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The 20-million-member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) has expressed deep condolences to both its Russian trade union affiliate, the Russian Independent Coal Miners’ Union (ROSUGLEPROF), and the families of the coal miners killed in the Kemerovo region of Siberia. 
 
As of mid-afternoon today, 20 March, a total of 106 miners had been confirmed dead, with another four unaccounted for, making it Russia’s deadliest coal mine disaster in modern times. The gas explosion occurred at the Ulyanonskaya mine in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo, part of the coal-rich Kuzbass region of southern Siberia. Ninety-two miners have been rescued so far. 
<img height="200" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703Ivan.jpg" width="171"/>
ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
A communiqué was dispatched this afternoon by the ICEM to the mine’s shop steward Mikhail Shutov, whose son was one the 106 miners killed, and to mine manager Andrei Funk. The ICEM also has been in contract with ROSUGLEPROF leadership, including President Ivan Mokhnachuk since the tragic accident occurred in the early afternoon of Monday, 19 March. 
 
ROSUGLEPROF Vice President Ruben Badalov flew from the union’s office in Moscow yesterday to Novokuznetsk. Badalov is an elected member of Russia’s Duma, and is part of the official investigation team. 
 
In the ICEM letter from General Secretary Manfred Warda to the mine’s shop steward and manager, the Global Union Federation for the Mining sector, stated, “Please, tell the families of those killed in this horrible disaster that in this hour of grief, we are joined with them. The sorrow that has crushed down on them doubles our determination to fight for safe mines everywhere.” 
 
A total of 203 miners were working 270 metres underground when a methane explosion occurred. Preliminary reports say that a roof collapsed inside the mine, either releasing or forcing high levels of methane gas through mine shafts. 
 <img height="100" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="100"/>
Those levels did register on newly-installed and British-made gas detection equipment, ironically, as a British safety specialist was inspecting the equipment underground. He was accompanied by an interpreter, the mine’s chief engineer, and some 20 other managers and technicians from the mine. All were killed in the blast. 
 
The Ulyanonskaya mine, 50% owned by the major Russian steel and metals company Evraz Group SA, employs a total of 1,068 workers, of which 1,024 are ROSUGLEPROF union members. The mine started up in 2002 and produces about three million tonnes of coal annually. The mine’s reserves are 230 million tonnes. 
 
The ICEM affiliates 384 industrial trade unions in 125 countries. The Global Union Federation represents a total of two million coal miners worldwide.

ICEM's Russian Affiliate, ROSUGLEPROF, Probes Tragic Coal Mine Disaster

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On Saturday, 24 March, ICEM Peruvian affiliate Federación Nacional Unitaria de Los Trabajadores Petroleros, Energéticos y Conexos (FENUPETROL) conducted manifestations in the northern region of Talara against trade union abuses by multinational enterprises. The protests drew thousands of workers. 
 
In a mobilisation statement, FENUPETROL said the provincial protests are against abuses of trade union freedom, and for fair collective bargaining and real corporate social responsibility. The union added that it wanted the world to know that it would not tolerate the “violations and laws that are not being respected by transnational companies in our sectors.”
<img height="122" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMOil.JPG" width="120" alt=""/>
It cited seven major companies and five contracting employers for the abuses: Petrotech, Peruana S.A., Petrobras, PlusPetrol, SAPET, Graña y Montero, and Mercantil, among major employers; and Skanska del Peru, Ini del Peru SAC, Petrex, Cosmos, and Energy Service, among service providers. 
 
FENUPETROL said proof of corporate disregard for workers’ rights lies in the “denunciations” made in administrative and judicial proceedings of government.
<img height="83" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/PeruFlag.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
FENUPETROL said such abuses occur in freedom of association, collective bargaining, punishment and disciplinary measures, non-payment for overtime work, working time issues, and arbitrary dismissals. “What may be the worse,” read the union’s statement, “is the very frequent use of contract work, which forces workers to accept inadequate conditions, and without receiving social benefits.” 
 
The 24 March manifestation had the support of provincial Mayor Jose Vitonera Infante, who FENUPETROL describes as someone extremely “supportive of our struggle.” The union said Saturday’s protest follows the example set by union martyrs such as Alejandro Taboada, Martín Chomo, Sinforos Benites, and others.

