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While the legal proceedings for over 400 sacked miners at Debswana diamond operations in Botswana continue on hold, the fate of their children’s education hit a sad, cruel end. Debswana, jointly owned by DeBeers and the government of Botswana, has dismissed from company sponsored schools the children of those who participated in a strike last August. The company does allow children of others from the mining areas to attend on a private-school fee basis. “Management has now turned to the cruellest form of torture methods in hitting where it hurts most, children,” stated Chimbidzani Chimidza, national chairman of the Botswana Mining Workers’ Union.

Debswana Delivers Cruel Fate to Children of Botswana’s Miners

An eight-day lockout of CFMEU miners at an Xstrata coal mine operated by Thiess Contracting Pty. ended a week ago when Thiess and the union agreed to a three-year deal. CFMEU won 4% pay hikes for the 250 miners in each year, higher superannuation increases and a payout to workers living in their own homes in Collinsville, Queensland. The miners were locked out after they had planned a four-day strike.

Lockout of CFMEU Members at Australian Coal Mine Ends

ICEM Belgian affiliate CG-FGTB has condemned Glaverbel Glass and its Japanese parent Asahi Glass in management’s continued refusal to engage in dialogue on irrational restructuring at AGC Automotive Fleurus in southern Belgium. The union, along with white-collar SETCa-FGTB, has been on strike now for three months after the company announced in December 284 job cuts at the 840-worker flat glass factory. Glaverbel has unilaterally said it would relocate some production from Fleurus, drastically rationalize both production and maintenance, insert forced flexibility by use of agency labour, and now has discredited and even blacklisted union delegates in their efforts to achieve dialogue over the restructuring. CGFGTB insists that only through real consultation with workers and their delegates will the operation become “liveable, profitable and productive.” ICEM is applying maximum pressure on the Japanese company to resolve the strike and begin good-faith dialogue with the Belgian unions.

Belgian Union Resisting Asahi’s Glass Plant Restructuring

<p>US affiliates United Steelworkers (USWA) and PACE will conduct concurrent conventions next week in which PACE members will vote on a merger agreement with the USWA. But continuing the unions’ two-year-old joint strategic pact developed to take up political and strategic social issues, USWA and PACE targeted 60 Weyerhaeuser forest products worksites last week in the US and Canada with the union message. PACE and the USWA are the ranking one, two North American unions representing Weyerhaeuser workers in forestry, solid wood products, pulp, paper and paperboard worksites. “We are stronger as workers when we work together, and we are demonstrating that strength to (Weyerhaeuser),” said Gerald Johnston, PACE Regional Vice President and Weyerhaeuser Union Council Chairman.</p>

PACE, USWA in US Braced to Merge

The Oil Workers Federation of Brazil (FUP) staged a 24-hour warning strike at Petrobras 31 March that saw 90% participation by the state-run company’s workers. Oil workers are seeking a higher dividend from the company’s profit-sharing plan. FUP had been conducting a series of two-hour strikes up to the 31 March action, and now has given the company until 10 April to meet the demands or face escalated strikes. The 24-hour strike last week came a day after Petrobras set a historic daily output record, hitting 1.65 million barrels of oil, a 0.6% increase over the prior record set on 14 March 2003.

Warning Strike Launched by Brazilian Oil Union at Petrobras

ICEM affiliate Power Workers’ Union (PWU) of Canada is protesting the province of Ontario’s decision to close five coal-fired power plants by 2007. The public-sector union took ad space in major provincial newspapers to say the US$8.2 billion in shutdown costs will be a further burden on price rates—already up 25% for most provincial customers—and the answer to Ontario’s energy future is a combination of nuclear power and better clean-coal technologies.

Canadian Power Workers Seek to Keep Power Plants Open

Rio Tinto Australian subsidiary Energy Resources may face prosecution in the Northern Territory following a March incident in which contaminated water from uranium processing was connected into workers’ drinking and showering supplies. Some 30 workers took ill. A report by the Northern Territory government identified serious breaches of regulations and NT’s Mines and Energy minister said a “lack of duty of care” by management exists at the Ranger Mine in Kakadu National Park.

Rio Tinto May Be Prosecuted over Australian Water Contamination

ICEM’s Global Agreement, as well as US affiliate PACE’s strategic accord with Swedish paper producer SCA were instrumental in bringing union representation to state of Arizona workers. In a two-day vote 27-28 May conducted by the US government, workers at a tissue plant in Bellemont, Arizona, voted for PACE 88-50. The union and SCA agreed to a “principles of behavior” code during the election campaign, which came as a result of ICEM’s Global Agreement signed with the company in April, as well as PACE’s cooperative accord signed with SCA in October 2003.

PACE in US Wins Union Recognition for SCA Workers

China was regrettably not alone in mining disasters of late. In Russia as well, mining accidents are the order of the day. Here too, they are frequently the consequence of aging equipment, lack of safety regulations and economic pressures. On 9 February, 22 miners died in the Yesaulskaya mine in the Kemerovo region in Siberia where an explosion in a mine was fatal for most of the 30 workers that were present in the shaft at the time.

Gas Blast Kills 22 in Siberian Mine

South Africa affiliate NUM has called the Harmony/Gold Fields decision by the South Africa Competition Commission last week “heart warming”, as it took a number of the union’s concerns to heart. As part of an ongoing saga featuring two South African gold companies, where the Harmony Gold Mining Company wants to take over Gold Fields, the Commission set a condition for the merger: it shall eliminate no more than 1,500 managerial or supervisory jobs. “The recommendation to save jobs, particularly at the bottom of the ladder, is most comforting”, said NUM.

Preserving Jobs Chief Concern to Harmony’s Goldfields Takeover

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