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On 21 November, over 900 New Zealand miners, members of the Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) at four Solid Energy mines, dropped their strikes and returned to work following stoppages that lasted as long as 26 days. They quit the strikes in order to start good faith bargaining efforts toward a new labour accord with the state-owned company and its mining contractors. 
 
Talks between EPMU and management parties began later that day. But those talks aimed at ending an eight-month impasse failed and over the past week, one by one, collieries staffed by EPMU miners have taken votes to resume the strikes. 
 
At issue are changes in shift rotations without adequate compensation, as well as an across-the-board national pay proposal by Solid Energy and its contractors amounting to 2% for 2010 and 3% in 2011. The offer also includes a one-off NZ$2,000 bonus, based on the company&rsquo;s record 2008 profits. 

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The proposed pay package is inadequate, but EPMU members are particularly dissatisfied with the terms attached to the roster changes and increased work hours. At some mines, production workers are being asked to work ten hours per day, while maintenance workers are being asked to work 12-hour shifts. 
 
As was the case in late October, industry actions last week began on the North Island. The 120 miners at the Huntly East colliery near Rotowaro went on strike first. And despite staff of mining contractor HWE Mining Ltd. at the Rotowaro open pit mine accepting the proposal, a strike there continued in sympathy with the Huntly East miners. 
 
On 26 November, 500 EPMU miners at the Stockton mine on the South Island voted to strike. That work stoppage was expected to start over the weekend. Workers at the Spring Creek mine at the South Island will vote this week on whether or not to strike. 
 
The labour dispute has become deeply pitched, partly due to management&rsquo;s public posturing and statements denigrating the EPMU, but mostly due to coal deposits at Rotowaro nearing exhaustion and Solid Energy and RWE Mining seeking heightened production with longer work hours. That has caused the sympathy strikes at the other mines, a credit to the solidarity of EPMU miners. But as well, all unionized miners of Solid Energy have been without current labour agreements since 30 March 2009.

Strikes Resume at New Zealand’s State-Run Solid Energy Mines

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The campaign for preservation of coal mining jobs at Xstrata operations in New South Wales by the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) in Australia intensified late last week when miners took protected strike action at the Tahmoor mine. 
 
In late July, Swiss and London-based Xstrata said it was cutting 158 of 493 jobs at Tahmoor, a mine producing coking coal, and another 122 jobs &ndash; or 20% of the permanent workforce &ndash; at its Ulan mine. 

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Last Friday, CFMEU took strike action at Tahmoor over the job redundancies and demanding that safety standards be upheld. Miners took four-hour work stoppages on 28 and 29 November, and the CFMEU is enforcing overtime bans and not loading coal onto trains. The legal industrial actions began over the weekend of 21-22 November when miners struck for two hours. If management is not willing to negotiate by today, a 24-hour work stoppage will take place this week. 
 
In a statement, CFMEU said, &ldquo;All we are asking from Xstrata is a deal that protects job security and maintains safety standards at Tahmoor mine. Tahmoor mineworkers work long and hard to deliver Xstrata their healthy profits each year, with the company taking more than A$924 million from its Australian coalmines such as Tahmoor&rdquo; in 2008. 

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In early September, 500 residents of the town of Mudgee, New South Wales, marched there in protest to the redundancies at the nearby Ulan mine. CFMEU fears Xstrata&rsquo;s overall goal is to reduce its permanent workforce and replace it with contractors. 
 
Xstrata bought the Tahmoor mine in 2007 from Centennial Coal, while it acquired majority control of Ulan in 2002 and now has a 90% stake in that mine, with Mitsubishi Development Corp. of Japan holding the remainder 10%.

CFMEU Begins Industrial Actions at Xstrata’s Coal Mines in Australia

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Through a series of meetings in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 21 to 24 November, ICEM affiliated unions in Brazil explored the possibilities of engaging in (much) more social dialogue in their country. The meetings came at the end of a sequence of activities, organised this year as part of the ICEM Brazilian social dialogue project, which is funded by SASK Finland and LO-TCO Sweden, and supported, including through active participation in the meetings last week, by ICEM affiliates in these countries (IFMetall and Pappers from Sweden, and Kemianliitto and Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni from Finland). 

