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The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) yesterday called on the Government of Chile to radically change the procedural methodology it uses on mine safety once the imminent rescue of 33 miners at the San José mine near Copiapó in northern Chile is complete. 
 
In a letter to Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne Riveros, the 20-million-member global union federation called on the government to streamline workplace safety and health enforcement, now contained in several different ministries, into a single, autonomous agency “that has full powers and full technical capabilities to inspect and correct workplace deficiencies before accidents happen.” 
 
The ICEM is also calling on the government of Chile to begin the process toward ratification of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 176, the 1995 Safety and Health in Mines Convention. By adopting the global principles contained in Convention 176, Chile ensures that workers and their trade unions have a voice on safety matters and the ability to take action to prevent mine accidents. (The full letter can be seen <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/116.ICEM.Chile.MiningMinister.4Oct.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
“In a mine, when a trade union safety committee is engaged with the respective company and government representatives, the risks in that mine gets reduced dramatically,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “This is basic to Convention 176 but, unfortunately, is woefully lacking inside Chile’s mining industry.” 
 
The ICEM called on Chile’s government to consolidate ministerial safety investigatory bodies into a fully-staffed independent rule-making agency that has judicial and other powers to ensure safe and healthy workplaces. In the letter, the ICEM states that creation of such an agency can also serve as the mechanism to implement and enforce the global mine safety standards contained in Convention 176. 
 
The ICEM commended Chile’s government for the intensive rescue to save the lives of the 33 San José miners, but reminded that massive work awaits both politically and administratively to prevent such disasters from happening in the future. 
 
The Geneva-based ICEM, composed of 467 trade union affiliates in 132 countries, is the representative global body for some 70 national mining unions in as many countries. The ICEM has a global campaign underway pressing on governments of resource-rich nations to ratify ILO Convention 176. 
 
For further information, contact Dick Blin, ICEM Information Officer, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>; telephone: +41 22 304 1842 (direct) or +41 79 734 8994 (mobile).

Mine Safety Culture in Chile Must Change, Asserts ICEM 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Some 1,600 American trade union and environmental leaders met in Washington, D.C., last week in a historic, three-day BlueGreen Alliance conference that concluded on 10 February with visits to US legislators urging a green industrial future for America. 
 
The BlueGreen Alliance Foundation, formed in 2006 between the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club, has now grown to include eight US unions, several environmental organisations, and a handful of trade groups. 
 
The 2011 “Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference” featured US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson as keynote speaker, and consisted of many workshops, including one entitled “11 Workers Killed and the Worst Environmental Disaster Ever; How Do We Respond to the Deepwater Horizon Explosion?” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1102.good jobs green jobs.jpg" width="246" height="71" alt=""/>
A familiar chord throughout the conference was how to compete against trading nations such as China and Germany that have developed better industrial policies concerning green technologies. Participants took that question, demanding legislative solutions, to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in Washington. 
 
USW President Leo Gerard opened the conference by urging delegates to push leaders of both US political parties to act in the long-term interests of the US. Another pair of themes weaved throughout the conference is that clean energy does create jobs, and good jobs and achievement of a safe environment are mutually inclusive. 
 
BlueGreen Alliance Executive Director Dave Foster said the participants at last week’s conference, who represent 8.5 million American workers, “are willing to answer President Obama's call to out-build, out-educate, and out-innovate to win the future. 
 
“Congress,” he added, “must (now) get moving on critical policies that build a healthy and prosperous America.”

USW-led BlueGreen Alliance Champions Job Growth in America

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The ICEM applauds the unity and successful coordination of Colombian trade unions, in the launch of a new daily radio programme for workers, called "Contacto Social." Included in the grouping of 12 unions were ICEM affiliates Sintraelecol and USO. The process was supported locally by ICEM’s country coordinator Carlos Bustos. 
 
The daily programme has now been broadcasting since 1 February, Monday to Friday, in the areas around Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Meta, and Tolima, and is also available globally online. The organizers of the project plan to expand its reach in the future and become a major media tool in Colombia, communicating views to workers, and supplying an outlet to those whose voices cannot otherwise be heard. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombiaflag.gif" width="150" height="99"/>
Trade unionists and supporters are encouraged to call and join the on-air debate at +57 4176970 
 
One story that was reported today on "Contacto Social" is the Colombian national Labour center CUT organising a workers' picket at the office of the Vice President, ahead of a high-level meeting with the ILO. 
Unions in the South American country demand that Colombia be re-added to the list of countries evaluated by the ILO's Committee of Experts. CUT President Tarsicio Mora decried the continuing dangers facing trade unionists in Colombia, where 46 were murdered in 2010 and three so far this year. There are currently over 40 labour disputes ongoing, many caused by the erosion of labour rights and working conditions by employers. 
 
