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Some 1,145 Bangladeshi coal miners went on strike against state-owned Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd. (BCMCL) and a Chinese contractor, led by the Bakapukuria Coal Mine Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union. The five-day strike ended today but workers did not return to their jobs, instead suspending the strike until 3 September while they celebrate the Eid vacation, an Islamic period of family gatherings. 
 
Negotiations two weeks ago between union leaders, BCMCL, and bosses for the China National Import and Export Corp. (XMC), the coal extraction contractor, failed on 22 August and staff stopped work at 6h on 23 August. 
 
All strikers are employed by XMC. They recently witnessed 226 BCMCL get huge pay bonuses due to profitability from the mine near Dinajpur. BCMCL Managing Director Md Quamruzzaman said profit sharing is only for BCMCL staff and miners working for XMC &ldquo;should get their bonus from their employer if there was any agreement in this regard.&rdquo; 
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In the talks that ended early last week, however, BCMCL did step in with an offer. But it was insignificant. While the Miners&rsquo; and Workers&rsquo; Union is demanding a bonus of BDT 30,000 (&euro;280), management&rsquo;s offer was but BDT 4,200 (&euro;40). 
 
For at least three years now, the Bangladeshi miners also seek regularisation of their employment terms. As contract workers, they are not entitled to certain social protections, insurance, and pension benefits. The union staged a four-day strike in late March 2010 in which some pay gains were won. In both this strike and last year&rsquo;s, the union is enforcing blockades to prevent some 350 Chinese workers from working. And in last week&rsquo;s walkout, the strikers held BCMCL workers in offices as a symbolic protest to the discrimination in granting bonus pay-outs. 
 
Ironically, BCMCL was attempting to part ways with its Chinese partner when a contract ended last October. But after searching for bids, XMC, which has operated the mine complex since 2005, was the only bidder and BCMCL re-awarded the contract in May. At that time, the state company also installed a contractor to monitor wage levels paid by XMC in order to &ldquo;discourage (workers) from launching frequent demonstrations,&rdquo; in the words of the company. 
 
BCMCL produces to mine one million tonnes annually of thermal coal and is one of several subsidiaries of state-held Bangladesh Oil, Gas, Mineral Corp. (PETROBANGLA).

Bangladesh: Coal Contract Staff Strikes State Firm, Chinese Operator

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ICEM Belgian affiliate Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale-FGTB and the chemicals company Clariant Benelux made temporary peace nine days ago in a pitched industrial strike by blue-collar workers in Louvain-la-Neuve. Following talks between the union and the Swiss-based company, the blue-collar workforce accepted reinstatement of one of two discharged shop stewards (see previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4604-FGTB-Delegates-Sacked-at-Clariant-Chemicals-Plant-in-Belgium">ICEM article</a>) and resumption of social dialogue based on trade union rights and safeguards of freedoms.&nbsp; 
 
Mohamed Loukili and Kemal Bennaceur were sacked by Clariant on 27 July for faithfully carrying out union responsibilities inside the workplace. The recent negotiations came after a spirited strike manifestation and in the talks, FGTB won reinstatement for Loukili, while Bennaceur decided earlier to accept a pay-out package and depart the company. 
<img alt="" src="" width="231" height="164" />
Strikers Surround Mohamed Loukili (top, center) at 17 August Manifestation
The 17 August strike manifestation at Clariant plant gates in Louvain-la-Neuve saw 200 workers and supporters call on Clariant to reverse the anti-social sackings. Three days before the annual summer shut-down, managers announced dismissal of the two union representatives. That caused a strike by the entire 45-worker blue-collar unit, a strike that threatened the safety of some 100 white-collar staff when work resumed two weeks ago. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the FGTB on winning this important union rights test, and takes note that it is the second time in a month that Belgium&rsquo;s Socialist Union has won reinstatement rights for sacked job leaders. It happened at Belgian Refining Corp. (BRC), near the Port of Antwerp, when two union delegates were reinstated through dialogue on 15 July between FGTB-ABVV and BRC managers. (See that <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4558-BRC-Belgium-Conflict-Settled-Sacked-Oil-Workers-Reinstated">ICEM story</a> here.)&nbsp; 
 
Clariant&rsquo;s chemical plant in Louvain-la-Neuve is part of the Swiss company&rsquo;s Masterbatches division and produces colour chemicals for inks and textiles.