Peruvian Affiliate Leads Protests Against Trade Union Abuses

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On 18 September, energy company Repsol signed a national framework agreement with the two relevant Spanish ICEM affiliates, FITEQA-CC.OO. and FIA-UGT. Present at the signing in Madrid were the President of Repsol, Antonio Brufau, and the two General Secretaries of the respective unions, FITEQA’s Joaquim González Muntadas, and FIA-UGT’s Antonio Deusa Pedrazo. 
 
The agreement with Spain’s largest oil company includes specific protocols on work and family life, on the hiring of people with disabilities, on equal opportunities between men and women, and on victim protection when family violence occurs. 
    <img height="98" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SpainFITEQA.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>        <img height="100" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/SpainFIAUGT.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
Affecting 15,000 Repsol workers in Spain, the agreement also contains a salary increase, a clause on maintaining purchasing power, and language on partial retirement at age 60 for some 1,000 workers. These workers will all be replaced by other workers, all with permanent contracts.
Many other issues are dealt with in the agreement, from a reduction in work time for about 7,000 workers, pension plans and training and education, to the recognition of seniority acquired while working under temporary work contracts. The agreement is valid for three years. 
 
FITEQA’s Joaquim González Muntadas said in his speech at the signing that Spanish national labour federations CC.OO. and UGT have begun work on similar industrial relations issues in other regions where Repsol operates, referring specifically to Latin America, and to Argentina in particular. He added that he hopes Repsol engages in maximum collaboration in those efforts. 
 
In a report in the Spanish publication El Mundo Bursatil, Repsol President Brufau stated, “The signing of this framework agreement is not only a reflection of our ability to dialogue, but also of the confidence we have in one another and of the transparency in the relationship between the management of the company and the union representatives.”

Repsol Signs Spanish National Agreement with Two ICEM Affiliates

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On the five-year anniversary of the Toulouse, France, chemicals explosion at the AZF plant, ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT has called on French energy company, Total, to explain the reasons why it disagrees with reports by multiple experts on the cause of the blast. 
 
On 21 September 2001, one of the worst industrial explosions in France occurred in Toulouse, killing 29 workers and injuring 2,442 others. The nitrogen fertiliser and chemical intermediates facility was then owned by TotalFinaElf. 
 
FCE-CFDT said that the conclusive and final expertise reports state that it was an accident that could have been prevented had the proper safeguards been in place. “Total, for its part, does not agree with the conclusions of the expert magistrates. It is, for that reason that FCE-CFDT insists that the management of Total come out with its own explanation on why the tragedy occurred.” 
<img height="150" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFCECFDT.jpg" width="115"/>       <img height="50" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FranceFedechimieCGTFO.jpg" width="150" align="absMiddle"/>
The union’s statement added that the experts’ reports bring pressure both on not only the société Grande Paroisse, Total’s chemicals and fertilisers business, but also on senior Total management itself to explain its contradictions. “For the truth to come out is the best way to honour the victims of the tragedy. Without the real reasons, society cannot learn the lessons needed to avoid such future industrial accidents,” stated the union. 
 
Many of the workers killed or injured in southern France on that fateful day were members of FCE-CFDT, or ICEM affiliate Fédéchimie CGT-FO.

Total Pressed to Explain It’s Side to 2001 Toulouse Blast

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The ICEM is alarmed at the number and scope of mining accidents that have occurred during the month of September. The Global Union Federation calls on mining houses to undertake more thorough precautionary measures regarding safety and health inside their enterprises. A look at September’s most public tragedies reveals that companies have compromised safety for greater production, spurred by the current high commodity pricing of natural resources. 
 
Mining accidents in September brought death to hundreds of miners in India, Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The death toll rose also in China’s mining sector in September. In Australia, a contractor was killed inside a nickel mine; in New Zealand, ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) mourned the death of a coal miner on the South Island. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/IndiaFlag.gif" width="100"/> 
 
India 
The catastrophe that struck deep inside a coal mine in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand on 6 September is characteristic of countless accidents occurring in the mineral rich Dhanbad area which usually kill small numbers of miners regularly. Only this time, at the Bhatdih mine of state-owned Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., 54 miners died. The tragic accident occurred when methane gas caused a tremendous explosion some 460 metres underground. Miners, associated to ICEM-affiliated Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF), had plumbed to that level to extricate coal from a pit known as the 17th Incline. 
 
