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Over 200 Global Mining and Maritime trade unions representing millions of workers around the world met in Durban, South Africa at the fourth International Mining and Maritime Conference. The conference has previously been held in Australia and the USA and was being held for the first time in Africa. The conference was hosted by the South African Trade Unions participating in the initiative. These Trade Unions are NUM, SATAWU, and CEPPWAWU. Most of the National Unions participating in the Mining and Maritime initiative are affiliates of the ICEM and participate in their individual capacities. The Mining and Maritime initiative is an independent loose alliance of national trade unions across the globe in the Mining and Maritime value chain, committed to global solidarity across the value chain of the Mining and Maritime industries. 
 
Intensive deliberations were held over three days of the conference on a wide range of issues across the mining and maritime value chain. A declaration was adopted at the end of the conference that commits the initiative to a plan of action in the next three years before the next conference. 
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Unlike previous conferences, the Durban conference reflected the influence and articulation of African Trade Union issues and agenda and this was extensively covered in the Declaration. Noteworthy in the declaration was the establishment of a truest fund to support the SATAWU initiative to recognize, albeit posthumously, Akhona Geveza, a victim of sexual assault and murder in the workplace, while on a Maritime scholarship in Australia 
 
The ICEM President, Senzeni Zokwana opened the conference and ICEM General Secretary, Manfred Warda, was one of the key note speakers at the conference. Both leaders gave the assurance of the ICEM&rsquo;s support for the initiative&rsquo;s solidarity campaigns and programmes. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Mining Officer, Glen Mpufane gave a presentation on the State of the Current Global Extractive Resources Industries, which was well received by the conference delegates. The Chairperson of the Initiative, Mick Doleman, recognized the presentation as an invaluable resource material for the Mining and Maritime. 
 
Conference delegates declared continued support for the global campaign for Los Mineros in Mexico, development of a global network of unions at mining multinational Vale, and to reenergise the Rio Tinto global network. The declaration prioritised the fight for women&rsquo;s rights and participation. Specific support was pledged to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 in their fight for good jobs at EGT Development&rsquo;s grain terminal in the Port of Longview, Washington, USA. EGT Development is a joint venture of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Korea&rsquo;s STX Pan Ocean and Bunge North America. The ILWU President Robert McEllrath surrendered himself on 26 September to authorities, as police abuse their powers to harass the Longview strikers. McEllrath was arrested on the same day as another ICEM North American trade union leader, Dave Coles of the CEP in Canada was arrested on Parliament Hill, Ottawa during a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Mining and Maritime: Durban, South Africa 5-7 October 2011

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Former ICEM Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO) Chairman Rayford Mbulu was named on 1 October to be Deputy Minister for Labour, Sport, Youth and Gender in Zambia. He enters the new government of Michael Sata and the Patriotic Front Party (PF), which won Zambian elections on 23 September. 
 
Mbulu takes the government posting along with the head of the reconstituted Labour Ministry, Fackson Shamenda, former President of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and once the African Regional Secretary of Global Union Federation Uni. 
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Rayford Mbulu
Mbulu is past President of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ), a position he was elected to in 2005 after serving as MUZ Deputy General Secretary in 2004. He left the MUZ late last year after challenging for the presidency of ZCTU. On the day of the election, he was disqualified by the Labour Minister under the previous Movement for Multiparty Democracy Party after his mining employer, state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), terminated his employment. 
 
Mbulu worked for many years at ZCCM&rsquo;s Nkana Division. He served as ICEM&rsquo;s SSARO Chairman from 2007 until his resignation in March 2011. Mbulu also becomes a Member of Zambia&rsquo;s Parliament from the Kalululushi constituency in the Copperbelt. 
 
On his swearing-in, Labour, Sports, Culture and Gender Minister Shamenda said the PF leadership would work to raise the minimum wage, reduce casualisation of employment, and strive to get better working conditions for all Zambians. President Sata reduced the number of government ministries from 23 to 19, combining some ministries including Sports, Culture and Gender with Labour.

Rayford Mbulu Named Deputy Labour Minister in Zambia

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A branch union of the ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) of Peru is continuing its struggle for a decent new collective agreement at the Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde copper and molybdenum mine in southern Arequipa region. For the first time in the 40 year history of the mine, national government declared industrial action to be legal, as all 1,220 FNTMMSP members downed tools on 29 September for indefinite strike action. 
 
