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The ICEM today expressed sadness and anger at the deaths of two members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, on Wednesday night, 8 June. The two miners died 900 metres underground at Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine when an overflow of broken rock, sediment, and water &ndash; known as muck &ndash; buried them. 
 
The miners were identified yesterday as Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. The two men were operating a scooptram at the No. 7 ore pass inside Stobie. An ore pass is a junction where ore is dropped from one level to the next. Sixty miners were working in the mine on the night shift when the fatalities occurred. 
 
In a letter today to USW President Leo Gerard, himself a former mineworker in Sudbury, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann, and USW Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda stated: &ldquo;It is a terrible tragedy and makes clear the inherent dangers for workers whose livelihoods are dependent on the mining industry. Please convey the sympathies of the entire ICEM global family of unions to the families of the two miners, as well as to all union members of Local 6500.&rdquo; (See the full <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/54.ICEM.USW.Sudbury%20Deaths.Canada.10June.pdf">ICEM letter</a> here.) 

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Vale&rsquo;s Stobie nickel and copper mine
The ICEM also noted that USW&rsquo;s expert team of safety and health investigators will probe the tragic circumstances to uncover what went wrong and to ensure a similar tragedy does not happen again. The ICEM stated the sad irony of the 8 June is that only eight days before the miners&rsquo; deaths, Vale was honoured with an award by the Canadian Institute of Mining as having the safest two metal mines in Canada. 
 
Although the mines receiving the award were at Vale&rsquo;s nickel operations in Thompson, Manitoba, mines from Sudbury won the same award consecutively from 2006 to 2009. 
 
In a statement, Local 6500 President Bertrand said, &ldquo;The Steelworkers will be involved in this investigation every step of the way. Once the investigation is complete we will work hard for the workplace to be restored to safe condition before it starts up again.&rdquo; 
 
The Stobie mine in Sudbury consists of two adjoining mines, an open cast one and an underground one where the tragedy occurred. Canada has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.

ICEM Saddened by Mine Deaths of Two Steelworkers at Vale in Sudbury, Canada

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Suez Environnement, a subsidiary of French-based GDF SUEZ, was hit with an OECD petition pursuant to the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises yesterday by ICEM affiliate Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA). The petition was for alleged environmental failures and unfair labour practice complaints issued by the US government against United Water, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suez Environnement. 
 
GDF SUEZ is signatory to a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with three Global Union Federations (GUFs), including ICEM and Public Services International (PSI). Both ICEM and PSI have jointly criticised the parent company for the insolent social conduct of it&rsquo;s subsidiary in the US Suez Environnement is 35% held by GDF SUEZ. 
 
The US National Labour Relations Board authorised unfair labour practice complaints against United Water at two separate locations where the UWUA represents workers and is now negotiating with United Water over renewal agreements. The US agency&rsquo;s charge against management involves failure to provide relevant information to the union related to bargaining. 
 
United Water is demanding steep cuts in employee retirement benefits. Failure to adequately exchange information related to bargaining clearly violates Article 7 of the GDF SUEZ GFA, &ldquo;Respect for Trade Union Rights,&rdquo; which references transparency in labour-management forums. The agreement also refers to the OECD Guidelines and the ILO Tripartite Principles, both of which have clear language regarding exchange of information for &ldquo;meaningful negotiations&rdquo; in social partnerships. 
 
The GFA, signed in November 2010, covers all of the group&rsquo;s businesses, even ones in which the company holds a minority stake. In a letter last month to GDF SUEZ CEO G&eacute;rard Mestralett, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and PSI General Secretary Peter Waldorff said, &ldquo;The ICEM and PSI are angry and disappointed with the callousness, indifference, and negative conduct of United Water management in relation to the Global Framework Agreement and abidance to GDF SUEZ&rsquo;s core social principles.&rdquo;
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UWUA President Michael Langford&nbsp; 

The alleged environmental infractions also saw the GUFs take issue with United Water. In December 2010, the US government issued a criminal indictment charging that United Water intentionally manipulated E.coli bacteria monitoring tests at a wastewater treatment plant outside of Chicago. The indictment alleges that United Water engaged in a scheme in which it increased chlorine levels when government-mandated E.coli inspections took place, and then lowered input levels after as a costs-savings measure. The allegations, if proven true, stand as an obvious menace to public health. United Water has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (See <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4208-US-Affiliate-UWUA-Challenges-GDF-SUEZ-Inside-Global-Agreement">ICEM report</a> on that here.) 
 
