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<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39" alt=""/>
ICEM Australian affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) won a precedent-setting case last week before the full judicial panel of Fair Work Australia. The matter involves global mining house Xstrata’s redundancies at the Ulan coal mine near Mudgee, New South Wales, and whether or not those sackings were “genuine redundancies,” or if the employer had first to deliver alternative jobs at other company enterprises. 
 
On 12 November, the full bench of Fair Work Australia rejected an Xstrata appeal and ruled that the company had an obligation not just to make vacancies at other company enterprises known to the dismissed workers, but to offer positions and facilitate transfer to those worksites. 
 
In effect, the ruling establishes concise guidelines regarding “genuine redundancies” and ensures that employers can be held liable if they do not fully offer and then redeploy sacked workers in all reasonable circumstances. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/XstrataPoison.jpg" width="200" height="63" alt=""/>
In 2009, Xstrata Coal Pty. Ltd. made redundant over 100 workers at its 500-worker Ulan mine. The CFMEU claimed the company would replace many of those workers with contract employees. Last week’s ruling covers six of ten miners whose rights, under Australia’s new labour statute, were violated because the dismissals were not “genuine redundancies” since their jobs were still being performed. 
 
The other four were found not to have reasonable redeployment options due to light-work injury status or unwillingness to travel. 
 
Last week’s full bench ruling stated: “Where an employer decides that, rather than fill a vacancy by redeploying an employee into a suitable job in its own enterprise, it will advertise the vacancy and require the employee to compete with other applicants, it might subsequently be found that the resulting dismissal is not a case of genuine redundancy. This is because it would have been reasonable to redeploy the employee into the vacancy.”

CFMEU Wins ‘Fair Work Australia’ Case Involving Xstrata’s Illegal Dismissals

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The ICEM expressed deep condolences to the families of 29 miners declared dead on 24 November at the Pike River coal mine disaster in New Zealand, as well as to their trade union – affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU). 
 
In a letter to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, “It is with great sadness that the ICEM has learned of the deaths of 29 miners. Please accept my heartfelt condolences. 
 
“We will now support your call for a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this terrible accident, and for all of the bodies to be returned as soon as possible to their families. The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in mines, and moving the New Zealand Government toward ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176, on safety and health in mines.” (Full letter <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/145.ICEM.EPMU.New%20Zealand.24Nov.pdf" type="internal">here</a>.) 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.epmu.pike.river.jpg" width="208" height="161"/>
Inside Pike River mine, before accident, Photo: NZPA
The miners, trapped since 19 November by a horrid methane gas explosion at Pike River Coal Ltd.’s coking coal mine inside the Paparoa Range on the South Island, were declared dead 24 November by police charged with rescue. (See ICEM’s initial report <a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP/4115-Hope-Still-Alive-for-29-Trapped-Inside-Pike-River’s-New-Zealand-Coal-Mine" type="internal">here</a>.) The police announcement came minutes after a second massive explosion that lasted 30 seconds occurred inside the company’s mine of the Brunner coal seam at 14h37, local time, Wednesday. The Pike River mine is located 50 kilometres from Greymouth . 
 
Rescue attempts proved prohibitive for six days because of high levels of methane gas and carbon monoxide that were registered inside. News of the secondary explosion on 24 November and improbability that the 29 could have survived was brought to grief-stricken family members at 16h00 in Greymouth by Pike River CEO Peter Whittal. “Exactly what we said would happen happened,” he told reporters in explaining why rescuers had not been sent into the mine. Some 90 skilled mine rescuers, many flown in from Australia, were on standby for those five days. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/People/EPMU Andrew Little.jpg" width="182" height="173"/>
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
EPMU National Secretary Little said: “News of this second devastating explosion means there is now no prospect of a successful rescue and the lives of the 29 men trapped inside have been lost. It is time to let the families and the community grieve. 
 
“Most of the miners killed were our comrades in the union, including Blair Sims who was an EPMU delegate at the Pike River mine,” Little said. “The EPMU will now make the practical arrangements to establish a fund to assist the families of the men whose lives have been lost.” 
 
