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The announced 5.5% wage cut for 15,000 employees of Czech mining company OKD will not occur and instead, through negotiations with mining unions, a compromise has been reached. That compromise, occurring on 30 April, calls for a decrease in the number of agency workers used, and a partial reduction in the number of employees from supplier companies. 
 
The demand for cuts is due to the impact of the world&rsquo;s financial crisis. 

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The company originally proposed an across-the-board decrease in salaries of 5.5%, cancellation of some bonuses, and a reduction in staff of 2,600 regular employees and 900 workers employed by supplier companies. The negotiated compromise preserves all full-time jobs, with job reductions coming from among the 3,000 agency workers that OKD used and from staff of some suppliers. 
 
A mining union spokesman called the compromise the lesser of two evils. 
 
OKD, the Czech Republic&rsquo;s largest hard coal producer, is wholly owned by New World Resources of the Netherlands, an investment company focusing on assets in Central Europe. In 2008, OKD produced 12.7 million tonnes of coal, of which 7.4 million tonnes was coking coal.

Czech Mining Unions Preserve Pay; OKD to Cut Agency Staff, Suppliers’ Staff

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On 15-16 April, the ICEM organised an Asia/Pacific-wide conference on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL) in Singapore. The conference, attended by 50 trade unionists, was held with the support of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany. 
 
Participants spoke candidly on the ongoing problems of short-term contract and agency work, and other forms of precarious work, and how it affects their daily lives. The experiences expressed made it abundantly clear that the phenomenon is wide-spread, still on the rise, and detrimental to labour relations in Asia-Pacific countries. Such contributions, in addition to those from the ICEM and the FES, came from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Korea, as well as from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. 
 
An omnipresent problem is that, in almost every Asian country, regular, permanent, and direct-employed workers are being replaced by CAL workers, who are often paid less than permanent workers. They never get the same benefits, nor do they have much of a job future. In Malaysia, for example, it was said that CAL in the past used to be almost uniquely a problem for migrant workers. This is no longer so. In Pakistan, trade unionists note a sharp increase in the use of &ldquo;piece-rate workers.&rdquo; 

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A concurrent issue expressed by all participants is the fear factor. Contract and agency workers are afraid even to discuss union issues, let alone join a union, since this often translates to an end to their fixed-term contracts. It appears to be a simple matter for companies operating in Asia to remove workers from their workforce, or to shift them to less secure jobs. 
 
Among the numerous other problems mentioned was the lack of respect for law where there is some semblance of existing legal protections, such as in the Philippines, India, or Indonesia. Another problem voiced is that oftentimes there are too many unions in some countries, making cooperation difficult. 
 
The positive news is that unions, slowly but surely, are starting to deal with the problem at all three levels that the global ICEM campaign on CAL is aimed at: legislative changes that not only protect workers from abuses, but also leading to more direct and permanent employment (a promising bill is being readied in the Philippines); work at company level, including making the issue key in collective bargaining as well as an organising priority; and evaluating internal union structures to ensure that CAL workers can effectively join trade unions. This has occurred in Thailand, Malaysia, India, Singapore, and Korea. 
 
An important concern on this latter point, as acknowledged by all, is the need to organise more trade union work at industry or sector level, steering away from company-unionism, where it is often easy for employers to &ldquo;divide and conquer&rdquo; the two sets of workers. 
 
Unfortunately, there are currently still many more problems than success stories. One specific example is the continuing problem in stemming the number of CAL workers at Linde in Thailand, an industrial gases company, and granting full-time, permanent employment to such workers. 
 
Adverse examples given of &ldquo;CAL employment techniques&rdquo; in Asia include the use of standard 17-month contracts, in which the collective agreement calls for more rights and benefits for workers after 18 months. Another is supervisors who openly discriminate against CAL workers linked to a union. In the Philippines, companies have used blank resignation letters, asking CAL workers to sign before they even start work. Other workers have been asked to re-enter their current job, but under another name, thus preventing them from gaining increased benefits, or becoming part of the permanent workforce.

ICEM Singapore Conference Illuminates Problems for Contract, Agency Workers in Region

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The sixth meeting of the Mercosur Union Network of Belgian chemical and plastics producer Solvay met 18-21 April in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. The meeting saw 25 representatives from all plants of Solvay in Argentina and Brazil, as well as municipality authorities from Bahia Blanca and representatives of CUT Brazil. 
 
