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Senzeni Zokwana won re-election as president of South Africa&rsquo;s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), while Frans Baleni was elected general secretary. Those and other elections were part of a spirited 12th National Congress of the NUM, held 24-27 May in Midrand, near Johannesburg. 
 
Over 1,000 delegates to the NUM&rsquo;s triennial Congress passed resolutions prioritising the issue of wage compensation, and convene a special summit to deal with the issue; to openly engage employers to reopen mines to enhance employment; and for leadership of the 300,000-member NUM to develop a discussion document on its important role inside COSATU related to labour&rsquo;s strained relationship as part of the African National Congress (ANC) Alliance. 
<img height="60" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The Congress also vowed to maintain NUM&rsquo;s bank as a workers&rsquo; asset, set in motion an aid and support plan for striking security guards in conjunction with the Transport &amp; Allied Workers&rsquo; Union, and commemorated the 1946 strike by the Black Mineworkers Union, with events leading up to the 60-year anniversary of the strike in the Witwatersran on 12 August of this year. 
The Congress closed by paying a rousing tribute to Gwede Mantashe, NUM&rsquo;s general secretary since 1998 who retired at this Congress. 
In opening the Congress, Zokwana, ICEM president, now in his third term as a NUM national office bearer, demanded of ANC leadership, including President Thabo Mbeki, that more anti-retroviral medicines be made available to workers in the fight against HIV/AIDS. &ldquo;This human culling must stop,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;South Africa has the resources to assist us and it must do so.&rdquo; 
 
Baleni, a miner who rose through NUM leadership ranks as a national organiser and then national education coordinator, has been the union&rsquo;s chief negotiator prior to his 27 May election. He headed the Production Pillar of the NUM. Zokwana joined NUM in 1983 as a shaft steward in a Free State gold mine, and rose through the ranks to regional chairman in 1993 and national vice president in 1994. 
 
Other national office bearers elected at the 12th Congress: Crosbi Moni, deputy president; Oupa Komane, deputy general secretary; Derick Elbrecht, treasurer general; Helen Diatile, chairperson of Education; Zwelitsha Tantsa, secretary of Education; Peter Bailey, chairperson of Health and Safety; and Eric Gcilitshana, secretary of Health and Safety.

NUM Elects Leaders at Energised South African Congress

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ICEM&rsquo;s Latin America/Caribbean Regional Coordinating Committee meeting in S&atilde;o Paulo, Brazil, on 18 and 19 May, discussed and took action on two pressing matters involving ICEM sectors in South America. 
 
The Committee resolved, considering the steps taken by the Bolivian people to institute a process of nationalisation of certain natural resources, to call on the governments and companies involved to be coherent in a wise and prudent response so that the rights of workers in these enterprises are not adversely affected. 
<img height="81" alt="" src="" width="120" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; <img height="80" alt="" src="" width="120" />
Regarding the dispute between Argentina and Uruguay and the construction of two paper mills on the Uruguay side of the Uruguay River, the ICEM&rsquo;s Committee vowed to put pressure on both governments to immediately resolve the matter. The resolution stated that it was important that the opinions of trade unionists be considered in the combined US$1.7 billion projects by Mets&auml;-Botnia AB of Finland and Grupo Empresarial Ence of Spain. 
 
The resolution also said &ldquo;it was advisable not to ignore contributions made by those at the international level&rdquo; in this debate. &ldquo;In our double role as workers and trade unionists, we have to make sure, as we have done in the past, that control mechanisms exist which guarantee ecological and environmental sustainability for our people,&rdquo; ICEM&rsquo;s Latin America/Caribbean Committee declared. 
To read the resolution (in Spanish), <a href="/index.php?id=26&amp;doc=1814&amp;la=ES">click here</a>.