Little added the EPMU now calls on the government “to establish an independent inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, including a public hearing in front of a senior judge and leading technical experts,” adding the union will do everything possible to assist the investigation. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.epmu.blair.sims.jpg" width="175" height="175"/>
EPMU Delegate Blair Sims
Sims was a 28-year-old loving husband and father of two small children. He was an exceptional rugby player who for the past two seasons was New Zealand West Coast player of the year. Eleven of the 29 miners were EPMU members. Those perishing included 16 full-time workers of Pike River Coal Ltd., owned 31% owned by New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd., and 13 contract employees. 
 
Little, who received the news 90 minutes after the blast yesterday, told New Zealand media that “miners are special people. They are the foundation rock that much of New Zealand was built on. When you lose special people like that, 29 all in one go, it is a hard thing. I don’t think any of us can imagine what the families will be going through tonight.” 
 
The EPMU is assisting by setting up the “EPMU Pike River Miners Family Support Trust” to collect donations to support the 29 families. See more information on how to give financial support to the families of the dead miners <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1011.EPMU%20Pike%20River%20Miners%20Family%20Support%20Trust%20-%20flyer.pdf" type="internal">here</a>. 
 
"Miners around the world are grieving their fallen comrades," said ICEM and South Africa's NUM President Senzeni Zokwana, "our struggle continues to ensure our members safety at work." 
 
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key today will name a High Court judge along with two other high-level people to a Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine accountability for the Pike River tragedy. One of those members is expected to be an international mine safety expert. 
 
As well, other investigations will be conducted by Kiwi governmental agencies, and the EPMU will assemble its own team of legal and technical experts. Little welcomed Key’s announcement after a Cabinet meeting today that a Royal Commission will convene. 
 
“This is a huge disaster by any account and what we do in response will be scrutinized around the world, especially in other Commonwealth countries whose nationals were among those killed,” Little said. 
 
Besides 24 New Zealanders who perished inside the Pike River mine, two Australians, two UK nationals who were Scotsmen, and one South African also died. 
 
See photos of all the lost Pike River miners <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pike-river-miners/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503001">here</a>.

Together with EPMU, ICEM Mourns Deaths of 29 Miners in New Zealand

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ICEM conducted a project on organizing and social dialogue in Turkey in 2009 and 2010 with the support of the Dutch national labour centre, FNV, and its affiliate FNV Bondgenoten. Evaluation of the two-year work was made in a conference held on 29-30 November 2010 in the Turkish capital Ankara. 
 
Attended by more than 80 union representatives, the Conference hosted international delegates, namely Hans Hupkes, Celil Çoban, and Mail Ürker from FNV Bondgenoten of the Netherlands: Mats Svensson from IF Metall of Sweden; Michael Wolters from IGBCE of Germany; Jorgen Juul Rasmussen from Dansk El Förbund of Denmark; Jacques Caltot and Christophe Quarez from FCE-CFDT of France; Dimitra Penidis and Isabelle Verhaegen from CSC Batiment, Industri & Energie of Belgium; and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan, who ran the project. 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.JPG" width="230" height="151" alt=""/>
The Conference started with the speech of Mustafa Kumlu, President of Turk-İş Confederation and Tes-İş Union, who expressed appreciation for the activities of the project that covered some 600 union activists over the two-year period. 
 
“The ICEM takes the lead in organizing international solidarity for Turkish workers, and this project is a clear signal of that,” said Kumlu, adding that Turkish unions support the creation of new manufacturing and energy workers Global Union Federation. Such an entity, he said, will create a large Turkish grouping of over 20 unions. 
 
Hans Hupkes, on behalf of FNV Bondgenoten, stressed the appreciation and satisfaction of his organization with the activities of the project. “A lot has been done – and won – in such a short period. We gained spirit and a sense of solidarity without borders,” he said. 
 
Warda said organising and social dialogue are two key elements of ICEM policy regarding multinationals. “We need the ability to include companies inside Turkey in this process, and the FNV project, we believe, will serve us well to meet this objective.” 
<img src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1101.turkey project.2.JPG" width="213" height="149" alt=""/>
ICEM’s Özkan gave a report on project activities carried out in 2009-2010. The conference then listed observations and opinions of the unions supporting the project from Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, and Belgium. In a separate session, participating Turkish unions shared their observations and evaluated the set of conference. Trade union rights and freedoms in Turkey was one discussion item. A remarkable contribution was made by Sister Müzeyyen Acunal who was fired from her workplace in the paper industry because she pioneered an organizing drive there. 
 
