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The methane gas explosion on 23 February that killed 13 Turkish coal miners in northwest Balikesir Province could have prevented, according to the ICEM and its affiliate, Maden-Iş. The private mine, owned by Erhan Ortakoylu and his Şentaş Mining Company, had experienced a similar gas blast on 2 June 2006 killing 17 miners, and indications this time reveal that warning safeguards used to detect methane accumulation was inadequate. 
 
As well, it is suspected that a ventilation system failed to clear the deadly methane gas. 
 
The explosion injured 33 miners. Five of the 13 victims died in a hospital after rescue due to severe burns. The tragedy occurred 250 metres deep in the Odakoy mine, some 20 kilometres from the city of Dursunbey. 

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Maden-Iş stated that the mine had undergone insufficient safety audits. Even though the government claimed an audit had occurred in the weeks prior to the explosion, the union said that infractions detected were not corrected. Oftentimes in Turkey, safety audits of mines by the Labour and Social Security Ministry are not done on-site, but rather through queries to mine owners from afar. Nizamettin Tiryaki, a mining engineer for Maden-Iş, said that it is also not uncommon for mine inspectors to be paid off by private mine operators. 
 
The ICEM believes that expenditures on modern and efficient safety equipment by private miners are also sacrificed in order to maximize profits. At the time of the explosion, the ICEM, together with the ILO, was leading a symposium in Ankara on the necessity for Turkey to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
In a letter of condolence to Maden-Iş Presidnt Ismail Aslan, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in Turkey&rsquo;s mines, and moving the Turkish Government towards ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176.&rdquo; The complete letter can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/19.Maden-Is.Condolences.24Feb.pdf">here</a>.

Gas Blast in Turkey, Killing 13, Needs Thorough Investigation

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Swiss specialty chemical company Clariant has announced a further 400 job cuts at the Muttenz site, near Basel, as the company seeks to move production and increase profits. Clariant CEO, Hariolf Kottmann, oversaw the cutting of 137 jobs last year. Clariant turnover is around $8 billion and the company is a world leader in the supply of chemicals and colors for the textile, leather, paper, packaging, plastics, and printing. The proposed further job cuts will be made between now and 2012, as the company seeks to relocate production to Asia, where production costs are lower. 
 
The mass job cuts would be in breach of the collective agreement and of Swiss labour law. Workers are legally entitled to a period of consultation where alternative employment opportunities can be examined, before any jobs can be cut. 

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ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, together with the Clariant Workers Council, is pressing the company to first preserve these jobs, or at least provide acceptable redundancy packages. Demands include replacement jobs for every worker affected by the cuts, practical training and education programs, and no further cuts at the Schweizerhalle pharmaceuticals site. 
 
UNIA and the Clariant workers are organising a demonstration at Clariant headquarters on Thursday 11 March, starting at 5.15am. From there the demonstration will move to Liestal, meeting at the train station at 9am, before marching to the local government building &lsquo;Landratsgeb&auml;ude&rsquo; to call on district councilors to step in to preserve local jobs. 
 
The protesting Clariant workers have a Facebook page with more information.

Swiss Chemical Workers Protest Job Cuts

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The negotiations towards a new national collective agreement for the manufacturing industry in Denmark had been deadlocked, see ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3634-Danish-Contract-Negotiations-Deadlocked-on-National-Level">here</a>, but the renewal of the agreement was signed on Monday 22 February by the ICEM-affiliated general union, Central Organization of Industrial Employees in Denmark (CO-industri) and the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). However the HK private trade union rejected the agreement. 
 
Gains for workers across the sector include two additional weeks for parental leave, improved redundancy pay, improved monitoring of health and safety for night-shift workers, improved working conditions for shift workers, and newly created authority on equal pay. 
 
The collective bargaining round directly affects 240,000 workers in the manufacturing industry. But it also indirectly affects an additional 350,000 workers in the private sector. As previously reported by ICEM, historically, the manufacturing agreement is used as a blueprint for other negotiations. 

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Both Hans Christensen, the negotiator for DI business, and Co-industri President Thorkild E. Jensen, were content with the renewed agreement, after negotiators worked through the night to beat a deadline which would have moved negotiations to a tribunal. Jensen described the agreement as &ldquo;balanced and guaranteed our members&rsquo; jobs&rdquo;. The agreement is valid for the period 1 March 2010 to 1 March 2012. 
 
