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The threats of strikes are now on in mining in South Africa, following the latest rounds of talks in several mining sectors. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) filed for dispute resolution last week with the country&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) in gold talks with the Chamber of Mines. 
 
In coal talks on Friday, some progress was noted on benefits and working conditions, although the NUM and other unions remain far apart on wages. Employers, through the Chamber, are offering 7.5% for lower-paid colliery workers and 6.5% for others. 
 
The talks in the gold sector, covering 150,000 miners, went to government intervention following the Chamber&rsquo;s refusal to offer more than 7%, a few percentage points less that South Africa&rsquo;s current consumer price index. In 2008, that inflation index hit 11.5%, while the current food index is at 14.9%. The NUM is seeking 15% and the possibility of a strike in the gold sector is likely. 

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NUM General Secretary Frans Beleni
&ldquo;It has always been our intention to bargain in good faith, to try to reach a settlement through negotiations,&rdquo; said NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. This year, he added, he NUM may have &ldquo;to use a different tool in strike action.&rdquo; The NUM is standing behind a 12th Congress mandate from late May that calls for significant wage increases across the mining sector. 
 
At that Congress, NUM President Senzeni Zokwana said, &ldquo;Let no union leader believe we are going to settle for low wages. We will demand a living wage for mine workers, construction workers, and energy workers.&rdquo; Talks in all NUM sectors are now in critical stages. 
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Senzeni Zokwana
In platinum mining negotiations, Anglo Platinum&rsquo;s wage offer of 6% was rejected by the NUM and further talks are scheduled for 25-26 June. The union is seeking 15% with AngloPlats, while it has a 20% wage proposal tabled before Impala Platinum. It also seeks a moratorium on hiring and promotions of white women at Implats, the world&rsquo;s second larger platinum producer, as well as a pension fund increase from 16.5% to 25%. Talks there are to resume on 17 June. 
In coal talks, progress was made on establishing employee stock ownership plans at companies which offer no such plans, and some progress was noted over language on sub-contracting. Talks in coal will resume on 18 June. 
In all South African mining sector talks, the NUM is pressing for full work rights and guarantees for contract workers, and an end to the use of labour brokers. The union is also seeking a six-month paid maternity leave in several sets of negotiations. 
 
The biannual wage talks are being conducted with the Chamber of Mines on behalf of several mining houses, as well as directly and bi-laterally with some major mining companies, most specifically the platinum producers and Harmony Gold. 
 
In an unrelated matter, the NUM scored a decisive Labour Court victory over diamond miners DeBeers. The court ruled that DeBeers violated the labour Relations Act when it bypassed dialogue with the NUM over severance payments for miners made redundant. The court decision, ordering payment for 1,467 displaced diamond miners, was a victory for the NUM, which argued successfully that due process under Section 189A of the labour statute, was violated.

Wage Talks Stall Across South Africa Mining Sector

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Canada&rsquo;s Paper and Forest Workers&rsquo; Federation (FTPF) of Quebec&rsquo;s Confederation of National Unions in Canada (CSN) held its 58th Congress last week in Quebec City under the banner of &ldquo;More than Ever, We Continue Our Action.&rdquo; ICEM affiliated FTPF-CSN is part of the Quebec-based CSN labour umbrella organisation representing 300,000 workers from 1,700 trade unions in 4,394 workplaces. 
 
Following the opening of the triennial Congress, the President of FTPF-CSN, Sylvain Parent, presented the report of the executive committee before an address by the President of CSN, Claudette Carbonneau. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Kemal &Ouml;zkan delivered a speech at the Congress, which ran from 8-12 June, and presented the Global Union Federation&rsquo;s work plan for the pulp and paper sector, as well as union actions of late. Some 200 delegates attended the Congress. 

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FTPF-CSN, which last year celebrated its 100th anniversary, rallied its members to have a forward-looking vision for the timber, pulp, and paper industries of Quebec. According to the 13,000-member union, since the onset of Canada&rsquo;s forest crisis in 2003, plant closures have taken place &ldquo;at a rate of hell.&rdquo; 
 
Over 15,000 workers, including 3,200 FTPF members, have lost their jobs. It is estimated that out of 250 communities dependent on the forestry sector, 31 were severely strained by the job loss. Several experts spoke on new products derived from forestlands, as well as on environmental issues and an overall global portrait of the sector and in Canada. 
 
On 10 June, the future of Quebec&rsquo;s forestry industry was discussed through different panels. 
 
