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Global worker No1 2022

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After a long process of collective organisation and negotiation, ICEM affiliate Sintravidricol of Colombia, together with the workers of Caldas Glass Company, VICAL S.A., achieved a significant victory against Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). The right to organise collectively was established, and the first collective agreement was signed by this group of workers. 
 
It follows a similar collective agreement covering part-time workers achieved with Peldar Glass &ndash; part of Owens-Illinois &ndash; at Zipaquira, Colombia. There, ICEM&rsquo;s Colombia Project successfully combined the federation&rsquo;s global CAL programme, and a Social Dialogue project unique to multinationals operating in Colombia, to bring full-time status for many of Peldar&rsquo;s temporary workers. 
 
The unionisation of the workers at Caldas Glass had been attempted by various groups repeatedly for the past 20 years, notably by Risaralda-CUT. 
The artisan workers at the Caldas Glass Factory make various glass products, using mainly only their hands (and lungs) in their work. At least 80% of the workers in the plant are employed through temporary work contracts, with tose agreements lasting less than a year. 

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Even workers with 15, 20, 30 years of service remain on one-year contracts, and its non uncommon for them to receive wages and social benefits late. Under these conditions, the workers took the brave decision to organise. 
 
The three priorities of the newly organised workers: to end the system of separating workers from their years of service by imposing the yearly contracts; full recognition of the union by Caldas and registry with the Ministry of Social Protection; and labour stability, a key component to achieving a better and more productive workplace. 
 
Impressively, early talks with management indicate that the new union will achieve all three goals. Caldas, as well, will meet with Sintravidricol in a labor-management committee to analyse the problems of workers. The union also has established regular meetings with the president of the company. In addition, the first negotiations achieved scholarships for children of all employees of thirty thousand pesos (US$2,200) each, a productivity bonus, and a salary increase, equivalent to the percentage of the minimum wage increase as ordered by the national government. 
 
The ICEM commends its Colombian affiliate, Sintravidricol, in this very significant achievement.

Hard Fought Victory for Colombian Trade Unionists

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The United Steelworkers (USW) is on strike in Canada against global mining giant Vale, as reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3315-Miners-of-USW-Strike-Vale’s-Nickel-Riches-in-Canada">InBrief 135</a>. The ICEM is coordinating global union solidarity among its affiliates for these striking miners and is asking its mining affiliates around the world to demonstrate solidarity. A letter was sent this morning from ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, urging &ldquo;We have an historic opportunity in an expanding campaign to confront a global corporation with global trade union power&rdquo;. 
 
More than 3,000 Steelworkers in Greater Sudbury and Port Colborne took industrial action on 13 July; strikers are now digging in as the strike enters its third week. 
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The local/branch of the USW has established a website in which the major issues in the strike can be viewed -- <a href="http://www.fairdealnow.ca">http://www.fairdealnow.ca</a>. 
Vale is the second largest mining company in the world. In the last five years, Vale has made enormous profits, with $13.2 billion (USD) net profit in 2008 alone. According to the company&rsquo;s own figures, each Vale employee produced $221,223 of 2008 net profits. Unfortunately, Vale has shared little of that profit with its miners. In contrast, it has paid six top executives $33 million in compensation in 2008 alone and had their pay increased more than 120% from 2006 to 2008. 

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Local 6500 President John Fera
ICEM affiliates in Africa are supporting the USW struggle, and in doing so, are increasing the pressure on Vale leadership to halt their mistreatment of their mineworkers in Canada. This is because Vale plans large expansion in the African continent and their reputation there will necessary for this. Creating a two-tiered pension plan, slashing the nickel bonus and seriously damaging seniority rights, is not acceptable behaviour from the Vale management. 
 
