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The ICEM has supported an initiative sponsored by the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), conducting a global e-petition against maritime piracy. The initiative is co-sponsored by virtually all employer organisations in the shipping industry, forming an unprecedented coalition. 
 
Although campaigning against piracy at sea has for many years been a concern to the ITF Seafarers&rsquo; Section, the recent growth of pirate attacks in the Somalia region has brought the issue to the attention of the public around the world. The ITF and co-organisers are aiming to collect over half a million signatures in time for World Maritime Day, 23 September 2010. 
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With half a million signatures, the global petition will be used to push governments toward committing the necessary resources to end Somalia-based piracy. 
 
Currently at least 379 seafarers from 25 countries are being held hostage, some since December 2009. In the last two years over 1800 seafarers have been kidnapped. 
 
See more information and sign the petition on the dedicated website <a href="http://www.endpiracynow.org/">here</a>.

Global Petition against Maritime Piracy

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Under the auspices of the &lsquo;ICEM Asia MNCs and Social Dialogue Project&rsquo;, worker representatives and management of Thai Industrial Gas (Linde) participated in a joint training session on social dialogue, 28 June in Bangkok, Thailand. 
 
The purpose of the joint training was to seek a possibility of establishing peaceful and cooperative labour relations by analysing how the international standards for social dialogue are respected inside the company. 
 
Forty participants joined the training, with seven participants from senior management, including the Managing Director and heads of all major departments. 
 
The other 33 participants were trade unionists. Four participants came from the ICEM Thai Committee and the other 29 participants from the TIG/LINDE union including Nopphadol Sanom, president of TIG Labour Union, and Sutthirak Yalomphan, Vice-president. 
 
Union participants came from 5 plants, all near to Bangkok; TIG/LINDE has a total of 13 plants in Thailand. The union participants had to use their own annual leave to participate in the training, and applied voluntarily to take part. 
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The company Managing Director, Mr. Keerin, gave a welcome speech on behalf of management, while Nopphadol, union president, emphasized the importance of implementing international standards agreed by LINDE HQ at the local level. 
 
Dr. Ahn Pongsul, ILO Bangkok Office Senior Specialist, made a presentation on the Basic Principles of Social Dialogue. He stressed the basic enabling conditions to materialize social dialogue at enterprise level, such as a democratic environment, union recognition, two-way communication, mutual commitment and good will, respect, and adequate institutional support. 
 
Mr. Keerin (MD) made a presentation on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy of TIG/LINDE. A union participant said that he had never heard of the company&rsquo;s CSR policy in his 12-year service. 
 
Yoon Hyowon, ICEM&rsquo;s Project Coordinator for MNC monitoring and Social Dialogue, made a presentation on ILO Core Conventions, OECD Guidelines and the UN Global Compact. The information on the international standards was almost new to management participants. Management participants had not been aware that LINDE had joined the UN Global Compact in 2005. 
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Yoon pointed out that the Linde Code of Ethics had not been translated into Thai, while it had been into Chinese and Korean in Asia. Mr. Sansern, Head of Human Resources, said that the translation was in process. 
 
In the meeting with union leaders on 27 June prior to the joint training, they said that management had consistently interfered with union activity, that collective agreement were poorly implemented or often ignored, that management had discriminated against CAL workers and union members, that any company information such as financial data and outsourcing had not been disclosed, that unconditional 12-hour work for drivers had been systematically forced by management, and that management had not provided any union facility for constructive collective bargaining. 
 
In concluding the joint training, Yoon Hyowon proposed management and the union to implement the following points: 
1. To organize training for all employees on international standards agreed to by Linde HQ; 
2. To organize a social dialogue forum to compare the actual situation of the company with international standards, especially the chapters 3 and 4 of OECD Guidelines on MNEs; 
3. To translate the Linde Code of Ethics into Thai; 
4. To post and distribute the UN Global Compact inside factories; 
5. To post and distribute OECD Guidelines inside factories. 
 
In the closing session, all participants from management and the union acknowledged that there was a long way to go for both parties to properly implement international standards promised by Linde HQ. At the same time, all participants from both sides expressed their commitment to social dialogue.

Thai Gas Industry Social Dialogue Meeting, Brings Management, Workers to the Table

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In a rare advisory referendum taken amongst members of the Dutch national union FNV, 80% of those voting agreed with the negotiated result between unions and employer federations to raise the basic retirement pension (AOW) age of the country. 
 