FTPF has 185 local branch unions, and is structured around three sectors: forestry (sawmills, golf clubs, and transportation), pulp and paper (25 unions), and wood processing (doors, windows, counters, furniture, woodworking, and printing. According to union officials, 3,500 members are in the pulp and paper sector. 
 
Its umbrella federation, the CSN, covers nine national sectors, including commerce, white-collar workers, health and social services, metal, pulp/paper/forestry, communications, education, public services, and construction.

Quebecois Paperworkers Hold 58th Congress in Canada

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In Naples, Italy, last month, FEMCA-CISL, the ICEM-affiliated energy, chemicals, and textile-related industries union of the federation CISL, held its Third National Congress at the Tiberio Palace Hotel and Conference Center. 
 
The Congress focused on measures to overcome the financial crisis and collective bargaining following the general framework agreement in Italy of 15 April 2009. 

Sergio Gigli, who was re-elected General Secretary of FEMCA-CISL, stated in his Secretariat Report that it is a stressful time for trade unionism, considering protection of workers at this time of economic crisis, as well as work revisions and restructurings being carried out by many companies. 

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Sergio Gigli
But, he added, FEMCA-CISL, a consolidated federation that is united and strong, has been able to intervene successfully in several very difficult situations. 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated the union for successful renewal of the Global Framework Agreement with Eni, the Italian energy concern, and expressed his condolences to those members of FEMCA-CISL and all Italians who were affected by the March 2009 earthquake in central Italy. 
 
Then, Warda wrote to ICEM&rsquo;s affiliates in Italy: The ICEM expresses its &ldquo;deep sorrow and our sincerest hopes that recovery and rebuilding will occur in the dignified manner in which the world has come to know the Italian people.&rdquo; At last month&rsquo;s Congress, Warda also called for international cooperation to combat the dire consequences of the global financial crisis, brought on by the failed policies of the neo-liberal era. 
 
The ICEM congratulates Sergio Gigli on his re-election as General Secretary of FEMCA-CISL, and expresses its continued and strong readiness to work with the union on issues.

FEMCA-CISL Holds 3rd National Congress in Italy

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The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) held a changing-of-the-guard Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 24 &ndash; 27 May. 
 
The Congress unanimously elected Jyrki Raina as the new General Secretary of the Global Union Federation. Raina replaces Marcello Malentacchi, who retired after 20 years as General Secretary. 
 
The IMF Congress adopted a new Action Programme for the period 2009-2013. The policy agenda spells out the main themes of the programme, and Raina emphasized them &hellip; building &ldquo;strong national trade unions, organize the unorganized, invest in union-building, education and training, strengthen collective bargaining, defend trade union rights, improve women&rsquo;s representation, and bring about sustainable development and decent work.&rdquo; 

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Raina has served as General Secretary of Nordic-In since 2006. He is a native of Finland, and worked for the Finnish Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union, Kemianliitto, the ICEF and ICEM, before leading Nordic-In. 
 
Raina also emphasized the importance of increasing international cooperation of the labour movement worldwide, so as to more effectively campaign on issues such as the financial and economic crisis, climate change, and sustainable jobs. 
 
Another significant action taken at IMF&rsquo;s Congress was the Executive Committee&rsquo;s endorsement of the Declaration of Intent, signed in March by other Global Union Federations. This document signifies a further step to an eventual unified global union structure for industry and manufacturing. 
 
The IMF Congress also conducted elections for other positions. Berthold Huber, Germany&rsquo;s IG Metall President, was elected IMF President; Thomas R. Buffenbarger, President of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) was elected IMF Vice President; and Hiroshi Kamada of Japan and Fernando Lopes of Brazil were elected as IMF Assistant General Secretaries.

IMF Congress Welcomes New General Secretary

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Jens Bundvad of Danish trade union CO-industri was unanimously elected 11 June as General Secretary of Nordic-In, the five-nation, 22-member Trade Union Federation. The election occurred at Nordic-In&rsquo;s biennial Congress in Stavanger, Norway. 
 
Bundvad succeeds Jyrki Raina, the federation&rsquo;s first General Secretary who was elected to lead the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) last month. 
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Jens Bundvad
Stefan L&ouml;fven remains the president of 1.2-million-member Nordic-In, which effectively covers industrial workers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. L&ouml;fven is also president of the Swedish union, IF Metall. 
 
