English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action Plan 2025-2029

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Campaigns

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Women

Youth

LGBTQI+

Gender, equality, diversity and inclusion (GEDI)

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A general strike in Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula that started on 15 May got the ICEM&rsquo;s attention and immediate support today. Called by the General Labour Union (GLU) of Yemen, the strike started because Prime Minister Ali Mujawar did not respond to demands for higher wages in the face of rampant inflation and a devalued currency. 
 
The strike started with one-hour work stoppages on 15 May and again yesterday, and will escalate to three-hour stoppages today and Tuesday, 18 April. If the government still does not respond in a week&rsquo;s time, the strike will occur over the whole day on 24 May. 
 
&ldquo;Following the sharp rise in prices and cost of living that has been afflicting Yemeni citizens in the last two years, GLU demands a rise in wages and salaries and the establishment of a minimum wage of at least US$300, instead of the current monthly salary of less than US$100,&rdquo; stated GLU President Mohamed al-Jedri. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="115" />
The GLU is also demanding a reduction in taxes, improved health conditions for workers, giving fixed and permanent jobs to contract workers, and improvements in living conditions. The government earlier had agreed to set up a joint committee to address GLU concerns, but that has never materialized. 
 
The strike was called for all workers in the public and private sectors, with the exception of emergency health workers, electricity, water, and air traffic control workers. The ICEM-affiliated General Union of Oil, Mining, and Chemicals Workers&rsquo; were expected to join the strike. 
 
The GLU consists of 12 general unions, 15 branches in various governorates, and totals 520,000 workers as union members.

General Strike in Yemen Gains ICEM Support

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Pulp and paper mill staff belonging to the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union of Canada saved their pensions at AbitibiBowater, but more importantly, they assured a future for the world&rsquo;s largest newsprint producer. 
 
And in the US, the United Steelworkers (USW) did its part to keep AbitibiBowater solvent and operating. USW members ratified a four-year agreement that grants the company immediate financial relief, but aligns four US mills into a first-time master labour contract and gives workers future job and union security, as well as preserving some of the best terms in the American paper industry. 
 
CEP members at 12 AbitibiBowater mills in eastern Canada ratified a five-year agreement in recent days with a 63.5% vote that grants cost reductions to AbitibiBowater, currently in creditor protection proceedings both in Canada and the US, but preserving pensions for both current and future retirees. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="108" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="185" height="102" />
A full year after pulp and paper collective agreements expired in Canada&rsquo;s east, the CEP declared at its Eastern Pulp and Paper Caucus on 14 May that the AbitibiBowater contract &ndash; covering 3,500 workers &ndash; is &ldquo;extraordinary&rdquo; because the Montreal-based firm is in Canada&rsquo;s Companies&rsquo; Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA). But the contract terms and future wage increases negotiated a month earlier with AbitibiBowater will set the standard for the eastern pulp and paper industry. 
 
&ldquo;CEP members remain committed to pattern bargaining and this declaration of our pattern for the industry is our best effort to negotiate a fair and balanced standard for the industry,&rdquo; said President Dave Coles. 

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="145" />
CEP President, Dave Coles
Provincial finance ministries in both Ontario and Quebec must still approve the company&rsquo;s restructuring under CCAA before the CEP agreement goes into effect. The agreement, dating back to April 2009 and extending until April 2014, calls on AbitibiBowater to contribute C$500 million into a union-operated pension fund over the next ten years. 
 
Coles said a newly-established defined benefit pension plan guarantees that &ldquo;never again&rdquo; will AbitibiBowater workers have their pension savings jeopardized. The agreement also includes a 10% wage cut, with wage increases to resume in 2012 and 2013. 
 
&ldquo;Our feeling is that you can always get wages back, but retrieving lost benefits, particularly on pensions is something else,&rdquo; stated Coles. 
 
In the US, USW-represented workers will take an immediate 3% wage cut, but will also recoup those cuts in 2012 and 2013. The master labour agreement, covering four mills in the US southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, will have mill-level expiration dates within months of each other in 2014. 

