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 1. Colombia – ICEM focuses on South American Country on International Women’s Day, 8 March 
2. Germany – Women Set up Network for Nanotechnology 
3. India – SEWA Assists Women in Afghanistan in Organising and Skills Building 
4. International Labour Organisation – Indigenous and Afro-descendant Women Are Still the Hardest Hit by Workplace-Discrimination 
5. International RSI Awareness Day 2008 
6. ITUC Launches Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign 
7. Iraq – Women are Terrorised in Basra 
8. Nicaragua – Equality Law is Passed 
9. Peru – Luz y Fuerza Holds Women’s Conference 
10. Spain – USO and Solvay Redress Discrimination - University Study Proposes Some 50 Measures for Work-Life Balance - CCOO publishes Booklet on Pregnancy and Breast Feeding 
11. United Kingdom – Single, Young Women Work More Overtime than Men 
12. Resources 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
1. COLOMBIA – ICEM focuses on South American Country on International Women’s Day, 8 March
This year, on International Women’s Day (8 March), the ICEM focuses on Colombia, a South American country with some 43 million inhabitants, 52% of whom are women. The country has 20 million people that are economically active, and of that figure, 50% are women. Due to the violence brought on by internal armed conflict, there are four million displaced persons, with 57% of them are women. 
Their lands and properties have been confiscated, while children, husbands, and partners have been murdered. Many have been sexually abused and taken advantage of by paramilitaries who arrive at their houses and force them to tend to their needs. It is a familiar sight to see many women in the streets of the main cities begging for food for their children. 
 
Informal workers are estimated to make up the 60% of the working population, or a total of 12 million people. Of this, 63% of them are women, or a total of 7.56 million. 
 
Through ICEM projects, the Global Union Federation has been carrying out leadership development among women members of its affiliated trade unions. As a result, many women have made their way into leadership positions in their organizations. 
 
However, a major concern is the phenomenon of domestic violence. 
 
The ICEM will be in Colombia on 6 March, the Day of the March against Violence, Kidnappings, and Violation of Human and Trade Union Rights in Solidarity with the Victims. On 8 March, of course, we will celebrate International Women’s Day together with the women of ICEM Colombia, where the ICEM will receive a more detailed report on the situation of women in Colombia. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
2. Germany – Women Set up Network for Nanotechnology 
Nanotechnology is the future. Nano 4 Women has been founded as an independent grouping of women who work in nanotechnology in Germany. It may be that nanotechnology is more open to women than other areas of technology. 
 
Evonik is a company involved in the women’s network for nanotechnology. The network’s goal is to support women in their jobs and in science-related careers. Women are encouraged to have an exchange in the network, and also on the internet, where forums are available and databases that include experts can be culled for concrete projects. Advice is also available for start-ups in nanotechnology. A photography competition has also been held. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.nano4women.de">www.nano4women.de</a>. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
3. India – SEWA Assists Women in Afghanistan in Organising and Skills Building 
Warfare, drought, economic instability, insecurity and unemployment have wreaked havoc on Afghanistan in the past three decades. Almost 60% of the population of Afghanistan is women. 
 
Decades of civil conflict and hardline rule by the Taliban have left most Afghan women isolated and illiterate. It is challenging for women even to go out alone. India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has been working with women, widows, and the destitute in Afghanistan since 2004. 
In 2006, the government of India requested SEWA to help develop Bagh-e-Zanana as a centre for vocational training. The idea is to develop the centre with facilities for income generation, skills development, and training, recreation, childcare, healthcare, and marketing support. This would help to empower women and enable them to join the mainstream Afghan economy. 
 
In the strife-ridden country, organizations such as the Afghan Women Resource Centre are fighting to combat the practice of families selling their daughters into forced marriages in order to pay off debts. Women’s organizations are doing advocacy and empowering women as well as encouraging them to vote. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
4. International Labour Organisation – Indigenous and Afro-descendant Women Are Still the Hardest Hit by Workplace-Discrimination 
In its recent Labour Overview 2007 for Latin America and the Caribbean, in spite of overall optimism, the ILO finds that the unemployment rate for women is 1.6 times higher than that of men, with the situation of indigenous and Afro-descendant women much worse. 
 
The ILO finds that hourly wages for the two groups of women make up only 39% of the wages earned by men who are not in those groups. The study was carried out in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay. 
 
