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A study conducted by a Stanford University Law School professor reveals that there are significantly fewer fatalities and injuries in underground unionized coal mines in the US than in non-union ones. Alison Morantz examined coal mine safety statistics between 1993 and 2008 and found that traumatic injuries in unionized mines were from 17-33% fewer than in non-union mines, and the rate of fatalities ranged from 33-72% less. 
 
Of specific note, Professor Morantz found that the non-traumatic injury rate in US coal mining is higher and she suggested that is because injury reporting practices are more common in union mines than non-union mines. 
 
During the 15-year period that was studied, there was a decrease in the number of mine-related injuries per hours worked, although the number of traumatic injuries has remained relatively level. During the same period, the rate of unionization in US mining dropped from 21% in 1993 to 10% in 2008. 
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UMWA President Cecil Roberts 

Morantz used numbers pegged to per man-year, or the average time worked in a year. She found that there are .037 traumatic injuries per man-year at union mines, and .047 at non-union mines. Regarding fatalities, the rate is .0003 per man-year at unionized mines and .0006 at non-union mines. The aggregate injury rate, reflecting better reporting at union mines, is .126 at union mines and .115 at non-union ones. 
 
Morantz concluded of her finding that there is &ldquo;a strong presumption that a union safety effects exists in US coal mining.&rdquo; 
 
The study parallels the exemplary work that ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has done over the past decades regarding safety and health in mines, including getting the US government to ratify ILO Convention 176 in the late 1990s. The UMWA has institutionalised comprehensive safety programmes and advanced training for on-the-job safety experts in its represented mines. 
 
&ldquo;Miners have long known that there is a union safety effect, as the study calls it,&quot; said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. &ldquo;Working in a union-represented mine, with the backing of our Local Union safety committees and our International Union safety experts, makes a huge difference. I am pleased to see that has been confirmed by a comprehensive, independent scientific study.&quot; 
 
Dr. Morantz&rsquo;s independent study was funded by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/110304MorantzCoalMineSafetyUnions.pdf">full study</a> can be accessed here.

In US, Unionised Coal Mines Far Safer, Study Discloses

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As a policy from ICEM&rsquo;s 2007 Congress in Bangkok, meaningful social dialogue with employers at global level is intended to build trust, understanding, and the search for a climate to conduct joint actions and initiatives. In this framework, the action plan by ICEM&rsquo;s World Conference for the Chemical Industries last year instructed the Secretariat to continue to wage efforts to develop social dialogue forums with global employers&rsquo; organisations. 
 
This included to organisation of a special event with the chemical industry employers in a short time frame. 
 
With this, the ICEM and the International Chemical Employers&rsquo; Labour Relations Committee (LRC) jointly organized a first &ldquo;Global Social Dialogue Meeting in the Chemical Industry&rdquo; on 26 May in Geneva. The meeting was attended by more than 30 representatives from both LRC and ICEM, as well as union and employers&rsquo; representatives from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and UK. ILO Sector, ILO ACTEMP, and International Employers&rsquo; Organization (IOE) representatives were also present. 
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The meeting was co-chaired by Wolfgang Goos, President of LRC, and Tomas Nieber, Chairman of the ICEM Chemical Industries Sector. Both expressed their commitment to social dialogue at the outset. ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana stressed that political decisiveness for social dialogue initiatives in the chemical industry is one of the best examples of this commitment. Lutz M&uuml;hl, LRC General Secretary, and Manfred Warda, ICEM General Secretary, presented structures and major priorities of their respective organisations at the meeting. 
 
Both ICEM and LRC consider ILO platforms and meetings as important instruments for developing social dialogue. The meeting received a detailed report from Yasuhiko Kamakura of ILO Sector on agenda, technical details, and preparations for forthcoming ILO meetings in the chemical industry. The ILO will be organizing a Tripartite Meeting on Promoting Social Dialogue on Restructuring and its Effects on Employment in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries in Geneva on 24-27 October 2011, and a Global Dialogue Forum on initiatives to promote decent and productive work in chemicals, which will be held in Geneva in 2012-2013. The 26 May meeting fully supported ILO meetings on developing social dialogue in the industry. 
 
