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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM Australian affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) won a precedent-setting case last week before the full judicial panel of Fair Work Australia. The matter involves global mining house Xstrata’s redundancies at the Ulan coal mine near Mudgee, New South Wales, and whether or not those sackings were “genuine redundancies,” or if the employer had first to deliver alternative jobs at other company enterprises. 
 
On 12 November, the full bench of Fair Work Australia rejected an Xstrata appeal and ruled that the company had an obligation not just to make vacancies at other company enterprises known to the dismissed workers, but to offer positions and facilitate transfer to those worksites. 
 
In effect, the ruling establishes concise guidelines regarding “genuine redundancies” and ensures that employers can be held liable if they do not fully offer and then redeploy sacked workers in all reasonable circumstances. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/XstrataPoison.jpg" width="200" height="63" alt=""/>
In 2009, Xstrata Coal Pty. Ltd. made redundant over 100 workers at its 500-worker Ulan mine. The CFMEU claimed the company would replace many of those workers with contract employees. Last week’s ruling covers six of ten miners whose rights, under Australia’s new labour statute, were violated because the dismissals were not “genuine redundancies” since their jobs were still being performed. 
 
The other four were found not to have reasonable redeployment options due to light-work injury status or unwillingness to travel. 
 
Last week’s full bench ruling stated: “Where an employer decides that, rather than fill a vacancy by redeploying an employee into a suitable job in its own enterprise, it will advertise the vacancy and require the employee to compete with other applicants, it might subsequently be found that the resulting dismissal is not a case of genuine redundancy. This is because it would have been reasonable to redeploy the employee into the vacancy.”

CFMEU Wins ‘Fair Work Australia’ Case Involving Xstrata’s Illegal Dismissals

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The US United Autoworkers’ Union (UAW) will divest hundreds of millions of dollars from JPMorgan Chase over the bank’s refusal to implement a two-year moratorium on housing foreclosures in the state of Michigan. The divestiture of pension, health care, and other union-managed funds from the New York-based bank is also due to Chase’s ties to the RJ Reynolds Group, and that company’s treatment of low-wage farm workers in the US state of North Carolina. 
 
At a press conference on 24 September in Detroit, UAW President Bob King was joined by church and American farm-labour leaders in calling for a full citizens’ boycott of JPMorgan Chase. King and a coalition of civil society leaders from Michigan met with bank officials in June following a protest and requested a moratorium on home foreclosures of unemployed workers. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Bob.King.UAW.jpg" width="100" height="141"/>
UAW President Bob King
At a follow up meeting, UAW and religious leaders called on Chase to join President Barack Obama’s Hardest Hit Homeowners programme and declare a temporary freeze on foreclosures. Although the bank made a good-faith promise to continue the dialogue with the social partners, the bank “has since failed to communicate its intentions regarding any of the issues raised,” said the UAW. 
 
At the press conference ten days ago, US Farm Labour Organising Committee President Baldemar Velasquez detailed low wages, unsanitary conditions, and the Reynolds Group’s hindrance of trade union organizing rights for tobacco workers. 
 
King said Americans “have a moral responsibility to step up” and join the boycott. “Chase needs to help unemployed homeowners in Michigan and underpaid farm workers in the Carolinas,” stated King. “The bank could make a huge difference by suspending foreclosures and pressuring RJ Reynolds to do the right thing.”

US Auto Workers’ Pull Money from Bank over Home Foreclosures

Responding to the European Commission’s recommendation that member states should consider suspending offshore licensing in advance of possible new EU-wide safety standards, Norrie McVicar, Chair of the ITF’s Offshore Task Force Group (OTFG), said: “This is the wrong position to take and the wrong time to take it. The EC should be protecting the safety gains made in the UK offshore sector, not eroding them by dumbing them down to a lowest common denominator.” 
 
Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Sector Chair, added: “You can never be too safe and we would never condone complacency, but the British and Norwegian sectors are generally good examples of best practice. They should be studied, learned from and, where necessary, improved. They shouldn’t be remodeled into a one size fits all – but not very well – Euro model.” 
 
