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Two tragic coal mine explosions in Colombia over the past nine days illustrates again how deadly the combination of high coal demand is with inadequate safety methods. Thirty-two miners perished in a methane gas explosion on 3 February at two inter-connected mines in Sardinata, Norte de Santander state, while eight people died at an illegal mine near G&aacute;meza, Boyac&aacute; state, on 6 February. 
 
Among the G&aacute;meza fatalities was a 13-year-old boy, killed with 3 others by an initial blast some 160 metres underground. Four others were either killed by a second explosion, or asphyxia, when they entered the mine shaft in a rescue attempt. The proprietor of the illegal mine, as well as the three others, including the wife of one trapped miner and the brother of another, were killed in the rescue attempt. 
<img height="219" alt="" src="" width="300" />
In the deadly 3 February explosion at the San Roque and La Preciosa Mines, colleries without union representation, miners were trapped and perished 400 metres underground. Two days after the blast, authorities were investigating whether or not the mines had the proper permits for operating. 
 
The two mining catastrophes come at a time when Colombia&rsquo;s government fails to adopt labour protections, as stated under ILO standards, into the nation&rsquo;s labour code. The mining deaths also occurred just days before a 90-day review process opens on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, a market pact in which civil society is demanding those same labour standards be included. 
 
The Norte de Santander death toll of 32 nine days ago is the worst mining day in Colombia in 30 years, dating back to 1977 when 100 miners perished at the Amag&aacute; mines in Antioquia state. There are some 200 underground mines now operating in Norte de Santander state, which lies along the Venezuelan border. The high price and high demand for coal means operators are striving to meet maximum output, with little or no time for safety. 
 
The equipment at the San Roque and La Preciosa Mines was described as antiquated and rudimentary, while equipment at the G&aacute;meza mine was nearly non-existent. Mining there was artisan. Operators at nearly all of Colombia&rsquo;s small and mid-sized collieries employ short-term contract workers. 
<img height="96" alt="" src="" width="100" />
In Boyac&aacute; state, in central Colombia, it is estimated that some 100 coal mines operate illegally. In many, children between the ages of 10 and 18 are digging or carry coal to the surface. Many of the mines are unregistered collectives, unaffiliated with any company or enterprise. 
 
Much of the blame for last week&rsquo;s deaths can be placed squarely with the federal government, as can countless other safety deficiencies causing death and injury in Colombia&rsquo;s mines,. With a rigid priority of attracting foreign investment to Colombia, the Uribe government has been remiss to adopt global labour standards, while focusing instead on neo-liberal deregulation. 
 
Statutory changes, for instance, have weakened the role of state governments in monitoring and regulating work conditions, while federal oversight has been slow or non-existent. The proliferation of illegal mining in remote portions of different Colombian departments bears this out. 
 
The ICEM expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the 40 miners in Colombia, and promises to remain vigilant on the global front in pressing the Colombian government for safety and security, both on and off the job.
Click here for a joint ICEM-ITUC letter, in <a href="/en/?id=5&amp;doc=2146&amp;la=EN">English</a>, or in <a href="/en/?id=5&amp;doc=2146&amp;la=ES">Spanish</a>, to the President of Colombia on the disasters.

13-Year-Old Child Among 40 Dead in Colombian Mine Disasters

The 20-million-member ICEM strongly condemns the Friday, 2 February, rocket blast that destroyed the Gaza headquarters of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Jebaliya in northern Gaza. The blast and subsequent assault destroyed the PGFTU&rsquo;s Voice of Workers radio station. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM finds it totally unacceptable that peaceful trade unionists, working hard to promote the rights of workers, must work and live in fear of their lives and that of their family members,&rdquo; ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said in a letter to Palestine&rsquo;s President Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
&ldquo;The Palestinian Authority has a duty to ensure the personal safety of all trade unionists in accordance with internationally recognised rights, namely the right to life and freedom of association.&rdquo; 
 
