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Union members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in eastern Canada ended a seven-week strike at the Iron Ore Co. of Canada (IOC) two weeks ago. USW members, numbering some 1,300 at two Canadian locations, approved five-year labour agreements, on 25 April and 26 April. 
 
IOC is 59% owned by Australian mining company Rio Tinto. It is Canada’s largest producer and exporter of iron ore. 
 
The new accord gives workers wage increases over the five-year term, as well as a ratification bonus of C$4,000 per worker. It also gives workers increases in pension benefits, lifts the ceiling on medical benefits, and grants travel allowance increases. 
<img height="82" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/USAUSW.jpg" width="150" alt=""/>
More importantly, the strike blocked IOC’s attempt to gain unlimited right to contract out work, and miners and dockworkers preserved their seniority language. 
 
The successful strike counted some 1,050 miners and iron ore processing plant workers in Labrador City, province Newfoundland. That strike began on 8 March. On 19 March, 250 port and dock workers at Sept-Iles, province Quebec, strengthened the strike by their walk-out. 
 
IOC is a major exporter of iron ore pellets and concentrates to steelmakers in Europe and Asia. Besides Rio Tinto’s majority stake, publicly-traded Labrador Iron Ore Income Fund has an ownership stake. That holding, admitted in a 3 May posting, that the strike affected the timing of cargo shipments, which will affect IOC’s first quarter 2007 sales and earnings.

USW Miners Preserve Contract Language at Rio Tinto in Canada

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The quadrennial National Convention of the Mining and Energy Division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia was held last week in Queensland, and delegates took up two critical issues: ending the 11-year reign of Prime Minister John Howard later this year and adoption of clean coal technologies. 
 
Coming under a unified banner entitled “For a Clean, Safe, and Secure Future,” CFMEU delegates from mines, power stations, oil refineries, and coal ports came together on 14-18 May during a pivotal time in Australia. The entire labour movement in Australia has been besieged by radical workplace reforms, passed in 2005 by the Howard government. 
<img height="93" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/AUSTRALIACFMEU.gif" width="90"/>
As well, the union has embarked on a critical climate change position, intended to preserve Australia’s ranking as the world’s biggest coal exporter, while working diligently to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
 
Delegates heard from Australian Labour Party leaders on the ALP’s agenda to unseat Howard in November with Kevin Rudd. And more importantly, they heard from Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Greg Combet on how labour unions will mobilise to get that job done. 
 
The enactment of Howard’s WorkChoices law has opened the way for employers to scuttle collective agreements in favour of individual work contracts, also known as Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs). CFMEU delegates were critical of the country’s mining and metals employers’ association, as well as of mining houses Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Both companies call for the preservation of individual contracts in order not to suffer decreased productivity they claim will total A$6.6 billion. 
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That claim, made in February in the face of a growing public groundswell against Howard’s industrial reforms, is far from the truth. A good majority of coal miners in Australia are covered by collective agreements, while virtually no AWAs exist in the sector. And productivity growth of the coal sector has averaged nearly 3% for each year dating back a decade. 
 
CFMEU’s Mining and Energy Division has adopted policies related to massive investments for clean coal technologies, increased use of renewable energy sources, and carbon emissions trading. The union also supports ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. 
 
The convention included a session on global solidarity, which featured ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers General Secretary Frans Baleni, as well as Maritime Union of Australia National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. Tony Maher serves as General President of the CFMEU’s Mining and Energy Division.

CFMEU’s Mining, Energy Convention Occurs at Critical Juncture in Australia

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Leaders of ICEM’s Colombian mining affiliate, Sintracarbón, marshalled an occupation of La Guajira’s state Social Security building from 23-25 May in the city of Riohacha. The occupation, by some 40 trade unionists and activists in Colombia’s northeast region, occurred because of failed health care practices by both the state and the area’s single biggest employer, Carbones del Cerrejón. 
 
The two-day sit-in produced redress of all demands made by the protestors, some of whom included employees of the state’s health department. Day-long negotiations occurred on 24 May between 11 Sintracarbón leaders, representatives of the state and federal health agencies, Álvaro López, Cerrejón’s Labour Relations director, and Dr. Rodrigo Daza, Cerrejón’s chief medical practitioner. 
<img height="173" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0705COLOMBIA1.jpg" width="260" alt=""/>
 Sintracarbón’s leaders, who led the occupation: José Nicolás Brito Mendoza, union director; Jaime Deluquez Dias, president; and Jesús Brochero, Maicao Mine president 
 

“Normally, we engage the company in social dialogue over issues,” stated the union’s Maicao Mine President Jesús Brochero. “But there are times when direct action is necessary. With the number of health cases both from the mine and from communities not being addressed, this was one of those times.” 
 
