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<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Strikes, road blockades, and mine sit-ins will continue through tomorrow, 31 May, as 8,000 mineworkers at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain continue their protests against government action to cut coal subsidies.

	Backed by mining unions within both of Spain&rsquo;s major labour federations -- Confederaci&oacute;n Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Uni&oacute;n General de Trabajadores (UGT) &ndash; strikes that began last week will re-start today and tomorrow following the break-off of tripartite talks yesterday, 29 May.

	The unions had hoped those negotiations would at least partially rescind the 64% subsidy cuts contained in the government&rsquo;s budget.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 255px;height: 159px" width="390" />

	Spanish Coal Miners on Strike Last Week

	The strikes began last week, 23-24 May, and saw 100% participation by coal miners. They were halted in order to give a tripartite monitoring committee on coal an opportunity to scale back the subsidies. But after six hours of futile negotiations that lasted into yesterday evening, mineworkers&rsquo; unions of both federations announced resumption of strikes today and tomorrow in and around the cities of Aragon, Asturias, and Castilla y Le&oacute;n, with a major demonstration planed in Madrid.

	Even before talks started yesterday, miners began blocking major road arteries linking northern cities, and ten miners began sit-ins late Monday evening after their shifts ended at the Cand&iacute;n mine in Oviedo. The premature strikes were spontaneous and not authorised by the unions, but the protests depicted the deep frustration felt by Spanish miners to the proposed subsidy curtailments.&nbsp;<a href="http://lolitaoutfits.com/Lolita-Corset_l166">corset for sale</a>

	The Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is adamant to enforce the 64% subsidy reduction in order to reduce the public deficit. But miners and their unions feel such a drastic cutback will be the death knell to coal-mining in Spain, a country that has shed 40,000 jobs over the past 20 year due to pit closures.

Spain’s Coal Miners’ Strike to Block State Aid Cuts to Industry

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Following a second failed effort by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) to force an unwanted enterprise labour agreement on 4,000 Queensland, Australia, coal miners, the tri-union Single Bargaining Unit (SBU) called a seven-day strike starting 23 May at six of the company&rsquo;s rich coking coal mines of the Bowen Basin.

	That strike, one in nearly ten inside a bitter 18-month dispute that has become the bellwether for trade union rights under the Labour government&rsquo;s Fair Work law, will end tomorrow but an end to the long-festering contract battle appears nowhere in sight.

	At issue is managing partner BHP Billiton&rsquo;s longing to block union involvement over safety, work shifts, housing criteria for fly-in, fly-out miners, and equal work rights for contract staff. The SBU is composed on the majority union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU).

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 145px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	Last October, BMA used its Fair Work right to directly ballot miners on its regressive proposals. Then, 92% rejected an offer containing substantial pay gains but gutting union work rights. On 22 May, just four days after counting of a second company ballot that saw 82.7% rejection, BMA and SBU met in Brisbane to avert this latest strike.

	But the company came to the table unwilling to amend its demands.

	&ldquo;With the same arrogant attitude and obviously on the back of two overwhelming &lsquo;no&rsquo; votes,&rdquo; CFMEU Queensland District President Stephen Smyth said, &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t seem to register with BHP that what they are selling, our members aren&rsquo;t buying.&rdquo;

	Not only has BMA attempted to circumvent the intent of the Fair Work law over 18 months of futile bargaining, but it also was reprimanded by Fair Work Australia early this month in a failure to communicate legally with the SBU over closure and redundancies at a seventh BMA Bowen Basin mine, the 340-worker Norwich Park mine.

	Also this month, the Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) condemned BHP Billiton&rsquo;s bad-faith bargaining in a formal resolution calling attention to a leaked e-mail in March stating the company&rsquo;s terms &ldquo;are not negotiable, not now, now next month, not next year.&rdquo; The resolution also declared the company&rsquo;s pursuit of safety deregulation &ldquo;from qualified workers on the job to management&rdquo; away from mine sites as the key factor leading to the Pike River mine disaster in new Zealand.

	Past ICEM coverage of the BMA-SBU dispute, including the origins of the above cited e-mail, can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4971-Intentional-BHP-Billiton-Strife-in-Australian-Coal-Dispute-Continues">here</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4731-Australian-Miners-Reject-BMAa-s-Contract-Proposal-by-9225">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4679-Coal-Boss-Conceit3A-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a>.