The 2 February destruction of the PGFTU comes just days after the attack on the home of the labour federation&rsquo;s deputy general secretary, Rasem Al Bayari. It also came amidst the worst sectarian violence in Gaza over the past year. Since 1 February, 28 people have been killed in Gaza and some 250 wounded. 
<img height="183" alt="" src="" width="130" />
PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae'd
Yesterday, 4 February, PGFTU conducted a march and labour demonstration in Ramalah, rejecting the recent violent incidents and attempts to silence the voice of workers. PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae&rsquo;d said that workers reject the killings and destruction of property at a time when Palestinians need to face the impacts of poverty and unemployment. 
 
The ICEM, comprised of 384 trade unions in 125 countries, stands with the PGFTU in its call for a peaceful end to the sectarian violence in Palestine, and the need for a national unity government. 
 
To view the ICEM&rsquo;s protest letter to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas, click <a href="/en/24-North-Africa-Middle-East-/2125-ICEM-Letter-to-Palestine-President-Mahmoud-Abbas">here</a>. For background on the 29 January assassination attempt on Rasem Al Bayari, click <a href="/en/24-North-Africa-Middle-East-/2123-ICEM-Issues-Strong-Protest-to-Palestinian-Government">here</a>.

ICEM Condemns Attack on PGFTU, Destruction of ‘Workers’ Voice’ Radio in Palestine

The 20-million-member ICEM, the Global Trade Union Federation representing workers in the mining industry, today commended its Colombian affiliate, Sintracarb&oacute;n, and coal producer Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n for achieving a new collective agreement over the weekend. After the union&rsquo;s National Assembly of Delegates issued a strike mandate on 25 January, Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s six-member bargaining committee met with the management of Colombia&rsquo;s biggest coal enterprise throughout the weekend to achieve the new two-year agreement. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM applauds the fact that both sides saw the rationale to continue discussions even after it appeared a strike was inevitable,&rdquo; stated General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;This is a testament to the commitment that Sintracarb&oacute;n and the company has for the Social Dialogue process.&rdquo; 
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Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, with its three multinational stakeholders, AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, are partners with the ICEM and Sintracarb&oacute;n in a unique Social Dialogue arrangement adopted in 2004 in Colombia. The agreement, which also covers other multinational companies and several other ICEM-affiliated trade unions in Colombia, established a formal process for meaningful labour-management discussions between parties. 
 
Warda said it was essential that the three parent companies asserted themselves in talks over the weekend. 
 
The agreement, covering some 4,000 miners, awards a pay increase of 7.7% in the first year of the agreement, with a second year increase of either 1.5% above Colombia&rsquo;s consumer price index for 2007, or 6%, whichever is higher. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Sintracarb&oacute;n and its membership for standing steadfast in these negotiations in order to meet their other contractual demands. Those include sizeable payouts in both years of the agreement for university educations for children of miners; a series of bonuses for Cerrej&oacute;n&rsquo;s workers, which includes a ratification bonus and a set production bonus that will increase when the company&rsquo;s coal price exceeds US$48-per-tonne; additional employer contributions to a pension fund in each year of the agreement; and extra monthly medical stipends for family members. 
 
The ICEM is specifically proud of the achievements Sintracarb&oacute;n made for contract workers employed at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n in Guajira state. That includes bringing 80 temporary workers to full-time, permanent status; and enlarging the level of benefits for contract labourers once six months of employment is complete. One more requirement is for the company to conduct interviews with contract employers to ensure they are complying with Colombian law, and that this process is shared with the union. 
 
For further details: <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2105-Sintracarbón’s-Miners-Poised-to-Strike-at-Carbones-del-Cerrejón-in-Colombia">/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/2105-Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s-Miners-Poised-to-Strike-at-Carbones-del-Cerrej&oacute;n-in-Colombia</a>.

ICEM Applauds Coal Agreement Reached in Colombia

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ICEM North American affiliated United Steelworkers (USW) and Stora Enso applauded an innovative labour agreement at four paper mills located in the state of Wisconsin, following union membership ratification on 17 January. 
 
