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The ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese Affiliates Federation (JAF) has been using many of its own resources, and nearly all of its time and energy to deal with the horrible after effects of last Friday&rsquo;s earthquake and tsunami. The ICEM has been in contact with JAF several times daily in order to determine the federation&rsquo;s needs. What follows is a Circular Letter from General Secretary Manfred Warda to all ICEM affiliates alerting them on how they can help:
Please Contribute: Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Relief 

Dear ICEM Affiliated Unions, 
 
Many of you have inquired over the past several days the best means to contribute to Relief Funds handling the horrible disaster in Japan. You should know that we have been in constant touch with JAF, the ICEM&rsquo;s Japanese Affiliates Federation, and they have been doing the very best they can, under unimaginable circumstances, to come to the assistance of their electric energy, oil and gas, and other union members in North-east Japan, as well as in other areas. 
 
As is ICEM policy in such natural disasters, we ask that you consider contributions to your local or national Red Cross or UNICEF agencies, with the earmark of Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Fund. 
 
But we also have been informed by JAF General Secretary Yoshio Sato that JAF has set up an account in its Tokyo Bank to handle relief efforts undertaken by the unions. The bank transfer coordinates there: 
 
Bank Name: Mizuho Bank, Ltd. 
Swift Code: MHBKJPJT 
Branch name: Shiba Branch 
Branch Address: 5-34-7, Shiba, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-0014, Japan 
Account Name: Nihon Kagaku Enerugi-Kouzan Roudoukumiai Kyougikai 
Account Number: 054-3316103 
 
Please state in the transfer &ldquo;Earthquake.&rdquo; 
 
Obviously, ICEM and ICEM JAF are very grateful for any and all contributions. And messages of Support and Solidarity can still be sent, addressed to <a href="mailto:icemjaf@blue.ocn.ne.jaf">Yoshio Sato</a>.
Lastly, please take a moment to reflect on the safety and health of the courageous workers, members of JAF affiliate Denryoku Soren, who are working non-stop on the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. These and other JAF members who are working around the clock on Japanese security, relief efforts, and tending in so many ways to abate this disaster are the real heroes in the world today. They deserve our Support and Solidarity. 
 
Again, thank you for your efforts. 
 
In Solidarity, 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary

ICEM’s Japanese Affiliates Identify Earthquake Relief

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A wage strike broke out last week in Argentina&rsquo;s Zarate-Campana petrochemical complex when members of the Zarate branch of the Federation of Chemical and Petrochemical Workers&rsquo; Unions (FESTIQyPRA) walked out at six companies. Workers and their unions are seeking 2011 wage hikes over a series of instalments that will keep pace with the country&rsquo;s high inflation rate. 
 
The companies affected include Petrobras, Bunge, Rohm and Haas, Lanxess, Atanor, and Dow. At the Petrobras petrochemical plant, production stopped on 5 March due to the company seeking a safe and orderly shutdown. FESTIQyPRA Zarate is negotiating with the Chamber of the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry (CIQyP), and the sides are now in mediation that is being conducted by the Argentina&rsquo;s Ministry of Work. 
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FESTIQyPRA&rsquo;s Nelson Palacios said workers are justified in asking for a general 25% pay rise, with minimum wage workers expected to gain more. FESTIQyPRA Zarate also seeks a fixed remuneration sum of ARS 2,463 (&euro;437, US$611) added to the base wage between May 2011 and February 2012. 
 
Palacios said the union&rsquo;s proposal calls for 30% of the total to be awarded in May 2011, with other increments to follow in October, December, and in February 2012. Several collective agreements in Argentina are on the brink of dispute, including ones in metals, oil and gas, and in service industries. CGT General Secretary Hugo Moyano has stated that a 2011 increase of 28% is in line for workers to meet the rampant run-up in Argentina&rsquo;s inflation rate. 
 
FESTIQyPRA is affiliated to CGT. The Zarate-Campana petrochemical plants are in northeast Argentina, in Buenos Aires province and situated on the Paran&aacute; River.

