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Today, in Bogot&aacute;, Colombia, civil society and trade unions, led by the ICEM electric utility affiliate Sintraelecol, will mark the 25th anniversary of the Guavio dam disaster in which most of the 200 casualities were&nbsp;temporary labourers. They were buried alive when a&nbsp;pair of massive rock slides, totalling 60,000 cubic yards of earth,&nbsp;fell on them&nbsp;in the evening of 28 July 1983. 
 
The day has been designated as not only a Day of Remembrance by&nbsp;ICEM's Latin America/Caribbean Region, but also as a day to push for full labour rights, including safety and health, for contract and agency workers. 
 
The memorial event and symposium&nbsp;will be held at the Hotel del Parque, 23-24 Carrera 5A, Bogot&aacute;, beginning at 14h00. 
 
&ldquo;Today is a tribute to the casual workers and others&nbsp;who passed away in 1983 while they were constructing one of the most important energy projects in our country,&rdquo; said ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos. &ldquo;It is also a call to non-permanent workers and agency staff everywhere to join with labour unions for decent work and a guarantee of protection under established global labour standards.&rdquo;
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Construction of the 820-foot rock-fill dam, the tallest in the Americas,&nbsp;began in August 1981 by Empresa de Energia Electrica de Bogot&aacute;, the electric power company of Colombia's capital city. Between the towns of Ubal&aacute; and M&aacute;mbita, 120 kilometres northeast of Bogot&aacute;, the utility had purchased 2,000 estates from landowners in order to build the continent's&nbsp;biggest hydroelectic dam, one&nbsp;that would generate one million kilowatts of power.
In September 1982, a precursor of what was to come occurred when four miners were killed from a rock slide.
During&nbsp;the spring of 1983, when construction&nbsp;was in full swing,&nbsp;heavy rains set in on the&nbsp;the Bocatoma Valley in the department of Cundinamarca. 

The US$1.3 billion dam project, on the Guavio River, had the financial support of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. March through May, 1983, also saw a 48-day strike by workers against the joint contractors, Rome-headquartered Vianini Lavori Spa and Madrid-based Entrecanles y Tavora. The&nbsp;strike saw the Colombian military&nbsp;called in.
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At 10h00 on 28 July, while boring was underway on a power tunnel and a separate water diversion&nbsp;tunnel,&nbsp;eight workers were slightly injured when a massive rock was dislodged and fell inside the adjacent tunnels. A safety alarm drew the attention of the industrial security team, but after inspection, the area was declared&nbsp;safe for work. Meanwhile, rain continued to ravage the Andes mountainside outside.&nbsp; 
 
At 19h00, pipefitters, electrical pump installers, and other skilled workers were leaving the project&rsquo;s front on buses,&nbsp;their work day complete. Left behind to mine the tunnels overnight were some 100-plus casual labourers, including many teen-age boys. 
 
In the words of one pump installer, who recalls looking back on the worksite&nbsp;from a base camp, the illimination of lights was brilliant. And then seconds later, &ldquo;the lights went dark.&rdquo; Some of the&nbsp;workers, along with rescues teams,&nbsp;began hurrying back to the project&rsquo;s front in buses, only to have a second&nbsp;landslide bury three buses alongside the tunnels. 
 
Buried inside were 138 workers, with&nbsp;another 40 workers crushed to death when the buses they were in&nbsp;became encapsulated by falling&nbsp;rock. Approximately 20 local residents, who were assisting work in one manner or another, also perished inside the tunnels.
The bodies of only one-half of the victims were&nbsp;recovered.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
The Guavio&nbsp;dam was finally&nbsp;completed in 1988, two years behind scheduled. In 1997, the Spanish company Endesa purchased the hydro-generating operation. 
 
The ICEM salutes its Colombian affiliate, Sintraelecol, with commemorating the 25th anniversary of a disaster that should never&nbsp;have happened, as well as all Latin American/Caribbean trade unions and NGOs who are participating in today&rsquo;s event.

