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The struggle continues for trade union rights for contract workers at Colombia&rsquo;s vast mining complex, Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n. ICEM mining affiliate Sintracarb&oacute;n has been fighting to organize the contract workers at the mine. 
 
Following the successful organization of mechanics and machinists of the company Chaneme at Cerrej&oacute;n in November (see InBrief No. 144 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/">here</a>), the new union Sintrachaneme was formed and recognized by Chaneme. Since, the company has refused to discuss even the slightest improvements to salaries and working conditions with either Sintrachaneme or Sintracarb&oacute;n. 

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A second union of contract workers under Sintracarb&oacute;n&rsquo;s guidance, Sintrans, representing transport workers of the Sotrans company, has seen that employer refuse to recognise the union or to consider any of the bus drivers&rsquo; demands. In fact, the sacking of union activists among bus drivers has brought fear and reluctance by workers to engage in union activity. 
 
Sintracarb&oacute;n, with the full support of ICEM, is focusing efforts towards the consolidation of Sintrachaneme and pressuring the mechanical maintenance contractor to accept the demands of workers. International support is important in the push for a collective agreement between Chaneme and its 300 staff, an accord that will guarantee the existence of the union. 
 
&ldquo;The Chaneme management, Carbones de Cerrej&oacute;n management, and the Colombian Ministry of Social Protection must all commit to the process,&rdquo; said Sintracarb&oacute;n representative Jaime Deluquez. 

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Since workers of Chaneme and Sotrans at Cerrej&oacute;n took the step to organize, they have suffered a campaign of harassment and persecution from employers. Sintracarb&oacute;n, consisting of 3,500 direct employed miners at Cerrej&oacute;n, has denounced complicity by their employer of denial of work rights by contractors, saying Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n has &ldquo;turned a blind eye to the abuses.&rdquo; 
 
Harassment has included workers being visited at home, with threats of dismissal or offers of perks in return for loyalty to the contractors and a turn against the newly-formed unions. 
 
Cerrej&oacute;n management is also criticised by its mining workforce for applying double standards, claiming on the one hand that it respects human and trade union rights with rhetoric that it support the free association into unions of workers of contractors, while working covertly with the contractors and units of government to destroy the trade union organization process. 
 
These abuses of the right of association and collective bargaining contravene national law, the Colombian Constitution, and ILO Conventions 87 and 98, ratified by Colombia. 
 
An ICEM Project on Social Dialogue, organized by Colombian Coordinator Carlos Bustos and counting Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n as a participant, has achieved exemplary results. The multinational companies holding stakes in one of the world&rsquo;s largest open-cast coal mining operations &ndash; Xstrata, AngloAmerican, and BHP Billiton &ndash; must now prove that a commitment to the Social Dialogue Project and to global labour standards is genuine by stepping forward to defend the rights of outsourced workers at its mining operation in La Guajira department in northeastern Colombia.

Union, Contract Workers Continue Fight for Work Rights at Cerrejón in Colombia

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A 53-day strike by 1,500 leather workers in Iraq concluded successfully on 7 December 2009, after the state-run Enterprise of Leather Industries and Iraq&rsquo;s Ministry of Industry acceded to demands of workers on safety benefits. The leather workers, part of the Federation of Workers&rsquo; Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI), won added payments totaling 25-30% of salaries for working in hazardous conditions. 
 
The workers&rsquo; committee, led by Sa&rsquo;ad Issa and Munadhil Atiya, displayed persistence and resolve throughout long negotiations with the state, and even after reaching a deal with state administrators in the early days of December, the strike continued for three days until all workers were paid the safety stipend in cash. 

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Munadhil Atiya (above) and Sa&rsquo;ad Issa (lower, centre) implore leather workers to continue the fight during 53-day strike 
The leather workers are employed in two factories in Baghdad and a third in Al Kūfah, some 160 kilometres south of the capital city. They produce shoes, bags, and clothing items such as leather coats. The strike began in mid-October and was brought on by workers having to deal with hazardous chemicals and operate dangerous equipment. 
The leather workers&rsquo; strike served as an inspiration for 4,000 textile workers. Following the early December end of the leather strike, Baghdad-area textile workers embarked on an 18-day strike of their own and won partial safety stipends from a separate state-run enterprise inside the Ministry of Industry. 
 