FESTIQyPRA Zarate Branch in Argentina Strikes 6 Chemical Companies

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Elefsina, an industrial town on the outskirts of Athens, was the venue for the 38th Congress of ICEM &ndash; affiliated trade union, the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Employees in Petroleum Products, Refineries and Chemical Industry. ICEM Energy Officer, Jim Catterson represented the ICEM at the Congress which brought together several hundred delegates together with guests from the across the political spectrum of Greek political parties as well as international trade union guests from Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.
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The world economic crisis and its effects on the Greek economy with the imposition by government of a severe austerity package was subject to extensive and lively debate, including the messages from both political and international guests who also discussed the RETUN-SEE network of Energy Unions, the future role of Greece as a transit country for gas and petroleum supplies to European Union countries as well as the changing economics and structures of European petroleum refining. 
 
The Congress elected a Presidium to guide the union&rsquo;s work in the next Congress period. It will elect the President and other leading officials of the union at its first meeting. 
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Prior to the Congress the union arranged a first meeting between ICEM and senior management of Hellenic Petroleum, a significant multinational involved in Petroleum refining and distribution throughout the Balkans, as well as exploration in both Macedonia and Egypt. Jim Catterson was able to describe ICEM priorities in the industry including Global Framework Agreements as well as discuss in general the challenges facing the industry, ranging from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to the present turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

Petroleum, Energy Workers of Greece Celebrate 38th Congress

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The 28 affiliates of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Slovakia (KOZ) have the antidote for centre-right coalition government intent on imposing dreaded labour laws reforms in the Central European country. KOZ and its trade unions have launched a petition drive to change the eight-hour work day to one of seven and a 25-hour work week, with no reduction in salaries. 
 
The campaign already has the necessary 350,000 signatures needed to put an initiative up for vote under Slovakia&rsquo;s referendum law. But the unions will continue collecting signatures, in part, to galvanise support against Prime Minister Iveta Radicova&rsquo;s labour code revisions to cut worker protections. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="142" />
KOZ has drawn up a draft referendum that poses three questions to Slovak citizens: Do you want to preserve the current system of worker protections? Do you agree that overtime work should be limited to 80 hours per year? Do you want working time shortened to 35 hours per week? 
 
Leaders in the ruling coalition parties claim that if accepted, employers will reduce costs by furloughing workers. But union leaders argue that reducing the number of work hours can produce jobs if fair and socially correct policies are enacted by the government. 
 
The labour-friendly Smer-Social Democracy Party is the one political party supporting KOZ&rsquo;s campaign. 
 
In order for a plebiscite to become effective in the Slovak Republic, at least 50% of voting-age people must turn out for the referendum vote. Since 1993, the country has held seven such plebiscites and only once has achieved the necessary 50% &ndash; in 2003 when Slovakian citizens voted to join the EU.

Slovak Trade Unions Campaign for 7-Hour Work Day

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ICEM-affiliated mineworkers&rsquo; unions know the difficulties in dealing with Rio Tinto, whether it is collective agreements or the charades the company plays to deny legitimate rights for train drivers in western Australia&rsquo;s rich iron ore region. Now an Australian union has set as goal organizing the unorganized plants of Rio Tinto Alcan, the mining giant&rsquo;s aluminum smelting subsidiary there. 
 
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is currently ramping up a recruiting drive at Alcan factories in Tasmania, Queensland, and the Northern Territory and without surprise, is meeting fierce resistance by Rio&rsquo;s managers. 
 
AWU kicked off its union campaign to deliver better wages and benefits to all workers at Alcan plants last month at its National Delegates Conference. The union intends to do that by recruiting wall-to-wall, or every worker at smelting facilities in Bell Bay, Tasmania, and Yarwun and Boyne Island, Queensland, that does not carry a union card. 
 