Colombia Dam Disaster of 28 July 1983: ‘The Night the Lights Went Dark’ on 200 Casual Workers

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Forty-one national mining unions from 37 countries met 9-11 July in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the ICEM&rsquo;s quadrennial World Conference on Mining and DJGOP. A total of 138 delegates addressed the major changes occurring in the industry. 
 
At the top of the agenda of an ICEM work plan covering the next four years was the continuing health and safety problems occurring at mines throughout the world. 
 
&ldquo;At a time of unprecedented profits in the mining industry, it is an unacceptable situation that much of this profit continues to be stained with the blood of miners,&rdquo; said Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM President and also President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa.
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ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana&nbsp;
Although there are no worldwide figures on mining injuries and fatalities, serious accidents continue to plague mining operations in more developed countries, such as the US and South Africa, as well as in developing nations. South African-based Gold Fields Ltd., the world&rsquo;s fourth largest gold-mining house, was specifically cited for operating dangerous mines and may be a target of ICEM action. 
 
ICEM affiliates attending the Mining Conference approved a continued global campaign for ratification of ILO Convention 196, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Delegates also approved action to assist uranium miners in Africa in preventing exposure to dangerous radiation. 
 
A further focus to the conference was the continued vertical and horizontal consolidation in the mining and metals industries and the growing power of multinational corporations, including emergent multinational mining companies based in Brazil, China, India, and Russia. Delegates pledged to work together to build networks to confront these companies. 
 
Also designated as part of the work plan was the development of a policy on sustainable development, including support for developing clean coal technologies, challenging the use of contract and agency labour and gaining work rights for such workers, and establishing closer relationships with NGOs that show support for workers. 
 
Featured at the conference was a presentation on the fight between the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union, known as Los Mineros, and Grupo M&eacute;xico and the government of Mexico, which has attempted to destroy the union. ICEM affiliates pledged full support to the miners and a stepped up campaign against this company and the government. 
The ICEM mining report can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2008ICEMMiningReportEN.pdf">here</a>.

ICEM Holds Quadrennial Mining Conference in Russia

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Early in 2009, collective agreements will expire for 30,000 downstream oil workers in the US. In a 45-day period from mid-September to 27 October, local branches of the United Steelworkers &ndash; representing those production workers &ndash; ratified a 12-point national pattern bargaining programme, in addition to granting the union strike authorisation. 
 
That bargaining agenda will aim to gain a share of oil industry&rsquo;s vast profits, which would help ease a US recession by putting money in the pockets of working families. It also is intended to address health, safety, and environmental requirements, grant adequate pensions, and give sufficient medical coverage to workers, their families, and retirees. 
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USW Vice President Gary Beevers 
&ldquo;This strong ratification of the oil policy and strike ratification shows how united and determined the membership is in getting a fair contract,&rdquo; stated USW Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the union&rsquo;s oil bargaining programme. &ldquo;By adopting the policy, the local unions agree that their contracts will not conflict with it.&rdquo; 
 
Most of the collective agreements between the USW and oil companies expire 1 February 2009. With last month&rsquo;s overwhelming ratification, both national and local branch bargaining will begin in December with an exchange of proposals. The USW will negotiate with the industry to set a national pattern on wages, benefits, and working conditions.
The union is seeking term limits of three years, until 2012, and substantial wages increases, in addition to cost-of-living adjustments. It also seeks increases in shift differential, two added holidays, and no regression on previously agreed terms and conditions. 
 
USW will also be negotiating for union neutrality at non-union worksites, renewal and expansion of successorship language regarding new companies taking over enterprises, and additional occupational death coverage. In mid-September, the union&rsquo;s National Oil Bargaining Conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and shaped the agenda, which then went to branch unions for ratification, and granting of the strike sanction. 
 
The union represents workers at scores of US and Caribbean refineries, as well as pipeline, transportation, and marketing staff in the downstream sector. Employers include Shell, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP, ExxonMobil, and other refiners us Tosco, Tesoro, Sunoco, and LyondellBasell.