Queensland Coal Miners End 7-day Strike after BHP Billiton Ballot Fails

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	Workers in Germany&rsquo;s chemicals sector won 4.5% wage gains over the next 19 months in national talks concluded on 24 May in Sch&ouml;nefeld near Berlin. The 2012-13 negotiations between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and the chemical employers&rsquo; association, BAVC, began on 17 April.

	Perhaps more significant last week than another high round of industrial wage increases that will provide further growth to Europe&rsquo;s largest economy, the IGBCE achieved reduction in work time for older workers and more opportunities for younger ones through continuation of a &ldquo;demographic fund&rdquo; that will see even higher payments made by employers.

	The new pact, with the wage hikes to take effect between 1 July and 1 September, covers 550,000 chemical workers employed at some 1,900 companies. The 14-month 2011-12 social pact expires either at the end of May or June this year, depending on the region.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 285px;height: 160px" width="390" />

	The tough yet peaceful resolve to chemical sector talks came two days before IG Metall and the employers&rsquo; association Gesamtmetall reached 4.3% wage terms over 13 months for 800,000 metal and electronics workers in Baden-W&uuml;rttemberg state. That settlement set a pattern for other metal negotiations across Germany covering another two million workers.

	The IGBCE agreement continues a trend in the German chemicals industry that provides financial incentives for older workers to reduce their weekly work hours or opt to take early retirement at age 55, thus opening sustainable careers for young workers.

	IGBCE Head of Collective Bargaining Peter Hausmann said this agreement creates an even better &ldquo;age-friendly work environment.&rdquo; This is accomplished through the &ldquo;demographic fund,&rdquo; created in national talks in 2008.

	<img alt="" height="132" src="" width="175" />&nbsp;

	Peter Hausmann

	Between the years 2013 and 2015, employers will pay an additional &euro;200 per annum per worker into the fund, raising &ndash; in most cases &ndash; the yearly amount to &euro;600 and lifting the fund&rsquo;s reservoir by &euro;200 million. The fund can be tapped for early retirement at full pension benefits, reduced work week for staff over age 55 at full salary, or more workers eligible for semi-retirement, meaning a combination of reduced working hours with partial payment of pension benefits.

	In addition to the wage hikes, apprentices will realise an added &euro;50-a-month increase.

	IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis called the 2012-13 social charter &ldquo;a good result for all workers in the chemicals industry.&rdquo; He said the union accomplished a hefty pay increase and in particular achieved more comprehensive work-time savings for older workers, adding that the agreement meets the demographic changes occurring in the industry.

IGBCE Chemical Talks: Union Stays Course of Growth, Reinforces Worker Age Transition

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />The world of labour is celebrating the election victory of Guy Ryder as the tenth Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, the trilateral United Nations agency charged with protecting workers around the world.The election this Monday by the ILO governing body marks the first time someone from a trade union background has been chosen to lead the organisation. Several rounds of secret-ballot voting reduced the list of candidates from 8, and appointed Ryder on a five-year term.ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated close friend Guy Ryder on behalf of the global union, looking forward to the ILO now building on past successes and collaboration, placing decent jobs and proper trade union rights at the heart of the global agenda, in the spirit of tripartitism.<img alt="" src="" style="width: 98px;height: 91px" width="390" />&quot;Our duty to the poorest and the most vulnerable must be paramount in the journey ahead,&quot; stated Ryder.The 56 titular members of the ILO Governing Body are eligible to vote in the election; half are from governments, and a quarter each from employers and workers&rsquo; groups. ICEM affiliates lobbyied their home governments to support Ryder. Ten of the government seats are permanently held by major industrialized countries. The remaining seats are filled on a rotating basis, for three-year terms. The employers and workers elect their own representatives.The outgoing Director-General Juan Somavia, a Chilean national, will leave the post on 30 September 2012 after 13 years, and Ryder will take up the post in October.

ICEM Congratulates New ILO Director General Guy Ryder

The international commitment to sustainable job creation and a financial transactions tax (FTT) will be the focused of RIO+20. The international labour movement, led by ITUC, could play a strong role at RIO+20 to ensure that international commitments are turned into national legislation.

	The ITUC released a new report &quot;<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/growing-green-and-decent-jobs,11011.html?lang=en" target="_blank">Growing Green and Decent Jobs</a>&quot; that trade union leaders can use in negotiations on green investment and job creation as a part of their national policies. The report, released on April 18, analyses seven industries including manufacturing and energy industries in 12 countries and shows that investing two per cent of GDP in a greener economy could create up to 48 million new jobs over the next five years.