The problem should be combated by strengthening members of the two groups’ knowledge, and improving statistics and studies on these groups in order to develop suitable policies for change. ILO Convention 100 on Equal Pay, Convention 111 on Employment and Workplace Discrimination, and Convention 169 on Indigenous Peoples has to be better applied. All these conventions make mention of women. 
 
Altogether, policies and programmes must be improved in order to do justice to these two groups. The existing barriers must be eliminated to enable women, the indigenous, and Afro-descendant persons to be fairly incorporated into the job market. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
5. International RSI Awareness Day 2008 
On 29 February 2008, it was Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) Awareness Day. RSI is the most common workplace injury in Canada, and it is nearly an epidemic in Brazil. Governments and employers must start taking the disorder seriously. In Canada, for example, one in ten adults suffer from it. 
 
Women have traditionally had high rates of RSI. They often suffer a lifetime of pain. RSI mostly affects neck, shoulders, arms, and hands. RSI Day is a good opportunity to raise awareness and contemplate measures to eliminate it. The injuries can best be eliminated by avoiding monotonous, repetitive and stressful work at fast speeds, and poor work organization, including unnecessary overtime.
 Cutbacks and layoffs aggravate the problem. Substandard equipment and lack of control also contribute to it. The first RSI Awareness Day was 29 February 2000. It was chosen because it is the only non-repetitive day on the yearly calendar. In most years, the day is remembered on 28 February. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
6. ITUC Launches Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign 
The ITUC has produced a poster and a campaign guide for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women. The ITUC also has produced a report on the gender pay gap. There are 67 national labour centres in 55 countries that are participating in the campaign. The poster is available at <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/AffWomenCampaingEN.pdf">here</a>. The Campaign Guide on Decent Work, Decent Life for Women can be found <a href="http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/ITUC_Campaign_Guide_08_ENG.pdf ">here</a>. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
7. Iraq – Women are Terrorised in Basra 
Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, militias have been circulating in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, killing and torturing those seen to be an obstacle to the establishment of an Islamist state. Ambulance drivers know that more than 15 women are killed each and every month. Most are mostly professional women. 
 
The point to the killing and violence is to keep women home and to restrain their participation in political and social life. The Iraqi Women’s League calls for the following actions to be taken to stop the violence: 
1. Send an international fact-finding mission to Iraq that is organized by the UN High Commission for Human Rights. Such a mission should investigate crimes against women, help the Iraqi authorities identify the perpetrators, and to stop the crimes; 
2. Reveal the criminals and those backing them, and bring them to justice; 
3. Disclose the outcome of the investigations; 
4. Take measures to safeguard personal freedoms that are constitutionally guaranteed; 
5. Take deterrent measures to ensure the safety of citizens and protect their lives; and 
6. Act firmly to improve the conditions of women and facilitate their involvement in the reconstruction process. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
8. Nicaragua – Equality Law is Passed 
The Law of Equal Rights and Opportunities was passed in Nicaragua, after 11 years of being stalled. The Catholic hierarchy and ultra-conservative leaders lamented the approval of the law. 
 
After more then 10 years of opposition by religious and conservative sectors, the law will enter into force in a month’s time after publication in the official bulletin. The term gender is not mentioned in the law, but the point is to promote equality and equity human, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights between women and men. 
 
Feminists congratulated the Central American’s parliament for passage, but still condemned one stumbling block in the country’s constitution, which prohibits therapeutic abortion, only allowing it in very rare circumstances. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
9. Peru – Luz y Fuerza Holds Women’s Conference 
The 2nd Women’s Workshop of the Luz y Fuerza Federation was held 24-26 January 2008 in Arequipa, Peru. The objectives of the workshop were to integrate women into the trade union movement, make the women’s role in the federation more visible, and to broaden women workers’ knowledge of themes such as collective bargaining, privatization, history of the trade union movement, etc. 
 
Women should be able to bring their demands into collective bargaining. Case studies were presented on tools that women can use to bring their rights to bear on the basis of international human rights instruments. Amnesty International and several practical cases were explained. 
ILO Conventions on equal opportunities were presented. It is important for awareness of rights that are defended by the ILO to be brought to all workers. More and more women attend these meetings every year, and the results get better and better. The women committed themselves to replicating the results of the workshop in their own workplaces. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
10. Spain - USO and Solvay Redress Discrimination - University Study Proposes Some 50 Measures for Work-Life Balance - CCOO publishes Booklet on Pregnancy and Breast Feeding 
In January, Belgian chemicals company Solvay and the USO union of Spain signed an agreement, which commits Solvay to hire six women who were discriminated against. These women faced bias on the basis of gender between 1999 and 2003. 
 
