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An advisor to the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW), Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, was found murdered on 31 January, three days after he and two colleagues were abducted in front of the Al-Nahrain University, where he was a law professor. The murders reflect the horrid circumstances that trade unionists and their allies are subjected to every day in attempting to build democratic unions in Iraq. 
 
Dr. Al-Abed was a known supporter of Iraqi unions, who used his expertise to write and publish frequently on labour issues, including revision of an ILO-sponsored draft labour law for Iraq. He was a frequent lecturer at the GFIW-affiliated Institute for Trade Union Education.
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Also on 31 January, a car bomb severely wounded Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani, vice president of the GFIW. It is believed he was the target of the bomb. Al-Mashhadani also serves as general secretary for the Arab Federation of Building and Woodworkers. Prior to the three-way merger of the GFTU, the IFTU, and the GFITU to form the GFIW, Al-Mashhadani served as president of the GFITU. 
 
Violent acts against Iraqi trade unionists didn’t stop with these attacks on 31 January. A car bomb exploded the same day at the GFIW’s branch office for the northern province of Nineveh, resulting in injuries to workers and trade union leaders. The car bomb went off in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province. 
 
GFIW issued the following statement after that morning bomb attack: “The terrorist acts, the annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement’s assets, and the placement of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement that is free of government and party hegemony.”

Violence in Iraq Aimed at GFIW Trade Unionists Continue

Señor Alvaro Uribe Vélez 
Presidente de la República 
Palacio Nariño 
Carrera 8 No. 7-26 
Bogotá 
 
By Fax: ++57-1-337.58.90 and ++57-1-566.20.71 
 
Brussels, 15 February 2007 
 
 
Mr. President, 
We are writing to you in the aftermath of two recent coal mine disasters in Colombia which saw, in total, the death of almost 40 people. 
 
As you know, the first catastrophe, the worst of its kind in Colombia in 30 years, took place on 3 February, in the San Roque and La Preciosa Mines in Sardinata, Norte de Santander department. Thirty-two miners lost their lives in this tragedy. You visited the mine site after the explosion. 
 
Although you stated a full investigation would occur, you said nothing publicly about the underlying safety and other problems plaguing Colombia’s mining industry. 
 
A short two days after your visit, another tragedy struck a mine in Gámeza, Boyacá department. There, 8 people lost their lives, including a 13-year-old boy who was working inside a shaft mining coal. The mine in Gámeza was operating illegally. 
 
At a time of high demand for coal, with the market situation pushing prices to near record highs, the 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and the 168-million-member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are deeply concerned about the inadequate or non-existent safety measures that were behind these accidents. 
 
In this context, we condemn your government’s policy to weaken the role of the state in the monitoring and verifying process of working conditions in the mines. Through our affiliates, we have been informed of a resulting decline in both the quantity and the quality of labour inspections. This is especially worrisome given that Colombia has ratified ILO Convention No. 81 on Labour Inspections. 
 
We further understand that, with the exception of the major mining companies of the world, which operate vast mineral export businesses in your country, the level of technical and other modern safety devices is totally inadequate in most Colombian underground mines, including in the many illegal ones. 
 
We believe that your government bears much responsibility for this, since safety failures in the mining industry are a result of structural problems that need governmental attention. 
 
We urge your government to assume its direct decision-making role in this regard. We note that Colombia has ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention. But we also note that Colombia has ratified neither ILO Convention No. 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, nor Convention No. 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention. 
 
We therefore call on the government of Colombia to start the process toward ratification of Convention Nos. 155 and 176 at once. And we urge you, as leader of the growing industrial economy that Colombia has become, to spearhead this effort. 
 
In closing, we state that the right to a safe and secure working environment is an inherent right for all workers. It is the responsibility of governments to assure that right. We look forward to your comments on this important issue. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
Manfred Warda 
ICEM General Secretary 
Guy Ryder 
ITUC General Secretary 

Cc: Embassy of Colombia in Brussels 
International Labour Organisation 
International Council on Mining & Metals

Joint ICEM-ITUC letter to Colombian President on mining disasters

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A miners' strike in Kazakhstan that started following the deadly 20 September methane blast in a coal mine that killed 41 has ended. Some 24,500 workers at eight coal mines in central Kazakhstan, owned by the world's largest steelmaker, Arcelor Mittal Steel, returned to their colleries on 5 October after safety and pay demands were partially met. 
 
