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An indefinite strike by a branch of the Peruvian National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) was averted just hours before a strike deadline on 14 January when managers at the country&rsquo;s third largest copper mine finally addressed and corrected a set of seven grievances. 
 
Some 1,200 miners of the ICEM-affiliated FNTMMSP&rsquo;s Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde union had downed tools twice in late December &ndash; once for 24 hours on 24 December, the other time on 31 December to 1 January for 48 hours &ndash; over violations in a three-year collective agreement that will expire on 30 August 2011. 
 
Branch union Chairman Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a said miners were preparing for a strike contingency planning meeting on the evening of 13 January when the company called union leaders in and pledged correction of contract breaches. The two sides had been meeting with officials from the Peruvian Labour Ministry throughout last week to resolve the issues. 
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Cerro Verde is 53.56% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan, 21% by SMM Cerro Verde Netherlands, a subsidiary of Sumitoma Metal Mining Co. Ltd. of Japan, and 19% by Compa&ntilde;&iacute;a de Minas Buenaventura of Peru. The operation, in the southeastern region of Arequipa, sells 50% of its annual copper concentrate production to Sumitoma Metal in a contract that runs until 2016. 
 
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde produced 283,750 tonnes of copper in 2010, and it also produces molybdenum concentrates as a by-product. 
 
The grievances centered on shortcomings to family members in private medical coverage, inadequate transportation to and from the open-pit mine, and food rations while at work. The union was also in dispute with the copper producer because many workers were forced to work extra hours without added pay. The normal work-week at Cerro Verde is 45.5 hours. 
 
The FNTMMSP has a number of labour agreements coming due this year in Peru&rsquo;s mining and metals sector. One lapsed contract, with Barrick&rsquo;s Gold of Canada, was resolved two weeks ago, covering workers of Minera Barrick Misquichilca at the Lagunas Norte gold mine in northern Peru and the Pierina mine in the Amcash region. 
 
The three-year contract gives workers a 7% increase retroactive to 1 June 2010; 6.5% effective 19 June 2011; and 6.5% on 19 June 2012. A signing bonus was also agreed to, giving miners with ten or more years of service 27,000 soles (US$9,620); those with five to ten years, 26,000 soles; two to five years, 23,500 soles; and those with one to two years, 21,500 soles. A quarterly productivity bonus also was won. 
 
On the metals side, FNTMMSP met on 14 January with management of Metallurgical Peruana SA (Mepsa), a manufacturer of steel grinding balls and smelted metals used in the mining and agricultural sectors, to resolve a 2010-2011 dispute. Some 400 metalworkers staged a ten-day strike in early December and besides 2010 pay awards, Peru&rsquo;s Labour Ministry is now mediating FNTMMSP&rsquo;s demand to reinstate 14 workers who were sacked in last month&rsquo;s strike.

Grievances Settled, FNTMMSP Calls Off Peruvian Copper Strike at Cerro Verde

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The attack by U.S. Steel against 900 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 and even more retirees &ndash; 9,000 in total &ndash; will receive a boost 29 January when thousands of Canadian trade unionists converge on Hamilton, Ontario, for a Day of Action. A lockout was derisively imposed by the American steelmaker there on 7 November after Local 1005 refused to vote on steep cuts proposed in a renewal contract. (See prior ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4101-Flawed-Investment-Canada-Act-Again-Seen-in-Steel-Lockout ">here</a>) 
 
The manifestation, organising by the Ontario Federation of Labour (CLC), will begin with speakers at 13h00 on Saturday, 29 January, at Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main Street West, and then a march will wind through the streets of the city centre. 
 
The lockout ten weeks ago became the latest affront by a multinational to the Investment Canada Act. When U.S. Steel received Canadian government approval to buy Ontario-based steelmaker Stelco three years ago, it pledged to maintain job and production levels. But within a year, it had levied layoffs on USW members at both of Stelco&rsquo;s mills, in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, and began supplying Canadian customers with products made in its US mills. 
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The Canadian Attorney General in 2009 brought a lawsuit against the company for failing to comply with the Investment Canada Act. U.S. Steel&rsquo;s obstruction and delay in addressing the suit was set back late last month when a federal appellate court judge upheld the right of the union and other parties to intervene in the breach of the Act. 
 
In bargaining last autumn, U.S. Steel pressured Local 1005&rsquo;s bargaining committee to accept a two-tier pension scheme in which new hires would be closed off from a longstanding defined benefit plan. The company also proposed de-indexing the pension benefits for retirees, a losing proposition for 9,000 retirees against inflation. U.S. Steel sought as well cuts to active workers&rsquo; cost-of-living adjustments, and proposed cutting two weeks of vacation time. 
 