The six will follow five others who have already integrated into the production process. Solvay must acknowledge that the women passed all tests, including a psycho-technical one, but that they were excluded during the interview, in spite of the fact that all of them met the requirements for hiring valid from 1999 to 2003. This decision will open the way for more women to have access more readily to jobs at Solvay. 
 
A recent study by the Carlos III University in Madrid proposed some 50 measures to promote work-life balance. The measures are geared to administration and business, as well as social partners, and they are also intended to improve the working conditions of those with special difficulties, such as young people and immigrants. 
The proposals include the creation of public and private instruments for reconciling work and family life, subsidies and counseling for small and medium-sized companies, and making leave more flexible, as well as making part-time work more accessible. 
 
One of the aims of the study was to examine productivity. There is a close connection between productivity and work-life balance. Better work-life balance generally reduces turnover and absenteeism. Thus, the higher the qualification, training, and experience the worker has, the more expensive it is for the company to replace her or him. 
Findings show that people are less and less willing to dedicate their efforts to paid work alone, and therefore, people need to know that they will not be damaging their careers if they take advantage of measures to promote work-life balance. 
 
New technologies have a part to play in better reconciliation of work and family life. This does, however, require a cultural change – typical companies work on the basis of control. Commitment to the company is measured on the basis of time spent at work. New technology enables confidence to be built and evaluation to be based on results instead of working time. Teleworking could be one element of this. 
 
The stress prevalent in the typical women’s jobs must be controlled and reduced, such as in health and education. Similarly, authorities and businesses have to work toward eliminating harassment, bullying, and violence on the job. 
 
All in all, networks must be created on the basis of social services to promote work-life balance. 
 
The CCOO trade union confederation in Spain has published a booklet for trade unions on preventing hazards during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Most women do work during pregnancy and go back to work during the period of breast-feeding. 
Companies need to adapt measures to facilitate women working during these times, and risk-prevention should be included in collective bargaining. Some hazards, such as noise and stress, are dangerous for all workers, but they do imply a higher health hazard for pregnant women because of the changes to their bodies or the potential danger to the fetus. For the booklet see <a href="http://www.ccoo.es">www.ccoo.es</a>.
<img height="226" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0802CCOO.jpg" width="160"/>
11. United Kingdom – Single, Young Women Work More Overtime than Men 
Single women in their 30s do more overtime than anyone else. On the occasion of Work Your Proper Hours Day, which was held on 22 February, UK’s national labour centre, the Trades Union Congress, released a study on overtime. The general assumption is that men work longer hours than women, but the analysis shows that single women of all ages work more unpaid overtime than men. 
 
Women without children are more likely to work unpaid overtime than men without children, but the trend reverses when they have children, with the figure dropping from 24.2% to 27%. The percentage of men working unpaid overtime remains relatively unchanged. 
 
Women no longer have the option to put in extra hours once they have children. This goes a long way toward explaining why the senior levels of most organizations are male and why the gender pay gap persists. Career opportunities are measured by the number of hours put in at work. This limits women’s choices. The unproductive long hours culture does no one any good and detracts from work-life balance. 
<img height="31" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/womenlogo.jpg" width="25"/>
12. Resources 
<a href="http://www.msc.es/novedades/docs/informeSaludGenero2006.pdf ">Health and Gender (in Spanish) by Observatory of Women’s Health, Spanish Health Ministry</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef07108.htm ">Working Conditions in the European Union: the Gender Perspective 
</a> 
<a href="http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef0789.htm ">Foundation Findings: Work-life Balance – Solving the Dilemma 
</a> 
<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/gender_equality/docs/com_2008_0010_en.pdf ">European Commission Report on Equality between Women and Men, 2008 
</a> 
<a href="http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/gender_equality/gender_mainstreaming/balancedparticipation/report_trends_final_2007_en.pdf ">Women and Men in Decision-making, 2007 (European Commission)</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.unicef.org/sowc08/index.php ">The State of the World’s Children 2008</a> 
 