US Steelworkers Ratify Oil Bargaining Platform

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Political agreement was finally achieved at the European Parliament over the Directive on Temporary Agency Work. MEPs passed &ndash; without amendment &ndash; a second reading. Adoption by the plenary on 22 October in Strasbourg, France, now means that the Council of Europe will formally adopt the statute in the coming weeks. 
 
The directive gives agency workers equal protection and equal treatment from day one of employment as permanent workers receive. That covers the &ldquo;essential conditions&rdquo; of work and employment, such as hours, overtime, rest time, paid leave, and non-discriminatory policies. 

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The directive does grant national social partners the flexibility to set specific aspects related to temporary employment, such as equal pay and a negotiated time frame of the temporary period. This would allow collective agreements to address governance of agency work, as well as for national legislation to enact laws and work regulations. 
 
Member-states now have three years to implement the directive into their national legislations, or to ensure and enable social partners to introduce provisions through agreement. 
 
The second-reading vote took place six years after the directive had been first proposed. A first-reading vote, that included some 26 amendments, occurred in June of this year. The Council endorsed a common position on the directive in early October. 

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomed the end of a long political deadlock, and gave special praise to the strong language on equality. The equal treatment principle, said ETUC General Secretary John Monks, &ldquo;will not only apply to national situations but also to cross-border agency work. This is very important in the current times of increased mobility of workers and services.&rdquo;

EU’s Directive on Temporary Agency Work Passes Final Hurdle in Strasbourg on 22 October

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With the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria now issuing its Ninth Call for Proposals, it is imperative that ICEM affiliates involved in the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic respond now. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
 
Proposals Have to Reach the Global Fund by 21 January 2009 
 
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 21 January 2009 will be reviewed by the Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will then decide. 
 
How Does the Global Fund Work? 
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002 and up to December 2007 the Global Fund has approved grants with a total commitment of US$14.5 billion, more than half of it designated for HIV/AIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it and proves it &ndash; the Global Fund is performance based. 
 
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). 
 
How Can Unions Get Involved? 
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is officially recognised. The workplace is an important entry point for HIV/AIDS services and no workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, including the Global Union Federations, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the World Health Organisation, and UNAIDS. 
 
The Global Fund is supportive of public/private partnerships or co-investment arrangements. Without the involvement of the private sector, universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), is not possible or will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions as workers&rsquo; representatives. The Guidelines for R9 proposals mention unions under eligible organisations of the private sector. 
 
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. They have to attend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs. 
 
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term, it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM. 
 
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances &ndash; Creating Knowledge &ndash; Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. Many USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably of Nordic countries, the Netherlands, the UK, and the European Union, may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme ILOAIDS has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices. 
 
The most significant feature in recent Rounds has been that the Global Fund recommends that applicants specify one (or more) Principal Recipients (PRs) from the government sector and one (or more) from the various non-government sectors, including the private sector which includes unions (dual-track financing). 
 
What are Your Next Steps? 
&bull; Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget. 
&bull; Get to know the members of your country&rsquo;s CCM and lobby those who are potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 9 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at <a href="http://www.theglobalfund.org">www.theglobalfund.org</a>. 
&bull; Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS and WHO offices in your country. 
&bull; Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility. 
&bull; Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA. 
&bull; Access the website <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a> on which a guide to Round 9 applications is available. 
 
How Can the ICEM Help? 
The ICEM Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and mail inquiries to the ICEM Coordinator below. The ICEM has Global Agreements with a dozen multinational companies, which can be engaged in the fight against the pandemic. 
 
Above all 
&bull; Start today if you want to do something. 
&bull; Remember that the private sector includes business, and unions as the legitimate workers&rsquo; representatives. 
&bull; Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance. 
&bull; Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org </a>for further information and help.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-Bulletin: Global Fund Calls for Round 9 Proposals

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Citing the common threat of decent work life being destroyed by rampant privatisation, six ICEM Turkish affiliates have joined with engineering associations and a&nbsp;consumer rights group in building an active coalition to block privatising. 
 