The legal status for the strike means the ministry of labour will arbitrate negotiations, with both sides meeting this afternoon, Monday, for talks. Striking miners are being replaced with 600 scabs and management staff in company efforts to continue production, breaching Peruvian labour law. If company negotiators continue to push regressive proposals, the union will demand the government and Congress send labour inspectors to determine operations are in line with regulations. This would paralyse all production. The branch union general secretary Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a alerted labour authorities to the pending request for inspections on 8 October. 
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Cerro Verde is offering workers a rise of less than US$1 per day, whereas the union seeks US$3. Local management also wants to replace future salary increases with a production bonus. As well as improved wages, strikers are demanding improved working conditions and better health and safety conditions. Branch general secretary Pe&ntilde;a reports that the company only offers solutions to 4 out of 40 union demands. Union and management positions are also far apart on the length of the agreement, with the union wanting a one-year duration and the company originally seeking 5 years, now 3. The previous agreement which expired 31 August was 3-year, but that was extended as a one off in exchange for company concessions. 
 
The strike was preceded by a 48-hour work stoppage in early September and an indefinite strike mid-September that was suspended due to a technicality making it illegal. 
 
Cerro Verde produced 312,336 tonnes of copper in 2010, 2% of the world&rsquo;s copper creating a net profit of US$1.05 billion. The open-pit mine is owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan (53.7%), SMM Cerro Verde Nederlands (21%), a unit of the Japanese Sumitomo Corp., and Peru-based Compania de Minas Buenaventura (19.3%). Mining profits are soaring on global markets due to increased metals prices, with massively increased profit margins not shared with workers.

Peruvian Cerro Verde Miners Launch Legal Indefinite Strike

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Several hundred garment workers conducted a hunger strike in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on 29 September, demanding payment of outstanding wages and allowances of workers at five garment factories. Protestors also sought legal compensation for dismissed workers from four garment factories. The pressure exerted achieved payment of the moneys owed by some, but not all of the employers. 
 
The strike was organised by the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), a highly active member trade union of the International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). The hunger strike action was followed by the submission of a memorandum to the Ministry of Labour by a five-member delegation led by NGWF General Secretary Ms Safia Parveen. The memorandum called for immediate government intervention. 
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Each of the five garment factory employers had failed to pay wages since July, with overtime and other payments also outstanding. This affected 900 workers at S Nahar Garments of Kawran Bazar in Dhaka city, 200 workers at Bristi Garments of Tikatuli, 200 workers work in Jas Fashion of the Dab Star group in Arambagh, 1000 workers of Reo Fashion of the Dab Star Group also in Arambagh, and 350 workers at Millennium Garments of Tikatuli. Following the protest, Bristi, Jas, Reo, and Millenium groups made the payments, with Nahar promising to pay by today. 
 
Protestors also called on the government to intervene in the struggle for compensation to illegally dismissed workers of four garment factories, 97 at Benson Apparels of Tejgaon, 30 at Riz Fashion of Matuail, 25 at Aditi Apparels of Mirpur, and 45 at Bristi Garments. All saw their jobs disappear in cost cutting efforts over the last two years. Bristi has since paid, while Aditi promised to make payments by today. 
 
Focus now concentrates on Benson and Riz fashion. 
 
Speakers called for more action from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to whom the NGWF submitted a grievance on 15 July. See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4557-Bangladesh-Garment-Workers-Take-Hunger-Strike-Actions-over-Delinquent-Employers">ICEM report</a>.&nbsp; 
 
NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin presided over the hunger strike. Speakers included, Coordinator of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council Salauddin Swapan, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Trade Union Centre Ruhul Amin, NGWF leaders Ms Safia Parveen, Mohammad Faruk Khan, Mrs Sultana Aktar, Mohammad Kabir, workers&rsquo; representatives of the affective factories spoke on the occasion, and Harun Chowdhury of the Bangladeshi Communist Party.

Bangladeshi Garment Workers’ Hunger Strike Achieves Owed Wages

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The ICEM expressed outrage and condemned the cold-blooded assassination on 26 September of a Colombian contract worker who was working with affiliate Uni&oacute;n Sindical Obrera (USO) to bring trade union rights to temporary workers at Ecopetrol&rsquo;s Barrancabermeja refining and petrochemicals complex in the Santander department. 
 