	Since world leaders adopted Agenda 21 in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, governments have been called upon to invest in a greener economy and accelerate the adoption of clean technologies, but actual progress at the global level has fallen short of the expectations expressed in Agenda 21 (1992), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000, and the 2008 update), the Johannesburg Program of Implementation (JPOI, 2002), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 112px;height: 161px" width="390" />

	Especially on sustainable job creation, a review by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) secretariat reports &quot;global delivery of the employment and green jobs-related commitments is sobering. While judgment is needed to assess delivery against the not so well defined commitments, there is ample evidence to suggest that progress has been slow and in some cases even contradictory to the stated goal. It is impossible to say whether delivery of commitments specifically relating to &quot;green jobs&quot; has fared better or worse than those generic to employment as a whole.&quot;

	Twenty years after the adoption of Agenda 21 at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit as a roadmap towards a sustainable future, representatives of governments, businesses, and international organizations, including trade unions, NGOs, business leaders, academics, politicians, bureaucrats and journalists, will once again discuss the issues on sustainable development at UNCSD-RIO+20 on June20 to 22, in Rio de Janeiro. The main objective of the Conference is to assess the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits and to secure renewed political commitment for tackling poverty eradication and sustainable development challenges. The RIO+20 will also highlight <a href="http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/7issues.html" target="_blank">seven critical issues</a> which need priority attention; these include decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

	As representatives of industrial workers in the metal, chemical, energy, mining, paper, rubber, textiles, materials, and related sectors, the IMF, ICEM and ITGLWF have been jointly promoting common policy demands on sustainable development; including:
<ul>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		a strong, legally-binding, comprehensive global agreement with an ambitious reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions,</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		creation of sustainable jobs that meet ILO definition of Decent Work while ensuring a Just Transition, and</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		building a strong financial foundation for a sustainable future using instruments such as a financial transactions tax.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		The IMF, ICEM, and ITGLWF fully support following three key demands as articulated by the ITUC:</li>
</ul>

	<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/greendecentjobs_madesimple.pdf" target="_blank">Green&amp;Decent Jobs 
	http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/greendecentjobs_madesimple.pdf</a> 

	<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/socialprotectionfloor_madesimple.pdf" target="_blank">Social Protection Floors 
	http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/socialprotectionfloor_madesimple.pdf</a>

	<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ftt_madesimple.pdf" target="_blank">The Financial Transaction Tax 
	http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ftt_madesimple.pdf</a>

	We hope that all industrial workers who attend RIO+20 as labour delegates will play an active role in supporting the common union demands. The international labour movement could play a strong role at RIO+20 to ensure that international commitments are turned into national legislation.

	For further information on ITUC&#039;s campaign on RIO+20, please go to: 
	<a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/rio-20.html">http://www.ituc-csi.org/rio-20.html</a>

RIO+20 Must Commit to Sustainable Job Creation

As we remember those that have died, been injured or suffered ill health as a result of work, we must also commit to making occupational health and safety one of the highest priorities for IndustriALL Global Union.

	Every year, on April 28, the World Day on Safety and Health at Work, workers take a moment to reflect on the devastating toll taken by workplace fatalities, injuries, and occupational diseases.

	IndustriALL Global Union will soon be created, a new organization speaking for some 50 million workers represented by its affiliates. Here are some statistics that should give us all pause. Of IndustriALL&#039;s 50 million affiliated workers:
<ul>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		An estimated 16,400 will die in 2012 as a result of their work. That&#039;s about 45 fatalities per day.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		About 5,000 IndustriALL members will die this year of cancer, alone.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		1,570,000 will be diagnosed with a non-fatal occupational disease.</li>
	<li style="text-align: justify">
		An enormous number, millions, impossible to estimate with any accuracy, will be injured on the job.</li>
</ul>

	These numbers, shocking as they are, are certainly gross underestimates.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="90" src="" width="360" />&nbsp;

	Drawn from International Labour Organization&#039;s Bureau of Labour Statistics and estimates of occupational fatalities and diseases produced in 2008, they rely on nationally accepted statistics reported to the ILO by member countries. In most cases, these are taken from the country&#039;s workers&#039; compensation systems, immediately omitting workers whose disease or death was not accepted as &quot;occupational&quot; in origin, or who were not covered by the workers&#039; compensation system. Occupational diseases are chronically under-diagnosed, and occupational injuries are subject to various strategies to suppress reporting or fraudulently misrepresent them.

