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The Indonesian national government and Papua province Manpower officials will both participate in bargaining today in Timika, Papua, in further attempts to resolve the wage and benefit issues behind an 11-week strike. The strike is against US-based Freeport-McMoRan by the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers&rsquo; Union of the Chemical, Energy, Mine Workers Union (CEMWU), or SP KEP SPSI. 
 
Meanwhile, as talks continue into the fifth straight week with little progress to report, the union this week is making plans to issue another official notice to extend the strike a fourth time, again a 30-day extension that will continue the stoppage from 15 December to 15 January 2012. Some 10,000 mineworkers have blocked all production from Freeport-McMoRan&rsquo;s Grasberg mines, the world&rsquo;s largest recoverable gold and copper deposits, since the first 30-day strike began on 15 September. 
 
In a report on bargaining to the ICEM late last week, leaders of PT Freeport Workers&rsquo; Union said management has not moved off an average 35% wage offer over two years. (See previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4784-Indonesian-Miners-Resume-Talks-Again-Today-with-Freeport-McMoRan">ICEM report</a>.)&nbsp; 
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The union is seeking uniform wage increases for all workers, with a goal of US$7.50 per hour for non-staff workers in the second year. Workers earned a wage of between US$2.13 per hour and US$3.54 at the start of the strike. 
 
The union is seeking a fixed metal bonus scheme, while the PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) subsidiary is insisting on a bonus tied to the company&rsquo;s variable costs. The company has rejected the union&rsquo;s demand for monthly Housing, Education, and Risk Allowance Work benefits of two million rupiah each (&euro;165, US$222) and a daily premium for shift work of 100,000 rupiah (&euro;8.26, US$11). The union met with Indonesia&rsquo;s National Wage Council on Friday over the company&rsquo;s effort to impose a wage deal through the government&rsquo;s mediation process. 
 
The ICEM believes Freeport-McMoRan must do better in its wage and benefits offer to Grasberg miners, many of whom work 12-hour shifts in 4,200- metre altitudes and have an excruciating roster schedule in which they work five days on, two days off, followed by six days on and one day off, and then four days on, three days off. 
 
But if the company wants a return to production and an end to Indonesia&rsquo;s longest work stoppage, it must break from pressures being exerted by other extractive industry employers to hold down wage and benefit offers so their workers do not follow the example set by the PT Freeport Workers&rsquo; Union. Again, PTFI must make a more conciliatory contract offer and the company should take note on how Newmont Mining and Sumitoma Corp. two weeks ago ended a four-day strike at their 49% copper and gold holdings called Batu Hijau on Indonesia&rsquo;s Sumbawa Island. They acceded to workers&rsquo; demands for adequate compensation on overtime work.

Indonesian Mine Talks Continue Today; Union Ready with Another 30-day Strike Notice

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The ICEM extended condolences today to its affiliate, the Russian Oil, Gas and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU) following this weekend&rsquo;s sinking of the Kolskaya oil rig in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Kolskaya, owned by a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Zarubezhneft OJSC, sank in stormy waters while being towed from off the Kamchatka Peninsula to Sakhalin Island in Russia&rsquo;s Far East. 
 
Fifty-three oil workers went down with the rig, while 14 were rescued by the icebreaker Magadan and the tow ship Neftegaz-55, which were bringing the rig to port. The rig sank in icy waters 1,042 metres deep (3,400 feet) in the Sea of Okhotsk. Only four bodies were recovered and the rig&rsquo;s four rescue boats were found, but with nobody in them. 
 
The Kolskaya had been drilling for Gazprom subsidiary Gazflot on the West Kamchatsky shelf since September before this tragedy in which it was capsized in a storm and sank in 20 minutes. 
 
The ICEM calls immediate attention to this oil rig disaster as another example of the perilous work that offshore oil workers must endure to meet world energy supplies.

ICEM Mourns Deaths of 53 Oil Workers off Russia

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A member of ICEM-affiliated Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union of Georgia who received serious burns but escaped death in a 27 August 2010 coal mine explosion died inside that same mine in late November due to a shaft cave-in. 
 
