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Following a failed mediation session on 4 March, some 65,000 Polish coal miners are poised to strike state run and operated Kompania Weglowa (KW), Europe&rsquo;s largest coal producer. Miners, forcefully united behind the country&rsquo;s three main mining unions &ndash; ICEM affiliate NSZZ Solidarność, Kadra, and the Polish Miners&rsquo; Trade Union &ndash; have been denied a fair wage proposal for 2009. 
 
Mediated talks will resume tomorrow, 10 March, but if no resolve occurs, Kompania Weglowa will face a two-hour warning strike on 12 March. If that doesn&rsquo;t force a change of stance by the company&rsquo;s board, a full strike at all of KW&rsquo;s 16 mines will then commence. 
 
Reportedly, the company&rsquo;s directors are offering a wage hike of 1.5%, while the unions are seeking 6%. In last week&rsquo;s mediated talks, the unions revised their proposal to delay the 6% increase from January to March. Miners are seeking increases in daily subsidies as well. 

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Also locked in wage talks are 40,000 miners at two other state-owned coal servicing and production companies, Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) and Katowicki Holding Weglowy. Both companies are seeking to impose a wage freeze on miners this year. 
 
Talks with the same unions at JSW will continue on 11 March. But the unions consider KW the lead company, despite the managing board&rsquo;s reluctance to engage in earnest dialogue. In fact, the dispute has become exasperating because management has issued conflicting economic data. 
 
In January, the KW board boasted of significant profits from 2008, but countered that recently by informing the unions about losses. Meanwhile, KW&rsquo;s board members received a 6.9% salary increase for 2009 as part of a procedure in all Ministry of State Treasury enterprises, further inflaming the dispute. 
 
KW&rsquo;s coal production is 47 million tonnes annually, and it holds a 50% market share inside Poland&rsquo;s healthy coal-driven economy.

Miners’ Strike Looms in Poland at Europe’s Biggest Coal Company

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A strike by 190 Turkish paperworkers, members of ICEM affiliate T&uuml;mka-İş, against Procter &amp; Gamble is now 16 days old, with little progress made in recent negotiations. The wage dispute began 21 February at a factory in Gebze, just outside of Istanbul, where the American company manufactures paper towels, tissue, and hygiene products, including nappies. 
 
Strikers and supporters held a rally at plant gates on 26 February, where messages of support were read from a number of trade unions from around the world. The ICEM, which generated the support, also lodged a protest with Turkish management of the company. That letter can be found <a href="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0903.Turkey.p&amp;g.pdf">here</a>. 
 
On the day of the manifestation, managers revised upward their wage offer, but not significantly. They also told leaders of T&uuml;mka-İş they were content to allow paper products once marketed from the Gebze plant to originate from expanded Procter &amp; Gamble operations in Poland. 

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Gebze Manifestation, 26 February
A prior two-year labour agreement expired on 31 August 2008. 
 
The wage revision proposal 11 days ago saw the company move its offer from no increase to 2% for the first six months, followed by three increases, separated in six-month segments, of two-thirds the rate of Turkish inflation. The union is seeking an 8% increase for the first six months, and revised its proposal for the remaining three periods to match Turkey&rsquo;s inflation rate. 
 
T&uuml;mka-İş General President Kemal Yilmaz and Erg&uuml;n Tavşanoğlu, a union Executive Committee member who is the central T&uuml;mka-İş leader at the Procter &amp; Gamble plant, expressed gratitude to the family of ICEM trade unions in the Paper and Packaging sector who extended their support at the outset of the strike.

Little Progress Made to Resolve Two-Week Procter &amp; Gamble Strike in Turkey

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French trade unions confirmed in late February that they will issue a call for a day of mobilization on Thursday, 19 March, &ldquo;resulting in strikes and demonstrations throughout the country.&rdquo; The joint statement was made by members of the Inter-Eight group at CFTC headquarters. 
 
The CFDT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, CGT, FSU, Solidaires, and UNSA continue to show their trade union unity, building on the one-day general strike of 19 January 
 
Although the 19 January action did lead to some changes to government legislation, such as establishing a social investment fund, ICEM&rsquo;s French affiliates regard the measures as too fragmentary to change the course of economic policy in these trying times. 
 
French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to increase the minimum wage, to change his policy on public sector employment, and refused to return taxes on overtime pay. Other factors in organizing the 19 March strike are continued job cuts, further trends toward partial unemployment, and heavy reductions in workers&rsquo; purchasing power, all of which amplify the current economic recession for French workers. 