AWU began the drive in earnest last week by placing advertisements in Tasmanian newspapers alerting the public and workers at Alcan&rsquo;s Bell Bay smelter that Tassie staff are paid far less than at two union-represented smelters of Alcoa in Victoria. The ads, titled &ldquo;Tassie Workers Deserve Better: Fair Go &ndash; Rio Tinto,&rdquo; reveal that Alcoa operators earn up to A$20,000 more per year than operators at Bell Bay. 
<img alt="" src="" width="188" height="251" />
AWU Newspaper advert 
Photo: AWU 
It was at Bell Bay, in northern Tasmania, in late February where the AWU won a health and safety victory for the 550 workers there. Late in February, a state Justice Department of Justice secretary issued a definitive ruling that AWU representatives must be allowed access to break areas of the plant to consult with union members over safety and work issues. The company had appealed a Tasmania Supreme Court judgment giving the AWU right-of-entry. 
 
Alcan managers at Bell Bay have undertaken vigorous litigation to block access by attempting to restrict union consultation with workers to outside conference rooms, areas where such meetings are in full view of managers. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4195-Court-Tosses-Rio’s-Australian-Appeal-on-Safety-‘Right-of-Access’">ICEM InBrief report</a>.) Right-of-entry to lunch rooms is seen by Aussie unions as a pivotal point under Fair Work Australia in order to rid fear and intimidation as factors in workers choosing union membership. 
 
Alcan &ndash; and Rio Tinto &ndash; resistance to unionization was also seen recently at an Alcan facility called Gove Alumina in the Northern Territory. There, members of the Australia Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) have since 2008 rejected three times in enterprise bargaining a demand from Alcan to change roster scheduling at the 403-worker refinery. 
 
Despite enterprise bargaining talks still in effect, last week a leaked e-mail surfaced revealing that Alcan management had advised that the next set of talks not include the designated AMWU representatives. Such an attempt to circumvent the union is a serious breach of Australian federal labour law. 
 
The anti-union bias pattern that Rio&rsquo;s Alcan managers use is best summarized by a labour leader in central Queensland, where AWU is seeking worker power and workplace gains at Yarwun and Boyne Island, both sites that have low union membership. The Gladstone Branch president of the Queensland Council of Trade Unions, Craig Giddens, described the difference between construction of the Yarwun facility and commencement of production, a point when Alcan installed security cameras and heavy locked gates. &ldquo;Whenever we go&rdquo; to meet with workers, Giddens told newspaper reporters, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re locked in an office at the front (and) there&rsquo;s a security camera at the front so management can watch who comes down.&rdquo;

Australian Union Seeks ‘Wall-to-Wall’ Recruitment at Rio Tinto Alcan

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In April, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will begin searching for union members in the metals and engineering sector who retired between 1980 and 2001. The reason is that NUMSA last month won a long-running battle through arbitration with South Africa&rsquo;s Steel and Engineering Industry Federation. 
 
The arbitrated judgement is an award for R20 billion (&euro;209 million, US$290 million) in surplus pension funds that had been withheld by the employers&rsquo; federation for decades. 
 
NUMSA fought in court and through negotiation channels for the right to disburse the surplus entitlement funds. The money was accumulated in both the Engineering Industries Pension Fund and the Metal Industries Provident Fund since the 1950s. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="78" />
The surplus was accumulated and held when worker contributions to the funds were never paid out to staff who had not reached the vesting scale of ten years employment, or when NUMSA members failed to claim pensions when they retired or resigned. ICEM-affiliated NUMSA began battling for disbursement in 2001, but the case was not resolved because employers imposed many legal entanglements to block any disbursement. 
 
The Steel and Engineering Industry Federation insisted that South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act (LRA) apply in settling the issue. NUMSA and the Financial Services Board argued that surplus monies should come under the Pension Fund Act because the LRA had no provision for addressing pension issues. Finally, in 2008, the LRA was amended to address pensions and the two sides began negotiations. It was resolved in February through arbitration in the union&rsquo;s favour. 
 
Some 1.5 million former and current NUMSA members will now benefit. A total of R11 billion (&euro;115 million, US$160 million) will be paid out to former or retired members, while R9 billion (&euro;94 million, US$130 million) will go into existing funds to buoy those funds for the benefit of current NUMSA members. 
 