CUT Brazil and the United Steelworkers signed what they call a &quot;strategic partnership&quot;, last week, to support workers in their negotiations with the Brazilian multinational Vale, in both Canada and Brazil. &quot;The Brazilian workers organized in the Vale Union Network, part of nearly 150,000 Vale employees in 35 countries on five continents, are extremely concerned about the fate of the negotiations in Canada, since the outcome could have an immediate impact in the renewal of the collective agreement in Brazil,&quot; the CUT statement said. 
 
As Vale Inco spokesman Cory McPhee blamed the current economic downturn for the extensive concessions for workers, including heavy cuts to pensions, and to production bonuses, Local 6500 vice-president Rick Bertrand pointed out that Vale Inco has made $4.2 billion in Sudbury since it purchased Inco, late 2006. The ICEM campaign will continue protesting against mining companies, who attempt to take unfair advantage of the current economic crisis. Workers should not pay for the crisis they did not create.

ICEM Affiliates Demonstrate Solidarity for USW Striking Miners in Canada

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ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n in Colombia is calling for international solidarity for the outsourced workers of transport contractor SOTRANS. Those workers are being subjected to a fierce campaign, in response to their attempts to exercise their right to organise and bargain collectively. The new trade union SINTRANS, faces a difficult challenge, as all SOTRANS workers are contracted on a fixed term, six-month basis. Colombia has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98. 
 
The fact that all SOTRANS workers are limited to six month contracts, enabled the contractor to end the employment of union leaders Vicente Pomarico and Jorge Diaz, ignoring their protections as founders and leaders of the workers&rsquo; organisation and members of the bargaining committee. The company have since continued their strategy of persecution and harassment of the union, making 33 more workers, involved in the union, unemployed. Eighty per cent of the SOTRANS workers are still reported to be organised. The management of Cerrej&oacute;n and the Ministry of Social Protection have voiced no objection at all to this blatant violation to the right to organise. 

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SINTRANS is the first union of subcontractors at Cerrej&oacute;n. Sintracarb&oacute;n, with full ICEM support, seeks to set a precedent of SINTRANS at the site, an example for workers at other subcontracting firms there. There are around 300 contractor companies at the site in La Guajira, conducting much of the operation&rsquo;s work. The union continues to organise meetings and demonstrations at the world&rsquo;s richest coal reserve. There is no sign of the union backing down. 
 
As reported in <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3290-Sintracarbón-Seeks-Unionisation-for-Subcontractor-at-Cerrejón-in-Colombia">InBrief</a>, SINTRANS are pushing for two priorities, firstly full-time permanent employment contracts, and secondly wages and social benefits that are, at least, in line with the national minimum standards. They are currently paid US$250 a month. Subcontractors at Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, the world&rsquo;s largest open-pit coal mines, are often described as working in &ldquo;slave labour&rdquo; conditions. It is the responsibility of Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n management to block SOTRANS&rsquo; campaign of harassment and union-busting at their site. 

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Carlos Gaviria
Colombian politician Carlos Gaviria D&iacute;az, president of the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), has stepped in on the side of subcontractors, &ldquo;the realization of these rights is an indicator of the vitality of a democracy and the rule of law&quot;. Gaviria does not accept the claims from Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, that these rights violations are not their responsibility due to the &ldquo;independence&rdquo; of contractor firms. &quot;Outsourcing can not be a dodge to evade responsibilities and violate workers' rights,&quot; he added. 
 
Senator Jorge Robledo has also weighed in supporting the victimised SINTRANS workers, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the 33 union members sacked by the contractor. Robledo has also denounced the complicity of the Cerrej&oacute;n management. 
 
In unrelated news in Colombia, new ICEM affiliate Union Sindical Obrera (USO) are facing intimidation during their collective negotiations with petroleum company Ecopetrol. Thursday 17 July saw riot police attack workers at the Barrancabermeja refinery with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun bombs. Workers flocked to listen to union leaders at the refinery front door, but were attacked by the security forces, leaving 3 injured workers and arresting 2 more. The attack occurred two days after the start of the negotiations; USO suspended the meeting to focus on treating the injured and securing the release of detainees. 

