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In India, a three-day strike by coal mines of the Singareni Collieries Co. ended 27 April, but the union--Singareni Collieries Employees Union-- promised an indefinite strike if the uniform pay increase from India's wage board is not implemented. Strikes at mines in Adilabad and Warangal districts saw 100% support by miners, while other areas such as Khamman and Karimnagan saw somewhat less participation. In total, the 72-hour strike had support from 75% of over 92,000 miners.

Coal Strikes in India’s Mines

Strikes by coal miners of state-owned Solid Energy in New Zealand have expanded, leading up to negotiations on 28 April. Another 500 coal miners of ICEM NZ affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) struck for 48 hours beginning 22 April. Miners are seeking their union's national call for at least 5% wage hikes, while Solid Energy is offering 2.8% with a profit-sharing plan. Four more mines joined the strike actions that were initiated when 238 EPMU miners at the Huntly East and Rotowaro mines on 15 April.

Strikes Continue in New Zealand Against State-run Coal Firm

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Legislation in South Korea to revise how contract and agency labour is regulated became deadlocked in the country's National Assembly. The country's two national labour centers--FCTU and FKTU--have joined hands and said passage in the bill's existing form would ensure a general strike across Korea. 
Employers are seeking a top pay rate of 70% coupled with the use of contract and non-regular labour on an unlimited basis. The union federations, whose top two leaders 22 April announced they would start a hunger strike over the issue, back a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea which states the bill must provide part-time workers with full labour pay rates, and contain guarantees of full rights and safeguards against discrimination.

Korean Reform Legislation On Contract Labour

A five-GUF project kicks off this week, thanks to FNV Mondiaal of The Netherlands, the international arm of the national union confederation. It is a three-year union modernization effort on behalf of several affiliated unions in five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan by ICEM, IFBWW, ITF, IUF and UNI. The project will provide selected unions with strategic managing and organizational development skills.

Multi-GUF Union-Building Projects Begins for Eastern Europe

Industrial action in New Zealand is escalating over ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union&rsquo;s (EPMU) call for 5% wage increases across all sectors of the country&rsquo;s buoyant economy. On 15 April, 238 EPMU miners at collieries of Solid Energy in Huntly East and Rotowaro struck. Coal miners across NZ are seeking a 6% pay hike to offset lost wages from government passage of the Employment Contracts Act in the late 1990s. Miners are also seeking pay parity between operations of the North Island and South Island. Underground miners in the South are paid less than workers in the North, while open cast miners on the North Island earn less than those of the South. Metals and manufacturing workers, also represented by EPMU, are on the verge of striking if the 5% demands are not met.

Miners in New Zealand Take Strike Actions

Meanwhile, coal miners in South Africa, fearful they would be sacked by the sale of Zululand Anthracite Colliery by Ingwe Holdings&rsquo;parent BHP Billiton to Riverdale Holdings, staged an underground strike for several days beginning 10 April. Supported by the NUM, the strikers are seeing assurances that any redundancies at the colliery in northern KwaZulu-Natal State will be met with adequate payments. Another underground mine sit-in occurred in the Free State by 400 NUM members at Star Diamond near Theunissen. Miners were protesting the sackings of two workers who refused to work in dangerous conditions.

South African Coal Miners Stage Underground Strike

After three weeks of futile bargaining, talks broke off last week between Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada Local 689 and UPM Kymmene over efforts to end a four-month paper mill strike in Miramichi, New Brunswick. The Finnish paper company still will not submit the pattern labour agreement for the paper sector of eastern Canada to the striking 700 CEP members, which is the central issue to the strike. Rather, UPM Kymmene was pressuring Local 689 to force a vote of union members on a substandard proposal. Union members 14 April vehemently rejected taking a vote on anything short of the pattern agreement.

CEP, UPM Kymmene Fail in Canadian Talks to End 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

The crisis in Ukrainian coal mines is worsening by the day. Crippled by customers' unpaid bills and by &quot;reforms&quot; partly dictated by global financial institutions, the industry is continuing to default on wage payments to its workers. 
 
By 1 February, active coalminers were owed between 3 and 14 months' pay, the Miners' Independent Trade Union of Ukraine (MITU) reports. The total wage debt to these miners topped 700 million US dollars last month. The many Ukrainian miners invalided out because of accidents and occupational diseases are faring no better financially. They are now owed some 135 million US dollars' worth of benefits. 
 
Desperate times breed desperate measures. Strikes are spreading rapidly, now involving between 20,000 and 25,000 miners each day. About 200 miners have launched an indefinite sit-in below ground. One miner burned himself to death in a protest last December and more have threatened to do so. 
 
&quot;The miners are demanding that their wages be paid on time, that the arrears be paid and that state financing of the sector be increased during 1999,&quot; MITU President Mikhail Volynets commented yesterday. He said the country's President and government had reneged on a commitment to begin paying off the wage backlog. If the miners' &quot;legimate demands&quot; were not met, MITU would &quot;lead a general miners' strike,&quot; Volynets pledged. 
 
He pointed out that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are pressing the Ukraine to cut coal industry subsidies, close mines and reduce the workforce. 
 
&quot;All this doesn't favour the financial improvement of country in general, and in particular of the coal sector, which is a key Ukrainian industry,&quot; Volynets emphasised. &quot;Because of the tough monetary policy implemented by the government under pressure from the World Bank, many industrial enterprises in related sectors have stopped working. This has also had a negative effect on the working of the mines. 
 
&quot;In this situation, social and psychological tensions are intensifying more and more in the mining regions,&quot; Volynets warned. 
 
At the global level, the MITU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
&quot;The Ukrainian miners' claim is undeniably just,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe commented. &quot;They are simply demanding what they are owed. They have the full support and solidarity of their brothers and sisters worldwide. 
 
&quot;We certainly call upon the Ukrainian mines and the Ukrainian government to ensure payment of the wage debt without further delay,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;But beyond that, we demand that the institutions of global finance, notably the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, should at last show some social responsibility. At least part of the international finance that now goes into often harmful 'restructuring' in Ukraine and similar economies must instead be earmarked for the payment of the huge debts owed to those countries' workers. Global action is needed now to right this scandalous wrong.&quot;

Ukraine: Mine Strikes Spread As Pay Debt Climbs

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