&ldquo;The strike organizers showed an ability to lead and maintain a determination among the ranks that lasted for more than seven weeks,&rdquo; said FWCUI President Falah Alwan. &ldquo;We learned a valuable lesson in this strike. That lesson is not to respond to hollow promises intended to slow or extinguish the movement of workers. 

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="119" />
Falah Alwan
&ldquo;The victory of the workers in the leather industries is the beginning of a new drive for the workers&rsquo; movement in the public sector and in all sectors.&rdquo; 
 
The strike was marked by continual dialogue with state administrators, but talks that produced only false promises and nothing substantive. Anticipating this, strike leaders engaged fellow workers to conduct constant demonstrations, marches, and public gatherings demanding safer work conditions and safety benefits. 
 
Leather workers also participated in a peaceful 6 October Baghdad manifestation, in which protestors were met by Iraqi armed troops firing rubber bullets. (See InBrief No. 143 <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3531-Iraqi-Trade-Unionist-Murdered">here</a>.)&nbsp;In that clash, FWCUI strike leader Munadhil Atiya was beaten and then arrested for his participation. 
 
Nearly 90% of all industry in Iraq is incorporated in state hands and the country still abides by the Saddam-era Decree 150 of 1987 that prohibits independent trade unions in the public sector. Thus the need for persistent and ongoing direct action by workers is in order to gain labour rights from the al-Maliki government. The ICEM commends the leather and textile workers of the FWCUI for their heroic and historic actions in late 2009.

Safety Benefits Won by Iraqi Leather Workers after 53-Day Strike

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the HIV/AIDS workshops in Trinidad and Tobago and in Ethiopia, and inform on the Global Fund approvals for Round 9, as well as on the 2009 Epidemic Update. 
 
The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin 
 
ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to <a href="mailto:hiv.aids@icem.org">hiv.aids@icem.org</a>. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome. 

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World AIDS Day 
 
In his statement on World AIDS Day, 1 December, the ICEM General Secretary focused on the &ldquo;I AM&rdquo; theme, with the key slogans: &ldquo;I am accepted; I am safe; I am getting treatment; I am well and I am living my rights&rdquo;. &ldquo;Our approach is also rights-based &ndash; we never forget that our first responsibility is to protect the rights, health and livelihoods of our members, their families and the wider community&rdquo;, he stated. &ldquo;Above all, we have to advocate Know-Your-Status campaigns for voluntary counselling and testing. If for every two people who go on antiretroviral treatment five more are newly infected, then we know that prevention must be the focus of our HIV/AIDS work&rdquo;. 
 
The ILO contributed to the &ldquo;I AM&rdquo; theme with the slogan &ldquo;I am living my rights. I am working.&rdquo; 

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World AIDS Day: HIV/AIDS Workshop in Trinidad and Tobago 
 
The Oilfields Workers&rsquo; Trade Union (OWTU) of Trinidad and Tobago, with the support from the Humanity Fund of the ICEM Canadian affiliate, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP), organised the opening of their HIV/AIDS workshop for OWTU General Council members to coincide with World AIDS Day, 1 December. 
 
Speaking at the opening, OWTU President General Comrade Ancil Roget emphasised the importance of fighting HIV/AIDS at the workplace. He highlighted that the World AIDS Campaign and World AIDS Day are about understanding that access to prevention, care and treatment is for ALL, not just for some. He also reminded the participants that high HIV infections are a manifestation of the deeper social and political crisis we are in and we cannot ignore the fact that poverty, inequality and social injustice make people more vulnerable to HIV. He pledged that his union, in line with the World AIDS Day slogan, will keep the promise to stop HIV/AIDS and protect the rights of workers living with HIV. 
 
Carol Ann Senah, Technical Director of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC), pointed out that the infection does not just hitch rides with truck drivers on lonely highways; it also travels business class with men in dark suits. The number of people living with HIV and AIDS has gone up from 14,000 to 20,000 in a short time. With the productive workforce,&nbsp;the age group 15-49 years hardest hit, the workplace must be an enabling environment to fight the pandemic. She called on everybody to be tested on national testing day, 4 December. 
 
During the three-day workshop, some 45 participants discussed behaviour change, preventing HIV transmission, negotiating on HIV and AIDS and they elaborated the elements of an HIV/AIDS workplace policy on the basis of a presentation by Hans Schwass, the ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant and the OWTU&rsquo;s own HIV/AIDS policy presented by Executive Officers, Comrades Chandersain Ramsingh &amp; Sati Gajadar-Innis, which was adopted in June 2009. Their work in groups was also informed by the excellent presentation of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work by the regional ILO HIV/AIDS specialist, Madhuri Supersad. 
 