<a href="http://www.hazards.org/women">UK: TUC Gender and Occupational Safety and Health ‘Gender-sensitivity’ Checklist</a>

WOMEN’S BULLETIN NO. 27

Brussels, 7 March 2008 
 
Dear Colleagues, 
 
Following a decision taken by our Congress, last November 2007, the ICEM will move its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
As from 1st April the new address for ICEM will be: 
54bis route des Acacias 
1227 Geneva, Switzerland 
<img height="43" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/icem-logo50.jpg" width="50"/>
The transfer of the headquarters will implement some technical issues with the transfer of the IT server to Geneva. Indeed ICEM will be ‘cut’ from any internet, e-mail or network communication from 21 March 2008 until most probably 6 April 2008 included. 
 
We apologies for the inconvenience the situation could cause you and we thank you very much in advance for your understanding. 
In case of emergency situation or issues, you can contact us by fax on +32-2/648-43-16 and we will do our best to help you. 
 
Looking forward to welcoming you in Geneva. 
 
In solidarity, 
 
Manfred Warda 
General Secretary

ICEM is moving to Geneva

<img height="39" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
The ICEM will change its Secretariat headquarters from Brussels to Geneva, Switzerland, effective 1 April 2008. A letter to all affiliates and others can be found <a href="/index.php?id=12&doc=2609&la=EN" type="internal">here</a>.

Effective Date of ICEM Move to Geneva: 1 April 2008

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Some 13,000 contract workers of several Indian trade unions ended an eight-day strike Saturday, 5 April, against state-run Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a mining and electric generating company in southern Tamil Nadu state that supplies power to four neighbouring states. 
 
The contract workers, employed for as long as 12 years at the company’s three mines and three power stations, are seeking permanent work status and payment of bonuses. Reportedly, the company had filed a petition with India’s Supreme Court to vacate a recent Madras Hugh Court ruling calling on Neyveli to make all contract workers full-time employees.
<img height="182" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector5.jpg" width="180"/>
Contract workers were also seeking housing provisions, and medical and transport allowances. The strike, which began on 29 March, was highlighted by mass demonstrations in front of two of the power plants. At one, Thermal Power Station No. 2, all 2,000 demonstrators were arrested by police. 
 
The end of the strike indicates that contract workers obtained their demand for regularisation. A spokesperson for Neyveli Lignite, founded in 1956, which went public in 1986, said during the strike that 4,000 contract workers had been absorbed into the company, and that an 8.33% had been awarded. The company mined 22 million tonnes of lignite in 2007, and saw a 10.57% increase in power generation.

13,000 Contract Workers End Strike Against India’s Neyveli Lignite Corporation

<img height="39" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100"/>
An active exchange of solidarity occurred between Turkish and Bulgarian trade unions last year over a glass dispute in Targovishte, Bulgaria, at a company called Trakia Glass, which is a subsidiary of rapidly-growing, Turkey-based multinational Şişecam Group.
<img height="58" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/GermanyFES.jpg" width="120"/>
Şişecam has production facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria, Russian, and Georgia, and employs over 17,000 workers. They produce flat glass, glassware, chemicals, and packaging. The company also has a joint venture with Belgian-based chemicals company Solvay in Bulgaria called Solvay-Sodi. 
 
Gaining full ICEM involvement, the dispute at Trakia served as a springboard for a recent day-long ICEM workshop between unions of the two countries in the chemicals and related industries, with support from the German-based Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation.
<img height="79" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/BulgariaFLAG.gif" width="120" border="1"/>   <img height="80" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/TurkeyFlag.gif" width="120"/>
The workshop, held 1 April in Sofia, Bulgaria, was entitled “Cooperation between ICEM Turkish and Bulgarian Affiliates on Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue in the Chemical and Related Industries.” Participants from Turkey included Petrol-İş, the Oil, Chemical and Rubber Workers Union, and Kristal-İş, the Cement, Glass and Soil Workers Union, while Bulgarian participants included the National Labour Federation of Chemistry and Industry (KNSB Confederation) and the National Federation of Chemical Workers Union (CL-Podkrepa). 
 