Sergi Ashotia, 50, was working inside the Tkibuli-Mindeli Coal Mine of Geo-Coal, owned by the Georgian Industrial Group, when he was buried on 24 November by rock and wooden support pilings. A similar shaft collapse at the accident-prone mine in western Imereti region occurred on 6 November, killing two miners &ndash; 49-year-old Bondo Mikheilidze and 61-year-old Tamaz Gioradze. 
 
Ashotia was one six miners severely burned in the August 2010 methane gas explosion that killed four miners. The ICEM then charged Geo-Coal, also called Saknakhshiri, with failure to install modern ventilation and detection equipment. 
 
Safety issues were a main reason behind a strike by the mine&rsquo;s 200 workers last February. After a January 2011 mine explosion killed one worker, management sacked two low level managers and police in the city of Tkibuli arrested them for safety negligence. Miners then engaged in an open-ended strike on 2 February in support of them and in protest to the company&rsquo;s safety inadequacies.
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Kutasi Meeting, October 2011: Mineworkers' Union Leaders Present&nbsp;
That strike ended when the company agreed to a labour contract empowering the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union to assist with safety improvements. The mine then experienced another fatality on 9 September 2011. 
 
As for November&rsquo;s fatalities, the union is involved in the investigation, but Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Union President Tamazi Dolaberidze said many of the facts are being distorted by people who were present during the cave-ins. He said the managing director is also disturbed by this. 
 
The result has been reinforcement of the terms ending the strike, with a joint labour-management safety committee established for better process control of safety and labour protection systems. Dolaberidzi said he is confident this will positively impact preventative measures. 
 
Geo-Coal, or Saknakhshiri, has granted each of the miners&rsquo; families with the equivalent if US$7,000 and paid for all funeral expenses. The company also took out an insurance policy last February that went into force on 1 November. The policy insures Geo-Coal for up to five fatal accidents per year, and it gave the families of the three miners who perished last month each with US$25,000. 
 
The union also assisted families of dead miners with stipends.

Deaths Continue To Plague Georgia’s Tkibuli-Mindeli Coal Mine

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Glen Mpufane of South Africa officially took up duties as ICEM&rsquo;s Mining and Diamond, Gems, Ornament, and Jewellery Production (DGOJP) officer on 2 May. He comes to the ICEM after a long career in South Africa&rsquo;s trade union movement preceded by 18 years of work in the apartheid-era gold mining industry. 
 
&ldquo;We are privileged to bring a person who not only has depth and knowledge of the mining industry, but one who displays great activism as a trade unionist,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. 
 
Mpufane, 52, is a native of Daveyton in Gauteng province, and worked for Ergo mining at the Brakpan mine, then an AngloAmerican and later an AngloGold concession. He worked as a fitter mechanic and helped form the Ergo Branch of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 1982. 
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New ICEM Mining/DGOJP Officer, Glen Mpufane
He served as a shop steward, health and safety secretary, branch chairman, and then full-time health and safety steward for the branch. He also served as NUM regional secretary for health and safety, before taking a position at NUM in 2000 in health and safety. In 2004, he was named International Department Head for the NUM, a post he held until 2010. 
 
He worked as head of Secretariat for ICEM South Africa affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU) for six months in 2010-11, prior to coming to Geneva to join the ICEM. 
 
&ldquo;There are huge challenges in mining, not the least is safety and health,&rdquo; said Mpufane. &ldquo;We have many challenges, including the challenge to deliver decent collective agreements to mineworkers.&rdquo; 
 
Mpufane is married with four children, the youngest, Amo, is 16 months old.

Glen Mpufane Joins ICEM as Mining/DGOJP Officer

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Deteriorating safety conditions inside Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Australian coal mines in New South Wales was brought to the company&rsquo;s annual general meeting (AGM) in Perth on 5 May. ICEM affiliate Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) delivered a sharp attack on the company&rsquo;s laxness over health and safety at majority-held Hunter Valley coal mining and processing operations. 
 
CFMEU NSW Northern District Vice President Robin Williams said that a significant number of accidents and incidents are not reflected in Rio Tinto&rsquo;s annual report. Williams and a workplace leader from each of three coal operations were vocal and critical of the company&rsquo;s coal-mine safety before shareholders at the AGM last week. 
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Williams said Rio Tinto has &ldquo;an adversarial approach to mine safety&rdquo; at Coal &amp; Allied Ltd., which includes mines at Mount Thorley/Warkworth, the Hunter Valley operations, and Bengalla. He said a &ldquo;culture of fear&rdquo; permeates the workplaces where threats of discipline and common and are &ldquo;outdated and should have no place in modern Australian mining. 
 