Participants discussed cooperation framework, principal topics, and follow-up for developing global social dialogue in the chemical industry. The meeting also took up the globally celebrated &ldquo;International Year of Chemistry &ndash; 2011&rdquo; with a role and contribution in social dialogue. Following deliberations, the meeting agreed to release a joint ICEM and LRC statement called the &ldquo;<a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/lrc%20joint%20declaration.pdf">Geneva Declaration</a>.&rdquo;&nbsp; 
 
Kemal &Ouml;zkan, ICEM&rsquo;s Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs, and the Chemical and Rubber Industries&rsquo; Officer, underlined ICEM&rsquo;s commitment for social dialogue: &ldquo;The industry has a long-standing culture of social dialogue in major chemical-producing countries. Our duty as social partners at global level is to do our best to strongly follow-up the initiative which we established at this meeting.&rdquo;

ICEM, Chemical Employers Begin Global Level Social Dialogue Process

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The ICEM Turkish affiliate &Ccedil;IMSE-İş, the Cement, Ceramics, Pottery and Glass Industry Workers&rsquo; Union, decided at its presidential committee meeting on 2 June to call strikes at 45 cement factories. The decision, occurring in Ankara, comes after disagreement in cement sector collective bargaining negotiations. 
 
The bargaining has hit an impasse, blocking achievement of a new collective agreement. The union and the Cement Industry Employers&rsquo; Federation (CEIS) have been negotiating since 7 January. Bargaining in January and February did reach consensus on some 40 provisions on normative regulations. 

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&Ccedil;IMSE-İş President Zekeriye Nazlım 

But in the months since, no further progress has been made. &Ccedil;IMSE-İş decided to call a walkout on the entire industry at last week&rsquo;s meeting of the presidential committee, composed of the union&rsquo;s Executive Committee members and branch chairmen. The committee decided to take the necessary preparations for strike actions without delay. 
 
Some 5,800 union members are employed at the 45 cement plants. 
 
According to the Strike and Lock-out Law, &Ccedil;IMSE-İş can lawfully strike within a 60-day period after announcing the strike. The union will soon determine the exact day to start the strike.

ÇIMSE-İş Calls for Strike Actions at 45 Turkish Cement Plants

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ICEM and the Building &amp; Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) are actively continuing the campaign of the Indian Cement Workers Federation (INCWF) for equal rights, better conditions, and higher salaries for contract workers at Swiss-based cement multinational Holcim. Union busting and police harassment were increased at Holcim-India over the last two weeks, and a worker rally at the Labour Ministry was organized in response. 
 
The renewed worker anger was sparked by an incident on 19 May with the arrest Bhagwati Sahu, who was falsely accused of stealing Rs. 3,500 and a mobile phone. Brother Sahu is a trade union organizer for contract workers at the Holcim-Ambuja plant in Rawaan. 
 
Claims of police complicity with the company were compounded when the local police opposed bail and spuriously calling Sahu a &ldquo;habitual offender, dangerous, and a threat to law and order.&rdquo; Numerous witnesses came forward to testify that Bhagwati was elsewhere at the time of the incident. Lakhan Sahu, a fellow union activist, was also charged with the same crime. He was attending a family funeral in Raipur, a one-day drive south of Rawaan. 

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The fake charges, intended to break the union organising of contractors at Holcim, also targeted six other union activists. 
 
Join the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN">campaign</a> yourself by sending a message to the Holcim CEO via the BWI website here. 
 
INCWF, an affiliate of both the ICEM and BWI, has conducted a long-running campaign calling for equal rights for contract workers, as stipulated under Indian law. Holcim-India continuously neglects this legislation, specifically at its subsidiaries of ACC in Bhilai and Ambuja Cement in Baloda Bazar. 
 
On 26 May, 250 contract workers reached Raipur to meet the Labour Ministry and Labour Secretary to demand the implementation of the High Court order directing regularization, and the withdrawal of the false cases against their union leaders. Both the minister and secretary avoided meeting the workers though their subordinates made &ldquo;assurances&rdquo; of looking into the workers&rsquo; grievances. 
 