Belgium: FGTB Succeeds in Getting Staff Rep’s Job Back at Clariant

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Some 400 train drivers and car examiners at Rio Tinto iron ore operations in the Pilbara of West Australia have voted by 82% for a first collective agreement. The union that won those rights, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), now presents the three-year agreement to Fair Work Australia for approval. 
 
&ldquo;When Rio Tinto gave in principle support for the historic collective agreement back in June (see <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4505-CFMEU-Wins-Bargaining-Rights-for-Rio-Tinto-s-Pilbara-Train-Drivers">ICEM report</a> then), it marked a major milestone in industrial relations in the resources sector,&rdquo; said CFMEU West Australia Mining and Energy Secretary Gary Wood. 
 
We have now &ldquo;moved a little bit closer to greater workplace protection for the hardworking iron ore miners of the Pilbara.&rdquo; 
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Gary Wood
Wood added that the new agreement &ldquo;and the strong support for it open up opportunities for negotiations down the track for further collective agreements at BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.&rdquo; 
 
The agreement is precedent-setting because it blows away a major barrier that for decades has stymied collective negotiations and collective action in the Pilbara. That has been the long-standing use of individual work agreements by mining houses to avoid enterprise agreements and to remain union-free. CFMEU breaks that barrier with this agreement and deserves hearty congratulations for doing so. 
 
Many of the 400 transport workers are fly-in, fly-out staff and move a good share of Australia&rsquo;s resource wealth to global markets. They are also to be commended because their unified vote means that the door has been flung wide open for future collective gains, be them big or small through the CFMEU.

Historic Collective Pact Takes Root for Rio Trainmen in Australia

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A Mexican coal mine explosion inside a Coahuila colliery of Altos Hornos de M&eacute;xico (AHMSA), a subsidiary of the Grupo Acerero del Notre steel and transport conglomerate, killed four miners early on 26 August. The explosion occurred at AHMSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;La Esmeralda,&rdquo; or No. 5 mine in the municipality of San Juan de Sabinas. 
 
Six other miners managed to escape the blast, which occurred during the 25 August night shift. The explosion caused a roof inside the mine to collapse, burying the miners who were operating machines. A total of 132 miners were at work at the No. 5 mine at the time of the blast. Bodies of the four dead miners were recovered late on 26 August. 
 
They are: Miguel Hern&aacute;ndez Mart&iacute;nez, 33; Mario Alberto Flores Mart&iacute;nez, 38; &Aacute;ngel Gonz&aacute;lez Pineda, 32; and Jes&uacute;s Tob&iacute;as Hern&aacute;ndez, 36. 
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The ICEM and Metalworkers&rsquo; affiliate, National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros, blasted the yellow union set up at La Esmeralda for remaining silent on the mine tragedy, just as it had when a 27 March 2011 tragedy happened at another AHMSA mine that killed two and injured three. That occurred at AHMSA&rsquo;s Monclova No. 7 mine, also in Coahuila state. 
 
Los Mineros leveled blame on the company and the &ldquo;irresponsibility, greed, and arrogance&rdquo; of AHMSA that caused the deaths, comparing it to Grupo M&eacute;xico&rsquo;s negligence in the 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine explosion that killed 65 miners. 
 
AHMSA is Mexico&rsquo;s largest vertically integrated steel producer and third largest overall, and is a company that strives to supply its own coal and iron ore reserves. The company, which was state owned until 1992, also has become a heavyweight in cross-border transport and export of pipe and tube, rolled steel products, carbon steels, and other iron and steel products. Construction of AHMSA&rsquo;s sixth blast furnace recently as part of the F&eacute;nix project, has lifted the firm&rsquo;s annual steel-making capacity to over five million tonnes annually. 
 
The La Esmeralda mine began production in 1999. 
 