&ldquo;We do not want a situation,&rdquo; Williams added, &ldquo;where workers are uneasy about speaking out in case they face disciplinary procedures. If there is an accident or incident at a mine site, we want a proper investigation to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t happen again, not a scapegoat who is disciplined.&rdquo; 
 
The mineworkers told shareholders that the company&rsquo;s goal of zero harm and reality are far apart. They said the culture of fear that exists at Hunter Valley actually exacerbates risks. Rio owns 76% of the Hunter Valley coal operations. 
 
CEO Tom Albanese also had to address the near overflow this year of a tailings pond at Rio&rsquo;s 68% held Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory. The company&rsquo;s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA) shut production in January due to heavy rains. Albanese said the company will inject A$220 million&nbsp;into ERA for updated water treatment and management systems.

CFMEU Takes Coal Safety Concerns to Rio Tinto’s AGM

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Successful industrial relations between ICEM glass workers&rsquo; union Sintravidricol in Colombia and the US-based multinational Ross International has now built on the foundations of a first collective agreement four years ago. The union won a renewal agreement with significant improvements for workers. 
 
See an <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4361-Colombian-Glass-Workers-Seek-to-Build-on-Gains-Made-in-2007">ICEM InBrief</a> from last month. Bargaining was finalised on 6 May, months ahead of the expiration of the existing agreement. The scope of the agreement is expanded to cover five plants of Ross International in the two sections of Sintravidricol, La Estrella and Sabanata. 
 
Two divisive other agreements originally signed by the company during a dispute in 2007 which led to the first collective agreement will be scrapped in the new deal. All 250 workers will now be covered by the same governing contract, with slight variations between the sections.
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Salary increases will equal 4.6% in the first year, inflation plus 1.2% in the second year, and inflation plus 1.3% and plus 1.4% for the final two years of the agreement. 
 
Significant improvements also included education allowances for primary, secondary, and university education for workers&rsquo; children, also new transport links for shift workers, increased holiday leave, paid leave for union activity, increased housing allowance, and a signing bonus for each worker in each year of the agreement. 
 
All workers will now be employed on indefinite contract status. Prior to the 2007 agreement, 80% or more of the employees were on short-term contracts. 
 
The official signing of the new deal by local management and Sintravidricol&rsquo;s Section Presidents for La Estrella and Sabaneta, Brahyan Sanchez Henao and Heriberto Giraldo Hernandez, is expected to take place this week. Salary increases will go into effect on 1 September.

Colombia Glass Workers Get Great Gains in Settlement

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An <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4103-Two-Dead-in-Dynamite-Blast-Near-Chile-s-San-José-Mine-Rescue-Site">ICEM report</a> from November 2010 told how inexperienced miners with no training detonated explosives on their first day of work inside the Los Reyes copper mine in northern Chile, killing 2. The incident happened only three weeks after the fabled rescue of 33 copper miners and only 70 kilometres from the San Jos&eacute; mine in Chile&rsquo;s Region II. 
 
Now some rather startling facts have surfaced courtesy of an expose on Chile&rsquo;s mine safety practices in the newspaper El Mercurio. As reported originally, the owner of the company, a Mexican national named Germ&aacute;n Zayas Baz&aacute;n, fled Chile and within six hours of the 8 November explosion landed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on a flight from Chile. 
 
Germ&aacute;n Baz&aacute;n was in Chile on a tourist visit. His whereabouts now are unknown and there has been no attempt to extradite him by Chile&rsquo;s government, reportedly because the mine accident is still under investigation. 
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What is known is that on 15 September 2010, the Los Reyes mine was ordered by the National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) inactive. But Baz&aacute;n somehow managed to get local authorities to reverse the order. At the same time, Baz&aacute;n was openly advertising in Copiap&oacute; and elsewhere, seeking people to work long shifts for high pay, no qualifications required. 
 
