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

	The four-month dispute by consumer products company Unilever to scrap a final salary pension scheme for 5,200 UK workers ended in march when unions members of two of the three unions involved voted to accept a compromise.

	Members of Unite the Union and the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) accepted a revised deal that does close off the scheme, but grants important protections regarding indexing of a new career averaging plan, built-in consultations with the unions, and a moratorium on any further changes until the year 2018.

	A ballot by the third union involved, the GMB, is currently underway. Union members of Unite, the largest labour organisation representing Unilever workers at the 12 food and consumer products factories, voted by a two-to-one margin to accept the compromise. In March, USDAW members &ndash; in a vote with a low turn-out &ndash; rejected the proposal, but the union conducted a second ballot early this month that passed.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" height="159" src="" width="221" />&nbsp;

	Unite&#039;s Battle Bus

	According to Unite National officer Jennie Formby, the company retreated in some of its harshest proposals contained in the new pension scheme, including unilateral ability to implement annual indexing below UK&rsquo;s Retail Price Index (RPI) and eliminating any consultations with the social partners.

	In the compromise, negotiated with the help of UK&rsquo;s Advisory, Conciliation, and Mediation Services (ACAS), indexing of the new scheme to take effect 1 July will be at RPI plus one percent and Unilever is obligated to discuss aspects of the new scheme twice annually with the three unions.

	The Anglo-Dutch company&rsquo;s hard stance in eliminating a final salary pension plan in the UK produced the first strikes ever at Unilever plants there, with workers taking industrial action in December and again in 11 days of rolling strikes in late January.

Unilever Pension Dispute Ends in UK in Brokered Compromise

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

	The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF), the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and ICEM have written Peruvian President Ollanta Humala protesting a newly-imposed decree allowing non-traditional industrial producers to hire workers under short-term contracts to fill specific export orders.

	Under Decree 22342 governing non-traditional exports, manufacturers such as garment companies now are allowed to hire precarious workers on short-term contracts to fill specific&nbsp; orders, meaning a worker employed this month to fill a production order for a multinational garment brand has no guarantee of working next month to fill a similar order for the same buyer.

	The <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Carta%20FITTVC%20FITIM%20ICEM%20a%20Ollanta%20Humala.pdf">letter</a> by the ICEM, ITGLWF and IMF calls the legislation &ldquo;unconstitutional, in breach of international labour standards &hellip; totally out of date in today&rsquo;s global markets and is just downright wrong.&rdquo;

	Said ITGLWF General Secretary Klaus Priegnitz, &ldquo;This level of flexibility in a thriving industry is frankly obscene. In reality, the term &lsquo;non-traditional&rsquo; is a complete misnomer.

	&ldquo;Thirty years ago, when orders were irregular and exporting companies were just finding their feet, &lsquo;non-traditional&rsquo; might have been an apt description of the emerging garment export sector.&nbsp; But today, the situation could not be more different.&nbsp; The sector has grown exponentially as a result of the free trade agreement with the US, making textiles and clothing one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy.&rdquo;

	Priegnitz added: &ldquo;The average wages of workers in the largest and most profitable textile companies in the sector are among the lowest in Peru. Wages are so low that workers and their families are often forced to live with relatives, and when they can&rsquo;t work double shifts many have to supplement their income by working as street vendors.&rdquo;

	The companies in question are fully integrated operations that do everything from weaving to sewing to finishing. For the most part, the largest companies are the worst offenders, in some cases, employing 100% of the workforce on short-term contracts even though those workers perform permanent functions in the factory. Some workers have worked for the same employer for nearly 20 years on a succession of one- to six-month contracts.

	Priegnitz said, &ldquo;The decree and the way it is being applied represent a gross violation of the labour chapter of the Peru-US Free Trade Agreement and of codes of conduct of the major brands and retailers that drive the success of the country&rsquo;s garment export industry.&nbsp; Peru is in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.&rdquo;

	In the letter, the ICEM, the ITGWLF and the IMF call on Peru&rsquo;s government to vigorously support a proposal to repeal Articles 32, 33 and 34 of Decree 22342, which is currently under consideration in the Congressional Labour Commission. For as long as the decree remains in force, the three organisation have also asked the government to monitor its application more closely, intervening in cases where it is being used inappropriately to convert fixed-term employment contracts to open-ended ones.