Over two dozen mine deaths have occurred so far this year in Coahuila state, including 14 who died after an explosion in an illegal coal mine on 3 May. That <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4413-Mine-Blast-Near-Pasta-de-Conchos-Kills-14-in-Mexico ">Mexican safety travesty</a> can be read here in an ICEM May 2011 account.

Coal Mine Blast at Mexican Steel Company Unit Kills 4

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Australian union members of three trade union organisations are livid with the announcement that BlueScope Steel will lop 1,400 jobs in New South Wales and Victoria. Members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), the Australian Workers Union (AWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (ETU-CEPU) met in Wollongong on 25 August and sternly moved to resist all restructuring until further labour-management consultations can occur. 
 
Today in Canberra, the unions met with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and urged her Labour Government to launch an inquiry into Australia&rsquo;s manufacturing crisis. 
 
BlueScope, formed in 2002 when BHP Steel was spun off in the BHP and Billiton merger, announced on 22 August that it was shedding nearly half of its Port Kembla Steelworks staff of 3,100 and another 200 jobs at a hot-strip steel mill in Hastings, Victoria. 
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AMWU&rsquo;s Dave Oliver (left), AWU&rsquo;s Paul Howes, ETU National Secretary Peter Tighe (right) at Port Kembla Steelworks, 22 August
Photo: Illawarra Mercury
Last Thursday&rsquo;s heated union meeting came when workers also learned that senior managers of the troubled company are awarding themselves A$3.05 million in bonuses, including A$721,000 for CEO Paul O&rsquo;Malley. The company recently posted an operating loss of A$118 million plus an asset write-down of A$900 million, mainly from a rising Australian dollar, high raw material costs, and depressed order books. 
 
The BlueScope job cuts come at a time when booming Australian resource exports are driving up currency exchange rates to the detriment of Australia goods and product manufacturing. BlueScope is chopping 1,200 full-time and contract labour jobs by idling a blast furnace, coking battery, slab caster, and oxygen-based steelmaking vessel at Port Kembla south of Sydney, and the 200 steel-rolling jobs on Victoria&rsquo;s Mornington Peninsula. 
 
Speaking at Port Kembla the day BlueScope made the announcement, AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver said, &ldquo;The benefits of the mining boom come with very big downsides and 1,400 families have learnt today the hard way about the downsides. &ldquo;Today is a massive wake-up call for to state and federal governments to take more action on this issue.&rdquo; 
 
In news interview yesterday, 28 August, before today&rsquo;s meeting with Gillard, Oliver said the federal government must take immediate action to bolster manufacturing. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s acceptable that 90% of the gear that goes into a resource project is imported from overseas,&rdquo; he said. 
 
AWU National Secretary Paul Howes called on the federal government and the Reserve Bank Australia (RBA) also to kick into action. Howes said the Labour government must impose &ldquo;robust&rdquo; anti-dumping measures, pressure China to stop currency manipulation of the Yuan, and he called on the RBA to lower interest rates in order to promote Australian manufacturing. 
 
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to face the reality of the manufacturing crisis that&rsquo;s before us,&rdquo; said Howes. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t accept job losses as the norm and we can&rsquo;t rely on imported goods in our strategic sectors.&rdquo; 
 
The announcement of BlueScope&rsquo;s job losses in Australia last week came a week after steelworkers, members of New Zealand&rsquo;s Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), downed tools for 24 hours in a protest over outsourcing at New Zealand Steel, a wholly owned subsidiary of BlueScope. Over 850 EPMU members engaged in the industrial action on 15 August at a steel roll mill at Glenbrook, south of Auckland, and at company iron mines at Waikato North Head and Taharoa.

BlueScope Steel Sackings Reveal Crisis in Australian Manufacturing

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Key activists of ICEM&rsquo;s Dutch affiliate FNV Bondgenoten inside a leading global chemicals company, Akzo Nobel, were welcomed at the ICEM Secretariat on 22 July to reinforce and organise the new global network of workers. 
 