Isidro Rivera Barrera, 45, was repairing a washing machine in front of his home in Barrancabermeja when a gunman jumped off the back of a motorcycle and shot him three times at point-blank range. The assassin and accomplice then escaped on the high-powered motorcycle. 
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In a press statement on the killing, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;This cowardly act again reminds us that Colombia is a deadly country for those exercising freedom of association and free speech rights. We reiterate our trade union affiliate USO&rsquo;s call that Colombia&rsquo;s public prosecution office uses all means to apprehend and prosecute the criminals and masterminds behind this heinous crime.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also called on Ecopetrol, its major contractor at Barrancabermeja, Foster Wheeler AG, and all other sub-contractors to ensure the security of all oil industry workers in the city. The ICEM further called on 90% state-owned Ecopetrol and its contractors to create workplace climates where freedom of association and rights to join unions and bargain collectively are considered common civil liberties. 
 
Isidro Rivera was shot twice in the shoulder and once in the throat. He died within minutes of the shooting, slumped across the chair he was working on and in front of neighbours who came running after hearing the shots. Isidro Rivera was a recognised union member by Ecopetrol who was attempting to spread the trade union message to contract workers inside Colombia&rsquo;s biggest downstream oil and petrochemical facilities. He is survived by three children.

Leader of Contract Workers Struggle in Colombia Assassinated

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An agreement was reached 29 September between Lafarge and the French Central Works Council regarding the Frangey cement plant in the L&rsquo;Yonne province of Burgundy. The compromise agreement ended a ten-day hunger strike at Lafarge offices in the Paris suburbs by 12 workers plus the mayor of the nearest town to the plant, L&eacute;zinnes. 
 
Mayor Jean-Claude Galaud joined protesting workers in the hunger strike on 19 September. Workers and community members alike were fighting to reverse Lafarge&rsquo;s decision from last May to entirely close the 74-worker cement plant. In social dialogue on 29 September, Frangey workers submitted three proposals through the Works Council to group management while hunger strikers were visible outside Lafarge headquarters in Saint-Cloud. 
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In the days before, French trade unions CFDT and CGT were also conducting stop-work actions at 14 Lafarge cement plants in support of Frangey&rsquo;s 74 workers. 
 
The proposal that was agreed to includes extending the life of the plant from November 2011 to 31 March 2012, and then maintaining it as a grinding operation thereafter with an employment level of 40. That will include 35 workers plus five others who are within a few years of retirement. 
 
Lafarge will then seek to sell the grinding operation to another company for continued production. The workers who will be made redundant next year will be offered severance packages and jobs at other Lafarge plants in France. 
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The hunger strikers were treated as heroes when they returned to L&eacute;zinnes by bus in the early morning hours of 30 September. Fellow workers and towns-people greeted them with celebratory hugs and kisses. The hunger strikers lost on average between seven and ten kilos, but their day-to-day protests captured the attention of French politicians and many citizens. 
 
Mayor Galaud described the ordeal as a tough battle, but to keep industrial work at the Frangey plant at some level was a victory. &ldquo;This action created strong bonds between the (hunger strikers),&rdquo; said Galaud. &ldquo;I made 12 friends and it was an incredible life lesson.&rdquo; 
 
CFDT union leader Laurent Carrilero said the actions across France, as well as the hunger strike made it possible to guarantee substantial severance deals for workers who will be laid off next year. Previous ICEM coverage of this story can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4676-Hunger-Strikers-Protest-Lafarge-s-French-Cement-Plant-Closing">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4466-French-Unions-Conduct-4-Hour-Strike-at-Lafarge-Today ">here</a>.&nbsp;

Lafarge Closure Deal Reached for French Workers at Frangey

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The Sixth Ordinary Congress of the Norwegian union Fellesforbundet is underway in Oslo with 465 delegates attending. The quadrennial Congress began on 7 October under the banner &ldquo;Organising for Welfare and Wealth Creation,&rdquo; and concludes with votes on a host of resolutions on 12 October. 
 
On the opening day, delegates approved a transfer of 7.5 million kroner (&euro;1 million) to the youth wing of Norway&rsquo;s Labour Party to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya Island. 
 
Deeded to the youth wing by Norwegian national labour centre LO in the 1980s, Ut&oslash;ya is the fateful place where on 22 July a racially motivated person killed 69 mostly young progressive Norwegians. In 2010, Fellesforbundet sold two summer camps in the Nordic nation and delegates moved to donate the proceeds from that to rebuild Ut&oslash;ya. LO Norway is trying to raise at least 15 million kroner to remake the island to reflect the inclusiveness of traditional Norwegian values. 
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Arve Bakke, left, with Jyrki Raina, Finn Erik Thoreson, and Liv T&oslash;rres following &lsquo;Trade Unions and the World&rsquo; forum
The Congress is taking up a number of structural changes, including statutory ones. One that was passed is another major step in the evolution of the 23-year-old union from a collection of work-based sectors to a unified and cohesive trade union federation. 
 