For 2011 and beyond, an evaluation on the future of the project with an action plan will be developed. A common point was made that union organizing is very tough in Turkey. Current legislation makes it extremely difficult. In addition to mentioning the obvious difficulties, a consensus was put forward that new opportunities and tools, particularly international ones, need to be used. Organising campaign being conducted by Petrol-İş was mentioned as a good example. 
 
At the end of the discussions, Turkish unions agreed to develop capacity on using international tools in separate sessions for trade union officers. Specific bilateral groups between Turkish unions and unions from countries from where multinational investment to Turkey originates should be created. Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations were mentioned as priorities. 
 
Continuation of the struggle against Contract and Agency Labour, as part of ICEM’s global CAL campaign, was defined as one of the priority areas. After the first national conference in 2008, an urgent second conference was identified as important, considering the recent pushes by the Turkish government to modify labour legislation for allowing more workplace flexibility and unlimited use of agency labour. 
 
The ICEM’s Özkan commented: “Our intensive project programme in 2009 and 2010 gave us a good opportunity to get together with a big portion of local union officers in the regions of Turkey. More than 600 people got a chance to learn and make use of international solidarity in day-to-day union activities. We now will embark on specific projects with concrete targets.”

ICEM’s Two-Year Dutch FNV Project for Turkey Evaluated in Ankara

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The ICEM today announced unequivocal support to striking coal miners of the Tkibuli-Mindeli coal mine Imereti region in western Georgia. Trade union members of ICEM affiliate Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia are justified in their stop-work actions because the owner of the mine, the Saknakshiri company, part of the Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), has neglected to install modern gas detection devices in its underground mine. 
 
The open-ended strike began yesterday, 2 February, and the ICEM supports the demands of 200 miners to remedy unsafe mine conditions and to improve work conditions. The strike yesterday came after a two-hour warning strike on 31 January, and 12 days after a methane gas explosion inside the Tkibuli-Mindel mine killed one worker and severely injured four others. 
 
Those workers knew methane gas levels were high but were told to retreat into the mine or face dismissal. Two days before the 21 January explosion, two other work units complained about high gas levels but were ordered to stay inside shafts.
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Georgia.png" width="250" height="115"/>
"The information we have is the Tkibuli mine operates with inferior and out-dated detection and ventilation equipment,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “Following an August 2010 gas explosion that again killed miners, the company made only minor repairs rather than invest in a new and modern system.” 
 
The 27 August 2010 explosion killed four miners and severely injured six others. On 3 March 2010, four miners were again killed and one seriously burned in another methane gas blast at the Tkibuli-Mindeli colliery. 
 
The ICEM backs the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers Trade Union of Georgia’s demand that the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC) be given full participation in the special commission to probe the 21 January disaster. The ICEM calls on Saknakshiri to meet workers’ demands, including establishment of a compensation system for injured workers and the families of miners killed at work, hazardous duty pay, and proper protective clothing attire for work. 
 
Besides a healthy safety environment in which to work, Tkibuli-Mindeli miners also are seeking an end to non-regular employment, an overtime pay system, and wage indexation tagged to inflation, restitution of 2010-2011 outstanding arrears, and holiday pay.

ICEM Supports Safety Strike at Georgian Coal Mine

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The global trade union for the mining industry, the ICEM, congratulates the miners of Carbones del Cerrejon and their union, Sintracarbón, as well as management of the coal enterprise in la Guajira state in reaching contract terms early this week in Colombia. In a statement, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda noted that through respectful social dialogue – a process instituted with the assistance of the ICEM seven years ago – the two parties reached a mutually acceptable collective agreement, thus abandoning a planned strike. 
 
The two-year labour accord between the 4,000-member ICEM-affiliated mining union and the company operating the world’s largest set of open pit coal mines, owned jointly by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, was reached with the assistance of Colombia Vice President Angelino Garzón and Vice Minister of Labour Relations Ricardo Echeverry late last week. That mediation illuminates the importance of social dialogue at the highest level in a country usually devoid of such labour-management tools. It also averts a costly strike that would have placed a heavy toll both on union members of Sintracarbón and Cerrejon. 
 