Night workers were a priority for trade union negotiators in the talks, with free health exams provided every two years and for those employees who are advised against night work, their employer must find them another job. Night workers will also be eligible for up to ten extra days off annually. Changes to the rules on pension contributions will discourage employers from moving to precarious contracts. Apprentices see a 4.5% pay increase over the two years. 
 
The deal has been described as a &ldquo;crisis agreement&rdquo; and sees trade unions agreeing to only a small pay increase and for the first time since 1991, no increase in pension contributions.

Danish Manufacturing Collective Agreement in Place

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More and more, multinational companies, as well as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries, are using non-direct and contract workers to perform key functions in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas industries. That is the assessment of both ICEM affiliates in the country, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). 
 
The proliferation of such employment &ndash; referred to as casualisation in Nigeria &ndash; in fact, has meant that many companies have completely done away with full-time junior staff, or blue-collar workers, in their employ. One example is Mobil Producing Nigeria, a subsidiary of the world&rsquo;s largest energy concern, ExxonMobil, which has completely phased out NUPENG members in favour of contract staffing. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="95" />&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="100" height="103" />
Casualisation in Nigeria is synonymous with cheap labour and maximisation of profits. The common fact is that when companies phase out full-time staff, they re-surface as short-term contract workers where rights to Freedom of Association are limited, their social entitlements are curtailed, and career paths become vague or non-existent. 
 
In early February, the two unions combined to wage a two-day strike against Mobil Producing&rsquo;s downstream operations across several states along the Niger Delta. The root cause of the strike was that several contractors serving Mobil Producing had sacked Nigerian nationals from full-time positions, replacing them disposable, casual workers. Those sackings were not just to junior staff, but also came among the ranks of highly skilled, professional, and experienced nationals in technical, engineering, administrative, and commercial positions. 
 
Despite several conventions between the unions and employers to address casualisation, Mobil Producing refused to address the issue. This led the ICEM to bring the matter to the attention of the US-based parent company. That letter can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/15.exxonmobil.ceo.16Feb.pdf">here</a>. 

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Pengassan and Nupeng leaders at ICEM Headquarters
At one subsidiary of NNPC, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG), it is estimated that a full 60% of all workers are hired through labour brokers. They have no registered terms or conditions of work, are without social welfare benefits, and can be fired at will. It is equivalent to a modern form of slavery. 
 
NLNG and other companies operating in Nigeria&rsquo;s energy sector claim it is essential to their viability to outsource work not related to their core activities. But the question of what constitutes a company&rsquo;s core business remains open. Is it exploration and drilling, marketing and transportation, catering and cleaning, clerical and administrative? Companies operating in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas patches make the argument that all are non-core. But in reality, all workers in these areas are oil and gas workers, and all deserve a minimum set of social benefits and job security measures, as set by national law and international labour standards. 
 
NUPENG&rsquo;s newly elected President Igwe Achese said there is ample evidence that &ldquo;multinational companies and their indigenous collaborators collude in reducing direct employees in efforts to de-unionise, create disaffection among workers, and to evade responsible employment practices. 
 
&ldquo;All workers, whether full-time workers or those employed by contractors performing tasks for primary employers, deserve set conditions of work, rights and privileges, and certainty in career paths in order that they know they have secure futures.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM will continue to champion NUPENG and PENGASSAN in the unions&rsquo; initiatives to combat the menace that casualisation brings to quality work life in Nigeria.

Casualisation Eroding Decent Work Doctrine in Nigeria’s Oil, Gas Sectors

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ICEM&rsquo;s Colombian affiliate the National Oil Workers Union (USO) called for international solidarity in their conflict with British Petroleum (BP). Workers at the BP plant at Tauramena, part of the Cusiana oil field in Casanare, Eastern Colombia, have been striking since 22 January for improved wages. On 15 February the notorious ESMAD, Colombia's notorioius riot police, were sent in to attack the strikers&rsquo; picket line. Three USO members are still in hospital with injuries sustained from the police attack. 
 
