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<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
Spring sunshine shone on March 2, 2011 as an unprecedented crowd, estimated by organisers at 70, 000 people, gathered in the central Inonu Square in the old part of Nicosia and at the nearby Kyrenia Gate at the north of the circular city wall. This was by far the largest of a number of recent demonstrations organised by the trade union movement in the north of this divided island. It was also largely peaceful with the police and military taking a low profile in comparison to earlier demonstrations. (See prior ICEM reports <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4211-Northern-Cyprus-Resists-Ankara’s-Reforms-" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3946-ICEM-Urges-Northern-Cyprus-Administration-End-Trade-Union-Repression" type="internal">here</a>.) 
 
Unprecedented numbers? Well 70, 000 people is a truly incredible figure when you consider that the entire population of Turkish Cypriots is said to be 260,000. 
 
The protest was organised by a “Trade Union Platform” which brings together the entire trade union movement in the North of Cyprus and ICEM affiliate, EL-SEN, the Turkish Electricity Authority of Cyprus Workers Trade Union was at the forefront of the demonstration with almost all of their membership present, together with family members. The demonstration was called principally to fight privatisation, threatened as part of a series of austerity measures by the government, that would both attack trade union rights and enforce privatisation of the electric power company, the airport and even universities. All the trade union movement was present as were all of the opposition political parties, the latter at the rear of a demonstration that was clearly trade union organised and led. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.cyprus 1.JPG" width="288" height="192"/>
Workers resent deep private and state sector salary cuts, which were announced last year, following negotiations between the Turkish Cypriot leadership and the government in Turkey, which bankrolls this area with about US$600 million a year. Turkish Cypriot trade unions have vowed to fight the austerity package, which includes rolling back entry level salaries by 40 per cent, taxing pensions and cutting the taxable income threshold from 17 to 10 per cent. The package also foresees selling off state enterprises to private Turkish business interests and such a massive privatisation is deeply unpopular, not only with effected trade unions and workers , but with the wider population. 
 
ICEM Energy Officer, Jim Catterson, joined our affiliate EL-SEN on the protest march and at the demonstration. The day began outside the trade union office by the head office of the electric power company where El-Sen members gathered in the morning, together with union President, Tuluy Kalyoncu and other leadership of the union. The atmosphere was both lively and friendly with many families present as well as a number of retired members – still eager to show their support for their union. Similar meetings of other unions were clearly taking place across the city. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.cyprus 2.JPG" width="256" height="192"/>
After a series of short speeches, where ICEM solidarity on this and previous occasions were applauded, the EL-SEN contingent set out to march to the square and demonstration. Traffic was brought to a standstill but most motorists sounded their horns in support of the marchers. Gradually a whole series of marches coalesced into one and marched into the square, dominated by a massive stage, where in between speeches music was played to entertain the massive crowd. 
 
Despite this massive demonstration the government has so far refused to change policy. Indeed while the demonstration took place the government announced that the council of ministers will send the privatization proposed law to the parliament this week. 
 
The struggle continues. After the demonstration and after the government statement, the Trade Union Platform took a decision to take the next demonstration directly to the government. Unless these policies are changed, March 25 will see the next demonstration both in front of and inside the parliament building. 
 
Still facing the privatization of their employer our affiliate, EL-SEN has decided to call an indefinite strike to begin no later than 25 March, 2011. 
 
ICEM will continue to offer all support and solidarity to the brave struggle of our affiliated trade union.

El-Sen in N. Cyprus Conducts Historic Manifestation 

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The Thai Industrial Gases Labour Union (TIGLU), part of ICEM affiliate Petroleum and Chemicals Workers’ Federation of Thailand (PCFT), continues efforts to cement trade union rights for workers who supply industrial gases to the manufacturing and food sectors. The ICEM continues to provide support to what is a courageous and uphill struggle against intransigent employers. 
 
The union is currently engaged on two fronts with multinational companies: German-based Linde and French-based Air Liquide. At both, the union is fighting for reinstatement of workers who have been fired for exhibiting trade union activism. 
 