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Several workers&rsquo; protests began last week. French workers from two Grenoble area factories of US-based Caterpillar protested in the French Alpine city and then marched in Paris over announced plant closure. Rubber workers at a Continental tyre factory north of Paris also protested due to a threatened closure. 
 
And in Lyon on 3 March, 40 workers of auto-parts firm Preciturn began a 30-hour sit-in at the offices of a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland. The highly debt-laden subsidiary, an accounting firm, had abandoned its contract with Preciturn, leaving unpaid bills and an inability to meet salaries. 
 
In extending its joint declaration of 5 January, the eight trade unions listed their targeted goals as: &ldquo;Upholding public and private employment; Fighting against job insecurity and social and economic deregulation; Calling for compensation policies that maintain the purchasing power of wage earners, the unemployed and pensioners; and Defending the collective framework of solidarity and social protection.&rdquo; 
 
The social protests which began last week are expected to gain momentum between now and 19 March, with calls for mobilization among employees in the education sector, doctors and hospital staff, as well as police. According to a 2 March opinion poll, 58% of company executives support the manifestation of 19 March. Workers at Air France have already confirmed that they will take part in the strike. 
 
The group of eight unions will meet again 20 March 2009.

French Unions Call Workers Out on Strike 19 March

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South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 jobs will be lost in the country due to the world financial crisis. No mining sector has been spared, but perhaps worst hit is the platinum sector. 
 
In recent days, platinum mining house Lonmin announced 4,000 job cuts, 3,000 at its Western Platinum mine and 1,000 at the Eastern Platinum mine in Marikana. The mining house also plans to suspend operations at its Baobab shaft in Limpopo, causing untold job losses. 
 
These announcements were made by Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer, who claimed the redundancies had been agreed to with unions. But NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka countered that claim, saying it was false, accusing the company of bad planning in the run-up to the start of the crisis last September. 
 
In February, Anglo Platinum CEO Neville Nicolau hinted during a call related to the company&rsquo;s financial results that 10,000 jobs would be cut because of the economic climate. Again, the NUM was critical, citing bad planning and the fact that corporate chieftains publicly proclaim job losses before even consulting with the union, which serves only to frighten miners. 

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Frans Beleni
&ldquo;When platinum prices reached US$2,000 per ounce in May 2008, you could see the reckless spending perpetrated by management,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni on a recent South African radio programme. &ldquo;If true leadership prevailed, we could have prevented this bloodbath of job losses,&rdquo; added Baleni. 
 
Platinum is currently selling for about US$1,070 per ounce. 
 
Under Section 189 of South Africa&rsquo;s Labour Relations Act, termed the &ldquo;retrenchments clause,&rdquo; management must confer with labour in order to give an accounting of reasons behind any redundancies. An employer must prove there is a need to cut jobs, otherwise the matter lands in the courts. 
 
One successful intervention occurred at a Simmer &amp; Jacks gold mine in Buffelsfontein in February. The junior miner sought to cull 500 jobs from a production staff of 5,000. But with the help of South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration, and full dialogue with trade unions, those cuts were reduced to five senior contract workers, with 65 other contract workers becoming permanent staff. 
 
In return, unions, led by the NUM, agreed to miners working one extra shift per month throughout 2009. 
 
In the gold mining sector last week, 4,000 NUM members at Pamodzi Gold went on strike at two mines over non-payment of wages. Miners at the Steyn mine in Free State and at a mine in East Rand began strike action on 6 March after receiving only 20% of their wages for February. 
 
It was the second time this year that Pamodzi faced a shut-down because of its financial outlook. In January, 2,000 miners stayed away from the Free State operation because water supplies had been cut due to unpaid bills. On 5 March, the company announced it was seeking to secure a bridge loan to pay its workers and creditors until its UK and German financiers came through with a loan.

South African Miners Hard Hit by Global Financial Crisis

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Oil workers of Australia&rsquo;s Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU)&nbsp;ratified a renewal three-year enterprise labour agreement on 11 March Royal Dutch Shell&rsquo;s Clyde refinery and Gore Bay terminal in Sydney harbour, but it won&rsquo;t take the sting from Shell&rsquo;s brazen anti-union conduct over the past three months. 
 
Shell manipulated negotiations that began in November 2008 in efforts to force aspects of the draconian WorkChoices law on to the union, seeking to break an enterprise agreement and begin individual work contracts before repeal of former Prime Minister John Howard&rsquo;s anti-worker laws commence on 1 July 2009. 
 
