANC in December, Gwede Mantashe won a landslide vote as Secretary-General of ANC, the key day-to-day leadership position at ANC’s Luthuli House, while Kgalema Motlanthe won the position of Deputy President, second only to newly-elected ANC President Jacob Zuma. 
<img height="115" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfrica.png" width="250" alt=""/>
Mantashe served as General Secretary of the NUM from 1998 to 2006, while Motlanthe preceded Mantashe at NUM in the 1990s before become Secretary-General himself of the 670,000-member ANC, late in 1997. 
 
The ANC elected Zuma, Motlanthe, Mantashe, three other elected officers, and a 60-member National Executive Committee at its meetings in Polokwane. The ICEM applauds the NUM for producing social leaders that will now leave positive marks on the lives of all South Africans. The ICEM also believes the trade union backgrounds of the new leaders will serve the ANC well in the imminent healing that will occur within South Africa’s leading party.

Past NUM GSs’ Rise High in Leadership of African National Congress

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