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About 3,000 South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases are pressing for their compensation claims to be heard by courts in Britain. The claims are against British-based asbestos multinational Cape. 
 
"These claims should be heard in Britain and should be settled quickly," said Fred Higgs in Durban today. Higgs, who is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), is himself a British citizen. He is in South Africa for the ICEM World Congress, which ended yesterday. 
 
"It is a disgrace that Cape is even contesting the claims," Higgs said. "It treated these people atrociously, and it should pay up immediately and in full." 
 
Many of the compensation claimants were employed in Cape's mining and milling operations in South Africa when they were children. That was during the apartheid era, and the children were forced to work in appalling conditions, with no protection against the deadly asbestos. 
 
In the latest round of the long legal battle between Cape and its victims, a British court ruled last month that the claims could not be heard in Britain. However, the claimants are now likely to take the matter to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court of appeal. "We believe that the rights of the victims have been ignored in favour of commercial interests," their British lawyer said in London. 
 
The child labourers who survived Cape's ill-treatment are now adults, and many are desperately ill. This week, South African TV showed pictures of their emaciated bodies. 
 
The case took a macabre new turn on Thursday, when between 200 and 250 unmarked graves were discovered next to a mine dump in Prieska, near Kimberley. South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is backing the claimants, believes the graves are those of asbestos workers who died during the apartheid era. 
 
"Delegates to our World Congress were outraged to hear about this case and about the latest discoveries," Higgs said today. "There were immediate consultations between British delegates and the NUM, and they agreed that the cases must be heard in Britain without further ado." 
 
Both British and South African ICEM delegates went on South African TV last night to call for the immediate hearing of the claims in Britain and the payment of full compensation. 
 
The asbestos victims and their supporters in the Northern Cape are planning a protest march to urge the House of Lords to allow their case to be heard in Britain.

Asbestos: South Africans' Case Should Be Heard In Britain

South Africa has signed up to a key international mining safety standard. 
 
The country's Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana announced the good news in a fax received today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines has now been ratified by the South African parliament, Mdladlana told the ICEM. Parliament also approved the accompanying Recommendation 183. 
 
On 4 November, the ICEM asked South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki to promote South African ratification of Convention 176. President Mbeki, who was the guest speaker at the ICEM World Congress in Durban, promised to raise the matter at the next meeting of the South African cabinet. 
 
Approved by the world's government, trade union and employer representatives within the ILO, Convention 176 sets out international standards for ensuring health and safety in mines. The ICEM played a major role in its drafting and adoption. 
 
The Convention came into force in 1995 and had already been ratified by 12 countries. Ratification by South Africa, one of the world's biggest mining nations, will send an important signal to mining countries worldwide. 
 
ILO Conventions are ratifiable by states and binding upon them. The related ILO Recommendations set out further detail on implementation of the Conventions. 
 
"We wish to thank you for raising this issue with us," Labour Minister Mdladlana wrote to the ICEM, "and to assure you that we indeed take the matter of health and safety of all workers, including those in mines, very seriously."

South Africa Signs World Mining Safety Norms

German affiliate IGBCE is calling on both the European Commission and the social partners in Germany to take action to strengthen the industrial policy of European nations. The union is seeking a joint approach including unions, governments and companies working together to achieve such a policy.

German Affiliate IGBCE Seeks Stronger Industrial Plan in Europe

Durban Roodeport Deep (DRD), the anti-worker South African gold producer, rejected out of hand affiliate NUM’s viable plan to save jobs and create opportunities at the East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM). The union proposed to switch to high volume at the ore-rich mines near Boksburg. The mine operator, citing the high Rand, is intent on phasing out operations over the next ten months, affecting the livelihoods of 2,600 miners. DRD has already reduced pumping operations which could endanger the surrounding area. DRD is the managing partner and 40% ERPM stakeholder in the enterprise called Crown Gold Resources Ltd. With Khumo Bathong Holdings as majority holder.

Durban Deep Rejects NUM’s Plan for Job Preservation

Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union National Secretary Andrew Little said New Zealand’s current high growth, healthy company profits, and a tight skilled-labour jobs market make “the perfect conditions for wage growth.” In calling for more and better levels of collective bargaining, Little said with economic growth nearing 4%, “working people should be getting pay raises of at least that much. Instead, they’re getting 2.5%.”

EPMU Charts Wage Growth Course in New Zealand

After intense bargaining going back to December, affiliate Papersindustriarbetareförbundet reached a labour accords 18 March with social partners. The wage hikes negotiated in pulp and paper are expected to be the benchmark for Swedish workers in all sectors, and fall within the functioning pay determination system of Swedish inflation. As negotiated by the union, pulp and paper sector workers will receive increases of 2.5% in 2004, 2.1% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. Achievements were also made to narrow the gender pay gap.

Swedish Pappers Union Gets Pay Accord in Pulp and Paper

Three months after European chemical unions and employers jointly applied for Social Dialogue with the European Commission, the EC granted it last month. New Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, welcomed the formal establishment of the Dialogue Committee on 14 December. EMCEF, lead organization for the unions, and the European Chemical Employers Group intend to use the formalized dialogue in the interests of both workers and the industry to create initiatives and enhance competitiveness of the European chemical industry.

European Social Dialogue Will Begin in Chemicals Sector

ICEM affiliate Indian National Cement Workers’ Federation’s annual Congress was held in mid-December and G. Sanjeeva Reddy was elected as President. Re-elected as General Secretary was N. Nanjappan. C.L. Dudhia chaired the union’s general meeting, held at Mumbai.

India’s Cement Workers’ Conduct Congress

The ICEM has challenged Norwegian chemical producer Jotun’s record of facts in a Turkish dispute at a paint factory where workers are represented by ICEM affiliate Petrol-Is. Jotun is violating global social standards by hiring more supervisors to avoid majority representation. The company is also misdirected with a public statement that strikers at the factory in Cerkeznöy, Turkey, are responsible for equipment sabotage. The ICEM and Petrol-Is assert outside contractors inexperienced with Jotun’s equipment were inside doing the strikers’ work.

ICEM Questions Norwegian Chemical Firm’s Facts in Turkey

ICEM Japanese affiliate UI Zensen’s Central Committee has announced it will launch a Spring Offensive this year aimed at achieving basic wage increases. Japanese workers have faced double trouble in terms of battered family finances after years of wage neglect, and heavier tax and social security burdens placed on working class citizens. UI Zensen’s courageous leadership is calling for a unified wage hike of ¥1,000 or 2.5% as the goal for the offensive.

Japanese Affiliate UI Zensen Aims at Wage Increase

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