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As a way of dealing with labour relations, social dialogue is not very well developed at all in the ICEM sectors in Brazil, and even that may be an understatement. That said, going over the potential advantages of having a regular union-company dialogue outside of the bargaining period, all participants, including from the employers&rsquo; side (with employer representatives present from Petrobras, Braskem and Akzo Nobel), voiced support for the initiative to be explored further. Currently, in the often rather confrontational Brazilian union-employer relations, unions and companies tend to only schedule discussions at the time of the yearly collective bargaining negotiation sessions. 
 
During the one-day joint employers-unions conference on 23 November, where &ldquo;sustainable development&rdquo; was the leading theme, there was general agreement that it would be to the advantage of both parties to sit down around the table on a regular basis and discuss specific issues. These &ldquo;social dialogue topics&rdquo; would, certainly in the earlier phases of the dialogue processes, mainly include the lesser antagonistic priorities, i.e. those where both employers and unions would have a similar interest, ranging from such issues as health and safety or sustainability over the problems of young or women workers to the issue of social dialogue itself. At the same time, all parties also agreed that it may take a bit of time before there is enough trust for this dialogue to deliver spectacular results. 
 
One particular suggestion that is going to be followed up on by the unions in Brazil is to see if more companies - many of whom did show an interest, but were not present at the meeting for various reasons - can be brought into a regular dialogue via existing Brazilian employers&rsquo; organisations. 

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Elias Pintado and Sergio Novais
Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President for Latin America, ran the meeting, together with Elias Pintado, Coordinator of the Brazil Social Dialogue project.

Promising Potential for Social Dialogue in Brazil

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The Third Congress of Sindicato Nacional dos Papeleiros (SINAP), the ICEM pulp and paper union affiliate that is part of CNQ/CUT in Brazil, made great strides on gender equity over the weekend, including passage of a host of resolutions that clearly marks this union as the trend-setter in Latin America regarding involvement of women in all aspects of national and local branch work. 
 
Some 132 delegates from 20 local branches attended the benchmarking Congress, held in S&atilde;o Sebasti&atilde;o, S&atilde;o Paulo state, from 26-29 November. The Congress also saw a changing of the guard, with SINAP founder and President Iduigues Martins stepping down due to term limits and bring replaced by Carlos Monteiro, SINAP&rsquo;s international officer who has led a union branch in Bahia state. 

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New SINAP President Carlos Monteiro speaks to Congress. At right, Outgoing President Iduigues Martins 
Martins has provided the union with steady and reliable leadership for the better part of ten years, growing the union with assistance from pulp and paper unions in Canada, Sweden, and Finland. He will remain on the Executive Committee of the union. 
 
The Congress elected &ldquo;Caco&rdquo; Claudecir Lopes Vargas to serve as Vice President. He is from the local branch of SINAP workers at Otacilio Costa in Santa Catalina state. 
 
But the story of the Congress was the progressive corner turned mandating enhanced and immediate gender equity inside the union. The Congress passed no fewer than seven resolutions mandating such, including one motion that called for SINAP to strive for at least 30% women involvement in all structures, both national and local branches. 

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Women's rights Won the Day 
The Congress created a national gender committee, to be composed of one woman from each of the SINAP&rsquo;s 20 branches. A resolution was enacted mandating that women would serve on local branch bargaining committees. 
 
Another called for a fight for more community maternity centres and day-care facilities for children. And yet another called on the publication of a gender primer for use inside SINAP, as well changes in all union print and statutory materials to make then gender neutral. 
 
Of further significance, and again a milestone for any Latin-based trade union, the committee&rsquo;s name that brought forward these motions was called the &ldquo;Gender and LGBT Committee,&rdquo; or lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual. 

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Finnish Paperiliitto President Jouko Ahonen 
Perhaps the most emotionally debated resolution came on the Congress&rsquo;s final day, yesterday, 29 November. That was a motion for SINAP not to endorse racial quotas in Brazilian society. The motion was narrowly defeated, thus putting the union firmly on record in support of racial equality in Brazil. 
 
The SINAP Congress also moved to create a minimum national wage for paperworkers in the country. 
 
SINAP&rsquo;s Third Congress was attended by several international guests, who pledged their continued support and solidarity, including Jouko Ahonen, President of Paperiliitto of Finland and chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector; Dave Coles, President of the Canadian Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers (CEP) Union, and Joe Gargiso, Administrative Vice President of CEP from Quebec; Walter Silva, President of the CUOPyC Pulp and Paper Federation of Uruguay; Patrick Bauret of French CGT-FILPAC; and Mikke Sterbeck of Pappers Union in Sweden.