<img alt="" src="" width="125" height="165" />
USW VP Jon Geenen
It also contains a &ldquo;successorship&rdquo; clause, meaning in the event a plant is sold, union representation remains, and neutrality language guaranteeing AbitibiBowater&rsquo;s non-interference when USW attempts to recruit workers at non-union worksites. International Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads USW&rsquo;s pulp and paper sector, said that although negotiations were difficult due to the company being in bankruptcy, the new agreement gives the USW important bargaining table leverage for the future.

CEP, USW Rescue AbitibiBowater from Liquidation in North American Paper Talks

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the approval of Global Fund Round 10 grants, on World Aids Day activities, and on HIV and AIDS targets.
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Global Fund Approves Round 10 Proposals 
 
The Global Fund Board has approved all 79 Round 10 proposals recommended by the Technical Review Panel (TRP), at a cost of US$1.73 billion over the first two years and US$4.72 billion over five years. This makes Round 10 the third largest round ever, after Rounds 8 and 9, respectively. These decisions were made at the Fund&rsquo;s 22nd board meeting, held from 13-15 December in Sofia, Bulgaria. 
 
Unlike in previous rounds, the Fund did not have to delay approval of certain proposals pending further funding becoming available; sufficient funding will be available to cover all Round 10 proposals that the TRP recommended for approval. Also, the Board has not required that budgets be reduced. 

<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="53" />
The Board's decision as to which proposals to approve was, as always, entirely based on the advice it received from the TRP, an independent and non-political body of 43 experts from around the world. In total, the TRP reviewed 150 proposals, of which 78 were for HIV/AIDS, 48 for TB, and 24 for malaria. Malaria proposals were by far the most successful in Round 10, with 79% approved (as against 54% for TB proposals and 44% for HIV/AIDS). Over the last three rounds, malaria and TB proposal success rates have always been above 50%, but HIV/AIDS proposal success rates have always been below 50%. 
 
HIV proposals from the countries where the ICEM also has activities did not fare well: proposals from Botswana, DR Congo, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Mauritius, Mongolia, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe were rejected; most of these for repeated rounds. Only the HIV proposals from Guinea, South Africa, Zambia, and a smaller grant for Uganda were approved. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 135 of 16 December. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
World AIDS Day 2010 
 
ICEM affiliates all over the world organised or participated in activities on 1 December, World AIDS Day. 
 
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Oilfield Workers&rsquo; Trace Union (OWTU) organised an HIV/AIDS workshop in cooperation with the Humanity Fund of the Canadian affiliate Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union (see e-bulletin No. 63, December 2010). 
 
The Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa focused on their own staff and organised a &ldquo;Lights for Rights&rdquo; commemoration at the union&rsquo;s head office. Mary Nxumalo, National Gender and HIV Coordinator, spoke of a positive step in engaging trade union officials in dealing with the pandemic. 

<img alt="" src="" width="110" height="96" />
The Canadian Automobile Workers (CAW) launched its new HIV/AIDS information manual entitled &ldquo;HIV/AIDS: A Worker&rsquo;s Issue, A Union Issue&rdquo; on World AIDS Day. The booklet offers information on HIV/AIDS in Canada, prevention and transmission, model collective agreement language, and a wealth of other data. 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF) reports on activities of its affiliates in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Venezuela. In Namibia, the Namibian Transport and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union organised a trucker convoy which travelled through the capital Windhoek, distributing male and female condoms and leaflets. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Commentary by the Editor: 
Does the World Need More HIV and AIDS Targets? 
 
&ldquo;UNAIDS in 2011 &ndash; Getting to Zero,&rdquo; says the feature story on the UNAIDS website which introduces the new UNAIDS strategy 2011-2015 adopted by the Programme Committee Board in December 2010. The strategy aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, support, and care and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015. 
 
