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Not Walking the Talk: DuPont&rsquo;s Untold Safety Failures is the name of a report issued by the USW in the US. The report challenged the chemical company&rsquo;s behaviour-based safety programme. 
USW asserts in the document that DuPont encourages under-reporting of injuries, and the company&rsquo;s own safety and environmental record belies a division inside DuPont that sells safety programmes to other chemical companies. Copies of the full report can be obtaining by visiting the union&rsquo;s DuPont website, www.dupontcouncil.org.

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont&#039;s Safety

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The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), together with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and a number of NGO's has called on two South Korea companies to divest their interests in Burma. 
At a 14 October press conference and rally in Seoul, the centers called on Daewoo International and Korea Gas Corp. to review human rights, workers&rsquo; rights and environmental destruction being carried out by the Burmese military government. 
FKTU also asked the South Korean government, as a member of the ILO, to review its relations with Burma, and to take preventative measures against possible violations of human and labour rights.

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

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Government-certified leaders of the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) were escorted off property of Debswana&rsquo;s largest diamond mine, Orapa, on 4 October by security guards. 
Chimbidzani Chimidza and Jack Tlhagale were on site to conduct elections for BMWU&rsquo;s Orapa branch committee, per the union&rsquo;s constitution. Debswana, the joint diamond-mining enterprise of DeBeers and the government of Botswana, is refusing the recognise the union&rsquo;s new leadership, several of whom have been unjustly sacked by the company and BCL, a separate zinc and copper mining employer in the southern African nation.

Botswana Mining Leaders Given Boot by Debswana

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ExxonMobil revealed unfavourable employment plans at two European sites last week. 
In the UK at the Fawley oil refinery, ESSO announced it would recruit foreign labour for contract maintenance, prompting threat of strike action by trade union GMB. Esso said in a statement that consultations with the union to find flexibility in the UK working agreement failed, and that it would reach beyond British workers to find contract labour. Fawley employs 900 full-time staff and 500 contractors. 
In Belgium, the company announced cuts of 550 jobs on 13 October at the ExxonMobil Chemical Films plant in Virton. The firm said excess capacity of polypropylene films, used for food and other labeling, would cause two of 11 production lines to shut in January. Management has been in dialogue with unions since early this year on the restructurings. A union at the plant in southern Belgium did not rule out industrial action.

Job Cuts, Outsourcing for ExxonMobil in Europe

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History was made in the North American offshore oil industry 30 September. Some 120 members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) of Canada won the continent&rsquo;s first offshore oil collective agreement at Terra Nova, a platform 350 kilometers off Newfoundland that is a consortium of seven oil companies led by Petro Canada. 
The agreement came through first contract arbitration in accord with labour law in Newfoundland, which prohibits strikes or lockouts in an initial contract period. &ldquo;It has taken years of patience and solidarity to get to this point,&rdquo; said CEP President Brian Payne. &ldquo;We had hoped for a freely bargained collective agreement but this legally imposed arbitrated settlement is an important stepping stone in improving working conditions.&rdquo; 
The platform workers chose CEP representation by an 84% vote in April 2003, 19 months after workers at another North Atlantic installation called Hibernia voted for CEP, becoming the first NA offshore group to unionise. 
A contract for the 430 workers there is currently before the same arbitration process. Besides Petro Canada, companies with a stake in Terra Nova include ExxonMobil, Norske Hydro, Husky Oil, Murphy Oil, Mosbacher Operating, and Chevron.

First Collective Agreement in NA Offshore Sector

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ICEM energy workers&rsquo; affiliate in Argentina, Federation of Private Oil &amp; Gas Workers (FASPYGP), will launch a nationwide strike beginning today in order to gain pay increases achieved in the oil-producing region of Chubut, Patagonia province. 
Since a month ago, Argentine workers there achieved significant wage increases by striking oil producers such as Repsol YPF of Spain, Pan American Energy, a company 60% held by BP, and Vintage Petroleum, a US independent now merging with Occidental Petroleum. FASPYGP warned there could be fuel shortages in Argentina within 48 hours of any nationwide strike occurring.