Nationalisation and Paper Mills: ICEM’s Latin Delegates Take Fresh Look at Two Regional Dilemmas

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ICEM World Conference for the Rubber Industries 
6-7 April 2006 
Istanbul, Turkey 

Whereas while the ICEM conducts the World Conference for Rubber Industries in Istanbul, our brothers and sisters of Lastik-Iş are engaged in collective bargaining negotiations with the transnational tire companies Goodyear, Bridgestone and Pirelli. 
 
Whereas the companies are exerting tremendous pressure on the workers, demanding concessions in working conditions, while stating publicly that labor costs are so high that they may quit production in Turkey. 
 
Whereas the companies are exerting pressure on the government to ban possible strikes, as they have done four times in ten years, even though the codes of Turkey and the ILO have issued decrees declaring the bans unlawful. 
 
Let it be resolved that the delegates to the ICEM World Conference for the Rubber Industries declare their total support for our brothers and sisters of Lastik-Iş and call upon Goodyear, Bridgestone and Pirelli to exert common sense and bargain in good faith. 
 
Furthermore, let it be resolved that our conference calls upon the government of Turkey to uphold the laws of the country and the ILO regulations that protect the rights guaranteed to our Union brothers and sisters of Lastik-Iş.

ICEM Rubber Conference Resolution - Support for Lastik-Iş in negotiations with major tire companies

Dear friends,&nbsp; 
 
This is to inform you that ICEM affiliate, the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers&rsquo; Federation (KCTF), together with their national centre, KCTU, have launched, on 1 April 2006, a boycott campaign against the products of GS Caltex (formerly LG Caltex) in Korea, in a protest against the company&rsquo;s labour practices. 
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In July 2004, the GS Caltex union went on strike against this oil company after a deadlock in negotiations. Talks broke down over such issues as the demand for a five-day, 40-hour work-week and the call for the non-discrimination of contract workers. Instead of bargaining with the workers, the company retaliated against the strikers, with the help of the Korean government, through excessive use of riot police, which brutally suppressed the strike. 
 
After the end of the 20-day strike, management continued its aggressive anti-worker behaviour by screening returning workers, harassing families and dismissing almost all union officials, 30 in number. In addition, eight union leaders were arrested for their roles in the strike, and sentenced to periods of two to three years in prison. A total of 650 other workers were disciplined with three-month suspensions from work. 
 
Until now, there has been no sign from the company that it wants to end its unfair labour practices or reinstate the dismissed union leaders. This led to the decision by the union to announce the boycott of LG-Caltex products inside Korea. GS Caltex Korea is 50% owned by Chevron and 50% by the Korean GS Holding.&nbsp;
We would like to ask you to support our Korean affiliate by sending <a href="/index.php?id=155&amp;doc=1752">a protest letter to the Korean government</a>. A model protest letter is attached for that purpose. 
The letter can be addressed to: 
President Roh Moo-hyun 
1 Sejong-no, Jongno-ku, 
Seoul 110-820 
Republic of Korea 
Fax: +82-2-770.03.44 
E-mail <a href="mailto:president@cwd.go.kr">president@cwd.go.kr</a> 
Please also send a copy to the Korean Ministry of Labour at <a href="mailto:chun-79@hanmail.net">chun-79@hanmail.net</a>. 
We also strongly encourage you to send a message of support to the KCTF. A <a href="/index.php?id=155&amp;doc=1751">sample letter of solidarity</a> is also attached. As with the protest letter to the government, please feel free to modify this letter, or to draft a similar one. Messages of support can be sent to: 
BAE, Kang-wook 
President, KCTF-KCTU 
Fax: + 82 2 2632 4755 
E-mail : <a href="mailto:kctfim@hanmail.net">kctfim@hanmail.net</a> 
Please send a copy of your support letter to: <a href="mailto:info@icem.org">info@icem.org</a>. 
 