The company initially tabled a proposal reducing a 47-page agreement to 14 pages, stripping away such clauses as workers&rsquo; training, &ldquo;Roles and Responsibilities of Operators,&rdquo; and removing standard manning requirements, thus opening the way for more contractors. Managers also proposed a reduction in operators&rsquo; wages by A$12,000 per year. 

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The 86,000 barrel per day Clyde refinery underwent an extended maintenance shutdown beginning in November, giving the company an opportunity to deploy another union-busting move. That was a demand that its regressive proposals be approved by 30 January 2009, the expiration date of the prior three-year contract, or the CFMEU would face a lock-out. 
 
To prepare for that, Shell&rsquo;s imported managers began bringing in scabs for 18-day training periods as operators, and recruited retired workers from another Australian state. By early February, obviously frustrated with CFMEU&rsquo;s rightful reluctance to accept the concessions, the company applied to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to submit its proposals directly to workers in a secret-ballot vote. 
 
That ballot was defeated on 20 February by a resounding 82%, which not only forced Shell back to the bargaining table, but forced it to change its agenda. 
 
The enterprise agreement that 150 workers&nbsp;voted&nbsp;to accept on 11 March is far better than what Shell managers had sought. It calls for a 12% wage increase over the three years, and full protection of all current work language. 
 
&ldquo;Shell&rsquo;s agenda was nothing but union-busting,&rdquo; said Lorraine Usher, CFMEU&rsquo;S New South Wales District Secretary. The company&rsquo;s &ldquo;actions have left a work force seething with resentment and it will be a long time before trust in the workplace is regained.&rdquo; 
 
Two British managers of Shell at Clyde and Gore Bay were responsible for bringing on the anti-worker agenda. &ldquo;I believe they did everything in their power to escalate the dispute,&rdquo; said Usher. The former Operations Manager at Clyde, Paul Lunt, was retained to handle negotiations. The other was Mark Stevens, who was brought in from Singapore&rsquo;s Shell operations.

Australian Oil Workers at Shell Ratify Contract, But Scars Will Linger

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The Main Workers&rsquo; Board of EPS Trade Union, representing 48,000 employees of Serbia&rsquo;s state-run Electric Power Industry, re-elected Milan Đorđević on 12 February as President. This is Đorđević&rsquo;s first full term, having succeeded Miroslav Veličković early in 2008. He had been Vice President. 
 
Đorđević is from the town of Barosevac, and worked for EPS as a coal miner at the Kolubara-Lazarevac open-cast coal mine, Serbia&rsquo;s largest colliery. He was a strong activist for miners&rsquo; rights and continues to be an effective advocate for all workers at EPS. 
 
Re-elected Vice President by the Main Board was Branko Tomić, who comes from an electric power distribution company in Kraljevo. 
 
EPS consists of 11 electric power distribution companies, 7 electric generating plants, and three coal production, process, and transport enterprises. The EPS Trade Union was founded in 1992.

EPS Trade Union of Serbia Re-elects Milan Đorđević as President

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ICEM Belgian affiliate FGBT/ABVV stepped up its campaign calling for protection of workers&rsquo; 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 &ldquo;race to the bottom.&rdquo; 
 
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&rsquo; 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

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The ICEM expressed concern recently at the actions of Sinotex Lanka, Ltd., a garment producer which is owned by Hong Kong-based Cristal-Martin Group. The company has closed two factories after operating 27 years in Sri Lanka. 
 
Members of the Sri Lanka Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union, who recently applied for affiliation to the ICEM, have called for international solidarity for the 2,500 workers that have lost their jobs. The ICEM insists that the company make the correct pay settlements to workers, in line with national legislation. 
 
Reports suggest that Sinotex has already made arrangements for the factories to reopen with new workers, a clear illustration of how a company uses the global economic crisis to destroy a trade union. Most of the Sinotex workers are women, and many are migrants from rural villages far from the factories in the Investment Promotion Zone of Katunayake. 
 
Many of the workers were sacked after up to 20 years employment. 

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The Joint Secretary of the union, Anton Marcus, sent a letter early in February to the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. That letter urged him to organize &ldquo;dialogue between social partners in order to overcome the challenges posed by the world economic crisis.&rdquo; 
 
The legislation that must be upheld is the Termination of Employment of Workmen (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1978. In order for a different settlement to be agreed outside of the terms of this law, it must be carried out under a Memorandum of Settlement, covered in section 12(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act of Sri Lanka. This must be based on negotiations between the employer and employees before the Commissioner of Labour. 
 
Sinotex Lanka, Ltd. has violated all of these legal provisions, summoning workers one by one, and then terminating their services with a small stipend. Neither the union nor the Commissioner of Labour had been consulted, even though the union had requested a meeting. 
 