The deadly incident happened on the first day of work for three workers, ages 37, 26, and 21, were inside the mine. None had license to handle dynamite, they were without hard hats and mining lights, and the mine was without a fixed telephone line. El Mercurio reported that after the blast, Baz&aacute;n drove the 21-year-old worker &ndash; who lost an eye from an exploding stone &ndash; to a hospital and then fled to the Copiap&oacute; airport. 
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In new light of safety ills that beset Chile&rsquo;s mine industry, the SERNAGEOMIN inspector charged with overseeing the mine&rsquo;s official closure was sacked and the regional director then resigned. Sill in question is how Baz&aacute;n managed to acquire a deal to sell copper and other metals to Empresa Nacional de Mineria (Enami), a state-owned firm that processes and sells metals. 
 
Separately from Los Reyes, SERNAGEOMIN has acknowledged that only 7%, or 27 of 394 small-scale mines in Region II are operating legally. Currently there is legislation drafted in Chile to reform SERNAGEOMIN. Part of the bill would institute a mining regulator that would be charged with overseeing exploration and mine development plans. The new regulator will have oversight on mine safety too. 
 
In January, the Chile Mining and Energy Ministry did approve a 62% increase in the agency&rsquo;s funding, which is expected to raise the number of mine safety inspectors across the country from 18 to 45. But with over 4,000 mining operations, that number is far too low and it is still too early to judge the effect revisions in the proposed legislation will have.

2010 Chile Copper Mine Blast Reveals Regulation Gaps

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The shocking Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) documentary on conditions facing exploited contract workers in the cement industry in India is now available in French. 
 
Watch the <a href="http://labouredu.blogspot.com/2011/04/salaries-temporaires.html">film</a> on the website of the Thai Labour Education Centre here.&nbsp; 
 
The international campaign, launched by the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; Federation (BWI) and ICEM, for regularisation of CAL workers at Holcim&rsquo;s subsidiaries in India continues. Hundreds of trade union organisations around the world responded to the call for messages to be sent to Holcim&rsquo;s CEO, ahead of the multinational company&rsquo;s annual general meeting on 5 May. 
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On 1 May, an industrial strike was conducted in the industrial area of Bhilai in solidarity with the struggle of contract workers of ACC-Holcim, The following demands were put forward: 
 
&bull; No to Contract Labour 
&bull; The Right to Organize 
&bull; A Living Wage 
&bull; Safety at work 
&bull; 8- hour work day 
 
On 4 May, a cross-sectoral group of local and regional trade unions held a demonstration outside the corporate headquarters of Holcim India, in Churchgate, Mumbai. 
 
See the prior <a href="/en/21-Materials-glass-ceramics-cement/4404-Global-Campaign-Launched-for-Indian-Cement-Contract-Workers">ICEM report</a> here, and follow this link to write to Holcim&rsquo;s CEO Markus Akermann.&nbsp;

ICEM CAL Film on India’s Cement Workers, Now in French

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ICEM&rsquo;s affiliated trade union in Indonesia&rsquo;s pulp, paper, and packaging sector, Federasi Serikat Pulp dan Kertas (FSP2KI), conducted its Third Congress in Bandung, West Java, from 22-24 April. The union, with some 20 branches and 15,000 members, amended its structures at this Congress and made the decision to affiliate with Indonesia national labour centre KSPI, the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation. 
 
The Congress pledged to continue growing in the burgeoning Indonesian pulp and paper industry, and it resolved also to work to eliminate temporary or precarious labour in favour of full-time employment in the sector. 
<img src="" width="251" height="161" alt="" />
Re-elected President of FSP2KI was Irzan Zulpakar, while Etin Rodiana was re-elected General Secretary. Guests to the Congress included Somahsundram Bala of the Malaysian Pulp and Paper Products Manufacturing Employees Union (PPPMEU), Mikale Lilja of the Swedish Paperworkers&rsquo; Union, Pappers, and Bambang Surjono of Indonesian SPKEP-KSPI. 
 
FSP2KI holds membership among workforces of a number of companies, including Asia Pulp and Paper&rsquo;s (APP) PT Pinto Deli mills in Karawang, APP&rsquo;s Kiat tissue mill in Tangerang, West Java, Asia Pacific Resources International&rsquo;s (APRIL) PT Riau mills, the PT Lontar tissue mill in Jambi, Sumatra, and Japanese-based Marubeni&rsquo;s mill in Kab. Maura Enim, South Sumatra.