The UWUA symbolically filed the OECD petition yesterday, along with the American NGO Food and Water Watch, at the French embassy in Washington, DC, as well as to the US government&rsquo;s National Contact Point. UWUA Local 1-2 in New York City also distributed informational leaflets on United Water&rsquo;s detrimental conduct outside the French mission to the UN. Under the OECD complaint process, both the US and French governments are obligated to forward the submission to the French parent company and to the US subsidiary for a formal reply. 
 
UWUA President Michael Langford said, &ldquo;Utility workers have been astonished at the bad faith conduct of United Water in labour negotiations in the US.&rdquo;

US Utility Workers File OECD Complaint Against Suez Environnement

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Addressing the Plenary sitting of the 100th session of the International Labour Conference today, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda called for action on precarious work, workers' health and safety in the mining industry, and attention to the violation of rights of Holcim employees in India, as well as on abuses to glass workers in Mexico. 
 
Warda condemned the shocking attempt by Swiss-based cement multinational Holcim to crush the union representing its employees in India, with unsubstantiated claims leading to the 19 May arrest of union leaders engaged during a legal battle for the reinstatement of 80 members illegally sacked at the Holcim-ACC unit at Jamul.
Referring to the recent attempt of those outsourced workers to voice their concerns to the authorities, Warda continued, &ldquo;It is deplorable that Mr. Chandrashekhar Sahu, the Labor Minister of the State of Chhattisgarth of India, attending this Conference, refused to meet 250 Holcim workers who had walked long distances to appeal to him for observation of basic trade union rights.&rdquo; 
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Warda called on governments and employers to move towards ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 176 and its associated Recommendation 183, on safety and health in mines. With Ukraine soon to become the 25th country to ratify the Convention, this represents far too few adoptions, while miners are continuing to be killed and injured every day around the world. 
 
Finally, Warda focussed on the ILO complaint&nbsp;No. 2774 by Mexican affiliated union SUTEIVP. The complaint is being fully supported by the ICEM, following a 2008 mass dismissal of hundreds of workers at Industria Vidriera del Potosi S.A., a manufacturer of glass bottles used by Corona beer. The sacked workers were covered by a collective bargaining agreement and included the executive committee of the SUTEIVP at the plant. A protection contract was then established by the employer. 
 
See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEM_Manfred_Warda_ILC_Plenary_Speech%20_8_June%20FINAL.pdf">full text of the speech</a> here.

ICEM General Secretary Addresses International Labour Conference

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ICEM &uuml;yesi T&uuml;rkiye &Ccedil;imento, Seramik, Toprak ve Cam Sanayi İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikası &Ccedil;imse-İş, 2 Haziran tarihinde yapılan Başkanlar Kurulu toplantısında, 45 &ccedil;imento fabrikası i&ccedil;in grev kararı aldı. Grev kararı, &ccedil;imento sekt&ouml;r&uuml;nde devam etmekte olan toplu iş s&ouml;zleşmesi g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerinde ortaya &ccedil;ıkan uyuşmazlığın ardından geldi. 
 
&Uuml;ye sendikamız &Ccedil;imse-İş ile T&uuml;rkiye &Ccedil;imento İşverenleri Sendikası (&Ccedil;EİŞ) arasında 7 Ocak tarihinden bu yana s&uuml;rmekte olan m&uuml;zakereler, yeni bir toplu iş s&ouml;zleşmesi imzalanmasına olanak vermeyecek şekilde tıkanıklık i&ccedil;erisinde girmiş durumda. Ocak ve Şubat ayında yapılan g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerde 40 civarında idari h&uuml;k&uuml;m &uuml;zerinde mutabakat sağlanmıştı. 
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&Ccedil;imse-İş Genel Başkanı Zekeriye Nazlım
Fakat ge&ccedil;en aylar s&uuml;resince başkaca bir ilerleme sağlanamadı ve bunun &uuml;zerine &Ccedil;imse-İş Sendikası, genel merkez y&ouml;netim kurulu &uuml;yeleri ve şube başkanlarından oluşan Başkanlar Kurulu&rsquo;nu toplayarak t&uuml;m sekt&ouml;r&uuml; kapsayan bir grev kararı aldığını ilan etti. Başkanlar Kurulu ayrıca, grev uygulaması i&ccedil;in gerekli hazırlıkların vakit ge&ccedil;irilmeden yapılması hususunu da karara bağladı. 
 