Said NUMSA National Benefits Coordinator Samuel Tsiane, &ldquo;Now it becomes our task to locate former members to deliver what belongs to them.&rdquo; Tsiane said a small part of the pay-out will go to the union to achieve this and in April, NUMSA will utilise 450 people to conduct an initial ten-day blitz to identify retired or former metal or engineering staff. The pay-outs are expected to start being made in September.

NUMSA Wins 20-Billion-Rand Surplus Pension Case

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A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation&rsquo;s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa. 
 
The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case. 
 
The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa&rsquo;s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (&euro;1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold&rsquo;s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995. 
 
The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi&rsquo;s claim of R2.6 million (&euro;271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa&rsquo;s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="142" />
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 
But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court &ldquo;had erred in concluding&rdquo; the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent. 
 
&ldquo;If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi&rsquo;s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position &hellip; would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,&rdquo; Khampepe wrote, adding, &ldquo;Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country&rsquo;s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.&rdquo; 
 
Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, &ldquo;AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.&rdquo; 
 
Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children. 
 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court&rsquo;s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. &ldquo;For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,&rdquo; said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain &ldquo;at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.&rdquo;

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

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The Con-Dem coalition government in the United Kingdom is forging ahead on a raft of cuts to public spending which threatens to cause permanent damage throughout the welfare state. Under the argument of reducing the public financial deficit within four years, the right-wing Cameron government is using the cuts as a cover to fundamentally weaken the active state system of fairness and equality. 
 
Under serious threat are public services, the education system, pensions, and the National Health Service (NHS). 
 
Unions are fighting back. An alliance of unions and social groups will march to London&rsquo;s Hyde Park on 26 March, under the banner: &ldquo;March for the Alternative, Cuts are not the Cure&rdquo;. The March is organised by the British Trade Union Congress (TUC), and was announced by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber last October.
<img alt="" src="" width="214" height="150" />
Alternative measures to Cameron&rsquo;s cuts are a crackdown on tax avoidance, a Robin Hood tax on banks and finance, and policies and time to let economic growth and full employment raise the tax that will close the deficit. 
 
Debate continues within the movement on the best policy combination alternative to the damaging cuts, but what is undisputed is that the cuts must be stopped. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote in a <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/18.ICEM.March%20against%20Cuts.London.14March.pdf">letter to the TUC and ICEM&rsquo;s UK affiliates</a>, &ldquo;As the trade union movement of the UK manifests on 26 March against the cuts, we want your members and all British people to know that they have the support and solidarity of 20 million union members across the world, trade unionists that the ICEM is proud to represent&rdquo;. 
 
The movement against the cuts is gathering momentum. Thousands of workers, students and anti-cuts campaigners marched through Cardiff on Saturday 5 March as the Welsh voted to increase devolved power of the Welsh Assembly, responding to Westminster&rsquo;s imposition of cuts throughout the UK. 
<img alt="" src="" width="300" height="184" />
Tag line: 5 March Demonstration against Cuts, Cardiff
10,000 protestors descended on Sheffield last week for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. Party leader Nick Clegg has betrayed the electorate by changing policy on University tuition fees and is being targeted now to not allow the sale of the NHS, after Lib Dem members at the Conference voted to reject the government&rsquo;s reforms. 
 
Join the London March. Assembly at 11:00am, Victoria Embankment, and march to a rally in Hyde Park.

London Demonstration against Tory Attack on Welfare State

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Ukraine last week became the 25th country in 16 years to ratify of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. The country&rsquo;s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on 15 February gave approval to the set of mine safety standards by a vote of 311 out of 418 MPs present. 
 
The effort was spurred by ICEM&rsquo;s two mine union affiliates in the eastern European country, the Coal Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU) and the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine. Leaders of both unions, Victor Turmanov and Mikhail Volynets, are members of the Rada.
<img src="" width="115" height="115" alt="" />
PRUPU's Victor Turmanov&nbsp;
The bill, No. 0195, was initiated by Ukraine President Victor Yanukovichem on 10 November 2010, and now awaits the President&rsquo;s signature. Once signed, the Convention will take effect in 12 months, with the expectation that Ukraine&rsquo;s national laws on mine safety will be updated to comply with the global standards. 
 