Fons Welters, Chair of Akzo Nobel&rsquo;s Central Works Council (CWC) and a member of the European Works Council (EWC), with Michael Dekker and Marcel Tesselaar, of the CWC and EWC also, are stepping up the activity of the global network with various tools, including a new quarterly newsletter for the network. 
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It is normally the case that the union representing workers in the company&rsquo;s home country assumes responsibility for administering a global network of workers, and FNV Bondgenoten considers international networking within multinationals a priority. The network formed on meeting on 31 May-1 June 2010 and was FNV-Bondgenoten in Amsterdam. The union established the FNV Company Monitor some years ago as a tool for research on Dutch multinationals, and to build networks of unionists within them. 
 
An ICEM Global Corporate Network is primarily a means of communication for those working for the same employer across the world, and for their trade unions, allowing them to cooperate and coordinate. Akzo Nobel employs 55,000 people in over 80 countries.

Akzo Nobel Global Union Network Reinforced

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A common pattern of union-busting in Turkey is being conducted against ICEM-affiliated Belediye-İş in Istanbul, and two international federations and a European union federation are calling for action by Turkey&rsquo;s new Minister of Labour and Social Security, Faruk &Ccedil;elik. 
 
Metropolitan municipality workers in Istanbul have been pressured to rescind their membership in Belediye-İş, the Municipal and General Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey, and to instead join a different &ldquo;trade union&rdquo; preferred by management. In a 26 July joint letter, the General Secretaries of ICEM, Public Services International (PSI), and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), united in condemning treatment of workers solidly aligned with Belediye-İş, an affiliate of all three federations. 
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Threats and intimidation exerted on workers by managers of the Metro Istanbul government have forced a number of workers to quit the union. Now, as many of them return to Belediye-İş, workers are being punished with forced relocation to other jobs elsewhere inside the municipality. This is especially the case for municipality employees in parks, gardens, social facilities, and municipal police services. 
 
The ICEM, PSI, and EPSU reminded Labour Minister &Ccedil;elik of the Turkish government&rsquo;s responsibilities in protecting freedom of association, the right to organise with the union of their choice, and to bargain collectively with that union, as stipulated under the Turkish Constitution and Core ILO Conventions. 
<img src="" width="192" height="144" alt="" />
Belediye-İş President Nihat Yurdakul
&ldquo;Under these circumstances, we urge you to use your authority over the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to stop all the methods and means used against Belediye-İş members to resign their membership,&rdquo; the letter states.

ICEM, Public Sector Unions Call on Turkey’s Labour Minister to Intervene in Istanbul

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Three separate mine tragedies last week caused the deaths of 36 miners in eastern Ukraine, with the death toll likely to climb with rescue efforts still incomplete and some miners in life-threatening conditions in hospitals. The worst occurred in the early morning hours of Friday, 29 July, when a methane gas explosion in a Metinvest B.V. coal mine in Lugansk Region killed 18. Eight miners are still missing. 
 
On the same day, hours later and in adjoining Donetsk Region, seven miners were instantly killed when a headframe at the state-owned Bazhanova mine near Makiyivka collapsed. The collapse sent an elevator hurling downward, killing the seven. Another three miners are unaccounted for and four were rescued and are hospitalised in serious condition. 
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Families of the lost miners
The third tragedy occurred in another state-run mine in the Donbass of Donetsk Region on 26 July. Three miners are dead, another three are missing and feared dead when a roof collapsed 520 metres underground at the Rodynska colliery. 
 
The Metinvest gas blast at the former state-owned Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine near Krasnodon, Lugansk, happened at a depth of 915 metres and stands as Ukraine&rsquo;s worst mine tragedy since 101 miners were killed in a series of explosions in November 2007 at the privately-held Zasyadko company mine in the Donbass. 
 
Demitry Kalitventsev, the branch leader of the Ukrainian Coal Industry Workers&rsquo; Union (PRUP) in Lugansk, feared the death toll could exceed 30 because another nine miners who were rescued have extreme burns and their conditions are not good. It&rsquo;s been reported that the mine had modern safety equipment and detection devices, but consistently languished under high gas methane readings. 
 