ITGLWF, ICEM, ICEM Protest Peru Law Exploiting Short-term Contract Workers

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	French oilfields services&rsquo; giant Schlumberger is continuing to resist attempts by a genuine independent trade union in Egypt to organize workers at its operations.

	ICEM affiliates representing workers throughout the world are continuing to press the company on behalf of workers who were dismissed soon after the founding Congress of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), under which a Schlumberger workers&rsquo; branch is affiliated to.

	The pressure has begun to attract the attention of senior management of the company. While Egyptian management ignored a request by ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to meet to resolve the dispute, ICEM has now been informed that the company recently sent a &ldquo;fact-finding committee&rdquo; to Egypt consisting of the legal and recruitment managers of Schlumberger&rsquo;s regional office in Dubai.

	The two company representatives met with the President and the General Secretary of the independent local branch union, both of whom are among the dismissed workers, including some of the workers who were forced to resign from the union.

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 213px;height: 160px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	Schlumberger demonstration in Cairo

	In this meeting, ICEM was informed that the managers did appear to listen carefully to the whole story, but made no promises. However, they hinted at the possibility of giving them financial compensation, claiming that is was too difficult to reinstate them since this would be seen as Schlumberger admitting its behavior was wrong.

	ICEM supports the dismissed workers who reject any financial compensation, and insist on returning to their work and activities inside the union. ICEM will continue the campaign until this issue has been resolved.

	In an earlier escalation of the dispute, Schlumberger Egypt arranged meetings with workers of subcontractors in in the operations. Numbering some 1,500 workers, they account for approximately half of the company&rsquo;s workforce in Egypt. In meetings at the Kattamia base and the head office, company representatives gave instructions to all subcontract workers that Schlumberger intended changing subcontracting companies, so they demanded that workers resign from their current contracts and then would receive new contracts under new subcontractors later.

	The new contracts would not take into account previous working periods, thus allowing companies to dismiss workers during the first three months without compensation, according to Egyptian law.

	But Egyptian Labour Law is presently uncertain and largely unusable. In theory, the old Mubarak era law, remains in force while there are at least three new proposed labour laws, drafted by different political groups, circulating in Parliament. The last trade union elections of 2007 in the former unitary government controlled trade unions, all part of ETUF, have been invalidated for corruption and the former governing structures of these unions dissolved with appointed oversight committees put in place to run the organizations until new elections take place &ndash; under a new law in the future.

	The situation allows companies such as Schlumberger to take advantage of the situation to prevent genuine trade representation of their workforces.

	Prior coverage of the Schlumberger dispute in Egypt can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4946-Schlumberger-Ignores-ICEM-s-Offer-of-Dialogue">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4899-Oil-Services-Giant-Schlumberger-Pressured-over-Egyptian-Union-Busting">here</a>.

Schlumberger Continues Destruction of Independent Egyptian Trade Union

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	Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto is destroying the community of Alma, Qu&eacute;bec, by the continued lockout of 780 workers, members of the United Steelworkers (USW). The lockout since 30 December 2011 is an economic move in order to increase profits at an aluminium smelter of subsidiary Alcan in Alma.

	Tomorrow in London, protests will occur outside and in the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto by USW Canadian members and their ally in the UK, Unite the Union. The protest will be supported by three Global Union Federations, the ICEM, the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF).

	Shamefully, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has contracted with Rio Tinto to produce gold, silver, and bronze medals for this summer&rsquo;s Olympics and Paralympics Games in London. Active protests are currently underway against IOC, stating that the Games are tainted and achievements of the world&rsquo;s best athletes are flawed by a company with a long track record of economic and environmental destruction on the communities where it operates. (Join the <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1365">Labour Start campaign</a> to kick Rio Tinto &ldquo;Off the Podium&rdquo; with a message to the IOC here, and view the USW&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.offthepodium.org/">Off the Podium</a> website.)