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USO President Germ&aacute;n Osman condemned the attack. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia.

Temporary Workers in Colombia Attacked for Attempting to Organise

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Three days of international action around decent work for casual workers, yesterday, today and tomorrow, are marking the 26 year commemoration of the 1983 disaster at the construction of South America&rsquo;s largest hydroelectric dam. On 28 July of that year, two rockslides buried and killed 200 labourers constructing the Guavio dam. Almost all of those killed were temporary labourers. 
 
The first of the two mudslides came 70 minutes apart, the second killing all those who had come to rescue the victims of the first. Those rescue efforts were being carried out in the dark, after all lights had been taken out by the first barrage of mud and rocks. 
 
In all 3,500 people were employed in the $1.4billion construction of the dam. Many of the temporary workers killed in the accident were teenagers. 

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Carlos Bustos, ICEM&rsquo;s Colombia Coordinator, in Bogot&aacute;, reports that yesterday saw many, from civil society and trade unions as well as victims&rsquo; relatives, make the journey to the Guavio dam, 87 miles east of the capital, in Ubal&aacute; Cundinamarca province. The commemoration ceremony was carried out there from 2.30pm. 
 
Today and tomorrow, at the Hotel del parque Superior, carrera 5, Bogot&aacute;, events will continue around the anniversary. Those marking the anniversary of the tragedy, choose to respect those who died by mobilising the campaign for full labour rights for contract workers, including on safety and health issues. Current day struggles of temporary labourers in Colombia, and throughout the region, will be discussed, along with the action of the unions. Sintravidricol, Sintraquim, and Sotrans, will share their experiences. Tomorrow&rsquo;s part of the national conference on outsourcing will conduct a round table discussion, bringing together the Ministry of Social Protection, the ILO, ICEM, and the national command unit, which comprises the CUT, CTC, and CGT. The session will be moderated by ICEM&rsquo;s Christian Rivas. 
 
ICEM&rsquo;s affiliate Sintraelecol, along with the three national centres CUT, CGT, and CTC, and NGOs who attended, deserve much credit for marking the occasion effectively and continuing the struggle for decent work for contract and agency workers in the region.

28 July Commemoration of Colombian Dam Disaster, 3 Days of Action on Contract and Agency Labour

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ICEM affiliate the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) led a joint protest of all coal worker unions in India, against the proposal of the Indian Government to disinvest shares of Coal India Ltd., a state owned body. All coal mines in the country were nationalised by former President Indira Gandhi, because of malpractice throughout the industry, and the inadequate rate of progress in the development of the industry. The unions jointly submitted a strong statement condemning the decision to amend the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act and calling on the government to desist. 
 
The statement is signed by INMF President, Shri Rajendra Prasad Singh and INMF Secretary General, Shri S.Q. Zama, along with the leaders of the other coal mining unions of India. The statement argues that Coal India is competent as is, and a more effective way of improving its operations would be for the government to provide adequate facilities, and also for the coal industry to be given &ldquo;infrastructure status&rdquo;. All the trade unions in the Indian coal industry pledge, in the statement, to work together to faster develop the industry and achieve the goal of producing enough coal to satisfy domestic need, and avoid importing it. 

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Coal India Ltd. made a profit in 2008 of US$1.8 billion. Raw coal production during 2008-09 went up by 7.90 per cent to 493.20 million tonnes. Coal India Ltd. is one of 40 publically owned companies targeted for privatisation in India. 
 
The Board of Coal India Ltd. has recommended that 5 to 10 per cent government equity can be disinvested. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal accepts the recommendation and will now approach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Jaiswal plans for the shares to be offered first to employees, secondly to those whose land was transferred to CIL, and then remaining shares will be open to all buyers. 
 