McVicar also stated: “One very positive feature of the UK industry is OSPRA, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, which brings together regulators, industry bodies and trade unions such as Unite and the RMT in a joint effort to ensure that we get the oil and gas we need as safely and cleanly as possible. It’s that kind of good practice that we’d like to see adopted by the rest of the global oil and gas sector, not weakened here in Europe.” 
 
 
 
For further information, contact: 
ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) 
Press officer, Sam Dawson, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260, Email: <a href="mailto:dawson_sam@itf.org.uk">dawson_sam@itf.org.uk</a>   
Norrie McVicar, OFTG Chair, Tel: +44(0)7768 652 257, Email: <a href="mailto:mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk">mcvicar_norrie@itf.org.uk</a>   
 
ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) Tel: +41-22-304-1847, Email: <a href="mailto:Jim.catterson@icem.org">Jim.catterson@icem.org</a>

ITF, ICEM Oppose EC’s Offshore Safety Recommendation

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In line with the Global Framework Agreement (GFA) signed jointly by the ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) with Belgian-based Umicore, a chemicals, metal technology, and catalyst systems company, the parties conducted a mission to Umicore subsidiaries in South Africa from 24-26 January. 
 
It was the third such mission since the GFA was signed in September 2007, with the two previous ones to China in 2009 and to Brazil in 2010. The main objective of the joint missions, as a regular exercise in accordance with the relevant provisions of the agreement, is to monitor compliance. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.umicore.JPG" width="229" height="172"/>
Participants at the Umicore Mission in South Africa
Umicore’s South African plants are located in the city of Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape province, and are called UACSA and UCPE. They are part of the company’s automotive catalysts business segment, one of four business units of Umicore. The area is a leading producer for automobiles and auto parts. 
 
Umicore was represented by Ignace De Ruijter, Senior Vice President of Human Resources; Guy Ethier, Senior Vice President of Environment, Health and Safety; Mark Dolfyn, Director of Human Resource Development; and Kerry Bryans, Managing Director of Umicore South Africa. From the trade union side, ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industries’ Officer Kemal Özkan, Belgian trade union officer Luc Triangle of ACV-CSC METEA (representing the IMF), and the Chairman of the Umicore’s European Works Council and member of ICEM German affiliate IGBCE, Peter Kamm, attended. 
 
From South Africa, representatives from ICEM-affiliated Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) from both Umicore plants also participated. They included: Skhumbuzo Phakathi, International Relations Officer; Clement Chitja, Head of Collective Bargaining: David Nzanzeka, Regional Secretary; Khaya Mkefe, Regional Organiser; and South African Works Council members Lindelwa Gxavu (Chairperson), Ncedile Boyce (Deputy Chairperson), Sindiswa Silotile (Secretary), Xola Dlova (Deputy Secretary), and Camagu Mzinyati (Organiser.) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.umicore.3.JPG" width="231" height="192"/>
CEPPWAWU Shop Stewards Lindelwa Gxavu and Siniswa Silotile
The internal trade union meeting also welcomed Vuyo Bikitsha, Regional Secretary, and Mziyanda Twani, Educator, from the ICEM- and IMF-affiliated National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), which had membership at UCPE plant in the past. 
 
Considering recent issues between local management and trade unions in the Port Elisabeth plants, the visit by the ICEM and IMF representatives resulted in positive and constructive evaluations. The plant visits also assisted workers in resolving some outstanding local issues. 
 
The mission resulted in a number of concrete results, including a conclusion that local communication on a number of issues, including recruitment procedures, structure of employment, integration of both plants, and training and education, should be further advanced and would benefit from greater engagement by both parties. By doing this, the results are in line with the objectives of the GFA to create mutually beneficial relations and dialogue between all the partners. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.umicore.2.JPG" width="202" height="158"/>
Trade Unionists Visit “UMICARE,” a Social Project by the Belgian Company in South Africa
The ICEM and IMF representatives were impressed by the excellent work of the local trade union representatives, and also recognized that local and corporate managers play a crucial role in creating better social dialogue within the company for the future. This visit will be evaluated in April 2011 at the next GFA Monitoring Committee with management. Both ICEM and IMF are ready for the continuation of the GFA. 
 