The BWI, ICEM, and Swiss trade union UNIA are planning to send a delegation to India to investigate the grievances. 
 
Holcim is the second largest producer of cement in the world. An average salary for Indian contract workers of US$2.17 a day and India&rsquo;s large quantities of limestone are reasons why Holcim has shifted production to the Asian sub-continent from countries such as Spain and the US.

Holcim, India’s Police Team to Resist Contract Worker Organising

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Four French unions, led by the CGT and the CFDT, carried out four-hour strikes at Lafarge cement plants today, 6 June, in protest to the company&rsquo;s intended plans to shut its Frangey cement facility near L&eacute;zinnes, L&rsquo;Yonne province, some 170 kilometres southeast of Paris. Workers began blocking trucks this morning at the Frangey plant and work stoppages were occurring at other French Lafarge sites in support of the 74 workers who could lose their jobs. 
 
Besides CGT and CFDT, FO and CFTC endorsed the industrial actions at some 11 Lafarge plants in France. The CGT and CFDT are the unions with membership at the Frangey plant. 
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Lafarge announced on 25 May at an extraordinary Works Council meeting that it would close the plant in three stages between now and the end of 2012. However, the initial redundancies &ndash; expected in August &ndash; will likely reduce employment to only 20. The company used over capacity and the small market that the plant serves as reasons for closure. 
 
Lafarge also said environmental factors were part of the decision, although the facility has received environmental certification. The Frangey plant produces 300,000 tons of cement annually and a system of cogeneration covers 50% of the plant&rsquo;s energy needs. 
 
The company said workers would be offered a chance to transfer to other Lafarge facilities. CGT delegate Jean-Claude Rives said the decision is unjustified because the plant provides a major benefit both in wages and in cement production to the L&rsquo;Yonne department. 
 
Twenty contractors also work at Frangey and they likely will lose their jobs. The French unions left open the possibility that further job actions would occur to protest the announced closure.

French Unions Conduct 4-Hour Strike at Lafarge Today

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Mansour Osanloo, the leader and co-founder of Vahed Syndicate, a union of bus drivers in and around Tehran, Iran, was released from an Iranian jail on 2 June after four years imprisonment. But his freedom came conditionally. He needed to post payment of a bond and release was granted on grounds that he maintain &ldquo;good behaviour.&rdquo; 
 
His only offence against the state was to form a free and democratic union of bus drivers in 2005. 
 
In a statement by the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), which has been fighting for his freedom and full recognition of his union, General Secretary David Cockroft said, &ldquo;He is free because trade unions worldwide demanded justice. 
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&ldquo;That bail has been set falls short of the full pardon we all wanted, and which the Iranian government promised, but for now we can just take a moment to savour his richly deserved return to his family.&rdquo; (See the full <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/6047">ITF statement</a> here.)&nbsp; 
 
The ITF reminded that two of Osanloo&rsquo;s colleagues of the Vahed Syndicate, Reza Shahabi and Ebrahim Madadi, are innocent victims still locked inside Iran&rsquo;s prisons. 
 
Vahed Syndicate and Osanloo, 51, had been under heavy state repression since the founding of the union six years ago. Osanloo had been jailed twice between 2005-2006 and was beaten and had his tongue slit while in prison. Then in early summer 2007, just a month after he had been at a meeting of the ITF in London and another with trade union leaders of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Brussels, he was jailed again and sentenced to five years for &ldquo;acting against national security&rdquo; and &ldquo;propaganda against the state.&rdquo; Last year, another year was added to his sentence. 
 
Osanloo is suffering from poor health from the harsh treatment inflicted on him in Iran&rsquo;s prisons. A previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2439--�Dirty-Tricks-Imposed-by-Iranian-Government-over-Imprisonment-of-Mansour-Osanloo ">ICEM report</a> on his treatment can be found here, while <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2327-Iran-Again-Arrests-Mansour-Osanloo-Following-His-European-Labour-Visits ">another ICEM report</a> of his 2007 arrest following his European trade union visit can be found here.