The ICEM believes this has set a dangerous precedent for other anti-union companies across Sri Lanka. Members of the union at Wheel Works Private, Ltd. have also been threatened by managers with discharge if they do not resign their membership.

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

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According to Brazilian health and safety standards, employers in all sectors must promote a yearly &ldquo;Workplace Accident and Disease Prevention Week,&rdquo; or SIPAT. This obligation creates an opportunity for trade unions to discuss the main issues related to health and safety, such as hazardous chemicals, HIV/AIDs, women&rsquo;s health, and emerging issues such as the health effects arising from the increasing use of nanotechnologies. 
 
The collective agreement in Brazil&rsquo;s chemicals sector thus requires chemical companies to include nanotechnologies and environment in workers&rsquo; training programmes. The agreement provides that companies can ask for the assistance of public health services when needed, and some of them do allow a trade union technical adviser. 

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Trade unions in the chemical industries in S&atilde;o Paulo State have been working closely with the Fundacentro&acute;s National Occupational Health and Safety Institute, and a trade union advisory body &ndash; Departamento Intersindical de Estat&iacute;sticas e Estudos S&oacute;cio-Econ&ocirc;micos (DIEESE) &ndash; to frame a strategic approach to the risks. 
 
The collective agreement signed in December 2008 between employers and the CUT-affiliated Chemicals Trade Union Federation of S&atilde;o Paulo State (FETQUIM) &ndash; representing 125,000 workers in the petrochemical, chemical, plastics, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, paints, and other industrial sectors &ndash; also includes recommendations that the companies share their environmental programmes and initiatives with workers during the SIPAT week. 
 
Currently, the main objective of Sindicato dos Qu&iacute;micos of the ABC Region, an affiliate of both FETQUIM-SP/CUT and ICEM, is to promote workers&rsquo; participation in workplace programmes regarding protection of the environment, as well as workers&rsquo; health from the impacts of the unknown risks of nanotechnologies.

Brazil: Collective Agreement in Chemicals Requires Nanotech, Environmental Training

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Last week, on 17 February, US-based International Paper Co. announced closure of its Inverurie mill following a 90-day consultation period with ICEM UK affiliate Unite the Union. The closure of the Aberdeenshire, Scotland, mill will happen at the end of March, and will cost 371 paperworkers their jobs. 
 
However, Unite and local politicians, during the mandatory consultation period, did find potential buyers for Britain&rsquo;s last uncoated freesheet paper mill. But International Paper (IP) refused to even consider selling the mill. 
 
Unite Assistant General Secretary Tony Burke said it was IP&rsquo;s intention all along to close the site and replace British paper production with paper made elsewhere. 

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That also is the position of a former owner of the mill, Thomas Tait, whose family began papermaking in the village of Inverurie in 1852. Tait, who sold the mill to another American paper company in 1987, told an Aberdeen newspaper late last week that IP received an offer from another paper manufacturer that could have saved the jobs, and perhaps even created more job opportunities. 
 
&ldquo;I know they were not willing to sell to another paper-making operation which made an offer,&rdquo; said Tait, who also told the Aberdeen Evening Express he had been involved three times in various plans to re-purchase the mill. &ldquo;It was an absolutely straightforward &lsquo;No,&rsquo; no discussion whatsoever.&rdquo; Tait said the Inverurie example should be used for a change in British legislation, mandating a sale to occur when a buyer intends to produce the same or a similar product. 
 
Meanwhile, IP presented Unite and Scottish paperworkers with an inferior redundancy package, pay and benefits and job retraining that the union would not consider bringing to union members. Talks on that issue between Unite and IP will continue this week. 
 
&ldquo;International Paper is one of the biggest paper-making companies in the world and can afford to pay decent severance terms given the loyalty and dedication of our members,&rdquo; stated Burke.

International Paper Ends Consultation, Announces Closure to Scottish Inverurie Mill

Archive

Miners’ Strike Looms in Poland at Europe’s Biggest Coal Company

Little Progress Made to Resolve Two-Week Procter & Gamble Strike in Turkey

French Unions Call Workers Out on Strike 19 March

South African Miners Hard Hit by Global Financial Crisis

Australian Oil Workers at Shell Ratify Contract, But Scars Will Linger

EPS Trade Union of Serbia Re-elects Milan Đorđević as President

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

Global Economic Crisis Used to Destroy Union in Sri Lanka

Brazil: Collective Agreement in Chemicals Requires Nanotech, Environmental Training

International Paper Ends Consultation, Announces Closure to Scottish Inverurie Mill

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