Listen to the <a href="http://www.icemcolombia.com/index2.php?option=com_radio">daily radio programme</a> of Colombian workers here.  
See more on the <a href="http://www.icemcolombia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1">ICEM Colombia website</a>.

Trade Unions Coordinate Launch of Daily Radio in Colombia

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The Thai Industrial Gases Labour Union (TIGLU), part of ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemicals Workers’ Federation of Thailand (PCFT), benefited from a two-day training course presented by the German union, IGBCE, in Saraburi province, Thailand. The union achieved a new collective agreement with Linde at 13 Thai worksites immediately after, indicating the success of the workshop. 
 
The agreement, signed last week on 20 April and running for three years, will see Linde pay 50% to the provident fund for workers with one-to-two years’ service, and 100% after two years. It also grants three days of paid paternity leave and increases the number of holidays for more senior workers. 
 
Paid union leave was also won, which will prove valuable for trade union leaders in training and labour education, and health care coverage is now extended to retirees until the end of the calendar year in which they retire. TIGLU has had a rather contentious relationship with Linde Thai management, and the IGBCE training is seen as perhaps a benchmark toward a new, more positive relationship. 
 
The new agreement covers 851 workers at the 13 workplaces.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.tiglu thai.2.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
The 16-17 April training was a follow-up to last year’s founding of an Asia-Pacific Network of Workers for trade unions of Linde, a German-based global producer of industrial gases. 
 
The training was expertly organised by Yoon Hyowon, ICEM Asia-Pacific Project Coordinator, and included IGBCE’s Michael Wolters presenting an explanation of the German system of collective agreements and how to improve relationships with management. ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath also participated.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.tiglu thai.jpg" width="240" height="180"/>
The workshop provided information on trade unions, the labour laws and political situation in Thailand, and a writing session to improve the writing skills of TIGLU colleagues. Further, Wolters organised a work group to prioritise bargaining demands and to gather collective arguments related to each demand. 
 
All 18 participants from TIGLU felt secure in their upcoming arguments with management and gained realisation of the German management perspective. TIGLU and Linde’s prior 21-month collective agreement expired on 21 March.

German IGBCE’s Training with Thai Union Ends in New Linde CBA

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM has joined the Swiss union Unia in a community campaign to save 550 paper mill jobs. Sappi, a global leader in the manufacture of coated papers, announced on 31 March that it intends to close its Biberist graphic papers mill, an asset it purchased late in 2008 along with three other European printing and writing papers mills from M-real. 
Unia, with membership numbering only one-tenth of the total Biberist workforce, has taken the lead to preserve jobs. Workers, managers, mill suppliers, and area businesses of Canton Soleure have joined the effort. Sappi’s European Works Council (EWC) also has argued for retaining production. A <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Sappi%20Fine%20Paper%20Europe.pdf" type="internal">Sappi EWC resolution</a> can be found here.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.jpg" width="265" height="149"/>
 Biberist: A Community United to Save Jobs
Unia held a manifestation in Biberist on 16 March that was attended by hundreds of area residents. The ICEM generated some 15 letters from pulp and paper trade unions around the globe supporting Biberist workers and managers who are in the fight to keep the mill open. Those letters were read at the rally. 
Workers also placed a vivid reminder, namely heavy paper rolls, at a round-about in Biberist to remind the public of what’s at stake. A German-language <a href="http://www.papierfabrik-biberist.ch">special website for the workers’ campaign</a> can be found here.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.3.jpg" width="234" height="152"/>
20,000 Motorists Daily Will Get a Stark Reminder
Unia’s campaign asks Sappi to do one of three things, with a priority being the first: maintain operations because production, productivity and sales have been buoyant since Sappi bought the mill; re-think the decision to shutter the mill completely, and sell it to an enterprise that will operate it; if layoffs occur, ensure that superior severance is paid, and job re-training and other social criteria are met to the fullest. 
Sappi will begin consultations with workers’ representatives in mid-May, with the company scheduling a first set of layoffs as early as late May. The mill could close by late summer. 
In a 14 April letter to Unia Co-Presidents Renzo Ambrosetti and Andreas Rieger, General Secretary Manfred Warda said: ICEM finds it “disgraceful that barely two years after Sappi bought four European graphical paper mills of M-real, they intend to close down the second one. To buy enterprises with the intent to shutter them in order to limit competition and maintain high pricing on a product grade is truly despicable.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sappi unia.2.jpg" width="268" height="151"/>
Unia Manifestation on 16 April in Biberist
The Global Union Federation also intervened at a Sappi EWC meeting on 20 April that was held in Maastricht, Netherlands, and that <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMletters/33.ICEM.SAPPI.UNIA.18April.pdf" type="internal">ICEM message</a> can be found in English here. At that meeting, Biberist was the main topic of discussion, with the EWC expressing dismay over Sappi’s decision. 
The EWC argued that Sappi must try to find other paper product grades for manufacture from Biberist, or find a buyer for the mill. Sappi Europe CEO Berry Wiersum said if a good solution can be found, the company might re-consider. 
The EWC also stressed the importance of a substantial redundancy package for workers and if one is not presented, another special meeting of the EWC would be convened. The company responded that such a plan would be done in accord with Swiss law.