&ldquo;Ratification of Convention 176 signals Ukraine&rsquo;s commitment to safety and health protections for workers in one of the world&rsquo;s most dangerous occupations,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We welcome this legislation and congratulate our trade union affiliates for advancing this inside Ukraine&rsquo;s government.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="90" height="133" alt="" />
Mikhail Volynets, Independent Trade Union of Miners&nbsp;
The ICEM views ratification of Convention 176 as the precursor for improving a country&rsquo;s national mining laws. The Convention spells out responsibilities for government, employers, and workers and their representatives, and specifically gives miners the right to report hazards, dangerous conditions and accidents, as well as the right to refuse unsafe work. 
 
For employers, Convention 176 places responsibility on them to not only remove workplace hazards, but remove the causes of those hazards. Employers are responsible for ensuring adequate underground ventilation and providing double exits in mines. The Convention also mandates that employers provide adequate safety training programmes to workers and ensure a regular routine of occupational health surveillance of miners. 
 
Of vital importance, the Convention gives workers and their trade unions participation in inspections and accident investigations, and allows workers to select their own safety and health representatives in full partnership with employers and governmental regulatory bodies. 
 
Ukraine is the fourth country in the past three-and-a-half years to ratify ILO Convention 176. In January 2010, Bosnia/Herzegovina ratified the Convention, while Luxembourg ratified it in April 2008 and Peru in June 2007. 
 
The ICEM established a campaign on country ratification of ILO Convention 176 at its 2007 Congress, and information on that campaign can be found <a href="/en/209-ILO">here</a>.

Ukraine Ratifies ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention

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More and more employers are moving away from permanent, direct employment in favour of contract, agency or other forms of precarious work. In response to surveys carried out in 2009 and 2010, 66 per cent of ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF affiliates indicated that precarious work had increased in their sector over the last year alone. 
 
Recognising the fact that precarious work was a growing problem in almost every sector, the Global Unions established the Work Relationships Group (WRG) in 2007, with a view to carrying out joint work on the issue. Since then, the group has met ten times and taken joint positions and engaged in a number of joint activities related to precarious work. ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda is chairman of the WRG. 
 
A significant step was made last June, when all Global Union Federations agreed a set of Joint Principles on Temporary Agency Work. While acknowledging that there are many different views and approaches within the trade union movement towards dealing with precarious work, the joint principles set out the points which all of the Global Unions agree on. 
 
These include that the primary form of employment should be permanent, open-ended and direct; that agency workers should be covered under the same collective bargaining agreement as other workers in the user enterprise and should receive equal treatment in all respects; that the use of temporary agencies should not increase the gender gap on wages, social protections, and conditions; that temporary work agencies must not be used to eliminate permanent and direct employment relationships; and that the use of agency workers should never be used to weaken trade unions or to undermine organising or collective bargaining rights. 
 
One primary function of the WRG is to facilitate the exchange of information between the Global Unions, and to identify areas where joint action might be appropriate. One such action took place in October 2009, when the General Secretaries of ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF met with the Turkish Labour Minister, and expressed their support for President Abdullah G&uuml;l&rsquo;s veto of proposed amendments that would have permitted the charging of fees by labour brokers and permitted businesses or individuals to easily become certified as labour agencies. 
 
Since its inception, the WRG has been calling on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to take concrete steps to address the growth of precarious work. Our demands have included that the ILO must equip itself to address the many circumstances under which workers engaged in precarious work are denied the effective right to organize and bargain collectively. 
 
The ILO/ACTRAV Symposium 2011, which takes places in Geneva from October 3-7, will focus on precarious work. Among other topics, the Symposium will look at how different elements of precarious work, including triangular employment relationships and subcontracting, impact workers and their right to bargain collectively.

Global Unions Join Forces to Fight Precarious Work

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