As part of the South African mission, the trade union delegation also visited a social project financed by the local company called “UMICARE.” The programme, while small, enables children to gain valuable opportunities in schooling to improve their chances for a better life. 
 
ICEM’s Özkan commented on the visit: “While approaching the four-year mark of the Umicore GFA, I am proud to observe very positive and concrete steps forward. Each joint mission has given us important input and synergy for future activities with positive expectations. I do believe that dialogue between ICEM/IMF and Umicore is an excellent model of global industrial relations tailored for what we need to create as a global union federation.”

ICEM, IMF Complete Umicore GFA Mission to South African Plants

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Trade union members of IGBCE and Verdi downed tools on 24 January in a four-hour warning strike across Germany against fair-pay salary delays by RWE. The worksite actions came a day before the sixth round of 2010 wage talks in Dortmund, the last chance for RWE to make an equitable salary increase before a full strike ballot occurs. 
 
With worker anger inside RWE boiling over, senior managers of the major European utility provider find themselves at a pivotal point with its 26,000-member German workforce. 
 
The warning strikes last week proved discontent at RWE is wide and loud. Scores of local staffs and thousands of RWE workers held vocal assemblies sponsored by the unions that delivered the same message: workers will contribute to the economic success of the company, but they want fair and full participation to create that success. 
<img style="WIDTH: 142px; HEIGHT: 210px" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0811.IGBCE.jpg" width="150" height="242"/>
Spirited demonstrations took place at many RWE gas and electric power stations and other workplaces, including lignite mines of RWE Power at Garzweiler, Hamach, and Inden. Coal-fired power plants at Niederaussem and Weisweiler also registered vocal support for further strike action. RWE’s nuclear workers at Biblis, Emsland, and Gundremminger downed tools, and gas workers from Emsland and Gersteinwerk also took part in the stop-work actions. 
 
IGBCE urged RWE in a statement to make an acceptable wage offer. The ICEM affiliate said the warning strike is necessary in order to increase pressure on RWE at the bargaining table. A full and unlimited strike would also ratchet pressure on RWE’s major German industrial customers. 
 
RWE had astoundingly withdrawn a 2.9% wage offer, while IGBCE and Verdi were demanding 6.5%. In place, the energy company proposed 2.4%. Salaries, however, are not the only issue. Worker demands for job security and halts to work-time increases also have thus far been unmet by RWE.

German Power Workers Close to Full Dispute with RWE

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ICEM conducted a project on organizing and social dialogue in Turkey in 2009 and 2010 with the support of the Dutch national labour centre, FNV, and its affiliate FNV Bondgenoten. Evaluation of the two-year work was made in a conference held on 29-30 November 2010 in the Turkish capital Ankara. 
 
Attended by more than 80 union representatives, the Conference hosted international delegates, namely Hans Hupkes, Celil Çoban, and Mail Ürker from FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands: Mats Svensson from IF Metall of Sweden; Michael Wolters from IGBCE of Germany; Jorgen Juul Rasmussen from Dansk El Förbund of Denmark; Jacques Caltot and Christophe Quarez from FCE-CFDT of France; Dimitra Penidis and Isabelle Verhaegen from CSC Batiment, Industri & Energie of Belgium; and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan, who ran the project. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.JPG" width="230" height="151" alt=""/>
The Conference started with the speech of Mustafa Kumlu, President of Turk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş Union, who expressed appreciation for the activities of the project that covered some 600 union activists over the two-year period. 
 
“The ICEM takes the lead in organizing international solidarity for Turkish workers, and this project is a clear signal of that,” said Kumlu, adding that Turkish unions support the creation of new manufacturing and energy workers Global Union Federation. Such an entity, he said, will create a large Turkish grouping of over 20 unions. 
 