At Linde, TIGLU is approaching the expiration of a 21-month collective agreement at a plant in Saraburi province. That contract’s expiry is in a week’s time, on 21 March. Although the two sides are negotiating, proposals by the union relate to information demands, hiring agency workers into full-time jobs, and retuning union activist Wasan Ruengloikham to his rightful job. Linde Thailand seeks to eliminate union involvement clauses that were successfully won in 2008. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.thailand Air Liquide Union Activists with TIG LU PCFT and ICEM Thai Committee.jpg" width="358" height="190"/>
TIGLU members at Air Liquide
TIGLU wants managers to utilise Linde’s “Golden Rule” corporate responsibility language to address the sacking of Wasan Ruengloikham in common dialogue with the union. Ruengloikham was sacked on23 September 2010. 
 
The union is also demanding paternity leave, and full-time employment for agency workers and three-year tank-truck drivers Pornpitsanu Puenpha and Surachai Singpasta. 
 
Upon receiving the union’s proposals, managers at the Talan plant submitted their own contract-gutting demands. Linde Thailand seeks to cancel a clause that allows union participation in disciplinary actions, and it seeks to void contract language that allows for company facilitation of six hours per year of education on workers’ rights for all staff. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.Wasan Thailand.jpg" width="150" height="186"/>
Wasan Ruengloikham
At Air Liquide’s Nong-kae plant, also in Saraburi province, one month ago five trade union leaders were given the sack over hideous “causing disturbance” allegations. The matter was due for a hearing at the provincial Labour Ministry on 11 March, at the request of Air Liquide’s Nong-kae managers. But just minutes before the session was to begin, management sent a fax stating they would not attend and the five would remain discharged. 
 
The ICEM takes deep exception to this conduct. On 15 February, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda personally intervened with local managers, calling them out for violating Air Liquide’s global values. Specifically, the ICEM cited Air Liquide social responsibility code that its enterprises “commit to encouraging and respecting social dialogue” and the “respect for human rights and enforce respect for the dignity of their employees.” Review the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/7.ICEM.Air%20Liquide.Thailand.pdf" type="internal">full letter</a> here. 
 
The ICEM will continue to monitor the negotiations at Linde, as well as work to rectify Air Liquide’s harmful social conduct in eastern Thailand.

Thai Union at Odds with Linde in Talks; Dispute Air Liquide’s Sackings

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The Con-Dem coalition government in the United Kingdom is forging ahead on a raft of cuts to public spending which threatens to cause permanent damage throughout the welfare state. Under the argument of reducing the public financial deficit within four years, the right-wing Cameron government is using the cuts as a cover to fundamentally weaken the active state system of fairness and equality. 
 
Under serious threat are public services, the education system, pensions, and the National Health Service (NHS). 
 
Unions are fighting back. An alliance of unions and social groups will march to London’s Hyde Park on 26 March, under the banner: “March for the Alternative, Cuts are not the Cure”. The March is organised by the British Trade Union Congress (TUC), and was announced by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber last October.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.march for the alternative 2.jpg" width="214" height="150"/>
Alternative measures to Cameron’s cuts are a crackdown on tax avoidance, a Robin Hood tax on banks and finance, and policies and time to let economic growth and full employment raise the tax that will close the deficit. 
 
Debate continues within the movement on the best policy combination alternative to the damaging cuts, but what is undisputed is that the cuts must be stopped. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda wrote in a <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/18.ICEM.March%20against%20Cuts.London.14March.pdf" type="internal">letter to the TUC and ICEM’s UK affiliates</a>, “As the trade union movement of the UK manifests on 26 March against the cuts, we want your members and all British people to know that they have the support and solidarity of 20 million union members across the world, trade unionists that the ICEM is proud to represent”. 
 
