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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) yesterday called on the Government of Chile to radically change the procedural methodology it uses on mine safety once the imminent rescue of 33 miners at the San Jos&eacute; mine near Copiap&oacute; in northern Chile is complete. 
 
In a letter to Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne Riveros, the 20-million-member global union federation called on the government to streamline workplace safety and health enforcement, now contained in several different ministries, into a single, autonomous agency &ldquo;that has full powers and full technical capabilities to inspect and correct workplace deficiencies before accidents happen.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM is also calling on the government of Chile to begin the process toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the 1995 Safety and Health in Mines Convention. By adopting the global principles contained in Convention 176, Chile ensures that workers and their trade unions have a voice on safety matters and the ability to take action to prevent mine accidents. (The full letter can be seen <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/116.ICEM.Chile.MiningMinister.4Oct.pdf">here</a>.) 
 
&ldquo;In a mine, when a trade union safety committee is engaged with the respective company and government representatives, the risks in that mine gets reduced dramatically,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;This is basic to Convention 176 but, unfortunately, is woefully lacking inside Chile&rsquo;s mining industry.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM called on Chile&rsquo;s government to consolidate ministerial safety investigatory bodies into a fully-staffed independent rule-making agency that has judicial and other powers to ensure safe and healthy workplaces. In the letter, the ICEM states that creation of such an agency can also serve as the mechanism to implement and enforce the global mine safety standards contained in Convention 176. 
 
The ICEM commended Chile&rsquo;s government for the intensive rescue to save the lives of the 33 San Jos&eacute; miners, but reminded that massive work awaits both politically and administratively to prevent such disasters from happening in the future. 
 
The Geneva-based ICEM, composed of 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, is the representative global body for some 70 national mining unions in as many countries. The ICEM has a global campaign underway pressing on governments of resource-rich nations to ratify ILO Convention 176. 
 
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>; telephone: +41 22 304 1842 (direct) or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).

Mine Safety Culture in Chile Must Change, Asserts ICEM

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The conference held in Oslo, Norway, on 13 September by the ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided rhetoric giving economic redress to the great financial crisis, but it&nbsp;must now be followed up&nbsp;with prompt action on job creation, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 
 
The conference, entitled &ldquo;The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion,&rdquo; produced plenty of well-intentioned talk toward developing policies that promote job-creating growth, but the ITUC &ndash; one of the participants at the conference &ndash; stressed the importance of the ILO and IMF acting jointly and immediately on a job-centred recovery to pull tens of millions of the world&rsquo;s citizens from impoverished conditions. 
 
&ldquo;The ILO should be fully integrated into the G20&rsquo;s Mutual Assessment Process,&rdquo; stated ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, adding that national policies must adopt progressive taxation, quality public service agendas, expanded collective bargaining and better workers&rsquo; protections, and respect for the world&rsquo;s core labour standards.
<img src="" width="110" height="131" alt="" />
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow&nbsp;
She also said that it is crucial that wage increases keep pace with growing productivity in order to stop the income decline of working people. 
 
&ldquo;In the face of the persisting global employment deficit, the IMF should encourage countries, including those that borrow from the Fund, to adopt and maintain job-intensive stimulus policies until recovery is self-sustaining and unemployment is falling to pre-crisis levels,&rdquo; said Burrow. 
 
The IMF&rsquo;s General Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was pointed in his remarks at the conference. &ldquo;The labour market is in dire straits,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The Great Recession has left behind a wasteland of unemployment, and this devastation threatens the livelihood, security, and dignity of millions of people across the world.&rdquo; 
 
A joint ILO-IMF report said 30 million jobs had been lost due to the crisis, 75% of which occurred in developed nations. The IMF admitted that the percentage of workers laid off for long terms has grown with each economic downturn for decades, but that figures for such from the recent financial crisis have surged even more dramatically. 
 
The Oslo conference, hosted by the Norwegian government, was attended by four heads of state &ndash; Spain&rsquo;s Prime Minister Jos&eacute; Luis Rodr&iacute;guez Zapatero, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, Liberia President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, and Norway&rsquo;s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg &ndash; as well as seven national ministers and 25 trade union leaders.

ILO, IMF Oslo Conference on Crisis Now Demands Immediate Action

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Two sharp-edged coal disputes in Queensland and New South Wales are concluding, with branches of ICEM Australian affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) gaining the best possible terms for some combined 570 mineworkers. 
 
In northern Queensland, 233 miners employed by mining contractor Theiss of Leighton Holdings at the Collinsville mine reached terms within an enterprise agreement with Theiss in early September that provides them wage increases, improved housing allowances, and job security. 
 