The labour accord, covering some 1,400 USW members, is a five-year contract that will now backdate to 30 April 2005. It expires in 2010. It contains wage increases of 9% over the term of the agreement, and a US$3,000 ratification bonus also was negotiated. 
 
The agreement provides job security for all union members against contract labour, and gives USW local unions a strong voice in workplace redesign and restructuring at the paper mills in central Wisconsin. Workers also will be awarded quarterly bonuses for the redesign. The collective agreement contains language pledging Stora Enso to be neutral in union organising efforts, and contains a successorship clause in the event any facility is sold. It also brings all the mills under the same collective bargaining expiration date. 
<img height="82" src="" width="150" alt="" />
&ldquo;These negotiations are a model for improving the competitiveness of the US paper industry in the world market,&rdquo; said USW President Leo Gerard. &ldquo;Stora Enso recognizes that high productivity is tied to high road employee relations.&rdquo; 
 
Added USW Paper Sector Vice President Dick LaCosse, &ldquo;The willingness of Stora Enso and the USW to forge a new path in collective bargaining will make the company and union stronger.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;Simply put,&rdquo; said USW District 2 Director Jon Geenen, &ldquo;companies that rely on confrontation with the union lose a competitive advantage. Those that focus on working with the union to find innovative solutions benefit from it.&rdquo;

USW Achieves Innovative Collective Agreement with Stora Enso in US

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The Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada used 22 January as a National Day of Action in Canada to expose a government devoid of effective policies on halting job losses in the pulp, paper, and the forestry sector. Together with local branches, the CEP waged a massive e-mail campaign aimed at MPs and Premier Stephen Harper, and conducted a symposium in Ottawa on the jobs crisis. 
 
CEP also aired radio advertisements across Canada, demanding urgent action from Parliament on the issue. 
<img height="83" src="" width="100" alt="" />
&ldquo;The industry is facing unprecedented hardship impacting on more that 300,000 Canadians who depend on it for their livelihoods,&rdquo; said CEP President Dave Coles. &ldquo;There are solutions to this crisis, solutions based on the fair treatment of workers and their families, sustainable forest practices, value-added productivity, and more. But the first step is to break the silence and open discussions with all parties affected.&rdquo; 
 
The CEP symposium on Parliament Hill heard from labour leaders, elected officials from affected areas, representatives from the Forest Products Association of Canada, and members of Parliament. Coles said, &ldquo;The survival of dozens of communities are threatened, and yet we have had very little response from the federal government.&rdquo; 
 
The CEP reported at an ICEM statutory meeting last year that, in the preceding two years in the paper sector alone, 34 full, partial, or permanent mill closures had occurred, costing 7,000 jobs.

CEP Draws Attention to Massive Job Losses in Canadian Forestry Sector

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
A three-week strike by ICEM Belgian affiliate&nbsp;La Centrale G&eacute;n&eacute;rale FGTB against ArjoWiggins is expected to end today at two paper mills. Union members over the weekend voted, by a 62% margin, to approve an amended company proposal that calls for a restructuring of the two Wallonian mills. 
 
Union members had twice before rejected the company&rsquo;s proposed social plan, once on 15 January, and again on 23 January. French-based ArjoWiggins is closing a paper mill and converting operation in Nivelles, and will transfer the paper converting portion there to the company&rsquo;s paper mill in Virginal-Samme. 
<img height="99" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The restructuring was to make 147 workers redundant, as well as 80 temporary employees. The company manufactures carbonless writing and printing papers at both locations. ArjoWiggins future plans for Nivelles are to use the mill merely for warehousing and logistics. 
 
The company and workers&rsquo; representatives, led by FGTB, came to a satisfactory agreement on 26 January, after pressure was brought on the company by both federal and provincial employment ministries. Belgium&rsquo;s federal labour ministry will conduct a final conciliation hearing on the dispute tomorrow, 30 January. 
 