	&nbsp;<img alt="" src="" style="width: 370px;height: 130px" width="390" />&nbsp;

	At tomorrow&#039;s protest, Unite will distribute replica Olympic medals to be passed out to the public at the shareholders&#039; venue, the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre. Unite also has arranged for union-friendly Members of Parliament to submit an Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament.

	Rio Tinto has posted profits of US$20 billion over the past two years and despite the fact that the Alcan aluminium smelter in Alma is one of the most efficient and profitable in the world, it has used a lockout to reap even more profit. Alcan management of late has refused to engage the USW in meaningful negotiations to end the lock-out, predicated on the company&rsquo;s desire to force mass outsourcing by eliminating and full and direct employment

	Alcan seeks to replace each retiring worker with a subcontract worker that will see 50% less than the current average union wage of C$34-an-hour. USW negotiators in early April submitted a proposal in bargaining to end the lockout, but Alcan management walked from the table still seeking the unlimited right to subcontract.

	Alcan has continued to receive special assistance from the province of Qu&eacute;bec in a generous agreement whereby Hydro-Qu&eacute;bec buys back unused electricity from the company while the lockout is ongoing.

	The lockout by Rio Tinto Alcan in Alma has triggered a global campaign against Rio Tinto that took on further dimensions early this week at a special Mines and Metals Networking meeting in Sydney, Australia, as well as at the 17-19 April ICEM World Mining Conference, also in Sydney. Trade unionists resolved to build a long-term global campaign against the world&rsquo;s second largest resource company.

Global Unions, USW Bring Rio Tinto Alcan Canadian Dispute to Shareholders

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ICEM, as the pre-eminent global union for miners, continues its campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines, and the adoption of its associated Recommendation 183. 
 
Although progress is slow, the Ukraine was finally persuaded to ratify Convention 176 in February of this year. The ICEM has meetings fixed or planned in several countries this year to push for ratification of this important ILO instrument. 
 
The year 2010 saw the world witness the dramatic rescue of 33 trapped miners from the depths of a mid-sized copper mine in Chile. It also saw the gruesome deaths of 29 miners at the Pike River coal mine in New Zealand, caused perhaps by ventilation fans located inside mine shafts instead of outside. Twenty-nine miners also died in the US on 5 April 2010 at the Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia, a tragedy that saw mine owner Massey Energy and its CEO shift blame &ndash; unbelievably &ndash; to the stringent safeguards enshrined in the US Mine Safety and Health Act. 
<a href="/en/209-ILO"><img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" /></a>
Click here for ICEM 176&nbsp;Campaign
There were also mass mining deaths in Russia, Turkey, and the Ukraine in 2010. Mine deaths still occur on a weekly basis in China, and in South Africa, despite a somewhat decline from the highs of 2006-2008, mining deaths still occur regularly and public statements of satisfaction and accomplishment by the Chamber of Mines is delusional and fraught with contempt. 
 
The tragedies from 2010, as well as the deadly coal mine blast in Pakistan just last month, prove there is much left to be done to make the world's mines safer. It can start with ratification of Convention 176. But it can only occur with full implementation and then practice of the convention&rsquo;s principles. 
 
Convention 176 demands that employers perform risk assessments, and control identified hazards at source, through good engineering design and through personal protective equipment. Mines must be properly engineered, designed, and constructed for safety, with provision of at least two separate means of exit and adequate communications systems. Sufficient ventilation with monitoring for contaminants and fire prevention, detection, and firefighting systems must be provided. Emergency response plans must be developed and maintained, and if serious dangers are detected, operations must be stopped and workers evacuated. Workers are to be provided with information and training on the hazards and how to work safely. 
 
Accidents must be investigated and corrective actions taken. Workers have the right to report, and receive reports on, accidents and dangerous occurrences and hazards. Workers can request workplace inspections from employers and the regulatory authorities. Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work, and remove themselves from dangers. In addition, workers can select workplace health and safety representatives and they have the authority to participate in investigations and inspections, monitor health and safety matters, have recourse on advisers and experts, and consult with the employer and the government regulators. 
 