Toplu iş s&ouml;zleşmesi g&ouml;r&uuml;şmeleri 45 fabrikada &ccedil;alışan 5800 civarında sendika &uuml;yesini kapsamaktadır. 
 
Toplu İş S&ouml;zleşmesi, Grev ve Lokavt Yasası&rsquo;na g&ouml;re, &Ccedil;imse-İş Sendikası grev kararı alınmasının ardından 60 g&uuml;nl&uuml;k s&uuml;re i&ccedil;erisinde grev uygulamasına başlayacak. Sendika grev uygulamasının ne zaman yapılacağını daha sonra a&ccedil;ıklayacak.

Çimse-İş Türkiye’deki 45 Çimento Fabrikası için Grev Kararı Aldı

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23 Mayıs tarihinde toplanan ICEM Başkanlık Kurulu, Kemal &Ouml;zkan&rsquo;ın &ouml;rg&uuml;t&uuml;n yeni Sekt&ouml;rel Faaliyetler ve&nbsp;End&uuml;stri&nbsp;İlişkileri Direkt&ouml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml;&rsquo;ne 1 Haziran tarihi itibarı ile atanmasına ilişkin kararı onayladı. &Ouml;zkan yeni g&ouml;revini, 2007 yılı başından bu yana s&uuml;rd&uuml;rmekte olduğu Kimya ve Lastik İşkolları Sorumluluğu g&ouml;revi ile birlikte y&uuml;r&uuml;tecek. 
 
Ekonomi ve işletme y&ouml;netimi alanındaki master derecesi ile beraber m&uuml;hendislik eğitimi almış olan &Ouml;zkan, ICEM&rsquo;de &ccedil;alışmaya başlamadan &ouml;nce, 15 yıldan uzun bir s&uuml;re T&uuml;rk &uuml;yemiz Petrol, Kimya ve Lastik Sanayii İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikası&rsquo;nda g&ouml;rev yapmıştı. Sendikacı bir aileden gelmekte olan &Ouml;zkan&rsquo;ın babası, 1980 yılında T&uuml;rkiye&rsquo;de yapılan askeri darbe sırasında d&ouml;rt yıl tutuklu olarak cezaevine konulmuştu. 
 
Konuyla ilgili konuşan &Ouml;zkan, &ldquo;ICEM&rsquo;in yeni Sekt&ouml;rel Faaliyetler ve&nbsp;End&uuml;stri İlişkileri Direkt&ouml;rl&uuml;ğ&uuml;&rsquo;ne getirilmekten onur duymaktayım&rdquo; diyerek, &ldquo;Bu durum, &ouml;rg&uuml;t&uuml;m&uuml;z&uuml;n başarısı i&ccedil;in bana daha fazla sorumluluk y&uuml;klemektedir. ICEM&rsquo;in sekt&ouml;rel faaliyetleri ve end&uuml;stri ilişkileri alanındaki &ccedil;alışmalarını g&uuml;&ccedil;lendirmek i&ccedil;in elimden geleni yapacağım&rdquo; şeklinde a&ccedil;ıklamasını bitirdi. 
ICEM Genel Sekreteri Manfred Warda da yaptığı a&ccedil;ıklamasında, &ldquo;Kemal &Ouml;zkan, bilgisi, başarısı ve canlılığı ile bu g&ouml;revi haketmektedir. Kendisi ICEM i&ccedil;erisinde daha fazla sorumluluk almaya hazır olduğunu her vesile ile g&ouml;stermiştir. Yeni g&ouml;revi ile birlikte Kemal &Ouml;zkan&rsquo;ın bayrağımızı geleceğe taşımak i&ccedil;in hazır olduğunu g&ouml;stereceğinden eminim&rdquo; dedi. 
 
42 yaşında olan &Ouml;zkan, Selma Başak Hanım ile evlidir.

Özkan, ICEM Sektörel Faaliyetler ve Endüstri İlişkileri Direktörlüğü’ne Getirildi

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The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) called on the Gulf state of Qatar to do more to uphold workers&rsquo; rights as it begins a building boom for the 2022 World Cup. In a report issued on the last day of May entitled &ldquo;Hidden Faces of the Gulf Miracle,&rdquo; the ITUC, along with the Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI), say hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, mostly from Asia, work in construction across the Gulf states. 
 