Nordic-In came into existence in January 2006 with the merger of Nordic Metal and the Nordic Industry Workers&rsquo; Federation (NIF). Its mission is to coordinate policies and actions of the Nordic trade unions, especially within European industry federations European Metal (EMF), EMCEF, and the European Textile, Clothing, and Leather Federation, as well as globally with the ICEM, IMF, and the International Textile, Garment, and Leathers Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF).

Nordic-In Elects Jens Bundvad as General Secretary

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Instead of facing testimony in a US federal court over the complicity its Nigerian subsidiary played in the 1995 executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni rights activists, Royal Dutch Shell made a US$15.5 million payout to the nine defendants &ndash; relatives of the martyrs &ndash; and the Ogoni people. 
 
Shell&rsquo;s announcement came at the outset of a federal court case in New York under the US&rsquo;s Alien Tort Claims Act, an effective global instrument to bring social justice and payment damages to non-American victims of crimes or violations committed by companies. Shell said it would pay US$10.5 million to the defendants and US$5 million for an Ogoni trust fund. 
 
Shell termed it a &ldquo;humanitarian settlement&rdquo; and proclaimed innocence over the 1995 complicity with the Abacha regime&rsquo;s round-up and execution of the land and environmental rights activists, who were leading the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. 
 
The civil lawsuit in the US, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and EarthRights International, lingered on for well over a decade. One US writer, labour rights activist Phil Mattera, wrote, &ldquo;It is understandable why the plaintiffs &hellip; would feel a need to settle a case that had dragged on for 13 years and provide some financial assistance to the Ogoni community. Yet it is frustrating to see Shell trying to turn an outrage into an opportunity to burnish its image.&rdquo; 
 
Shell was charged with crimes against humanity, and being complicit with arbitrary arrest, torture, jurisprudence negligence, wrongful death, and emotional distress. Saro-Wiwa and the others faced hasty trials and immediate execution by security forces of General Abacha in November 1995.

Shell Pays Nigeria’s Ogoni People, Avoids Tell-tale US Court Case

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In September 2007, ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) jointly signed a Global Framework Agreement with Belgian-based Umicore, a chemicals, metals technology, and catalysts systems company. In line with a relevant article of the agreement calling for the parties to have an annual mission to a Umicore worksite to monitor compliance, a visit to a plant in Shanghai, China, producing cobalt and zinc powders for battery application was made from 16-20 March. 
 
The ICEM was represented by Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan, while IMF General Secretary Marcello Malentacchi, IMF Director of Education, Health and Safety Magnus Palmgren, and Jef Peeters, chairman of Umicore&rsquo;s European Works Council also were along. The company was represented by Ursula Saint L&eacute;ger, Senior Vice-President of Human Resources. 

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Umicore&rsquo;s corporate officials presented the topics covered in the global agreement related to social objectives, human rights, working conditions, and environmental issues. Both Global Union Federations explained their activities regarding multinational companies, and Peeters provided information on the structure of the company&rsquo;s European section. The union side commented on the reports given and put forward expectations for the future. 
 
The delegation then visited the company's subsidiary in Shanghai, called Shanghai Blue Lotus. Employing 88 workers &ndash; 71 men and 17 women &ndash; the plant does have trade union representation. ICEM and IMF had the opportunity to meet Lu Yaozhong, chairman of the branch union at Shanghai Blue Lotus, and discussed working conditions and trade union rights. 
 
Commented &Ouml;zkan on the visit, &quot;This first joint activity has created hopeful expectations for the future. In&nbsp;view of the importance of international industrial relations, the global agreement between ICEM/IMF and Umicore will continue to serve to improve working conditions of the company worldwide.&quot;

ICEM, IMF Join Umicore on a Joint Mission to Shanghai, China, Plant

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Trade unions joined with aid agencies and environmentalists on the streets of London last weekend, 28 March, to march under the banner &ldquo;Put People First&rdquo;. The 35,000 peaceful protestors called for reform of the world&rsquo;s economy under a common banner, &ldquo;Jobs, Justice, Climate.&rdquo; Decent jobs and public services for all, justice for the world&rsquo;s poor, including the 200 million people that the United Nations predicts will be thrown into poverty as a result of the economic crisis, and a green economy to slow climate change. 
 
The march was part of the global campaign to challenge the G20 ahead of the summit meetings last week, and was sponsored by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) of the UK. 

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The colourful four-mile march from Embankment to Hyde Park was accompanied by brass bands and chants of &ldquo;Bail out the people, not the bankers!&rdquo; Speeches were then heard from trade union leaders, including United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard, Australian Council of Trades Unions (ACTU) President Sharon Burrow, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, and comedian Mark Thomas. All called for an overhaul in the mechanisms governing the world economy. 
 
