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The GPMU and another ICEM affiliate in the UK, Amicus, officially merged earlier this month following a vote of members at branch levels of the GPMU. The vote tally to merge with the UK&rsquo;s largest union was 26,709 for and 4,287 against, or 86% to 14%. The two unions will begin joining operations on 1 October with a five-year period expected to fully merge structures. GPMU will become a sector within Amicus.

UK Union GPMU Merges with Amicus

Punishing workers who took part in a 20-day strike at LG Caltex refinery in South Korea is now the agenda of management. ICEM affiliate Korean Chemical &amp; Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation ended the strike 6 August but when 200 workers returned to their jobs the following Monday, 9 August, they were denied entrance and told they would be recalled on an individual basis. 
LG Caltex, a joint venture between the Korean LG Group and US supermajor ChevronTexaco, is seeking disciplinary action against some 70 strike leaders of KCTF. In addition, the government had issued arrest warrants for dozens of KCTF union officers.

LG Caltex Punishes Workers Who Struck in Korea

Members of ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintraquim at the pharmaceutical firm Casar Laboratorios S.A. have been on strike because the firm has not paid wages and benefits since last December. Company management now says it will liquidate the factory and workers&mdash;nearly all family-supporting women&mdash;will be without earning power. Sintraquim President Pastora Rosales and union activist Doris Amanda were employed at the factory. The ICEM is reviewing the situation and action is imminent.

Pharmaceutical Strike in Colombia Over Unpaid Wages

An eight-day strike by the Electric Power Workers Trade Union of Serbia ended 5 August with guaranteed assurances that union rights and full employment levels will be maintained at state-run EPS as it prepares for restructuring into five separate enterprises. The strike by 1,250 workers at EPS&rsquo;s Kostolac Mine and a thermal power plant in Kostolac won guaranteed employment at the five new companies for a four-year period, as well as an excellent redundancy package for any workers laid off thereafter. According to Power Workers Trade Union President Milan Kovacevic, another crucial aspect of the agreement is a provision that EPS must reassess in three years whether the separation to five business entities is justified before finalization of the process occurs. The restructuring of EPS will not begin until the five labour agreements of the new businesses are completed with the union. 
 
 
Correction: In ICEM&rsquo;s 17 August InBrief, at Serbia&rsquo;s state-run electric company called EPS, the number of separate companies that the firm has broken into is 23, not five as written. The eight-day strike by 1,250 workers occurred at one of those companies now splitting into five units. ICEM affiliate Electric Power Workers Trade Union won job security assurances through the strike that occurred at part of two companies, firms connected with the Kostolac Mine and thermal power plant.

Eight-Day Strike in Serbia Protects Union Rights

Also in the North American rubber sector, the USWA has filed a US labour board charge against German rubber manufacturer Continental Tire. The charge is over the firm&rsquo;s intent to close a tyre plant in Mayfield, Kentucky, by year-end that would cost 800 steelworkers their jobs. The union contends the announcement of the closure was timed to coincide with a 22-24 July unionization vote at a nearby Continental tyre plant in Mount Vernon, Illinois, thus serving to discourage workers there from voting for USWA representation. The USWA has obtained internal documents verifying Continental&rsquo;s anti-union bias, including plans to manipulate financial statements, and will present the evidence in its case before the US National Labor Relations Board.

USWA Protests Continental Tyre’s Plant Closure in US

A strike by 1,000 members of USWA also in Canada continues at Michelin&rsquo;s B.F. Goodrich tyre plant in Kitchener, Ontario, despite renewed bargaining that took place in mid-July in Pittsburgh. Despite Michelin net income doubling to C$528 million in the first half of 2004, Kitchener management is seeking wage and benefit cuts amounting to 15%. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t about being asked to help a company that is in financial difficulty,&rdquo; stated USWA Assistant Ontario/Atlantic Director Marie Kelly. &ldquo;This is about feeding a corporate giant that has always been anti-union.&rdquo; The strike began 1 June. In separate bargaining also in Pittsburgh, the USWA is engaged in hard bargaining with Michelin over the master rubber contract at three US tyre plants.

USWA Strike in Canada Against Michelin Continues

ICEM Nigerian affiliates PENGASSAN and NUPENG had their demands for upgrading refineries, compliance with labour standards and other relevant issues that have besieged the oil industry in Nigeria met. Major oil firms, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and the two unions reached accord 20 July, five days before a national strike was to start as announced in a union ultimatum. Full dialogue with the unions over privatisation, the number of expatriates working in the industry, training, oil windfall revenues and contract staff and casual workers will continue.

Nigerian Affiliates Succeed with Pledges for Refinery Upgrades

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited chemical firm DuPont for failure to record on-site injuries that occurred last November at a plant in Niagara Falls, New York State. DuPont failed to list injuries in the official OSHA 300 record-keeping log. 
Two workers had inhaled chlorine gas and one of the two needed immediate medical attention a missed a month of work. 
The violation comes following the US labour board citing DuPont for failure to turn over requested documentation by US affiliate PACE on location of hazardous chemicals at the textile fibres plant. In 2002, DuPont refused to allow PACE health and safety representatives from entering the plant.

DuPont Guilty of Faulty Record-Keeping in New York State

Three major mine accidents occurred in China last week, killing 28 workers. A methane gas explosion at a coal mine in Guizhou Province killed 19, while at an unlicensed coal mine in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, a broken cable caused a fire killing six miners. On 12 July, an accident at a fluorite mine near Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, killed three miners.

Mine Accidents in China Kill 28

A mining accident at the shuttered Shinkolobwe uranium mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 30 when a roof collapsed. The mine had been closed for decades, but that hasn&rsquo;t prevented small-scale, illegal mining for colombo tantalite&mdash;or coltan, the valuable mineral used in mobile phones and computer chips&mdash;from continuing. ICEM Congolese affiliate FENAMICO has condemned the practice and has called for a full-scale investigation of the 9 July tragedy.

Illegal Uranium Mine in Congo Collapses, Kills 30

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