Sounds familiar? Well, yes, 2010 just closed without having reached universal access &ndash; a commitment from the G8 summit in 2005. And a few years ago the WHO &ldquo;3 by 5&rdquo; initiative to provide three million people with antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005 barely reached more than half of the target. 
 
Have such ambitious targets positively affected global HIV/AIDS efforts? Two views on targets are current. &ldquo;People need targets,&rdquo; says Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS head in eastern and southern Africa. &ldquo;Aim for the sky and you&rsquo;ll reach somewhere. Had countries been given lower targets, chances are they would only have realised half of that.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="218" height="109" alt="" />
However, Alan Whiteside, executive director of the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division at the University of KwaZulu-Natal says &ldquo;unreachable targets are demoralising and unfair to health workers expected to meet them with often inadequate resources.&rdquo; 
 
A closer look at the details of targets also reveals that &ldquo;universal&rdquo; and &ldquo;zero&rdquo; do not necessarily mean what is commonly understood by it. The G8 universal access to treatment target was achieving &ldquo;as close as possible to universal access to treatment of all who need it by 2010.&rdquo; As close is possible was often defined as 80%. 
 
And do not be deceived by the fancy zero in the UNAIDS &ldquo;Getting to Zero&rdquo; logo. The goal for 2015 is: sexual transmission of HIV reduced by half. Universal access to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV who are eligible for treatment is also to be achieved by 2015. But that was already the target for the year that just ended. 
 
We may need targets but we must not forget that the people who are held responsible for missing them are not the people who rolled them out, but the people on the ground charged with implementing them. And we must also consider that sometimes the goal posts shift and targets become more distant, as was the case when the WHO raised the recommended threshold for starting treatment form a CD4 count of 200 to one of 350. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Johannesburg, 1 December 2010; circular World AIDS Campaign of 13 December and feature story UNAIDS, 30 December)
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Drug Kit Helps Mothers to Protect Babies 
 
Close to 400,000 African babies are infected with HIV every year, in pregnancy, during birth, and through breastfeeding. The situation points back to the high HIV prevalence among women of reproductive age. Zambia, where some 85,000 women in the age group 15 to 40 are HIV positive, is one of the countries recognised for making progress in addressing the problem. 
 
The introduction of a new drugs kit called Mother-Baby Pack is expected to further reduce transmission. The kit is a pre-packaged set of medicines including maternal and baby prophylactic anti-retroviral medicines in line with WHO Guidelines. 
 
(Sources: IPS, Lusaka, 30 November) 

<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Indonesia: Dramatic Increase in New HIV Infections in Bali 
 
Bali's dramatic increase of HIV prevalence among sex workers has changed the face of the epidemic on this famed tourist destination of 3.9 million local residents. In 2010, 25.9% of Bali&rsquo;s 3,945 sex workers were living with HIV, up from 1.6% in 2000, according to the provincial health department. The HIV prevalence rate among sex workers nationwide in 2007 was 10.4%. 
 
The virus is taking hold of the general population in Bali as some 100,000 clients engage with commercial sex workers, of whom more than half do not consistently use a condom, and then go home to their regular partners. 
 
A decade ago, Bali's HIV problem &ndash; as was the entire country&rsquo;s &ndash; was concentrated among intravenous drug users (IDUs). HIV in heterosexual men and women began its steady upward climb in 2005 in Bali, as the number of new infections of IDUs living with HIV steadily declined. Needle exchange programmes as part of an overall &ldquo;harm reduction&rdquo; initiative targeting drug users since 2007 helped to bring down new drug-related infections. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Denpasar, 3 January 2011)
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Ethiopia: 5-Year Plan to Half New HIV Infections 
 
Ethiopia's government has come up with an ambitious plan to halve new HIV infections, quadruple its annual condom distribution and put 85% of people who need life-prolonging HIV medication on treatment within five years. 
 
An estimated 1.2 million Ethiopians are HIV-positive. According to the government, the country's national prevalence is 2.4%, with stark differences between urban HIV prevalence, which stands at about 7.7% and rural levels of under one percent. 

