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The ICEM hosted leaders of its two oil and gas workers&rsquo; unions of Nigeria on 18 June. Elected officers from NUPENG, the blue-collar union, and PENGASSAN, representing white-collar workers, visited the ICEM&rsquo;s headquarters in Geneva. 
 
With General Secretary Manfred Warda and Energy Officer and Director of Organisation Jim Catterson present, the Nigerian trade unionists discussed the difficulties of security for workers in the Niger Delta brought on violence and kidnappings, and also the growing casualisation arising in oil and gas in Nigeria. 
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Taking part in the discussions were PENGASSAN General Secretary Bayo Olowoshile and NUPENG General President Peter Akpatason, as well PENGASSAN leaders Stephen Ereyukomhen, Sunday Oginni, and Adamu Unoru. 
 
On the issue of physical security in the Niger Delta, the trade union leaders said it was wrong for the government to be shifting responsibility to the oil and gas operators in the region. The Nigerians also outlined labour law changes enacted over the past few years that are detrimental to workers. 

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Regarding casualisation, there is constant abuse of agree-upon quotas for expatriate workers, and the oil and gas workers&rsquo; leaders emphasized that with the use of more and more casual workers, career development and job careers for Nigerians is being marginalized. 
 
They also expressed concern that outsourcing is being directed at incompetent and poorly trained workers, and that is creating safety hazards in the industry. They expressed regret that the government has not committed to stem the growing use of casual workers. 
 
Finally, NUPENG and PENGASSAN leadership discussed with the ICEM the rising number of Chinese exploration and development companies that are entering the oil patch of southern Nigeria.

ICEM Hosts Nigerian Union Leaders from NUPENG, PENGASSAN

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Two miners in South Africa died on 20 June deep inside South Africa&rsquo;s biggest gold mine, the Driefontein mine owned by Gold Fields. They died when an earth tremor, registering 3.5 on the Richter scale, caused a shift of rock. Eight other miners were rescued, three of whom were hospitalized. One miner is suffering with serious injuries. 
 
It was the second accident caused by a shift ground at Gold Fields&rsquo; mines in a month. On 20 May, two miners died deep in the earth at the company&rsquo;s Kloof mine near Westonia in West Rand. A day earlier, one miner at Kloof died in a similar but separate accident. 

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The tragedy that occurred 20 June at Driefontein near Carletonville caused mine production to halt for four days. The spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Lesiba Seshoka, called the latest accident deeply disappointing. &ldquo;There doesn&rsquo;t seem to be any willingness to improve safety,&rdquo; he said. 
 
Gold Fields, the world&rsquo;s fourth largest gold miner with operations in Australia, Ghana, Peru, and South Africa, said in a statement to financial markets late last week that it has had 20 mining fatalities since July 2008. All have occurred in South Africa. In the first six months of 2008, 23 of 87 mine fatalities in South Africa occurred in mines operated by Gold Fields.

Gold Fields Struck by 5 South African Mining Deaths in Past Month

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Germany&rsquo;s two biggest industrial unions, ICEM affiliate IGBCE and IG Metall, urgently called upon elected officials and employers within Germany to begin a constructive dialogue on overcoming the consequences of the current global crisis. The unions recently issued a joint statement to draw attention to the fact that economic and industrial policy challenges cannot be undertaken with mere &quot;cosmetic adjustments without a genuine substance.&quot; 
 
In cooperation with the Hans B&ouml;ckler Foundation, IGBCE and IG Metall organised a joint conference in Oberhausen, Germany, entitled &ldquo;Industrial Policy for Tomorrow.&rdquo; 
 
&ldquo;The industrial base of our economy must be strengthened to lay the foundations of sustained growth and prosperity,&rdquo; said IGBCE board member Michael Vassiliadis. 