The movement against the cuts is gathering momentum. Thousands of workers, students and anti-cuts campaigners marched through Cardiff on Saturday 5 March as the Welsh voted to increase devolved power of the Welsh Assembly, responding to Westminster’s imposition of cuts throughout the UK. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.cuts uk cardiff . photo Socialist Party.jpg" width="300" height="184"/>
Tag line: 5 March Demonstration against Cuts, Cardiff
10,000 protestors descended on Sheffield last week for the Liberal Democrat Party Conference. Party leader Nick Clegg has betrayed the electorate by changing policy on University tuition fees and is being targeted now to not allow the sale of the NHS, after Lib Dem members at the Conference voted to reject the government’s reforms. 
 
Join the London March. Assembly at 11:00am, Victoria Embankment, and march to a rally in Hyde Park.

London Demonstration against Tory Attack on Welfare State

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ICEM-affiliated mineworkers’ unions know the difficulties in dealing with Rio Tinto, whether it is collective agreements or the charades the company plays to deny legitimate rights for train drivers in western Australia’s rich iron ore region. Now an Australian union has set as goal organizing the unorganized plants of Rio Tinto Alcan, the mining giant’s aluminum smelting subsidiary there. 
 
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) is currently ramping up a recruiting drive at Alcan factories in Tasmania, Queensland, and the Northern Territory and without surprise, is meeting fierce resistance by Rio’s managers. 
 
AWU kicked off its union campaign to deliver better wages and benefits to all workers at Alcan plants last month at its National Delegates Conference. The union intends to do that by recruiting wall-to-wall, or every worker at smelting facilities in Bell Bay, Tasmania, and Yarwun and Boyne Island, Queensland, that does not carry a union card. 
 
AWU began the drive in earnest last week by placing advertisements in Tasmanian newspapers alerting the public and workers at Alcan’s Bell Bay smelter that Tassie staff are paid far less than at two union-represented smelters of Alcoa in Victoria. The ads, titled “Tassie Workers Deserve Better: Fair Go – Rio Tinto,” reveal that Alcoa operators earn up to A$20,000 more per year than operators at Bell Bay. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.awu alcan paper ad.jpg" width="188" height="251"/>
AWU Newspaper advert 
Photo: AWU 
It was at Bell Bay, in northern Tasmania, in late February where the AWU won a health and safety victory for the 550 workers there. Late in February, a state Justice Department of Justice secretary issued a definitive ruling that AWU representatives must be allowed access to break areas of the plant to consult with union members over safety and work issues. The company had appealed a Tasmania Supreme Court judgment giving the AWU right-of-entry. 
 
Alcan managers at Bell Bay have undertaken vigorous litigation to block access by attempting to restrict union consultation with workers to outside conference rooms, areas where such meetings are in full view of managers. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4195-Court-Tosses-Rio’s-Australian-Appeal-on-Safety-‘Right-of-Access’" type="internal">ICEM InBrief report</a>.) Right-of-entry to lunch rooms is seen by Aussie unions as a pivotal point under Fair Work Australia in order to rid fear and intimidation as factors in workers choosing union membership. 
 
Alcan – and Rio Tinto – resistance to unionization was also seen recently at an Alcan facility called Gove Alumina in the Northern Territory. There, members of the Australia Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) have since 2008 rejected three times in enterprise bargaining a demand from Alcan to change roster scheduling at the 403-worker refinery. 
 
Despite enterprise bargaining talks still in effect, last week a leaked e-mail surfaced revealing that Alcan management had advised that the next set of talks not include the designated AMWU representatives. Such an attempt to circumvent the union is a serious breach of Australian federal labour law. 
 
The anti-union bias pattern that Rio’s Alcan managers use is best summarized by a labour leader in central Queensland, where AWU is seeking worker power and workplace gains at Yarwun and Boyne Island, both sites that have low union membership. The Gladstone Branch president of the Queensland Council of Trade Unions, Craig Giddens, described the difference between construction of the Yarwun facility and commencement of production, a point when Alcan installed security cameras and heavy locked gates. “Whenever we go” to meet with workers, Giddens told newspaper reporters, “we’re locked in an office at the front (and) there’s a security camera at the front so management can watch who comes down.”

