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Corporate leaders of US-based Massey Energy Co., including CEO Don Blankenship, came under harsh fire in Richmond, Virginia, on 18 May at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The meeting came just six weeks after a methane gas explosion at Massey’s non-union Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia killed 29 miners, the worst mining tragedy in 40 years in the US. 
 
The closed and highly-secured meeting saw hundreds of protesters from US trade unions, environmental groups, and health and safety advocates march from Monroe Park to the historic and posh Jefferson Hotel, the venue for the AGM. They sang songs, waved placards, and chanted slogans that Blankenship belonged in jail, not running a publicly-traded company for his arrogant abuse of mine safety and environmental stewardship in America’s Appalachia Mountains. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.massey.jpg" width="288" height="216"/>
Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) West Virginia Local 69 officers Charlie Rittenhouse and Bryan Ash joined AGM protests against Massey Energy
A corporate governance proposal put before Massey shareholders by a US labour federation’s investment arm called for three of the Richmond-based company’s directors to be dropped from the board. Despite the fact that there were no alternative candidates, the three – Richard Gabrys, Dan Moore, and Massey President Baxter Phillips Jr. – won with just over 50% of the vote. 
 
That constituted a near majority of institutional shareholders who have no-confidence in these directors, and caused United Mine Workers’ of America (UMWA) President Cecil Roberts to say to a news outlet, “They got clobbered, considering the fact that they didn’t have anybody running against them. They ran unopposed and almost lost.” 
 
The AGM was brief and over with in less than one hour. Reporters were sequestered in another room of the hotel and when the question-and-answer period came, the video and audio feed into that room was cut off. Two protesters were arrested inside the hotel’s ballroom, after unfurling a banner that read, “Massey: Stop Putting Profits Over People.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/RobertsCecimwal.jpg" width="120" height="167"/>
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
The Upper Big Branch tragedy of 5 April has caused the US Congress to conduct an unprecedented number of hearings. There have been three since the tragedy. At a US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on 20 May, Roberts said Massey has seen 52 miners die inside its mines in the past ten years. Blankenship testified at the same hearing that federal mine safety recommendations on ventilation upgrades actually make mines less safe. 
 
“We opposed the changes because our engineers believed they made the ventilation less effective,” he said, adding the company does not know if ventilation played a role in the 5 April blast. Blankenship said he thought Massey’s safety and casualty rate in the US was “about average,” to which Roberts, who had both his grandfathers killed in mine accidents, said, “I can’t come up with another coal company that’s had 23 miners in ten years die.” 
 
At a subsequent US House Education and labor Committee hearing that was held near Upper Big Branch in Beckley, West Virginia, on 24 May, one miner who was fortunate to escape stated, “we never had proper air on that longwall.” Relatives of the deceased called Upper Big Branch “a ticking time bomb.” 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.massey.3.jpg" width="280" height="203"/>
Environmentalists from Rising Tide delivered a message from inside the meeting
The father of a 21-year-old victim, Adam Morgan, testified: “ … about every shift he had to do some kind of ventilation repairs and some … he had to do on his own.” Steve Morgan said that when his son complained to supervisors on ventilation problems, he was told to find a different line of work if he was “scared.” 
 
An uncle of Adam Morgan also testified. Eddie Cook, a miner at a UMWA-represented colliery in West Virginia, made the point that with a union, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. At Massey, he said, “if you refuse, they tell you to get your bucket and go home. They know if they were union that these people wouldn’t work like they wanted them to.” 
 
According to Massey’s US federal regulatory filings, just 1.3% of its 6,000 US employees are members of the UMWA. And of that small portion, all work in coal preparation plants, not in underground mines.

Annual Massey Energy Meeting in US Brings Protest, Discontent

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The ICEM and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) will jointly hold the “Triple Crisis of Sustainability” Conference this week, 18-19 June, in Toronto, Canada, to give a full workers’ airing to the economic, environment, and social consequences brought on by global financial crisis. The Conference’s aim is to prepare a worldwide workers’ and communities’ declaration for the G8 and G20 summits, also to be held in Toronto the following week. 
 
As of today, 14 June, 270 trade union and other leaders from over 50 countries are registered to attend. The conference runs from 9h00 to 17h30 on both 18 and 19 June at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West.
 
