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Several French trade unions are resisting the government&rsquo;s forced privatisation of Gaz de France through a merger with French-Belgian water and power concern, Suez Group. Three salaried administrators on the company&rsquo;s board, representing the trade union CGT, were successful last week before an Appeals Court in Paris in ordering the utility&rsquo;s management to hold an extraordinary board meeting to discuss anti-trust concerns raised on 18 August by the European Commission. 
 
That board meeting was held on 1 September, six days before French parliamentarians will take the matter up in the National Assembly. All four unions represented on Gaz de France&rsquo;s board, including FO, CFE-CGC and ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT, claim that the objections by the European Commission present serious warning signs and warrant full disclosure. 
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The government-brokered merger deal was set in motion last spring by French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to block a hostile takeover of Suez by Italian energy company Enel. If a Gaz de France-Suez merger were to become a reality, it would break a pledge contained in a 2004 French law which states that at least 70% of Gaz de France would remain in the state&rsquo;s hands. The proposed &euro;72 billion merger would mean the government&rsquo;s stake in the combined company would be diluted to 34%.
The CGT is threatening a strike sometime in September if the proposal in the National Assembly to validate the merger isn&rsquo;t defeated. In addition, CGT, FO and CFTC have called for national mobilisations on 12 September against the privatisation. 
 
FCE-CFDT is hostile to privatising Gaz de France and believes the state must continue to be the major shareholder of the utility. But the union is not opposed to closer cooperation between Gaz de France and Suez.

French Unions Press Issue on Gaz de France Privatisation

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In New Zealand, offshore energy and drilling workers belonging to ICEM affiliate Engineering Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU) are expected to ratify a new multi-employer collective agreement that will merge separate onshore and offshore agreements into one agreement. 
 
EPMU issued a strike notice to the five drilling companies and several oil firms involved. The strike was to have started on 24 May. Employers responded by filing a court injunction preventing a work stoppage. 
 
But two weeks ago, employers presented a revised two-year pay offer that EPMU&rsquo;s oil and gas negotiating committee was recommending for ratification to the 200 workers. Voting is expected to conclude on the contract proposal in the near future.

New Zealand’s Offshore Oil and Gas Workers Get Tentative Agreement

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The global mining industry did produce one piece of good news over the past fortnight. Canadian mining house Ivanhoe announced it would withdraw from Burma, expressing to sources discomfort with having to deal with the military junta, which jointly owns a copper mine with Ivanhoe. The company will sell its 50% in the Monywa mine to a consortium of South Korean investors, including Daewoo International, which already has investment deals with the Burmese generals. 
 
The Ivanhoe Mines exit will happen in a July 2006 sale. Last week, Burma&rsquo;s military junta extended the house arrest on Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Her strong voice for democracy and human rights in Burma has now been silenced for the past three years by the corrupt Burmese military rulers. In total, she has spent a total of ten of the past 17 years in detention.

Canadian Ivanhoe Mines Pulls Out of Burma

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The coal rush in the eastern United States has brought six more mining deaths in recent days, and again it is a fledgling mining company responsible for five of those deaths. On 20 May, five miners at the non-union Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 in Harlan County, state of Kentucky, died after a methane explosion inside a shaft. Two of the miners died instantly due to the blast, while three others died underground later due to carbon monoxide poisoning. 
 
On 24 May, a miner underground at International Coal Group&rsquo;s (ICG) Sycamore II Mine near Jarvisville, state of West Virginia, died when he was struck in the head by a heavy wooden object. ICG is the non-union coal operator of the Sago Mine in West Virginia in which 12 miners were killed on 2 January 2006 following an explosion. 
A miner who escaped the Harlan County blast questioned the reliability of self-contained oxygen packs provided to miners only a month before the 20 May explosion. Both ICG and Kentucky Darby LLC, which has operated the mine in eastern Kentucky since 2001, utilized the same emergency devices. Thirty-three mining deaths have happened in the US so far in 2006, with 19 of those deaths in West Virginia and ten in Kentucky. 
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On the day of the latest ICG death, the US Senate passed legislation mandating improved oxygen supplies, electronic tracking systems, fire-resistant lifelines, and local rescue teams, all areas in which start-up coal operators have been lax. The bill also requires up-to-date emergency preparedness and response plans that are continually monitored by the Mine Safety &amp; Health Administration (MSHA). A companion bill is now in the US House. 
The legislation is endorsed by ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), as well as by a coalmining employers&rsquo; group. But the association tempered its support over of a 15-minutes notification requirement to MSHA in the event of serious accidents. MSHA has also issued new rules on mine safety since the Sago Mine explosion. 
 