The meeting marked the first-ever meeting held in Argentina. This gave an opportunity for more Argentine workers to learn the goals, functions, and actions of the important regional network. Brazilian participants learned of some Argentina processes that do not exist in Brazil, and about union organizing and the collective bargaining process in Argentina. 
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The major issues discussed included health and safety, the ICEM&rsquo;s Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with Rhodia and the future of that GFA now that Solvay has initiated a friendly takeover of Rhodia, and the Horizon Plan, which was put in place by Solvay late last year and is to create 800 dismissals worldwide by the end of 2012. Mercosur network members requested ICEM&rsquo;s support in linking up with global trade unions and Solvay&rsquo;s European Works Council in order to soften the effects of this restructuring. 
 
As is regular custom from previous meetings, the participants were welcomed by local management of Solvay. The group after toured the production areas. The meeting was finalized with expectation of a renewed dialogue with the company.

Mercosur Region Meeting of Solvay Meets in Argentina

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Following agreement in the Netherlands in the light metal and electric-technical sector last month, Dutch unions and the employers&rsquo; grouping Metalektro reached terms on 19 April in the heavy metal sector. The new accord runs for 26 months and covers 150,000 metalworkers employed by some 1,300 companies, including DAF Trucks, Scania, ASML, and NedCar. 
 
The agreement is similar to the <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4364-Dutch-Unions-Agree-to-�Trendsetting-Terms-in-Light-Metals-Electric-Sector">earlier metalworkers agreement</a> covering 330,000 workers on wages, training and education, and restrictions on labour agencies. While the light metal contract pays 4.45% in four steps over the next 18 months, the heavy metal one pays out 4.25% but 4.75% in total, taking into account bonuses the employers&rsquo; association agree to pay for reorganisation of the pension scheme effective 1 January 2012. 
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Metalektro is bargaining with FNV Bondgenoten, CNV Vakmensen, and De Unie in the Dutch metalworking sectors. There is one major bargain remaining and that is in automotive, where 90,000 workers will have a contract expire on 1 June. 
 
The settlement in heavy metal recognised the shortage of skilled staff due to early retirements and redundancies and in turn made the sector more attractive for young workers. The agreement removes minimum levels of wage rates, allowing workers age 22 or over to progress into higher-paid jobs. The new accord also grants excellent industry-paid training and education opportunities. These areas are key and stand at the heart of this agreement. 
 
Of further importance, and similar to the one in light metal, the agreement has strong language on the use of short-term contract workers provided by agencies. The contract reads that work can only be outsourced to labour-hire firms that have collective agreements with the unions, mainly ones associated with Stichting Normering Arbeid (SNA). 
 
FNV Bondgenoten said the agreements so far indicate that the metal sector in the Netherlands is poised to lead Dutch economic recovery.

Employers, Dutch Unions Reach Terms in ‘Heavy Metal’ Sector

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The European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) elected new leadership at an extraordinary General Assembly, held 3 May in Luxembourg. Some 90 delegates unanimously voted for Michael Vassiliadis, President of German trade union IG BCE, as President of EMCEF, while former ICEM officer Michael Wolters was named Acting General Secretary. 
 
They replace EMCEF President Hubertus Schmoldt, who retired from IGBCE in 2009, and General Secretary Reinhard Reibsch, who now retires. The assembly welcomed General Secretary Peter Scherer of the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF) and President Valeria Fedeli and General Secretary Patrick Itschert of the European Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation. These two European federations together with EMCEF are expected to integrate in 2012, creating a single industrial trade union federation for Europe. 
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New EMCEF President, Michael Vassiliadis
General Secretary Bernadette Segol of UNI-Europa also addressed the assembly. She is likely to be elected General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) when the ETUC holds its Congress next week in Athens. 
 
Founded in 1996 in Luxembourg, EMCEF represents some two million members in 38 European countries. Delegates on 3 May discussed the Secretariat's report on activities and finances, and then went into a detailed report on the future of European trade union activities, including the role of a new industrial union federation in Europe. 
 
The General Assembly also gave approval to three resolutions: affirming the fight against contract labour and precarious forms of work, affirmation to create a new European industry trade union federation; and giving support to Romanian affiliates fighting against extreme austerity measures there. 
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Schmoldt, Vassiliadis, Wolters, Reibsch
Vassiliadis, in his first speech as head of EMCEF, underlined the importance integration: &ldquo;We need combined forces to respond to major social, political, economic, and environmental challenges.&rdquo; He also praised Schmoldt, who he said transformed EMCEF from a loose association of trade unions to an influential trade union federation. 
 