When the steel producer demanded the bargaining committee put the concessions to a vote of active members and union leadership refused, the lockout began. U.S. Steel immediately cut off all health and disability benefits. Under Ontario provincial labour law, a company has the right to mandate a one-time only vote on a final contract offer. But U.S. Steel has not exercised that option, knowing full well that Local 1005&rsquo;s 2010 contract mobilisation campaign would produce a decisive &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote. 
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In fact, at a union meeting on 8 December, when a motion was put forward to put the company&rsquo;s proposals to a vote, a full 90% of Local 1005&rsquo;s members defeated it. 
 
The union already has received overwhelming support from Canadian unions, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union. At a Hamilton picket line on 5 January, CUPE National President Paul Moist presented the locked-out local with C$10,000, and said, &ldquo;Defending Steelworker pensions is a fight CUPE and the entire labour movement must be part of. If private sector pensions are eroded, the public sector will be next. 
 
CAW also has contributed to USW Local 1005 and President Rolf Gerstenberger addressed the CAW National Council of Delegates in early December. Gerstenberger called for a nation-wide campaign to resist the growing strength of international corporations in Canada and a political overhaul in order to revamp the loopholes in the Investment Canada Act. 
 
(See the mobilisation call for the 29 January Hamilton Day of Action <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/20110129USSteel.pdf">here</a>.)

Rally Slated 29 January in Canada to Support Locked-out Steelworkers

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Trade unions in Tunisia played a central role in the social uprising that last week toppled the autocratic and corrupt rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 24 years in power. The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), conducted a two-hour general strike on Friday, 14 January, in protest of the government&rsquo;s violent suppression of the uprising. 
 
Tunisian citizens refused continuance of a 24% rate of unemployment, corruption, growing inequality, and limited access to the political process. 
 
With over 60 protesters killed in two weeks of clashes with the police, unions are demanding justice for the killers of the protestors. Throughout the clashes, the UGTT headquarters were repeatedly blockaded by police, who then stormed and ransacked the union&rsquo;s offices on 12 January. 
 
Reacting to the events, the National Commission of the UGTT held an extraordinary session on 11 January and called for public investment, improvement in the basic needs of the people, and a rebalancing of regional inequalities. A further important demand was for the establishment of an unemployment fund, which would provide a badly-needed social safety net for workers who lose their job. 
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Further, trade unions articulated the demand for democracy and freedom of the press. Privatisation of public services over recent years had increased the above stated unemployment level, which is now double for the country&rsquo;s youth. 
 
The violence used to suppress the Tunisians right to peaceful protest attracted condemnation from trade unions around the world, as well as from governments. The Sarkozy administration of France, however, attempted to help President Ben Ali retain power in the former colony, by providing additional military equipment. 
 
Speaker of the Parliament, Foued Mebazaa, was sworn in as interim president on Saturday, 15 January. He must now work together with social partners to find solutions to the inequality, unemployment, and corruption in Tunisia, ensuring that trade unions can operate freely and safely. 
 
Similar social problems are being protested in Algeria, bordering Tunisia to the West, where riots in seven cities have lead to five deaths, and over 1,000 arrests. European countries have increasingly closed their borders to North Africans looking for work, exacerbating the problems.

Tunisian ‘Jasmine Revolution’ Ousts Autocrat; Unions Call for Social Justice

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After review of the deadly clash between workers and police at Advanced Chemical Industries Ltd. (ACI) in Siddhirganj, Bangladesh, on 23 January, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union (ICEM) finds ACI&rsquo;s conduct contemptible and the root cause of the violence that left one worker dead and over 100 hospitalised. 
 
The Geneva-based ICEM also supports trade unions in Bangladesh who are risking repression and have demonstrated since last Sunday in opposing the heavy-handed use of police force in central Narayanganj district in putting down the legitimate protests of ACI workers on 23 January. 
 
After numerous attempts to correct disparities inside the 407-worker ACI Pharmaceutical plant, full-time and temporary workers alike attempted to stage a peaceful protest. ACI&rsquo;s response to the worksite protest was to call police, who caused mayhem by firing rubber bullets and some 30 canisters of tear gas at the protestors. 
 