    <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEM100.jpg" width="100" height="86"/>   <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IMF.jpg" width="90" height="88"/>
Both ICEM and IMF share the belief that the crises of failing economies, environmental inaction, and social disorder have occurred due to lack of financial and environmental regulations, as well as inept financial governance of markets. The conference will ensure that the voices of global workers are heard on these issues before the G8 and G20 summits convene, and then presented to financial and political leaders in a common declaration. 
 
Jobs, workers’ rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability – both on environmental stewardship and in providing decent work – is expected to serve as the core of the declaration. 
 
Keynote speakers will include United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, David Donnelly, a leading environmental attorney connected with Canada’s Blue-Green Alliance, and John Evans, the General-Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD 
 
Specific panels will address the economic crisis, sustainable development and climate change, and corporate governance. The conference’s programme has been built to allow for maximum comments from all those wishing to be heard on the effects of the social, environmental, and economic crises.

Toronto’s Sustainable Jobs, Environment Confab a Precursor for G8/G20 Meetings

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Scores of letters were sent to Mexico President Felipe Calderón from ICEM affiliates last week, responding to an ICEM call for dialogue not brute force to resolve the three-year long strike by 1,200 workers of Section 65 of the Mexican National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in northern Sonora State. On 6 June, Mexican federal police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse strikers at the mine and inside Section 65’s union hall. (See ICEM report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/3838-ICEM-Calls-on-Mexico-to-Halt-its-Violence-at-Cananea" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
By the end of last week, following a 10 June skirmish between miners and police that injured eight, a truce was declared by leaders of Section 65, as they held meetings on 10 and 11 June with Sonora Governor Guillermo Padrés Elías in Hermosillo and the Mexican Interior Secretary, Fernando Gómez-Mont. 
 
In the latter meeting on 11 June, Gómez-Mont said he would work to arrange a meeting between the union and the Southern Copper Corp. of Grupo México, owners of the mine, this week. Following the meetings, Section 65 Secretary-General Sergio Tolano Lizarrágo said the government now appears committed to bringing the two sides together for dialogue. 
 
For the union’s part, the Strike Committee is adamant that Southern Copper halt all “illegal hirings” of contractors in order to re-start the 230,000-ton copper mine. The 10 June confrontation started in the early morning hours when strikers rolled huge rocks on to an access road of the Cananea mine to block contractors from entering. Federal police responded by taking control of the entrance, and then fired tear gas and pepper spray at some 150 miners, who had retreated into nearby hills.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0911.mexico.mineros.png" width="180" height="121"/>
According to reports, in four days of altercations, 16 people have been injured, including four miners, 2 police, and the remainder civilians, mostly family members of strikers and others overcome with gas poisoning. 
 
Responding to the ICEM for intervention, South African affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it would organise protests at the opening World Cup match on 11 June between South Africa and Mexico. The action involved members of NUM, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the Chemical, Energy, Pulp, Paper, Wood, and Allied Workers’ Union (CEPPAWU), and the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (SATAWU). 
 
In coordination with the taking of Cananea, federal forces also forcibly took control of Grupo México’s coal mine at Pasta de Conchos in Coahuila state. There, they overcame the widows and family members of 65 dead miners still entombed in shafts following a methane gas explosion in February 2006. The women and family members had been on a long vigil, with demands that the state and company recover the bodies of their cherished ones. 
 
The Mexican government and Grupo México refused that plea, and stopped others in search by cutting off electricity. Halting the search, many felt, served to hide evidence of management responsibility for the accident. The mine was sealed permanently following police actions on 6 June. Widespread criticism has been made of the company's continued failure to properly compensate families of the dead. 
 
The legal strike at Cananea began on 30 July 2007 when Section 65 of SNTMMSRM, or Los Mineros, refused to work in dangerous conditions, similar to those causing the Pasta de Conchos explosion. During the attack of 6 June, police arrested five Los Mineros members, Rodolfo Valdez Serrano, Everardo Ochoa Ballesteros, Luis Alonso Borbón Pérez, Luis Alonso Torres, and Marcelo Lara López.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1005.losmineros.2.JPG" width="160" height="120"/>
Sergio Tolano and Juan Gutiérrez Ballesteros, a Los Mineros National Executive Member from Section 65, also faced arrest warrants on 6 June, but both won court injunctions preventing their incarcerations. 
 