ArjoWiggins is owned by the French holding company Sequana Capital, formerly called Worms &amp; Cie. Sequana is primarily owned by the Agnelli family of Italy.

Belgian Paper Strike at ArjoWiggins Ends

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The Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) on 22 January issued a call to enhance the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, in order for the Guidelines to become more transparent and more thoroughly implemented. The proposals from the DGB come at the outset of Germany&rsquo;s G8 Presidency term. 
 
The national labour centre&rsquo;s plan includes creating an inter-ministerial structure for National Contact Points (NCP) that will provide more efficient and pro-active case work. DGB also proposes to expand transparency among NCP offices through better public dissemination of cases, as well as insisting that the NCP&rsquo;s annual report to the OECD Investment Committee also includes those cases that the NCP decides not to move forward. The reasons for such decisions must be explained in a public declaration, DGB states. 
<img height="45" src="" width="81" alt="" />
A third proposal is to have the Guidelines codified in EU legislation, as well as established as the international benchmark for corporate social responsibility. In this, DGB calls on Germany and other countries to provide greater financial commitment to the OECD. This proposal also includes making the complaints procedure easier, and giving only MNCs who pledge, in writing, to comply with the Guidelines access to foreign trade instruments. 
 
&ldquo;The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises have proven to be the strongest international instrument to date for promoting corporate social responsibility,&rdquo; states the DGB. &ldquo;In practice, however, their implementation encounters limits. 
 
&ldquo;The DGB takes the view that the OECD Guidelines hold the potential to promote corporate social and environmental responsibility worldwide and to make an effective contribution to sustainable development and to the social dimension of globalisation.&rdquo;

DGB Trade Union Confederation Calls for Strengthening OECD Guidelines

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
German ICEM affiliate IGBCE has called recent statements by Economic Affairs Minister Michael Glos &ldquo;irresponsible,&rdquo; referring to the federal minister&rsquo;s remarks that the stock market listing of German coal and industrial company RAG as a publicly-traded company must be tied with the removal of coal subsidies. 
 
IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt challenged the comments on the eve of a summit on Germany&rsquo;s hard-coal industry, which began yesterday in Berlin. &ldquo;The economic minister endangers the coal discussions and creates an unnecessary uncertainty for 100,000 people,&rdquo; said Schmoldt. RAG employs some 100,000 German workers in coal mines, power stations, chemical enterprises, and in real estate. 
<img height="83" alt="" src="" width="66" />
Glos has sided with provincial authorities in the provinces of North Rhine-Westphalia and in Saarland, who have called for the end of German subsidies to the coal industry. He has proposed that the capital raised from RAG&rsquo;s listing could be used as a replacement for coal subsidies. 
 
Schmoldt termed the plan &ldquo;adventurism,&rdquo; and called on the federal government to take more responsibility to assure a future for the 100,000 workers. &ldquo;This is no way to run politics,&rdquo; said Schmoldt, adding that the workers of RAG expect to be treated fairly inside a publicly-traded company. He said the listing of RAG is an opportunity for the German federal government to create long-term employment. 
 
RAG is expected to be floated on the Berlin stock market in the second quarter of this year.

IGBCE Blasts Plan to Link RAG’s Public Listing with Removal of Coal Subsidies

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa gave Impala Platinum a seven-day ultimatum to respond to demands to improve health care services at the Impala Mine Hospital near Rustenberg, North West State. 
 
The ultimatum was given when miners staged a 23 January march on the hospital. NUM is protesting unfair and inferior treatment of union members at the facility. The union also accuses mine management, doctors, and hospital administrators of denying antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for treatment of HIV-AIDS. 
<img height="103" src="" width="100" alt="" />
&ldquo;We &hellip; condemn the collusion by both the management of Impala Mine and Impala Hospital that seeks to marginalize those not falling with a particular medical aid,&rdquo; NUM said in a statement last week. 
 