Employers from both countries were also represented at the conference, with attendance by delegates from the Turkish Glass Employers Association (Cam İşveren) and Bulgarian Chemical Industry Chamber (BI). Those delegates included Lilyana Dombalova from Bulgaria, and Ali Nafiz Konuk and Hakan Yildirimoğlu from Turkey’s glass employers. 
 
The workshop created a platform of exchange on knowledge and experience on both labour and industrial relations, and means for social dialogue in the two countries. It also served as a forum for national unions in both countries to gain experience at international and European levels. The workshop was facilitated by ICEM Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal Özkan.
<img height="174" alt="" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0804BulgariaTurkey.jpg" width="260"/>
Participants at the 1 April Workshop in Sophia 
It also featured a presentation called “European Level Social Dialogue” by Mira Kovacheva of the Bulgarian Foundation for Advanced Social Trust (FAST). Trade union presentations were made by Krasimir Krastev, President of Bulgaria’s Chemicals Workers’ Union; Todor Birindjiev, President of Podkrepa Chemical Workers; and Mustafa Öztaskin, President of Petrol-İş, and Aziz Çelik, Education and International Director of Kristal-İş. 
 
The workshop established a framework of lasting cross-national dialogue between trade unions and employer organisations. This will prove vital, considering the two strikes that occurred at Trakia Glass in Targovishte, as well as the fact that Şişecam and the Bulgarian union continue to negotiate for a new term agreement, hopefully to be accomplished in constructive social dialogue.

Social Dialogue Workshop Brings Turkish and Bulgarian Unions Together

<img height="39" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
Some 30,000 trade unionists took to the streets of Ljubljana, Slovenia, Saturday, 5 April, as European Union finance ministers met in the Balkan country. The unionists, marching behind a call by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), were protesting record-high inflation and declining purchasing power at a time when EU officials were calling for wage restraint. 
 
The EU ministers were meeting in nearby Brdo in talks to reform social welfare programmes. 
 
ETUC General Secretary John Monks told the assembled in the capital city’s Congress Square that “we cannot accept lectures that workers should be modest” in pay deals. “Getting a fairer deal for workers across Europe is a top ETUC priority.” The trade union federation has produced evidence that wage moderation does not create more jobs, as some claim, but leads instead to stagnating domestic demand and weakened employment rates.
Since 1995, while wages have dropped as a share of Gross Domestic Product across the EU, corporate profits have risen. Top managers earn up to 300 times more than workers, leaving over 30 million people earning poverty-level wages. 
 
EU unionists that converged in Slovenia over the weekend demanded a rise in real salaries and purchasing power; efforts to create more and better jobs; creation of decent minimum wages to combat poverty; equal pay for men and women; stronger collective bargaining systems, and an end to social dumping; decent work and fair wages for public sector, temporary, and mobile workers; better opportunities for lifelong learning; and a limit to the income of top earners.

ETUC Call Brings 30,000 to Slovenia to Protest Wage Restraint

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Unite the union, ICEM’s largest British affiliate, will take 48-hour strike action next week, 27-28 April, at Ineos Group Holdings’ Grangemouth petrochemicals complex near Falkirk, Scotland. 
 
The action will come due to company intentions to close the final pension scheme to new workers, and planned imposition of other adverse work terms. The polyolefins and oil derivatives plants at Grangemouth employ 1,200 workers, the vast majority of them Unite members.
<img height="60" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/UKFlag.gif" width="120" alt=""/>
In late March, workers balloted for strike action. That vote passed with a 98% affirmative for industrial action. 
 
Unite is hopeful negotiations will resume this week, but will only return to the bargaining table if the company signals it’s intent to move away from shutting the pension scheme to new hires and removing the proposed and negative work terms. In talks last Friday, 18 April, Ineos refused to budge from its proposals, causing United to issue the strike notice. 
 
“The company is profitable, and the pension scheme in its present form is well funded and affordable,” said United National Secretary Phil McNulty, who also is an ICEM Vice President. “The changes to the scheme Ineos are proposing are unreasonable, unnecessary, and have forced our members at Grangemouth to take industrial action for the first time,” he added.
<img height="120" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMoil2.JPG" width="120" alt=""/>
Ineos is seeking to withdraw £40 million from the pension fund, and Unite said other changes at the 200,000-barrels-per-day refinery could cost workers up to £10,000 annually. Grangemouth manufactures petrochemicals for uses in all manners of transport fuels and other uses. 
 