<img src="" width="180" height="83" alt="" />
According to UNAIDS, Ethiopia has already managed to bring down new HIV infections by over 25% since 2001. The country's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) says prevalence among young people is dropping even more; in the capital it was halved. 
 
While this progress is impressive, stigma and ignorance are still common among young people. According to a recent study, a considerable percentage of young people had never heard of condoms or had no exposure to them. One third of young people aged 12-24 felt that moral people do not use condoms; 48% of young people felt that condoms should not be used within marriage; and roughly half felt that condoms are used by promiscuous people. 
 
According to the five-year plan, the government also plans to increase the coverage of antiretroviral therapy from 60 to 85%. Close to 400,000 Ethiopians require treatment for HIV. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, Addis Ababa, 23 December 2010) 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
News from Global Unions 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF &ndash; <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>) in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 97 of 1 to 15 December, reports on World AIDS Day activities of its affiliates (see article on WAD above). 
 
The ITF also published an HIV/AIDS survey in the civil aviation sector in order to improve understanding of the impact of HIV and AIDS in the aviation industry.
<img src="" width="80" height="80" alt="" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="" width="90" height="81" alt="" />
The Building and Woodworkers&rsquo; International (BWI &ndash; <a href="http://www.bwint.org">www.bwint.org</a>) reports on in its work with loggers in Guyana. Guyana, a country of around 750,000, has an HIV prevalence of 2.5% in the age group 15 to 49. Thanks to the cooperation with the ILO and the support from the workplace programme of the US Department of Labor, HIV/AIDS workplace education and prevention programmes are now reaching even the most remote areas of the country, such as logging sites. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
Five Years Ago: From the January 2006 Issue 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In the January 2006 issue of the e-bulletin, we reported on the long overdue commitment by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to ensure continued funding for treatment-based grants when they are denied Phase 2 funding, or they are approaching the end of their term. (Global Fund grants are approved for five years but can be suspended on the basis of a review after two years). Concern had earlier been raised over the fate of the people on treatment when a grant is suspended. 
 
The situation in South Africa, at the time, was characterised by denial at the highest level of government. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) joined activist group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) to push for a new approach to AIDS. In a joint statement with TAC and the South African Council of Churches, COSATU said, &ldquo;We lament the continued refusal of our national government to declare the seriousness of the epidemic and to mobilise a response on the scale that is needed.&rdquo; The new campaign, which was launched on World AIDS Day 2005, was designed to more deeply involve unions, employers, and churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organisations demanded that by the end of 2006, at least 200,000 AIDS patients were enrolled for anti-retroviral treatment (the figure at the end of 2005 was 70,000). By the end of 2009, nearly one million were on ART; yet, according to UNAIDS, that is still only 37% of those needing drugs. 
<img alt="" src="" width="40" height="40" />
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 64, January 2011

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM participated in the Eastern Europe and CIS regional conference of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) on 3&ndash;4 December in Moscow. 
 
The conference brought together 150 trade union leaders from newly independent countries, to identify new challenges and search for strategies and solutions to fight the violation of workers&rsquo; and trade union rights. 
 
The conference was attended by the ITUC General Secretary Sharon Barrow; European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks:, Mikhail Shmakov, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and President of the PERC: and Igor Kovalchuk, President of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (FNPR). 
<img alt="" src="" width="221" height="138" />
Trade union rights was identified as a vital necessity in Russia and elsewhere in the region in order to develop civil society and democracy under new conditions of economic modernization. 
 
The conference agreed that in the current environment of the post-crisis recovery, a consolidation of the trade union movement is required in order to respond properly to the challenges common throughout the region. 
 