Australian Union Seeks ‘Wall-to-Wall’ Recruitment at Rio Tinto Alcan

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The mineworkers of Collahuasi, Chile, won a heroic strike dispute in November, December 2010, against the third largest copper miner. Now local management is taking legal action in an attempt to crush the union. The 32-day strike was the longest ever in Chile’s private copper sector. 
 
Settlement, accepted by a 521-398 vote on 6 December, gave 1,551 miners a 16.3% wage increase and a bonus of US$25,160, as well as other advances in housing, education, and health. Union President Manuel Muñoz said at the time that the contract’s outcome would increase monthly benefits by 120,000 pesos, or US$252 per month. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.collahuasi.march.jpg" width="224" height="149"/>
Collahuasi miners, during the strike
This price has clearly been deemed too expensive by management, whose courtroom attack of last week will make it very difficult for the current leadership of the union to continue effectively representing workers. The employer posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion. 
 
The company’s criminal charge against union leaders Manuel Muñoz, Juan Barraza, Loncol Espinoza, Victor Cubillos, Cristian Arancibia, Carlos Rojas, and Jaqueline Cerda, argues that under articles 417 and 418 of Chile’s penal code, these trade unionists are guilty of libel against the company for statements made during last year’s dispute in the May Six Atipaña newspaper online and in print, and should all serve three years in prison. 
 
The Collahuasi copper mine, in the Atacama Desert of Chile’s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, is jointly owned by multinationals Xtrata and AngloAmerica, each with a 44% stake. The remaining 12% is owned by Japan’s Mitsui. 
 
The hypocrisy of the charges is highlighted by the strong smear campaign that the company conducted in the media during the conflict, and the illegal offers of bribes to workers to leave the union, both strategies clearly against the law.

Chile Miners Attacked with Flawed Libel Case

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Turkish national union leaders and local leaders from the Thrace region – all leaders of unions affiliated with the ICEM, IMF, and ITGLWF – convened recently to give mutual support and to tackle several cases of industrial discord in the rapidly-growing manufacturing zone. The February manifestation was the start of a unity coalition aimed at providing aid and assistance to affiliates of the three Global Union Federations (GUFs) in the Free Trade Zone of Corlu. 
 
The ICEM has 14 affiliates in Turkey, while the IMF has three affiliates, and ITGLWF four. This situation indeed makes Turkey a priority country for work by the three GUFs. 
 
The February protest centered on giving support to ICEM affiliate Petrol-İş in its two-month strike against India-base Polyplex company, a plastics and polyester company. (See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4212-Organising-Campaigns-of-Petrol-İş-of-Turkey-continue-but-with-Pain- " type="internal">ICEM news article</a> and join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=868">LabourStart campaign on Polyplex</a>.)  
 
Management had sacked trade union activists. The manifestation also addressed other trade union infringements, particularly at worksites where organising drives are underway. The five unions attending the protest pledged to support one another in the Thrace region in ongoing strikes and recruitment drives. 
 
The protest also was aimed at the Turkish government’s recent efforts to modify labour legislation regarding casual, temporary, and precarious work. Thrace is an area of Turkey experiencing a high rate of foreign industrial investments, ranging from metals to textiles to natural gas, chemicals, and rubber manufacturing. 
 
“For many days we have been striking at workplaces individually,” said Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkın. “But today all the unions striking in the region have come together. We have unified our powers. We have decided to walk together and to organize joint demonstrations and actions. Our hope is that this bond now starting in Thrace will spread to the whole of the country.” 
 
“Regardless of distinction or which confederation the union belongs,” added Adnan Serdaroğlu, the President of Birleşik Metal-İş. “We will defend the rights of dismissed workers.” 
 
Musa Servi, President of the ITGLWF affiliate Deri-İş, representing leather and shoe workers, said, “Employers will try to exploit by establishing factories in free trade zones where union rights are weak. If we act together, we can change this.” The President of TEKSTIL, Ridvan Budak, also attended. 
 