Specifically, the occupation was to draw attention to over 40 miners who have had various work disabilities lingering for as long as a year. Also, it sought to focus attention on some 700 patients in surrounding communities who have been stricken with diseases, and who have not had adequate health treatments from either the mine – owned equally by AngloAmerican, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata – or state and federal agencies. 
 
Carbones del Cerrejón employs 4,700 full-time miners, while another 3,500 contractors work at a complex of eight coal pits and a 150- kilometre rail link to the Caribbean Sea port of Puerto Bolívar.
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The negotiated end to the building occupation granted assurances that all medical payments due disabled miners would be made immediately. Among some other 20 points of agreement stemming from the occupation, accord was made that all pending health care cases will be examined individually and diagnoses of diseases or injuries both on the job and in communities will occur promptly.

Building Occupation in Colombia Yields Health Care Assurances

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A second methane gas blast in Russia’s Kuznetsk Basin region of southern Siberia on 24 May has killed 39 coal miners. The workers were affiliated with ICEM’s Russian Independent Coal Miners’ Union (ROSUGLEPROF), as were 110 miners who died 19 March at the Ulyanovskaya mine, Russia’s worst mining disaster in 60 years. 
 
Both mines are operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, the mining subsidiary of the Evraz Group, Russia’s second largest steel and metals company.
<img height="162" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector5.jpg" width="160" alt=""/>
The tragedy 12 days ago occurred at Yuzhkuzbassogol’s Yubilienaya mine. An immense methane build-up had formed, and the explosion occurred due to a spark from a faulty electrical cable that apparently had been switched off. The ICEM mourns the loss of the miners and in the wake of this recent disaster, and calls on mining companies to implement all modern safeguards to protect the lives of miners in this era of high prices and high output of natural resources. 
 
Russia’s federal environmental, engineering, and nuclear worksite regulatory agency, Rostekhnadzor, had repeatedly cited the Yubilienaya mine with safety deficiencies. The agency had attempted to halt work at the mine until all safety measures were put in place. But managers of Yuzhbuzbassugol had fought those orders in local courts and won reprieves for work to continue. 
 
In fact, the shafts inside Yubilienaya where the explosion occurred had been temporarily shut for a brief period only weeks before. 
 
ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk faulted the Russian pay system for bringing unsafe conditions in mines. Since nearly all Russian coal mines have been privatised, the flat-rate monthly wage has been set at a bare minimum, while the vast share of all mining salaries are based on production. “While volume, productivity, and profits have risen since the coal industry has been privatised, individual workers are worse off,” he told the New York Times.
<img height="164" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0703Ivan.jpg" width="140" alt=""/>
 ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
The 19 March Ulyanovskaya mine disaster in the Kemerovo region is a case in point. Evidence indicates that managers had tampered with sophisticated methane gas detection equipment in order that production would continue even with high build-up levels of the gas. 
 
The death toll of 159 from the two Yuzhkuzbassugol mine tragedies just 66 days apart more than doubles the 68 deaths that occurred in all of Russia’s coal mines in 2006.

Another Coal Mine Blast in Russia’s Kuzbass Kills 39 Miners

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The Amicus section of newly-formed UK union, Unite, has accused ExxonMobil of an attack on North Sea oil drilling jobs. In a letter to the UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, the union says ExxonMobil’s decision to suspend drilling in the Beryl field for a period of three years will cost 70 jobs. 
 
Unite, the merged unification of Amicus and Transport and General Workers’ Union, is requesting that Britain’s Trade and Industry agency investigate the US supermajor’s decision, and to suspend the company’s license to operate in the field if necessary.
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The loss of jobs would affect Aberdeen, Scotland, based KCA Deutag, ExxonMobil’s main drilling contractor at the 40-year-old Beryl field production site. Workers at KCA Deutag, long represented by Amicus, say that over the past year, ExxonMobil has spent more that ₤20 million in preparing rigs for a renewed five-year drilling project. 
 
Unite’s Aberdeen-based regional officer, Graham Tran, said that Deutag detailed the project’s work to staff, guaranteeing they had a long-term future on Beryl field platforms. He said the drilling contractor had instituted a two-weeks-on, three-weeks-off rotation schedule for staff.
<img height="139" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil3.JPG.JPG" width="140" alt=""/>
“ExxonMobil has now put the drilling programme on hold for three years, which has put around 70 drilling jobs at risk,” said Tran. “The behaviour is disgraceful and deceitful. (ExxonMobil is) being dishonest to the employees, and also to the UK government and the UK taxpayer,” he added, alluding that ExxonMobil just might be attempting to get out of North Sea oil production. 
 
“I am therefore calling on the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to investigate this matter and if ExxonMobil refuses to reverse this decision, then government should take the necessary steps to remove its operating license and make this productive field available to operators who believe in the future of the North Sea.”