SINAP Congress in Brazil Charts New Path with Gender Initiatives

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China&rsquo;s deadliest coal mine disaster in two years occurred in the early morning hours of 21 November when 108 miners died deep in shafts at the state-run Xinxing mine in Hegang City, located in northeastern Heilongjiang. 
 
Considered one of China&rsquo;s most up-to-date and safety advanced collieries, the miners perished after alarms went off indicating high methane gas levels. Some 80 minutes later, an explosion occurred. China&rsquo;s State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) initially blamed lack of timely evacuation, poor ventilation in several mine shafts, and over-crowding as cause. 
 
A total of 528 miners were working the 1.45 million metric-tonne-per-year mine at the time of the blast. A maze of shafts extend some three to four kilometers underground and several kilometers horizontally and is thought to be too vast and extensive to support the existing and modern ventilation system. 

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The gas density levels inside Xinxing when the explosion happened at 02h30 on 21 November registered five times the levels in which miners are expected to be evacuated. 
 
The state-owned Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Company began paying compensation of 342,000 yuan (US$50,000) in immediate and long-term compensation to the victims&rsquo; families. In addition, the All Chine Federation of Labour (ACFTU) allocated one million yuan (US$148,000) in emergency relief for injured workers and families of victims, while local branches of the ACFTU have also pledged smaller amounts. 
 
At a meeting with the ICEM a day before the Xinxing explosion in Geneva, ACFTU International Department Deputy Director Xu Hu said the high number of coal-mining accidents in China is an issue that &ldquo;troubles us the most.&rdquo; He said the labour confederation, together with SAWS and other agencies have put pilot safety projects in place province by province at smaller mines, and China has taken some private enterprise mines into state hands. 
 
By Chinese standards, Xinxing is one of the biggest mines. It has over 100 tunnels and 30 mining platforms and on a normal work day, employs some 3,000 miners underground.

108 Coal Miners Dead in China’s Northern Heilongjiang Province

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A new three-year labour contract was achieved for 470 Kimberly-Clark paperworkers at the Millicent, Australia, paper mill and Tantanoola pulp mill on 20 November. Union members of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU), Pulp and Paper Division, ratified the accord with 82% approval, granting proof that a positive labour-management relationship can benefit workers in tough economic times. 
 
The renewal agreement provides wage gains of 2.5%, 2.5%, and 4.5%, with the first year&rsquo;s increase paid in back wages to 1 July 2009. 
 
CFMEU&rsquo;s Millicent Sub-Branch leaders used an excellent internal communications network to keep shop-floor workers informed on all details stemming from ten bargaining sessions dating back to mid-year, the date when draconian Australian individual work agreements (AWAs) expired and enterprise or collective agreements again became the official policy of the government of Australia.. 

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At left, CFMEU Sub-Branch Secretary Kevin Millie, Mill Manager Scott Whicker, and CFMEU Pulp/Paper Federal Secretary Alex Millar 
Branch Secretary Kevin Millie said the AWAs were never a concern in the lead-up to this year&rsquo;s bargain, since Kimberly-Clark local management never had attempted to impose individual work agreements during the latter period of Conservative John Howard&rsquo;s government. &ldquo;We kept our members in the loop and that helped us get the agreement we got,&rdquo; said Millie. 
 
He added that sub-branch leaders issued communiqu&eacute;s after each session and that when management proposed a two-year agreement at 2.5% for each of the years, the committee to workers&rsquo; networking produced a massive turnout at a union meeting, thus squelching that proposal and sending the message that workers expect more. 
 
&ldquo;This is a win,&rdquo; said Millicent Sub-Branch President Trevor Sinclair. &ldquo;We maintained our terms and conditions and built on them in some areas.&rdquo; 
 
The CFMEU gained flexibility on long-service leave, allowing workers to take such time off in smaller blocks instead of the prior and required month at a time period. They also achieved wage guarantees on career-path transfers so workers will never receive less, and got written language that Kimberly-Clark will give formal reports on all temporary work performed inside the mills. 

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CFMEU members at Millicent during 20 November ratification meeting 
In compromises to the company, the union agreed to a total on-site ban on smoking, ahead of South Australia state law due to take effect, and agreed to the mandatory wearing of Kimberly-Clark work uniforms. 
 