After Four Years, Mansour Osanloo Released from Iran Jail

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Ammattiliitto Pro, ICEM&rsquo;s salaried workers&rsquo; trade union affiliate in Finland, is asking that white-collar workers at several paper companies not take on extra work in the coming weeks. The union seeks such global unity as it begins its third wave of lawful strikes next week, and continues ones tomorrow against the intransigent employers of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
The request also comes after government conciliator Esa Lonka today was unable to shape a compromise proposal because of FFIF intransigence in official mediation in Finland. It was the third consecutive week that employers failed to resolve a downward spiralling labour dispute by not recognising the unfair job demands on 4,000 clerical, technical, and front-line supervisory personnel. 
 
Because of redundancies and speed-ups over the past several years in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, Pro members are asked to work more without adequate compensation, or without recognition of higher job competencies. 
 
In addition to an overtime ban across all pulp and paper companies, strikes that began on 26 April by 1,500 Pro members are continuing this week at Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, and Mets&auml; Tissue and a renewed strike will begin tomorrow by 1,000 salaried workers at UPM. 
 
That strike will begin at 06h00 on 4 May and run until 06h00 on 7 May. It is the second strike action against UPM &ndash; the first one running from 6-20 April &ndash; and production at UPM&rsquo;s six mills, as well at an administration centre in Tempere and an export facility at the port of Kotka will again be affected. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro expects employers to try to break the strike by bringing in replacement workers, moving administrative work elsewhere, and to continue to bully Pro members in order to get them to ignore the overtime ban and strike actions. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands">ICEM report</a> here.) 
 
&ldquo;Pro appeals for solidarity from workers of UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, and Sappi in other countries not to perform any extra work of the type covered by the strikes, as the companies seek to break the strike by transferring the work abroad,&rdquo; said the union. 
 
The ICEM is calling on paperworkers throughout the world to support Ammattiliitto Pro in this critical dispute in Finland, and to monitor the administrative, financial, services workload in these pulp and paper companies in order to comply with the union&rsquo;s request. Also, notes of solidarity should be sent to Pro President <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, and collective bargaining directors <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen</a> and <a href="mailto:Jari.uschanov@proliitto.fi">Jari Uschanov</a>.

Mediation Fails in Finnish Paper Strike; Strikes Continue

The Building &amp; Woodworkers' International (BWI), followed by the ICEM, is targeting a message campaign at Holcim Cement, prior to the Swiss company's Annual General Meeting this week.
Please join that campaign by hitting the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN&amp;send=1">BWI link</a> here to register your protest against Holcim and its anti-social labour policies in India.
Thank you.
ICEM Pulp &amp; Paper Sector
&nbsp;

Joint BWI, ICEM Message Protest at Holcim Cement

<img src="" width="100" height="90" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="" width="100" height="86" alt="" />
The ICEM joined&nbsp;the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), yesterday in launching a global campaign for equal rights of Holcim CAL workers in India.
Join the <a href="http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=3442&amp;Language=EN">campaign yourself&nbsp;by sending a&nbsp;message to the Holcim CEO</a> via the BWI website here. 
The Indian Cement Workers Federation (INCWF) an affiliate of both global union federations, has conducted a long-running campaign calling for equal rights, conditions, and salaries for contract workers, as stipulated under Indian law. Holcim India continuously neglects this legislation, specifically at its subsidiaries ACC in Bhilai and Ambuja Cement in Baloda Bazar.
The State High Court of Chhattisgarh ruled in favour of contract workers at Holcim Jamul Unit, instructing the company to regularise CAL employees and replace the &quot;sham&quot; contracts currently in place. Holcim India is yet to act positively on the court ruling. Workers at Jamul have conducted a &quot;sit in&quot; protest since 3 April.
On Holcim's purchase of ACC and Ambuja Cement, both companies were members of the Cement Manufacturer's Association and signatories to the National Wage Agreement for the sector. It is extremely unfortunate that under Holcim's ownership, this has been reversed, removing employee's protection from the National Agreement, blocking their right to bargain collectively.
See a recent <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4245-Finally-Excellent-Wage-Gains-Won-by-Indian-Cement-Workers">ICEM report</a> on the positive national settlement for the Indian cement industry here.
The INCWF, backed by BWI, ICEM, and joint Swiss affiliate UNIA, are calling on the company to enter into dialogue so as to resolve these issues, respect global labour standards, Indian law, and end the discriminatory&nbsp;treatment of contract workers at Holcim.
Holcim is the second largest producer of cement in the world. An average salary for Indian contract workers is US$2.17 a day, and a high amount on limestone are factors moving Holcim to shift production to India from countries such as Spain and the US.
See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Holcim%20Akermann%2028%204%202011.pdf">joint BWI-ICEM letter to Holcim</a> CEO Markus Akermann here.

