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IGBCE, ICEM&rsquo;s German affiliate, is squarely opposed to a plan by a conservative CDU candidate to cut coalmine subsidies. J&uuml;rgen R&uuml;ttgers, a candidate in the federal state election of North Rhine-Westphalia, has proposed cutting by half the subsidy. &ldquo;It is politically senseless to think about breaking legal treaties,&rdquo; stated IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt. &ldquo;If we half the coal submission, mass reduction of miners will follow. That will cost the state of North Rhine-Westphalia far more than the share of the reduction.&rdquo;

Germany’s IGBCE Seeks to Protect Coal Subsidies in Election

Harmony Gold retreated from its illegal retrenchments in the Free State before a South African mediation commission. ICEM affiliate NUM pressed the matter on the legal front, effectively gaining a significant social rights judgment from the courts in the face of Harmony&rsquo;s current hostile takeover of bigger rival, Gold Fields. 
The company had unilaterally abrogated a prior agreement and commitment by sacking 5,000 miners in a restructuring move. A court ruling and Harmony&rsquo;s retreat now means the jobs of the 5,000 are secured. 
Meeting in Midrand on 12-14 May, the NUM&rsquo;s Central Committee harshly criticized Harmony along with DRDGold, IngweCoal and DeBeers for job destruction inside South Africa. In related gold mining news, the NUM said a safety rep for the union had raised structural questions in mid-April about the Driefontein Mine of Gold Fields. The report cited the company with using temporary support structures in one portion of the mine while it was being operated. On 11 May, an earth tremor shook the mine, killing five and injuring three.

Harmony Gold Retreats from Job Retrenchments in Free State, SA

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Tripartite dialogue to achieve equal pay and rights for contract and agency laborers in South Korea has failed for the moment. The Non- Regular Workers&rsquo; Protection Act before the country&rsquo;s National Assembly has been postponed until a second extraordinary session occurs in June. 
The leaders of the two main national labour centers, KCTU and FKTU, ended their 12-day hunger strikes 3 May, and jointly stated: &ldquo;We deeply apologize to the non-regular workers who are suffering from various types of discrimination and employment instability, for failing to establish a law to protect them.&rdquo; The labour unions are seeking a legislated restriction on the usage period of such workers, a guarantee of employment stability after expiration of the term, and equal pay for equal work. It is estimated that some eight million non-regular workers are employed in the different Korean industrial sectors.

Non-regular Workers Bill in Korea Fails to Reach Common Ground

A despicable act of exploitation involving contract labour is in progress at a plastics factory in Australia. Ownership of Kemalex Plastics has caused a strike by a migrant workforce of women who are being threatened with firing and then rehired as contract laborers. Represented by ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers, the 55 strikers are resisting a move that would make them all independent contractors, thus stripping them of job security, sick leave and holiday pay. It would also force them pay their own superannuation. 
The employer, a maker of plastic components for the automotive industry, has attempted to intimidate strikers by sending hooded motorcyclists through picket lines. The women are paid just over minimum wage, and are seeking a 15% pay increase and a redundancy package of three weeks pay per year of service. The factory is in Dandenong in the greater Melbourne area.

Contract Labour Exploitation Causes Australian Strike

In the US, USW returned to bargaining this week with Bridgestone/Firestone (BSFS) in hopes of sparking serious negotiations, something the Japanese tyre maker has failed to do in over two years of bargaining. At a meeting 12 May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bargaining committee leaders representing 6,000 rubber workers at the company&rsquo;s eight US plants set an agenda of action and mobilization that will lead to a 15 July strike if BSFS doesn&rsquo;t get serious at the bargaining table. 
That will include factory-by-factory mobilization meetings by the entire union committee in June, and a mass demonstration at the US headquarters of BSFS in Nashville, Tennessee, on 8 July. That action will be in conjunction with issuance of a mandatory five-day strike notice. USW is seeking job security measures and commitments of capitalization and modernization to BSFS&rsquo;s US tyre operations. Such assurances have already been won under a pattern agreement with other major tyre manufacturers.

USW to Take Bold Actions to Achieve Bridgestone Contract

The ICEM mourns the death of Hungarian trade union leader Lajos Főcze, retired president of the Chemical, Energy, Paper and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ). He died 3 May at age 68. Brother Főcze was the first Eastern and Central European trade union leader to seek solidarity and affiliation with the ICEF, predecessor to the ICEM. 
In 1990, he was a founding member of the Autonomous Trade Union Confederation of Hungary and served as its president until his retirement in 1999. He began his career with VDSZ in 1974 as a specialist in workers&rsquo; safety and social policy. He was president of VDSZ from 1988 to 1999. The ICEM, along with the entire Hungarian trade union movement, will remember Lajos Főcze as a tireless advocate of a free trade union movement globally.

ICEM Saddened by Loss of Hungary’s Lajos Focze

Nigerian unions led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) called off a 16 November mass general strike after the government rolled back fuel prices 8% &ldquo;in the name of domestic peace.&rdquo; In September, the government again reduced fuel subsidies and imposed another round of higher fuel prices prompting a four-day general strike. The NLC says it will now rejoin a panel of government officials, parliamentarians and representatives from civil society to find a solution to Nigeria&rsquo;s refined fuel oil crisis.

Nigerian Government Backs Down; General Strike Called Off

ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT has voiced its opposition to a report issued last week by the Roulet Commission over recapitalization and partial privatization of Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF). The commission, headed by former Thomson SA and France Telecom chairman Marcel Roulet, recommends massive cost cutting inside the utility to prepare the way for an IPO to private investors. FCE-CFDT says France should exhibit responsible behaviour to EDF workers and French citizens firstly, and should not reduce the utility&rsquo;s level of activities to a single field&mdash;namely France and Germany. The chemical and energy union has vowed to stand tight with EDF workers to protect their interests.

French Roulet Commission Reports Brings Privatisation Doubts

The ICEM registered a strong letter of protest last week with the government of Serbia-Montenegro over the police beating of Electric Power of Serbia (EPS) Trade Union member Dragan Teofilovic. The trade unionist for the Electric Power Distribution Company of Belgrade was summoned 8 November to a police station where he was questioned over his participation in a strike last summer. Teofilovic then suffered head and arm injuries at the hands of a police inspector. EPS Trade Union said the incident is further proof that the government systematically violates human and trade union rights.

ICEM Protests Serbian Police Brutality over Electric Industry Strike

South African chemical producer Sasol had another serious workplace safety incident on 30 October when one worker was critically injured during a fire at a refinery in Sasolburg, Free State. The cause was a fuel spill that occurred during a loading process. Two other workers received minor burns. Meanwhile, a commission of inquiry into the 1 September explosion at Sasol&rsquo;s ethylene plant in Secunda, Mpumalanga, that killed ten and injured 100 has recessed until March 2005. The commission did conclude prior to adjourning that the accident happened when a contract worker opened a pipe containing flammable gas.

More Health, Safety Woes for South Africa’s Sasol

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