Over 5,000 miners and family members gathered at the Bhatdih mine site, and were upset by management’s failure to check gas levels or other safety hazards at regular intervals. INMF President Rajendra Prasad Singh, arrived at the site immediately, together with other trade union accidents. He demanded for a high-level commission to be established to investigate the causes and identify the persons responsible. 
 
Brother Singh stated that management must be held accountable. He also criticised management’s practice of not going underground for testing and safety checks. 
<img height="66" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UkraineFlag.gif" width="100"/> 
 
Ukraine 
In the Ukraine, a series of coal-mining accidents across mid-September claimed 17 miners’ lives in the eastern Donetsk region. The worst was at the Zasyadko mine, where 13 workers either suffocated or died instantly due to a gas explosion 1,300 metres underground. That tragedy occurred 20 September when 400 miners were deep in Zasyadko’s mine shafts. Sixty-one other miners were seriously injured. 
Ukraine's Independent Industrial Trade Union of Miners, an ICEM affiliate, had one of its members killed and another injured in the accident. The union's President Michael Volynets is part of the investigation team. 
 
The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) made a decision at its presidium to provide financial assistance to the families of the deceased in the Zasyadko tragedy. FPU has also called on member organisations to do the same. 
 
On the same day, at the Dobropilka coal mine in the same area, three workers died of gas poisoning. They were found 450 metres down, after they had been granted permission to stop work and return to the surface because of high gas levels. On 21 September, a Ukrainian miner was crushed in a rock fall in Kirovska. Gas inhalation caused seriously trauma and injury to three miners inside the Fominske mine also on the same day. 
 
Energy markets are partly to blame for the deadly coal-mining accidents in Ukraine, numbering 133 to date this year. The country suffers from rapidly escalating natural gas prices, and the government has ordered coal production to increase by one-third or 80 million tonnes, by 2007. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/RussiaFlag.gif" width="100" border="1"/> 
 
Russia 
The mine tragedy in Russia’s Chita region of Siberia on 7 September was different, but no less tragic. Twenty-five miners died inside a gold mine operated by London-based Highland Gold Mining, owner of several gold mines in Russia’s Far East. The cause of the deaths inside the 105-year-old Darasun mine was a fire. Wooden supports are believed to have caught fire during welding. 
 
What marks this negligence was that the company had no evacuation plan in place, a ventilation system was old and decrepit, and the last notation in a safety logbook was dated May 2006, according to BBC. “Many foreign companies, in order to increase their value … economise when it comes to observing industrial safety rules,” stated a Russian official from the Natural Resources Inspectorate in another published report. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/KazakhstanFlag.gif" width="100"/> 
 
Kazakhstan 
In Kazakhstan, a 20 September methane explosion killing 41 in a colliery owned by Arcelor Mittal Steel turned into a full-fledged labour dispute over the course of last week. The blast occurred at the Lenin mine in the Karaganda region of the central Asian country, as 374 were working inside. The preliminary cause of the blast, determined by the Kazakh Minister of Emergency Situations, was the result of negligence and breach of safety rules. 
 
“The cause is a lack of organisation and coordination in the operations of (maintenance),” stated Minister Shalbai Kulmakhanov. It has been determined that ventilation pipes were being repaired when the explosion rocked the mine 560 metres underground. 
 
Six days after the disaster, coal miners struck for better working conditions and higher wages to compensate the dangerous work they do. By Friday, 29 September, they were joined by all 24,500 miners of the eight Kazakh collieries owned by Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steelmaking concern. By week’s end, 30 September, many steelworkers and iron ore miners of the India-based company – some 6,000 in total – joined the coal miners in a government-sanctioned rally at the headquarters of the company in the city of Termirtau. 
<img height="50" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/NewZealandFlag.gif" width="100"/> 
 
New Zealand 
In New Zealand on 8 September, 47-year-old Bernard Green, an EPMU member, was crushed to death when a shaft collapsed 800 metres underground near the town of Blackball on the South Island’s west coast. He was employed by Roa Mines, a private NZ coal company. 
 