In balloting between 19 June and 1 July, 160,000 of 1.4 million union members voted that the Dutch retirement age ought to be raised from 65 to 66 in the year 2020, and then possibly to 67 in 2025 if a national evaluation of higher life expectancy after 2020 warrants it. The advisory vote goes to FNV&rsquo;s Council on 14 July, which is now expected to endorse the 4 June negotiated agreement between social partners. 
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FNV Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk
The negotiated social plan is seen as a guiding measure to a deadlocked government on retirement policy. The results of a 9 June election in the Netherlands revealed that any coalition government quite likely would come up with an even worse solution on pension revenue shortfalls and mandatory retirement age. 
 
Under the proposed social plan, workers would still have the option to retire at 65, but they would face a 6.5% reduction in pension benefits. And under the union-business plan, the lowest-paid workers, and workers who do heavy physical jobs, would be exempt from any rise in the current pension age. 
 
FNV Bondgenoten President Henk van der Kolk said he was pleased with the outcome of the late June balloting, calling it &ldquo;a clear result.&rdquo; The advisory referendum, a difficult administrative undertaking, was only the fifth time that FNV has even taken such a vote from its entire union membership.

FNV Members Give Nod to Raise Future Pension Age in the Netherlands

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A strike by 100 members of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) against an intransigent Brazilian multinational is now in its 18th week with no bargaining occurring since the outset. CAW Local 222 in Bowmanville, Ontario, 65 kilometres east of Toronto, is resisting deep pension and other cuts being forced it by Votorantim Cementos and its St. Marys Cement subsidiary, 
 
&ldquo;Workers have the right to a decent pension,&rdquo; said CAW National President Ken Lewenza. &ldquo;This is outright bullying of this small group of workers. This company is far from destitute and the rollback of any hard won workers' benefits is out of the question.&rdquo; 
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The strike began on 12 March. CAW Local 222 members last month began extending their picket lines to other St. Marys Cement plants and terminals in Canada. Local 222 saw their prior collective agreement expire on 31 January 2010, with the company demanding a change from a defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution plan. 
 
The change could mean as much as a 400% drop in annual pension earnings for workers. St. Marys is also seeking deep work-rule cuts. &ldquo;This is an important struggle against a company&rdquo; attempting to attack workers pensions, said Local 222 President Chris Buckley. 
 
Votorantim purchased seven cement plants and terminals, as well as 39 ready-mix operations from Lafarge&rsquo;s Blue Circle operations in Canada and the US in 2001 for US$700 million. It then revived the name St. Marys to the Toronto-based subsidiary, a name the operations went by for eight decades prior to Blue Circle buying them in 1997. Votorantim is a privately-held S&atilde;o Paulo-based industrial conglomerate that controls one-third of the Brazilian cement market. 
 
The ICEM supports CAW Local 222 in its struggle to retain a fair labour contract in Ontario.

Canadian Cement Strike Now in Its 18th Week

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Two UK trade unions are demanding an independent inquiry into the explosion at Total&rsquo;s Lindsey oil refinery in the afternoon of 29 June that killed one union member, and injured two others. The explosion was followed by a fire in a crude oil distillation unit of the massive refinery in North Lincolnshire. 
 
Twenty-four-year-old Robert Greenacre, a pipe fitter, was killed. He did not answer a safety roll call following the blast and his body was recovered late in the evening of 29 June. Greenacre, a member of Unite the Union, was an employee of a sub-contractor working for Jacobs Engineering, the primary contractor for Paris-based Total at Lindsey. 
 
&ldquo;Unite puts the highest premium on health and safety in the workplace and we are calling for an immediate, independent, and comprehensive inquiry into what happened,&rdquo; stated Unite National Officer for Construction Tom Hardacre. &ldquo;We would particularly like to know why further searches were not made when our member was unaccounted for in the roll-call when employees were evacuated.&rdquo; 
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Robert Greenacre
The GMB National Organiser for Engineering and Construction, Phil Whitehurst, also demanded that Total be held accountable. He said hard questions need to be asked both of the company and UK&rsquo;s Health and Safety Executive over why a &ldquo;Permit to Work&rdquo; was issued for pipefitting work inside the HDS-3 plant of the refinery. This &ldquo;brings into question Total&rsquo;s safety record yet again,&rdquo; said Whitehurst. &ldquo;They have to be held accountable.&rdquo; 
 
The GMB union leader was referring to a very recent verdict in a case from Total&rsquo;s Buncefield oil depot in which the French company admitted health and safety regulations had been breached, causing a 2005 explosion that injured 40 workers. 
 
In the days following the 29 June Lindsey blast, Total did send home 2,000 workers from the site because of asbestos exposure concerns due to damage from the explosion. Those workers began returning to work today, with the remainder due back to work tomorrow. All received full pay while idled. 
 