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Added Berthold Huber, President of IG Metall, &ldquo;We need a bridge over the crisis and it must lead to the other shore and not back to the same shore. We must now have a model for a sustainable industrial policy.&rdquo; 
 
In the joint statement, the unions warn of the danger that industrial cores could be lost and entire value-chains in industrial processes might collapse. Therefore, the unions call on the German government to provide &ldquo;short term loans and guarantees, and to generate additional demand.&rdquo; 
 
Specifically, IGBCE and IG Metall call for a public equity fund, effective protections for companies to secure jobs, the adoption of a sustainable industrial policy that would replace unregulated markets, comprehensive social-democratic participation rights, decent work, regulated labour markets, and a coordinated industrial policy for all of Europe.

IGBCE, IG Metall in Germany Combine to Demand Sustainable Industrial Policy

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This month&rsquo;s 98th Session of the ILO Conference adopted a landmark Global Jobs Pact on 19 June. The accord, called a Jobs Pact, was agreed to by governments, trade unions, and employers, and lays out a template for economic recovery and reform. 
 
Jobs, workers&rsquo; rights, social protections, quality public services, and sustainability are at the heart of the proposal for a new system of global governance, said International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder. 

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ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder
Global labour unions fear that the ILO will return to a course of business as usual, and that world economic institutions will continue with the failed policies of free-market radicalism. Some commentators say that the financial crisis has already bottomed out and recovery is now imminent, but voices at the 19 June ILO session argue that the affect of lost jobs will be lasting and devastating. 
 
The Jobs Pact is seen as an alternative to shocking ILO projections that the crisis will push 50 million workers into unemployment, and that 200 million of the world&rsquo;s population will be pushed into extreme poverty. The creation of sustainable jobs is essential, as is the fight against climate change. 
 
Another aspect of the Jobs Pact is the high level of importance given to tripartite dialogue, social dialogue, and collective bargaining. High standards of working conditions and improved wages are vital, along with education and training programmes for the unemployed. The Jobs Pact calls for increased implementation of public-sector job creation schemes. 
 
The Global Jobs Pact signifies an important and significant step forward. Implementation must now occur. The ICEM supports demands for concrete results before the next G20 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, on 24-25 September 2009.

ILO’s Jobs Pact; a Solid Proposal for Exiting the Financial Crisis

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The ICEM reviewed and extended its Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with French-based chemical multinational Rhodia covering 15,000 workers in March 2008 with a series of new initiatives. One of those includes a joint initiative on workers&rsquo; health and safety through a global safety partnership committee. 
 
ICEM and Rhodia agreed to have an addendum to the agreement that clarifies terms and conditions of the global committee. This is expected to be finalised this autumn following ICEM consultations with its affiliated unions that represent Rhodia workers. 
 
While the discussions are ongoing, a first-ever joint activity regarding health and safety was held at Rhodia&rsquo;s subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany, on 19 June. 

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The ICEM was represented by Chemicals and Rubber Officers Kemal &Ouml;zkan and Health, Safety, and Sustainable Development Officer Brian Kohler, and representatives from German affiliated union IGBCE, which represents workers at the plant, attended. The IGBCE&rsquo;s Michael Wolters from union headquarters in Hannover was present, as was IGBCE regional representative Wilfried Pernshorn, and Works Council members Cornelia Kainz and Hans Peter Rich. 
 
Rhodia was represented by Yolene Coppin, Jacques Kheliff, and Jean Paul Perez, all from the company&rsquo;s Paris headquarters, and by Raimund Hinsen, Uwe M&auml;nnel, and Hans-Ulrich Lutz, managers at the Freiburg plant. 
 
That facility, called Rhodia Acetow, produces chemicals such as filters, flakes, and anhydrides. The joint mission heard presentations on the plant&rsquo;s economic and employment situation, and on health, safety, and environmental indicators. After touring the various sections of the plant, the group made an evaluation on the current situation of Rhodia Acetow and discussed a future action plan. 
 
&ldquo;This is an important step forward in the GFA with Rhodia,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;Dealing with health and safety at the global scale, using the substantial contributions offered on a plant by plant basis, will keep standards high and serve to harmonise the standards across all company plants throughout the world.&rdquo;

ICEM, Rhodia Take Health, Safety Agenda to Shop Floor in Freiburg, Germany

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A unique happenstance followed an ICEM workshop on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) in Guinea recently: the Industrial Relations manager of Russian bauxite and steel producer RUSAL was expelled from the country following revelations at the conference of the company&rsquo;s horrid labour practices in Guinea. 
 
