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About 400 members of ICEM affiliate Fiji Electricity Workers Association (FEWA) are preparing to strike this week over Fiji Electricity Authority’s (FEA) refusal to address pay demands and grievances. The union gave managers a 28-day strike notice on 11 August and insisted that failure to enter meaningful negotiations would cause a walkout. Talks did occur last week, but FEA did not address the wage issue or failure to pay past cost-of-living increases that were due. Fiji’s minister of Labour entered the dispute by issuing a letter declaring any strike illegal under the country’s Trades Disputes Act, despite the fact that FEWA has been in compliance with all strike notice and secret ballot provisions.

Fiji Electric Workers Threaten Strike

Settlement has been reached in a Canadian mining dispute that had cut world nickel supplies. 
 
Members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Thompson, Manitoba, yesterday voted to accept a new agreement with Inco. The vote - 66 percent in favour - ends Inco's 12-week lockout of 1,100 employees at its Thompson nickel mine. 
 
The three-year agreement, which will run till Sept. 15, 2002, is a victory for the union in that it addresses the wage and pension issues that Inco had refused to negotiate when negotiations broke down in September. The agreement maintains the pattern of increases established among USWA members in other Inco Canadian operations. 
 
The settlement includes wage increases of over 5 per cent, and 13 per cent in pension improvements. Along with an immediate signing bonus of 1,000 Canadian dollars, wage increases over three years will bring the average wage up to C$24.48 an hour by the end of the contract, up from C$23.31. 
 
Pensions will increase so that the minimum monthly benefit for a retiree with 30 years of service will be C$2,675 by the end of the contract. 
 
A negotiated Success Sharing Plan will divide the positive results of a co-design programme aimed at improving efficiencies in the operation. That plan, along with a Savings Fund Plan and the maintaining of the Nickel Price Bonus, could mean a payout over the life of the agreement of as much as C$9,000 per employee. 
 
"The support of the membership for this agreement is proof of the workers' resolve to settle this dispute on their terms," said Bob Desjarlais, President of the union's local in Thompson. "We are equally determined to work with the company in a way that will maximise the potential benefit to our members during the next three years." 
 
Lawrence McBrearty, the USWA's National Director in Canada, added that maintaining the pattern of bargaining with Inco in Manitoba "is an important building block in upcoming negotiations with Inco in Ontario." 
 
At McBrearty's request, the USWA campaign for a just settlement at Inco had been supported by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the USWA is affiliated.

Canadian Nickel Dispute Settled

US affiliate United Mineworkers of America is standing firm behind 73 non-union miners in Huntington, Utah. The 73—mostly Mexican nationals—were sacked last year for protesting horrid coal-mining conditions during a recognition strike. Family-run Co-op Mine pays miners US$5-8/hour, 40% the average US mine wage, and three of the last eight mine fatalities in Utah State occurred at the Kingston family’s Co-Op Mine. “We’re committed to this until they win,” said UMWA’s Mike Dalpiaz. “These people need justice. Nobody should be exploited the way these people have.”

US’s Mineworkers Union Backs Striking Utah Miners

South African affiliate NUM had a successful conclusion to a Special Congress 6-8 May in Midrand, near Johannesburg. The Congress aim is to embark on a course of organizational restructuring and realignment.

South African NUM’s Congress Issues Call to Restructure

The European Works Council of French firm Saint-Gobain strongly condemned the company’s anti-union behaviour in the US state of Massachusetts. Meeting in Paris 12 May, the Saint-Gobain Convention for European Social Dialogue stated, “The attitude of Saint-Gobain Norton USA management is in total disaccord with the Charter adopted and encouraged by Group management … This Charter is not a ‘variable geometry’ document. It must apply everywhere, in every country and in every situation.” US managers are engaged in surface bargaining for an initial collective agreement being negotiated by affiliate United Auto Workers for 800 workers. The UAW organized the Worcester, Massachusetts, plant in August 2001 but after 120 bargaining meetings, workers are no closer to a first contract than when bargaining commenced in 2002. Employee representatives on the EWC, in concert with French affiliates FCECFDT and CGT FO, expressed their continued solidarity with American workers as part of the statement.

EWC of Saint-Gobain Condemns Firm’s US Union-Busting

The clock is ticking on the Nigerian government to reverse rising fuel prices or face a general strike. The Nigerian Labour Congress met in emergency session last week and called for a mass strike on 9 June if a rollback in prices isn’t instituted. ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN, the blue-collar and white-collar oil workers’ unions in Nigeria, respectively, are central to the action and the two affiliates are also calling on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to revive the country’s refineries.

Nigerian Fuel Price Hikes Met with Union Protests

A strike by North American affiliate USWA has shut operations at a Michelin plant in Canada. The strike, begun 1 June by 1,000 members of USWA Local 677 in Kitchener, Ontario, is over company proposals to cut pay and health benefits of current workers and future retirees at the profit-making auto and light-truck tyre plant. The facility is a former B.F. Goodrich tyre plant, which French-based Groupe Michelin purchased in 1986.

USWA Members in Canada Strike Michelin

Ecuadorian management of Swiss-based cement producer Holcim Group fired 90 workers for attempting to form a union in the South American country. The sacked workers are seeking international help in asserting their right to organize, both with government officials and with the company. ICEM is coordinating action with Swiss affiliate Syndicat Industrie & Bâtiment (SIB).

Cement Giant Holcim Sacks Workers in Ecuador

German affiliate IGBCE is calling on both the European Commission and the social partners in Germany to take action to strengthen the industrial policy of European nations. The union is seeking a joint approach including unions, governments and companies working together to achieve such a policy.

German Affiliate IGBCE Seeks Stronger Industrial Plan in Europe

Durban Roodeport Deep (DRD), the anti-worker South African gold producer, rejected out of hand affiliate NUM’s viable plan to save jobs and create opportunities at the East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM). The union proposed to switch to high volume at the ore-rich mines near Boksburg. The mine operator, citing the high Rand, is intent on phasing out operations over the next ten months, affecting the livelihoods of 2,600 miners. DRD has already reduced pumping operations which could endanger the surrounding area. DRD is the managing partner and 40% ERPM stakeholder in the enterprise called Crown Gold Resources Ltd. With Khumo Bathong Holdings as majority holder.

Durban Deep Rejects NUM’s Plan for Job Preservation

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