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A strike by 1,000 members of USWA also in Canada continues at Michelin&rsquo;s B.F. Goodrich tyre plant in Kitchener, Ontario, despite renewed bargaining that took place in mid-July in Pittsburgh. Despite Michelin net income doubling to C$528 million in the first half of 2004, Kitchener management is seeking wage and benefit cuts amounting to 15%. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t about being asked to help a company that is in financial difficulty,&rdquo; stated USWA Assistant Ontario/Atlantic Director Marie Kelly. &ldquo;This is about feeding a corporate giant that has always been anti-union.&rdquo; The strike began 1 June. In separate bargaining also in Pittsburgh, the USWA is engaged in hard bargaining with Michelin over the master rubber contract at three US tyre plants.

USWA Strike in Canada Against Michelin Continues

ICEM Nigerian affiliates PENGASSAN and NUPENG had their demands for upgrading refineries, compliance with labour standards and other relevant issues that have besieged the oil industry in Nigeria met. Major oil firms, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and the two unions reached accord 20 July, five days before a national strike was to start as announced in a union ultimatum. Full dialogue with the unions over privatisation, the number of expatriates working in the industry, training, oil windfall revenues and contract staff and casual workers will continue.

Nigerian Affiliates Succeed with Pledges for Refinery Upgrades

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited chemical firm DuPont for failure to record on-site injuries that occurred last November at a plant in Niagara Falls, New York State. DuPont failed to list injuries in the official OSHA 300 record-keeping log. 
Two workers had inhaled chlorine gas and one of the two needed immediate medical attention a missed a month of work. 
The violation comes following the US labour board citing DuPont for failure to turn over requested documentation by US affiliate PACE on location of hazardous chemicals at the textile fibres plant. In 2002, DuPont refused to allow PACE health and safety representatives from entering the plant.

DuPont Guilty of Faulty Record-Keeping in New York State

Three major mine accidents occurred in China last week, killing 28 workers. A methane gas explosion at a coal mine in Guizhou Province killed 19, while at an unlicensed coal mine in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, a broken cable caused a fire killing six miners. On 12 July, an accident at a fluorite mine near Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, killed three miners.

Mine Accidents in China Kill 28

A mining accident at the shuttered Shinkolobwe uranium mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 30 when a roof collapsed. The mine had been closed for decades, but that hasn&rsquo;t prevented small-scale, illegal mining for colombo tantalite&mdash;or coltan, the valuable mineral used in mobile phones and computer chips&mdash;from continuing. ICEM Congolese affiliate FENAMICO has condemned the practice and has called for a full-scale investigation of the 9 July tragedy.

Illegal Uranium Mine in Congo Collapses, Kills 30

The NUM has settled strikes at two of the world&rsquo;s largest platinum producers, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum. The pay disputes were settled for increases between 7.75% and 9.5%, depending on job grades, and cycle shift workers who work on public holidays won added improvements.

NUM in South Africa Settles Two Platinum Strikes

South African affiliate NUM sees no harmony, only dishevel in the hostile takeover of Goldfields by smaller gold-mining company Harmony. In a statement, NUM said that considering the high gold price, companies should be investing in development and job growth rather than consolidation and shrinkage. Both South African companies have retrenched numerous workers this year alone. NUM is calling for dialogue between the two companies instead of hostile &ldquo;approaches that send jitters into the market and economy,&rdquo; in the words of Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe. NUM is also opposed to a Goldfields preferred deal with Canada&rsquo;s Imagold and said the mining industry in South Africa suffers an &ldquo;anti-patriotic spirit&rdquo; in terms of abandoning national investment.

South Africa’s NUM Chastises Harmony’s Takeover Bid

20 October will go down as a day of death in China&rsquo;s coal mines. Four disasters found 123 dead, including&mdash;at last count&mdash;77 miners of state-owned Zhengzhou Group at Xinmi, Henan province, the worst mine catastrophe in recent years. At the weekend, 71 are still missing from the 20 October gas explosion that tore through several shafts at one of Zhengzhou&rsquo;s larger coalmines. Two other gas blasts added to the death count. Five were killed, 8 still missing at a blast in the southern province of Guizhou and near the southwestern Chinese city of Chongquing, another 12 perished in a natural gas explosion. The fourth 20 October disaster occurred at the Desheng coal mine in Wu&rsquo;an, Hebei province, when flooding cased the deaths of 29 miners.

Day of Death in Chinese Coal Mines, 20 October 2004

Nigeria&rsquo;s House of Representatives will carefully scrutinize an already amended Labour Reform Bill passed by the Senate. The measure, introduced by President Olusegun Obasanjo to punish NLC and trade unions for opposing past fuel price hikes with strikes, did have &ldquo;no strike&rdquo; language removed by the Senate before passage, but other restrictive measures that would weaken the NLC and trade unions remain. House leaders promise comprehensive hearings to ensure Nigerian people are heard on the legislation. Further amendments are likely.

Nigerian Labour Seeks to Further Weaken Labour Reform Bill

Leaders from the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union face continued legal harassment by Debswana, the diamond-mining joint venture between DeBeers and the government of Botswana. The union faces a 15 October deadline to file affidavits on why leaders should not face jail terms. Debswana is seeking jail sentences of the leaders over a two-week strike staged by some union members at Debswana despite a BMWU plea to continue bargaining. Debswana had received a positive ruling from a Botswana&rsquo;s Industrial Court in early August declaring any strike illegal. The ruling came at the peak of a bitter wage dispute.

Debswana Taking Hard Line Against Botswana’s Miners

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