Mineworkers in Guinea, backed by leaders of the trade union federations, provided vivid evidence on working conditions, including child labour, at Compagnie des Bauxite de Kindla, RUSAL&rsquo;s joint venture bauxite mining concern with the government. 
 
The testimony resulted in the government, led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, to expel Anatoly Pantchenko from Guinea. 
 
Trade unionists told how the RUSAL manager had organized a culture of outsourcing at the mine and at RUSAL&rsquo;s wholly-owned Friguia alumina smelting plant. The company utilises some 120 outsourcing companies. Discussion centered on how the system has aggravated poverty and created extremely poor work conditions and salaries, leaving workers under RUSAL&rsquo;s umbrella with little means for improved living conditions. 

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From left to right: Ibrahima Fofana, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, Manfred Warda and Yamodou Tour&eacute;
The report was not new to the ICEM. In 2007, after street protests in Guinea loosened the dictatorial powers of President Lansana Cont&eacute;, Rabiatou Sereh Diallo, General Secretary of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG), visited the ICEM in Brussels. She and other trade union leaders from Guinea then told how RUSAL relies heavily on &ldquo;phantom&rdquo; subcontracting companies that are tied to Cont&eacute; associates. 
 
In December 2008, following the death of Cont&eacute;, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara and a team of military officers took over the country. They immediately forged relations with the three main trade union federations and pledged to end corruption in the mining sector. 
 
Since then, relations between RUSAL and the government have been tenuous, and ICEM&rsquo;s CAL workshops in May provided all the evidence Moussa Camara needed to expel RUSAL&rsquo;s top manager from Guinea. In mid-April, workers at the Friguia refinery staged a strike, and RUSAL &ndash; now the world&rsquo;s second largest steelmaker &ndash; said the work stoppage was instigated by the government. 

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The ICEM&rsquo;s CAL conference agreed on a plan of action for Guinea&rsquo;s mining sector, which will see trade unions and the government push for a review of the national mining convention, a code that became obsolete and neglected under the corrupt Cont&eacute; regime. Such a review will make it possible to properly address outsourcing, as well as to include guarantees on working conditions in employment contracts. 
 
A new committee was established with the government that is tasked with carrying out the review. The committee is composed of 13 members, two of whom are trade union leaders. 
 
The West African nation of Guinea holds two-thirds of the world&rsquo;s bauxite deposits. A second multinational bauxite miner, called Halco, also operates in Guinea. But trade unionists tell the ICEM that work conditions there are far superior&nbsp;to those existing at RUSAL. Halco is an enterprise 51% owned by US-based Alcoa World Alumina and Alcan of Canada, with the remainder owned by Guinea&rsquo;s government.

ICEM’s Contract Labour Forum in Guinea Forces Expulsion of Russian Mine Boss

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The ICEM calls on South African pulp, paper, and woodlands company Sappi to cease disciplinary matters against 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers at the Enstra mill in Gauteng province. The ICEM supports its South African affiliate, Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), in its rigorous defense of the 42. 
 
The paperworkers are charged with inciting three safety strikes in May at the 700-worker pulp, printing, and graphics paper mill near Johannesburg. The incident started when shop stewards prevented a worker from doing unsafe work. That worker is now one of the 23 workers still on the job that Sappi now wants to suspend for one week without pay, and issue final written warnings to. 
 
The 19 shop stewards, the mill&rsquo;s entire CEPPWAWU representation team, have already been suspended, and await further discipline at meetings on 7-8 July. 

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The safety strikes took place on 5 May, 8 May, and 28 May. The worker was assigned to do cleaning in a part of the paper mill that a piece of equipment normally performs. When shop stewards protested the unsafe act, management hardened and the safety strikes began. The matter was compounded when a joint labour-management report on the safety incident and subsequent strikes was ignored by the mill manager. 
 