Within Convention 176, governments are expected to create a legislative and regulatory framework that protects workers&rsquo; safety and health. This is to be accomplished by requiring employers and workers to comply with the specifics of ILO Convention 176. In addition, the responsible authorities are expected to maintain adequate regulatory mine supervision and inspection, and require the reporting of accidents and maintenance of statistics. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="150" />
Mining is one of the world&rsquo;s most dangerous occupations and regulatory safeguards are essential. The following list prepared using mostly ILO statistics from the UN agency&rsquo;s LABORSTA database indicates the most dangerous countries for miners and workers in quarrying, as ranked by fatal injuries per 100,000 employees for a period from 1999-2008. 
<blockquote dir="ltr"><blockquote dir="ltr"><blockquote dir="ltr">
1. Turkey 
2. Korea, Republic of 
3. China 
4. Pakistan 
5. Cyprus 
6. Kyrgyzstan 
7. Togo 
8. Hong Kong, China 
9. Ireland 
10. Taiwan, China 
11. Costa Rica 
12. Lithuania 
13. Portugal 
14. Ukraine 
15. Philippines 
16. Spain 
17. Nicaragua 
18. Chile 
19. Argentina 
20. Malta 21. Moldova, Republic of 
22. India 
23. Brazil 
24. Bulgaria 
25. United States 
26. Tunisia 
27. Estonia 
28. Zimbabwe 
29. Slovenia 
30. Burkina Faso 
31. Denmark 
32. Romania 
33. Czech Republic 
34. Canada 
35. Finland 
36. Italy 
37. Kazakhstan 
38. Myanmar 
39. Austria 
40. Poland 41. France 
42. Latvia 
43. Slovakia 
44. Croatia 
45. Azerbaijan 
46. Australia 
47. Egypt 
48. Japan 
49. Sweden 
50. United Kingdom 
51. Sri Lanka 
52. Hungary 
53. Norway 
54. Trinidad and Tobago 
55. Bahrain 
56. Belgium 
57. Luxembourg 
58. Macau, China 
59. Mauritius 
60. Singapore
</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
The list, however, does not contain relevant statistics for all countries, thus the rankings of China, Ukraine, and Chile are estimated based on reports from private websites. There are no reliable estimates for Russia even though Russia is an extremely important mining country. 
 
A few explanations are in order in assessing the list. First, even the ILO database which is the most authoritative on such matters, is extremely unreliable. The ILO can only cite what member countries send them. And then there are difficulties from under-coverage, such as most countries report only compensable deaths, to under-reporting, such as many deaths, even traumatic ones, are simply not recorded as occupational. Then there is outright fraud, since without question it is in the economic interests of employers to under-report. It is also in the political interests of many countries to under-report. 
 
Furthermore, occupational disease claims more workers' lives than traumatic accidents &ndash; even in hazardous occupations like mining. Occupational cancer alone almost certainly kills more miners than accidents, and there are many other diseases (lung, skin, nervous system) that are fatal but are not cancer. These diseases are universally under-diagnosed and under-reported. 
 
In the country ranking above, Turkey and Korea become the countries with the most dangerous mines, ahead of China. This may seem surprising, but Turkey, which is not a major mining country has both an extremely poor safety record and perhaps a better record of reporting than other countries on the list. As for China, the statistics are estimated from on-line sources of unknown origin and can only be assumed to be gross underestimates. The real number could be double, or even triple, the reported rate. 
 
Finally, mining statistics often can be found in the form of deaths per million metric tonnes of ore/coal produced. This type of reporting tends to skew the statistics so that low-productivity mining nations such as China look relatively worse compared to highly mechanised mining nations such as the US, because more miners are required to produce the same number of tonnes of product. An example of <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/08/two-chinese-coal-miners-lived-179-did.html ">this type of rating</a> can be seen here. 
 