One worker, a 25-year-old temporary worker, Enamul Huq, died in a hospital from wounds inflicted from police. Scores others remain hospitalised and the police now have unfairly issued arrest warrants for workers involved in the protest.
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Arrest warrant: Beaten Striker
The ICEM determines that responsibility for the melee belongs with ACI, which too long neglected the pleas of both workers and their plant-level trade union in addressing legitimate workplace concerns. Workers&rsquo; grievances center on failure to give temporary workers full-time, permanent work status, with some temporary staff working as long as 12 years in those unsecured position and without the level of benefits that permanent workers receive; refusal to allow temporary workers to join the plant-level union; and failure to address extremely low wage rates for both permanent and full time workers. 
 
&ldquo;The fact that nearly all 400 workers, temporary and full-time alike, participated in this disaffection and that is one signal that management of ACI failed in its duties,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in total support of workers&rsquo; grievances and call on ACI to adopt a higher level of social conduct.&rdquo; 
 
The ICEM also reminds civil society that Bangladesh has ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98, freedom of association/right to organise/right to organise/bargain collectively conventions, and the Bangladesh government has a duty to ensure these global standards are applied. 
 
The ACI plant produces drug aids for human use. The plant employs 167 full-time workers and 240 temporary workers. ACI is major Asian manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of drug aids, agri-chemical and pesticide products, and basic consumer products. 
 
The ICEM is a Global Union Federation representing 20 million workers, encompassing 467 trade unions in 132 countries. 
 
For further information, contact: ICEM Information Officer Dick Blin, <a href="mailto:dick.blin@icem.org">dick.blin@icem.org</a>, +41 22 304 1842, or +41 79 734 8994.

ICEM Condemns ACI Conduct in Deadly Bangladesh Chemical Plant Riot

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In the 19 days since 29 miners were pronounced dead in New Zealand&rsquo;s worst mine disaster in 114 years, recovery of the remains of those that perished is still far off, and Pike River Coal Ltd. has given redundancy notices to 90 full-time workers. 
 
That happened on 8 December. 
 
Pike River has already severed its relationship with 70 contract workers at the coking coal mine near Atarua on the west coast of the South Island. 
 
Meanwhile, police and Labour Ministry interviews of Pike River workers over mine safety became contentious when the company insisted on having its lawyers sit in on the interviews. The Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) objected to that, saying it might inhibit the investigation into criminal liability. 
 
&ldquo;We have objected &ndash; it&rsquo;s a clear conflict of interest,&rdquo; said EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little. &ldquo;Police are looking for criminal liability among workers or management &ndash; or both. It&rsquo;s improper for the company to be represented by lawyers in those interviews.&rdquo; 
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EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
Pike River issued the mandatory four-week layoff notices to its permanent staff last week, meaning that 90 miners will not get paid beyond mid-January. Pike River Coal Ltd. has already launched a commercial feasibility study assessing whether or not it will continue mining the rich Brunner coal seam, but investors say it will take NZ$200 million to re-start the mine. 
 
But it&rsquo;s estimated that it could still take several weeks &ndash; or months &ndash; before the remains of the dead miners are recovered. A local coroner has visited relatives of the deceased to get DNA samples, indicating the difficulty that lies ahead to identify the 29. 
 
The initial 19 November methane gas blast at the Paparoa Range mine most likely killed all 29 miners. Following a subsequent explosion on 24 November, the miners were declared dead. In the days that followed, two further explosions occurred, with coal-stoked fires raging deep in the horizontal shafts of the mine until the middle of last week. 
 
On 29 November, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced formation of a three-member Royal Commission of Inquiry to determine causes of the tragedy. That Commission, headed by High Court Justice Graham Panckhurst, with two international mine safety experts on it, will be given broad latitude and it could take up to two years to assemble findings. In the meantime, area police, the Labour Ministry, and the EPMU will conduct separate investigations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="157" />
NZ Congress of Trade Unions President Helen Kelly with Ian Murray and Tim Whyte, CFMEU Australia at the&nbsp;2 December Memorial Service
Police ended supervision of the mine-site last week and turned recovery procedures back to the company. A Polish-designed G&oacute;rbniczy Agregat Gaśniczy (GAG) jet engine inertisation unit was brought in from the Queensland, Australia, Mine Rescue Unit and on 2 December began to suppress the fires and neutralize combustible gases with inert gases, such as nitrogen. 
 
While this continued over this weekend, a metal cap was placed over the main shaft to allow back pressure in the mine and to further inert deadly gases inside the mine. Early speculation to the cause of the initial explosion was a power outage to a ventilation fan that was some 100 metres into the mine. Methane quickly built-up, followed by a massive explosion. 
 