The strike, which started on 25 September, was joined a few days later by steelworkers from Mittal's steel enterprises in the Karaganda region, as well as by iron ore miners employed by the company. 
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The metalworkers' union had experienced little movement in two months of negotiations prior to the strike, but significant wage gains were won on that front as well. Arcelor Mittal officials admitted that the strike, which stopped production at all eight coal mines, had caused a 30% decline in steel output. 
 
The Korgau coal miners' trade union reported that Arcelor Mittal gave pledges of new mining equipment to replace antiquated machinery already in use prior to 1995, the year that the company purchased the mines as well as vast steelmaking facilities from a state-run company. Miners also realised a doubling, effective 1 October, of their pay. New pay packets will now be the equivalent of US$700 per month. 
 
Steelworkers, who previously had an average pay of US$300 per month, won a 1 October increase of 20%, and will receive another 10% in February 2007. 
 
The methane explosion at the Lenin mine that claimed the 41 lives was the worst mining disaster on record in the central Asian republic. Last week, Arcelor Mittal announced that it made a one-time allowance equivalent to ten years' pay to each of the deceased miners' families. In addition, those families with children under 18 will receive monthly allowances. The one-off payments, however, hardly compensate for the pain and loss of a primary wage-earner. The average payment amounts to US$63,000. 
 
The strikes and protests that followed the explosion, which also seriously injured six miners, had the support and endorsement from Kazakhstan's government. The lower house of Parliament, the Majilis, moved to seek a change in the Kazakh labour code in which core industries such as mining and metallurgy have defined and set levels of minimum pay. 
 
"Foreign investors economise on everything from equipment to sick leave, making miners work in inhuman conditions," said Parliament Deputy Mukhtar Tinikeyev. He added that Arcelor Mittal had attempted to shift blame of the Lenin Mine disaster "to three person -- the chief engineer and two mechanics. But the blame rests with foreign investors who economise on equipment." 
 
Arcelor Mittal, with 61 steel plants in 27 countries, derives 8% of its total steel-making capacity from its operations in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Miners' Strike Ends with Significant Gains

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The Fédération des travailleurs de l’Energie, des Mines et Eau et Assimiliés (FESYNEME) held its first Congress in Benin, West Africa, on 2 September 2006. 
 
Delegates from each of its five member-unions, all from the energy sector, were present at this first Congress, including from Syntra-Sonacop (Syndicat des travailleurs de la société nationale de commercialisation des produits pétroliers), the ICEM’s affiliate in Benin. FESYNEME is, in turn, an affiliate of Benin’s national centre CSA. 
 
The Congress chose Syntra-Sonacop’s General Secretary Dieudonné Lokossou as General Secretary for FESYNEME for the next four years.

First Congress for Energy Union Federation in Benin

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German affiliate IGBCE last week reiterated its call for industrial competitiveness through development of high-tech workplaces. The union was joined by the North Rhine/Westphalia’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology in an urgent call to the federal government to establish clear and legal conditions for safe genetic engineering. 
 
IGBCE and the agency stressed that Germany is the global leader in developing green genetic engineering technologies, and the government must take assertive action in order to retain that global reputation. 
<img height="207" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/hubertusschmoldt.jpg" width="152" alt=""/>
ICEM President and 
ICEM Vice-President Hubertus Schmoldt
In a joint statement, IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt and Professor Andreas Pinkwart from the Ministry said Germany, globally, cannot afford to fall into a “competitive disadvantage” because the government has failed to put a concise plan in place for technological development. They demanded that the federal government open research and technology possibilities in the life sciences so that both employment opportunities and growth could take hold. 
 
In Germany, IGBCE has been the main social partner demanding renewed emphasis on technology and development of bio-sciences. The union has also been at the forefront in achieving better and more flexible terms and conditions at high-tech worksites.

IGBCE Calls on German Government to Take a Stand on Genetic Engineering

25 August 2006 
 
Comrade Peter Esele 
President 
PENGASSAN 
NIGERIA 
 
 
Dear Comrade Peter, 
 
The ICEM has learned of the tragic and senseless death of one of PENGASSAN’s members, Nelson Ujeya, earlier this week in the vicinity of Brass Creek or Biobou Creek, Bayelsa State. We understand that Brother Ujeya had been kidnapped on 8 August 2006 in Letugbene while performing his employment duties for Shell Petroleum Development Corporation. 
 
