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In the chemicals sector, bargaining will resume 19 July in Canada in the five-week-old strike between CEP and Invista. Some 380 members of CEP Local 28-0 have been on strike in Maitland, Ontario, since 4 June over a concessionary company proposal. 
That proposal would cut benefits in the third year of a proposed three-year contract, force unwanted language on them in which they would be made redundant before contract workers are laid off. The proposal also includes longer working hours, which, judging by Invista&rsquo;s experience, would result in layoffs. 
CEP has taken the fight to Ontario&rsquo;s elected officials fearing Invista is braced to start production with replacement workers, an obvious health and safety menace to the Maitland community. 
The plant manufactures nylon intermediates, refrigerants, and engineered polymer products. Invista was formed in 2004 when DuPont spun off its textiles and interiors business to Koch Industries of the US for US$4.4 billion. Koch combined its KoSa fibres business with the DuPont business, and Invista now has 24,000 employees at operations in 50 countries, including 90 plants in the US and Canada.

CEP Members Strike Former DuPont Plant in Canada

The labour dispute between New Zealand&rsquo;s state-run coal company Solid Energy and ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) has heated up again. Some 200 union members at two of the company&rsquo;s mines were locked out by Solid Energy and by one of its operating contractors for engaging in limited industrial action. Some 700 miners are seeking EPMU&rsquo;s national call for a 5% pay increase and a commitment to pay parity at underground and surface mines on both New Zealand&rsquo;s North and South Islands. Solid Energy, posting windfall profits this year due to high prices of coking coal, is offering only 10% over three years.

EPMU, Solid Energy Dispute Continues in New Zealand

Leaders and activists of the unaffiliated Lepanto Employees Union in the Philippines are still off work at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.&rsquo;s gold operations in Benquet province. The trade unionists were sacked for continuing an allegedly illegal strike. The country&rsquo;s Department of Labor and Employment stepped in last week to resolve the pay dispute that has lingered since last November for 1,700 miners, but made no provisions to reinstate the leaders. Workers struck legally on 4 June, but the labour agency issued a back-to-work order on 8 June. Many of the miners are remaining off jobsites in sympathy with the discharged leaders. The company says it will attempt to reach full production using supervisors and contract workers.

Mine Workers&#039; Leaders in Philippines Still Off Jobs

In Chile, 500 miners are striking at Placer Dome&rsquo;s Zaldivar copper mine in the northern region. The miners, members of Zaldivar Mining Union No. 1, rejected a pay offer 23 June, but Placer Dome invoked Chilean law calling for a return to talks before a strike could occur. In those talks, the Canadian company stuck to its 3.5% wage offer, far below Chile&rsquo;s 6% inflation rate and the union&rsquo;s bottom line, and miners struck 4 July. 
The company last week said it would attempt to resume 75% of production at the mine using supervisors and contract workers. The Zaldivar mine produced 148,000 tonnes last year and accounts for 1% of the world&rsquo;s copper supply. Placer Dome, which operates 17 mines in seven countries, is the world&rsquo;s fifth largest gold miner. The company is also engaged in contentious salary talks behind the Chamber of Mines in South Africa with the National Union of Mineworkers.

Copper Miners in Chile Strike Placer Dome

In Bolivia, a short gold strike ended last week between 200 miners and Canada&rsquo;s Orvana Minerals Corp., of which Bolivia&rsquo;s largest mining house Cia Minera del Sur (Comsur) owns just over one-half. The company&rsquo;s Don Mario mine began full-scale operations in 2003 after Comsur put major capitalization into the southeastern Bolivian mine in exchange for 50% plus one share ownership. Production at the mine has been ramped up since without adequate compensation. The one-year wage settlement is said to be consistent with other agreements reached in the Bolivian mining industry this year.