When an electrician went inside to check the outage during the fateful afternoon of 19 November, the explosion deeper in the mine blew him off his feet. He did manage to rescue an equipment operator who was thrown from a machine, and the two escaped 108 metres up a ladder in a ventilation shaft. Whether or not the giant ventilation fan had been topside, making it easier to re-start, will surely be one of the many issues in upcoming investigations, including the Royal Commission Inquiry. 
 
Several disaster relief funds have been established, and the ICEM is recommending donation be sent to EPMU&rsquo;s &ldquo;Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust.&rdquo; The ICEM&rsquo;s New Zealand affiliate said half of everything contributed will go to the Grey District Labour Council community fund, with the other half used to establish a dedicated fund for the education of the children of those miners killed. 
 
Bank transfers can be made to Kiwibank in New Zealand. Account number 38-9011-0165987-00, with checks written to: EPMU Pike River Miners&rsquo; Family Support Trust, c/o PO Box 14-277, Kilbirnie, Wellington, NZ 6241. 
 
Several labour organisations across the globe have already contributed, including A$100,000 by the Australian Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Construction Union (CFMEU) and C$10,000 by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union.

Pike River Aftermath: Layoffs, Lawyers and Long Investigations

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The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) has launched an international campaign calling on the Swedish furniture multi-national IKEA and its wholly-owned Swedwood subsidiary to uphold commitments on trade union and worker rights throughout its supply chain. The campaign comes in response to Swedwood and its appalling labour practices at a US factory in Danville, Virginia. 
 
Swedwood is the primary wood manufacturer for IKEA. 
 
In behaviour which has brought comparisons to Walmart, local management in Danville has blocked trade unions access to its 275 factory workers since commencing operations at the site in 2006. The Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration in October found Swedwood guilty of numerous unsafe work practices and improper record keeping, hiding the true numbers of serious accidents of workers. 
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Other abuses occurring at Swedwood in the US factory include forced overtime without advance notice, workers forced to work 30 days consecutively, managers manipulating work schedules to cut overtime, workers not allowed bathroom breaks, and most importantly, workers denied their right to trade union representation, and forced to work in an unsafe environment. 
 
BWI has always regarded dialogue in its Global Framework Agreement with IKEA as a model. In that agreement, BWI&rsquo;s first ever, IKEA clearly commits to follow the ILO core labour standards throughout its global operations. Since signing the agreement in 1998, those commitments have been respected in Poland, Russia, and elsewhere, and the Gene3va-based Global Union Federation (GUF) insists that local managers in Danville must be forced to open its doors to the BWI North American affiliate, the International Association of Machinists (IAM). 
 
BWI took the campaign to an IKEA outlet in Vernier, Geneva, on 7 December. Trade union leaders from over 25 countries conducted the protest and sent a clear message to IKEA that they were united against workers&rsquo; rights abuses in Danville, USA. See video footage of the campaign <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrfPUe-2Kc">here</a>. 
 
The GUF is calling on supporters to send a Christmas card to IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson, demanding an end to labour rights abuses in Danville. The card states that IKEA&rsquo;s customers should be assured &ldquo;that the furnishing products they buy from your stores have been made by workers whose human rights are fully respected.&rdquo; Click <a href="http://www.goiam.org/ikea/">here</a> to send your Christmas message to IKEA.

BWI Launces Holiday Campaign Against IKEA’s Swedwood on Abusing Trade Union Rights

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By a vote of 521 to 398 on 6 December, members of Sindicato de los Trabajadores de Collahuasi voted to end a 32-day strike against the world&rsquo;s third largest copper miner, located in Chile. The Union of Workers of the Collahuasi Copper Mine and Do&ntilde;a Ines de Collahuasi, owned jointly through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata, resumed talks on 29 November with help from Roman Catholic Prelate Marco Antonio &Oacute;rdenes, Bishop of Iquique. 
 
The union's Second Director, Carlos Daniel Rojas, told the ICEM that Bishop &Oacute;rdenes succeeded &quot;in opening the door&quot; with the company when there appeared little hope that talks would resume, and the union took it from there to work out a settlement. 
 
The final resolve came in negotiations on 5-6 December, with an acceptable compromise. 
 