At an economic forum Friday, 11 June, in Peru, where Southern Copper also holds mining assets, President and CEO Oscar Gonzalez Rocha said the police takeover of Cananea enables the US-based subsidiary to begin an investment plan and re-start copper production early next year. He said Southern Copper will invest US$50 million in Cananea. 
 
On another level, at the ILO’s International Labour Conference in Geneva on 10 June, the Mexican situation was brought up before the Committee on the Application of Standards. Specifically, debate arose with regard to ILO Convention 155, the Health and Safety at Work Convention. Although Mexico’s government and employers’ representatives, together with a Grupo México representative, pointed to increased numbers of inspectors at worksites, workers’ representatives from around the world criticised the disregard for working people shown by the government of President Felipe Calderón. 
 
It was argued that work performed by employees on short-term contracts or through labour agencies accounts for 60% of the entire Mexican workforce. Those workers are given few social protections, thus leading to statistics that are askew, including occupational safety accidents. On the issue of health and safety in Mexico, it is the worker who must provide burden of proof for accidents or injuries, and since labour tribunals often take years to issue rulings, companies tend to act with impunity.

Tense Truce Takes Hold at Mexico’s Cananea Copper Mine

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ICEM affiliate Industri Energi (IE) successfully negotiated salary increases for its members at Statoil’s offshore Gullfaks B and Gullfaks C fields, and at Shell's Draugen field, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Talks between union officials and the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, mediated by Nils Dalseide of Norway’s National Arbitration Tribunal, reached agreement that avoided strike action after extending a midnight deadline and concluded in the early hours of Thursday 17 June. 
 
"No strike," reported Industri Energi Spokesman Arild Theimann, swiftly following conclusion to the talks which had begun 2 days prior. Workers ready to down tools if talks failed included employees of Halliburton, Geoservices, Baker Hughes and Oceaneering. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.leif.sande.jpg" width="136" height="148" alt=""/>
Industri Energi President Leif Sande
"We feel relieved that we could avoid a strike in the oil sector," President of Industri Energi Leif Sande stated. "We did not get everything, but we got a good wage increase and better compensation. We were very satisfied with this." 
 
The new Norwegian Shelf Agreement sees a Nkr 10,000 (US$1573) annual increase in general wages for some 6700 workers involved in operating, drilling and catering on the Shelf, on top of Nkr 4700 from a previous pay deal. 
 
In addition, shift, conference and holiday supplement will be increased. The negotiations also involved discussions on shift rotation policy for near permanent workers. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil3.JPG.JPG" width="120" height="119" alt=""/>
Jointly, the Gullfaks and Draugen fields produce around 270,000 barrels of oil per day, of Norway's daily exports of 1.87 million barrels. 
 
Mature traditions of industrial relations in the sector in Norway permit constructive dialogue and problems to be resolved. 
 
The oil and gas industry is vital to the Norwegian economy, accounting for a third of tax revenues and a quarter of GDP. The dispute was closely followed elsewhere in Europe, with many countries such as the United Kingdom, heavily dependent on Norwegian gas.

Strike Avoided, Salary Increases for Norway’s Oilworkers 

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Xstrata’s abrasive reluctance to give coal miners represented by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia a standard enterprise labour agreement caused another industrial action at the Tahmoor mine in New South Wales last week. Some 240 miners downed tools for 24 hours on 24-25 June to attend a union meeting in the town of Picton over the Swiss-based company’s failure to reach pay and entitlement terms at Tahmoor with the CFMEU. 
 
The dispute at the colliery is now in its 16th month. CFMEU members have been frustrated at being denied a functioning enterprise agreement. Xstrata is seeking broad flexibility to write and re-write workplace polices and procedures, and wants a collective agreement that is void of any independent arbitration mechanism, as well as one in which the union, or any mutual disputes procedure, is absent from health and safety issues. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1002.tahmoor.xstrata.australia.jpg" width="251" height="189"/>
Locked out Xstrata workers at Tahmoor
Xstrata also seeks to have all future bonus schemes not be a subject of bargaining. 
 
The mining house has now informed the CFMEU that it intends to terminate the existing enterprise agreement and discontinue further talks with the union. 
 
The union is seeking only to retain current terms and conditions of its enterprise agreement, and uniformity in working standards with other collieries in the region. 
 
