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A historic agreement was signed today in Beijing, China, aimed at improving the health and safety of that nation&rsquo;s mining industry. After two days of intensive talks, a Memorandum of Understanding was reached between the 20-million-member ICEM&mdash;the leading Global Union Federation in mining&mdash;and seven other parties, including the UN&rsquo;s International Labour Office (ILO), which coordinated the discussions. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs first discussed the ICEM-inspired initiative with Chinese officials during a visit by leaders of the Brussels-based labour federation in late 2002. A formal invitation from the Chinese to open dialogue on mine safety and health was extended to the ICEM in June 2003. 
 
Signatory to the agreement with the ICEM and ILO included the Chinese government&rsquo;s State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), the National Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of China, the China National Coal Association, the China Enterprise Confederation, and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a London-based mining trade group representing the major mining companies of the world. 
 
The agreement will pave the way for technical cooperation between ICEM, ICMM and ILO with Chinese mining entities in order to improve safety and health across all mining sectors in China. The parties acknowledged the importance of further improvements to safety and health in Chinese mines, with an initial focus on large and medium-size coal mines. 
 
&ldquo;The ICEM together with its 140 mining affiliates in 78 countries is now poised to assist the Chinese government, mining enterprises across China, as well as our trade union counterparts in China on safety and health,&rdquo; stated Fred Higgs. &ldquo;We feel the collective experience of our trade union affiliates in cooperation with the ILO and ICMM representing the mining houses of the world can and will play a pivotal role in safeguarding the lives of Chinese miners.&rdquo; 
 
Specifically, Chinese coal mining is recognized as being the deadliest job in China. At a national coal mine safety conference last month in Beijing, SAWS reported that China produces 35% of the world&rsquo;s coal, yet has recorded 80% of all workplace fatalities in coal mining worldwide. Since 2001, one death has occurred every 7.4 days and there have been 189 separate tragedies in which at least ten miners perished. 
 
The Chinese government recognizes the problem, and has spent US$480 million since 2000 establishing a monitoring and surveillance system in coal mines in five provinces to detect gas and other safety deficiencies. 
 
The accord signed today calls on the ICEM, ILO and ICMM to provide the Chinese with capacity building in risk assessment and risk management techniques and practices; capacity building on gas and dust management and control in coal and non-coal mines; to develop and implement a safety culture throughout the Chinese mining industry; train workplace safety representatives as designated by the Chinese trade union; and introduce safety equipment and technology. 
 
The cooperation agreement calls for exchange of information and materials, establishment of seminars and workshops, and exchange of relevant experts and officials on mine safety and health. 
 
The ICEM is the leading Global Union Federation in the energy, mining, and processed industries sectors with 425 affiliates in 125 countries. 
<a href="/index.php?id=76&amp;doc=1396&amp;la=EN">Full Text of the Memorandum of Understanding</a>

ICEM Inks Agreement to Assist Mine Safety in China

An initiative by the 20-million-member ICEM to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan African countries took a major step forward 20-21 November when regional train union coordinators from 17 countries met in Benoni, South Africa, to establish an organizational structure. Coordinators convened prior to the Global Union Federation's World Sectoral Conference on Mining to plan an infrastructure for an ambitious ICEM project that would bring HIV/AIDS relief to workers and others most inflicted by the disease. 
<img height="173" src="" width="350" alt="" />
ICEMs African HIV/AIDS Coordinators Meet in Benoni, South Africa. 
Brussels-based ICEM, the leading GUF in energy and mining sectors, has called on major oil and mining multinationals to join with it to establish fully-equipped medical clinics in remote African areas at or near worksites. 
 
The clinics will provide drug treatments from trained medical staff and will be open to workers and family members suffering from HIV/AIDS, as well as to others suffering from HIV/AIDS in nearby communities. 
 
&quot;With national ICEM coordinators in place across Africa who have the knowledge and commitment on this deadly pandemic, we are in a position to step up this initiative to provide HIV/AIDS relief to people who most need it and have been the least likely to receive it,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
Higgs announced at the forum that the ICEM has received funding to employ an African Regional HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator. 
 