Hans Hupkes, on behalf of FNV Bondgenoten, stressed the appreciation and satisfaction of his organization with the activities of the project. “A lot has been done – and won – in such a short period. We gained spirit and a sense of solidarity without borders,” he said. 
 
Warda said organising and social dialogue are two key elements of ICEM policy regarding multinationals. “We need the ability to include companies inside Turkey in this process, and the FNV project, we believe, will serve us well to meet this objective.” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.2.JPG" width="213" height="149" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Özkan gave a report on project activities carried out in 2009-2010. The conference then listed observations and opinions of the unions supporting the project from Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, and Belgium. In a separate session, participating Turkish unions shared their observations and evaluated the set of conference. Trade union rights and freedoms in Turkey was one discussion item. A remarkable contribution was made by Sister Müzeyyen Acunal who was fired from her workplace in the paper industry because she pioneered an organizing drive there. 
 
For 2011 and beyond, an evaluation on the future of the project with an action plan will be developed. A common point was made that union organizing is very tough in Turkey. Current legislation makes it extremely difficult. In addition to mentioning the obvious difficulties, a consensus was put forward that new opportunities and tools, particularly international ones, need to be used. Organising campaign being conducted by Petrol-İş was mentioned as a good example. 
 
At the end of the discussions, Turkish unions agreed to develop capacity on using international tools in separate sessions for trade union officers. Specific bilateral groups between Turkish unions and unions from countries from where multinational investment to Turkey originates should be created. Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations were mentioned as priorities. 
 
Continuation of the struggle against Contract and Agency Labour, as part of ICEM’s global CAL campaign, was defined as one of the priority areas. After the first national conference in 2008, an urgent second conference was identified as important, considering the recent pushes by the Turkish government to modify labour legislation for allowing more workplace flexibility and unlimited use of agency labour. 
 
The ICEM’s Özkan commented: “Our intensive project programme in 2009 and 2010 gave us a good opportunity to get together with a big portion of local union officers in the regions of Turkey. More than 600 people got a chance to learn and make use of international solidarity in day-to-day union activities. We now will embark on specific projects with concrete targets.”

ICEM’s Two-Year Dutch FNV Project for Turkey Evaluated in Ankara

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The ICEM today announced unequivocal support to striking coal miners of the Tkibuli-Mindeli coal mine Imereti region in western Georgia. Trade union members of ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia are justified in their stop-work actions because the owner of the mine, the Saknakshiri company, part of the Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), has neglected to install modern gas detection devices in its underground mine. 
 
The open-ended strike began yesterday, 2 February, and the ICEM supports the demands of 200 miners to remedy unsafe mine conditions and to improve work conditions. The strike yesterday came after a two-hour warning strike on 31 January, and 12 days after a methane gas explosion inside the Tkibuli-Mindel mine killed one worker and severely injured four others. 
 
Those workers knew methane gas levels were high but were told to retreat into the mine or face dismissal. Two days before the 21 January explosion, two other work units complained about high gas levels but were ordered to stay inside shafts.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Georgia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
"The information we have is the Tkibuli mine operates with inferior and out-dated detection and ventilation equipment,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “Following an August 2010 gas explosion that again killed miners, the company made only minor repairs rather than invest in a new and modern system.” 
 
The 27 August 2010 explosion killed four miners and severely injured six others. On 3 March 2010, four miners were again killed and one seriously burned in another methane gas blast at the Tkibuli-Mindeli colliery. 
 
The ICEM backs the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia’s demand that the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC) be given full participation in the special commission to probe the 21 January disaster. The ICEM calls on Saknakshiri to meet workers’ demands, including establishment of a compensation system for injured workers and the families of miners killed at work, hazardous duty pay, and proper protective clothing attire for work. 
 