Argentina Oil Union Threatens Strike

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Nigerian ICEM affiliates PENGASSAN and NUPENG has stopped privatisation plans of the country&rsquo;s four oil refineries and a separate petrochemical plant until job security demands are met. 
Nigeria&rsquo;s Bureau of Public Enterprises has been attempting to sell off assets of state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), owner of the facilities. Both the white-collar and blue-collar oil workers&rsquo; unions are united in seeking a total severance package including full pensions and benefits for workers before any state asset is sold. 
The unions also seek new negotiations with prospective investors of any of the plants. The NNPC is seeking to transfer workers to its other business divisions instead. 
PENGASSAN and NUPENG have mobilized union members to prevent possible buyers from entering and examining the facilities until demands are met.

Nigerian Oil Unions Halt Privatisation Plans

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Colombian trade unions, together with NGOs and indigenous people&rsquo;s groups convened the largest general strike in over a decade in the South American country on 12 October. 
The strike, called by the national trade union federation CUT, was over the proposed free trade agreement with the US, and a proposed amendment now before Colombia&rsquo;s Constitutional Court that would allow President Alvaro Uribe to stand for a second four-year term next May. 
Strikers also called for an end to consistent trade union repression by the Uribe government, and for the government to take decisive action against paramilitaries, who killed 99 trade union leaders in 2004. Thousands of Colombian judicial, transport and education workers walked off their jobs to join the strike, which forced closure of schools and government offices.

Colombia&#039;s Unions Wage Successful General Strike

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Some 1,300 members of United Steel Workers (USW) in Canada are back to work at Teck Cominco Ltd. following ratification 5 October of a new three-year collective agreement. Steelworkers had been on strike at the company&rsquo;s zinc and lead operations in Trail, British Colombia, since 19 July. 
The strike had been called in order to re-gain wage and pension ground given the company in the 1990s during economic hard times. The new contract has wage increases totaling 10% over the three years, pension gains of 12%, and a C$3,500 cash payment to each worker.

Strike Settled in Canada with Wage, Benefit Gains

Union members at nine US plants of leading tyre multinational Bridgestone/Firestone were not immediately called out on strike at one minute after midnight this morning, when their collective agreements expired. 
 
However, they remain poised for industrial action as negotiations continue between the company and the tyre workers' union, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). 
 
The union's President George Becker announced last night that the start of the strike would be postponed, as the talks with the company had made some progress. 
 
&quot;Key elements of a settlement are yet to be resolved, and much drafting will remain if and when an agreement in principle is reached,&quot; Becker said. &quot;But we have made enough progress over the past two days that the union is willing to continue working while bargaining goes on.&quot; 
 
There would be no formal extension of the contracts (collective agreements), Becker stated, but the union's members at all the plants would &quot;continue working under the terms and conditions of their expired contract while we see if we can reach an agreement.&quot; 
 
Union negotiators stressed that members will be working day to day, and will not indefinitely postpone a strike. 
 
&quot;This will not be a long-term process,&quot; said John Sellers, USWA Executive Vice-President and chair of the union&rsquo;s negotiating team. &quot;We will either have an agreement with Bridgestone/Firestone in very short order, or we will have a labour dispute.&quot; 
 
The USWA is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which recently set up a global network of trade unions in Bridgestone - see ICEM UPDATE 66/2000. 
 
This week, unions organising Bridgestone workers around the world have put the company under mounting pressure to reach a settlement in the US.

Bridgestone Strike Postponed As US Talks Continue

Archive

USW Has Story to be Told on DuPont's Safety

Korean Labour Federations Take on Burma Issue

Botswana Mining Leaders Given Boot by Debswana

Job Cuts, Outsourcing for ExxonMobil in Europe

First Collective Agreement in NA Offshore Sector

Argentina Oil Union Threatens Strike

Nigerian Oil Unions Halt Privatisation Plans

Colombia's Unions Wage Successful General Strike

Strike Settled in Canada with Wage, Benefit Gains

Bridgestone Strike Postponed As US Talks Continue

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