The ICEM prefers to look at mining fatalities per 100,000 workers because what matters to a miner in considering whether a mine is safe or unsafe is whether he or she goes home intact at the end of the day. The number of tonnes mined in that day is secondary to that fact. 
 
Overall, safety statistics revealed above should be considered to be of only the most marginal value.

Mine Safety and ILO Convention 176: A Continued Priority for the ICEM

<img alt="" src="" width="50" height="65" />
Every April 28, the labour movement remembers the fallen. April 28 is known as International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers and is marked by trade unions and safety and health groups in over 140 countries. 
 
Globally, 2.3 million workers die as a result of their work every year, according to the ILO. The ICEM considers this number, shocking as it is, to be understated by at least a factor of ten. Many millions more are injured or made ill due to occupational disease. Every one of these deaths, injuries, and illnesses is needless; in fact, senseless. 
 
ICEM affiliated trade unions work in some of the most dangerous and toxic workplaces on the planet. High-profile tragedies such as explosions and fires at oil and gas facilities, out-of-control nuclear power plants, methane gas blasts and cave-ins at mines, and untold number of equipment failures in manufacturing that cause death, limb loss, other injuries are all part of a sad culture that the ICEM aims to reverse. 
<img alt="" src="" width="360" height="90" />
The continuing toll of deaths, injuries, and illnesses is quite simply unacceptable to the ICEM. That is why the ICEM is there to assist its affiliates on any occupational health and safety issue. It is the reason that the ICEM has led the way in bringing occupational health and safety into Global Framework Agreements. It is why the ICEM has an ongoing campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 176, a long-standing project on HIV/AIDS, and it is also why the ICEM engages other international organizations for better standards and better cooperation in occupational health and safety. 
 
What would make workplaces safer? While employers and governments spend enormous sums seeking magical solutions, the ICEM knows that the answer is really quite simple, although burdensome to some in implementing: workers have rights, employers have obligations. 
 
Here then, is the answer. 
 
&bull; Unions make work safer, therefore the first and most important workplace health and safety programme stems from a strong union. To achieve this, we demand respect for the ILO Core Labour Conventions, especially those protecting freedom of association, the right to organize unions, and the right to collective bargaining. 
&bull; Workers&rsquo; rights: the fundamental rights of workers with respect to occupational health and safety include: the right to know about the hazards of work and to receive training in how to do the job safely; the right to refuse &ndash; and shut down, if necessary &ndash; unsafe work; the right to participate in the formulation and implementation of workplace health and safety policies, programmes, and procedures. This right is best achieved through a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) that plays a central and obligatory role in an employer's internal responsibility system. 
&bull; Employers&rsquo; obligations: Employers should concentrate their efforts on making work safer. This means process safety management, identification and use of best available technologies, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, occupational disease recognition and investigation, and a precautionary approach to chemical, biological, physical and other hazards. 
&bull; Employers&rsquo; prohibitions: Employers should not be allowed to use methods and practices whose principal purpose is to blame victims, or suppress the reporting of accidents and artificially improve statistics in order to gain improved workers' compensation experience ratings, premium reductions and rebates, and public relations points. This includes prohibiting behaviour-based safety programmes, workplace drug and alcohol testing (particularly post-incident), safety incentives that encourage under-reporting of accidents, and waging fights against recognition of workplaces diseases. 
 
The theme, &ldquo;Unions Make Work Safer&rdquo; on April 28 and on every work day, is sometimes known as Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day. It is fitting because a major role that trade unions play in everyday work-life is to monitor &ndash; and improve &ndash; occupational safety and health. Trade union activists are encouraged to find an activity and to take meaningful action to better safe work practices through the strength of their union.

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Six weeks after an earthquake and tsunami decimated the six nuclear reactors inside the Fukushima power plant in northeastern Japan, union members and staff of Denryoku Soren, the ICEM-affiliated Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Japan, work voluntary week-long shifts to contain radiation leakage. They work inside a 20-kilometre zone in which Japanese rescue teams searching for the dead are prohibited from entering due to radiation levels. 
 
