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&nbsp;The European Mine, Chemical, Energy Federation (EMCEF) conducted its Fourth Congress 11-13 June in Prague, Czech Republic. The Congress was attended by over 300 delegates from 29 countries, with participants re-electing President Hubertus Schmoldt and Reinhard Reibsch as General Secretary. 

Schmoldt is the President of ICEM and EMCEF affiliate IGBCE of Germany. Reibsch has served as head of the European federation since the year 2000.
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In his keynote speech, Schmoldt stressed that the interests of European workers cannot fall victim to unbridled market forces. &ldquo;We must ensure that European trade unions move a social dimension to the center of all European policy,&rdquo; he said. 

Schmoldt also emphasized the need for close cooperation and collaboration between European trade union federations in the chemicals, energy, mining, metals, leathers, and textile sectors. EMCEF&rsquo;s General Assembly adopted such a resolution in 2006 in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The Congress heard thorough reports on the Secretariat, as well from EMCEF&rsquo;s four standing committees &ndash; Collective Bargaining, Works Councils, Industrial Relations (including environment, health and safety), and Social Dialogue. 
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Main speakers included John Monks, Secretary General for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), and Manfred Warda, General Secretary of ICEM, who attended the EMCEF Congress with ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana.
Warda credited the many European trade unions, which play such vital roles in creating global solidarity with ICEM affiliates worldwide. &ldquo;For us in ICEM, the link with EMCEF is of the highest value and of top priority,&rdquo; said Warda. &ldquo;A united, strong and successful EMCEF is an essential base for all that ICEM does.&rdquo; 

The 2.5-million-member EMCEF was created in 1996 with the merger of separate chemicals and mining federations. The federation now has 128 affiliated unions in 35 countries.

EMCEF Congress Concludes in Prague with Re-election of Schmoldt and Reibsch

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The aftermath of the early morning, 8 June, coal mine explosion inside the Karl Marx Mine near Yenakiyevo in the Ukraine is remarkable in that only 12 miners perished. The blast was so powerful that it ripped cable couplings on an elevator shaft to metal shreds, causing sparks, thus enhancing the explosion. 
 
The elevator, with nine miners aboard, plummeted down a mine shaft. Those nine and another three miners, who were buried by debris, died. Twenty-four miners were rescued some 36 hours after the explosion. The explosion was so potent that it injured five workers on the surface. 
 
The mine, owned by the state company Ordzhonikidzevuhillia, is a small producer of anthracite coal, with production of only 250 tonnes per day. It is also a high-cost operation. Had the mine been a major producer, meaning hundreds more miners would have been at work, the death toll would have been much higher.
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The government&rsquo;s State Committee of Health and Safety at Work, as well as a Mining Oversight Committee, has put the blame on management. They said mining at this colliery, 40 kilometres east of the regional capital of Donetsk, had been banned two days earlier due to high methane levels. 
 
In fact, according to ICEM affiliate Coal Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), production had officially stopped, but a skip hoist was in use at the time of the explosion, lifting some 700 tonnes of coal to the surface. The coal had already been mined and was in storage at one of the colliery&rsquo;s levels. 
 
Regarding overall safety, the Karl Marx Mine should not have been in operation. But it should be noted that there are few employment opportunities in this area of the central Donbass region, and coal mining provides livelihoods for thousands of families. The 8 June explosion at Yenakiyevo cries out for state-of-the-art mining technology, enhanced safety methods, as well as other, sustainable forms of employment for the region&rsquo;s citizens. 
 
Early Saturday, 14 June, in the community of Gorlovka, Ukraine, just 20 kilometres from Yenakiyevo, 15 miners were hospitalized with sulfur poisoning. The accident occurred when a sulfuric acid cloud was released from a chemical operation adjacent to a coal mine. The factory is owned by JSC Concern Stirol, a make of chemicals and fertilizers. The incident happened when the chemicals producer was re-start of a sulfuric acid plant.

12 Dead, 24 Rescued in Last Week’s Coal Mine Explosion in Eastern Ukraine

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ICEM Turkish affiliate Kristal-İş and the country&rsquo;s Glass, Cement, and Soil Industry Employers&rsquo; Association came to terms on a 2008-2009 sector-wide collective agreement, covering 6,000 glass workers. The settlement occurred on 2 June, a day prior to the strike date set by the union&rsquo;s Executive Committee. 
 