Nearby to Corlu, 12 factories have been targeted for union organizing, but many union activists have been dismissed from their jobs because of their union membership. Besides Polyplex, factories of Yeşil Kundura (shoes), Disa Otomotiv (an auto supplier), Anakonda (metal fabrication), Astaş Alüminyum (aluminum), and Grup Suni Deri (leather) have been targeted for unionisation, and evidence of the disputes can be found with several tents of picketers to be found in front of plants. In some workplaces, achievements have been made while solidarity and support activities continue, as does several court cases. 
 
Turkish unions seek to enhance the Thrace region unity to the whole country since the three GUFs are in the process of doing the same on the global level.

Turkish Unions of IMF, ICEM, ITGLWF Form Unity Coalition

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From: International Metalworkers’ Federation 
 
The 50,000 workers, students and human and labour rights activists who took part in the February Global Days of Action are gearing up for another round of mass mobilizations to fight proposed labour legislation that further strips Mexican workers of the most basic internationally recognized labour rights. 
 
News of the proposed <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=26016&l=2">regressive reforms</a> comes just weeks after unions from more than 40 countries participated in an active week of massive rallies, marches and high-level government meetings to shine a light on the Mexican government's failure to uphold international commitments to respect basic labour rights and worker protections. 
 
The proposed legislation which greatly undermines freedom of association, job security, and work conditions, fails to include any of the many changes to Mexican labour legislation that have been repeatedly called for by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and more recently, on 23 March, the <a href="http://www.ilo.org/gb/GBSessions/lang--en/docName--WCMS_153533/index.htm">359th Report</a> of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, which contains the International Metalworkers’ Federation’s (IMF) Case No. 2694 that has the Committee’s conclusions and instructions to the Mexican government, pages 197-243. 
 
In Mexico, preparations at the national level are underway. Public events planned in Mexico include: 
• A rally that was held on March 24 at 1pm; 
• A forum on March 30 to debate regressive nature of reform and strategies for resistance and change; 
• Educational material development and strategic meetings are being held throughout the week. 
 
To join the campaign, the IMF is urging affiliates and others to send letters to their local Mexican embassy or consulate or government representative, especially those individuals who took meetings with union groups during the February Global Days of Action. See <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IMF-ltr-Mexico-Labor-Law-Reform.pdf ">IMF's letter</a> here to serve as model.

Proposed Mexican Labour Law Reform Opposed; Action Needed

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A strike by 450 mostly Hispanic foundry workers in the US enters its second week today. The strike by members of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers’ Union (GMP) is against Pacific Steel Castings in Berkley, California. 
 
Workers began the strike at midnight, March 20, at contract expiration after the privately-held company refused to move from a concession-laden contract offer that contained skyrocketing increases to the share of employee-paid health care. A leading American trade union journalist, David Bacon, reported that the out-of-pocket increase in health coverage to US$300-per-month would mean a 10% drop in workers’ salary earnings. 
 
The company also seeks to increase the yearly deductible for health coverage from the current US$1,500 to US$6,000. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.gmp group.jpg" width="240" height="144" alt=""/>
Bacon reported that Pacific Steel Castings is seeking a two-year wage freeze, with only miniscule raises after that. Workers of GMP Local 164B have gone without pay raises for the past two years. 
 
Pacific Steel also wants work-rule changes that will inhibit seniority and promote job speed-ups, discrimination, and favouritism. GMP International Vice President Ignacio De La Fuente told Bacon that wage freezes over the past two years were meant to offset rising private health insurance costs. 
 
On 22 March, Berkeley police in riot gear used force to disperse strikers who were attempting to discourage truck drivers from making deliveries into the plant. A seven-month pregnant worker, Norma Garcia, was pushed to the ground and hospitalised. 
 
Pacific Steel’s customers are in the petroleum, truck assembly and repair, and heavy equipment industries. It is one of the largest steel casting foundries in the US with revenues totalling US$100 million annually. It is wholly-owned by the holding company Tri-Pacific & Pvt. 
 
GMP was a long-time affiliate of the ICEM but dropped global union activity in the early 2000s. The ICEM has been encouraging the Media, Pennsylvania-based union to return to the ICEM family because of joint work being done in the glass industry in Colombia.