Greenacre, who had worked at his trade for five years, was engaged to be married and he and his wife-to-be recently purchased their first house together. The ICEM extends its condolences to the young worker&rsquo;s family, to Unite and GMB, and to all workers at Lindsey.

UK Unions Want Answers to Total’s Lindsey Refinery Blast, Killing One

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Following three days of intense negotiations, 2-4 July, South African state-owned electric utility provider Eskom and three trade unions won 2010 wage terms with increases of 9%, plus long-awaited housing allowances. With the threat of a strike looming during the final week of the World Cup &ndash; despite a labour court ruling now on appeal that deemed the entirety of Eskom an essential service &ndash; the company met the unions wage demands in talks before the nation&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). 
 
The ICEM affiliated unions National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), and a third union, representing a combined 28,000 workers, are expected to sign the agreement this week, with the across-the board salary increase backdated to 1 June. 
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A major issue throughout bargaining was the housing allowance. In that, a compromise was reached in which workers will receive a R1,500 (US$194) monthly allowance. Entering early July&rsquo;s final mediated bargaining session before workers were prepared to strike, Eskom had an 8.5% wage offer and a R1,000 housing stipend on the table. The unions had demanded R2,500 for housing. 
 
The housing allowance issue was a carry over from last year&rsquo;s bargaining, when Eskom promised to establish a commission by year&rsquo;s end to award a first-ever stipend for staff who work away from home. That never materialized. 
 
Labour unions and management are expected to decide this week when the R1,500 allowance will take effect, with unions arguing it should be backdated. Also this week, talks will continue towards reaching a minimum service agreement, an accord that will determine which Eskom employees are not essential state workers and thus have the right to strike. The unions also have this matter before a labour appeals court. 
 
The NUM represents 16,000 workers at Eskom, while NUMSA represents about 5,000.

Eskom and South African Unions Agree to 9% Wage Hikes

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Seven miners were killed in three separate underground mine accidents in South Africa last week, including five contract workers at Aquarius Platinum&rsquo;s Marikana mine in the Bushveld area near Rustenburg, North West Province. 
 
The other deaths occurred at AngloGold Ashanti&rsquo;s Tau Lekoa gold mine on 7 July, where an explosion took the life the life of a miner, and at Imperial Platinum&rsquo;s Rustenburg mine, where an underground rock slide crushed a worker. Both are also in North West Province, with the Tau Lekoa mine extending into Free State Province. 
 
At Aquarius, two other miners were trapped at the Marikana mine late in the evening of 6 July when a large segment of an underground shaft collapsed. One of those miners suffered serious injuries, while the other was rescued unscathed. Rescue teams from nearby Impala Platinum and a Lonmin mine assisted in the rescue. All workers were employed by Murray and Roberts Cementation. 
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Aquarius has closed the No. 4 shaft of Marikana, which supplies the Australian-based company, the world&rsquo;s fourth largest platinum producer, with 50% of Marikana&rsquo;s production. 
 
The shaft remained closed early this week, and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it would take its mandatory one-day period of mourning once the mine reopens. 
 
&ldquo;Once this suspension is lifted, we will embark on a day of mourning, which means there won't be any work done at the mine on that day,&rdquo; said NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka. 
 
&ldquo;This is a disaster,&rdquo; added NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. &ldquo;At a time when the industry brags of so-called improved safety, we now have disasters raising their ugly heads again,&rdquo; he added. The NUM has called for a full investigation. 
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NUM General Secretary, Frans Baleni
Impala Platinum&rsquo;s Rustenberg mine death comes 50 weeks after nine miners tragically died at the Lease Mine No. 14 near Rustenburg, which was South Africa&rsquo;s worst disaster in 2009. Impala, the world&rsquo;s number two platinum producer, led all producers in South Africa in mining deaths last year. The country mines and processes 80% of all global platinum, which is used in electronics, catalytic converters, and jewelry. 
 
AngloGold has had a deal in place since 2008 to sell the Tau Lekoa mine to Simmer and Jacks, but internal problems within the latter company has prevented conclusion of the sale.

Seven Die in South African Mining Tragedies Last Week

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ICEM French affiliate F&eacute;d&eacute;ration Chimie-Energie (FCE-CFDT) denounced market reforms that the government of France recently announced and has planned for EDF, the state-run electricity provider. In a statement issued 17 September, FCE-CFDT said reforms proposed by the government would put at risk the entire enterprise if it had to share revenues from nuclear generation with competitors.
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Electricity market reform in France, with a proposed effective date of 1 July 2010, would destabilize the company, FCE-CFDT warns, with competitors able to buy power at rates far below EDF&rsquo;s production costs. The union said such reforms would also prevent the competition from engaging in their own investments, and calls for a plan that would mandate all electricity providers to make investments. 
 