“We have witnessed both sides reach the brink of negotiations in the past several sets of two-year talks,” said Warda. “The fact that Sintracarbón and Cerrejon have not had a strike in over 20 years is testament to mutual respect and shared responsibility by both the union and management in looking after the welfare of communities, workers, and their families.”
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0805COLOMBIA3.jpg" width="220" height="185"/>
The 2011-2012 labour agreement calls for a first-year wage increase of 6.5% and a 2012 increase of two percent over next year’s Consumer Price Index. But more importantly, the ICEM noted, Sintracarbón continued to make improvements at the bargaining table for the communities surrounding the massive coal complex in north-east Colombia, improvements in health benefits for workers and their families, and education benefits for family members. 
 
The ICEM commends the involvement of Vice President Garzón, Vice Minister Echeverry, and the Cerrejon management for recognizing in this set of talks that contract workers not directly employed by Cerrejon have the right of association and the right to form a union of their own choosing without interference from sub-contracting companies of Cerrejon, or the mining enterprise itself. 
 
The ICEM congratulates the bargaining committee of Sintracarbón for achieving a deserved 2011 pay increase of 6.5%, better than double Colombia’s current 3.19% CPI. The ICEM’s notes that Cerrejon is a highly profitable enterprise for the parent companies, as well as for Colombia, the world’s fifth biggest exporter of coal. 
 
“The union’s organised process of collective negotiations and it’s method of mobilising 4,000 workers behind the bargaining team is an example to all unions worldwide,” said Warda. “In this set of bargaining, they succeeded in raising the bar on work standards inside Colombia that should be an aspiration to all workers.”

Sintracarbón, Cerrejon Reach Commendable Contract in Colombia

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Members of ICEM affiliate Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), in dispute with management of Visy Pulp and Paper now for two weeks, resorted to peaceful civil disobedience early today at one company facility. Thirty strikers staged a sit-down across the entry to Visy’s Dandenong recycled containerboard mill near Melbourne. 
 
They were arrested and charged with undue obstruction and besetting a work premise. 
 
Some 500 AMWU members took a 24-hour industrial action on 29 November over Visy’s foot-dragging in reaching a new enterprise agreement. On 3 December, that action became an open-ended strike when 370 paperworkers at two mills, Dandenong in Victoria state and Visy’s Smithfield mill in New South Wales, walked out. 
 
Central among issues in talks has been Visy’s insistence to vastly increase the number of casual workers employed in its mills, converters, and recovered paper worksites. In deliberate moves to frustrate the bargaining process, Visy seeks to create a whole new casual classification rate of A$15-per-hour, less than the current casual rate and about half what full-time workers earn. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.VisyDandenong.jpg" width="180" height="135"/>
The AMWU is seeking a 5% wage increase for each of three years, improvement to the wage base for casuals, and a heat policy for work during the current hot summer months. In a provocative move, the company approved a 15% wage increase to workers over three years in its non-union operations. 
 
The AMWU has been fruitlessly negotiated with Visy for three months and a prior enterprise labour agreement expired 30 September. “We have tried to engage and negotiate with Visy, (but) they have closed the door on the negotiations,” said AMWU National Print Division Secretary Lorraine Cassin. 
 
The company has “tried everything in (its) power to whittle down the job security of our members and introduce a cheaper casual workforce across the country,” she added. Besides the Dandenong and Smithfield mills, the union’s 24-hour stop-work actions occurred at converting and recycling centres in Carole Park, Queensland, and O’Connor, West Australia. 
 
Visy did succeed in gaining a court injunction banning union officials from participating on picket lines. But that did not prevent paperworkers employed at Dandenong from lifting the strike to another level. Today’s peaceful sit-down strike is evidence of union frustration against a company fiercely bent on trying to avoid enterprise collective agreements.

AMWU’s Visy Strike in Australia Escalates; 30 Peaceful Strikers Arrested

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), ICEM’s white-collar affiliate in Africa’s most populous country, halted a strike on 4 December against Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, so that negotiations over breaches to a collective agreement could begin. 
 