Families of the victims are to receive UAH 1 million (US$125,000), it was reported. Metinvest is 75% owned by Rinat Akhmetov&rsquo;s System Capital Management Group (SCM) and 25% by Smart Holding Group. Akhmetov, Ukraine&rsquo;s richest individual, is a Party of Regions bankroller and a member of Ukraine&rsquo;s Parliament, the Rada. Metinvest of late has grown into one of Ukraine&rsquo;s largest steel producers with a number of acquisitions. Smart Holding has major interests in shipbuilding, construction, port management, and metallurgy and mining.

Three Coal Mine Accidents Kill at Least 36 in Ukraine

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The ICEM was angered and shocked by the madness in Norway late last week, expressing disbelief to its Norwegian affiliated unions that such xenophobic lunacy could occur in such a model democratic social nation. General Secretary Manfred Warda, who was in the US at the time attending another affiliate&rsquo;s convention, said in a message to Norwegian trade unionists that it was with &ldquo;deep shock and sadness that I received the horrible news of the shootings and murders of so many young people and the losses from the terrible blast in Oslo. 
 
&ldquo;I am sure all over the world ICEM-affiliated trade unions feel the sadness and extend sympathies to the families who lost loved ones. We all feel deep solidarity with the people of Norway, we offer our condolences, and these tragic events show how much we need to be on alert to right-wing extremism and intolerable fundamentalism.&rdquo; 
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Norwegian Fellesforbundet President Arve Bakke, in a letter to global trade unions on the massacre of young Labour Party activists at Ut&oslash;ya and the Oslo bombing on 22 July, said: &ldquo;We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for your solidarity and support following the shocking, violent and cowardly attacks that took place at Ut&oslash;ya and in Oslo. 
 
&ldquo;Our thoughts are now with the families, relatives and friends of the victims and everyone affected by this tragedy. 
 
&ldquo;It is with great shock and grief we were witness to the blackest day in Norwegian labour movement history. In just a few hours many union and political activists from the Norwegian labour movement were brutally deprived of their lives. Also democracy was hit at its core. The centre of national government was bombed beyond recognition and an important part of our future was massacred. 
 
&ldquo;This is a time to stand firm to our ideals and we condemn the forces that want to destroy everything we believe in. I will make Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg&rsquo;s words mine: &lsquo;We must never give up our values. We must show that our open society can pass this test too. That the answer to violence is even more democracy. Even more humanity. But never naivety. This we owe the victims and their families.&rsquo; 
 
&ldquo;Again, thank you for your concern and solidarity.&rdquo;

Senseless Murders in Norway Met with Anger, Disbelief

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Swiss union UNIA is mobilising its forces in defence of 560 jobs at Swissmetal, as the company moves dangerously close to bankruptcy. Some 150 Swissmetal staff in Dornach in north-western Switzerland assembled in the factory car park on 21 July in a sombre demonstration, demanding that production continues after the two-week scheduled holiday break. Resumption of all work activities should occur 8 August. 
 
Workers at the plant are refusing to halt production, in the knowledge that it would result in mass redundancies. UNIA and local staff have proposed a raft of alternative measures to improve efficiency, which would ensure profitability for Swissmetal. 
 
Pending a solution, local management must not issue redundancies or dismantle production equipment, as operations may still be purchased by another company. One prospective buyer is France-based Le Bronze Industriel. 
<img src="" width="216" height="161" alt="" />
Other union demands include for management to provide fully transparent financial documentation of the company, and a joint review of union proposals on efficiency improvements. A period of consultation has been extended to 19 August. 
 
UNIA is calling on the Canton of Soleure to mobilise its powers to safeguard the jobs. It is the same Canton where pulp and paper multinational Sappi last spring announced closure of its Biberist graphic papers mill, in a brutal loss of 341 jobs. Despite UNIA and Sappi European Works Council (EWC) efforts to find a buyer for the Sappi mill, the South African company recently said those efforts have failed and the mill would close. 
 
Swissmetal manufactures high-quality copper products, mainly used in the electronics, telecommunications, aviation, petroleum, and automotive industries. Based in Dornach, ten kilometres south of Basel, the company&rsquo;s other foundry in Switzerland is in Reconvilier, where another 560 jobs are at risk.

UNIA Continues Fight to Keep Swissmetal Jobs

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