We also have unconfirmed reports that he died in a violent gun fight between Nigeria’s Joint Military Task Force and militant youth groups on 20 August 2006 as he was about to be released after negotiations. 
 
The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Union Federation for oil and gas workers, finds it reprehensible that such indiscriminate use of force by Nigerian government militia be used in such a situation. The ICEM stands firmly behind PENGASSAN in holding both the government of Bayelsa State initially responsible for the abduction of Brother Ujeya while in the presence of state officials, and the federal government for its new policy of “force by force” in dealing with kidnappings that occur in the Niger Delta. 
 
The ICEM calls on all energy companies operating in Nigeria to apply the same effort and resources in securing the release of kidnapped Nigerian workers as they do for their foreign national employees. 
 
Next week, on 30 August 2006, PENGASSAN and NUPENG will conduct a joint National Executive Council (NEC) in Benin City to discuss this and other security matters in the Niger Delta. The ICEM recognises that the combined voice of NUPENGASSAN in Nigeria has been one of reason and soundness in stemming the social instability occurring along the Niger Delta. We know that this combined voice has stood for education, skills training and other social development initiatives that will increase employment opportunities in the oil and gas sectors for Nigerians. We commend and fully endorse that stand. 
 
We would look forward to having a report from the NEC’s deliberations as soon after 30 August as possible in order to publicise your sensible positions on the global level. 
 
In conclusion, please convey sincere condolences from the ICEM and its family of global trade unions to the family of Wilson Ujeya. We are very distraught on the circumstances of his horrific death. Also, please express our deep concern to all trade union members of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, who are forced to work in such a difficult and terrifying environment. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary

ICEM letter to Pengassan

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Labour relations in Trinidad and Tobago tilt pointedly toward turbulent unrest, as witnessed by mounted riot police and barricades that met 200 labour protestors on 29 March at Whitehall, the prime minister’s offices in Port-of-Spain. The 200 peaceful marchers were forced by the barricades and mounted patrols away from the site of their strategic protest, and into an adjacent park.
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Workers employed at national and global companies – firms that have either stalled collective negotiations, or refused to engage in them – marched on Whitehall during a cabinet meeting with PM Patrick Manning in protest of high food prices and nagging inflation. This economic hit on workers comes at a time when bosses are delaying salary increases. 
 
ICEM affiliate Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) organised the demonstration, together with its national ally, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-Government Organisations (FITUN). 
 
The 29 March demonstration comes amidst a wave of job actions on the Caribbean island nation, including a strike two weeks ago by OWTU members at state-owned oil company Petrotrin. Job actions also included a dockworkers’ strike last week. 
 
At the Whitehall standoff, workers from Petrotrin, Trinmar, PowerGen, Hilton Hotels, Telecommunications Service (TSTT), and University of West Indies (UWI) marched to the beat of a rhythm section right up to the barricades. TSTT and UWI workers demand that their employers negotiate with their chosen trade unions, while Hilton protested their management’s refusal to negotiate a pension plan.
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Errol McLeod, OWTU President
Errol McLeod of OWTU said workers’ patience is grows thin due to the slow pace of wage negotiations at several private and public companies. Dockworkers, in fact, represented by Seamen and Waterfront Workers’ Trade Union (SWWTU), struck port facilities in Port-of-Spain because wage talks continue now for two years. 
 
McLeod said government officials and companies must realize that by settling wage demands will result in the desired effect of economic growth. The absence of that, he added, either by government, or on the part of management in the public or private sector, will bring only further unrest. 
 
“If employers were to meet the just demands of unions, then there would be no need to protest,” FITUN President David Abdullah said in a news report. FITUN has been heavily engaged with the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) is its fight to get TSTT managers into meaningful collective bargaining. 
 
From 26-30 March, some 400 OWTU took job actions at oil-well facilities of Petrotrin, and protested in front of the company’s Santa Flora production headquarters. The OWTU is protesting improper safety practices, brought on mainly through under-staffing. OWTU members also protested Petrotrin’s failure to upgrade temporary workers – some who have worked for as long as 25 years – to permanent and full-time jobs.

Workers in Trinidad/Tobago Fight High Food Costs, Delays to Wage Increases

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A string of three-day lockouts by management of Bridgestone Australia at a tyre plant near Salisbury has only toughened the resolve of members of three unions to gain fair wage increases. Managers locked out workers for three-day periods over the weekends of 23-25 March and again on 30 March to 1 April, and also from 27-29 March. 
 