Called the Platform Against Privatisation, the coalition&rsquo;s declaration states that &ldquo;the Turkish Republic has been losing all values and accomplishments created with sweat and blood since (its) establishment.&rdquo; The mobilisation of public resources has been &ldquo;given as gifts to the capitalist class,&rdquo; the declaration says. 
 
The coalition issued a 10-point agenda, including a determination &ldquo;to continue a struggle for the rights and interests of labour and democracy, the fight to resist practices such as subcontracting, removing union coverage, low wages, (and) flexible employment,&rdquo; and to defend the &ldquo;public management of resources.&rdquo;
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The declaration specifically addresses the current privatising of Turkey&rsquo;s electric generating and distribution systems and calls energy a &ldquo;public right for human life.&rdquo; In July, auctions were held on Turkey&rsquo;s first two electric distribution networks, and the entire power grid in the Sakarya region is proposed for privatisation. 
 
Chambers of Engineers representing Chemicals, Electrical, Geology, Mechanical, Metals, and Mining are signatory to the declaration. Also, ICEM trade union affiliates including Tes-İş (Energy, Water, and Gas Workers Union), Petrol-İş (Oil, Chemical Workers', and Rubber Workers' Union), Genel Maden-İş (Coal Mine Workers' Union), the T&uuml;rkiye Maden-İş (Mine Workers), Dev Maden-Sen (Mine Workers' Union), and ESM (Energy,&nbsp;Industry, and Mining&nbsp;Public Employees) are part of Platform Against Privatisation.

Trade Unions, Engineering and Consumers’ Groups Take Stand Against Turkey’s Privatisation

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Mining unions from Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Columbia met 19-21 August in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, in workshops to address enhanced union power in the face of mergers and consolidation within the mining sector. It was conducted by the ICEM, with sponsorship from Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, union-related foundation in Germany. 
 
&ldquo;We made an important step by bringing so many unions together to address the continued fragmentation of power among mining unions,&rdquo; said S&eacute;rgio Novais, ICEM Vice President for the Latin America/Caribbean Region.
<img height="210" alt="" src="" width="140" />
&nbsp;S&eacute;rgio Novais 
 

The ICEM provided a presentation on major trends in the mining industry that addressed how Latin American countries were targets for the major mining houses, companies that have profited from the unprecedented coal and metal commodity prices. The ICEM pointed out that without mining union mergers in Latin America, and the building of regional and global networks, mineworkers will lose bargaining power and will not be able to secure a fair share of the profits. 
 
Featured during the workshop was a day-long presentation by Ecliff Tantsi and Eddie Majadibodu of South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). They explained how&nbsp;NUM has built its formidable power under the banner of a single union. Their presentation included background on the history of the NUM, its structures, how collective bargaining is carried out, and how the union maintains both its economic and political power. The NUM also discussed how it assists other mining unions in Sub-Sahara Africa in union building and organizing. 
 
Participants jointly signed a letter to the government of Mexico protesting the continued repression of trade union rights in an effort to destroy the Mexican mineworkers&rsquo; union. And ICEM Colombian affiliate Sintracarb&ograve;n, the major mineworkers&rsquo; union in Columbia, reported new death threats against Adolfo Llanos, a union leader at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s Puerto Bolivar, and against other community activists. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda responded with a strongly-worded letter to President &Aacute;lvaro Uribe of Columbia demanding protection against death threats from right-wing paramilitary squads. Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-cast coal mine and its export facility, Puerto Bolivar, is equal parts owned by mining giants AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata. 
 
The workshop participants decided to: share information and work toward more unity among trade unions in the mining industry, particularly in Brazil; create Latin American regional networks among unions having common employers; explore innovative structures and legislative changes that would bring about greater unionization; and jointly develop solidarity actions and campaigns that focus on stopping subcontracting, gutting of social security benefits, and improving health and safety.
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Support for ratification of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, was approved, and the need for increased cooperation between the ICEM and International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) was also a subject of discussion. Only Brazil and Peru have ratified ILO Convention 176 in ICEM&rsquo;s Latin America/Caribbean Region. 
 
