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The ICEM registered a strong letter of protest last week with the government of Serbia-Montenegro over the police beating of Electric Power of Serbia (EPS) Trade Union member Dragan Teofilovic. The trade unionist for the Electric Power Distribution Company of Belgrade was summoned 8 November to a police station where he was questioned over his participation in a strike last summer. Teofilovic then suffered head and arm injuries at the hands of a police inspector. EPS Trade Union said the incident is further proof that the government systematically violates human and trade union rights.

ICEM Protests Serbian Police Brutality over Electric Industry Strike

South African chemical producer Sasol had another serious workplace safety incident on 30 October when one worker was critically injured during a fire at a refinery in Sasolburg, Free State. The cause was a fuel spill that occurred during a loading process. Two other workers received minor burns. Meanwhile, a commission of inquiry into the 1 September explosion at Sasol&rsquo;s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga, that killed ten and injured 100 has recessed until March 2005. The commission did conclude prior to adjourning that the accident happened when a contract worker opened a pipe containing flammable gas.

More Health, Safety Woes for South Africa’s Sasol

Nigerian unions, including ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN, will proceed with wide support from civil society organizations on an indefinite general strike beginning 16 November. The government has refused to rescind a 25% fuel price hike imposed in September. Mass dissent by the Nigerian populace has also shifted to Shell Petroleum Development Corp. due to the company&rsquo;s support of the government and its decision to take oil workers to the Federal High Court in Lagos in an effort to stop them from joining the strike. The court on 1 November delayed ruling on the matter until two days after the start of the general strike.

Nigerian Unions Brace for General Strike Starting 16 November

Strikes, marches and mass demonstrations in The Netherlands may be over as ministers for the center-right government have backed away from cuts to the Dutch social welfare system. Dutch unions, employers and the government reached an accord 6 November that will save social programmes from the budget axe, including early retirement rights, the current work-week and holiday entitlement, and industry-wide wage agreements. In return, the unions have pledged restraint in wage talks next year.

NL Center-Right Government Backs Off Social Welfare Cuts

French unions have called for protest action at Michelin tyre plants throughout France tomorrow, 21 September. 
 
At issue are the company's plans to restructure and to cut thousands of jobs. 
 
On 8 Sept, Michelin announced a 20 percent growth in net income during the first half of this year. In the same breath, the French-based tyre giant said it was going to fire 7,500 of the workers who produced this outstanding result. 
<img height="393" alt="Cartoon: Thierry Lenoir/ICEM" src="" width="252" />
Cartoon: Thierry Lenoir/ICEM
&quot;This decision is unacceptable both in its form and in its substance,&quot; says French chemical and energy workers' federation FCE-CFDT, which organises Michelin workers. It notes that neither the unions nor Michelin's workers were told about the plan before it was publicly announced. The FCE-CFDT accuses Michelin of &quot;visceral contempt&quot; for &quot;both the unions and the workers, who are never considered either as partners or as people.&quot; 
 
The union recalls that Michelin brought in no less than eight &quot;social plans&quot; in France alone between 1982 and 1998. Altogether, these cut the workforce from 52,000 to 27,000. 
 
Michelin is also showing its disdain for small shareholders, the FCE-CFDT says, because they will not benefit from the surge in the company's share price. The profits are being taken by speculators. 
 
Not least, Michelin's announcement demonstrates &quot;provocation and contempt vis-a-vis the [French] government and the parliamentarians who decided that the working week should be cut from 39 hours to 35 on 1 January 2000, in order to create jobs and reduce unemployment.&quot; As the union points out, Michelin has been particularly vocal in its opposition to the government's plan for work time cuts. 
 
Stressing that the company &quot;is 'managing' its employment at the European level,&quot; the FCE-CFDT calls for the establishment of a European Works Council within Michelin, and says this &quot;should happen within the next few days.&quot; 
 
For comments by French union F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGTFO, which also organises Michelin workers, see ICEM UPDATE 53/1999. 
 
At the global level, the FCE-CFDT and F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGTFO are affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The ICEM and its unions worldwide pledge full support to the campaign by our French brothers and sisters,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;Michelin has long been known as a patriarchal, arrogant employer. If this company is to drag itself into the twentieth century, it does not have much time left.&quot;

French Unions Call Michelin Action

ICEM New Zealand affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU) emerged from its biennial conference in Rotorua 24 July with a priority to achieve employer-funded superannuation schemes. The New Zealand Institute was established to promote policies and aid New Zealand&rsquo;s largest trade union with developing asset ownership funds held by workers. Andrew Little was re-elected EPMU national secretary at the conference for a second four-year term, while Trevor Ruby was elected president, Don Pryde senior vice president and Dennis Robertson junior vice president.

EPMU Leaves Congress with Focused Priorities

CFMEU of Australia won an important court decision late last week that will broaden its organising strength in development-rich Western Australia. A federal court refused to ban the union from a construction site on the Barrup Peninsula where an A$650 million ammonia plant is being built. Contractors last January blocked CFMEU from entering, saying employees already had individual work contracts under the Howard government&rsquo;s Australian Workers&rsquo; Agreements. The decision is expected to have far-reaching effects across Australia for union organizers.

CFMEU Wins Case against Howard Government’s Work Contracts

The deadliest mine disaster in four years in the Ukraine occurred 19 July. Thirty-six coal miners perished when a methane gas explosion rocked the Krasnolymanskaya mine in eastern Donetsk region. &ldquo;Safety rules, especially those of ventilation, were constantly violated in that mine,&rdquo; said Mikhail Volynets, president of the Miners&rsquo; Independent Trade Union of Ukraine. The mine is Ukraine&rsquo;s most profitable, producing 10,000 tonnes per day. On 27 July, the government ordered around-the-clock inspections of air volume, effectiveness of mine degassing, dust content and explosive risks of equipment for a two-week period in all coal mines in the country.

Deadly Coal Mine Explosion Kills 36 in Ukraine

The on-again, off-again bid by NUM in South Africa to save jobs at Harmony Gold Mining Ltd. is on again as the two sides this past weekend signed an agreement preventing closure of six mineshafts targeted by the company. In April, the firm agreed on a process to continue employment for 5,000 miners, but that was broken in late June when Harmony insisted the jobs must go. The latest agreement calls for a plan to integrate both marginal and profitable shafts, thus creating new job opportunities. &ldquo;We are in the process of creating history with this agreement,&rdquo; said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe. &ldquo;The fact that we ensured that the shafts are not closed augurs well for our goal to save jobs.&rdquo;

NUM, Harmony Gold Resume Talks in South Africa

German and French unions are teaming up to block the hostile takeover of German-French pharmaceutical Aventis by French rival Sanofi-Synthelabo. Hubertus Schmoldt, president of German IGBCE and Patrick Pierron, general secretary of the French union FCE-CFDT, oppose the hostile takeover. They fear massive job cuts in both countries will result, and jointly expressed disdain over how the takeover was set up. &ldquo;A hostile takeover such as this is counter-production to the stock market. There are hardly any winners with such actions, but certainly plenty of losers,&rdquo; the two unions said.

French, German Unions Resist Aventis, Sanofi Chemical Merger

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