Since the strike notice was issues three days ago, the company has begun shutdown procedures at the complex near Glasgow. The shutdown, 48-hour strike, and subsequent start-up are expected to crimp fuel supplies across Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland. Ineos operates the petrochemicals complex with only a week’s supply of refined fuels as reserves. 
 
Ineos was created in 1998 through a management buyout. In December 2005, the UK-based company purchased Grangemouth from BP’s Innovene chemicals division. The US$9 billion deal also brought the company petrochemicals plants in Lavéra, France, as well as seven chemical manufacturing operations in Europe and nine in North America.

Unite Ready to Strike Giant Petrochemicals Complex in Scotland

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At the supreme council meeting of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) on 14 April, the union denounced mine operators who are breaking provisions of the union’s collective agreements in the southern African nation. 
 
MUZ President Rayford Mbulu condemned, in the strongest terms possible, employers who disregard terms and conditions of labour agreements. He also lashed out at certain mining houses which do not comply with safety standards, causing high rates of mine accidents in Zambia.
<img height="169" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/0707ICEMAFConf1.jpg" width="180" alt=""/>
 MUZ President Rayford Mbulu 
He was speaking at the opening day of the council meetings in Kitwe, the heart of Zambia’s resource-rich Copperbelt Region. Mbulu specifically cited Canada-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd. for declaring a labour dispute with the MUZ at its Kansanshi copper and gold operations. The company recently declared a dispute without following provisions under the country’s Industrial and Labour Relations Act. 
 
Another troublesome fact for Zambia’s leading mining union is an increase in sub-contractors utilised in mines. Such operators pay workers just a fraction of the wages that MUZ members receive. Sub-contractors justify the weak pay by citing the low fees they receive from mine owners. 
 
The MUZ is strongly behind recent proposals by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security that contract workers must be paid at least 80% of the salaries of permanent employees. Mbulu also said a troubling area for the union is the growing use of low-skilled foreign workers in mines. He said the ministry must be more vigilant in the review of work permits of foreigners, and priority must be placed on employing qualified Zambians in the mining sector.
<img height="140" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/ICEMminingsector.JPG" width="140" alt=""/>
 
MUZ gains have occurred with several mining operators working the regions of the Copperbelt, North-western, Southern, and Central Regions. The union has signed a recognition agreement with Australian-based Albidon Zambia Ltd., which is mining nickel around Mazabuka, Southern Region, and with Grinaker-LTA Construction, a subsidiary of South Africa-based Aveng Ltd., a building contractor and civil engineering firm that operates in the Copperbelt. 
 
MUZ is supportive of the government’s increase on mineral royalties from 0.3% to 6%. The union also expects to increase its profile for recruitment and partnering under an investment vehicle it created in 2007. The Mineworkers Investment Co. was established as a means to negotiate better working conditions and salaries for its members.

MUZ Denounces Mining Houses Neglect of Social Processes in Zambia

<img height="39" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/InBrief100.jpg" width="100" alt=""/>
Strikes and protests by contract workers in Chile have shut over one-half of production at the world’s largest copper producer, Codelco. The strikes and road blockades began on 16 April and intensified over the weekend as access to the state-run company’s second largest mine, El Tiniente, was blocked. 
 
Contract workers, some 28,000 in number that are employed by a multitude of companies providing food, transportation, and other services to Codelco’s five mines in northern and southern Chile, are firmly behind their union, Confederación de Trabajadores del Cobre (CTC), in demands that Codelco implement the agreed upon terms that ended a 37-day strike by workers last summer.
<img height="115" src="/sites/default/files/migration/icem/Chile.png" width="250" alt=""/>
The strike appears to have the support of the main miners’ union, Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), which has demanded that Codelco and the government halt all mining until the total security of all miners can be assured. Codelco employs about 15,000 full-time miners. 
 
At El Tiniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine south of the capital city of Santiago, contract workers blocked roads beginning Friday evening, 18 April, preventing miners from entering the mine for two work turns. Reportedly, mining resumed yesterday afternoon. 
 
