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<img height="39" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100"/>
ICEM Belgian affiliate FGBT/ABVV stepped up its campaign calling for protection of workers’ rights in the glass and ceramics sector. 
 
Six hundred workers in the sector have lost their jobs, and over 1,000 contract workers have been sacked as global companies operating in Belgium face the worst economic downturn in decades. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV accused several companies of taking advantage of the crisis by shifting production to countries where wages and social payments are much lower. The Vesuvius group, for instance, is accused of closing a profit-making site in a “race to the bottom.” 
 
The economic downturn has seen scores of temporary and contract workers in glass and ceramics rendered jobless in Belgium without notice, prospect of job reclassification, or retraining. 
 
The 1,000 short-term contract workers represent between 11-12% of the total workforce in these sectors. 
 
Saint-Gobain, the Paris-based glass producer, announced last year that it would cut 4,000 jobs globally this year, many in Belgium. 
 
The FGTB/ABVV calls attention to the obvious fact that although workers are hardest hit by the crisis, production quotas remain high and dividends to shareholders continue to flow. 
 
Considering the government assistance and programmes available to employers, there should be no need for dismantling these sectors in Belgium. 
 
The union pledges to continue the struggle throughout 2009 to restore workers’ jobs and rights, as well as to ensure that workers have the necessary purchasing power in Belgium.

Belgian FGTB/ABVV Outlines Steps in Glass, Ceramics to Meet Economic Crisis

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on, among other items, the HIV/AIDS seminar in Mongolia and how the economic crisis affects prevention and treatment.
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 
Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
HIV/AIDS Workshop in Mongolia 
 
With funding from ICEM-JAF, Japan, the Taiwan Petroleum Workers’ Union, and the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project, the ICEM affiliate, the Mongolian Energy, Geology and Mine Workers’ Trade Unions (MEGMTU) organised an HIV/AIDS seminar in Ulaanbaatar from 10 to 12 August. Forty-five participants, of whom 17 were women, attended the seminar. The opening was also attended by representatives from the ILO and the Asian Development Bank, which has recently started an HIV/AIDS prevention project, focusing on infrastructure and the mining sector. 
 
Following up on the Tripartite Declaration on the prevention of HIV/AIDS at workplaces, signed in October 2007 by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour, the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions (CMTU) and the Mongolian Employers’ Federation (MONEF), the seminar had the title “Development of Social Partner Cooperation to Prevent HIV/AIDS in the Mineral and Energy Sectors”. In line with the objectives of the seminar, representatives from government agencies and from MONEF also attended. 
 
As an outcome of working groups, participants made detailed recommendations concerning the improvement of legislation and HIV/AIDS interventions at national, industry and workplace level. The final declaration calls for tripartite cooperation at national level and bipartite cooperation at the workplace level with action-oriented programmes to be implemented. 
 
The prevalence rate in Mongolia is still low; UNAIDS estimates 820 cases. The objective is to keep it at this low rate, or push it to zero. Prevention is therefore the focus of HIV/AIDS work in Mongolia. Mining areas and also some energy projects are in remote areas. Workers are often separated from their families for a long time; they earn wages above the national industrial average and commercial sex workers are attracted to these areas. Foreign migrant workers are also employed. The present low prevalence rate therefore hides a potentially explosive situation. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Disruption of Treatment Threatened by Global Economic Crisis 
 
In 22 countries, disruption of HIV prevention and treatment programmes is expected over the course of this year, as a result of the global economic crisis, according to a report by UNAIDS and the World Bank, released on 6 July. 
 
According to the report “The Global Economic Crisis and HIV Prevention and Treatment Programmes: Vulnerabilities and Impact”, eight countries are already facing shortages of antiretroviral drugs. Together, these countries are home to more than 60% of people receiving AIDS treatment. 
 
In 34 countries, representing 75% of people living with HIV, there is already an impact on HIV prevention programmes, focusing on high-risk groups. Furthermore, the report suggests that poor nutrition because of reduced incomes and rising unemployment could also influence the effectiveness of ARV drugs. Community networks, which often are the only social safety net for the poor, are also being crippled by the financial crisis. 
 
