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US affiliate United Steelworkers (USW) expressed disbelief that BP blamed workers for the 23 March explosion at its Amoco refinery in Texas City, Texas. BP said in an interim report that the &ldquo;root causes&rdquo; were a failure to follow operating procedures by workers and supervisors, but backed off that statement when the USW called the company on it. 
USW Region Six Director Gary Beevers said the blast that killed 15 and injured 170 could have been prevented had BP taken the union&rsquo;s advice to properly vent hydrocarbons released from an isomerization unit and had not violated its own policy by granting a variance in placing contractors&rsquo; trailers in a dangerous location.

BP Wrongly Blames Workers, Managers in Deadly US Explosion

ICEM affiliate NUM in South Africa issued its demands to the Council of Mines for the gold sector, and the union will press for full implementation on all terms agreed to in the last negotiations&mdash;2003. The demands include adequate retirement benefits, death and funeral benefits and an across-the-board wage increase of 20%. In June, the NUM and the Council, representing AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold, will begin full negotiations.

NUM Puts Gold Sector Demands Forward in South Africa

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Bargaining will continue today in efforts to end the lockout of 25,000 paperworkers in Finland. Six major paper companies, headed by the Forest Industries Federation of Finland, locked out members of ICEM affiliate Paperiliitto on 18 May for two weeks, and then tacked on another two weeks as a retaliatory measure for industrial action of 16-17 May. Employers are seeking harsh concessions including unlimited outsourcing, elimination of Christmas and mid-summer shutdown days, and greater job flexibility including 12-hour work shifts. 
Paper unions in Sweden and Norway have successfully turned back orders originating from Finland at mills and paper converters in those countries, and the ICEM has encouraged paper sector unions at all European operations to refuse production work from the closed Finnish mills. The European Works Council of Stora Enso has taken positive solidarity action, as has the European working committees of UPM Kymmene and M-Real. The other three major paper companies instigating this lockout are Ahlstr&ouml;m, Mets&auml; Tissue, and Myllykoski.

Paper Employers Lock Out 25,000 Workers in Finland

Members of ICEM oil workers&rsquo; affiliate NOPEF in Norway have given leaders of the union a mandate to begin merger negotiations with the Norsk Kjemisk Industriarbeiderforbund, the country&rsquo;s Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, also an affiliate of the ICEM. Merger discussions between the two leading trade unions of Norway are expected to begin by late summer.

NOPEF Given Vote to Begin Merger Dialogue in Norway

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In Argentina, affiliate FeTERA won a dispute with energy company Edea S.A. when the company agreed to place 30 contract workers on its core staff at a workplace near Buenos Aires. &ldquo;This is a very proud labour achievement,&rdquo; said FeTERA General Secretary Jos&eacute; Rigane. &ldquo;We are making progress on the issue of contract labour. The energy sector of Argentina belongs to all of the people.&rdquo;

Victory for Contract Workers at Electric Company in Argentina

Brazil&rsquo;s FUP oil workers&rsquo; union won an increased profit-sharing plan for 38,000 workers prior to launching a planned five-day strike recently against state-owned Petrobras. The overall profit-sharing awards were increased from US$268 million to US$285 million, with both the floor and the ceiling increasing. Petrobras workers who earn less will now get a higher share of profit-sharing earnings as the floor was increased by 26.9%. The ceiling of the plan is now 2.5 times the floor payment.

FUP Oil Union in Brazil Wins Increases for Petrobras Workers

IGBCE, ICEM&rsquo;s German affiliate, is squarely opposed to a plan by a conservative CDU candidate to cut coalmine subsidies. J&uuml;rgen R&uuml;ttgers, a candidate in the federal state election of North Rhine-Westphalia, has proposed cutting by half the subsidy. &ldquo;It is politically senseless to think about breaking legal treaties,&rdquo; stated IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt. &ldquo;If we half the coal submission, mass reduction of miners will follow. That will cost the state of North Rhine-Westphalia far more than the share of the reduction.&rdquo;

Germany’s IGBCE Seeks to Protect Coal Subsidies in Election

Harmony Gold retreated from its illegal retrenchments in the Free State before a South African mediation commission. ICEM affiliate NUM pressed the matter on the legal front, effectively gaining a significant social rights judgment from the courts in the face of Harmony&rsquo;s current hostile takeover of bigger rival, Gold Fields. 
The company had unilaterally abrogated a prior agreement and commitment by sacking 5,000 miners in a restructuring move. A court ruling and Harmony&rsquo;s retreat now means the jobs of the 5,000 are secured. 
Meeting in Midrand on 12-14 May, the NUM&rsquo;s Central Committee harshly criticized Harmony along with DRDGold, IngweCoal and DeBeers for job destruction inside South Africa. In related gold mining news, the NUM said a safety rep for the union had raised structural questions in mid-April about the Driefontein Mine of Gold Fields. The report cited the company with using temporary support structures in one portion of the mine while it was being operated. On 11 May, an earth tremor shook the mine, killing five and injuring three.

Harmony Gold Retreats from Job Retrenchments in Free State, SA

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Tripartite dialogue to achieve equal pay and rights for contract and agency laborers in South Korea has failed for the moment. The Non- Regular Workers&rsquo; Protection Act before the country&rsquo;s National Assembly has been postponed until a second extraordinary session occurs in June. 
The leaders of the two main national labour centers, KCTU and FKTU, ended their 12-day hunger strikes 3 May, and jointly stated: &ldquo;We deeply apologize to the non-regular workers who are suffering from various types of discrimination and employment instability, for failing to establish a law to protect them.&rdquo; The labour unions are seeking a legislated restriction on the usage period of such workers, a guarantee of employment stability after expiration of the term, and equal pay for equal work. It is estimated that some eight million non-regular workers are employed in the different Korean industrial sectors.

Non-regular Workers Bill in Korea Fails to Reach Common Ground

A despicable act of exploitation involving contract labour is in progress at a plastics factory in Australia. Ownership of Kemalex Plastics has caused a strike by a migrant workforce of women who are being threatened with firing and then rehired as contract laborers. Represented by ICEM affiliate National Union of Workers, the 55 strikers are resisting a move that would make them all independent contractors, thus stripping them of job security, sick leave and holiday pay. It would also force them pay their own superannuation. 
The employer, a maker of plastic components for the automotive industry, has attempted to intimidate strikers by sending hooded motorcyclists through picket lines. The women are paid just over minimum wage, and are seeking a 15% pay increase and a redundancy package of three weeks pay per year of service. The factory is in Dandenong in the greater Melbourne area.

Contract Labour Exploitation Causes Australian Strike

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