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FCE-CFDT is challenging Electricit&eacute; de France&rsquo;s (EDF) plan to reduce maintenance services in the utility&rsquo;s hydraulic division. EDF wants to cut maintenance activities 20-30% which would include redundancies of 500 jobs in this 3,700-worker area. FCE-CFDT condemns the decision and calls on EDF hydraulic workers to stand and resist the rationalization.

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

Tomorrow, 22 March, marks a global day of solidarity for Nepal&rsquo;s trade unions. On 1 February, King Gyanendra issued a decree suspending the government and declared martial law. The decree also banned trade union activities. ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates containing a sample letter and urges trade unions to register protests to Nepal&rsquo;s embassies. ICEM affiliate Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers&rsquo; Union had received permission from a district administrator to conduct its national conference 1-2 April, but security forces have now cancelled that written permission.

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

A gas explosion early today in China has killed three and left 81 missing. The incident occurred at the Shenlong coal mine in Fukang city,Xinjiang province. Last week, two separate mine catastrophes killed 18 in China, and the week prior, a mine explosion killed 19. On 7 July at a licensed mine in Chishan township, Jiangxi province, a flood trapped 15 miners. A day earlier, three miners were killed due to a gas combustion explosion. That accident was at the Wangzifen coal mine in Chifeng city, North China&rsquo;s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. On 2 July, 19 of 24 miners working at the illegal Jiajiabao coal mine in Ningwu county, Shanxi province, died after a gas explosion rocked the mine.

Gas Blast in China Kills 81

Another North American mining contract involving the USW was settled peacefully. Some 900 miners in the state of Montana ratified a three-year contract last week with Stillwater Mining, the US&rsquo;s only producer of palladium and platinum. The workers at a mine and metal recovery facility won pay and benefit increases. Stillwater is majority owned by Russia&rsquo;s Norilsk Nickel, the world&rsquo;s leading nickel and platinum metals miner.

USW Comes to Terms with US&#039;s Only Pladdium/Platinum Miner

Copper miners in the US states of Arizona and Texas, represented by ICEM affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) are on strike against Asarco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grupo Mexico. Some 1,200 miners struck a pair of Asarco&rsquo;s Arizona worksites 2 July, just after their collective agreement expired, and another 350 struck at mine and processing sites in Arizona and Texas last week in sympathy. Their contract had expired 30 June 2004. Grupo Mexico is demanding a wage freeze and pension and health care benefit reductions at a time when copper prices are at a 16- year high. 
The company has told markets that 100,000 to 125,000 tonnes of processed and contained copper will be reduced from world supplies due to the strikes. The company has turned down requests by the union for bargaining to resolve the young strikes, and the USW has filed numerous unfair labour practice charges with the US labour board over the company&rsquo;s lack of bargaining and harsh reprisals in the workplace against trade unionists during bargaining.

Steelworkers in Southwestern US Strike Copper Holdings

In accepting the mediated proposal, Paperiliitto directed especially strong language at one global, Finnish-based paper company, UPM Kymmene: settle the seven-month Canadian paper strike in Miramichi, New Brunswick, with Local 689 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union. 
Calling it a &ldquo;distinguished spot of shame for the Finnish forest industry,&rdquo; Paperiliitto&rsquo;s Delegate Council demanded that UPM Kymmene &ldquo;implement negotiations on an equal basis for a fair and quick solution&rdquo; in Miramichi. &ldquo;It is necessary to take into account the local bargaining praxis, the needs of the small local society and the feelings of workers,&rdquo; the Finnish union&rsquo;s settlement statement said on the strike in Canada. In New Brunswick, bargaining with a provincial mediator broke off 28 June without any progress, but resumed again last week. The 800 members of CEP Local 689 are striking for the pattern paper-mill agreement in eastern Canada, and they seek also to preserve a host of local mill terms and conditions.

Finnish Paper Union Exhibits Solidarity to CEP in Canada

<img height="40" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The devastating seven-week lockout of the Finnish paper sector by Finland&rsquo;s paper companies is over. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen mediated talks on 27-29 June and ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto&rsquo;s Delegate Council approved the three-year compromise contract on 1 July. 
Finland&rsquo;s 25,000 paperworkers gained wage increases similar to the national incomes settlement. They will receive 2.5% this year, 1.9% next year (taking into effect the country&rsquo;s gender equality allowance), and union and management will negotiate in 2007 for the third year increase. Paperiliitto successfully resisted the worst of the industry&rsquo;s concessionary proposals, including unpaid sick leave, splitting of holidays, and 12-hour workdays without overtime pay compensation. Christmas and mid-summer shutdown days will be eliminated, but workers will be compensated by reduced working time throughout the year. 
On the all-important issue of contract labour, trade union acceptance must occur on all outsourcing. The two sides agreed to let individual plant negotiating teams reach agreement on the issue locally, but if that fails the issue will be submitted to an arbitration panel composed of the national union, the employers&rsquo; federation and an impartial chairman. Introduction of contract labour can then only occur with a unanimous decision. Paperiliitto and the employers will again look at the contract labour issue in mid-term of the contract to review its effectiveness. The lockout by papermaking employers, begun 18 May, was costing &euro;40million per day across all sectors.

Finland&#039;s Paper Dispute and Lockout Resolved

A satisfactory result came from recent negotiations in Brazil by ICEM rubber affiliate inside Frente Unica da Borracha (FUB). Employers in tyre manufacturing agreed to meet Brazils&rsquo;s inflation rate of 6.93% and workers in those business enterprises won 7%. Profit-sharing increased from R$2,750 to R$3,250. In the rubber materials sector, an 8% pay increase was attained and several improvements were made in that collective agreement as well.

Rubber Accord Reached in Brazil

Police in the Philippines a week ago punched through strike lines of the unaffiliated Lepanto Employees Union at Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corp., the country&rsquo;s largest copper and gold producer. The union struck 4 June over a pay dispute that has been unresolved since November 2004. On 8 June, the government issued a return to work order, but the vast majority of over 1,700 workers continued the union&rsquo;s strike. The Department of Labour and Employment then issued dismissal letters to miners refusing to obey the strike&rsquo;s termination edict. In 2003, a strike at the Mankayan, Benquet province, mine and smelting operations was also broken up by riot police. Two miners died in the process.

Police, Government Break Mine Strike in Philippines

A flooded shaft at an illegal coal mine in eastern Jianxi province, China, killed seven miners on 18 June. The incident occurred near the city of Leping and the bodies of the miners were only recovered 23 June. Two other workers were in the illegal mine, but were rescued late on 18 June. China&rsquo;s State Administration of Production Safety reports 2,187 miners have perished in the first five months of 2005, a 9.7 increase over the same period in 2004. A total of 23 major accidents&mdash;defined as claiming ten or more lives&mdash;have occurred so far in 2005, a 274% increase over the same period last year.

Deaths in China&#039;s Mines a Recurring Nightmare

Archive

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

Gas Blast in China Kills 81

USW Comes to Terms with US's Only Pladdium/Platinum Miner

Steelworkers in Southwestern US Strike Copper Holdings

Finnish Paper Union Exhibits Solidarity to CEP in Canada

Finland's Paper Dispute and Lockout Resolved

Rubber Accord Reached in Brazil

Police, Government Break Mine Strike in Philippines

Deaths in China's Mines a Recurring Nightmare

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