ExxonMobil Accused of Job Destruction in North Sea

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On 19 May, in a testament to the growing Solidarity now coming to strikers at Novamed in Turkey, 16 energy-sector trade union leaders from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Belorussia visited picket lines in the Antalya Free Trade Zone. 
 
Eighty-four strikers have been out since 26 September 2006, protesting the medical equipment company’s harsh and unusual practices. Novamed, part of German-based Fresenius Medical Care, has refused to recognise ICEM Turkish affiliate Petrol-Iş.
<img height="158" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706ROGWUNOVAMED1.jpg" width="280" alt=""/>
 ROGWU President Lev Mironov Addresses Turkish Strikers 
 

Eighty-two of the strikers are women. They have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including being forced to apply for permission from company bosses before becoming pregnant. 
 
The delegation from Eastern Europe and Central Asia came to Turkey following discussion and prominence of the strikers’ plight at the ICEM’s Executive Committee meetings earlier in May. They were greeted at the picket line by Petrol-Iş General Secretary Mustafa Cavdar and other leaders of Turkey’s dominant oil and chemical workers’ union.
<img height="210" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706ROGWUNOVAMED2.jpg" width="280" alt=""/>
  
In thanking the trade union leaders, Petrol-Iş President Mustafa Oztaskin stated that their presence is a solid reminder that “this is a struggle backed by the whole trade union movement throughout the world.” The strikers heard from Lev Mironov, president of the Russian Oil and Gas Workers’ Union (ROGWU); Melik Mirzoyev, general secretary of the ICEM’s Interregional Oil and Gas Workers’ Federation; and Jahangir Aliyev, general secretary of the Oil and Gas Workers’ Union of Azerbaijan. 
 
Other leaders visiting the picket line on 19 May included: Yelena Mustafina, Oil and Gas Workers’ Union of Kazakhstan; Nikolay Stratila, Chemical and Energy Workers’ Union of Moldova; Yuriy Rovda, Belarus Petrol Gaz İşçileri Sendikasi Başkani; Ludmila Hrushetskaya, Belarus Mining and Oil Workers’ Union; and Tamara Bashuk, Ludmila Chubaryan, Natalya Navmova, Hasipat Hugayeva, Rostislav Zagorodniy, Vera Shchukine, Larisa Lukiyanova, Ludmila Brovkina, and Aleksander Vasiliyev, all of ROGWU.
<img height="225" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0706ROGWUNOVAMED3.jpg" width="300" alt=""/>

Energy Trade Union Leaders Visit Novamed Picket Lines in Turkey

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Whereas, the dispute between the workers of the National Federation of “Chemistry” – CL – “Podkrepa, ICEM affiliate in Bulgaria, and their employer, Turkey-based Sisecam, continues at two glass plants of the Group in Targovishte, Bulgaria; 
 
Whereas, the workers have been on strike since May 19, 2007, demanding a proper payment for night work, as well as for work performed during overtime, beyond the country’s legal minimum wage; 
 
Whereas, the workers merely demand their rights, as already guaranteed under existing Bulgarian labour law, and a signed collective agreement with their company; 
 
Whereas, the company continues its resistance toward a reasonable collective agreement and engages in blatant anti-union behaviour; 
 
 
Be it resolved, that the participants at the ICEM regional conference for Central Europe, meeting in Hungary on 5 and 6 June 2007, strongly support the Sisecam workers in their legitimate struggle for justice; 
 
Be it further resolved that the participants vigorously condemn the actions taken by the company to threaten workers, as well as the Bulgarian Government, with withdrawing investment in Bulgaria if existing labour laws are not changed, and if the union does not halt the strike.

ICEM resolution on Sisecam dispute in Bulgaria

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The Finnish Chemical Workers Union, Kemianliitto, signed a new national labour agreement on 8 June with chemical employers. The 30-month accord, coming 15 weeks before a current, two-year agreement is set to expire, covers 20,000 workers in Finland’s chemicals, plastics, oil, and petrochemical industries. 
 
It provides for wage increases that are substantially higher than the country’s predicted 2% inflation rate will be. 
 
On 12 June, Kemianliitto finished negotiations with rubber sector employers on a similar contract, covering 2,000 rubber workers. And, last night, 17 June, Finland’s Union of Salaried Employees’ Union, Toimihenkilöunioni, began bargaining with the same employers for a renewal contract to replace the one expiring on 30 September 2007, applying to 6,500 white-collar workers in the chemicals industries.
<img height="57" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/FinlandFlag.gif" width="100" border="1" alt=""/>
Both Kemanianlitto and Toimihenkilöunioni are ICEM affiliates. 
 