His death prompted the EPMU to reassert a longstanding call for a return of “check inspectors” in the country’s mining industry. Check inspectors are rank-and-file workers who are trained in safety procedures and who go down with miners at each and every shift. 
 
“Check inspectors are health and safety people who are elected by the workers,” said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. “They make sure the worksite is safe, the guys have the right equipment, and the right procedures are being followed.” 
 
Little added, “Anything that minimises the danger must be pursued, and check inspectors are a good start. This is a very important issue for our guys, and we’re going to make sure their voices are heard at the highest levels.” The positions were eliminated with the reform of NZ’s Health and Safety in Employment Act. 
<img height="50" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AustraliaFLAG.gif" width="100"/> 
 
Australia 
In West Australia on 22 September, a contract worker was crushed to death by falling rocks inside a nickel mine owned by Consolidated Minerals Ltd. This occurred at the Kimbalda Beta Hunt mine. The 43-year-old victim, an airleg operator, had been working there for two-and-a-half years.

September’s Global Mine Tragedies Bring Concern to All

Meeting in Brussels today, the ICEM Presidium passed a strong resolution calling for Thailand’s military to immediately end martial law, and called on interim Prime Minister Surayud to restore full civil rights and democratic freedoms to the country’s citizens. 
 
According to the ICEM Presidium motion, the immediate priority is to end martial law in Thailand and move free and unencumbered elections to the earliest possible date. The ICEM feels that the current schedule for elections – October 2007 – is too far in the future, and Thailand’s population deserves to have elections held as soon as possible. 
<img height="67" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ThailandFlag.gif" width="100"/>
Today’s action by the ICEM body was delivered in a letter to Thailand’s interim leaders. 
 
“We feel it a matter of urgency that Thailand’s coup leaders lift the broad range of restrictions placed on Thai citizens, particularly the ban on assembly, on the media, and the inherent rights of people to engage in democratic processes,” stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. 
 
The Thailand military coup occurred on September 19. The country’s 1997 constitution was suspended, the Parliament, Senate and constitutional court system was dissolved, and political gatherings of more than five people were banned. The ICEM also noted that other restrictive measures were put in place, including prolonged detention without charges being brought, media censorship, and the shutting of some schools and universities. 
 
ICEM is scheduled to hold its Fourth World Congress in Bangkok next year, from 22 to 24 November 2007. The ICEM is a Global Union Federation with 379 affiliated trade unions in 123 countries.
The ICEM letter to the Thai Interim Government can be found <a href="/index.php?id=7&doc=1982&la=EN" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Presidium Calls for Immediate Lifting of Thailand’s Martial Law

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The ten-month dispute between ICEM affiliate Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) and the Trinidad and Tobago state oil company Petrotrin ended early this month when a new three-year agreement was agreed to.
Agreements were reached for all five Petrotrin bargaining units, covering 5,000 workers in total. The different labour agreements are similar, sharing many of the advances reached, for example a 15% salary increase over three years. 
<img height="93" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/TrinindadOWTU.jpg" width="100"/>
Differences between the five agreements can be found in the periods that the agreements cover, with some going back to 2005, and others to February 2006. The 1,500 refinery workers, for example, will receive a 6% wage increase backdated to February 2006. They will be given a 5% increase in 2007 and a further 4 % in 2008. 
 
Agreement was reached on a wide set of issues, includes on health and safety topics and on cost of living allowances. According to an OWTU Spokesman, the union regards the agreement as a good agreement, given the circumstances. 
 
The dispute was marked by several industrial actions by the refinery workers at the Pointe-a-Pierre set of plants, as well as by marches on the company's corporate offices by OWTU members of all the bargaining units.

Trinidad's State Oil Company Comes to Terms with Workers

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The future of the German hard-coal industry was given new life early in February. Shaped by a combination of hard bargaining by German Union IGBCE in a top-level national summit and a timely demonstration in Düsseldorf by 10,000 miners, a workable plan was achieved to preserve the industry until at least 2018, and possibly beyond. 
 