The mining workshops were attended by Jorge Almeida, Latin American Regional Secretary for the IMF. The ICEM and IMF are closely cooperating in efforts to build trade union power among Latin American unions.

South American Mine Unions Meet in Hopes of Consolidating Union Power

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont 
General Sondhi Boonyaratglin 
 
Government House 
Pitsunalok Road 
Bangkok 10300 
Thailand&nbsp;
 
Brussels, 5 October 2006 
 
Dear General, 
Dear Prime Minister, 
 
Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, today, the ICEM Presidium, the policy setting body of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions, demands the immediate and full restoration of civil rights and democratic freedoms in your country. 
 
The ICEM Presidium members see it as an important priority to lift the current martial law at once. In addition, elections need to be held as soon as possible. 
 
The restoration of fundamental human rights is a necessary and urgently needed first step so that your country can be put back on its route to democracy. As part of this, we call upon you to remove, without delay, the whole range of political restrictions that are currently in place, so that the situation for Thai citizens can be normalised. 
 
The ICEM is scheduled to hold its 4th World Congress in Bangkok next year, from 22 to 24 November 2007. 
 
Thanking you for your consideration. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary. 

Cc: Embassy of Thailand in Brussels

ICEM letter to Thailand interim government

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Trade union representatives from Sappi paper mills in Europe, South Africa, and the US gathered in La Roche, Belgium, 22-23 September, to discuss the South African-based company&rsquo;s European restructuring measures. This restructuring has already led to numerous &ndash; and sometimes massive &ndash; redundancies at several mills. 
 
The seminar, hosted jointly by the Belgian Unions ABVV/FGTB and ACV BI/CSC BI, was attended by representatives from both ICEM and the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF). The two-day event primarily focused on Sappi&rsquo;s &ldquo;Project Everest,&rdquo; a restructuring programme announced in February 2006 for the company&rsquo;s European operations. Project Everest is aimed at improving the company&rsquo;s operating income by the end of 2007. 
 
Sappi workers&rsquo; representatives from Austria, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, and the UK, who currently face different stages of the restructuring, shared their experiences, while trade unionists from South Africa and the US added to the discussion by updating the participants on situations inside their mills. 
<img height="285" src="" width="380" alt="" />
Union participants in La Roche produced a joint letter from the Global Union Sappi Network to company Chairman Eugene van As, stating common concern over the company&rsquo;s cost-cutting measures. The letter says that the restructuring is potentially damaging not only to the company&rsquo;s workers, but also to the company itself. 
 
The letter requested clarification of management&rsquo;s development strategy for Sappi. The letter also asked van As to direct his reply to Pasco Dyani of ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa, who serves as Chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Sappi Union Network.

Sappi Trade Unionists Meet to Discuss Company’s European Restructuring

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An eleventh hour agreement was reached late on Saturday, 30 September, just hours before 800 Canadian members of United Steelworkers (USW) were set to strike the Highland Valley copper mine and operations near Kamloops, British Colombia. 
 
USW Local 7619 and the mine&rsquo;s owner, Teck Cominco, reached a tentative five-year labour agreement that will now be voted on by union members over the next week. The USW local issued a 72-hour strike notice on 26 September, and the Vancouver-based global mining house began shutting down operations in anticipation of a strike at the expiration of a prior agreement on 1 October. The tentative agreement came with the help of a provincial mediator. 
<img height="50" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The Highland Valley operation is Canada&rsquo;s largest copper producer and generates 1.2% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply, with roughly 80% headed to Asian manufacturers. 
 
In Eastern Canada, a strike by USW members at Inco&rsquo;s Voisey Bay nickel operations ended 23 September, after 120 workers ratified a new labour contract. The strike started on 28 July 2006. 
 
The accord gives Voisey Bay steelworkers a 15.5% raise over the three-year contract, as well as a retention bonus of C$6,000. It also allows the nickel miners to gain parity with unionised Inco miners in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.

Strike Averted at Canada’s Largest Copper Mine

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