ICEM Joins Swiss Workers’ Campaign to Keep Sappi Paper Mill Open

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
A 24-hour warning strike that started a week ago by Solidarnosc representing the majority of 22,000 workers at Poland’s Jastrzębska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) in Silesian coal mines has produced negotiations with the state-run company. Those talks started last Thursday and will continue tomorrow, 26 April, in Katowice, along with the provincial Committee on Social Dialogue. 
 
Miners took industrial action in resistance to the government’s plan to list JSW, Europe’s largest coking coal producer, on the stock exchange. They are also seeking a 10% wage increase from a state company that has seen hefty earnings, posting net profits of €300 million, or US$422 million in 2010. The government, meanwhile, is anxious to proceed with the listing on 30 June because of current high raw materials costs for steel production. 
 
The government is making the case that listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange will improve JSW’s position in the marketplace because of greater access to funding for mine development and clean coal technology. Government officials were critical of the industrial action, saying that such social action – despite being legal – devalues the company. 
 
The state is offering free-of-charge shares to JSW staff as it intends to float 30% of JSW, while retaining 51%. However, the door has been left open to future sales of shares.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.polish mine.jpg" width="200" height="133" alt=""/>
The warning strike and blockade of coal exiting five JSW mines on 8 April came ten days after miners voted by 95% in a referendum for industrial action. A total of 78.5% of the 22,000 miners participated in the vote. 
 
If JSW is privatised, the mineworkers’ unions seek a 10-year guarantee of employment. Because of the current negotiations, unions cancelled another strike that was to occur tomorrow. The one-day warning strike last week is said to have cost the company PLN 30 million, or €7.6 million (US$11 million). 
 
JSW is the first of the major coal producers in Poland that the government seeks to privatise. In the middle of 2012, it intends to sell Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), a thermal coal producer employing 19,200 workers. Unions there have already agreed to a redundancy scheme that will see about 1,000 miners take early retirement by the end of next year. The government intends to combine KHW with the state-run export company Weglokoks in the 2012 public listing.

Warning Strike Ends, Negotiations Start in Southern Poland Coal Fields

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
The ICEM-affiliated Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) conducted a heated Congress in Soligorsk on 16 April, resulting in a change of union leadership. After a day-long debate that resulted in a narrow – 32-29 – no-confidence vote for the current leadership, the body elected Nikolai Zimin as chairman. 
 
Zimin, a mineworker, is a machine operator employed at state-owned JSC Belaruskaliy and works in the company’s potash and potassium chloride operations near Soligorsk. He is a ten-year trade union activist and had served as secretary-treasurer, and then deputy chairman of BNP. He defeated incumbent Vasiliy Korobov and challenger Sergei Antusevitch in a three-way race, with Zimin getting nearly three times the vote total as runner-up Antusevitch.
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Belarus.png" width="140" height="142" alt=""/>
In the ballot for deputy chairman, incumbent Nikolai Novik withdrew his nomination after the no-confidence vote, and Antusevitch and Yuriy Shvets, an oilworker at Gazprom’s Mozyr refinery, were elected co-deputy chairmen. Aleksandr Korolev was elected secretary-treasurer. 
 
BNP is affiliated to the Belarus Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, and both the fledgling national labour centre and BNP face continual suppression and harassment at the hands of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the Belarus Federation of Trade Unions (FPB). 
 
BNP is engaged in serious struggles to gain rightful trade union recognition from Belarusian regional authorities, including at Delta Style, a garment maker (see <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4088-Belarus:-Local-Government-Blocks-Women-Garment-Workers-in-Organising" type="internal">ICEM report</a>) and at OJSC Naftan, a polymer and chemicals operation.