Participants came up with many ideas for HIV/AIDS activities at their workplace and within their communities to be organised within the next six months and to be reviewed and further carried forward at an HIV/AIDS workshop in 2010. 
 
One of the highlights of the workshop was the participation in a mixed performance of pantomime, music and testimonies of people living with HIV, which addressed stigma and discrimination. 

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HIV/AIDS Workshops in Ethiopia 
 
In two consecutive workshops in Addis Ababa in November, stakeholders advanced the LO/FTF-sponsored HIV/AIDS project in cooperation with the ICEM and its affiliate, the National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions (NIFECM). 
 
In the first workshop, officials revisited the NIFECM HIV/AIDS Policy which was adopted by Congress in August and the excellent leaflet which was produced in Ethiopia. They also reviewed and selected materials which should go into a toolbox for peer educators. 
 
A larger group of 20 participants, of whom 9 were women, with unionists from the basic unions discussed strategies to negotiate on HIV/AIDS, elaborated an HIV/AIDS workplace policy, acquired campaigning skills and brainstormed campaigning ideas. 
 
The Project Advisory Committee with participation from NIFECM, the LO/FTF and ICEM also met on the occasion. Priorities for the next few months are the training of peer educators and the starting of awareness and prevention campaigns in mining localities, as well as training on bargaining skills. 

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Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation Receives ILO Certificate, Organises Peer Educators Training for Women and Commemorates World AIDS Day 
 
On behalf of the INMF, its General Secretary B.K. Das received a certificate from the ILO Delhi Office in recognition of the contribution made to the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the world of work through the successful implementation of the HIV/AIDS Project sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and the ICEM. 
 
In September, the Federation organised a training course for women to become HIV/AIDS peer educators. Peer educators courses held so far have shown a low participation by women, due to strong cultural barriers. Yet the potential of women and their involvement with families and the community has to be harnessed to fight HIV and AIDS. 
 
On World AIDS Day, 1 December, master trainers and peer educators, trained by the HIV/AIDS project, organised meetings, symposiums and rallies in major coalfields. The programmes did not only involve workers but also reached out to local authorities, teachers and students of schools and colleges, non-governmental organisations and organisations of people living with HIV. The HIV/AIDS project provided campaign materials for the events. 

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Global Fund Board Approves 85 Grants in Round 9 
 
The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, meeting in Addis Ababa from 9-11 November, approved 85 grants (out of 159 proposals received) worth almost USD 2 billion over the first two years for the three diseases. 54 grants received immediate approval, whereas 31 were approved in principle, subject to funding becoming available. 
 
Of the total amount, 44 percent are for HIV/AIDS grants. TB and malaria grants received 28 percent each. Of the grants approved, Africa (East, Southern, West and Central) will receive 56 percent. 
 
Subject to confirmation by the Board meeting in April 2010, Round 10 will be launched at the start of May 2010. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 110 of 12 November. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (<a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>); to receive GFO send an email to 
<a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 

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2009 AIDS Epidemic Update: New HIV Infections Down 
 
New infections in 2008 were 30 percent lower than they were 12 years ago, according to data released by UNAIDS and the WHO. The 2009 Epidemic Update, available at <a href="http://www.unaids.org">www.unaids.org</a>, confirms a trend first observed about two years ago. 
 
UNAIDS and WHO state that the spread of HIV appears to have peaked in 1996. An estimated 2.7 million new infections occurred in 2008, the same number as in 2007, but well below the estimated 3.5 million new infections in 1996. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most heavily affected region, accounting for 71 percent of all new HIV infections in 2008. According to the report, there seems to be evidence that the declines are due to HIV prevention measures. 
 
However, the number of people living with HIV continues to grow. In December 2008, an estimated 33.4 million people were living with HIV, compared to 33.0 million in 2007. The reason that this number continues to grow while new infections are levelling off is that HIV-positive people are living longer, due in large part to expanded antiretroviral (AARV) coverage. The percentage of those needing ARV treatment who actually receive it rose from 7 percent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2008 or 4 million. That also means that over half of those in need of treatment or about 5 million people are still not receiving it. AIDS-related deaths in 2008 amounted to 2 million. 