Instead of a 12-member executive body of five leading officers and seven federal secretaries heading around work sectors, delegates eliminated the specific occupation sectors and formed a seven-member executive. Early today, Arve Bakke was re-elected President of Fellesforbundet, or the United Federation of Norwegian Workers. 
 
Another statutory change that has been debated and will be voted on this week is returning a greater portion of the union&rsquo;s return on equity to local branches. A major policy change also up for a vote is revising the collective bargaining structure to a vertical system in order to strive for a single collective agreement across an entire company covering workers of all unions within a company. 
 
Delegates are expected to turn down a resolution asking the Norwegian government to adopt the European Union&rsquo;s directive on temporary work. Norway is not a member of the EU, but has adopted many of its directives. 
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Photo: Morten M. L&oslash;berg
On Sunday, 9 October, the Congress conducted a session &ldquo;Trade Unions and the World&rdquo; that featured the importance of work in the developing world. The session served as a precursor for a resolution in support of creation of a Palestinian state. It included Norwegian Peoples&rsquo; Aid leaders Liv T&oslash;rres and Finn Erik Thoresen, and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation&rsquo;s Jyrki Raina. 
 
Tomorrow, 11 October, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will spend a half day with delegates, addressing the Congress and then fielding questions and listening to debate. 
 
In his opening comments to the Congress, Arve Bakke said the 153,000-member union has taken in 73,000 new members in the past four-year Congress period, but is 7,000 less members than it was in 2007 mostly due to the effects of the global financial crisis. One positive note, he reported, is that 23% of active members are under the age of 30. 
 
Fellesforbundet was born in 1988 as an amalgamation of trade unions from the paper, wood, forestry, building construction, textile, and metal sectors. In 2005, unions from inside the printing and hotel and restaurant industries joined.

Fellesforbundet Takes Meaningful Action to Rebuild Norway’s Utøya Island

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On 6 October, leaders of Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), officially extended a 30-day strike at the world&rsquo;s largest gold and third largest copper mine one more month &ndash; until 15 November &ndash; because of mine management&rsquo;s absence at a provincial forum to address issues in the dispute. 
 
Community leaders also formed a committee and visited different locations of the vast mining complex in order to assess the number of outside workers recruited to break the strike. The committee visits were fired upon, with reports today that one protestor was shot dead. 
 
The Grasberg mine in Papua Province, New Guinea Island, is 91% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU is in dispute with its subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia, over unwillingness to meet the salary demands of 10,000 miners. 
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A two-year labour agreement expired on 1 October. The company is offering only an 11% increase in each year of a new two-year agreement, below that recommended by Indonesian government mediation last month. 

Last week, government officials of West Papua Province, leaders of the province&rsquo;s Parliament, the Papua Peoples&rsquo; Council of seven indigenous groups, a human rights committee, and the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU waited patiently for mine managers to show up to address issues. None did. 
 
This came a week after the ICEM intervened with Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s chairman asking him to personally step in to resolve the dispute, which threatens global copper and gold supplies. The ICEM received a response from a senior vice president of Freeport-McMoRan Copper &amp; Gold stating the executive had full confidence in managers of PT Freeport Indonesia. 
 
The response stated, &ldquo;The union maintains its unrealistic demands for compensation, which are grossly inconsistent with Indonesian wage levels and, substantially in excess of the wages of mining workers in other countries performing similar duties.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Freeport-McMoRan posted a net profit of US$1.37 billion in the second quarter of 2011 and the person ICEM and the CEMWU is trying engage to resolve the dispute, James Moffet, took in a total compensation package in 2010 of US$21.5 million. 
 
The community forum meeting in West Papua took a decision to write PT Freeport Indonesia managers to halt the threats and intimidation of workers in attempting to get them to quit the strike. They also sent a statement to the US embassy in Jakarta encouraging a diplomatic initiative to get Moffet to resolve the bitter strike. 
 
PT Freeport Indonesia managers have broken global labour norms by pressuring strikers to sign statements that they will quit the strike. And they have also removed the job duties of 138 shop stewards, as well as isolating union leaders from workers by posting security guards around them. 
 