Global Campaign Launched for Indian Cement Contract Workers

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The ICEM has joined with the 11 other Global Union Federations (GUFs), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD in issuing a joint 1 May statement. That statement follows below. 
Winds of change for social justice and democracy 
 
1 May 2011
Today as trade unionists around the world celebrate the role of workers in the fight for democracy and social justice, the international union movement takes inspiration from winds of change sweeping across Arab countries. 
 
Global Unions salute the courage of working men and women and the independent trade unions in the vanguard of this historic fight for freedom. 
 
We pledge our support to their struggle and we condemn without reservation the tyranny of regimes, in the Middle East and elsewhere, who continue to deny their people fundamental rights and who use violence to silence voices of dissent. We urge the international community to act to end this oppression. 
 
At the same time, in the name of hundreds of millions of working people who yearn for an end to inequality, discrimination and exploitation, Global Unions reaffirm their demand for a full-scale transformation of the world economy. 
We seek an end to the culture of political and corporate neglect that has created a gulf between rich and poor and we call for new commitments to respect workers&rsquo; rights, to create the framework for social justice and to combat the scourge of unemployment. 
 
The time has come to turn away from the failed policies of the past. We must abandon programmes of austerity that tear into the fabric of society and that diminish people&rsquo;s lives. We must end the scandal of falling living standards caused by the growth of informal, unprotected and precarious work and, particularly, the grotesque exploitation of migrant workers. There must be action now to rescue a lost generation of young people who yearn for jobs and a decent future. 
But none of this will happen unless governments put their people first by regulating the finance sector and by curbing the excesses of corporate power. 
All governments must invest in job creation, in education and training, in programmes to strengthen investment in quality public services and in providing a universal social protection floor. The largest and most powerful economies, in the G20, must provide the lead for this. 
Governments must put finance at the service of the real economy and reclaim the wealth needed to put the world economy to rights by taxing banks and finance, including urgent action to introduce a financial transactions tax. 
States must confront corporations who profit from scandalous exploitation of vulnerable workers and who fail to respect union rights and global labour standards. 
Unless there is an immediate change of direction in governance and management of the world economy, the noble aspirations of the Millennium Development Goals will not be met and there will be no progress to stop the catastrophe of climate change. 
 
Globalisation can only work if it brings sustainable wealth for all and promotes action for a just transition to a sustainable world built around principles of strong economies, social justice, and green jobs. 
 
Global Unions will work together to expose governments who refuse to change and who are withdrawing from provision of services, imposing fiscal cuts and attacking public sector workers with devastating effect on the lives of all people, particularly women. 
 
We will continue to isolate, condemn and target those companies that are reckless in their disregard for labour standards and who prey upon the weakest in the workforce. 
 
Finally, Global Unions in the Middle East and elsewhere will continually strive for peace in the face of dictatorship and corruption. Exploitation and political instability caused by an absence of the rule of law and democracy and economic injustice means that war and social conflict is a constant risk. 
 
Today the global challenges are as great as we have ever faced, but the union movement is in good heart. Our proud traditions of solidarity are the foundations of 
social progress, democracy and peace, and they give us the strength to make real the dream of a global economy based upon justice, equality, humanity and sustainability.

Global Labour’s Joint 1 May Statement

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