The UMWA has called for miner tracking devises, wireless communication and emergency rescue chambers already in use in Germany, Poland and Australia. UMWA Director of Occupational Health and Safety, Dennis O&rsquo;Dell, in a published report, said, &ldquo;The emergency rules do some good things but don&rsquo;t go far enough. We in the United States are really behind on the kind of technology that protects miners&rsquo; safety and is already saving lives in other countries.&rdquo;

Mining Deaths Keep Occurring in US Coal Industry

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In what the Chinese work-safety director is calling the worst coal mine disaster of 2006, 56 miners were trapped and killed by flooding at the Xinjing Coal Mine, Shanxi Province. Miners told managers to cease mining due to rising water levels six days before the 18 May mass flooding, but were ordered to continue mining. 
 
To make matters worse, local safety officials had attempted to cover up the extent of the disaster when it happened by stating only five miners were trapped. After two days, a State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) investigation discovered 56 were trapped. Nine managers are under arrest, while the owner of the licensed mine is reported to have fled. In addition, six others were arrested in connection to the disaster, including two bankers as well as the person charged with work safety, who stands accused of leading the cover-up. 
Also on 18 May, near Beijing, a coal mine collapsed in Fangshan District, killing five miners. The mine is owned by Jingmei Coal, part of the Beijing Coal Group. These two mid-May tragedies follow a fierce explosion that occurred at the Wayaobao Coal Mine in Shaanxi Province on 29 April. It killed 32. 
 
Fatalities occurred in other Chinese mining sectors as well over the past month. On 13 May, at last three were confirmed dead after the Dalongshan Iron Mine collapsed in Anhui Province. On April 30, in an effort to heighten production, the Zhen&rsquo;an County Gold Mining Co., raised water levels on a dam, which then burst and killed 17 villagers. That incident happened in Shaanxi Province.

Coal, Iron, Gold Disasters Kill Scores in China’s Mines

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A dispute has been settled and a first collective agreement is in place in Malaysia&rsquo;s paper industry. ICEM assisted its affiliate Paper and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees&rsquo; Union (PPPMEU), as did Norwegian trade union Fellesforbundet in achieving recognition and a contract at a Malaysian Newsprint Industries mill in Pahang. 
 
Malaysian Newsprint is 34% owned by Norske Skog, with whom ICEM and Fellesforbundet have a Global Framework Agreement. The matter was brought before the Norwegian-based company by Fellesforbundet. 
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A union was formed at the nine-year-old mill in October 2004 and, in March 2005, a government ministry verified PPMEU certification. The union submitted proposals toward a first collective agreement in July 2005, but the company stalled in meeting its bargaining obligations. When the company finally did meet with the union, it informed the union that 70 of 220 workers were in &ldquo;executive&rdquo; capacities and exempt from the union, even though they perform manual tasks. 
 
The ICEM and Fellesforbundet attention to the dispute, and no doubt the formal intent-to-strike notice issued by PPPMEU on 15 May, brought pressure on management to settle. The initial three-year collective agreement will be backdated to 1 October 2005. Even though the scope of the bargaining unit wasn&rsquo;t resolved, it will now be submitted to a Malaysian Industrial Court. Other partners in the newsprint mill include the Hong Leong Group of Malaysia (34%), the New Straits Times newspaper (21%), and Rimbuan Hijau Group of Malaysia (11%).

Global Agreement, Strike Threat Brings First Accord to Malaysian Paper Mill

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On 24 May, tens of thousands of Ukrainian workers, led by their trade unions, took to the streets of Kiev. Led by Alexander Yurkin, former ICEM Vice President, who now leads the Ukrainian Trade Union Federation (FPU), workers gathered in six main city squares and marched to Maydan Square, site of the 2004 Orange Revolution in the country.
In front of one of those squares, Mariyinskyy Park, some 500 trade union leaders picketed the Cabinet of Ministers&rsquo; building over the rapid and unjustified hike to both prices and tariffs on consumers&rsquo; utility rates. 
 
 
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Yurkin, addressing an estimated 50,000 protesters at Maydan Square, said the government has violated the trust of Ukrainian citizens by &ldquo;arrogantly and irresponsibly&rdquo; making a unilateral decision to increase utility pricing, thus breaking a General Agreement with trade unions. Trade unions insist that any increase in prices or tariffs must be preceded with definitive social protection measures.
A day before the 24 May demonstration, the country&rsquo;s National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) again raised tariffs on natural gas and electricity distribution, this time by 41%, effective 1 June.&nbsp; 
 
NERC and the Ukrainian government already had hiked&nbsp;tariffs on gas and electricity distribution by 25%, and yet another round of increases is&nbsp;scheduled for 1 July. The FPU is demanding a rollback in prices and tariffs, and is insistent that the government start immediate negotiations with trade unions in order to introduce social protections.