The strike was conducted by the Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch of PENGASSAN over the energy company’s sudden and unilateral sacking of 84 Nigerian workers. The union blocked entry at the company’s administrative offices in Eket in Akwa Ibom State, as well as at other Mobil Producing facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt. 
 
The strike began on 30 November and was called off on 4 December when Mobil decided to discuss the issue, stating that it would return the workers to their jobs. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil3.JPG.JPG" width="100" height="99"/>
The company, the operating partner in a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., dismissed 66 offshore workers and 18 office employees employed by various contractors. Under the collective agreement, the workers are covered by provisions of the agreement. 
 
By late last week, negotiations did prove that Mobil had violated the contract, both in terms of failing to meet and discuss the layoffs with PENGASSAN prior to the sackings and failing to establish redundancy pay with the union. 
 
The union and company agreed to establish a working group to calculate the exact remuneration owed dismissed workers but Mobil has not returned Nigerian nationals to their rightful jobs. 
 
PENGASSAN has constantly had to defend its collective agreements is the rapid escalation of casualisation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, with Mobil Producing consistently being one of the worst violators.

PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" height="39"/>
The ICEM participated in the Eastern Europe and CIS regional conference of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) on 3–4 December in Moscow. 
 
The conference brought together 150 trade union leaders from newly independent countries, to identify new challenges and search for strategies and solutions to fight the violation of workers’ and trade union rights. 
 
The conference was attended by the ITUC General Secretary Sharon Barrow; European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks:, Mikhail Shmakov, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia and President of the PERC: and Igor Kovalchuk, President of the Confederation of Labour of Russia (FNPR). 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1012.perc.jpg" width="221" height="138"/>
Trade union rights was identified as a vital necessity in Russia and elsewhere in the region in order to develop civil society and democracy under new conditions of economic modernization. 
 
The conference agreed that in the current environment of the post-crisis recovery, a consolidation of the trade union movement is required in order to respond properly to the challenges common throughout the region. 
 
Speaking about the specific rights of trade unions in Russia, the FNPR’s Shmakov drew attention to the need to liberalise the strike law. “In our country, in contrast to Western countries, it is almost impossible to organize a legal strike, so we must strive to reduce the length of time for conciliation.” 
 
Barrow stated that “the attacks on the rights of the workers are a bad recipe for economic development.” She added: “The role of trade unions as defenders of the legitimate rights of the employees by conducting effective negotiations with the employer is extremely important for the future development of economies and societies in general.”

ICEM Participate in Regional ITUC-PERC Conference in Moscow 

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ICEM Chemical Industries Sector Chair Tomas Nieber opened the Chemicals Sector Conference in Istanbul last week by calling for more regulatory standards as a result of the global financial crisis. Nieber, the head of German affiliate IGBCE’s Economic Department who was re-elected chair of the sector that covers both chemicals and pharmaceutical, said with the sector showing a modest recovery in 2010, politicians and governments must not revert to past policies that caused the crisis. 
 
A record 250 delegates from 40 countries attended the ICEM’s quadrennial chemicals conference in Istanbul on 27-28 October, a conference splendidly organised by Petrol-İş, the petroleum, chemicals, and rubber union of Turkey. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.chems petrol-is.jpg" width="218" height="163"/>
Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin
Nieber said 34 million jobs were lost worldwide due to the financial crisis, and he cited a number of challenges facing the sector, including the rising price of fuels and the need to maintain sustainable policies for the two industries. He also said since the sector has been marked by “internationalization” with increased cross-border investments and mergers, there must be more coordination regarding currency exchange rates. 
 
“As trade unions, we must demand more regulations,” Nieber said. 
 
Petrol-İş President Mustafa Öztaşkin welcomed delegates to Turkey, but told global chemical and pharmaceutical trade union leaders that his country has implemented policies neutralizing unions. “International conventions related to trade union rights and freedoms are routinely violated,” he said, “and the national legislation which regulates trade union activity retains its repressive and prohibitive essence.” 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.chem.japs.jpg" width="220" height="135"/>
27 delegates from Japan attended the conference
Öztaşkin said recent constitutional modifications that have been accepted by referendum actually are regressive in many ways toward trade union rights. He said Turkey ranks among the top ten worldwide in chemicals production, but he said privatization has decreased employment by 60-70% over the years, with non-union and precarious labour the norm. He also said it has become common for trade unions in Turkey to be the chief advocates for developing social responsibility standards, waste management, health and safety standards, and clean technologies. 
 