While there are no reports of substantial cuts in donor assistance for 2009, there is concern that financial sustainability of antiretroviral treatment programmes that depend mainly on external aid is uncertain. 
 
(Source: Press Release UNIADS, 6 July. The report can be accessed at <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
SWHAP Network Meets on Economic Crisis 
 
The economic crisis was also the focus of the South Africa Network workshop of the Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme (SWHAP). Twenty-eight coordinators from 11 workplaces discussed the implications of the economic crisis and how workplace programmes on HIV and AIDS, as well as wellness programmes, could cope with the financial stress they are currently experiencing. 
 
Participants also discussed how health workers and lay counsellors in the programme can be empowered with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to ensure effective adherence to treatment by workers. ICEM HIV/AIDS Project Management Assistant, Paule Ndessomin, attended the meeting in Johannesburg. 
 
(Source: Information on the SWHAP website <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>) 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
Ethiopia: Nurses are Empowered to Boost ARV Treatment 
 
Facing mounting difficulties in bringing antiretroviral drugs to people living with HIV and AIDS who need them, the Ethiopian Government has given nurses the authority to prescribe and supervise ARV therapy. This will expand access to treatment, especially in rural areas where there are few doctors. The number of clinics staffed by nurses trained to dispense the drugs will increase from 400 to 1,300 over the next three years with help from the Global Fund. 
 
About 370,000 of the 1.1 million Ethiopians with HIV/AIDS need ARVs but only 120,000 are getting the medication. Ethiopia hopes to more than double that number to meet the United Nations Millennium Goal of having 80 percent receiving treatment by 2010. 
 
The target is ambitious. Half the children under five years old are chronically malnourished and almost 40 percent of the 85 million population live below the poverty line, but the biggest hurdles are training and keeping enough doctors to distribute the drugs, bringing health services to the 80 percent of the population who live in the countryside, and making the programme self-supporting, should money from the donors dry up. Poor pay and difficult working conditions have driven many health professionals to seek higher-paid jobs abroad. 
 
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, 7 August) 

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Namibia: Court Case Highlights Workers’ Rights 
 
An out-of-court settlement was reached in the case of the Namibian hotel workers (see <a href="/en/72-HIV-AIDS/3322-ICEM-HIV-AIDS-e-bulletin-No.-46-July-2009" type="internal">HIV/AIDS e-bulletin no. 46, July 2009</a>). The workers had fought a nine-year legal battle after being tested without their consent, and for having their confidentiality breached by their employer, the Oshakati Country Lodge. They settled for monetary compensation before the case was heard in court. 
 
While a court case would have set precedents, the Legal Assistance Centre in Namibia nevertheless managed to re-emphasise fundamental principles during the drawn-out case, such as: no testing without informed consent, and maintenance of confidentiality. 
 
(Source: Additional information provided by Robert E. Lovelace, Washington) 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
AIDSPAN Releases Beginners’ Guide to the Global Fund 
 
Aidspan has released a new guide, designed to provide a broad introduction to the Global Fund for people who have little or no prior experience of the Fund. A Beginner’s Guide to the Global Fund will be of interest to a wide range of people. 
 
A Beginner’s Guide to the Global Fund comes in three versions: the full guide (about 60 pages), an eight-page summary and a two-page summary. All three versions are available in English at <a href="http://www.aidspan.org/guides">www.aidspan.org/guides</a>. French-, Spanish- and Russian-language editions of all three versions will be available by early September 2009 at the same site. The full version of the guide contains numerous links to the websites of the Global Fund and Aidspan, for people who need in-depth information. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 105, 28 July. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (<a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>). To receive GFO, send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
News from the Global Union Federations 
 
The fortnightly HIV/AIDS updates of 1 and 15 July of the International Transport Workers’ Federation report, among others, on the integration of HIV/AIDS in ITF Inspectors’ seminars, and the progress of the US Government to end its longstanding ban on HIV positive visitors and migrants. (<a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>). 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/image_aids_ribbon.gif" width="40" height="40"/>
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe or Translate? 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line. 
Unfortunately, the e-bulletin can only be published in English. 
For a free automated (non-ICEM) translation of this HIV-AIDS bulletin into other languages, you may want to try http://www.google.com/language_tools and insert the following URL into the window “Translate a Web page“: 
<a href="/index.php?id=72&la=EN&doc=3358" type="internal">/index.php?id=72&la=EN&doc=3358</a>  
 
Or click directly on the links below: 
 
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Cette traduction est faite automatiquement par un logiciel internet gratuit. L’ICEM n’assume aucune responsabilité à cet égard. Elle est approximative, mais peut néanmoins vous donner une idée générale du contenu de l’article. 
 
