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Click to hear RadioLabour's daily broadcasts.
RadioLabour is the international labour movement's radio service.

RadioLabour

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The ICEM this month began a search for qualified candidates to assume the duties of Mining/Diamond, Gems, Ornaments, and Jewelry Production Officer. The vacancy was created when Joe Drexler decided to leave the ICEM to resume his duties with the United Steelworkers in North America. 
 
The position will be based in Geneva. The successful candidate must have fluent written and spoken English language skills, as well as IT skills. The Mining/DGOJP position at ICEM offers an excellent salary and level of benefits. 
 
Candidates must send full details of their background in a cover letter in English, along with a CV to General Secretary Manfred Warda and ICEM&rsquo;s Finance and Administration Officer Marie-France Sarfati <a href="mailto:marie-france.sarfati@icem.org">here</a>, (or to fax no. +41 22 304 1841) by 15 February 2011. 
 
The letter of job posting can be found <a href="/index.php?id=5&amp;la=EN&amp;doc=4203">here</a>, and a job description for the position in English can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Job%20description%20mining%20and%20DGJOP%20Officer.pdf">here</a>.

ICEM Seeks Mining Officer Based in Geneva

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RadioLabour broadcasts a daily round-up of news in the global labour movement. Now the daily broadcast is accessible from the ICEM website. 
 
The Solidarity News shows are five minutes long Monday to Thursday, and the Friday show is ten minutes long and summarizes the news of the week. 
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RadioLabour's news programmes are presented by international labour educator, Marc B&eacute;langer, and broadcaster, Irma Arkus. 
 
RadioLabour is also accessible via its <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net">website</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/radiolabour">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://RL-5.net">mobile phones</a>, <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/itunes-instructs.html">iTunes</a>, UnionBook and Twitter. 
 
The ICEM is proud to provide access to this important labour communications tool.

Access RadioLabour’s Daily Broadcasts on ICEM’s Homepage

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Unit chapel leaders at some 50 corrugated paper operations in the UK, representing some 2,500 Unite the Union members, recently recommended acceptance of a 2010 pay package. Paperworkers represented by both Unite and GMB will now vote in the coming weeks on a pay accord that was agreed to with Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) in mid-December. 
 
The CPI, representing major corrugated boxboard and packaging employers at plants mostly owned by DS Smith, SmurfitKappa, and SAICA, agreed to raise their wage offer from 2.1% to 2.5% last month in response to the unions moving forward on a ballot for industrial action. 
 
The offer, when accepted by members of the two unions, will be retroactive to 1 September 2010, the date a prior one-year accord expired. 
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Unite National Officer Peter Ellis
Unite and GMB were set to file for an industrial ballot on 10 January. Unite represents the majority of workers in the UK&rsquo;s corrugated paper sector, while GMB represents some 800 workers in the sector. 
 
The 14-member joint union/CPI bargaining body began 2010 negotiations in July, but talks became bogged down in October when CPI offered a pay hike of less than half of the retail price index. Unite National Officer Peter Ellis says now that the tentative settlement falls into the upper level of median pay awards in all industries in the UK this year. 
 
Meanwhile, Unite and Kimberly Clark reached an early accord for 2011 that was agreed to by workers in December. The agreement covers 500 workers at two towel and tissue mills, the Northfleet mill in Kent and the Barrow-in-Furness mill in Cumbria. The 2011 pay award, effective 1 February, will be 1.5%, with Unite also winning a lump sum bonus of &pound;1,450. That lump sum will also be calculated into the pension contribution, thus raising the benefit level.

Corrugated Paper Agreement to be Voted on By Unite, GMB Members

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The ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (SNTMMSRM) of Mexico, or Los Mineros, conducted its National Assembly 10-11 January in Mexico City. Delegates representing over 60 sections and fractions of the union, from 22 states, pledged unfaltering support for their General Secretary in exile, Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, and for the national executive. 
 
The meeting confirmed the priority challenges facing Los Mineros at present during four ongoing strikes, at Cananea, Zacatecas, Taxco, and El Cubo. The National Assembly also reiterated the union&rsquo;s demand for the immediate release of union officials Juan Linares Mont&uacute;far and Mart&iacute;n Salazar, and for an immediate end to the illegal freezing of union bank accounts by the Calder&oacute;n government. 
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Delegates resolved to continue the fight to bring Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez back to Mexico, currently made impossible by sham legal charges from the government. Los Mineros also want their democratically elected leader to be officially recognized by the authorities, which has not yet happened. 
 
Delegates pledged full support to the Global Days of Action for trade union rights in Mexico, 14-19 February, which will mark the fifth anniversary of the deadly mine disaster at Pasta de Conchos. The Days of Action will provide a strong, cross-sector trade union alliance carrying out actions across the globe, intended to pass common demands to the Mexican government through its embassies and consulates around the world. 
 
To get involved in trade union action during the week 14-19 February, email <a href="mailto:tom.grinter@icem.org">tom.grinter@icem.org</a>. See the campaign material&nbsp;<a href="/en/5-Mining-DGOJP">here</a>.&nbsp;

National Assembly of Los Mineros of Mexico Reiterates Trade Union Demands

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A new 10,000-member was born early in the new year when the ICEM affiliate Forestry, Logging, and Industrial Workers&rsquo; Union (FLIWUL) and the National Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia merged, creating the United Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia (UWUL). 
 
The merger, after two years of discussion, was formalised by delegates of both unions at a convention in Monrovia on 5 January. The new union has 2,600 members in mining, 1,250 in forestry, as well as 6,000 members employed at the Firestone Rubber Plantation. It also has 550 members working for the National Transit Authority, the public bus system. 
 
The union has five collective agreements and that will increase to eight in the near future. 
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FLIWUL brings ArcelorMittal mine and railroad workers into the merger, workers employed at the state&rsquo;s Forestry Development Authority, as well as the Firestone workers. The National Mine Workers&rsquo; Union represents miners in the country&rsquo;s western cluster of mining activity. The union is closing in on organising iron ore miners of a Chinese company. 
 
The 5 January merger convention elected four leaders from each trade union to guide UWUL, including FLIWUL David Sackoh as Secretary-General. &ldquo;The mission of this merger is to unite Liberian workers to build bargaining power for decent work, mutual respect, and sustainable development at the workplace and in communities through collective action and social dialogue,&rdquo; said Sackoh. 
 
The other union officers include: Aloysius S. Kie, President, who served in that capacity with the Mine Workers and as President of the Liberia Federation of Labour Unions; Oretha Tarnue, Vice President, who led FLIWUL Union No. 1, or the Forestry Development Authority Union; Dave Seneh, Deputy Secretary General for Administration; James D. Sorboh, Deputy Secretary General for Operations; Sakou Sirleaf, Treasurer; Tenneh Y. Nagbe, Chair of the Women&rsquo;s Committee; and Mohammed Guss, Advisor. 
 
Sackoh&rsquo;s tenure as leader of FLIWUL dates back 2003 and before that with the union&rsquo;s predecessor, FLAWUL, where he organised a logging company in the West African nation. Prior to that, he headed the United Seamen&rsquo;s and Port Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia, where he landed after a career as a marine engineer. 
 
In a statement read at the early January merger convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated the two unions, calling the marriage &ldquo;a great accomplishment and one in which the adage &lsquo;In Unity There is Strength&rsquo; we know will prove true in Liberia.&rdquo;

FLIWUL, Miners’ Union in Liberia Merge to Create United Workers’ Union

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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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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. 
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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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