The unions oppose the allocation of virgin coal blocks to private companies, as well as the transfer of areas currently controlled by Coal India Ltd. (CIL). The statement points to the private sector&rsquo;s record of exploitation of mineworkers, and the extremely low wages paid by private companies currently operating in the industry. &ldquo;We demand that all the blocks should be handed over to Coal India for further production of coal.&rdquo; 
 
Further demands made in the joint statement are for an industry-wide wage to be enforced by the National Coal Wage Board, and for the prevention of outsourcing coal industry jobs to private agencies. &ldquo;We demand that the contract workers should not be allowed to be engaged in permanent and perennial nature of jobs and in other coal sectors they should be paid minimum of the scale in coal industry.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM supports the campaign to oppose disinvestments and privatisation of the Coal Industry in India.

Indian Mining Unions Oppose Privatisation

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ICEM affiliate the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), this month, has stepped up its campaign for improved safety and health conditions for its members, working at BHP Billiton&rsquo;s operations in Western Australia. The concerns follow two rockslides at the Leinster mine in a month. 
 
Workers refused to work in the unsafe conditions until the mine had been officially declared safe. West Australia Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore had &ldquo;serious safety concerns&rdquo; for the entire site; the Minister raised the possibility that the Perseverance mine could be closed on safety grounds. &ldquo;I have asked the state mining engineer to give me his professional advice whether there is reason to stop the Perseverance mine from continuing operations.&rdquo; 
 
The moral of workers at the site was reported to be low. &ldquo;The crew are not in a good state of mind and are traumatised,&rdquo; stated one mineworker. 

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The first rock fall, on 10 June, triggered by a small tremor, brought down 500 tonnes of rock. Twenty-five tonnes of the rock fell close to a worker, Jason Rose, who was trapped more than a kilometre below ground for 16 hours 
 
The July rock fall was triggered by a seismic tremor, up to ten times more severe than that of the previous month. A driller was trapped underground for more than two hours, and another was injured 
 
AMWU secretary Steve McCartney said that these incidents added to a long string of safety problems at BHP mines. He added that repeated calls by the union to local government, to improve mine safety in Western Australia, had been ignored. 

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Five BHP employees have been killed in the last 10 months on the company&rsquo;s iron ore sites in the Pilbara region, in the north of Western Australia. There are disproportionally more accidents at BHP Billiton mines, in the state, than at mines run by other companies. 
 
Further safety concerns over BHP workers at the Leinster nickel mine have been worrying the AMWU and ICEM. It has emerged that when workers return home for their break, the majority drive long distances after 18 hours without sleep. This is equivalent to taking the road with a blood alcohol level over the limit. The company acknowledge the danger but have refused to change the shift times, or flight times home back to Perth. 
 
&ldquo;It seems that the workers at Leinster are not only subjected to safety problems at work but this latest information shows they are also at risk on their way home,&rdquo; AMWU Secretary McCartney said.

Rockslides at Australia’s BHP Billiton, Concerns over Mine Safety

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Earlier this month 10,500 electricians in Ireland took strike action, seeking an 11 % wage increase, which is three years overdue. The strike affected work at construction sites and factories throughout the country. Pickets were suspended after a week, on 12 July, following Labour Court pay rise proposals. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) was balloting its members for an all-out strike to support the electricians in the lead up to the compromise. 
 
The compromise deal offered by the Labour Court includes a 5 % pay increase. Employer the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA) accepted the agreement, as did the 10,500 member Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU); however another employer the Association of Electrical Contractors of Ireland (AECI) derailed the settlement when they rejected the compromise last week. 
 
If the AECI, an association representing three hundred small electrical contractors does not reverse its decision to reject the compromise package, Ireland&rsquo;s electricians will take strike action again from 1 September. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan has announced that she will intervene to encourage agreement between employers and the union. 

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TEEU General Secretary Owen Wills
TEEU general secretary Owen Wills welcomed Tanaiste Coughlan&rsquo;s intervention, but stressed that the investigation must be handled speedily if strike action is to be averted. If the electricians are forced out on strike again, it is highly likely that an all out strike of other ICTU unions will be launched in the construction industry. 
 