CFMEU has had a good labour-management relationship at Millicent and Tantanoola, and with general manager Scott Whicker. Workers and managers have worked jointly and hard to deal with high energy costs. They have also dealt together on market pressures on paper towel and tissue manufacturing, including imports and tight domestic profit margins due to only two major Australian major chains that control retailing. 
 
That jointness began in 2002 when the CFMEU Sub-Branch and Millicent management signed a memorandum of agreement, giving the go-ahead for the board of directors of the American-based company to make an A$300 investment at Millicent. That capitalization gave the mill Paper Machine No. 5. In return, the union agreed to transform to skills-based career paths and operator/maintenance duties on paper production equipment. 
 
&ldquo;The magnitude of that investment has become apparent in the years since,&rdquo; said Sinclair. &ldquo;Workers here are confident that Kimberly-Clark is committed to a future at Millicent and that has only enhanced our positive relationship.&rdquo; (Millicent now operates with four paper machines and eight converting lines.) 
 
In other CFMEU bargaining news related to the paper sector, at SCA&rsquo;s Sancella feminine hygiene plant in Springvale, Victoria, near Melbourne, union members will vote on a new three-year labour contract later this week The tentative accord, also backdated to the summer, contains a wage package with 3.5%, 3.5%, and 3.5% wage increases. At SCA&rsquo;s Box Hill towel and tissue mill, where 250 CFMEU members have been covered by an enterprise agreement, that contract comes due in March 2010.

Australia’s CFMEU Pulp, Paper Division Makes Gains with Kimberly-Clark

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The US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on 20 November informed the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) that it would seek a rare federal court injunction against Covanta Energy over the waste-to-energy company&rsquo;s unfair labour practices against workers attempting to organize and collectively negotiate a labour agreement. 
 
In issuing the Section 10(j) injunction against Covanta under US labour code, the NLRB has determined that Covanta has committed serious labour law violations that cause real and immediate harm to workers. The NLRB invokes the rare procedural application of Section 10(j) only in cases considered egregious enough to warrant federal court intervention. 

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In May 2008, 140 workers at a Covanta solid waste plant in Rochester, Massachusetts, voted in an NLRB-conducted election to join ICEM-affiliated UWUA. Since, the UWUA and its Local 369 bargaining committee at Covanta have negotiated in good faith in hopes of achieving a first labour contract, but the company has frustrated that process. 
 
Earlier in 2009, the NLRB did issue unfair labour practice complaints against the company, including one charging Covanta with withholding scheduled salary and bonus payments to workers because they formed a union. 
 
An NLRB trial before an administrative labour law judge resumes today in the state of Massachusetts over that and other illegal workplace practices committed by the company. 
 
Publicly-listed Covanta generates electric energy from the burning of solid waste at some 40 US locations. As the company has attempted to expand its waste-to-energy businesses in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, and Canada, the ICEM has assisted the UWUA in illuminating Covanta&rsquo;s work rights violations, safety and health infractions, and certain environmental practices before communities and trade unions in those countries. 
 
For more information on the UWUA&rsquo;s Campaign for Justice at Covanta, visit <a href="http://www.cjcw.org">here</a>.

US Labour Board Issues Stern Injunctive Relief against Covanta

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The daily dangers continually faced by trade union officials and activists in Iraq were graphically demonstrated by the brutal murder 26 November 2009 of Majiid Karim, an executive member of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers. Brother Karim died when his car exploded. An improvised explosive device, believed to have been timed, had been attached to his car by as yet unknown individuals. 
 
The GFIW is the largest national trade union centre in Iraq, two of its affiliates covering workers in the Oil and Gas and Electric Power Industries are affiliated to ICEM. 

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Majiid Karim had been a key union official ignoring the anti-trade union legislation from the Saddam era and actively organizing workers in the public sector despite continued government attempts to use legislation 150 of 1987 to ban public sector workers from trade union membership. He was also a key figure in building unity among Iraqi workers and in the trade union movement. 
 
ICEM joins the GFIW in mourning their loss, as well as joining their demand that the Iraqi government and its security authorities conduct an urgent and thorough investigation to uncover the full circumstances of this appalling criminal act, and ensure that the guilty are brought to justice. 
 