Indonesian Pulp, Paper Union, FSP2KI, Holds Congress

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ICEM&rsquo;s Asia Pacific Rubber Workers&rsquo; Unions held its second meeting on 22-23 April in Seoul, South Korea. The meeting was attended by 30 trade union representatives from Japan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, and South Korea. 
 
Two affiliates of the ICEM, the Federation of Korean Chemical Workers&rsquo; Unions (FKCU) and Korean Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Union (KCTF) hosted this meeting of the Network, supported by the German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES). The meeting also welcomed the ICEM Secretariat and the Japanese Affiliates&rsquo; Federation (ICEM-JAF) to Seoul. 
 
&ldquo;Given the growing importance of the Asia Pacific region in the rubber industry, our network has a very crucial role in unifying the unions of the sector,&rdquo; said Toshiaki Hojo, President of Japanese Rubber Workers&rsquo; Confederation (GOMU RENGO), who chairs this Asia Pacific workers&rsquo; network. 
<img src="" width="359" height="164" alt="" />
&ldquo;The meeting coincided with a very critical time in South Korea because of modifications to South Korean labour code have potential dangers on rights and freedoms,&rdquo; said the FKCU Vice President Yoon Jinsoo. &ldquo;Mobilizations at Kumho Tire&rsquo;s two plants in South Korea gave us a burning need for solidarity in the rubber industry,&rdquo; added KCTF General Secretary Im Youngguk. 
 
The meeting also received a detailed report from ICEM-JAF General Secretary Yoshio Sato on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sato thanked all ICEM affiliates who showed solidarity to Japanese unions by sending messages and donations. 
 
ICEM Chemical and Rubber Industry Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan presented major developments and challenges in the global rubber industry and profiles on the multinational companies. The rubber industry did start to recover following the global financial crisis, but such recovery is no cause for celebration due to continued high unemployment and deteriorating pay and work conditions. 
 
Participants then gave country reports. According to the report of GOMU RENGO, the Japanese rubber industry suffered severely from the economic crisis and now from the accident, reflected by automobile production dropping by 600,000 units, which now is causing extreme after-shocks in the global supplier segments. 
<img src="" width="285" height="162" alt="" />
In Indonesia and Malaysia, performing union activities is difficult. Representatives of China&rsquo;s Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Union reported that the union at Bridgestone successfully established a collective wage consultation system, in which in 2010 saw salaries increase by 16%. A Sri Lankan delegate spoke on organising against transnationals such as Trelleborg, Ansel, and Loadstar. 
 
The Thailand report included review and dissection of problems at Michelin, Goodyear, Sumitomo, and Yokohama companies. Vietnam is also attracting investment in the rubber industry. The country&rsquo;s national chemical company, Vinachem, operates five rubber factories, including two Vietnamese-Japanese joint ventures, Yokohama and Inoue. The Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) reported on its struggle with Kumho and thanked the ICEM for support. KMWU identified three areas of difficulty in Kumho in Korea, namely wage, bargaining, and disciplinary actions. 
 
The meeting also produced an extensive discussion on the rising trend of Contract and Agency Labour. It was agreed that the network should continue to handle precarious employment issue as one of its main working areas. 
 
Delegates broke into working groups according to their companies, with the Goodyear and Bridgestone working groups establishing details to continue further communications. Korean and Vietnamese participants agreed to closely cooperate on Kumho, since the Vietnamese operations are organized. 
 
The meeting also adopted two resolutions: one to <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/1105.Resolution%20on%20Solidarity%20with%20Japan.pdf ">support Japanese workers</a> in the aftermath of the great natural accident and the second to <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Resolution%20on%20Keum%20Ho%20Tire.pdf ">support the KMWU in Korea on its struggle at Kumho</a>. Participants, most of whom are local level union representatives, collected symbolic donations for their Japanese sisters and brothers. 
 
The next meeting of ICEM&rsquo;s Asia Pacific Network is scheduled in 2013 in Malaysia.

ICEM Asia-Pacific Rubber Workers’ Network Held in Seoul Last Month

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