The new contract gives workers a 13% pay increase in 2008, with a 2009 wage hike to equal the Turkish rate of inflation in 2008. Additionally, all social benefits will be adjusted upward, ranging from 15% to 66%.
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The new wage adjustment means the base average salaries for glass workers in Turkey rises to YTL 1,678-per-month, or &euro;890 or US$1,364. Kristal-İş also won a new wage system in which the minimum salary for new hires was dramatically improved. 
 
The new two-year labour agreement covers workers at 11 plant sites operated by glassware companies Paşabah&ccedil;e, Trakya Cam, Anadolu Cam, and Cam Elyaf. All are entities of the Siscam Group, the fast-growing glasswares multinational that has factories in Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, and Georgia. 
 
The Kristal-İş Executive Committee decided on 9 May to take strike action and later in May, set a 3 June date for a sector-wide glass strike.

Turkish Glass Workers Reach Two-year Accord on Eve of Strike

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A 14-day tyre strike by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Lastik-İş in Turkey ended Friday night, 13 June, and workers at three multinational rubber companies were back on their jobs for the afternoon shift on 14 June. 
 
The strike ended when a two-year accord was reached between the union and the three employers, who jointly represent the tyre industry in talks. The companies include Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co., Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, and Pirelli.
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The 13 June bargaining was the first set of negotiations since the strike began on 31 May. Talks first began on a renewal labour agreement for 2008-2009 at the four tyre factories in September 2007. 
 
The two sides agreed to a 14% pay increase for the year 2008, and an increase equaling the Turkish rate of inflation for 2009. In 2007, the Turkish rate of inflation was 8.39% and is expected to rise above that this year. Lastik-İş had sought a 12% wage hike for the first six months of 2008, with increases matching the inflation rate in each six-month period through 2009. 
 
All levels of social benefits will also increase by the inflation rate over the life of the labour agreement. The ICEM considers the 2008-2009 Turkish rubber agreement a major achievement, considering wage and social benefit gains were stymied in the late 1990s and early years of this decade due to strike bans imposed by the Turkish government.
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Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan
&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t make any concessions, we preserved our contractual and work-rule provisions, and we posted substantial economic gains,&rdquo; stated Lastik-İş President Abdullah Karacan. &ldquo;The decisiveness of our union members at these four factories was effective and ultimately proved successful in bargaining.&rdquo; 
 
The four tyre plants, which saw workers return to work at 16h00 on 14 June, include: two of US-based Goodyear in Izmit and Adapazari, and one each operated by Bridgestone Brisa Sabanci, a joint venture between Japan-based Bridgestone and the Turkish Sabanci Group, and by Italian-based Pirelli. Both of the latter two are located in the city of Izmit.

Turkey’s 14-Day Rubber Strike Ends with 14% First year Wage Gain

The ICEM, the Global Union Federation representing workers in the Mining and Energy sectors, has expressed deep concern over the mine tragedy in the central Donbass region of the Ukraine that occurred yesterday. The Geneva-based federation of trade unions understands the Karl Marx mine near Yenakiyevo to be a low producer of coal and questions whether necessary safety and methane-detection equipment were in place at the time of the blast. 
 
The ICEM has reached out to one of its mining union affilates in the country, the Coal Mining Workers&rsquo; Union of Ukraine (PRUPU), whose members work this particularly mine. The mine produces a low-yield tonnage of coal each day and has a steep gradient of coal veins, which could enhance safety risks if proper safeguards are not met. 
 
&ldquo;We understand this particular mine is barely economically viable, and we question why this mine was even operating,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;Certainly any mining operation that produces coal in Ukraine should and must have proper methane detection devices and other modern safety equipment in place,&rdquo; he added.
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This is the second major mine tragedy to have occurred in the Ukraine in the past seven months, and the ICEM calls on the government of the country to take immediate steps toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
In the ICEM letter to PRUPU today, the Global Union Federation expressed condolences to the families of miners who have died and extended &ldquo;our greatest hope that rescue efforts will succeed for those who might still be alive inside the mine. 
 
&ldquo;The 20-million-member ICEM stands behind PRUPU in calling on the new Minister of Coal and other Ukrainian authorities to conduct a full investigation of this tragedy.&rdquo; 
 
The Geneva-based International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (ICEM) represents, on a global level, 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, including some 125 national unions in the mining sector.