Fraternally, 
 
Fred Higgs 
General Secretary 

 
For more background, please consult two earlier ICEM stories on the dispute.&nbsp;

<ul>
 <li><a href="/?id=78&amp;doc=278&amp;la=EN">LG Caltex Punishes Workers Who Struck in Korea</a> </li>
 <li><a href="/?id=77&amp;doc=1149&amp;la=EN">ICEM Blasts LG Group, ChevronTexaco for Stance in Korean Dispute</a> </li>
</ul>

KCTF-KCTU Seeks International Solidarity on Boycott of GS Caltex in Korea


ICEM calls for support for Korean trade union campaign against Caltex

UK Trade unionists of Amicus at International Paper Co.&rsquo;s Inverurie mill in Scotland will extend industrial actions into next week, giving notice to the US-based company that another four-hour strike will occur on Monday, 10 April, and then an eight-hour downing of tools on Thursday, 13 April. It will be the fifth time since 23 March that the 231-strong workforce will have struck, and the 13 April action will mark the first eight-hour strike. 
<img height="82" alt="" src="" width="160" />
The two sides met on 4 April. The union was heartened that company negotiators moved off a pay freeze for 2006, but the company attached unacceptable conditions to the sub-standard, two-year pay offer. It sought not to make the pay offer retroactive to 1 January, and the company also wants to make the first two days of January mandatory work days each year. 
 
Amicus union officials consulted with union members, and informed management today that their offer was unacceptable. &ldquo;We will keep the door open to further bargaining,&rdquo; said Amicus Asst. Branch Secretary Willie Wallace. &ldquo;We have suggested that ACAS get involved and we sincerely wish to resolve this dispute,&rdquo; he added. ACAS is the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service of the UK, an independent but public-funded mediation service with a longstanding reputation. 
 
Amicus branch leaders and trade unionists at the Inverurie mill are perplexed by the company&rsquo;s bargaining posture. Absent in bargaining is good-faith and a fair exchange of ideas and proposals. Instead, managers come to talks with &ldquo;take-it-or-leave-it&rdquo; proposals, void of any desire or willingness for dialogue, according to Wallace. International Paper has presented three &ldquo;last, best and final offers&rdquo; in recent bargaining sessions, a fact not lost on Inverurie paperworkers as they&rsquo;ve united more through this dispute than ever before. 
 
This week&rsquo;s bargaining is a case in point. Amicus members know the company has never had a problem operating paper machines on 1 and 2 January. The voluntary system of working those days has never failed in the past. Considering also the company&rsquo;s demand that any wage increase for first quarter of 2006 is lost, this week&rsquo;s restructured &ldquo;last, best and final offer&rdquo; was easy to reject. 
 
&ldquo;The mood among members is hardening,&rdquo; said Amicus Asst. General Secretary Tony Burke. &ldquo;The company does not understand that they cannot keep rehashing previous offers which have found no favour amongst our members.&rdquo;

Eight-Hour Strike Next Week at International Paper’s Scottish Mill

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A decision on 23 March by Thailand&rsquo;s Supreme Administrative Court to nullify two 2005 royal decrees calling for partial privatisation of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was heralded by ICEM affiliate EGAT-LU as a national turning point against the corrupt practices of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. 
The country&rsquo;s highest court ruled the process, which led to the Thaksin government float of 25% of EGAT on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, as lacking transparency in that public hearings were incomplete. The court also said that if the partial privatisation had gone ahead, unfair competitive advantages would have been created. 
EGAT-LU Chairman Sirichai Mai-ngam said the union will now team up with consumer groups and others to roll back privatisations of the Metropolitan Electric Authority, the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, the Provincial Electric Authority and the Provincial Waterworks. 
The union has also called on EGAT&rsquo;s board of directors to resign. They ask the same of Thaksin himself and of Energy Minister Viset Choopiban. 
EGAT-LU is meeting with top managers of the state-run power company today. The union will seek refunds plus interest for the shares purchased by EGAT staff, reimbursement of taxes levied, and for directors and government officials to take responsibility for the millions in advisory fees paid in preparation for last November&rsquo;s initial public offering. 
&ldquo;We are uncertain whether the next government will try to privatise EGAT,&rdquo; said Mai-ngam. &ldquo;However, we will continue to cooperate with civil groups in the fight to maintain the state enterprise status of the power utility.&rdquo;