The vote during the evening of 6 December ended the longest private-sector Chilean copper strike, surpassing one of 26 days in 2006 at the Escondida mine, owned 57.5% by BHP Billiton and 30% by Rio Tinto. 
<img alt="" src="" width="190" height="142" />
Members of the Union Vote to Ratify 42-month Contract on Monday, 6 December
Terms of the settlement will give the 1,551 miners of Collahuasi a wage increase of 16.3% over a 42-month period, and a bonus payment of 12 million pesos (US$25,160). Other key issues in the strike, which began on 5 November, were company-paid health care and education costs for miners&rsquo; children. The union did make significant advances in both these areas from prior levels paid by the company. 
 
The Collahuasi Miners&rsquo; Union also won bonuses for work performed on national holidays, even more of a bonus on Christmas, a 40,000-peso-per-month improvement in the housing allowance, a 400,000-peso housing loan, and dependent scholarship awards for both primary school and university education. 
 
Union President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz said the contract&rsquo;s outcome would increase monthly benefits by 120,000 pesos, or US$252 per month. 
 
The strike was marked by a united workforce led by Mu&ntilde;oz and Second Director Rojas. The miners of Collahuasi took up residency in the Santa Mar&iacute;a School in Iquique, and staged peaceful and near-daily manifestations in that city. Those demonstrations were strategic in order to draw attention to their cause of gaining adequate health coverage and educational stipends from an employer that posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion due to high copper pricing. 
 
The 6 December vote took place inside the Santa Mar&iacute;a School. Collahuasi miners returned to return to work high in the Atacama desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, during the evening of 7 December. 
 
&quot;The Collahuasi miners and their families showed strength and fortitude in a dignified and peaceful way against an enterprise intent on maintaining production and turning profits,&quot; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &quot;For that, they have earned the pride and admiration of the world's mining unions.&quot; 
 
ICEM coverage of this heroic strike throughout November can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4117-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike-Now-in-Crucial-Stage">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4102-Miners-Dig-In-at-Chile’s-Collahuasi-Copper-Strike">here</a>.

ICEM Applauds Resolve of Collahuasi Miners in Chile at Strike’s End

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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), ICEM&rsquo;s white-collar affiliate in Africa&rsquo;s most populous country, halted a strike on 4 December against Mobil Producing Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the American energy giant ExxonMobil, so that negotiations over breaches to a collective agreement could begin. 
 
The strike was conducted by the Mobil Producing Nigeria Branch of PENGASSAN over the energy company&rsquo;s sudden and unilateral sacking of 84 Nigerian workers. The union blocked entry at the company&rsquo;s administrative offices in Eket in Akwa Ibom State, as well as at other Mobil Producing facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt. 
 
The strike began on 30 November and was called off on 4 December when Mobil decided to discuss the issue, stating that it would return the workers to their jobs. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="99" />
The company, the operating partner in a joint venture with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp., dismissed 66 offshore workers and 18 office employees employed by various contractors. Under the collective agreement, the workers are covered by provisions of the agreement. 
 
By late last week, negotiations did prove that Mobil had violated the contract, both in terms of failing to meet and discuss the layoffs with PENGASSAN prior to the sackings and failing to establish redundancy pay with the union. 
 
The union and company agreed to establish a working group to calculate the exact remuneration owed dismissed workers but Mobil&nbsp;has not returned Nigerian nationals to their rightful jobs. 
 
PENGASSAN has constantly had to defend its collective agreements is the rapid escalation of casualisation in Nigeria&rsquo;s oil and gas sector, with Mobil Producing consistently being one of the worst violators.

PENGASSAN Halts ExxonMobil Strike in Nigeria for Talks

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Some 45,000 German paperworkers will see a 2.5% wage increase come 1 January. That was the negotiated result in Gernsbach in the third round of bargaining that concluded early on 2 December between ICEM affiliate IGBCE and Deutschen Papierindustrie (VAP), the employers association. 
 
The new collective agreement will run until 30 November 2011 and for the first time, ties together under one collective agreement workers employed at some 220 paper mills in both the western and eastern regions of Europe&rsquo;s biggest economy. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="102" />
IGBCE and VAP agreed to improve the pension plan effective 1 January 2012 by &euro;100 from &euro;234.98. IGBCE also won improved holiday pay and shift work increases effective 1 January 2011. 
 
Perhaps most significantly, the two sides used a working group to reach a common understanding over the use of temporary workers, thus preventing the abuse of such workers. 
 
IGBCE Chief Negotiator for the Paper Sector, Holger Nieden, called the results satisfactory, stating that some paper industry employers in Germany have weathered the financial crisis in good economic shape, while others have workers that are still employed at still reduced hours.

IGBCE, German Paper Producers Reach Wage Terms for 2011

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