ICEM Expresses Concern over Latest Ukrainian Coal Mine Blast

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An estimated 80% of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) 1.8 million members participated in a national strike on 6 August, protesting rampant inflation. The day-long strike marked the culmination in a series of four work stoppages calling for relief to rising electric and food costs. COSATU also issued a stern demand for a decent living wage to counter a June inflation rate that hit 12.2%. 

In the South African capital of Pretoria last week, 30,000 trade unionists marched on a government building while the cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki was meeting inside. In Cape Town, another 40,000 staged a four-hour march.
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&nbsp; 

Across South Africa, some 18 pockets of mass strike activity and protests took place. Nearly all the major mining houses were forced to cease operations because miners heeded their union&rsquo;s call to stop work, and three auto assembly plants were also shut by striking workers. 

The nation&rsquo;s workers and consumers demanded a roll back of a government-imposed 27.5% tariff increase in July atop already high electricity costs from state-owned utility Eskom. They also vowed to resist another two-cent-per-kilowatt increase due in September. 

They also protested a hike to food prices totaling 17% in recent months, interest rates that just broke the 20% mark, and fuel prices that rose a full 35% from 2007 to 2008. 

The first national strike called by COSATU this year happened on 9 July. The national labour centre followed that up with strikes on 16 July, targeting the provinces of Kwazulu Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalange, Free State, and Northern Cape. On 23 July, the day-long stay-aways expanded to Gauteng, Eastern Cape, North West, and Limpopo provinces.
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&nbsp;NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 

The 320,000-member National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), COSATU&rsquo;s largest affiliate, fully endorsed the walk-outs. NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said fuel costs alone have made it prohibitive for many miners to travel from worksites to their homes to visit families when they are not working. 

&ldquo;We need to send a very strong message that the poor of our society are deeply affected&rdquo; by this current economic crisis, said Baleni. &ldquo;Electricity, food, and everything else is quickly becoming beyond reach.&rdquo;

South African Unions Conduct Wave of National Strikes, Protesting Energy, Food Costs

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Strategic, year-long pressure by the Pulp and Paper Workers&rsquo; Branch of Australian ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) appears to have severed a supply contract between retail grocery chain Woolworths and Indonesian-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). The supply arrangement was for kitchen towels and tissue products. 

The pressure, countering Woolworth&rsquo;s environmental claim on packaging of its Select private-label towel and tissue products, came to a head last week when Woolworths announced it had &ldquo;concluded its contract commitments for the supply of Select paper products.&rdquo; 
The CFMEU is now looking for Australia&rsquo;s largest retailer to tell the country&rsquo;s consumers that it will, in fact, rely only on paper producers that adhere to sustainable forest practices. 

&ldquo;If Woolworths has finally decided to do the right thing, they need to show us by a clear and unequivocal statement they will never go back to APP,&rdquo; said CFMEU&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Secretary Alex Millar. They must now prove &ldquo;they will source their product from Australia and support Australian jobs the way they expect Australian consumers to support them.&rdquo; 
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The CFMEU campaign focused on a Woolworths packaging claim that its Select products were sourced from an &ldquo;environmentally managed company.&rdquo; In fact, Indonesia&rsquo;s Centre for International Forestry Research in 2007 found that APP relies on 60-70% of its wood fibre from clearing first-growth, protected forests in Sumatra. And much of that is by using illegal logging practices. 

The campaign then discovered that many Select products are made in APP&rsquo;s Chinese mills, where much of the wood fibre used is also derived through illegal means. 

After CFMEU appeals to Woolworths shareholders, most notably in November 2007, the retail chain pulled the Select brands from its shelves. But a few weeks later, those brands were back on the retail market, but without the environmental friendly claim. 

Millar says the CFMEU will now recommend to Woolworths paper-producing companies inside Australia which use proven, sustainable fibre sourcing in paper manufacturing.

CFMEU Forces Woolworths Hand on Sustainable Forest Products

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Rubber workers of Kiyan Tyre in Chahardangeh, Iran, continued their protests last week over wage arrears. Some 600 workers of the factory began striking on 16 July and the protests escalated last week when strikers began setting portions of the factory on fire. 
 