We will keep you informed of the case as more information becomes available.

Iraqi Trade Unionist Murdered

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An important new law was enacted in the US state of Illinois on 6 August 2007, when the state&rsquo;s governor, Rod Blagojevich, signed into force a bar on construction companies falsely classifying workers as &ldquo;independent contractors.&rdquo; The new law in the midwestern state is seen as a harbinger for what could occur across the US nationally, considering the coming political ballots, and George Bush&rsquo;s mandatory departure. 
 
&ldquo;Misclassification of employees as independent contractors is one of the devices that greedy employers use to cheat workers out of their benefits,&rdquo; said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who joined Blagojevich and other proponents of the regulation at the 6 August signing ceremony. 
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AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
The measure, passed by the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives early in the year, had broad support, including labour and scores of legitimate construction companies. These firms, relying on skilled, generally unionised workers, have been left at a competitive disadvantage by unscrupulous employers, who deliberately mis-classify workers as contractors in order to reduce their operating costs. In Illinois, estimates say that such nefarious enterprises save an average of 24% in submitting bids on projects. 
The law in Illinois, introduced as the Employee Classification Act, presumes all workers are regular employees unless certain conditions exist, such as being a partner or sole proprietor, a specific business or profession, or providing a service outside of the usual course of business. The law, the fifth such statute among the US&rsquo;s 50 state laws, includes US$2,500 penalties on companies that deliberately misclassify construction workers. Repeat offenders can face felony charges. 
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A university study found Illinois losing an average of US$125.7 million annually in tax revenue over a five-year period in the early 2000s. Cut-rate employers avoid paying Social Security, workers&rsquo; compensation benefits, jobless relief, state and federal taxes, and other social costs. Sweeney stated that such tax revenue losses deprive governments of immediate funds that could address &ldquo;so many vital programs.&rdquo; 
 
The US Congress, in the House of Representatives, took up the independent contractor issue in hearings last March, but has yet to act on legislation that could update US labour code on this crucial workplace issue.

US Building Workers Win Ban on Contract Labour in Illinois State

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ICEM affiliate Unite and the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC) have jointly called on the UK&rsquo;s Health &amp; Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate Royal Dutch Shell&rsquo;s safety practices at five North Sea energy platforms. The installations are currently up for sale, and Unite and OILC say low morale, coupled with departures of key staff that are familiar with safety procedures, creates very risky conditions. 
 
The five platforms include Cormorant Alpha, Dunlin Alpha (CADA), Tern, Eider, and North Cormorant (TENC). Some 400 Shell workers are affected. 
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In early August, Shell experienced a blackout at its Brent Bravo rig in the North Sea, stranding 61 workers for 48 hours. Shell said it did not want to risk a rescue at night, but the company faced questions on its slow response time in rescue. In 2003, a gas leak on the same rig killed two workers. Now, with key personnel leaving five other Shell rigs, safety again is a major issue. 
 
&ldquo;Many platform areas are now not covered by trained and competent people and certain HSE safety critical roles are not fully supported,&rdquo; Unite said in a joint statement. &ldquo;The gaps in these safety-critical positions could be so severe that, in the event of an emergency, staff may be unable to cope.&rdquo; 
 
Unite said such conditions are leading to a breakdown in communications between Shell and its workers, and it is affecting morale. 
 
Upstream publication reported last week that claims reveal safety deficiencies in control room operations, shift supervisors, and technical capacities regarding instrumentation and electrical. &ldquo;It is reported that on some platforms there is now a lack of suitable trained fire team leaders,&rdquo; reported the oil and gas trade weekly. 
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Meanwhile, separately, the head of the HSE&rsquo;s Offshore Division, Ian Whewell, delivered a stark address to industry leaders at an Offshore Europe forum in Aberdeen. He called it unfortunate that offshore companies consider it a regulatory nuisance to comply with safety standards. 
He also fully endorsed worker involvement in safety, and his comment on participation counters the reality now occurring at Shell: &ldquo;The commitment of many in the offshore workforce is undoubted, but HSE believes that unless the workforce is encouraged to actively participate, the industry is missing a key opportunity.&rdquo; 
 
ExxonMobil&rsquo;s Esso division also announced in June 2007 that it would divest in North Sea production facilities.

Shell’s Redundancies Causing Safety Deficiencies on North Sea Platforms

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