The conference included no less than six panel discussions over the two days, including one on Industrial Relations, Social Dialogue, and Social Responsibility. That panel saw Lutz Mugl, General Secretary of the International Chemical Employers’ Labour Relations Committee, Rhodia Chemistry President Bernard Chambon, and Umicore Human Resources and Development Director Mark Dolfyn participate and review practices, as well as ICEM Chemicals Industry Kemal Özkan and Hubertus Schmoldt, former President of IGBCE and President of EMCEF. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010.chems russians.jpg" width="215" height="161"/>
The delegation from the Russian Chemical & Allied Workers’ Union was led by President Alexander Sitnov, right
(For a listing of the panels, click <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4051-ICEM’s-Quadrennial-Chemicals-Conference-in-Istanbul-Next-Week " type="internal">here</a> to view a previous ICEM article on the conference.) 
 
The conference concluded with development of an 11-point action plan for the next four-year period. Highlights include support and coordination for organising workers of multinational companies; development of decent work practices in collective agreements, as well as equal pay and same terms and conditions of work; use of social dialogue with employers’ organizations; health, safety, and sustainability practices through union participation; a emphasis on women and young workers in the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries; and support for a new global trade union structure with two other Global Union Federations. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/1010. chems iraqi.jpg" width="219" height="164"/>
Hassan Juma Awad Sdawe of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (GFIW) was a panelist on Global Union Power Through Solidarity
The complete work plan can be accessed <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ChemsActionPlan%20_3_.pdf " type="internal">here</a>. 
 
The Chemicals Conference also endorsed a resolution supporting French, Romanian, and other European trade union federations engaged in strikes against austerity measures. That resolution was first adopted by the ICEM Presidium, which met on 26 October at the same venue in Istanbul. That resolution can be seen <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FrenchResolutionChemConf.pdf " type="internal">here</a>.

ICEM Chemicals Conference Concludes with Record Turnout

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The month-long strike by 1,300 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa at the Mototolo platinum mine expanded last week, when another 940 miners took sympathies actions at three related enterprises. Mototolo is a joint venture created in 2005 by Swiss mining company Xstrata and AngloPlatinum. 
 
Workers at Xstrata’s Thorncliffe chrome mine, the Mototola concentrator plant, and Xstrata’s Lydenburg ferrochrome plant took industrial actions on 27 October in support for NUM Mototola miners. Their strike began on 29 September over wage differences. 
 
The NUM is seeking salary adjustment between 10% and 14%, while mine management is offering less. The NUM is seeking 14% for miners categorized in the A3 class, or lower paid workers, while it seeks 11% for the A4 category, and 10% for categories B1 to B5. 
<img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0610NUMFransBaleni1.jpg" width="100" height="142"/>
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
Management has proposed an increase of 13% for the A3 category workers. “There is no turning back, the company has to deliver” what the miners demand, stated NUM Regional Secretary Makgabo Mabapa for the North East Region. 
 
The mine and related processing facilities are located on the eastern limb of the Bushveld complex, near Steelpoort in Mpumalanga province. Xstrata manages the mine and AngloPlatinum manages the concentrator. 
 
Meanwhile, the NUM is investigating the loss of three lives in industrial accidents last week. Early on 27 October, a miner employed at a platinum mine owned by Royal Bafokeng Holdings in Rustenburg, a BEE company, was killed in a winch-related accident. Two days earlier, a worker at Rustenburg’s Ocon Brick Manufacturing, wholly-owned by the mining contractor Murray & Roberts Holdings, was killed in the workplace when the vehicle he was operating slid off a berm, overturned and fell on top of him. And on the same day, a worker at Copper Slate Pty., another mining contractor, died from a fall from an unsafe vehicle. That accident happened in Swarttuggens near Rustenburg. 
 
“The bloodletting has to stop and it must stop now,” said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. “If it does not stop, then someone must be held accountable.

NUM’s Strike Against Xstrata, AngloPlats in South Africa Expands

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