Besides a healthy safety environment in which to work, Tkibuli-Mindeli miners also are seeking an end to non-regular employment, an overtime pay system, and wage indexation tagged to inflation, restitution of 2010-2011 outstanding arrears, and holiday pay.

ICEM Supports Safety Strike at Georgian Coal Mine

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The global trade union for the mining industry, the ICEM, congratulates the miners of Carbones del Cerrejon and their union, Sintracarbón, as well as management of the coal enterprise in la Guajira state in reaching contract terms early this week in Colombia. In a statement, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda noted that through respectful social dialogue – a process instituted with the assistance of the ICEM seven years ago – the two parties reached a mutually acceptable collective agreement, thus abandoning a planned strike. 
 
The two-year labour accord between the 4,000-member ICEM-affiliated mining union and the company operating the world’s largest set of open pit coal mines, owned jointly by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, was reached with the assistance of Colombia Vice President Angelino Garzón and Vice Minister of Labour Relations Ricardo Echeverry late last week. That mediation illuminates the importance of social dialogue at the highest level in a country usually devoid of such labour-management tools. It also averts a costly strike that would have placed a heavy toll both on union members of Sintracarbón and Cerrejon. 
 
“We have witnessed both sides reach the brink of negotiations in the past several sets of two-year talks,” said Warda. “The fact that Sintracarbón and Cerrejon have not had a strike in over 20 years is testament to mutual respect and shared responsibility by both the union and management in looking after the welfare of communities, workers, and their families.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805COLOMBIA3.jpg" width="220" height="185"/>
The 2011-2012 labour agreement calls for a first-year wage increase of 6.5% and a 2012 increase of two percent over next year’s Consumer Price Index. But more importantly, the ICEM noted, Sintracarbón continued to make improvements at the bargaining table for the communities surrounding the massive coal complex in north-east Colombia, improvements in health benefits for workers and their families, and education benefits for family members. 
 
The ICEM commends the involvement of Vice President Garzón, Vice Minister Echeverry, and the Cerrejon management for recognizing in this set of talks that contract workers not directly employed by Cerrejon have the right of association and the right to form a union of their own choosing without interference from sub-contracting companies of Cerrejon, or the mining enterprise itself. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the bargaining committee of Sintracarbón for achieving a deserved 2011 pay increase of 6.5%, better than double Colombia’s current 3.19% CPI. The ICEM’s notes that Cerrejon is a highly profitable enterprise for the parent companies, as well as for Colombia, the world’s fifth biggest exporter of coal. 
 
“The union’s organised process of collective negotiations and it’s method of mobilising 4,000 workers behind the bargaining team is an example to all unions worldwide,” said Warda. “In this set of bargaining, they succeeded in raising the bar on work standards inside Colombia that should be an aspiration to all workers.”

Sintracarbón, Cerrejon Reach Commendable Contract in Colombia

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Full work rights for irregular workers took a big step forward in Korea last week. A ruling by the Seoul High Court against Hyundai Motor and for a sacked subcontract worker was greeted as a marker for those following this critical global issue. 
 
In a case reviewed, overturned, and then sent on to the Seoul High Court by Korea’s Supreme Court, the ruling rightfully declared that Choe Byeong-seung, 35, was a direct employee of Hyundai while employed at its Ulsan manufacturing complex between 2003 to 2005. 
 
In issuing the verdict on 10 February, the High Court said Choe “carried out his duties mixed with regular workers on either side of the conveyer belt, and Hyundai Motor made decisions regarding workload, methods, sequence, etc.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Korea.Metalworkers.KMWU.jpg" width="140" height="122"/>
Following the ruling, the Hyundai Irregular Workers’ Union and its parent, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), held a press conference in front of Hyundai’s headquarters in Seoul. Their message is that the world’s fifth largest auto maker must take this ruling as signal to bring all subcontract workers to direct employment. 
 
Hyundai employs roughly 34,500 workers at its plants in Korea, with nearly one-quarter of them irregular workers. Choe, for instance, was hired by the car maker through a labour agency, but he sued Hyundai, not the agency, for restitution of his work rights. He was sacked, allegedly, for exercising his right to belong to a union. 
 