Shouting anti-government slogans on 22 July outside a management building in Chahardangeh, a western suburb of Tehran, workers threatened to bring their next protest to Iran&rsquo;s Majlis, or Parliament.
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&nbsp; 
On 12 April, 1,000 workers at Iran&rsquo;s biggest rubber plant took job actions because their wages had not been paid in five months. Then, the repressive State Security Force ran bulldozers into the protestors, and arrested all 1,000 using electric batons. Most were held for 36 hours, while some 100 strike leaders were held longer. They were finally freed, but as a condition for release, the workplace leaders were forced to sign statements that they would not protest again. 
 
The more recent protests are against a hand-picked management team which reportedly is under-paying wages, or denying payment altogether. Kiyan, formerly called Alborz Tyre Mfg. Co., was established in 1958 as a joint venture with the American company B.F. Goodrich Co. In 1979, it became part of state-owned National Iranian Industries, before being sold to private Iranian investors in 1994.

Tyre Manufacturing Workers in Iran Again Strike Kiyan

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At the Fifth Meeting of the Brazilian national network of trade unions at Dutch-based Akzo Nobel plants from 15-17 July in S&atilde;o Paulo, union representatives from British-based ICI chemical facilities joined the network. Akzo Nobel recently acquired ICI. 
 
The expansion of the network is expected to further the links of solidarity between workers of the two companies in Brazil. 
 
The 25 union representatives present came from plants located in Recife, Santo Andr&eacute;, Mau&aacute;, S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo, Jundia&iacute;, Itupeva, S&atilde;o Roque, S&atilde;o Paulo, Bahia, Guarulhos, and Rio de Janeiro. 
 
The network meeting opened with a presentation by the Brazilian national centre CUT on a multinational project surrounding the ABC Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union&rsquo;s Project of Life programme. That deals with the demands of life, health, and work, and introduces actions to ensure a better work environment. 
 
The coordinator of the network, Sergio Carrasso, then delivered a report on activities of the network since its inception in 2003. That was followed by the results of a survey done by the Social Observatory Network on working conditions at Akzo Nobel.
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&nbsp; 
The survey reflects a positive outcome through collective negotiations, with workers of Akzo Nobel in Brazil managing to establish better social dialogue practices in which civil rights have been guaranteed and wage differentials bridged. 
 
ICI trade unionists attending made a presentation on their individual plants, including numbers of workers, length of work days, discrimination problems, and social dialogue and corporate social responsibility experiences. 
 
The mid-July network meetings also served as preparation for the Third National Social Dialogue forum of Brazilian unions with Akzo Nobel. The network meeting concluded with a visit to the S&atilde;o Bernardo do Campo plant. 
 
Akzo Nobel workers pledged to continue seeking contacts with workers of the company in Mexico and The Netherlands.

Brazilian Akzo Nobel Workers’ Network Brings in ICI Plants for Effective Solidarity

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&nbsp;The ICEM lodged a stern protest with the government of Turkey following excessive police force to quell a peaceful protest by ICEM affiliate Belediye-İş, the Municipal and General Workers&rsquo; Union. Due to stalled negotiations on behalf of 10,000 union members at different segments of the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality, the union issued a 60-day strike notice in mid-July. 
 
On 17 July, 2,000 Belediye-İş members, along with officials of the union, marched to an administrative building of the municipality to hang a banner announcing their legal strike. They were immediately repelled by police, using pepper spray and pressurized water cannons. 
 
The police force was a reminder of the force used on 1 May this year when trade unionists attempted to lay flowers at Istanbul&rsquo;s Taksim Square in memorial to the 37 comrades killed there by government forces on 1 May 1977.
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Police Water Cannons Impede Peaceful&nbsp;Belediye-İş March on 17 July 

&ldquo;The attitude taken by police against peaceful demonstrators reinforces the impression and opinion worldwide on your government&rsquo;s pursuit against (workers&rsquo; rights),&rdquo; wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 
 
&ldquo;Although Turkey has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98, we understand that neither in law or in daily life can these standards be freely exercised.&rdquo; 
 
The strike notice was issued because the Istanbul Metropolitan Muncipality has closed the door on negotiations after offering only an 8% increase. Belediye-İş is seeking a 40% increase. According to the union, daily consumer costs have rapidly escalated beyond the high inflation rate in Turkey, with water and transportation increases nearing the 35% mark.

ICEM Protests Police Force to Break up Belediye-İş Strike Call in Turkey

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