Speaking about the specific rights of trade unions in Russia, the FNPR&rsquo;s Shmakov drew attention to the need to liberalise the strike law. &ldquo;In our country, in contrast to Western countries, it is almost impossible to organize a legal strike, so we must strive to reduce the length of time for conciliation.&rdquo; 
 
Barrow stated that &ldquo;the attacks on the rights of the workers are a bad recipe for economic development.&rdquo; She added: &ldquo;The role of trade unions as defenders of the legitimate rights of the employees by conducting effective negotiations with the employer is extremely important for the future development of economies and societies in general.&rdquo;

ICEM Participate in Regional ITUC-PERC Conference in Moscow

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In Moscow, the Fifth Congress of the All-Russian Elektroprofsoyuz finished its work last week. Formed 20 years ago, the ICEM affiliated union remains as one of the most important Russian trade unions over the years, protecting the interests of working people. 
 
Throughout its existence, Elektroprofsoyuz has consistently directed its efforts to preserve and strengthen trade union structures, increase employee participation in the management of organizations through creation and dissemination of social partnerships in order to increase the social responsibility of businesses. 
<img alt="" src="" width="318" height="88" />
The activities of the union that have been directed at protecting the interests of members of the trade union in the framework of cooperation with state authorities have been significant, as well as the adoption and subsequent implementation of the guidelines of the trade union for the development of social partnerships, which have been very important. 
 
Over the years, everyone working in the power industry, in electrical engineering, and in the peat industry has seen real wage increases. The strengthening of trade union control over state occupational health and safety has led to a marked reduction of occupational injuries. Over the last five-year Congress period, Elektroprofsoyuz has given special impetus to the work of young workers. 
 
Today, the All-Russian Elektroprofsoyuz union has 672,824 members. The average monthly salary for them in the power industry is about 32,590 rubles, or US$1,051. 
 
At last week&rsquo;s Congress, Valery Vahrushkin was elected president of the union for the next five years.

Elektroprofsoyuz Union Holds Fifth Congress in Moscow

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
GSHNER Nezavisnost, the Serbian Trade Union of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy, and Mining Workers, held its Fourth Congress in Begrade yesterday, 12 December, under the banner &ldquo;With New Supply in a New Future.&rdquo; 
 
A total of 120 delegates from various branches attended as did numerous state officials, management representatives, colleagues from unions of UGS Nezavisnost, and European and global trade unions, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
<img src="" width="180" height="135" alt="" />
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addresses Congress
Manfred delivered a speech in which he praised the previous work of the ICEM affiliate in Central Europe and the tremendous reform that the union has undertaken. 
 
He called on all unions in the Balkan countries to join in unity and solidarity, and to form new joint approaches to the valuable work they do for industrial workers. Only through uniting and restructuring, Warda said, can unions respond to the growing challenges ahead of them. 
<img src="" width="193" height="129" alt="" />
Other guests and speakers at the Congress included Lief Sande, President pf IndustiEnergi (IE) of Norway; Peter Sokkers of FNV Bondgenoten, Ntherlands; Michael Wolters, IGBCE, Germany; Didier Baur, CGT-FNME, France; Kata Iveljić, President of the Independent Trade union of Chemical and Mon-Metal Workers, Bosnia-Bercegovina; Ivan Tomac, President, and Daniel Spiček, Secretary, of the Autonomous Trade union in Power Industries, Chemical, and Non-Metal (EKN), Croatia; Tomaž Kumer, President, and Sonja Kos, Secretary, of the Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber (KNG) Union of Slovenia; and Mato Malić, ICEM&rsquo;s South-East European Project Coordinator.

Nezavisnost Holds Fourth Congress in Belgrade

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
An ICEM affiliate in Finland, the Salaried Workers&rsquo; Union, or Toimihenkil&ouml;unioni (TU), completed a merger on Saturday, 11 December, with Suora and effective 1 January will become the 130,000-member union called Pro, a union for salaried workers in the private sector. 
 