Few know it, but inside the offices of Denryoku Soren in Tokyo most work stations are empty. The reason is most union staff workers have volunteered to fill the shortage of workers needed at Fukushima. 
They sleep on concrete floors at Fukushima and consume only bottled water and biscuits for fear that food sources are contaminated. <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Japanese%20Nuke%20Measures.pdf">Denryoku Soren&rsquo;s letter</a> to the ICEM describing what it is up against can be found here. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="172" />
Last week, ICEM Asia-Pacific Contact Person Phee Jungsun visited Denryoku Soren offices in Tokyo and filed this report: 
 
&ldquo;It is&nbsp;painful to see union officers here in Tokyo, who are exhausted and worried about their fellow workers at the Fukushima site. Those who have returned after their one-week voluntary shifts are calm and doing paperwork, but signs of fatigue show on their faces. 
 
&ldquo;President Seiichi Taneoka, who himself has been to the site, is working hard every minute, organising volunteer shift teams and talking to TEPCO control centre officials on a dedicated telephone line. He is also trying to get assistance from local units of government and local police to locate and reach those union members and their families who are missing and haven&rsquo;t been heard from.&rdquo; 
 
Although the exact total death count is impossible to know, some ICEM affiliates in Japan have started to make assessments. JEC Rengo, the Japanese Federation of Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Unions, confirms that well over 100 of its members are missing, with destruction of members&rsquo; homes totaling over 1,000 in the northeastern Prefecture. The same number is estimated by Zenkoku, the Federation of Gas Workers&rsquo; Unions in Japan. 
 
Other ICEM affiliates in Japan have registered plants and workplaces that have been affected. The Japanese Pulp and Paper Workers&rsquo; Federation has reported mills of Nippon Paper, Mitsubishi Paper Mills, and Oji mills closed or running on limited production. The same is reported at Sumitoma Rubber by Gomu-Rengo, the Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union. UI Zensen, the Textile, Chemical, Food and Commercial Union, also has reported damages and vast devastation to workers, their homes, and places of employment. 
 
Six days after the disaster, the ICEM put a call out to affiliates to provide funds to the ICEM Japanese Affiliates&rsquo; Federation (JAF) for disaster relief. The response was unprecedented, with over US$1 million sent to date to JAF. ICEM Asia-Pacific Region Vice President Kiyoshi Ochiai and JAF General-Secretary Yoshio Sato, through the ICEM, expressed gratitude for the solidarity and generosity: &ldquo;We got heartfelt sympathy and encouragement from all over the world. We deeply appreciate the solidarity and fraternity of ICEM affiliates. We really feel that ICEM is one big family.
<img alt="" src="" width="177" height="156" />
&nbsp;Kiyoshi Ochiai
&ldquo;Our brave members of Denryoku Soren are working hard to speed up recovery efforts in a very difficult situation. The Japanese people are working together to overcome numerous hardships and to get things back to normal with effort and patience. And ICEM JAF keeps engaging in the reconstruction effort.&rdquo; 
 
In typical Japanese fashion, on 28 March, Denryoku Soren withdrew its wage demands on TEPCO that was part of the spring offensive &ldquo;shunto.&rdquo; The union&rsquo;s decision reflects the belief that it cannot continue negotiations for now because of the ongoing tragedies of human life and the devastation in the electric power sector at Fukushima.
Due to a misunderstanding of information that ICEM received there was an incorrect description of events in this article, for which ICEM apologised. See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEMletters/37.ICEM.IMFJC.Japan.27April.pdf">letter to IMF-JC</a> here.

Workers of Denryoku Soren Face Dire Plight at Fukushima Nuclear Site

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (GMWU), Prince William Ankrah, was elected regional chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO) at mid-month. Over 100 delegates from nearly all sub-Saharan African countries attended SSARO&rsquo;s 14-15 April regional conference and meeting in Accra, Ghana. 
 
Comrade Ankrah replaces Rayford Mbulu of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) as the ICEM Vice President for the region. Mbulu resigned the position at the meeting. 
 