The two-year-long dispute erupted late in July 2010 when miners launched a continuous strike. The 16-day strike was heroically marked by miners, spouses, and partners blocking tracks and turning back trains loaded with coal. The Collinsville mine is majority-held by Xstrata but Theiss and Leighton, a subsidiary of German construction giant Hochtief, operate the mine exclusively.
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CFMEU Members at the Tahmoor Mine&nbsp;
The other long dispute coming to conclusion is with Swiss-based Xstrata at the Tahmoor mine in New South Wales. Some 240 miners likely will vote approvingly for the company&rsquo;s last offer this week. If approved, the CFMEU will retain enterprise labour agreements under Fair Work Australia, something that Xstrata was resisting in attempting to roll back union-protected work rules to the days of former Tory Prime Minister John Howard. 
 
The 22-month dispute at Tahmoor was marked by lockouts and strikes, the latest a 19-day lockout that ended 7 September. During that lockout, a Fair Work Australia judge turned back Xstrata Coal&rsquo;s application to scrub the enterprise agreements at Tahmoor, basically stating that CFMEU had the legitimate workplace right to protect job security. 
 
Xstrata was seeking broad flexibility over workplace policies and procedures, without union involvement, while the union sought assurances against job replacements by contractors and greater roles in rosters and other on-the-job work rules.

Coal Strikes in Australia Wrapping to Conclusions

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Despite two full days of bargaining between ICEM affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and the New Tyre Manufacturing Employers&rsquo; Industry Association (NTMEIA) on 16-17 September, no accord was reached to end the three-week old strike. Some 6,000 rubber workers have been on strike at six tyre factories operated by four employers since 29 August. 
 
Today in Port Elizabeth, 4,000 NUMSA members from tyre plants in the Eastern Cape will march in protest of rapt division among employers in this year&rsquo;s wage talks. They will present a petition to management at the plant gates of Bridgestone-Firestone in Port Elizabeth this afternoon.
In last week&rsquo;s talks guided by an independent mediator in Port Elizabeth, management of the Japanese-based company continued to deviate widely from the wage offers put forth by other tyre companies associated with the NTMEIA. While Continental, Goodyear, and Apollo-Dunlop of India placed on the table a three-year package containing wage increases of 9%, 7.5%, and 7.5%, Bridgestone-Firestone&rsquo;s offer was 7%, 5%, and 5%. 
 
Rubber workers of NUMSA are willing to accept a three-year pact, but their wage expectations are 9% in each of the three years. In addition, they seek a modernized wage module that will lift the salaries of workers who have been stuck at minimum levels for as long as 10 to 15 years. 
 
Another key issue at the bargaining table revolves around the use of labour brokers. Although the NTMEIA will not agree to a ban, it has conceded to pay contributions for short-term and temporary workers into the Provident Fund, as well as make retirement and medical payments for them. The South African tyre industry employs about 1,000 such workers.
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Also last week in South Africa, 70,000 NUMSA members across the country returned to their jobs at fuel retail outlets and auto component shops. On 14 September, NUMSA convened a special National Executive Committee meeting, where eight of nine regional structures of the union agreed to accept terms of the Retail Industry Motor Association and the Fuel Retailers&rsquo; Association, ending strikes that began on 1 September. 
 
The three-year contract for filling station attendants includes wage gains of 10%, 9%, and 8%, while auto-parts workers will receive 9%, 8%, and 8%. NUMSA did achieve a solid breakthrough regarding labour brokers, particularly in these sectors in which several employers are totally reliant on staff provided by outside hire firms. 
 
The agreement calls for all labour brokers to be registered by one of two certifying agencies, and all staff of labour brokers must receive minimum rates of pay inside the two industries as well as getting the same benefits and condition of employment. In addition, the negotiated settlement calls for the gradual phase-out of labour brokers, with a cut to 35% of current levels by the year 2013.

South African Tyre Strike Continues; Mass March Slated Today Against Bridgestone

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Coal-mining unions from Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Spain agreed last week in unity to ask the European Commission to extend its deadline for the elimination of state subsidies on the production of coal. Last spring, the Commission moved to eliminate completely any Member State from granting coal subsidies to coal-fired generating plants after 31 December 2010, but that was amended slightly in July to give a very limited extension of certain subsidies until 2014. 
 
German union IGBCE last week conducted a unity tour together with Works Council leaders of the country&rsquo;s coal producer, RAG, to Hungary, Poland, and Spain. What they found was undivided consensus that the sudden curtailment of state subsidies at year end will create social conflicts, much like what is now occurring in Spain.
<img alt="" src="" width="84" height="102" />
Hungarian Mining &amp; Energy Union, BDSZ&nbsp;
 
The trade unions of the coal-producing countries, IGBCE, NSZZ Solidarność of Poland, the Mining and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union BDSZ of Hungary, and mining and energy unions of both Spanish federations, UGT and CC.OO, pledged to work through their respective governments to change the Commission&rsquo;s current policy. 
 