The 500 workers and their unions have been locked in a pay dispute for nearly a year with the Japanese-based rubber company. Production workers, numbering about 450, are represented by ICEM affiliate Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU), while maintenance workers at the auto and truck tyre plant are represented by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) and the Communications, Electrical, and Plumbing Union (CEPU), both also ICEM affiliates.
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 Bridgestone is offering a mere 2% wage increase for each year of a proposed three-year contract, while workers and their unions are seeking 4% per year. The cost-of-living in Australia is 3.3%. 
 
A LHMU spokesman said rubber workers have struggled over the past several years to win pay increases that keep pace with inflation. Prior to 2006, annual raises totalled just 3% and now Bridgestone seeks to pay even less.
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 The lockouts have been described by union representatives as aggressive and irresponsible, and come as Bridgestone Australia is asking staff to make improved productivity changes, while earning less money. 
 
Beginning in early March, workers began job actions, which included four-hour strikes and overtime bans. The company has admitted that the job actions have significantly disrupted production during the month of March, but it remains unwilling to reopen talks with the union. Instead, Bridgestone re-issued its insufficient salary adjustments in letters to individual workers that included the lockout notices.

Lockouts Strengthen Resolve of Bridgestone Rubber Workers in Australia

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The deadly 19 March methane explosion at the Ulyanovskaya coal mine in Russia is still under review, with dozens of possible causes being prematurely suggested. The safety technical inspectorate of Russia will issue a report on the tragedy in April, two weeks after the official on-site inquiry ends. 
 
Meanwhile, the inspectorate, early in April, closed 29 other coal mines in the Kutnetsk coal fields of Kemerovo region, as well as four other collieries in the Rostov region. Several of the mines belong to Yuzhkuzbassugol, owner of the Ulyanovskaya mine and Russia’s largest coal producer. Others belong to Sibirsky coal.
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"Danger Zone" (entrance at Ulyanovskaya mine)
 The head of the state inspectorate agency ordered work at the 33 mines halted for five days, so the agency could check for compliance of technological documentation per estimated project capacity, as well as safety regulations and changes in project designs. 
 
The Ulyanovskaya mine disaster of 19 March 2007 is Russia and the Soviet Union’s worst in decades. It has claimed 110 lives. Recovery efforts have found the bodies of 108 miners, while two others remain deep inside mine shafts. 
 
The Ulyanovskaya mine is recognised as having the most current and sophisticated gas control equipment of any coal mine in Russia. Some 20 senior managers and technicians were inside the mine when the blast occurred, killing all of them. Included among them was a British technician of the company that designed the system, and his interpreter.
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ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
Nearly all of the 1,068 miners employed at Ulyanovskaya are members of ICEM Russian affiliate Independent Coal Miners’ Union (ROSUGLEPROF). The union’s vice president, Ruben Badalov, served on the official investigation team of the Russian state commission at the mine site. He recently returned to Moscow, and the investigative report on the cause of the tragedy is due in the coming weeks.

Cause of Russian Coal Mine Deaths to be Announced Shortly

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A tentative agreement was reached late on 3 April between ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) and Bridgestone/Firestone North America. The agreement covers some 5,200 rubber workers at six US plants, and concludes master rubber bargaining at North America’s three major tyre companies that have multiple plants. 
 
“The tentative agreement and contract proposals follow the pattern established in the BF Goodrich (Michelin) and Goodyear contracts,” said USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover. The USW announced that informational meetings for Bridgestone/Firestone workers and secret-ballot ratification votes will occur at all six plants by 25 April 2006.
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USW Executive Vice President Ron Hoover
If ratified, the three-year contract will be backdated to last summer, and will run to 18 July 2009. The contract covers plant locations in Akron, Ohio; Noblesville, Indiana; Des Moines, Iowa; Russelville, Arkansas; La Vergne, Tennessee; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a plant in which Bridgestone discontinued tyre production in December 2006. Workers at two other Bridgestone/Firestone plants, Warren County, Tennessee, and Bloomington, Illinois, are also represented by the USW and are considering proposed agreements separate from the master rubber contract. 
 
The USW’s last set of talks with a tyre producer is currently underway in the state of Virginia. Japan-based Yokohama Tire Co. and the union are in talks over a new contract for some 700 rubber workers at an auto and light truck tyre plant in Salem, Virginia. The current contract there expires on 15 April.

USW Members in US to Vote on New Bridgestone Tyre Contract

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