Employers in the dispute had sought a 10 % pay cut for their contractors, but abandoned those demands following highly visible picket lines at international companies, such as Microsoft and Intel. 
 
Element Six, formerly de Beers diamonds, dumped 370 Shannon workers out of work last week, and is only giving redundant workers one week's pay for each year worked. Ireland currently has the worst economic situation of all countries in the euro zone and is set to contract by around 8 % in 2009. Taoiseach Brian Cowen is attempting to garner support for the extremely unpopular spending cuts that have been recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

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SIPTU President Jack O'Connor
Union leaders reacted furiously last week when Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, appeared to contemplate a cut in the minimum wage if the rate is &quot;inhibiting job creation in any particular sector&quot;. Jack O'Connor, the president of ICEM affiliate Services, Industrial, Professional, Technical Union (SIPTU), called on taoiseach Brian Cowen, to &quot;rein in the hawks&quot; in the Department of Finance who were pursuing &quot;slash-and-burn policies&quot;. The government has now called for a two-year freeze in the minimum wage, currently at &euro;8.65 an hour.

Ireland: Electricians Seek Action to Avert New Strike

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Leaders of mining and metal workers&rsquo; unions from around the world on 13 July condemned the Mexican government&rsquo;s failure to bring justice to the families of the 65 mineworkers who died in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine on 19 February 2006. 
 
&ldquo;The Mexican labour authorities are guilty of a triple failure,&rdquo; said Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), in Nueva Rosita, Coahuila. &ldquo;They failed to prevent the disaster at Pasta de Conchos, they have failed to accomplish justice for the families of the victims, and they have failed to take the necessary measures to prevent future disasters.&rdquo; 
 
A special committee of the ILO, in a report issued in April, concluded: &ldquo;the Government of Mexico did not do all that was reasonably expected of it to avoid or minimize the effects of the Accident which had such devastating effects with the loss of life of as many as 65 miners.&rdquo; 

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The union leaders from Argentina, Canada, Peru, South Africa, and the US met with family members of the victims and with the rescue team that is working to recover the 63 bodies that remain entombed in the mine. At the entrance to the mine, they placed wreaths in memory of the workers who died. 
 
&ldquo;Mineworkers around the world are one family,&rdquo; said Tim Baker, an occupational health and safety specialist for ICEM-affiliated United Mineworkers of America (UMWA). &ldquo;We mourn the deaths of our brothers at Pasta de Conchos and we are outraged that Grupo Mexico and the labour authorities who are responsible for their deaths have gone unpunished, while the government continues to attack the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union.&rdquo; 
 
United Steelworkers (USW) District 3 Director Steve Hunt pledged his union&rsquo;s support for the families&rsquo; effort to recover the bodies of the victims, and challenged other unions to commit their resources to the cause. 
 
The delegation was organized by the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), the IMF, and the United Steelworkers.&nbsp; This was the last of the six-day series of events, which included a rally over the weekend.
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Joe Drexler, ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs, who also met with family members, commented, &quot;we believe that the refusal of the government and Grupo Mexico to recover the bodies is an effort to cover up the real causes of the mining disaster and the inadequacy of rescue efforts.&quot;
In addition to the USW and UMWA, the other ICEM affiliates to meet with the widows were the National Union of Mineworkers, South Africa&nbsp;(NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers Union, South Africa&nbsp;(CEPPWAWU), and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), alongside ICEM affiliate Los Mineros.

Global Union Leaders Demand Justice for Mexican Families at Pasta de Conchos Mine

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A planned strike yesterday, 19 October, by ICEM Kuwaiti affiliate KNPC Labour Syndicate was postponed after the company, Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC), met workers&rsquo; demands for better pay and staff promotions. 
 