Bitter Strike Breaks Out Between US GPM Union, Pacific Steel Castings

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The ICEM was deeply saddened early last week to learn of the sudden passing of Gabriel Miranda, a leader in France of the CGT glass and ceramics section. Comrade Miranda, long active in the ICEM’s Materials Sector, died of an aneurysm late in the evening of 21 March. He was 59. 
 
In a statement of sympathy to CGT General Secretary Bernard Thibault, the ICEM said: “Many ICEM affiliates across the globe are indebted to Comrade Miranda for his selfless and devoted works of solidarity not only in France, but throughout the world. ICEM recognised Gaby as always the first person to respond to a call for solidarity and he never hesitated to extend support to the struggle of glass workers from Thailand to Korea to Australia and in many other countries.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1103.miranda CGT.jpg" width="150" height="153"/>
Gabriel Miranda
Miranda served as secretary of CGT’s glass sector from 1987 to 2005. He was mayor of his village of Saint-Benoît de Carmaux, in province Tarn near Toulouse, beginning in 2009. He served on the town council there since 1983. On the evening of his death, he was leading a meeting of his communist compatriots regarding an agenda on community affairs for upcoming local elections. 
 
He was a working man who stayed true to his political convictions of liberty, freedom, and justice for the common person throughout his life. He fought for retaining post offices in small villages, public-sponsored day-care centers, and public health clinics. 
 
Miranda began as a glass fitter at a factory in Albi and also worked for Saint-Gobain in Tarn province. He had been secretary of the French Saint-Gobain Works Council. He is survived by his wife Brigitte and four children. A celebration of his life and work was held in the Saint-Benoît town hall on 25 March.

ICEM Mourns Death of French Glass Sector Leader, Gaby Miranda

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Another methane gas blast inside a Colombian coal mine killed five workers, and seriously injured one. This time it occurred on 1 February at the semi-legal La Escondida colliery in Cunduinamarca department, in a community called Sutatausa, 100 kilometres north of Bogotá. 
 
Last time was only a fortnight ago when 25 miners died 600 metres inside the La Preciosa Ltda. coal mine in Norte de Santander department. That 26 January tragedy now stands as Colombia’s second worst mine disaster in less than a year, behind the San Fernando mine blast on 16 June 2010, where 73 perished in North-West Colombia state. 
 
Following the recent mine deaths, both Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Mines and Energy Minister Carlos Rodado Noreiga admitted the country’s Institute of Geology and Mining (Ingeominas) is ill-equipped to handle mine safety and compliance in the nation’s burgeoning mining industry. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/04miningsafety.jpg" width="200" height="146"/>
Ingeominas has 17 mine inspectors to handle some 6,000 mines that are currently licensed. Roughly 19% are coal operations, with the vast majority of them underground mines operated by small- and medium-sized businesses. The ICEM reminds that Colombia has many illegally operating mines, with estimates that of every 100 mining enterprises, 51 are operated illegally. 
 
The Escondida mine is in an area called Peñas de Boquerón in the central department of Cunduinamarca and was operating under a temporary permit granted by Ingeominas. A day before the tragedy, miners had complained that the ventilation system was not operating adequately and gas levels were rising. 
 
The San Fernando mine blast in June 2010 was Colombia’s worst mining accident in 30 years. A preliminary investigation found breach of existing safety regulations, faulty monitoring and detection devices, lack of training and qualification, and unfamiliar explosives used inside the mine. 
 
The list was even more extensive, with all contributing factors listed as preventable. Colombia’s underground mine safety regulations fall under the out-dated Decree 1335 of 1987, a regulatory code that is easily breached by small- and medium-size companies. The problem is complicated by the fact that Ingeominas has been too quick to award mining licenses without the proper safety culture or safety equipment. 
 
Colombia has become the world’s fifth largest exporter of coal, behind Australia, Russia, South Africa, and Indonesia. There are reported to be 5,800 new mines in various phases of exploration and development and unless the government revamps its internal mine safety structure, and adopts global mine safety standards as outlined in ILO Convention 176, more tragedies are certain to occur.

Colombia’s Second Mine Blast Brings More Alert; 5 More Dead

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