BNP of Belarus Elects New Union Leadership

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Successful industrial relations between ICEM glass workers’ union Sintravidricol in Colombia and the US-based multinational Ross International has now built on the foundations of a first collective agreement four years ago. The union won a renewal agreement with significant improvements for workers. 
 
See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4361-Colombian-Glass-Workers-Seek-to-Build-on-Gains-Made-in-2007" type="internal">ICEM InBrief</a> from last month. Bargaining was finalised on 6 May, months ahead of the expiration of the existing agreement. The scope of the agreement is expanded to cover five plants of Ross International in the two sections of Sintravidricol, La Estrella and Sabanata. 
 
Two divisive other agreements originally signed by the company during a dispute in 2007 which led to the first collective agreement will be scrapped in the new deal. All 250 workers will now be covered by the same governing contract, with slight variations between the sections.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1104.sintravidricol.jpg" width="232" height="174"/>
Salary increases will equal 4.6% in the first year, inflation plus 1.2% in the second year, and inflation plus 1.3% and plus 1.4% for the final two years of the agreement. 
 
Significant improvements also included education allowances for primary, secondary, and university education for workers’ children, also new transport links for shift workers, increased holiday leave, paid leave for union activity, increased housing allowance, and a signing bonus for each worker in each year of the agreement. 
 
All workers will now be employed on indefinite contract status. Prior to the 2007 agreement, 80% or more of the employees were on short-term contracts. 
 
The official signing of the new deal by local management and Sintravidricol’s Section Presidents for La Estrella and Sabaneta, Brahyan Sanchez Henao and Heriberto Giraldo Hernandez, is expected to take place this week. Salary increases will go into effect on 1 September.

Colombia Glass Workers Get Great Gains in Settlement

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
An illegal coal mine in Mexico’s Coahuila state that was operating for only 20 days exploded on 3 May, killing 14 miners. The tragic methane gas blast occurred a short distance from the Pasta de Conchos colliery, where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico perished in a similar underground gas explosion in February 2006. 
 
Beneficios Internacionales del Norte SA (Bansa) was listed as the company operating the mine near Sabinas in the rich Coahuila coal belt of northern Mexico. Immediately after the powerful explosion that saw three of the dead blown completely out of the 60-metre-deep tunnel, officials could not determine the owner because of conflicting data in local registry citings. 
<img alt="ICEM ILO 176" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ilo_small.jpg" width="175" height="247"/>
It was days after the blast that Bansa was determined to be the operator of the 340-acre mine site through a concession from local authorities. A local official defended that concession, telling press that when the federal government awards a concession, generated income goes to coffers in Mexico City, with nothing allocated for the community. 
 
The colliery employed 25 non-union miners and had no certification or registry regarding safety. The Mexican federal government closed the mine and is now involved in body recovery and investigation. 
 
The underground explosion rocked the surface so strongly that a 15-year-old minor who was picking coal off an external conveyer belt had to have both arms amputated and is in serious condition in a hospital. 
 
The 3 May tragedy in northern Mexico stands as yet another example of safety risks and dangers by unregistered and unreliable mining installations when demand and pricing of a mineral is at a premium.

Mine Blast Near Pasta de Conchos Kills 14 in Mexico

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The sixth meeting of the Mercosur Union Network of Belgian chemical and plastics producer Solvay met 18-21 April in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The meeting saw 25 representatives from all plants of Solvay in Argentina and Brazil, as well as municipality authorities from Bahia Blanca and representatives of CUT Brazil. 
 
The meeting marked the first-ever meeting held in Argentina. This gave an opportunity for more Argentine workers to learn the goals, functions, and actions of the important regional network. Brazilian participants learned of some Argentina processes that do not exist in Brazil, and about union organizing and the collective bargaining process in Argentina. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1105.solvay.jpg" width="315" height="170"/>
The major issues discussed included health and safety, the ICEM’s Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Rhodia and the future of that GFA now that Solvay has initiated a friendly takeover of Rhodia, and the Horizon Plan, which was put in place by Solvay late last year and is to create 800 dismissals worldwide by the end of 2012. Mercosur network members requested ICEM’s support in linking up with global trade unions and Solvay’s European Works Council in order to soften the effects of this restructuring. 
 
As is regular custom from previous meetings, the participants were welcomed by local management of Solvay. The group after toured the production areas. The meeting was finalized with expectation of a renewed dialogue with the company.

Mercosur Region Meeting of Solvay Meets in Argentina

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