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ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 47 August/September 2009

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
ICEM affiliate, Union Sindical Obrera de la Industria del Petroleo (USO), has been negotiating a new collective agreement with state-owned Ecopetrol. The period of negotiation was extended by 20 days and ended on Saturday, 22 August. The negotiators worked continuously for the final 24 hours of the 40 day talks. Agreement was reached on a new collective agreement for the period 2009-2014, and will be backdated from 1 July 2009. The agreement will apply to all Ecopetrol employees, as well as those employed by contractors working on Ecopetrol projects. 
 
Major demands of the union were health care for the families of temporary workers, the reinstatement of workers who had lost their jobs due to trade union activities, opposition to US military bases in the country, an increased wage scale, the recognition of a conventional wage for all activities of industry, employment regulations in Ecopetrol, and issues of trade union and human rights. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0908.uso.jpg" width="290" height="140"/>
The agreement satisfies USO’s demands on health, education, and housing, as well as on occupational health. Families of temporary workers will receive health care from the company, on the condition that they have been employed for a minimum period of six months. 
 
Considerable wage gains were achieved, with base salaries rising by between 6.87% and 18.74%, depending on the worker’s category. All salaries will then rise incrementally, by around 1% per year, for the remaining five years of the agreement. 
 
Another proposed article in the collective agreement sought support from the company for sport and recreation of workers and their families. Funding should be provided by management towards clubs and societies, with 80% of membership fees subsidized by Ecopetrol. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Colombia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
The union was eager to seek a collective agreement to solve the conflict, but the message from the USO leadership was clear: “If there is no agreement, there will be no production,” said Moises Baron Cardenas, President of USO Barrancabermeja. 
 
As reported by the ICEM in InBrief 135, the early days of the negotiation process were marred by violence and intimidation. On Thursday, 17 July, riot police attacked workers at the Barrancabermeja refinery with tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun bombs, seriously injuring three workers. Police arrested two workers. The attack occurred two days after the start of the negotiations; USO suspended the meeting to focus on treating the injured and securing the release of detainees. USO President Germán Osman condemned the attack.

Colombian Oil Workers Union, USO, Reach New Agreement with Ecopetrol

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Slovakia declared 11-12 August a period of national mourning, after 20 miners died in an underground explosion in the town of Handlova, central Slovakia. It was the worst mining disaster in the country’s history. 
 
All state institutions flew the nation’s flag at half mast, starting at 08h00 on 11 August until 08h00 12 August following the 10 August mine blast at the Hornonitrianske Banke Mining Company’s lignite coal mine. A public memorial for the departed miners was held on 20 August in Handlova. 
 
Hornonitrianske Banke Prievidza is Slovakia's top brown coal producer, supplying fuel to the nearby Novaky heating plant. 

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Slovakia.png" width="185" height="188"/>
Recovery teams continued last week to search for the bodies of the fallen mineworkers, however finding survivors was impossible not a possibility. The mine’s Director, Peter Cicmanec, stated that heat caused by the blast, and the high concentration of poisonous gases, put it beyond doubt that any of the missing miners would still be alive. 
 
Cicmanec has been criticised inside Slovakia for not making public condolences on the mine tragedy until the memorial service last week. 
 
The disaster was caused by a methane gas explosion, 330 metres underground, at around 09h30 on 10 August. Several of the deceased were fire fighters, who were in the shaft to put out small fires of self-igniting coal. The gases had been left in the shaft by previous “imperfect combustion.” 
 
Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek stated that nine workers were recovered from the mine and treated in a local hospital on Monday. 
 
Slovakian Prime Minister, Robert Fico, has promised financial aid to the families of the victims in the amount of €33,000. He has also ordered an independent investigation into the cause of the accident. 
 