The pact for the 20,000 blue-collar workers includes an immediate bonus this month of between €250 and €305. On 1 October 2007, a pay increase of 3.4% was won, and another 2.5% is due in September 2008. Industry workers will receive a third percentage increase of 2.5% in May 2009, with the contract expiring on 31 January 2010. Additionally, the package includes performance-related increases for 2008 and 2009 that will be negotiated at plant-level, and which should result in a 0.4% bonus each year. 
 
The 8 June accord was the first in this round of bargaining under Finland’s incomes policy agreement. The strength of the wage package makes it clear that workers were not harmed by certain industrial employer associations, which chose to forego income policy bargaining at the national confederation level, i.e. centralised bargaining across all Finnish work sectors, and instead, sought national bargaining on a sector-by-sector basis.

Finnish Chemical, Oil Workers Set Pay Patterns for the Country

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One of ICEM’s UK affiliates, Unite, has released a comprehensive study detailing the use and misuse of agency workers in the UK. The union, Britain’s largest and the product of a recent merger between Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, released the results of the study to the Department of Trade and Industry early this month. 
 
The study finds systematic abuse and misuse of agency and temporary workers at some of the most visible corporations operating in UK, including Coca-Cola, BMW, Harper Collins Publishers, Norwich Union, Honda, Unisys, and WH Smith. The study was conducted by Unite’s Amicus section, throughout the sectors of manufacturing, finance, construction, and graphical/media. 
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“Regardless of how you define a McJob, many employers are using agency workers to undermine pay and conditions, and replace permanent workers with cheaper, less qualified labour, leaving hundreds of thousands in a cycle of insecure and low-paid employment,” stated Derek Simpson, Unite Joint General Secretary. 
 
The study cites a situation at Unisys in which a contract employer, Right4Staff Agency, had up to five South African data-processing workers share one bed. The workers took turns sleeping, with those not sleeping being at work. At a Honda Civic plant in Swindon, due to growth in sales, the Japanese automaker found it needed an additional 800 workers. But rather than hire and train full-time, permanent staff, local managers turned to an agency called Best Connection. Workers from this agency are paid ₤2-an-hour less than the Honda starting rate and receive a third less holidays. 
 
At Coca-Cola in Wakefield, an agency specifically recruits Polish workers to do quality checking at ₤7-an-hour, nearly half the hourly wage negotiated by Amicus at the plant, and they miss out on a 38% shift allowance. At a BMW plant in Hams Hall, the company’s canteen operates with a two-tier pricing system – with prices higher for temporary staff. Some temp workers at BMW here have laboured for more than five years without being called for full-time employment. 
<img height="50" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UKFlag.gif" width="100" alt=""/>
Unite blames the UK government with failing to provide equal employment rights to agency and temporary workers, despite a commitment from the 2004 Warwick agreement to do so. That agreement saw the Blair government pledge to implement the measures contained in the proposed EU Directive on Temporary and Agency Workers. Nothing was done. 
 
“We expect the new leadership of the Labour government to right this wrong, and implement the measures contained in the proposed (directive),” said Simpson. 
 
Earlier this year, a private member’s bill in Parliament brought by Labour MP Paul Farelly of Newcastle-under-Lyme was introduced that would have given agency workers the same rights, pensions, and working conditions as full-time workers. But the bill was talked out and denied a vote in the House of Commons.

Unite Study in UK Finds Rampant Abuse of Agency Workers

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A third major methane gas explosion in a Russian coal mine has left 10 miners dead. This latest mine blast occurred on 25 June at the Komsomolskaya mine in Vorkuta, in the Russian region of Komi. 
 
Reports cite a popping noise, resulting in a power failure immediate before the explosion occurred. The miners who died were working in two shafts at depths of 900 metres for the company IAO Vorkutaugol. A total of 150 miners were brought from shafts following the blast, while four others were hospitalised with serious injuries. 
<img height="95" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector4.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
The Vorkuta mining deaths come after a pair of earlier methane explosions in the Kemerovo Region claimed a total of 149 deaths. On 24 May, 39 miners died at the Yubileynaya mine. And earlier, on 19 March, the worst Russian mine disaster in decades occurred at the Ulyanovskaya mine, with 110 miners perishing. Both of these mines are operated by OAO Yuzhkuzbassugol, owned by Russia’s second largest steel and metals company, Evraz Group. 
 
These latest mining deaths come just two weeks after Russia’s environmental, technological, and nuclear safety agency, Rostekhnadzor, had asked the government to draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Violations, giving it a definite mandate to close unsafe mines. The workers’ safety watchdog has temporarily closed mines, but companies have used Russia’s courts to immediately reopen such enterprises. 
<img height="110" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Russia.png" width="250" alt=""/>
Rostekhnadzor, in a press release on the eve of OAO Vorkutaugol’s mine disaster, said it has begun drafting a methane safety programme for Russian coal mines for the period 2007 to 2010. The agency said 80% of all coal mines contain high methane levels.

Another Coal Mine Blast in Russia Kills 10

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