The collusion includes charges that managers and medical facilitators make gravely ill staff continue working underground, failing which, they are terminated with insufficient severance money. 
 
The NUM&rsquo;s demands include dismissal of doctors who are denying ARV treatments. The union also cites a host of incidents in which inferior health care was given. NUM said that if the demands were not addressed by 30 January, rolling industrial action would begin. 
 
Impala Platinum employs some 26,000 workers in South Africa. 
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
At another platinum mine in the country, NUM union members began a strike on 26 January. Over 2,000 miners downed tools at Modikwa Platinum in Limpopo, Northern State, demanding an end to racism. 
 
The NUM branch there states that both pay and working conditions for white workers is better than that of black workers. The branch union also charges that recruitment and hiring procedures are not evenly applied. 
 
The strike began at 06h00 last Friday, and branch leaders were expecting to meet with Modikwa&rsquo;s management later that day.

NUM Members in South Africa March Against Impala Platinum’s Hospital Care

<img height="40" alt="" src="" width="100" />
On 15 January, a death squad in Guatemala killed Pedro Zamora, general secretary of the STEPQ Dockers&rsquo; Union in Puerto Quetzal. The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) has pledged that justice will be done in what it is calling a &ldquo;dirty and cowardly act.&rdquo; 
 
Trade unionists are urged to respond to ITF&rsquo;s &ldquo;Campaign for Justice for Pedro Zamora,&rdquo; an immediate call to the Guatemalan government to bring arrest to the perpetrators of this vile crime. Please click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm">here</a> and sign ITF&rsquo;s Charter for Justice &lsquo;No Hay impunidad.&rsquo; 
<img height="202" alt="" src="" width="150" />
Pedro Zamora 
Killed on 15 January
Your help is urgently needed in order to put maximum pressure on the Guatemalan government. An ITF-assembled delegation representing a global labour voice arrived in Guatemala City over the weekend, and has called for discussions with police, state and national justice leaders, prosecuting attorneys, as well as President Oscar Berger Perdomo. The delegation includes ILO and ITUC representatives, as well as Spanish and US unionists. Trade unionists from Guatemalan unions ISCOD/UGT, UITA-FESTRAS, and USTAC joined the delegation. 
 
&ldquo;The Guatemalan government will never be forgiven if it doesn&rsquo;t investigate and then bring the murderers to justice,&rdquo; said ITF Gen. Sec. David Cockroft after Zamora was slain in front of his children. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a filthy little act that makes the blood of any decent person boil.&rdquo; 
 
Zamora, 43,&nbsp;was driving his car on 15 January after gathering his children, ages&nbsp;3 and 5,&nbsp;from medical appointments, when a white truck with several assailants in it pulled along side and riddled the car with some 100 shots of automatic gun fire. As the STEPQ union leader lay critically wounded in the front seat of his car, one of the assailants came up to him at close range and shot him in the face. His 3-year-old son was severely wounded in the attack. 
<img height="102" src="" width="102" alt="" />
&ldquo;Pedro&rsquo;s commitment to the union cause is the reason he was targeted for political killing,&rdquo; declared the ITF. &ldquo;His death must not be in vain.&rdquo; 
 
The port workers in Quetzal have been waging a battle to retain their proper trade union recognition in the face of privatisation. In October 2006, they took industrial action, and the strike was met by 300 armed riot police. Their grievance was the company&rsquo;s failure to negotiate a collective agreement, and failure to respect dockworkers&rsquo; views on modernisations to the port. 
 
The ITF delegation, currently in Guatemala, will also lend a protective voice to other activists of STEPQ, five of whom have received telephone death threats and have been followed before Pedro Zamora&rsquo;s death. 
 
Sign the Guatemalan Charter for Justice, and bring as much heat as possible on the country&rsquo;s judicial system: <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm">http://www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm</a>.

Justice for Pedro Zamora Campaign Mounted by ITF

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