The mine produces 2.2 million tonnes of lignite per year and Hornonitrianske Banke Prievidza has plans to open new mines in the region after the discovery of deposits of some 7.2 million tonnes. 
 
A total of 445 people have lost their lives in the mines surrounding Handlova since 1915. But over the past 17 years, only 12 have died.

Slovakia Holds National Days of Mourning Following Mine Tragedy

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
Young trade unionists around the world marked International Youth Day, on 12 August, around the theme, “Sustainability: Our Challenge, Our Future.” As young workers struggle everywhere for the right to have sustainable, decent, green jobs, the days was marked as such. 
 
The youth of the international labour movement are focusing more and more on the issue of sustainable jobs in the face of climate change. Climate change is the cause of increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, of the loss of biodiversity, of the future’s food and water supplies, diseases, and employment. These impacts will hit the poor and vulnerable hardest. 

<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMsustdev.JPG" width="150" height="142" alt=""/>
The voice of the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) Youth Committee called for intra and inter-generational solidarity in solving climate change. Measures must be taken to move more quickly towards a low-carbon economy. Young trade unionists want to be part of the solution for a fairer, environmentally responsible society, one that respects trade union rights. 
 
Organisers of the International Youth Day stressed the need to support and assist the most vulnerable, and the need to build a sustainable green economy that creates new jobs that combat social inequalities and environmental damage.

Global Labour Celebrates International Youth Day, 12 August

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
In a month’s time, global trade unions will begin actions around the World Day for Decent Work, 7 October. And similarly to last year, the 20-million-member ICEM will focus activities on its Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) campaign, with specific emphasis this year on events in Thailand and Turkey. 
 
In Thailand, the ICEM’s Thai Affiliates’ Committee has already begun joint preparations with Thai Electronics, Automotive, and Metalworking (TEAM) affiliates and trade unions affiliated to the Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) to bring unionization to CAL workers. The emphasis as well will be on stopping victimization and interference in union activities by both the Thai government and multinational employers. 

World Day for Decent Work in Thailand will also focus on the necessity for the government to ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the freedom of association and right to organise and right to collective bargaining conventions. In addition, the ICEM Thai Affiliates’ Committee will work with the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers’ Association (IUF) on injustices committed by Unilever.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Thailand.png" width="230" height="106"/>
 
Thai activities are likely to include a national trade union seminar, a march, media outreach, and literature and posters made available inside worksites. A further planning meeting on Thai actions around 7 October will occur this week. 
 
In Turkey, the Work Relations Group of the Council of Global Unions, together with Turkish trade union federations, will conduct activities throughout the early days of October against a backdrop of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Those meetings are to be held on 6-7 October in Istanbul. 
 
On 1 October, the ICEM will lead Turkish affiliated unions and others into a meeting in Ankara with the country’s Minister of Labour and Social Security. The purpose of that will be to press the Turkish government for full work rights for temporary and precarious workers. On 2 October, in Istanbul, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Guy Ryder, and other global labour leaders will hold a press conference related to World Day for Decent Work.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Turkey.png" width="240" height="110"/>
Four Turkish trade union federations – TÜRK-İŞ, DİSK, KESK, and HAK-İŞ – have been asked to produce examples of abuse to precarious workers. TÜRK-İŞ is organizing a series of symposiums across the country on the issues of unemployment insurance and hired labour. One such forum is scheduled at Gazi University in Ankara on 7 October. 
 
In July, the ICEM teamed with affiliated Turkish unions and the federations to block a “Private Labour Offices” bill, proposed legislation that would have made it easy for individuals to register as labour brokers and then to dispatch temporary workers to enterprises. 
 
The draconian legislation was vetoed on 9 July by President Abdullah Gül. Although the immediate political climate is not suitable for the bill’s return, it is far from dead and ICEM and trade unions hope to use 7 October activities to bury the measure for good. An ICEM report on the legislation can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3316-Turkey:-Labour-Hire-Veto-Applauded-More-Work-Demanded" type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM’s World Day for Decent Work Focus on Thailand, Turkey

<img height="39" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100"/>
Global labour’s World Day for Decent Work next month will reveal a wide swath of economic, social, and gender neglect that assails millions of workers, but nowhere is that neglect as evident anywhere as it is to contract and agency workers. The ICEM, in unity with several other Global Union Federations (GUFs) and the Council of Global Unions, will use the day – 7 October, and indeed, the days before and after – to highlight the need to bring respectability and work rights to contract and agency workers.
<img height="180" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0704CALThailand.jpg" width="240"/>
 
As part of ICEM’s ongoing Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) Campaign, we are cooperating with other GUFs and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to call on affiliated trade unions and their members to participate actively in events in their countries. The ITUC is continually updating a website that lists events country by country. It can be found <a href="http://www.wddw.org">here</a>. 
 