For the company’s part last week, it denigrated the judgment by announcing it would appeal the High Court’s ruling back to the Supreme Court, and stated it might even file a Constitutional Petition. 
 
The plight that irregular workers face is again becoming a hot-button issue in Korea’s politics. All political parties are engaged on the issue, and even a leading member of the ruling Grand National Party declared it “hypocritical to talk about welfare issues while ignoring the problem of irregular workers.” On 27 January, the opposition parties, Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and People Participations Party (PPP), broke new ground by debating the issue of irregular employment in a public forum. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/CAL_en.jpg" width="146" height="66"/>
The urgency of the issue, in no small part, also arises from last November-December’s 25-day sit-down strike at Ulsan, as well as job actions by non-regular workers at Hyundai plants in Asan and Jeonju during the same period. The strike at Ulsan caught the world’s attention, revealing accurately a major global manufacturer in an OECD country capitalising on servitude. 
 
Hyundai is hardly the only Korean equipment maker that exploits precarious workers. The GM Daewoo Irregular Workers’ branch of the KMWU in Incheon City has been battling for full-time rights for nearly four years. Despite local government and civil society pleas to GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. to begin talks with the union over misuse of irregular workers, the company has refused, citing no responsibility because it is not the official employer. 
 
Workers staged a sit-in atop an arch leading into the factory in December and later that month, the branch’s President, Sin Hyeon-chang, went on a hunger strike.

Hyundai Court Win for Irregular Worker Lifts Stakes in Korea

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Effective 1 March, some 200 transport workers at the Tkibuli-Mindeli coal mines in Imerti region, Georgia, will receive between 20-40% salary increases, depending on job classification, thanks to a 1-2 February strike by 600 members of the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union. 
 
That strike, on the heels of a methane gas explosion that killed one miner and seriously injuring four others, proved highly successful at 1,050-worker Saknakhshiri, or Geo-Coal, with management immediately agreeing to recognise the ICEM affiliate. Saknakhshiri is owned by Georgian Investment Group (GIG), a diverse conglomerate controlled by Georgian politician Davit Bezhuashvili. 
 
The 20-40% salary hikes for mine transport workers was agreed to in initial bargaining on 7 February. On 20 February, the union and management, together with the President of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), Irakli Petriasvili, will resume talks on behalf of 650 underground miners over safety, pay, and other work terms. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.georgia.2.JPG" width="220" height="165" alt=""/>
Left - Irakli Petriashvili, President of GTUC
Following the methane gas explosion on 21 January – the third such deadly blast in less than a year at Tkibuli-Mindeli – workers and their new union demanded modern mine safety equipment to replace Soviet-era equipment in place, and demanded improved work and pay conditions. 
 
The situation was exasperated days after the blast when police arrested two low-level managers as scapegoats for last month’s deadly accident. In support of the two and as protest to the overall work and safety conditions, miners staged a two-hour warning strike on 31 January and then began an open-ended strike on 1 February. The strike ended the very next day when management recognised the union and agreed to begin immediate talks with a series of set deadlines leading to a collective agreement no later than 20 March. 
 
Workers began joining the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union after a 27 August 2010 gas blast that killed four and severely injuring six others. On 3 March 2010, another gas explosion filled four and severely burned one other miner. 
 
The Tkibuli-Mindeli coal deposits are the second major set of Georgian workplaces that the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Trade Union has organised using direct action in recent months. Last spring, the union staged strike actions at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys plant and Georgian Manganese mines, winning work rights for 5,800 miners and metalworkers. 
Please view an <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4229-Strike-Ends-Georgian-Miners-Recognized-at-Tkibuli-Mindeli-Colliery " type="internal">ICEM report</a> from last week on the union’s recent success at the Tkibuli-Mindeli mines.

Two-Day Strike Wins Georgian Miners, Metalworkers 20-40% Pay Hike

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