The CFMEU maintains a website called “Xstrata Facts,” which can be found <a href="http://www.xstratafacts.com/">here</a>.

Strike Actions by CFMEU at Xstrata’s Tahmoor Mine in Australia Continue

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Two sector-wide collective agreements in Turkey in tyre and glass industries have been concluded, with preservation of gained rights and improvements to salaries and social benefits realised. 
 
The tyre negotiations, which started on 5 February and cover over 4,000 members of the union of Lastik-Iş in four plants of three multi-national companies, namely Bridgestone Brisa, Goodyear, and Pirelli located in the cities of Izmit and Adapazari. 
 
The union’s strategy was to preserve gained rights and improve current salaries and social benefits, while employers demanding some concessions on working conditions, such as flexibility of working hours, holidays, extended temporary work, and changing wage grades, particularly the gap between newly- hired workers and existing ones. 
 
The demands of employers were on the basis of the labour code, which recognises flexible working conditions at workplaces in Turkey. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.lastik.is.png" width="261" height="189" alt=""/>
Abdullah Karacan, President of Lastik-Is during voting for the CBA, in front of Goodyear plant, Izmit 
After the three-and-a-half-month period of negotiations, with disagreements on 21 provisions of the agreement still in play, Lastik-Iş moved to begin strike action on 9 June. Following a 12-hour bargaining session just hours before the strike was to begin, the two sides reached a two-year agreement covering the 2010-2011 period. 
 
Employers rescinded their concessionary proposals. In addition, wages and social benefits were adjusted in line with the Turkish inflation rate, thus managing to secure purchasing power of workers. The agreement was voted upon by the members of Lastik-Iş in each factory and approved unanimously. 
Commenting on the new agreement, “During tough and tensioned negotiations, our members showed a great deal of decisiveness in securing their gained rights, thus the agreement has resulted in preserving past achievements,” said Abdullah Karacan, President of Lastik-Iş. 
 
Another important sector-wide agreement was achieved in the glass sector by the ICEM affiliate Kristal-Iş, who negotiates with the Turkish Glass Employers’ Federation on behalf of over 5,000 members at the factories of Şişecam Group’s Paşabahçe Cam Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (plants at Kırklareli and Mersin); Anadolu Cam Sanayi A.Ş. (plants at Topkapı-Istanbul, Mersin, Çayırova-Kocaeli); Trakya Cam Sanayi A.Ş. (plants at Thrace and Mersin Fabrikası) and Cam Elyaf Sanayi A.Ş. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1006.kristal.is.png" width="210" height="173" alt=""/>
Bilal Cetintas, President of Kristal-Is
During negotiations, which started on 10 January as the twenty-second negotiation period for this industry, the Kristal-Iş primary aim was to keep patterns of working conditions intact, patterns existing in the plants for over 40 years. 
 
The union did put forward limitations on sub-contracting, which it defined as one of the most sensible issues in labour relations in the glass sector. The union, through the negotiations, aimed at reaching soıme principles with the employers on regulating this long-standing problem. For this Kristal-Iş proposed some tools to eliminate and minimise sub-contracting in glass factories where maintenance, cleaning, catering, and loading activities are done through sub-contractors. The union’s first demand was to stop sub-contracting in maintenance and repair. 
 
Following a tough, ten-round set of negotiations, the two-year agreement was signed on 14 May and it preserves the gained rights and past settlements, as well as improving wages with increases. For the first year of the agreement, the hourly wage is increased 0.65 Turkish Liras (0.35euros) on average, while the second-year increase will be awarded at the level of inflation. Social benefits, such as education, marriage, death, and holiday benefits were also increased at levels higher than the current inflation rate.

Tyre, Glass Labour Agreements in Turkey Preserve Past Conventions

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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the South African state-run utility Eskom inched closer to a new labour accord for 28,000 workers last week in bargaining coordinated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). Even though the CCMA issued a certificate of non-resolution following talks late on 24 June, the two sides were not far apart on wages and differences over the elusive year-long issue of housing allocation for workers also narrowed. 
 