The ITUC has produced a Campaign Guide for World Day for Decent Work, which can be found at that site, complete with ideas for actions, media events, and providing literature for worksites. The <a href="http://cal.icem.org/">ICEM’s CAL Campaign site</a> contains the ICEM's CAL manual and other useful tools. 
In addition, the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) has produced material on Precarious Work for this years' 7 October, which can be used by all, as all Global Union Federations, as well as the ITUC, signed of on it. The <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/PW_English.pdf ">booklet</a>, entitled, “Precarious Work Affects Us All”, as well as the <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/PW_Poster_Print2.pdf">poster</a> can be, along with other materials for 7 October, found on the <a href="http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?n=696&l=2">IMF's campaign site</a>. 
 
The global economic collapse over the past year has adversely affected most workers in nearly all sectors. But none more so than workers on the fringes of society, workers who live and toil in the shadows of humanity in conditions that will never be termed decent. Equal rights and equal treatment for temporary and agency workers is a prerequisite for a fair and just way of life for all.
<img height="51" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0807DecentWorkDecentLife.jpg" width="300"/>
Workers’ representatives from throughout the world will speak in a unified voice in the days leading up to and following 7 October. That voice will call for a new globalisation that includes stable and quality jobs, better social protections, assurances that every worker has the right to form and join a trade union, to bargain collectively for the betterment of all, and most especially, a voice aimed at lifting the lowest among us to better and sustainable livelihoods. 
 
The ICEM encourages everyone to take part in activities around the Global Day of Action for Decent Work.

World Day for Decent Work, 7 October, Points to Plight of Contract, Agency Workers

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia has launched a campaign against global mining giant Xstrata to preserve coal mining jobs in New South Wales (NSW). The Swiss-based company, on 31 July, announced it was cutting 122 of 550 jobs at its Ulan Mine in western NSW, and 158 more jobs at its Tahmoor colliery in southern NSW. 
 
The CFMEU disputes Xstrata’s claim that the scheduled redundancies are intended to improve efficiencies by “realigning employee numbers with the current operating environment.” To Xstrata, that means reduced pricing on thermal coal brought by the global financial crisis.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/XstrataPoison.jpg" width="240" height="76"/>
 
The union claims Xstrata’s real intent is to hire more contractors at Ulan, specifically as the company prepares development of major new coal deposits at Ulan West. 
 
CFMEU National President Tony Maher called the cuts callous and offensive. “We highlight this as corporate greed, as this is a very profitable mine,” he said. “There are times when retrenchments are unavoidable. This is not one of those times.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0712CFMEUMaher.jpg" width="90" height="135"/>
 CFMEU’s Tony Maher 
 

The Ulan mine is forecast to post an A$140 million profit this year, down from A$330 million in 2008, but still extremely healthy profits considering the global recession. The CFMEU has brought forced dismissal cases before the Australian Industrial Relations Commissions, but a 24 August hearing to block the Ulan redundancies failed. 
 
Some 500 people marched last week in Mudgee, NSW, near Ulan as the first wave of layoffs was to begin. The mayor of Mudgee, a community of 7,000 some 260 kilometres west of Sydney, said the cuts will have a serious knock-on effect to other jobs in the town. The CFMEU says for every high-paid mining job that is lost, another four service or retail jobs will be affected. 
 
The union has started a website on Xstrata’s job cuts at Ulan. It can be found <a href="http://www.xstratafacts.com">here</a>. 
 
Xstrata bought majority control of Ulan in 2001 and controls a 90% stake in the mine. Mitsubishi Development owns the other 10%. At Tahmoor, a mine producing coking coal that Xstrata bought from Centennial Coal in 2007, the company used the same excuse for issuing redundancy notices: market prices are not strong enough to support the current level of 493 jobs. 
 