The regional coordinators, in liaison with ICEM African affiliates, will now begin to approach global companies in their respective countries in order to commence negotiations for partnership agreements for the health care clinics. 
 
Higgs said, &quot;Trade unions across Africa already are playing major roles on the pandemic regarding education programmes and awareness-raising and behavioral-change campaigns among their members and the general public. What has been lacking is coordinated international action and a viable public health infrastructure, and we feel we are addressing that with this project.&quot; 
 
The ICEM, with 425 affiliated unions in 121 countries, is strategically positioned for such a direct role in the HIV/AIDS fight because it not only represents chemical workers in the pharmaceutical industry at the major drug-producing firms, but also workers and family members hardest hit by the virus in mining, mineral extraction and energy sectors of the developing world.

ICEM&#039;s African Coordinators Move Forward on HIV/AIDS Project

Seven separate coal mine disasters in China over the past month have claimed 102 lives. On 3 August, 13 miners suffocated after a wooden support caught fire with flames spreading throughout shafts rapidly. The fire occurred at the illegal Taodingshan mine, Handan county, Hebei province. A day earlier on 2 August, a gas leak caused an explosion at the privately-run legal mine of Xingfa in Wenshu township, Henan province,killing 26. Managers of the mine fled the scene after the deadly accident.On 27 July, 14 miners perished due to a gas blast and ventilation shaft collapse at the village-run Fengxiangpo coal mine, Kaiyang county, Guizhou province. On 23 July, four miners were poisoned and died underground by gas at a mine in Tanghou village, Shaanxi province. And in the same province on 19 July at the Jinsuo mine near Tongchaun, 26 coal miners were killed when a gas explosion occurred. On 17 July, four miners were trapped by flooding while three escaped at the small-scale Xigou mine in Xin&rsquo;an county, Henan province. On 14 July, a faulty explosives detonation caused collapse of an underground cave full of water, drowning 16 miners. That happened at the Fusheng mine near Xingning city, Guangdong province. Authorities in China on 21 July closed a total of 5,290 mines in which owners had failed to apply for safety permits.

Death Again Visits China&#039;s Coal Mines

IGBCE has undertaken action plans together with the German government and employers in order to implement sustainable family practices across Germany. The tripartite Alliance for the Family was announced 28 July and includes policies for work councils and spells out the roles of trade unions and politicians for creating family-friendly work environments. The Alliance for the Family endorses three specific areas for better work-life balance: parental leave provisions, strong child care programmes, and family monetary allowances. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt said Germany&rsquo;s federal government has delivered on family monetary allowances and now it must be the goal of the Alliance to find better compatibility between family and work.&nbsp;Read the IGBCE&#039;s&nbsp;press release <a href="/index.php?id=22&amp;doc=1406&amp;la=DE">here</a> (in German)&nbsp;

IGBCE Spearheads Family Values Agenda in Germany

Australian unionists protested further job cuts at two plants of Pilkington Glass in Geelong and Laverton following an announcement by General Motors Holden. The automobile manufacturer said it would discontinue its supply of windshield glass from Pilkington and begin import of the product from Thailand, thus costing 120 Pilkington jobs. Workers at the two plants, members of CFMEU, staged a three-hour stop-work protest at Holden&rsquo;s Port Melbourne auto assembly plant last week. The 120 job cuts would come only four months after Pilkington made 660 workers redundant. Unionists blame both Holden and Pilkington. The glass-maker has been unwilling to make the necessary investment for continual supply to Holden, while the auto-maker is taking advantage of a free-trade agreement the Howard government put in place with Thailand.

Cuts at Glass Plants in Australia Bring Protests to General Motors

Just two years past a bitter 84-day strike, New Zealand paperworkers of ICEM affiliate Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) are again locked in a bargaining dispute at the Kinleith mill. CHH, majority owned by US-based International Paper Co., has refused to meet EPMU&rsquo;s pay demands for over 500 workers at the market pulp and containerboard mill. The union has campaigned since February in all NZ bargaining renewals for &ldquo;5% in &lsquo;05&rdquo; but Australia and New Zealand&rsquo;s biggest paper company has offered only 4% this year and 3% in 2006. EPMU members at Kinleith have threatened industrial action if the dispute over pay and a pay parity issue with workers at another CHH pulp mill is not resolved. At a plywood mill next door to the Kinleith mill near Tokoroa, North Island, EPMU is in consultation with CHH to save and cushion job losses. The company announced it would cut 55 of 250 woodsector jobs at this mill effective 23 August. The US parent of CHH, meanwhile, has also announced that the entirety of the firm&rsquo;s assets in New Zealand and Australia are now for sale.