But, the report states, they are burdened by huge debts to employment agencies in their home countries and prohibitions on trade unions in Gulf states such as Qatar. The report questions the safety practices in constructing the stadiums and infrastructure for the games, as well as inhumane living conditions. 

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BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson
&ldquo;Just 6% of the working population of Qatar is Qatari,&rdquo; said BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson. &ldquo;Their economy and their ability to deliver the World Cup are totally dependent on severe exploitation of migrant labour, which we believe to be barely above forced labour conditions.&rdquo; 
 
Officials connected to the ruling family in Qatar have taken note of the report and have promised to investigate the labour concerns. The <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/hidden-faces-of-the-gulf-miracle,9144.html ">full report</a> can be found here.

ITUC, BWI Question Qatar on Workers’ Rights

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The newly-elected President of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP), Nikolai Zimin, sent his proposals on cooperation and social dialogue to the directors of enterprises in which BNP unions have membership and to leaders of local administrations recently. Most enterprises responded. 
 
Zimin, elected to head BNP in April, told of his first steps to establish contact with both employers and government officials: 
 
&ldquo;We are willing to work within the frameworks of a social partnership. The first thing that has been done after our Congress was to send letters to the employers and to local authorities in the regions. We offered our cooperation as a partner.&rdquo; 
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Nikolai Zimin
As reported by Zimin, positive responses came from the companies Belshina and Naftan. He said the BNP has already met the president of the Soligorsk Regional executive committee, Alexander Rimashevsky, and the acting director general of Belaruskali, Valery Kiriyenko. On 25 May, the BNP met with the deputy chairman of Belneftekhim, Anton Komyakov, on the implementation of a collective agreement by employers and trade unions. 
 
&ldquo;We plan to discuss the positions in the agreement, which, in our opinion, contain several shortcomings,&rdquo; said Zimin. 
 
&ldquo;During the meetings, we exchanged views on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. We discussed the prospects of possible cooperation,&rdquo; Zimin added. &ldquo;During the meeting with the Soligorsk Regional executive committee led by Rimashevsky, we did not discuss the issue of registration of the primary company, created in a sewing factory, but we will deal this issue in due course. We discussed with him the issue of supplementary medical insurance for employees. Rimashevsky has assured us that the unions will not be deprived of attention, dialogue will continue, and all issues will be resolved at the negotiating table.&rdquo; 
 
BNP hopes to get answers on proposals on cooperation from the companies Grodno Azot and Mozyr refineries.

Belarus Unions Submit Social Agenda to Employers

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ICEM&rsquo;s Swiss affiliate, UNIA, is playing a central role in organising a national day of action and strike on 14 June calling for equal rights for women workers. Hundreds of activities will be held marking the protest, expected to include 100,000 people from over 45 organisations. 
 
Events in each of Switzerland&rsquo;s main cities will educate and agitate around the issues of the gender gap in wages and in national legislation. Public administration buildings and main landmarks will be coloured with purple, including Geneva&rsquo;s water jet fountain, the jet d&rsquo;eau. 

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In Switzerland, women earn on average 19.8% less than men in performing the same job. Nurses are especially low paid, in relation to men performing similar roles, and the Swiss Nurses Union will be actively involved in the 14 June protest. 
 
Not only are women paid less than men in Switzerland, but they take on twice the amount of un-paid work, with a much higher challenge than men to coordinate family and professional life. Many women see their careers halted by family requirements. And an extremely low proportion of top-level managers in Switzerland are women, leading many in the movement to call for quotas enforced by law. 
 
Next week on 14 June marks 30 years since equality of the sexes was enshrined in Swiss law, and 20 years since the first women&rsquo;s strike in the country. The date also coincides with the expected adoption of an ILO Convention for Domestic Workers&rsquo; Rights, arguably the most precarious and lowest-paid work sector.

Swiss Women Set 14 June as ‘Equality Now’ Day

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The ICEM congratulates Comrade Babatunde Ogun on his re-election as President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). Ogun won re-election for a second three-year term. 
 
PENGASSAN branch and sector leaders elected Ogun on 2 June at the Third Triennial National Delegates&rsquo; Conference in Abuja. The conference also elected eight other members of the salaried staff&rsquo;s Central Working Committee. 
 