	In addition, these estimates simply divide world totals by IndustriALL&#039;s fraction of the global labour force. In reality, IndustriALL will represent workers in industries with many more hazards than most. It is worth remembering that even in traditionally dangerous workplaces such as coal mines, an estimated five times as many workers die of occupational diseases, than of sudden accidental causes such as fires, explosions, falls, or encounters with machinery.

	IndustriALL clearly has to make occupational health and safety one of its highest priorities.

	There are a large number of global standard-setting agencies and agencies that engage in different aspects of occupational health and safety. The alphabet soup of their acronyms includes ILO, WHO, OHSAS, ISO, GRI, UNEP, GHS, REACH, SAICM. IndustriALL must watch all of these closely and pressure them to do a better job of protecting workers.

	IndustriALL will inherit a substantial number of Global Framework Agreements with trend-setting multinational companies. Occupational health and safety provisions must become more prominent in most of these.

	Global campaigns on specific issues, such as the ongoing campaign to raise the number of ratifications of ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines, must continue.

	Occupational health and safety is a complex problem. Interconnected systems must be created to identify and control workplace hazards, and protect workers from them. Central to that effort must be the full participation of workers through their representatives, and on Joint Health and Safety Committees.

	There is no simple, magic solution that can be quickly implemented. Instead, occupational health and safety requires hard work and determined campaigning by union activists. Despite the global race for profits, our health is not for sale.&quot;

28 April 2012: A Day of Mourning

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	ICEM Colombia Coordinator Carlos Bustos reports that a two-day seminar of young trade unionists from the three Global Union Federations (GUFs) that next month will form IndustriALL came to important conclusions last week. The participation of 20 trade unionists under the age of 30 brought young men and women together from throughout Colombia on 10-11 May.

	Participating unions included International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF)affiliates Utramicol and Fetramecol, and Martina Sanguinetti of the Uruguayan Metalworkers (UNTMRA). Also participating were representatives of ICEM, and CUT and CTC national labour centres.

	The meeting sought to find ways to increase the active participation of youth. A key issue for participants was not for them to be consulted more, but to be centrally involved in decision-making and to be involved and represented at all levels inside unions. This includes deciding the politics and the future of the Colombian trade union movement.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="146" src="" width="180" />&nbsp;

	Carlos Bustos

	A commitment was reached to establish a permanent network for communication and information.

	The joint youth project of the three GUFs that also included the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) and was funded by the Finnish Solidarity Organisation, SASK. This project will connect similar processes that are ongoing in Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, and Nicaragua with that in Colombia.

	ICEM project coordinator Patricio Sambonino evaluated the two-day Colombian seminar, saluting the important contribution and participation of the young trade unionists, moving towards generational change for the movement.

Young Colombian Trade Unionists of ICEM, ITGLWF, IMF Connect

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	The ICEM-affiliated Peruvian Federation of Mine and Metal Workers, FNTMMSP, achieved a significant legislative victory on 12 May that creates a pension fund for miners, funded by corporate profits and worker contributions.

	The law had been passed by the country&rsquo;s Senate nine months ago, but the government had not approved regulations for its implementation until now, two days prior to a planned two-day national strike.

	FNTMMSP General Secretary Luis Castillo announced the victory and called off the strike. The 75,000-member FNTMMSP had led the campaign for the last four years, against strong conservative forces in government and industry. The four-year campaign has included numerous mobilisations, marches, and three national strikes.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 342px;height: 154px" width="390">

	Supreme Decree DS 006-2012-TR sets out that the fund will be funded with 0.5% of the corporate annual income of the mining, metal, steel industries, plus 0.5% workers&rsquo; monthly gross salaries. The benefits cannot be used for any other benefit than miners&rsquo; pensions.

	FNTMMSP reports that the primary beneficiaries of the new law will be mine and metal workers from both primary employers and outsourced contractors.

	The mineworkers&rsquo; struggle now continues in other areas, including modification of the legislation on utilities.

	Peru is the world&rsquo;s second largest producer of copper and silver, and is a major producer of gold, zinc, and tin. A massive 60% of the country&rsquo;s export revenue comes from mining.

Peru’s Mineworkers Achieve Legislative Victory on Pensions, Avoid Strike

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390" />

	By the slimmest of vote margins, 2,000 UK petrol-tanker drivers represented by Unite the Union voted to accept a conciliation service&rsquo;s proposal, ending a months-long dispute between drivers and seven contract carriers involving work terms and conditions, including safety and subcontracting.