Brief Bolivian Gold Strike Ends

Several mining disputes were in progress as the second half of 2005 started. In Peru, 800 miners who are under the umbrella of ICEM affiliate Federacion Nacional de Trabajores Mineros, Metalurgious y Siderurgicos del Peru (FNTMMSP) struck that country&rsquo;s only iron ore mine on 4 July. 
The strike was settled on 8 July and was against the iron ore mining subsidiary of Chinese state company Shouda Iron and Steel Group, or Shougang. Heightened production levels and speed-ups have left the miners with an accident rate 600% over that of 2002, and the Chinese company had refused to make a fair salary proposal or improvements in working conditions. Sindicato de Obreros Mineros, affiliated to FNTMMSP, was also seeking urgent investment in equipment and machinery in order to reduce the accident toll and seeks to get the Chinese company to make good on promises to start social development projects in the local mining village. 
The strike was settled through intervention by Peru&rsquo;s Ministry of Labour, and the settlement contained a daily wage increase plus a bonus for each worker.

Peruvian Mining Strike with Chinese Firm Intensifies

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Power workers in Australia staged a 24-hour strike against Western Power last week over issues that included the job responsibilities of contract workers. 
The unionized workers, 600 power line crew and 100 maintenance men at power stations, are members of ICEM affiliate Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) in West Australia. Workers returned to their jobs at mid-week, but did not rule out further job action if the issues were not resolved.

Electric Workers in Australia Take Industrial Action

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A strike over issues seen as a sign of things to come under the Howard government ended in Australia on 4 July. One of those issues included unrestrained use of contract labour. Fifty-five mainly immigrant women began the strike against Kemalex Plastics 27 April backed by their union, ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers. 
The strike was over the employer&rsquo;s plan to make them all individual contractors, this disallowing protection from unfair dismissal, leaving them without sick leave and holiday pay, and excluding them from the mandatory 9% superannuation guarantee contribution. The strike galvanized Australian labour against Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s industrial reforms. Strikers at the automotive components factory in Dandenong near Melbourne agreed to a compromise deal in which they will receive A$100 weekly in additional wages, and will remain permanent employees under an enterprise labour agreement.

Kemalex Plastics Strike in Australia Ends

US affiliate USW proved Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. workers, no matter which process is used, will choose unionization every time. On June 14-15, in a secret ballot election conducted by the US government, workers in Asheboro, North Carolina, chose USW representation by a 173- 147 count. It marked the second time a majority of workers at the steel and tyre cord plant chose the USW. 
As part of the September 2003 collective agreement between the union and Goodyear, card check and company neutrality language was established. That means workers can choose union representation through a show of support by signing cards, as is the case in most countries. Regrettably an anti-union organisation given free reign over the Bush administration&rsquo;s labour board challenged that portion of the collective agreement on legal grounds, and the remedy to the challenge was the government-supervised election two weeks ago.

Steelworkers in US Organise Goodyear Tire and Rubber Workers

NUM, meanwhile, welcomed South Africa&rsquo;s first woman to high office. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, was sworn in last Thursday as deputy president. She replaces the former number two official in South Africa, Jacob Zuma, who was sacked by President Thebo Mbeki in connection with a bribery scandal. Mlambo- Ngcuka, 49, a leader in the anti-apartheid struggle, was elected from the ANC party to Parliament in 1994 in the country&rsquo;s first all-race elections, and served as head of Minerals and Energy beginning in 1999, a post from which she helped draft the Mining Charter giving more black South Africans ownership in mines. 
In welcoming her selection by Mbeki, NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe cautioned against the position being caught up in politics. &ldquo;We are concerned that she&rsquo;s been thrown into a lion&rsquo;s den, given the controversies surrounding the office of the deputy president at this juncture. We therefore hope that she is not compromised as a result. We trust that her experience of overcoming challenges in her past portfolio will come to the fore.&rdquo;

Mines, Energy Minister Appointed South Africa&#039;s Deputy President

Archive

CEP Members Strike Former DuPont Plant in Canada

EPMU, Solid Energy Dispute Continues in New Zealand

Mine Workers' Leaders in Philippines Still Off Jobs

Copper Miners in Chile Strike Placer Dome

Brief Bolivian Gold Strike Ends

Peruvian Mining Strike with Chinese Firm Intensifies

Electric Workers in Australia Take Industrial Action

Kemalex Plastics Strike in Australia Ends

Steelworkers in US Organise Goodyear Tire and Rubber Workers

Mines, Energy Minister Appointed South Africa's Deputy President

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