View a union video of the attack <a href="http://www.usofrenteobrero.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=519:trabajadores-petroleros-de-tauramena-agredidos-por-el-emad-video&amp;catid=60:tauramena&amp;Itemid=100">here</a>.&nbsp; 
 
Last week BP attempted to bring in scabs to the central processing plant, but they were stopped by strikers who chained themselves to the entrance gates. This sparked local BP management to come to an agreement with the USO Bargaining Committee; however the outsourced contractors, SAR Energy, operating at Tauramena refused to recognize the agreement. Negotiations have been ongoing since then, through five negotiating committees: labour problems, social investment, goods and services, environment, and human rights, these temporary committees are working toward a deadline of 16 April, when agreement must be reached. 

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USO supporters outside BP Headquarters, London
USO&rsquo;s call for solidarity actions was answered last Friday, 5 March, when protestors demonstrated noisily opposite the BP Headquarters in London. The action was organised by the Colombia Solidarity Campaign. USO urges its supporters to continue to mobilise while the negotiations are ongoing. The ICEM supports the call on the Colombian government to insist that oil companies operating in Colombia respect the rights of workers to organise and to take strike action. USO is also calling for an official enquiry into the close links between paramilitary groups, and oil exploitation companies. 
 
Send protest messages to BP CEO, demand that the company conducts peaceful negotiations with the union, and condemns the ESMAD police repression. Send your message to Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward at email: <a href="mailto:tony.hayward@bp.com">tony.hayward@bp.com</a> 
 
Send messages of solidarity to the workers via USO Human Rights Commission email: <a href="mailto:usopaz@yahoo.com">usopaz@yahoo.com</a> 
 
Visit the Colombia Solidarity Campaign website <a href="http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/content/view/486/">here</a>.&nbsp;

Oil Workers in Colombia Suffer Police Repression

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Today in Brazil, the Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) will begin a 100-kilometre, 10-day march from Campinas in S&atilde;o Paulo state to the city of S&atilde;o Paulo itself in honour of International Women&rsquo;s Day. The march, celebrating 100 years of the announcement of International Women&rsquo;s Day and under the banner &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll Keep Marching Until Every Woman is Free,&rdquo; will highlight the continuing fight for common rights and public services, peace and demilitarization, economy autonomy, and an end to violence against women. 
 
A main objective of the pilgrimage will be CUT&rsquo;s drive for total wage equality between men and women. Even though Brazil has ratified ILO Convention 100, the 1951 Equal Remuneration Convention, the South American country has a long ways to go in order to achieve wage parity. 

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CUT Secretary of Working Women, Rosane Silva, said that every nation that has ratified ILO Convention 100 must speed up laws and practices to ensure that the articles of the convention are met. In Brazil, as a means to enhance subsidies to meet that goal, CUT has done a national study on wage disparities. Throughout 2010, the national labour centre will present those figures before governing bodies and employers to get them to comply with Convention 100. 
 
Also today in S&atilde;o Paulo, Sindicato Nacional dos Papeleiros (SINAP), the ICEM pulp and paper affiliate that is part of CNQ/CUT, will conduct a manifestation demanding equal rights for women in front of the Suzano paper mill.

CUT-Brazil to Conduct 100-kilometre, 10-Day Women’s March

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ICEM Hungarian affiliate, the Federation of Chemical Workers Union at the MOL B&aacute;ny&aacute;sz Szakszervezet (MOL RT), held its Congress in Budapest, 27 March. 
 
The Congress unanimously elected L&aacute;szl&oacute; Biri as the new President of the union. He replaces the outgoing J&oacute;zsef Kudela, who has retired. In letters between outgoing J&oacute;zsef Kudela and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, each of the two thanked the other for a long period of friendship and close cooperation, protecting the interests of Hungarian oil and gas workers, and developing international trade unionism in the region. 

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ICEM congratulates L&aacute;szl&oacute; Biri on his election, and looks forward to continuing good relations and successful work together. 
 
The MOL Group is an integrated oil and gas company, also present elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With 34,000 employees in total, MOL is the second largest company in Central and Eastern Europe.

Hungarian Chemical Workers’ Congress Elects New President, József Kudela Retires

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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. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="91" />
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. 
<img alt="" src="" width="241" height="160" />
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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