The NUM did set a deadline for tomorrow, 29 June, for the company to make further movement, but the threat of a disruptive strike was diminished by movement made in CCMA talks. Two other unions are also involved in the negotiations, including the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), but ICEM’s second largest global affiliate – the NUM – represents the greatest number of workers at Eskom, 16,000. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SouthAfricaFlag.gif" width="160" height="96" alt=""/>
Management at Eskom has maintained that a strike would be illegal because a court decision on 25 May ruled the utility an essential national service. But workers have kept the strike option open, and the NUM said it would back rank-and-file staff if they decided to walk off jobs at electric generating facilities, power plants, and administrative servicing centres. 
 
At a press briefing on 25 June, the NUM rejected compulsory arbitration and suggested that the narrow differences between the two sides can be resolved in mediated talks early this week. 
 
The company has increased its wage offer from 4% to 8% in June talks, while the unions have brought their original wage demands down to 9%. The unions are seeking a housing allowance of R4,000 per month, while Eskom is proposing a 5.6% increase in certain benefit allowances, as well as a one-off R12,000 payment, to be made in two equal pay-outs in July 2010 and July 2011.

NUM, Eskom Come Closer to New Pay, Housing Allowance Deal

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Seven miners were killed in three separate underground mine accidents in South Africa last week, including five contract workers at Aquarius Platinum’s Marikana mine in the Bushveld area near Rustenburg, North West Province. 
 
The other deaths occurred at AngloGold Ashanti’s Tau Lekoa gold mine on 7 July, where an explosion took the life the life of a miner, and at Imperial Platinum’s Rustenburg mine, where an underground rock slide crushed a worker. Both are also in North West Province, with the Tau Lekoa mine extending into Free State Province. 
 
At Aquarius, two other miners were trapped at the Marikana mine late in the evening of 6 July when a large segment of an underground shaft collapsed. One of those miners suffered serious injuries, while the other was rescued unscathed. Rescue teams from nearby Impala Platinum and a Lonmin mine assisted in the rescue. All workers were employed by Murray and Roberts Cementation. 
<img height="154" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0906.NUM.SA.logo.jpg" width="160"/>
Aquarius has closed the No. 4 shaft of Marikana, which supplies the Australian-based company, the world’s fourth largest platinum producer, with 50% of Marikana’s production. 
 
The shaft remained closed early this week, and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it would take its mandatory one-day period of mourning once the mine reopens. 
 
“Once this suspension is lifted, we will embark on a day of mourning, which means there won't be any work done at the mine on that day,” said NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka. 
 
“This is a disaster,” added NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. “At a time when the industry brags of so-called improved safety, we now have disasters raising their ugly heads again,” he added. The NUM has called for a full investigation. 
<img height="142" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/0610NUMFransBaleni1.jpg" width="100"/>
NUM General Secretary, Frans Baleni
Impala Platinum’s Rustenberg mine death comes 50 weeks after nine miners tragically died at the Lease Mine No. 14 near Rustenburg, which was South Africa’s worst disaster in 2009. Impala, the world’s number two platinum producer, led all producers in South Africa in mining deaths last year. The country mines and processes 80% of all global platinum, which is used in electronics, catalytic converters, and jewelry. 
 
AngloGold has had a deal in place since 2008 to sell the Tau Lekoa mine to Simmer and Jacks, but internal problems within the latter company has prevented conclusion of the sale.

Seven Die in South African Mining Tragedies Last Week

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Two UK trade unions are demanding an independent inquiry into the explosion at Total’s Lindsey oil refinery in the afternoon of 29 June that killed one union member, and injured two others. The explosion was followed by a fire in a crude oil distillation unit of the massive refinery in North Lincolnshire. 
 
Twenty-four-year-old Robert Greenacre, a pipe fitter, was killed. He did not answer a safety roll call following the blast and his body was recovered late in the evening of 29 June. Greenacre, a member of Unite the Union, was an employee of a sub-contractor working for Jacobs Engineering, the primary contractor for Paris-based Total at Lindsey. 
 
“Unite puts the highest premium on health and safety in the workplace and we are calling for an immediate, independent, and comprehensive inquiry into what happened,” stated Unite National Officer for Construction Tom Hardacre. “We would particularly like to know why further searches were not made when our member was unaccounted for in the roll-call when employees were evacuated.” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1007.unite.death.robertgreenacre.jpg" width="190" height="230" alt=""/>
Robert Greenacre
The GMB National Organiser for Engineering and Construction, Phil Whitehurst, also demanded that Total be held accountable. He said hard questions need to be asked both of the company and UK’s Health and Safety Executive over why a “Permit to Work” was issued for pipefitting work inside the HDS-3 plant of the refinery. This “brings into question Total’s safety record yet again,” said Whitehurst. “They have to be held accountable.” 
 