Since 16 April, copper mining and processing has been completely closed at Codelco’s Andina and El Salvador mines in the north of the country due to road blockades. The industrial actions are the third set of strikes by contract workers of Codelco since January 2006, when they launched a 17-day strike. This round of action comes shortly after Codelco negotiated wage increases for miners of FTC and other mining unions.
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The strikes by CTC do have the support of the main national labour centre, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT). At a forum in Santiago late last week, CUT President Arturo Martínez said it is Codelco and the government’s responsibility to negotiate directly with the contract workers. He added that private companies serving Codelco take advantage of legal loopholes to avoid negotiating with the CTC, or other workers’ representatives. 
 
Codelco has maintained throughout – including again last week – that it is not responsible for negotiating with workers of subcontracting firms.

Contract Workers Again Strike Codelco’s Copper Mines in Chile for Fulfilment of Terms

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An eight-day strike by 1,400 upstream workers of Mobil Producing Nigeria ended on 1 May, following mediation over wages, benefits, and alternative forms of payment for a two-year period. The talks were concluded in the capital of Abuja after mediation by both the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. 
 
The strike by PENGASSAN, ICEM’s white-collar oil and gas workers’ affiliated trade union in Nigeria, had shut in 860,000-barrels-per-day of oil production. The settlement is expected to establish the upstream pattern for major oil and gas producers in Nigeria for 2008 and 2009. Only Total’s upstream workers had reached agreement earlier.
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 PENGASSAN's Mobil Producing Bargaining Committee 
 
The strike settlement, however, has no bearing on a dispute between PENGASSAN and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. in the downstream sector. That dispute has to do with discrepancies on compensation regarding redundancies. 
 
The strike in the upstream sector was brought on by Mobil Producing’s intransigence in reaching a new deal following the 31 December 2007 expiration of a prior agreement. The company refused to budge from a total compensation offer of 10% over a new two-year period. NNPC and the Labour Ministry intervened in mediation efforts once the strike began on 24 April. 
 
Mobil Producing is jointly owned by NNPC and US-based ExxonMobil, with ExxonMobil serving as the operating partner in what is currently Nigeria’s largest crude exporter, as well as lowest operating cost producer. 
 
PENGASSAN’s Mobil Producing Branch Chairman Olusola George-Olumoroti said four of the five major points on the union’s agenda were resolved in marathon talks on 30 April, but it took the two Nigerian parties – NNPC and Labour Ministry – to move the multinational company from its low 10% offer.
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 Branch Chairman Olusola George-Olumoroti 
 

On 1 May, the union’s branch committee accepted a 20% total pay package, which is retroactive to 1 January and includes benefits and other remuneration items. PENGASSAN’s Mobil upstream branch committee also included members of the Mobil Producing Contract Staff Branch, since a major point on the union’s agenda was casualisation. 
 
The union charged Mobil Producing with over-extending service professionals in work that could be more efficiently done by full-time staff. George-Olumoroti casual staff work under two-year contracts, and some worked in such status for as along as 19 years. In negotiations on 30 April, the two sides agreed to set up a joint committee to review contract staffing, and then compare Mobil’s record with that of other companies in the industry. 
 
Another major concern was the inconsistency of Mobil’s defined benefit plan to Nigeria’s Pension Reform Act of 2004. That issue met resolve by the two sides agreeing to a team of independent actuaries to examine the company’s current pension plan. 
 
Other issues included the rapid influx of expatriates that violate the government’s quota regulations, and hazardous equipment and facility deterioration, particularly in the company’s western area of operations along the Niger Delta. The PENGASSAN branch cited leakages at two offshore oil pipelines of the company – Idoho and Edop – in February. 
 
The Nigerian government has agreed to conduct an audit regarding expatriate quotas, while a joint committee will be put in place immediately to develop a charter and recommendations on facility deficiencies. That committee will be on a stringent time frame, with reporting on or before 30 June.
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In the downstream sector, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc., also jointly owned by NNPC and ExxonMobil, and the PENGASSAN branch there are in dispute over terms of a redundancy package negotiated late in 2007. The company made 67 of 170 senior staff members redundant, and intentionally targeted PENGASSAN members and activists for sackings. 
 
At question is a miscalculation in the redundancy package. In implementing a new information technology programme, ExxonMobil has eliminated jobs in Nigeria and moved them to Egypt, Taiwan, and Hungary. All the workers made redundant are to be paid their full salaries until 31 May, at which time the severance package is scheduled to take effect. The ICEM has demanded that the American company rectify its error.

Mobil Nigeria Upstream Strike Settled; Downstream Dispute Still Festers

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