&ldquo;The regulation proposal helps neither the coal-producing countries of Germany, Poland, Spain, and Hungary, nor the non coal-producing countries of the European Union,&rdquo; stated IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadas, who led the travel delegation. &ldquo;The subsidies do not create unfair competition in the EU. In comparison to the little that is gained in environmental protection, more (social costs) will be lost due to imported coal replaced domestic coal,&rdquo; said Vassiliadas.
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="119" />
IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadas&nbsp;
Further, the unions claim that revoking the subsidies is counter-production to jobs creation coming out of the financial crisis. Coal accounts for 30% of European electricity generation, and 17% of total energy consumption in the EU.

European Mining Unions Reject Commission’s Coal Subsidies Policy

Special Newsletter: Developments in the Global Contract and Agency Labour Project

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The 42nd Congress of the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) was convened in Mexico City, 5-12 August, under the theme &lsquo;Strong Unions &ndash; Sustainable Transport&rsquo;. The more than 1,000 Congress delegates saw outgoing ITF president Randall Howard deliver his last address as president, as he stands down also from his position as general secretary of the SATAWU South African transport workers&rsquo; union. Howard, who was elected at the 2006 Durban Congress, was appointed as an advisor to the South African minister of public services and administration last year. Newly elected president Paddy Crumlin was recommended by ITF&rsquo;s executive board and unanimously endorsed by the Congress&rsquo; 1,500 delegates. 
 
&quot;The ITF finds itself at a critical time for workers around the world following the global collapse of international economies. It is now our responsibility to protect the rights and futures of all transport workers against the excesses of capitalism set against a slow and uncertain recovery of transport related industries.&quot; stated Crumlin in his acceptance speech. 
<img alt="" src="" width="194" height="122" />
Paddy Crumlin, incoming ITF President
Paddy Crumlin, National Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), is seen as a driving force in the development of regional strategic alliances and is widely respected for his central role in trade union development in East Timor and Papua New Guinea. He was previously the Chair of the strong Dockers&rsquo; section of the ITF. 
 
General Secretary David Cockcroft was reelected by Congress. 
 
One important delegate to the Congress was missed, Mansour Osanloo, the leader of the Vahed Syndicate Tehran bus workers&rsquo; union in Iran is still in prison, in spite of a fierce international campaign for his release, and in spite of an announcement last month by the Iranian authorities that he soon would be released. There are 52 other trade unionists in prison currently in Iran. 
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The ICEM participated in the Congress in Mexico City and, together with the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) sought to highlight the struggle of Los Mineros to delegates. 
 
On Sunday 8 August the Congress sponsored a forum on freedom of association, where Los Mineros were centrally featured, along with the Electricians Union SME. The two unions have recently formed an alliance. ICEM Director of Industry &amp; Corporate Affairs Joe Drexler appealed to unions in attendance to join a broad solidarity committee, currently being formed for those free trade unions under attack in Mexico. The symposium educated 400 trade union leaders about the repressive conditions faced by Mexican trade unions.

42nd ITF Congress in Mexico City Elects MUA&#039;s Paddy Crumlin President

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Latin America&rsquo;s largest company by market value, Petrobras, was hit hard by a one-day warning strike on 3 September. Eighty percent of ICEM-affiliated Federa&ccedil;&atilde;o &Uacute;nica de dos Petroleiros&rsquo;s (FUP) 35,000 members shut refineries, distribution terminals, offshore platforms and rigs, and administration offices across Brazil last Friday in a stern message to the largely state-owned company that it will not be shortchanged in current negotiations. 
 
In a statement, the FUP umbrella grouping of unions &ndash; by far the largest at Petrobras &ndash; said workers&rsquo; intent was to &ldquo;interrupt the main operations, keeping only the essential activities operating for the maintenance and security of equipment.&rdquo; 
 
The union was angry that Petrobras had granted large bonuses to senior managers while negotiations were in progress, and then suddenly halting talks. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="122" />
Some seven refineries in Brazil stopped producing, as did 30 offshore drilling platforms and countless other facilities. FUP is seeking the Brazilian inflation rate from September 2009 to August 2010, or 5%, and also seeks productivity pay totaling 10% for undertaking training and development programmes. 
 
The union federation also wants guaranteed safeguarding of labour standards and establishment of a national forum as a dialogue platform to discuss structural changes with management over health, safety, and the environment. 
 
The company&rsquo;s response to the warning strike was that it would conduct an &ldquo;open and transparent&rdquo; set of negotiations with workers&rsquo; representatives. 
 
The warning strike came on the same day that Petrobras announced it would conduct a massive stock offering in order to raise US$64.5 billion in capital funds.