High Court in Thailand Nullifies EGAT Privatisation

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US-based Goodyear Tire &amp; Rubber Co. could face a strike this week in South Africa if it doesn&rsquo;t abide by an ICEM affiliate&rsquo;s demand to retain 300 contract workers. Goodyear and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) will meet tomorrow, 4 April, in efforts to resolve differences. If no movement occurs, some 1,700 NUMSA members could strike at the tyre factory by week&rsquo;s end. 
The issue is Goodyear&rsquo;s refusal to permanently hire the 300 contract workers who have worked at the plant for up to five years. The 300 are employed by Kelly Services, a staffing agency, which allegedly has denied medical assistance and provident fund benefits to the workers. NUMSA is also in dispute with Goodyear for its abuse of trainees, who work shifts and weekends in violation of work agreements. They also are paid at lower pay grades for longer periods, which violate work rules.

Goodyear Could Face South African Strike

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French ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT has called an eight-hour strike for tomorrow, 4 April, at all Total worksites across France in protest to the government&rsquo;s contrat premi&eacute;re embauche (CPE), the &ldquo;first job contract&rdquo; labour reform being imposed on young workers. 
<img height="130" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The union is asking all Total workers to join tomorrow&rsquo;s inter-sectoral day of action, and has asked all trade union delegates to organise general staff assemblies in preparation. 
French labour federations are united in efforts to push the government and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin off CPE, which passed Parliament by decree without dialogue with social partners. The reform would allow employers to sack workers under age 26 in their first two years of employment without needing justification. 
French President Chirac announced last week the scaling back of the two-year period to one year. FCE-CFDT, who together with other unions rejected the Chirac compromise, has called the strike tomorrow at Total without saying exactly when the eight-hour work stoppage would begin.

FCE-CFDT Calls Total Workers Out on Strike

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An agreement in principle has been won by three German unions with Vattenfall Europe for some 20,000 utility workers in Germany to be covered by one collective agreement. 
The unions, ICEM affiliate IGBCE, IG Metall and Ver.di, have been negotiating with the Swedish-based company for two years in efforts to get all workers under a single agreement in order to achieve pay equity and uniform work terms. 
That pledge for agreement came recently when the supervisory board of Germany&rsquo;s third largest utility changed its position and agreed to a common agreement. Management also agreed to allow workers who are in enterprises that get sold off by the company to remain in the agreement until a new collective agreement is negotiated with that business. 
<img height="62" alt="" src="" width="100" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <img height="63" alt="" src="" width="100" />
The three unions had joined together in a number of protests against the company&rsquo;s indifference to a common contract, including a demonstration numbering 5,000 at Vattenfall Europe&rsquo;s 1 March AGM in Berlin. 
In March, Swedish trade union SEKO began a campaign at home to assist the German unions with achieving a common contract. In Germany, Vattenfall Europe consists of several former utility companies that the Swedish firm has purchased over the past six years, including Bewag, HEW, Laubag and Veag.

German Unions, Vattenfall Come to Terms

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Canadian Ivanhoe Mines, one of the larger foreign investors in Burma, has been forced to temporarily close its copper mine in Burma for a few weeks last month. Problems related to the mine&rsquo;s bank and insurance broker ending its relationships with the operation, a result of the economic sanctions that the US government installed on Burma. According to Ivanhoe, the mine has been reopened in the meantime, albeit at a lower level. 
Company sources reportedly acknowledged that the US sanctions are making it increasingly difficult to work in Burma. The company also admitted having a few technical problems with the Burmese government, including on import permits. The Monywa Copper Project is operated as a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and the Burmese government. The Burmese government forces joint ventures on all foreign investors operating inside Burma, guaranteeing the dictatorial regime a steady flow of income.

Canadian Investor Needs to Temporarily Close its Mine in Burma

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