	The dispute, dating back to February, drove motorists into fuel-hoarding and panic-buying hysteria, mostly triggered by the over-reaction of Prime Minister David Cameron&rsquo;s government. The hysteria included a declaration that 1,400 British military personnel were being trained to deliver fuel oil to retail outlets as a strike precaution.

	An accumulated consultative ballot that was counted on 11 May found that 51% of the 69% of drivers who voted accepted the mediated proposal by UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation, and Mediation Services (ACAS) after eight days of non-stop bargaining. The vote was a re-ballot of one taken in March following concerns that some drivers were unable to vote.

	<img alt="" src="" style="width: 130px;height: 130px" width="390" />

	The ACAS-brokered agreement did introduce an industry-wide accreditation system called &ldquo;Passport,&rdquo; which must promptly be implemented to cover health, safety and training. One major concern to drivers was companies using sub-contract workers to deliver fuel, so creation of minimum industry-wide standards is expected to serve as deterrent.

	Unite warned that the overall narrow &ldquo;yes&rdquo; vote left no room for employer complacency. The union said the dispute uncovered deep-seated problems in UK&rsquo;s petrol supply, exacerbated by a mantra of &ldquo;profits before stability.&rdquo;

	&ldquo;This narrow vote in favour lifts the threat of strike action,&rdquo; said Unite Assistant General Secretary Diana Holland, &ldquo;but leaves the companies with no room for complacency. We look forward to the rapid implementation of the ACAS proposals which include an industry-wide &lsquo;Passport&rsquo;.&rdquo;

	Now, Unite, the seven oil companies, UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and the Department for Energy, Environment and Climate Change &ndash; the government entity that threatened to break a strike with the military &ndash; must begin implementation of the &ldquo;Passport&rdquo; scheme by 1 June.

	The seven fuel distribution companies involved include the largest Hoyer, with 500 drivers, and Wincanton, DHL, BP, Norbert Dentressangle, JW Sucklings and Turners. Majorities of drivers at DHL, Wincanton, Hoyer, and Turners voted against the proposals, while those at BP, Norbert Dentressangle, and JW Sucklings voted in favour. The accumulated vote was 737 for, 711 against.

	The 2,000 drivers deliver 90% of UK&rsquo;s refined fuel oil products to thousands of retail petrol stations.

UK Truck Drivers Agree to Terms with Seven Fuel Distributing Companies

<img alt="" src="" style="width: 100px;height: 39px" width="390">

	The 26th World Congress of the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers&rsquo; Association (IUF) is now being held in Geneva 15-18 May. A major focus of the Congress is a united condemnation of the appalling behaviour of Swiss-based Nestl&eacute;, the largest food company in the world.

	The IUF has a longstanding campaign for the rights of workers throughout Nestl&eacute;&rsquo;s global facilities. Great victories have been won in Pakistan and Indonesia, but serious rights abuses of Nestl&eacute; workers in those countries continue, as they do other countries.

	This Congress will see affiliates, representing a combined 2.6 million trade union members, formulate a new plan of action to move Nestl&eacute; to act responsibly. The IUF Nespressure Campaign highlights the fast-growing profits of the market leader, CHF 110 billion in sales in 2011, with Nespresso one of the most profitable parts of the company. But even as profits soar for the company, management increases the pressure on its workers everywhere. Wages, conditions, and rights of Nestl&eacute; employees are constantly squeezed.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 120px;height: 120px" width="390">&nbsp;

	A new part of the global campaign will be launched at this week&rsquo;s Ccongress, and serves as a clear example of Nestl&eacute;&rsquo;s disregard for workers&rsquo; core labour rights. The &ldquo;We are the 53!&rdquo; campaign focuses on the vindictive mass-dismissal of 53 workers at a Nescaf&eacute; factory in Panjang, Indonesia. Those workers were sacked because they organised and attempted to assert their rights.

	The 53 are members of IUF affiliate SBNIP there and the union itself have struggled for years for the right to bargain collectively. When the bargaining deadlock forced workers to strike last year, management signed an agreement with the SBNIP to end the strike and subsequently promptly sacked the 53 key union activists.

	Congress will establish a Nestl&eacute; Panjang Justice Fund to assist the workers and their families who now face hardship because of Nestl&eacute;&rsquo;s disturbing actions.

	See more information, and support the online campaign at <a href="http://www.iuf.org/nespressure/en/">IUF&rsquo;s Nespressure website</a>&nbsp;here.

IUF Congress in Geneva Condemns Nestlé

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