TU covers some 250 member associations across Finland, and negotiates 47 collective agreements, while Suora represents workers in the finance and insurance industries, as well as white-collar workers in the gaming business and alcohol trades. 
<img src="" width="256" height="163" alt="" />
Antti Rinne and Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml; Sign the Merger Document, Creating Pro
Rank-and-file members work in a multitude of sectors as salaried employees, hourly paid employees, foremen or supervisors, and in expert jobs. The new union will organize self-employed professionals as well. 
 
Antti Rinne, the President of the TU, was unanimously elected President of Pro. A 48-year-old lawyer, Rinne describes the current situation among Finnish trade unions as &ldquo;the most critical period in history.&rdquo; 
 
Suora&rsquo;s President, Riitta Suonp&auml;&auml;, will become the new union&rsquo;s First Vice President, while Juha Kivist&ouml; was elected Second Vice President. 
 
The new union&rsquo;s website can be found <a href="http://www.proliitto.fi ">here</a>.

Finnish Unions, TU and Suora, Merge to Become Pro

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
Workers mining coal in a sealed-off coal shaft in Henan Province, China, died on 7 December when a methane gas explosion ripped through the mine. Twenty-six miners perished inside a colliery that was operating without authorization following a transfer of assets from a private mining company to a state-owned one. 
 
To make matters worse, the owner of the private company, Suzhuang Coal Mine Co., concealed the number of miners working the illegal operation following the late afternoon blast on 7 December. He first reported 13 miners were killed and actually hid the bodies of a number of miners to lessen the casualty toll. 
 
Regional police arrested seven people in total that were responsible for the falsification, including a local work-safety official charged with concealing the number of victims from investigators. The tragedy and cover-up occurred in Mianchi County, near Sanmenxia city in central Henan Province, at the Juyuan Coal Mine that was supposedly closed and under a safety review while the asset transfer was underway. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="146" />
Bur the prior owner, Suo Younggang, continued to operate parts of the mine after his licensing had been revoked. The mine was being transferred to the state-owned Yi Ma Coal Industry Group, which operates in five Chinese provinces and employs 50,000 workers. 
 
&ldquo;The mining boss had profits all over his mind and has no regard whatsoever for miners&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; said Niu Senying of the investigatory team in the Chinese sate press. &ldquo;Where are the supervising officials? How could the mine be allowed to operate illegally for such a long time?&rdquo; 
 
The mine owner and his collaborators first reported 33 miners were underground, and only 13 had died. Following the initial investigation, it was revealed that 46 workers had been in the mine, with 26 dying and 20 making it to safety. 
 
Also on 7 December, a roof in a shaft at a coal mine in China&rsquo;s Liaoning Province collapsed, killing four miners. The mine was operated by the state-controlled Caitun Coal Mine Co., located in Benxi city. And a week earlier, on 30 November, seven miners drowned 90 metres deep in the Yide Coal Mine in Hunan Province when shafts were flooded. Managers of privately-held Yide had been warned both orally and in writing of safety hazards inside the Xiangtan County mine. They, along with shareholders of the company, are in police custody.

Methane Gas Blast Kills 26 in China’s Henan Province; Bosses Held

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
In April, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will begin searching for union members in the metals and engineering sector who retired between 1980 and 2001. The reason is that NUMSA last month won a long-running battle through arbitration with South Africa&rsquo;s Steel and Engineering Industry Federation. 
 
The arbitrated judgement is an award for R20 billion (&euro;209 million, US$290 million) in surplus pension funds that had been withheld by the employers&rsquo; federation for decades. 
 
NUMSA fought in court and through negotiation channels for the right to disburse the surplus entitlement funds. The money was accumulated in both the Engineering Industries Pension Fund and the Metal Industries Provident Fund since the 1950s. 
<img alt="" src="" width="130" height="78" />
The surplus was accumulated and held when worker contributions to the funds were never paid out to staff who had not reached the vesting scale of ten years employment, or when NUMSA members failed to claim pensions when they retired or resigned. ICEM-affiliated NUMSA began battling for disbursement in 2001, but the case was not resolved because employers imposed many legal entanglements to block any disbursement. 
 