The summit was necessary after some federal politicians, as well as politicians from the coal-producing regions of Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia proposed eliminating coal subsidies as German coal and industrial enterprise RAG becomes a publicly-traded company.
<img height="146" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Hschmoldt.JPG" width="100"/>
 IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt
“Our central tenets have been fulfilled,” declared IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt. “Social compatibility, a legal financing mechanism until 2018, and keeping a future door open beyond that.” Revenues gained from RAG’s stock offering will be placed in a non-profit foundation for that purpose. 
 
“We negotiated hard and at a crucial moment, our ability to mobilise materialised,” said Schmoldt. He was referring to the 10,000 miners who left their workplaces on 1 February and protested in front of the state parliament building in Düsseldorf. Miners were demonstrating against North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers’ proposal at the summit to stop all coal subsidies by 2014. IGBCE and mining industry works councils organised the protest. 
 
Schmoldt said it was that demonstration which blocked the Rüttgers plan. 
 
Now the Germany Bundestag will draft a hard-coal financing plan from the results of the summit. Coal industry aid will begin in 2009 from the newly-created foundation. The IGBCE and German mineworkers are pleased with several major features produced by the recent coal summit, and with one in particular: that in 2012, a full review of the coal industry will occur in order to sustain it beyond 2018.

German Coal Industry Preserved Until 2018, Possibly Beyond

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After successful lobbying by ICEM Peruvian mining affiliate FNTMMSP and a national labour centre, Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú (CGTP), ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health Mines Convention, is one step closer to ratification in the South American country. The Commission of Work of Peru’s Congress approved a motion encouraging the government to ratify the 11-year-old convention. 
 
Both unions submitted documents favouring passage, including ICEM materials and documentation supporting ratification. “We believe that ratification of Convention 176 will serve as an instrument to prevent accidents in Peru’s mining sector,” said FNTMMSP Sec. Gen. Luis Castillo Carlos. “The strengthening of trade union organisations is the other tool towards better working conditions, including health and safety conditions.”
<img height="101" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector5.jpg" width="100"/>
Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines reports that in 2006, 66 miners died in industrial accidents and of those deaths, 37 were contract workers employed in mines. Part of the documentation submitted to the congressional panel was ICEM’s reporting on global contract and agency labour. 
 
In mid-January, the Peruvian government signed a memorandum with ILO Sec. Gen. Juan Somavia on principles and polices, including the government’s intent to ratify eight labour conventions. The party of Democrats, which currently controls Peru’s Congress, is supporting adoption of ILO Conventions, and insists such conventions be contained in the country’s free trade agreements.

Mine Safety Convention 176 Passes Key Committee in Peru’s Congress

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Although the ICEM is encouraged by last week’s agreement between partisan Palestinian political parties to lay aside their differences and form a working coalition government, a fundamental reason why violence has erupted in Palestine was spelled out by the leader of ICEM’s Palestinian affiliate, the General Union of Petroleum, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ in Palestine (GUPMCWP). 
 
Mohammed Jadallah said the withholding of legitimate Palestinian funds by Israel worsens the plight of workers. Jadallah said the continuing occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel and the economic siege have sown seeds of discontent for Palestinians. “It is very difficult for people on the outside to understand how difficult daily life is for Palestinian workers,” said the president of the GUPMCWP. 
<img height="155" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0603PalestineJadallah.jpg" width="120" alt=""/>
Mohammed Jadallah
He added that a recent two-day seminar by the union in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attended by 60, revealed that the Palestinians hurt most by Israel’s blockade of revenues to his government have been women, children, and the elderly. 
 
Jadallah was speaking after sectarian violence destroyed the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) building on 2 February, an act targeting not only the national centre but also the Voice of Workers’ radio station situated inside the building. GUPMCWP is an affiliate of the PGFTU. 
 
Jadallah concluded by saying that an end to violence inside Palestine will only occur when Israel and Palestine find a lasting peace in which the security of all people is guaranteed.

Israel’s Withholding of Palestinian Funds Has Incited Violence, GUPMCWP Leader Says

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