The union said the strike, planned at Kuwait&rsquo;s three refineries and other oil installations, would be postponed for eight weeks in order to allow KNPC to implement an agreement reached before the weekend. On Wednesday, 15 October, the KNPC Labour Syndicate&rsquo;s board of directors issued a statement urging &ldquo;all employees and workers to stage a total strike in all sectors and be present in the headquarters of the syndicate&rdquo; on Sunday morning, 19 September.
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The strike call came two days after all three of KNPC&rsquo;s refineries were closed due to a power blackout. Although the 13 October outage did not cause any health or safety incidents, KNPC&rsquo;s refineries do have a serious recent history of safety mishaps. On 11 August, one maintenance contractor was killed and another badly injured when a fire erupted during the shutdown of a hydro-cracking unit at the Shuabia refinery. 
 
And in late June, several workers were injured in another fire at the Mina Abdullah refinery, KNPC&rsquo;s largest. A September fire at KNPC&rsquo;s third refinery, Mina al-Ahmedi, did not cause any injuries. 
 
The national oil company is mired in political controversy as it tries to construct the 615,000-barrel-per-day Al-Zour refinery, due now to go on-line in 2012. Currently, KNPC&rsquo;s three refineries produce petroleum products amounting to 930,000 barrels-per-day.

Kuwaiti Oil Strike Averted After Government Accedes to Demands

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In Australia, another round of industrial action by iron-ore train drivers of Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) is scheduled this week against Rio Tinto. The strikes are seen as a pivotal test in getting a company to negotiate collective agreements with Australian unions, turn away from the Howard-era individual work agreements. 
 
Some 30 drivers staged a 12-hour strike against Rio&rsquo;s export-hauling ore lines to the West Australia port of Dampier on 11 October. They will stage successive 12-hour strike actions this week on 22 October and 23 October.
The strike actions are protected activity since CFMEU conducted secret-ballot votes of the drivers. In late 2007, those drivers refused to sign renewal Australian Workplace Agreements &ndash; or individual contracts &ndash; with the intention of gaining a collective agreement.
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Individual work agreements for some 45 drivers expire early next year, and the drivers and CFMEU seek enterprise agreements and fair wage gains. But Rio Tinto has refused to enter negotiations with the union, preferring individual contracts with the locomotive drivers, who are crucial to Rio&rsquo;s mineral export profits from Australia. 
 
The drivers seek a wage increase of 4.75%, which is the rate of West Australia&rsquo;s economic growth, and they seek continuation of an A$20,000 bonus when Rio Tinto switches to driver-less trains in 2012. CFMEU West Australia Mining and Energy Secretary Gary Wood said continuing strike actions are likely unless Rio Tinto comes to the bargaining table. As 2009 approaches, more of the company&rsquo;s 300 train drivers could vote for similar industrial action as their individual agreements expire. 
 
Legislation repealing the individual work agreement portion of John Howard&rsquo;s WorkChoices law will not take effect until July 2009, meaning companies are not compelled to bargain with unions until then. But that does not prohibit Australian trade unions from taking industrial action, as long as the necessary protocols are followed.
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State politicians and others are urging Rio Tinto to begin informal talks with the CFMEU. Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Sharan Burrow commented on the industrial actions by stating the company&rsquo;s refusal to negotiate is directly contrary to ILO Convention 98. &ldquo;Rio Tinto is saying, &lsquo;You can be a member of the union, but we&rsquo;re not going to sit down and talk to you collectively.&rsquo;&rdquo; She added it is an insult to the drivers to have their future job design and job security decided without collective consultation. 
 
The job actions by train drivers and their union in northwest Australia are necessary pressure tactics in getting an employer to reverse itself from former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s draconian and company-dominated labour statutes. The ICEM salutes the direct action taken of late by these workers at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Hamersly and Pilbara Iron Ore subsidiaries.

Rio Tinto’s Iron-Ore Train Drivers Reject Individual Work Agreements with Industrial Action

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