&ldquo;Even before the crisis, the world suffered poverty and faced the threat of climate change,&rdquo; said GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny of the UK. &ldquo;The G20 must fight recession by making the world fairer and greener.&rdquo; At least 1,500 GMB members took part in the march. 
 
The high turnout has been attributed in part to the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media used by organizers in the run-up to the event. During the march, messages that had been posted on Twitter were shouted through a loud speaker.

Trade Unionists join others on streets of London demanding G20 to ‘Put People First’

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Ukrainian unions in the chemical and related industries discussed crisis conditions and challenges at a meeting on 24 March in Kiev, a meeting organised by ICEM and Nordic-In, the industrial labour federation covering workers in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. 
 
The main objective of the meeting was to develop cooperation with Ukrainian unions in chemicals and other such industries in the Ukraine. The emphasis included organising, collective bargaining, multinational companies, and capacity building for trade union officers, with firm intent to conduct a long term and extensive project in the country. 

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The participants included Kemal &Ouml;zkan, Chemicals and Rubber Industries Officer of ICEM, Kent Karrlander, Head of Chemicals for the Nordic-In, which represents over 20 trade unions in the metal, energy, chemicals, plastics, paper, and mining sectors, and Swedish IF Metall Union&rsquo;s International Officer Henrik Nilsson and Local Officer Peter Johansson. The participating labour organisations from Ukraine included the Nuclear Power and Industry Workers&rsquo; Union (Atomprofspilka), Chemical and Petrochemical Industry Workers Union, Oil and Gas Workers&rsquo; Union, and the Construction and Building Materials Workers&rsquo; Union. 
 
Before starting any specific activities, the participants discussed needs, views, and the expectations that a long-term project would undertake. One key aspect expressed by Ukrainian trade unionists was bargaining during crisis conditions, such as at present with the global economic recession. The Ukrainians were interested in learning the experiences of unions in other countries as a major need. 
 
Structural issues, finances, and organising were put forward as burning issues in which a future project should centre on. As well, using international tools for developing organising drives was also mentioned as an agenda item of future activities. The project is scheduled to start in September 2009 and continue for a three-year period. 
 
&quot;With great appreciation to Nordic-In, which strives to initiate great cooperation with the unions represented chemical workers in the Ukraine, I am confident that the issues and problems will be addressed and handled in this project,&rdquo; said the ICEM&rsquo;s &Ouml;zkan. &ldquo;This, indeed, will have a big impact on ICEM affiliates in the Ukraine and signifies a good example of international trade union solidarity.&quot;

Ukraine’s Unions Seek Tools to Overcome Economic Crisis in Joint ICEM-Nordic Project

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Pencho Torkmachiev, President of the Federation Independent Union of Miners of Bulgaria (FIUM), opened a day-long celebration on 31 March of the 100-year anniversary of the founding of Bulgaria&rsquo;s oldest and largest mining union in Pernik, the industrial city where the trade union movement and FIUM were born. As in many other countries, the miners&rsquo; union became the leading force in the trade union movement and survived numerous cataclysmic changes including two world wars and the advent and fall of communism. 
 
The importance of the FIUM was demonstrated in the final event of the day when Georgi Parvanov, the president of Bulgaria, spoke to the audience, which included several government ministers. President Parvanov spoke about how the FIUM shaped his life, having grown up in Pernik. 

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President Parvanov
Joe Drexler, ICEM&rsquo;s director of industry and corporate affairs, spoke in the final event on the economic crisis sweeping the world and how mining trade unions are addressing the crisis. He also spoke on the importance of Bulgaria moving to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. In private conversations, the FIUM expressed confidence that Bulgaria will make a major step toward ratification in 2009. 
 
There are few places in the world that would rival Pernik in terms of its celebration of miners. Monuments and sculptures to miners dominate the city center along with a mining museum that includes an underground coal mine. Those attending the event were given a tour of the underground mine which showed how technology has changed the nature of mining 
 
FIUM President Torkmachiev along with Vice Presidents Alexander Kanev and Valentin Valchev, expressed their appreciation to the ICEM for its continuing support to the trade union. The FIUM has approximately 11,000 members engaged in coal, metal, and industrial materials mining.

Bulgarian Miners’ Union Celebrates 100 year Anniversary with President of Bulgaria

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