The GMB union leader was referring to a very recent verdict in a case from Total’s Buncefield oil depot in which the French company admitted health and safety regulations had been breached, causing a 2005 explosion that injured 40 workers. 
 
In the days following the 29 June Lindsey blast, Total did send home 2,000 workers from the site because of asbestos exposure concerns due to damage from the explosion. Those workers began returning to work today, with the remainder due back to work tomorrow. All received full pay while idled. 
 
Greenacre, who had worked at his trade for five years, was engaged to be married and he and his wife-to-be recently purchased their first house together. The ICEM extends its condolences to the young worker’s family, to Unite and GMB, and to all workers at Lindsey.

UK Unions Want Answers to Total’s Lindsey Refinery Blast, Killing One 

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The 8th General Assembly of the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Federation (EMCEF) was held on 30 June-1 July in Paris, France, hosted by the organisation’s French affiliates within CFDT, CGT, FO and CFTC, with around 130 participants from various European countries. 
 
According to the statutes of EMCEF, during the period between Congress’s, the General Assembly is convened as a forum to discuss important political issues with an authority to implement decisions taken by the Congress and to review EMCEF’s policies, without the right to change the statutes. 
 
The General Assembly was attended by two guests, namely Kemal Özkan, Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer of ICEM and Peter Scherer, General Secretary of the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF). Patrick Itschert, General Secretary of ITGLWF and ETUC:TCL could not be present in the meeting because of other obligations and sent his apologies. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Hubertus Schmoldt.jpg" width="200" height="150"/>
EMCEF President Hubertus Schmoldt
In his opening speech, EMCEF President Hubertus Schmoldt pointed to the financial crisis, its effects on social issues and unemployment as well as joint European policies in the crisis environment. He particularly underlined mass youth unemployment in Europe, which is more than 20% on average, even around 40% in some European countries. Referring to the Presidium meeting which took place just before the General Assembly, Schmoldt explained the importance of the creation of a new European Industrial federation in the metal, chemical, energy, mine and textile sectors. 
 
EMCEF General Secretary Reinhard Reibsch submitted his Secretariat report to the General Assembly on the following issues: 
 
a. European Integration 
i. Lisbon Treaty, new EU Council President, new EU Commission, EU integration process (Iceland, Croatia, Turkey) 
ii. Belgium Presidency with an agenda of EU2020 Strategy, Financial Supervision, Social Issues, Energy and Climate Change, Strengthening EU’s external action 
iii. Recent Elections in some EU countries, particularly in the UK and Hungary 
iv. Important Changes by the Reform Treaty 
v. Financial Policy 
 
b. Activities of EMCEF Committees: 
i. Industrial policy, health, safety and environment committee – implementation of REACH and ECHA, nanotechnology, climate change, impact of crisis 
ii. Social dialogue committee – sectoral social dialogues in chemical, electricity, gas, extractive industries and pulp/paper sectors. 
iii. European Works’ Councils committee – formation of new EWCs, renewal of list of country coordinators, joint work with EMF and ETUC:TCL 
 
EMCEF Political Secretary Jorma Rusanen gave a report on the activities of the Collective Bargaining Committee. He highlighted the collective bargaining database developed through the Eurocob@n project, Europe-wide collective negotiations at sectoral and company levels and mandate procedures, discussions on EU’s Working Time Directive (WTD) and Posting Directive (PWD). 
 
Delegates from Spain, the UK, France, Poland, Italy and Germany took the floor and raised their concerns on modification of two EU directives which could result in precariousness in employment, climate change, future of Europe’s energy sector through valorisation of national raw materials and reinforcing manufacturing jobs through innovation in the industries. The report of the Secretariat was unanimously adopted. 
 
One major agenda item of the General Assembly was the creation of a new European Industrial Trade Union Federation by EMCEF, EMF and ETUF:TCL. President Hubertus Schmoldt explained the situation, by making reference to the resolution of the previous General Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey in 2006 on closer cooperation with other European Industry Federations and the decision of the EMCEF Congress in Prague, Czech Republic in 2008 towards creation of a new European Federation as well as a number of decisions of the Presidium and Executive Committee. 
 