Elected President of IGBCE in October 2009, Vassiliadis has been on IGBCE&rsquo;s six-member Governing Board since 2004, and has directed areas of works councils, shop steward development, trade union education, and youth activities for the German union. Originally from a Bayer plant near his home in Essen, he sits now on the supervisory boards of chemical companies BASF and Henkel, as well as serving as deputy chairman of the potash producer Kali and Salz and Evonik Steag. 
 
Wolters hails from Hamburg&rsquo;s chemical sector. He began with IG Chemie in 1990, did youth work for the union in eastern Germany then and in 2001 became the director of the union&rsquo;s Dresden office. He worked at the ICEM from 2005 until 2007 and since has been working in IGBCE&rsquo;s International Department in Hannover. 
 
ICEM was represented at the EMCEF General Assembly by Chemical and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan.

New Leadership Comes in at EMCEF

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The United Steelworkers (USW) submitted shareholder resolutions demanding boards of directors at four US oil companies take safety seriously. The resolutions were aimed at general meetings of Marathon Oil (27 April), Valero Energy (28 April), Tesoro Corp. (4 May), and it will appear before ConocoPhillips shareholders this week, 11 May, in Houston. 
 
The USW also filed a safety transparency resolution with Sunoco, but it was withdrawn when the Philadelphia-based company agreed to comply with the contents of the resolution. The resolutions call on the companies to prepare a report of the &ldquo;steps the company has taken to reduce the risk of accidents&rdquo; within 90 days of the shareholders&rsquo; meeting. 
 
The resolution, meant to achieve greater safety at oil refineries and other company operations, calls on the board of directors of each company to disclose the board&rsquo;s oversight on process safety management, staffing levels, and also the inspection and maintenance of refineries and other equipment. The American national labour center, AFL-CIO, and its asset fund assisted with the shareholder propositions. 
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Gary Beevers
USW Vice President Gary Beevers voiced the significance in taking safety to the board rooms: &ldquo;If these companies had to tell their shareholders and the public how they were staffing their refineries, how much overtime people were working, and how long units were going without basic inspection and maintenance, we know they&rsquo;d try harder to fix the problems.&rdquo; 
 
The USW cited two months of last year &ndash; April and May 2010 &ndash; as being particularly deadly and dangerous times that should have awaken the US oil and petrochemical industries to poor safety practices. There were 13 fires, 19 deaths, and 25 serious injuries in those two months, including a 2 April 2010 explosion at Tesoro&rsquo;s 130,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Anacortes, Washington, that killed seven USW Local 12-591 activists. 
 
Tesoro workplace leaders, including Mark Laurence from Anacortes, spoke on behalf of the safety resolution at the company&rsquo;s 4 May AGM in San Antonio, Texas. Last year&rsquo;s Tesora tragedy was caused by a heat exchanger that blew apart because of cracks in a welded area. 
 
The Washington State Department of Labour &amp; Industry determined that Tesoro had failed in its duty to correctly test equipment for cracks. The state agency imposed a fine of US$2.39 million, but Tesoro is currently appealing the fine.

USW Makes Safety Oversight a Corporate Issue on US Oil Industry

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An illegal coal mine in Mexico&rsquo;s Coahuila state that was operating for only 20 days exploded on 3 May, killing 14 miners. The tragic methane gas blast occurred a short distance from the Pasta de Conchos colliery, where 65 miners employed by Grupo Mexico perished in a similar underground gas explosion in February 2006. 
 
Beneficios Internacionales del Norte SA (Bansa) was listed as the company operating the mine near Sabinas in the rich Coahuila coal belt of northern Mexico. Immediately after the powerful explosion that saw three of the dead blown completely out of the 60-metre-deep tunnel, officials could not determine the owner because of conflicting data in local registry citings. 
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It was days after the blast that Bansa was determined to be the operator of the 340-acre mine site through a concession from local authorities. A local official defended that concession, telling press that when the federal government awards a concession, generated income goes to coffers in Mexico City, with nothing allocated for the community. 
 
The colliery employed 25 non-union miners and had no certification or registry regarding safety. The Mexican federal government closed the mine and is now involved in body recovery and investigation. 
 
The underground explosion rocked the surface so strongly that a 15-year-old minor who was picking coal off an external conveyer belt had to have both arms amputated and is in serious condition in a hospital. 
 
The 3 May tragedy in northern Mexico stands as yet another example of safety risks and dangers by unregistered and unreliable mining installations when demand and pricing of a mineral is at a premium.

Mine Blast Near Pasta de Conchos Kills 14 in Mexico

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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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