Ukrainian Labour Protests Hikes in Utility Tariffs

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A major demonstration set for tomorrow, 30 May, in Sofia, Bulgaria, by trade union organisations there has the full support of the ICEM. The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), together with another labour federation, will protest over government and employer disinterest in social dialogue talks with trade unions over a national income policy. 
 
The protest will also center on workers&rsquo; rights over their legitimate right to strike in Bulgaria, as well as gaining that rights for civil servants. 
In March 2006, the average monthly income of a Bulgarian family stood at &euro;241, while average household expenditures rose to over &euro;226 per month, according to the National Statistical Institute. &ldquo;Bulgaria is the only one among the countries that are acceding to the European Union that does not have an income policy bargained at the national level,&rdquo; said CITUB President Zhelyazko Hristov. 
 
In a poll taken last month, over 60% of Bulgarian trade union members insisted on national protest actions for the end of May, while 40% said they would join a national strike over the income and other issues if one were called. For ICEM&rsquo;s letter of support to affiliate National Labour Federation of Chemistry and Industry on the 30 May demonstration, <a href="/index.php?id=9&amp;doc=1810">click here</a>.

Bulgarians Protest Tomorrow over Low Wages, Labour Rights

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Lastik-Īş, ICEM&rsquo;s rubber and chemicals affiliate in Turkey, kept its collective agreement in the rubber sector intact. A week ago, under threat of a 22 May strike at four tyre plants by 3,500 workers, the rubber industry representing Pirelli Lastikleri, Goodyear and Brisa Bridgestone Sabanci, agreed to a two-year contract with the union that excludes all employer flexibility demands contained in a World Bank and IMF inspired labour code introduced in Turkey three years ago. 
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Lastik-Īş leaders outside the Izmit Turkey 
Goodyear plant
Lastik-Īş retained 50 years of gained rights, including holiday periods, wage rates of new hires, health care protections, and limitations on use of temporary workers.
The union won a 5% wage increase back to 1 January, which equals the country&rsquo;s inflation rate of the last six months of 2005, and also won wage adjustments every six months, based on the inflation rate level. Lastik-Īş negotiated increases based on the inflation rate for several social benefits, including education and child aid, sickness and disease benefits, and heating, food and other social gains.

Turkish Lastik-Īş  Preserves All Past Gains in New Tyre Agreement

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ICEM Nigerian affiliate PENGASSAN agreed to a 27% wage increase at the weekend for upstream workers of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. The company, a subsidiary of US-based supermajor ExxonMobil, was under an extended strike deadline to tomorrow by the white-collar oil workers&rsquo; union and its 1,700 members employed by the company. 
 
PENGASSAN had targeted ExxonMobil&rsquo;s Nigerian operations because prior wage negotiations with other multinational oil companies had yielded higher pay increases. The union and company will meet again in December to discuss further increases. 
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Meanwhile, dialogue will continue between the two sides on the use of contract labour in offshore oil operations, as well as PENGASSAN&rsquo;s demand that ExxonMobil comply with an expatriate quota and local content policies that are in effect in Nigeria. The union seeks more full-time employment for Nigerian workers in the oil and gas sector. 
 
On 25 May, PENGASSAN&rsquo;s National Executive Board met and elected Peter Esele as president. He had been serving as acting president since the tragic death of President Uche Okoro in an airline crash last December. Esele is a skilled negotiator and employed at Core Laboratories Nigeria Ltd. as a Health and Environment officer.

ExxonMobil Negotiates Equity Wage Increases to Avert Nigerian Strike

Archive

French Unions Press Issue on Gaz de France Privatisation

New Zealand’s Offshore Oil and Gas Workers Get Tentative Agreement

Canadian Ivanhoe Mines Pulls Out of Burma

Mining Deaths Keep Occurring in US Coal Industry

Coal, Iron, Gold Disasters Kill Scores in China’s Mines

Global Agreement, Strike Threat Brings First Accord to Malaysian Paper Mill

Ukrainian Labour Protests Hikes in Utility Tariffs

Bulgarians Protest Tomorrow over Low Wages, Labour Rights

Turkish Lastik-Īş Preserves All Past Gains in New Tyre Agreement

ExxonMobil Negotiates Equity Wage Increases to Avert Nigerian Strike

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