Ogun won a contested election with 287 votes, while his opponent, Ethelbert Uka, received 109 votes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="90" height="95" />
Ogun confirmed that the election of a new leadership team for PENGASSAN would &ldquo;energise a strong and modern industrial relations system in the oil and gas industry &hellip; and build a knowledge-based system in which all branch executives will be tutored on the emerging trends in industrial relations.&rdquo; 
 
Other election pledges of the re-elected President include pressure on the Labour Ministry&rsquo;s company inspectors to perform, improved safety auditing at refineries and other installations, equipping PENGASSAN&rsquo;s research department, and improving lobbying capabilities. 
 
The other elected officials on 2 June were Adamu Emmanuel Umoru, Deputy President; Hygenius Chika Onuegbu, National Industrial Relations Officer; Segun Jaiyeola, Auditor; Segun Timimene Amanah,&nbsp;Auditor 1; Sunday Ogadi, National Financial Secretary; Zaid Kolawole, National Publicity Secretary; Ijeoma Dom-Nwachukwu, Chairperson of Women-in-PENGASSAN; and David Amanah, Auditor 2; Musa Achimugu, National Treasurer; Rev. Sunday Folorunso Oginni, Lagos Zone Chairman; Friday Otono, Port Harcourt Zone Ag. chairman; Elvis Irefo, Warri Zone Chairman; Muhammed Bulama Saidu, Kaduna Zone Chairman; Fidelis O. Osuagu, Lagos Zone Secretary; Micahel Amadi, Port Harcourt Zone Secretary; Emmanuel Ojugbana, Warri Zone Secretary; and&nbsp;Temitope Oyegbade, Kaduna Zone Secretary.
Bayo Olosohile remains the appointed General Secretary of PENGASSAN, while Lumumba Okugbawa is the appointed Deputy General Secretary.&nbsp;

PENGASSAN Re-elects Babatunde Ogun as President

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The ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organization (SSARO), together with the United Steelworkers (USW) and the US Solidarity Center, conducted a three-day mine investment conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month. Entitled &ldquo;Making Mining Investment Work for Workers and Communities,&rdquo; the workshop primarily centered on capitalization projects that the Brazilian mining company Vale is involved in on the African continent. 
 
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa hosted the conference. NUM Deputy President Piet Matosa opened the conference by stating economic opportunities are welcome in Africa, but the concept of decent work must underpin the inflow of all foreign direct investment. 
 
He said the negative impact of mining on communities must be addressed and social networks created to secure local benefits from mine investment initiatives. He said consultation with communities is most important in the negotiation of concession agreements, and communities must be empowered to facilitate negotiations in these concession agreements. 
<img alt="" src="" width="74" height="111" />
NUM Deputy President Piet Matosa
Representatives from Central &Uacute;nica dos Trabalhadores (CUT) of Brazil were in attendance to present a global overview of Vale. Reports were heard from a representative of the ICEM affiliate, the United Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia (UWUL) on the role it is playing between the Liberian government and Vale over iron ore concessions there, and from the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ) on its intervention with Vale in the southern Africa country. 
 
Other reports on the Brazilian company came from the unions FSPMICA/CNTG, SYNAMIC/ONSLG, and FESMICA/USTG of Guinea, and SINTICIM of Mozambique. The ICEM affiliate Tanzania Mines and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (TAMICO) gave a report on its difficulties with AngloGold Ashanti and Barrick Gold. 
 
The workshop held three panel forums, including ones on Organising Unions at Mining MNCs, Collective Bargaining at Mining MNCs, and Mining Concessions Agreements: Making Sure They are Transparent and Benefit Workers and Communities. The Southern African Resource Watch also presented the topic &ldquo;Labour Movements, Transparency and Accountability in the Extractive Industries.&rdquo; The report highlighted that mining, without robust engagement by unions, is often a zero sum game, and noted the poverty around mine sites when vibrant unions are not present. 
 
The issue of ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, was discussed within the context of inclusion in bargaining concession agreements in efforts to leverage the ratification of Convention 176 in countries. 
 
The conference adjourned with passage of a resolution intended to cement the unions into a multi-MNC ongoing network. That <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Resolution%20Joburg%20Vale%20May%2011.pdf ">resolution</a> can be found here.

ICEM, USW Hold Mine Investment Workshop in South Africa

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