EMF General Secretary Peter Scherer reported that creation of a new organisation is a political project rather than a technical one at a time when all the partners are in good situations in terms of finances and organisational structures which give great opportunity to focus on political aspects commonly affecting the whole manufacturing chain. The EMF was reported to be prepared to continue to work under one united umbrella organisation in Europe in the future which would make industrial unions much more powerful vis-à-vis employers and politics. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1007.emcef.congress.jpg" width="200" height="150"/>
A new European Industrial Federation, will provide an opportunity for each European trade union federation to share its strengths, in order to become a common force. In this period of massive crisis for industry, the new federation will aim first to meet the needs of local trade union and company representatives at European level. It is also mentioned that the identity of the 3 founding federations should therefore be reflected in the composition of the leadership of the new federation. The aim is also foreseen to: 
a. create a new industrial federation, and therefore no fusion/absorption; 
b. build around an ambitious, common platform; 
c. optimising strengths and complementarities, through the right balance between “pooling certain elements/synergies” 
d. while maintaining a strong sectoral identity, especially in view of the fact that EMCEF has the widest sectoral coverage of all 3 federations. 
 
It was also noted that the Presidents and General Secretaries of the three federations, at their meeting on 25 March 2010, came out in favour of setting up a joint working group. This working group will in its composition reflect the regional diversity of the three organisations and be composed of representatives from the affiliates who carry a political responsibility. The three general secretaries will function as the secretariat for this working group. In this way the need for conducting deliberations in a transparent and democratic manner will be ensured. The respective statutory bodies, as well as all affiliated organisations, will be informed and consulted systematically for each step of the works.   
 
The Presidium’s motion on the future European federation was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly. 
 
The General Assembly also adopted the following resolutions: 
a. Mandate Procedures proposed by Presidium and Executive Committee 
b. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/GA2010-DemographicPolicy-EN.doc">Pensions, retirement and lifelong work</a> – an EMCEF policy on demography proposed by Collective Bargaining Committee 
c. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/GA2010-EWCPolicy-EN.doc">Multinational Company Policy</a> proposed by European Works Councils Committee 
d. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/GA2010-ClimateChangeMotion-EN.doc">Climate Change Policies</a> proposed by Industrial Policy Committee 
e. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/GA2010SDMotion-EN.doc">Instrumentalisation of Social Dialogue on European and national level</a> proposed by Social Dialogue Committee 
f. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/FITEQA-CCOO-FIA-UGT-EmploymentRights-en.doc">Protection and development of the European social model depends on the protection and extension of employment rights worldwide</a> proposed by FITEQA-CC.OO. & FIA-UGT (with some changes by the Motions Committee) 
g. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/Petrolis-motion-en.doc">Dialogue with the Regional Energy Trade Unions Network of South Eastern Europe (RETUNSEE)</a> proposed by Turkish union Petrol-Is (with some modification by Motions Committee) 
h. <a href="http://www.emcef.org/Bodies/GA/2010/Motions/Petrol-Is-EmergencyMotionGaza.doc">Gaza blockade, separation wall and solidarity with Palestinian workers and their unions</a> proposed by Turkish union Petrol-Is (a new text prepared by the Motions Committee was adopted) The General Assembly condemned the "brutal and unacceptable attack by Israeli forces on the peaceful humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to Gaza." 
i. <a href="http://www.etuc.org/IMG/pdf_04-EN-Supplement-Resolution-Crisis.pdf">The Worsening Crisis – Europe at Risk</a> – an ETUC resolution was passed 
 
The General Assembly ended with the closing speech of EMCEF President Hubertus Schmoldt. Defining the General Assembly as an historic one, he announced that on the basis of the mandate given by the General Assembly, the Working Group for the creation of a new European Industrial Federation will be organised on 8 July. EMCEF will be represented by a group to be composed of its President, General Secretary and five other members representing different regions. It was also announced that on 29 September there will be a demonstration organised by ETUC in Brussels where EMCEF affiliates should also be present.

8th General Assembly of EMCEF, 30 June - 1 July, 2010, Paris, France 

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