The Steel and Engineering Industry Federation insisted that South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act (LRA) apply in settling the issue. NUMSA and the Financial Services Board argued that surplus monies should come under the Pension Fund Act because the LRA had no provision for addressing pension issues. Finally, in 2008, the LRA was amended to address pensions and the two sides began negotiations. It was resolved in February through arbitration in the union&rsquo;s favour. 
 
Some 1.5 million former and current NUMSA members will now benefit. A total of R11 billion (&euro;115 million, US$160 million) will be paid out to former or retired members, while R9 billion (&euro;94 million, US$130 million) will go into existing funds to buoy those funds for the benefit of current NUMSA members. 
 
Said NUMSA National Benefits Coordinator Samuel Tsiane, &ldquo;Now it becomes our task to locate former members to deliver what belongs to them.&rdquo; Tsiane said a small part of the pay-out will go to the union to achieve this and in April, NUMSA will utilise 450 people to conduct an initial ten-day blitz to identify retired or former metal or engineering staff. The pay-outs are expected to start being made in September.

NUMSA Wins 20-Billion-Rand Surplus Pension Case

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A precedent-setting case for South African miners was won in the nation&rsquo;s highest court on 3 March. The landmark case is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa. 
 
The Constitutional Court ten days ago overturned a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement and grants a former AngloGold Ashanti worker the right to sue the company for contracting silicosis. The worker, Thembekile Mankayi, died six days before the monumental ruling, and now it is up to his family whether or not to continue the case. 
 
The Supreme Court and a lower court had ruled against Mankayi because he had received compensation under South Africa&rsquo;s Occupational Diseases in Mines and Works Act (Odimwa). He had received a paltry R16,320 (&euro;1,706, US$2,350) after it was determined he was ill with tuberculosis and silicosis from AngloGold&rsquo;s silica quartz dust after working inside the Vaal Reefs mine from 1979 to 1995. 
 
The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a June 2008 Johannesburg High Court ruling dismissing Mankayi&rsquo;s claim of R2.6 million (&euro;271,800, US$374,400) against AngloGold for lost income and other compensation. Mankayi was seeking the monetary judgement under South Africa&rsquo;s Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act of 1993 (Coita). In upholding the lower court, the Supreme Court stated that Section 35(1) of Coita barred a worker from bringing a claim against an employer once that worker collected under Odimwa. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="142" />
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni 
But in the 3 March ruling, Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe ruled that the Supreme Court &ldquo;had erred in concluding&rdquo; the two pieces of legislation had the same compensatory structure, adding the difference between the two was apparent. 
 
&ldquo;If Coida removes Mr. Mankayi&rsquo;s common law right to claim compensation for negligence, employees in his position &hellip; would be left without an effective remedy to rectify the harm caused by the negligence of employers,&rdquo; Khampepe wrote, adding, &ldquo;Mineworkers, African (ones) in particular, have contributed enormously to this country&rsquo;s wealth at great cost to themselves and their health. The impugned legislation affects many vulnerable members of society.&rdquo; 
 
Judge Khampepe ordered AngloGold to pay the court costs for Mankayi, and the ruling opens the way for his family to return to the Johannesburg High Court to again lay claim to R2.6 million. In a statement following the 3 March judgement, the company said if the executor wishes to pursue litigation there, &ldquo;AngloGold Ashanti will defend the case on its merits.&rdquo; 
 
Sadly, Thembekile Mankayi died of the disease on 25 February, leaving a wife and ten children. 
 
ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) hailed the high court&rsquo;s ruling, calling it an achievement and a breakthrough. &ldquo;For many years mining employers had sent hundreds of thousands of poor, sick miners home to die,&rdquo; said General Secretary Frans Baleni. We will remain &ldquo;at the forefront of ensuring that employers pay for their long forgotten sins.&rdquo;

South African High Court Overrules AngloGold in Landmark Silicosis Case

Archive