Paper Mill Dispute Again Surfaces in New Zealand

USW in the US expressed more concern over BP&rsquo;s safety inside American refineries after a 28 July explosion and fire at the company&rsquo;s Amoco refinery in Texas City, Texas. The incident, which caused no deaths or injuries, comes four months after a BP explosion on 23 March that killed 15 and injured 170 in Texas City. The most recent accident occurred along hydrogen lines in one of the refinery&rsquo;s Resid Hydrotesting Units, an area that removes sulphur from heavy crude. USW has been critical of the investigation in the aftermath of the 23 March blast, specifically placement of blame on workers and flawed information that was disclosed. USW Region Six Director Gary Beevers asked, &ldquo;How many accidents is it going to take for BP to get off the dime and start cooperating with us to make this plant safer?&rdquo; BP is the leading company when it comes to refinery deaths in America over the past ten years with 22. In 2003-04 alone, BP recorded over 100 accidental releases of illegal air emissions at its Texas City refinery.

More Safety Woes at BP-Amoco&#039;s Texas Refinery

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
US affiliate Utility Workers of America (UWUA) is taking on National Grid USA over the company&rsquo;s intent to use contractors at two of its New England subsidiaries&mdash;Massachusetts Electric Co. and Narragansett Electric of Rhode Island. UWUA Local 330&rsquo;s contract prohibits outsourcing, and the union says National Grid&rsquo;s plan is to contract collection, metering and service-ending operations to a company called Contract Callers Inc. 
UWUA says this will not only have a detrimental effect on permanent employees, but will provide hardships to the elderly and low-income citizens of communities the utilities service. The American union has submitted the matter to arbitration, as well as filed unfair labour practice charges with the US government on the breach.

US Affiliate Utility Workers&#039; Protests Contracting Out

Canadian offshore oil workers at Hibernia, members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), rejected a proposed first contract in voting that was tabulated in early August. Because of the vast distances offshore workers must travel between work and home, and the fact that Hibernia&rsquo;s managing company ExxonMobil refused to allow voting to occur on the rig, CEP had to conduct a mail ballot along with information meetings and voting in St. John, Newfoundland, during June and July. CEP did not recommend a vote for acceptance or rejection on the proposed first collective agreement. Some 450 workers organised with CEP in 2001, but efforts to win certification and a first contract were hampered by ExxonMobil&rsquo;s continuous legal challenges.

Canadian Offshore Workers Reject Hibernia Contract

Workers on two North Sea oil rigs of Statoil have been listened to after they called out a lifeboat manufacturer for providing unsafe equipment. Workers on the Kristin and Veslefrikk platforms have witnessed damaged lifeboats in free-fall tests off the platforms. They reported crushed roofs and cracks in the enclosed boats. The manufacturer of the lifeboats is Umoe Schat-Harding of Norway. The issue has affected oil production from the platforms, and Statoil has complied with workers&rsquo; requests and pulled six lifeboats off rigs until Umoe Schat-Harding makes modifications.

Oil Workers Dumps Faulty North Sea Lifeboats

Archive

ICEM Inks Agreement to Assist Mine Safety in China

ICEM's African Coordinators Move Forward on HIV/AIDS Project

Death Again Visits China's Coal Mines

IGBCE Spearheads Family Values Agenda in Germany

Cuts at Glass Plants in Australia Bring Protests to General Motors

Paper Mill Dispute Again Surfaces in New Zealand

More Safety Woes at BP-Amoco's Texas Refinery

US Affiliate Utility Workers' Protests Contracting Out

Canadian Offshore Workers Reject Hibernia Contract

Oil Workers Dumps Faulty North Sea Lifeboats

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