The meeting also adopted three resolutions and put forth an action plan based on those resolutions. One resolution called for political stability and sustainable development for creation of jobs, especially for the youth of Africa. Noting the political upheaval and suppression of citizens by despotic rulers in several countries, the resolution condemns military and police repression on people who peacefully advocate for a political system based on economic and social justice. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="150" />
The resolution also condemns &ldquo;the role of the United Nations and the international community which seek to influence the African political landscape to the benefit of the West at the expense of the African people.&rdquo; 
 
A second resolution calls on governments to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, including a realization that 10% of national budgets be allocated to agriculture for food security. It also states that MNCs be allowed to invest in Africa on terms favourable to improving economic growth, preventing environment degradation, creating employment, and improving working conditions. 
 
The third resolution noted African trade unions being weak in membership, collection of fess, and other union-provided services, and calls for continuation of trade union organizational building to reverse those stigmas. It also signaled the proposed integration of the ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) as &ldquo;a progressive move that unites workers and builds international solidarity.&rdquo; 
 
The body pledged to continue current campaigns, including HIV/AIDS awareness and testing processes, decent work and decent pay, continued safety training on radiation in mining, shop steward and other interchanges between unions of different countries, promotion of the ILO&rsquo;s Maternity Protection Convention 183, and pressing countries to ratify the Mine Safety and Health Convention, ILO No. 176, a campaign in which the GMWU is charged with heading. 
 
The African Regional Organisation Secretary-General of the International Trade Union Confederation, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah of Ghana, addressed delegates. 
<img alt="" src="" width="118" height="132" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="114" height="132" />
Christine Olivier&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kwasi Adu-Amankwah
Christine Olivier, Second Vice President of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), was elected as SSARO Women&rsquo;s Chairperson, replacing Jane Ragoo of Mauritius, while Frans Baleni of South Africa, Achese Igwe of Nigeria, and Paul Felex Bayiha of Cameroon were confirmed as ICEM Executive Committee members for three of SSARO&rsquo;s seats on the governing body.

ICEM’s African Region Elects Prince William Ankrah as Chairman

<img alt="" src="" width="50" height="65" />
Glyphosate, known by its International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name phosphonomethylamino or acetic acid, is manufactured for use as a herbicide. Depending on specific purpose, it may be used as such, or as an ammonium salt, isopropylamine salt, or potassium salt. 
 
It is most well-known as the main active ingredient in the chemical company&rsquo;s Monsanto's &quot;Roundup.&quot; But since the Monsanto patent has expired, it is also used in similar formulations by a number of manufacturers. It works as a plant hormone inhibitor, by interfering with this metabolic process in plants, it kills the plants. 
 
In handling glyphosate, it is essential to have an up-to-date Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which can be obtained from a company that manufactures products with it in it. It is also essential to minimise exposure through engineering controls, isolation, effective ventilation, and where worker exposure is unavoidable, personal protective equipment. 
There are two stories on glyphosate, one by its original manufacturer, Monsanto, and unfortunately accepted by most regulatory agencies worldwide, the other by opponents of glyphosate use, who claim much information about it has been suppressed. 
 
As Monsanto tells it, glyphosate is generally considered to be one of the safest herbicides. There is a fairly well-established potential for temporary skin and eye irritation, and gastrointestinal irritation if ingested. These can even be severe if the chemical is encountered in its pure form and not promptly washed off the skin. A survey of recent MSDSs reveals that it is officially considered practically non-toxic, and, in several animal studies, has produced no officially recognized evidence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or teratogenicity. 
 
However, MSDSs are often less than complete. There are some rather alarming suggestions of a link between glyphosate exposure and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by some researchers. Monsanto's claim that there is no severe adverse effect has been traced back to Swedish researcher Hans-Olov Adami, who in turn has been linked to a consulting group called Exponent. 
 
Exponent has ties to Monsanto and other chemical companies and is known for its rebuttals of concerns about chemicals in the environment. Findings about glyphosate that contradict Monsanto have rarely been given much attention. 
 