FUP Launches Day-Long Warning Strike Against Petrobras

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Australian building materials maker James Hardie Industries lost a tax appeal case in a courtroom on 1 September that likely will inhibit the troubled company&rsquo;s ability to make payments under terms of the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund. Under a mandatory agreement with the state government of New South Wales, Hardie must pay 35% of its annual cash flow to the fund. 
 
A federal court judge ruled last week that James Hardie owes back taxes to the government in the amount of A$357.4 million, plus interest, for dodging taxes in 1998 when it formally moved ownership of US subsidiaries out of Australia. 
 
The 1 September decision by a federal court judge in Australia, upholding a Taxation Office ruling from that 1998 case, means that Hardie will need a fresh infusion of money to meet its liability commitments to victims of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Lawyers who represent victims also expressed fear that the company will completely default on immediate and future obligations. 
<img src="" width="180" height="128" alt="" />
The AMWU said prior to last week&rsquo;s ruling that if James Hardie were to win the appeal, it would demand that the A$275 million cash windfall due the company go directly to the compensation fund. The AMWU said James Hardie has not made a payment into the fund in 2009-2010, and the bottoming-out of the home-building market inside the global financial crisis seriously jeopardizes the compensation fund. 
 
The AMWU further states that victims&rsquo; claims average A$110 million per year, but that James Hardie has made sufficient profits only once in the past seven years to cover a full year&rsquo;s of liability. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s case involved the company&rsquo;s wholly-owned affiliate RCI Pty. using a tax avoidance scheme, as determined by the Tax Commissioner, for the purpose of the subsidiary gaining a tax benefit. 
 
One Australian press account said last week&rsquo;s verdict &ldquo;cements the reputation of James Hardie&rsquo;s board and management of the 1990s and early 2000s as putting more effort into minimizing liabilities than was good for the company. 
 
&ldquo;James Hardie has been mired in scandal after using legal arguments in 2004 to deny liability to pay asbestos compensation,&rdquo; said the press report. &ldquo;The furor over asbestos, which forced the company to resume responsibility, was prompted by a global restructure in 2001, which built on a 1998 restructure that is at the centre of the tax dispute.&rdquo;

Asbestos: James Hardie’s Failed Tax Appeal Clouds Victims’ Payments

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Bargaining again will be held in efforts to resolve the bitter 13-month strike between United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 in Voiseys Bay, Labrador, and Brazilian-based mining company Vale. Two days of talks will open on 19 September in the eastern Canadian province of Labrador/Newfoundland. 
 
Two previous days of negotiations on 19-20 July proved futile, with the company continuing its harsh push to lower the living standards of Canadian miners. Some 230 members of USW Local 9508 have been on picket lines at rich copper, nickel mines and port and processing plants in eastern Canada since 1 August 2009. 
 
The strike now exceeds, by 42 days, the 360-day strike brought on by Vale in its assault against 3,500 USW miners and nickel processing workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, which was settled with a compromise on 8 July but not without much bitterness lingering. 
 
In Voiseys Bay and remote Goose Bay, where many of the USW strikers are First Nation people, Vale is boasting that it is at or near full production by using scab replacement workers and contractors. The company displayed abominable social behaviour following public comments made by USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove after the break-down of the July talks. 
<img alt="" src="" width="134" height="130" />
USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove
Cove said Vale was treating Local 9508 members like second-class citizens because Vale refused to offer similar terms that ended the strike by USW Locals 6500 and 6200 in Sudbury and Port Colborne. Vale responded by filing a defamation lawsuit in Canadian courts against Cove for making that statement. 
 
Besides the 230 members of three bargaining units of Local 9508 on strike, 50 workers employed by Ushitou Maintenance have been on strike since 1 June 2010. These workers are also members of Local 9508, and perform electrical, pipefitting, instrumentation, and other functions for Vale at its Voiseys Bay operations. 
 
The ICEM reminds trade unions across the globe that the high-profile Canadian labour dispute with hugely profitable Vale will not be over until justice reaches the courageous Steelworker strikers of Labrador / Newfoundland Province.

Canadian Negotiations to Resume Between Vale, USW in Bitter Voiseys Bay Strike

Archive

Mine Safety Culture in Chile Must Change, Asserts ICEM

ILO, IMF Oslo Conference on Crisis Now Demands Immediate Action

Coal Strikes in Australia Wrapping to Conclusions

South African Tyre Strike Continues; Mass March Slated Today Against Bridgestone

European Mining Unions Reject Commission’s Coal Subsidies Policy

Special Newsletter: Developments in the Global Contract and Agency Labour Project

42nd ITF Congress in Mexico City Elects MUA's Paddy Crumlin President

FUP Launches Day-Long Warning Strike Against Petrobras

Asbestos: James Hardie’s Failed Tax Appeal Clouds Victims’ Payments

Canadian Negotiations to Resume Between Vale, USW in Bitter Voiseys Bay Strike

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