The ICEM will continue to support the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of CEMWU in the union&rsquo;s fight for justice, dignity, and a fair 2011-2012 wage package.

Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI) Miners Extend Freeport-McMoRan Strike, One Shot Dead

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On 14 September, the ICEM will sponsor a two-hour panel discussion on ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in Istanbul, Turkey. The panel is in conjunction with the 19th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (WCSHW) and will be held in the Kasimpaşa-2 Room, Kuleli Building, of the Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre from 14h to 16h. 
 
The panel will highlight the urgent need for Turkey to ratify Convention 176 and will include Dr. Fikret Sazak, Director of Education for Maden-İş, the Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey; Radha Gobinda Mohanty of the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation; Glen Mpufane, ICEM Mining/DJOGP Officer; and Brian Kohler, ICEM Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer. 
<a href="/en/209-ILO"><img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" /></a>
Click here for information on ILO Convention 176
Turkey is notorious for unsafe coal mines, with many of the mines in government hands but operated by contractors utilizing sub-standard equipment and practices. 
 
The ICEM event is open to everyone but those interested should visit the <a href="http://www.safety2011turkey.org ">WCSHW website</a> for information on the entire Congress, which runs from 11-15 September. The address for the WCSHW at Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre is S&uuml;tl&uuml;ce Mah. Eski Karaağa&ccedil; Cad., 34445 Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

ICEM to Hold Mine Safety Forum in Turkey This Week

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On 31 August, Finnish paper company UPM announced closure of two mills, the shutdown of a paper machine at another mill, the intended sale of a French mill, and the sacking of nearly 1,300 workers in total. The announcement came within months of the world&rsquo;s third largest integrated pulp and paper company buying Myllykoski, another major European paper producer based in Finland. 
 
The decision does not sit well with the blue-collar and white-collar trade unions representing workers in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro. Specifically, did UPM engage in the proper and correct dialogue with European Works Council (EWC) members in accord with an EWC directive on social dialogue? 
<img src="" width="170" height="41" alt="" />
UPM said the plant closures, machine shutdown, and job losses would occur by the end of the year, leaving little time for workers and their union representatives to obtain re-training funds, seek other job opportunities, and negotiate adequate redundancy packages for the soon-to-be displaced workers. 
 
Strike action is also a possibility. But at a Paperiliitto executive board meeting on 6 September, union leaders put that option on the back burner in order to engage the company &ndash; and Finland&rsquo;s government &ndash; in obtaining the very highest re-training and redundancy packages. The union began that process on the local level at one mill &ndash; the Myllykoski mill in Kouvala County in eastern Finland &ndash; late last week. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro has begun connecting with victimized workers and their unions and EWC representatives on the European level to apply pressure on UPM. 
<img src="" width="156" height="161" alt="" />
Myllykoski mill
At the Myllykoski mill, an operation with three paper machines producing magazine or lightweight coated papers, the planned redundancies amount to 371 full-time blue-collar jobs, 71 fixed-term jobs, and 101 full-time white-collar jobs. In addition, maintenance contractor ABB will see 106 permanent workers leave the rural mill. Also, other Finnish jobs staffed mainly by Ammattiliitto Pro members will be eliminated at UPM workplaces in Lahti and Pietarsarri, bringing the total job loss in Finland to 650. 
 
UPM will also shutter the Albbruck mill in Germany that produces uncoated magazine papers, costing 557 jobs. It will shut one of three paper machines that make uncoated paper and newsprint at Germany&rsquo;s Ettringen mill, as well as temporarily shutting one paper machine producing uncoated fine papers at the Nordland mill. 
 
In France, the company will seek a buyer for its Stracel mill that makes coated magazine papers and specialty newsprint. In total, UPM intends to take 1.3 million tonnes annually of paper out of the marketplace and it is now clear that the company&rsquo;s spring 2011 purchase of the Myllykoski company was all about capacity reductions and job curtailments. 
 
The ICEM will assist the two Finnish unions, as well as German and French unions representing workers at UPM, in all ways possible. A major tenet to ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector work plan, adopted at the Uruguay conference in 2008, is to extend full practical support to paperworkers of the global North who are victimized by the rampant shutdowns or paper operations in developed nations. The priority will now be to exert as much pressure as possible on UPM in order that job losses the company has created through consolidation do not escape correct and ethical social treatment.

Finnish Paperworkers’ Unions Critical of UPM’s European Mill Closures

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