Xstrata’s job curtailments at the two collieries are not the only sites in Australia where the company is forcing redundancies. In June, the tightly held mining concern said it was terminating thermal coal mining at its United Colliery in the Hunter Valley region of NSW. That colliery is to cease operating by March 2010. And in January 2009, Xstrata announced job cutbacks at the Oaky Creek No. 1 mine in central Queensland.

CFMEU Seeks to Protect Xstrata Coal Mining Jobs in Australia

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United Steelworker (USW) members at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in the US will begin voting later this week on a four-year labour agreement, covering over 10,000 workers at seven American factories. A tentative agreement between the USW and Goodyear, America’s biggest tyre manufacturer, was reached late in the evening on 29 August, just hours before a second contract extension was due to expire. 
 
Collective agreements between North America’s largest industrial union and the US’s three major tyre-makers – Goodyear, Bridgestone Americas LLC, and Michelin’s BF Goodrich subsidiary – expired on 18 July, but the USW and Goodyear and Michelin North America twice extended negotiation deadlines. 
 
On 15 August, the union and Michelin reached accord on a three-year contract covering 2,500 workers. Workers at two of the company’s plants, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, ratified the agreement some eight days later by an 83% affirmative vote. A third Michelin plant, in Opelika, Alabama, that employs 1,000 is set to close on 31 October, and the union and North American management of Michelin negotiated a satisfactory plant-closing pact several months ago.
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Talks with Bridgestone, covering 4,500 workers at seven of nine of the Japanese company’s US plants, are still ongoing. Workers covered under that master agreement are employed now under day-by-day extensions, with each side required to give a five-day notice before contract termination. 
 
The USW’s chief goals in US tyre talks this summer have been job security, investment in facilities, and improvements in worker and retiree benefits, specifically related to company-sponsored health care coverage. 
 
At the Goodyear manufacturing plants, USW members are now involved in informational sessions spelling out the terms of the proposed accord, with site-by-site voting to follow. The Goodyear plant sites include: Union City, Tennessee, where auto and light truck tyres are made; Topeka, Kansas, a plant manufacturing commercial truck, bus, and off-road equipment tyres; Gadsden, Alabama, auto and light truck; Fayetteville, North Carolina, auto and light truck; Danville, Virginia, commercial truck and bus tyres, and aircraft tyres; and Akron, Ohio, race-car tyres. 
 
Meanwhile, the USW is bracing for a 17 September deadline in which President Barack Obama must decide on a US International Trade Commission (ITC) recommendation to impose higher tariffs on low-end Chinese tyres entering the American marketplace. The USW petitioned the ITC for relief because of a 215% increase between 2004 and 2008 in Chinese tyre exports to the US. The case is seen as a litmus test for Obama on whether or not he keeps a campaign pledge to protect US-based jobs.

US Tyre Talks Near Complete

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In Mexico on 25 August, an appellate court overturned the government’s freeze on bank accounts of the National Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union (SNTMMSRM), or Los Mineros. But a week later, on 2 September, Mexico’s Attorney General reissued an order freezing those accounts. 
 
The appeals court ruled that the government’s asset freeze on union accounts could only be imposed on specific evidence, not on a general suspicion of money laundering. The court thus ruled against a decree from late last year that continued a freeze on the union’s funds, now tied up for nearly three years. 
 
The Attorney General’s office again used Article 181 of Mexico’s penal code to freeze the union’s assets.
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Los Mineros will continue to appeal this order, despite not having the necessary information from the government in order to wage its legal fight. 
 
Meanwhile, a special working group of the Mexican Senate has agreed to accept videotape testimony from the union’s leader in exile, Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, over the Cananea mine strike. Napoleón Gómez, who is in exile in Canada, will be allowed to testify on Grupo México’s complicity in alleged human rights abuses at the mine where SNTMMSRM members have now been on strike for 25 months. 
 
The Mexican Miners’ and Metalworkers’ Union was approved for ICEM affiliation during the 23-24 June Executive Committee meetings.

Los Mineros Bank Assets Unfrozen, Then Frozen Again

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