Further, FCE-CFDT states that although there are supposed safeguards in the reform plan, nothing in the plan would protect consumers from electricity price hikes. The union is calling for the French energy regulatory body, the Commission Champsaur, to re-work its proposals, giving redress to economic development issues, social cohesion, and climate change challenges.

FCE-CFDT Issues Caution Against French Electric Reform Concerning EDF

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The profitable electrical and gas distributor National Grid Plc. has provoked industrial actions in the UK with plans to outsource service work to India. British trade unions GMB and Unison, representing some 2,500 workers, are planning further strike actions in company operations in the near future. 
 
The first such strike, a 24-hour one, occurred on 11 September when workers at a service center in Newcastle walked off jobs and manifested at a public square. Some 181 invoicing, procurement, and other jobs could be lost in Newcastle if National Grid gets its way to offshore jobs. Hundreds of other jobs are at risk in the company fulfills its planned agenda.
<img src="" width="140" height="139" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
Further job actions likely will occur in Warwick and Newcastle. National Grid is the major owner and operator of electric grid distribution and gas distribution in England and Wales, serving 52 million customers. It also controls lucrative electric and gas distribution networks through its private enterprises in the US. 
 
GMB National Secretary Gary Smith says it is &ldquo;absolutely immoral&rdquo; that the company would consider turning its back on UK workers and transferring work to India. &ldquo;It is a shameful example of corporate greed that a hugely profitable UK business is threatening to sack loyal and dedicated staff.&rdquo; 
 
National Grid posted profits of &pound;3 billion in 2008 and the company and workers have identified &pound;3 million in cost savings. Yet, National Grid has already narrowed a search to two contract companies that would outsource the service work to India. 
 
GMB and Unison are getting strong support from North American ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). In a recent trip to the US, Smith met with UWUA-represented workers employed by National Grid subsidiaries in the state of Massachusetts, and engaged first-hand with the UWUA in is first contract battle with waste-to-energy company Covanta. ICEM-affiliated GMB, as well as other UK unions, have assisted the UWUA in bringing to light Covanta&rsquo;s derisive anti-worker practices in the US just as the company attempts to expand into the UK.
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In a letter to GMB&rsquo;s Commercial Services Section, UWUA President Michael Langford called National Grid &ldquo;one of the most profitable, privatised monopolies in the world.&rdquo; He added, &ldquo;In our view, it is unacceptable (for the company) to turn its back on the employees who have sacrificed so much to make National Grid a success.&rdquo; 
 
On 7 September, GMB and Unison counted ballots, revealing a 97% vote for industrial action. Those strikes likely will occur in the coming weeks if the electric/gas distributor does not retreat from its outsourcing plans.

UK Unions GMB, Unison Begin Industrial Actions Against National Grid

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The ICEM extends its condolences to the families of miners killed and injured in a deadly Polish mine explosion on Friday, 18 September, as well as to all mining unions representing workers at the Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW) company. 
 
A methane gas explosion followed by a fire at KHW&rsquo;s Wujek-Slask mine in the coal-dominated Silesa region of southwestern Poland killed 13, and seriously injured 18 other miners with severe burns. A total of 40 miners were hospitalized following the explosion. 
 
The deadly blast and fire, Poland&rsquo;s second worst in recent years, ripped through mine shafts 1,050 metres underground at mid-morning on Friday near the town of Ruda Slaska. 
 
The Polish government has declared today and Tuesday, 22 September, a two-day national period of mourning due to the horrible workplace tragedy.
<img src="" width="120" height="120" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
 
A Polish website, Pracownik, reported that a miner at the Wujek-Slask colliery made a video last April, showing methane measurements over four times the levels that are considered safe from such an accident occurring. The video was aired on a Polish TV station late Friday. 
 
Mine-safety activists in Poland hinted that any investigation must centre on whether or not methane reading instruments inside shafts had been tampered with in order to boost production. 
 
State-run KHW had merged the Wujek and Slash collieries in 2004 into a single enterprise in order to save costs. In November 2006, 23 miners perished in another Ruda Slaska mine called Halemba, owned by the state-operated Kampania Weglowa (KW). This was the worst Polish mine tragedy in three decades. The Halemba mine had been idled for eight months then, and the company had sent workers 1,000 metres below the surface to retrieve equipment when the blast occurred.

13 Perish in Poland’s Worst Coal Mine Disaster Since 2006

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