In a 16 June ICEM letter to Sappi, the Global Union Federation told Sappi to drop the disciplinary procedures at the Enstra mill and to &ldquo;get on with building a trusting labour-management relationship at Enstra.&rdquo; The ICEM noted in the letter that Sappi had been engaged over the past six months in building a better labour relations climate at the mill, but failure to follow through with the findings contained in the joint investigatory report was a breach of trust. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM strongly believes the first and most important component in building a trusting and lasting relationship in labour-management relations must be safety,&rdquo; read the letter. 
 
The ICEM also believes Sappi violates global labour standards at Enstra, not least of which was suspending all CEPPWAWU shop stewards and discrimination in bringing separate sets of charges against the 23 workers and the 19 duly-elected shop stewards. 
 
Some 90% of Enstra workers are CEPPWAWU members.

ICEM Calls on Papermaker Sappi to Halt Safety Discipline

The 19 February gas explosion that killed 65 miners at Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Industria Mineral Mexicana subsidiary proves again the immediate necessity to improve safety and training in underground mining, particularly during times of high pricing and high demand for coal. 
 
Twenty-five of those killed at the Pasta de Conchos No. 8 mine near San Juande Sabinas, northern Coahuila State, were members of Section 13 of Mexico&rsquo;s Miners &amp; Metalworkers Union (SNTMMSRM), an affiliate of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF). 

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Many others were short-term contract workers who were given no training, insufficient oxygen supply devices, and were sent deep into shafts within a day of being hired. Mexican government and company statements on safety precautions and equipment on this mine disaster contradict with what miners actually had available to them. 
 
The United Steelworkers of the US, which signed a strategic alliance with SNTMMSRM in April 2005, pledged financial and technical support to the union in the immediate aftermath of the blast. The IMF underscored the Mexican union&rsquo;s charge that this was &ldquo;industrial homicide&rdquo; and must be investigated and denounced as such. 
&ldquo;Grupo Mexico shareholders and directors and whoever is responsible for this crime, caused by greed, repression and insensitivity should be charged and punished accordingly,&rdquo; said SNTMMSRM and the IMF.

Mexican Coal Mine Blast Termed ‘Industrial Homicide’

A general strike last week by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a pro-labour panel of lawmakers working inside a plenary session of South Korea&rsquo;s National Assembly blocked three bills regarding non-regular workers from reaching final approval. 
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The strikes, in which 300,000 workers took part, occurred on Tuesday and Thursday, 28 February and 2 March. (1 March was an official Korean holiday.) The lawmakers, primarily from the progressive Democratic Labor Party, took over a parliamentary session on 2 March to temporarily derail passage. 
 
The bills were approved by the Assembly&rsquo;s Environment and Labor Committee on 27 February, but action in the streets and inside the plenary session prevented final approval prior to the Assembly closing its session on 2 March. The issue is certain to meet further review and more public protests when the Assembly reconvenes on 20 March in an extraordinary session. 
 
The proposed legislation would do little to improve conditions for temporary and agency workers, but instead would give employers&rsquo; the flexibility to use hundreds of thousands more non-permanent workers and laying them off prior to the end of a proposed two-year period after which they must be made permanent. 
 
The ICEM congratulated KCTU on its strike and mobilisation. In an ICEM letter to KCTU President Cho Jun Ho, General Secretary Fred Higgs said it is &ldquo;of immense importance that the main issue of your struggle is defending the basic rights of contract and agency workers. The substitution or limiting of permanent direct employment has clearly become a priority issue for countless workers and their trade unions, in every region of the world and every sector.&rdquo;

Korean Temp Worker Bills Blocked for Now

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Oil workers in southern Iraq conducted a one-day strike 21 February as grievance to the Oil Ministry&rsquo;s neglect for work conditions and the infrastructure of the company. The strike at the Oil Transport Company of Basra was brought by the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE) in Basra. 
The strike took place due to the deliberate and targeted neglect of the transport company by the ministry and government; for improvements in workers&rsquo; living conditions; and as a demand to pay money promised to workers by the Oil Ministry but never paid.

Iraqi Oil Workers Strike Oil Ministry in Basra

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