There are suggestions that it may be an endocrine disruptor or a genotoxin. For example, Gilles-Eric S&eacute;ralini, a French biochemist, has claimed that his studies of the effects of glyphosate on human embryonic cells, fetal cells, and placental cells; and that glyphosate is likely an endocrine disruptor in humans. This effect was shown for &ldquo;Roundup&rdquo; formulations, rather than pure glyphosate. Indeed, one of the issues with any chemical testing is how it will affect humans or the environment in the complex mixture of chemicals encountered in the real world, as compared with its study in isolation in a laboratory. 
The statistical significance of the association between glyphosate and NHL is low. Monsanto's defenders have suggested that errors in the assessment of exposure levels, or chance, are the likely explanations for the association between glyphosate exposure and NHL. As for S&eacute;ralini's observations, it is unclear whether the effects S&eacute;ralini observed were due to the glyphosate, or the surfactants (detergents) that are always part of a pesticide formulation. 
 
Regardless, from a pure occupational health point of view, the best way to handle any chemical is with caution. Minimise the opportunities for worker exposure with the best possible engineering designs that isolate the chemical from human contact. Install effective drainage and ventilation systems to safely remove any chemical that escapes from the closed system. Finally, since despite these precautions some chance of exposure may remain, appropriate personal protective equipment must be provided and maintained. 
 
The safest level of exposure is always no exposure.

Handling and Use of Pesticide Glyphosate: Things to Know

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A preliminary hearing of the Royal Commission over the Pike River mine disaster opened in Greymouth on April 5. The inquiry, which will begin hearings and full deliberations on 23 May, will run for 15 weeks. 
 
On November 19, 2010, a massive methane gas blast inside Pike River Coal Ltd.&rsquo;s colliery killed 29 miners, including 11 members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), in the worst Kiwi mining disaster in 119 years. 
 
This month&rsquo;s preliminary hearing began with a one minute silence in memory of the 29. It was also marked by the unsettling announcement by receivers of the bankrupt company that it did not have the funds to fully participate in the inquiry. An attorney for the receivers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said its priority is to repay secured creditors, not to provide witness briefs and compilations of others documents to the Royal Commission. 
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The Commission, headed by Judge Graham Panckhurst and including Stewart Bell, Queensland, Australia, Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health and a recognised expert on methane gas in coal mines, will conduct the inquiry under four phases: context, search and rescue, what happened at Pike River, and policy aspects. 
 
Parts of those issues were introduced on April 5. An attorney representing the EPMU said New Zealand&rsquo;s mine regulations were two decades behind developed mine safety programmes, such as what exists in Australia. &ldquo;Our members want to see a significant increase in the safety and health standards required for working in mines,&rdquo; said Nigel Hampton, representing the EPMU. 
 
The EPMU is also asking that the expertise and counsel that exists in Australian mineworkers&rsquo; unions and the mining industry be heard before the Commission. One question that surely will arise is why an Australian mine rescue team that was on-site 36 hours after the blast occurred on 19 November was sidelined by local police who were supervising the rescue. 
 
Another will be the location of large ventilation fans inside the Pike River mine, an unusual placement for electrical charged equipment when methane gas is prevalent. Initial reports state that an electric outage shut the two ventilation fans in the minutes before the explosion. 
 
The issue of deception and disrespect to families in the days following the November 19 explosion will also be heard. An attorney for the families said at the opening that families only want the truth and clarity on how and why the disaster happened. 
 
In his opening statement, Judge Panckhurst said the mission is to find out &ldquo;what happened at the mine, why it did happen and what can be done to prevent it happening again. In short &hellip; why and what must change for the future good.&rdquo; 
 
The mine was sealed in January and the bodies of the 29 have not been recovered. PricewaterhouseCoopers has assessed the mine, which contains seams of premium coking coal, to be worth NZ$6 million, but it could take 20 times that to re-start it. The global firm is hoping to have it sold in June.

Royal Commission Convenes over Pike River, New Zealand, Mine Deaths

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