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President Zuma Addresses the Nation on World AIDS Day 
 
In a national address on World AIDS Day, South African President Jacob Zuma declared that drug therapy for HIV-positive women and babies would be broadened and start earlier. 
 
The new policy on pregnant women, aimed at ensuring that babies are born healthy, is in line with the new treatment guidelines issued by the WHO just a day before. This new policy and extended access to antiretroviral drugs gives substance to Zuma&rsquo;s break with the views of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, who during almost a decade in office had questioned whether HIV causes AIDS. It is estimated that delays during this decade caused the death of 35,000 babies and that 330,000 people died prematurely for lack of treatment. 
 
With more people being HIV positive than in any other country, Zuma called on South Africans to struggle against AIDS as they had against apartheid. 
 
(Source: Right Vision News, 4 December) 
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News from Global Union Federations 
 
The International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a> reports in its HIV/AIDS Updates 75 and 76,&nbsp;1 and 15 November, on the opening of an HIV/AIDS drop-in centre on the Indian-Nepalese border which is designed to reach out to those working on the 2000 trucks that cross the border every day. It further reports on the private sector workshop held in Ghana which focused on the role of the private sector in Global Fund processes. It also informs on preparations for the 18th International AIDS Conference to be held in Vienna from 18-23 July 2010. 

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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 51, December 2009

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The founding congress of PRO.GE was held 26 November in Vienna, a union that is the result of a merger of the former Chemical Workers&acute;Union (GdC) and the GMTN (metal, textile, food, energy, and mining union). Rainer Wimmer, originally from the foodworkers, was elected President, while Alfred Artm&auml;uer (former President of the chemical workers), Karl Hass, Franz Riepl (metalworkers) and 6 others were elected vice-presidents. Peter Schissler (former General Secretary of the chemical workers and Executive Committee member of the ICEM) and Manfred Anderle were elected new executive federal secretaries. Manfred Anderle will remain as contact to the European and International Trade Union organizations. 

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The Congress was held under the motto &quot;Self-confident, combative, solidary&quot;, and brings together over 250,000 blue collar members in Austria. The new union will be negotiating some 140 sectoral collective agreements in 16 different sectors. 
 
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addressed the congress and congratulated delegates on the successful merger which, he said, sets a good example to those at the international level, who also seek to unite unions in the manufacturing industries.

Founding Congress Takes Place of New Austrian Manufacturing Union PRO.GE

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The world&rsquo;s biggest steelmaker announced to workers and trade unions at its December European Works Council (EWC) that the company likely will continue to reduce its global workforce in 2010. Trade union projections suggest that ArcelorMittal plans to cut some 10,000 jobs, or 3.5% of its total global workforce, as the company seeks cost savings of US$500 million. 
 
Arcelor Mittal currently employs 285,300 people worldwide. The Luxembourg-based company aims to regain lost market share. Company spokesman Bill Steers told the EWC at a plenary meeting on 9 December that &ldquo;global workforce reductions [will be] due mainly to natural attrition and optimisation of production.&rdquo; 

<img src="" width="100" height="95" alt="" />
The company has said that most of the cuts will affect US and Europe, where its growth potential is limited. ArcelorMittal workers in South Africa were relieved to be told that the announcement of 10,000 job losses would not affect them. Some of ArcelorMittal's facilities in the U.S. and South America are struggling, particularly those producing flat rolled steel for the auto industry. 
 
Dave McCall, District 1 director for the ICEM-affiliated United Steelworkers (USW), said the union did not expect mass job cuts in the US, as demand there is picking up some in the wake of the financial crisis. 
 
Overall, demand for steel is rising again, after most steelmakers took a major hit in 2009 and were forced to cut their production in response to a slump in demand. ArcelorMittal has put a bid down on Zimbabwe's Zisco; it has invested in a mill in India; and is looking at further Brazilian operations to match iron-ore supplies there. The company has operations in 60 countries around the world. 
 
The cuts are expected to affect workers who were temporarily laid off at plants idled last year. 
 
The company had originally planned to eliminate 9,000 positions in its administrative and commercial functions during 2009, but ended up cutting 36,000 jobs, of which 50 percent were in Europe.

ArcelorMittal to Cut 10,000 Jobs This Year

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While the campaign for retention of coal-mining jobs and a fair contract by the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) with Xstrata in Australia continues, another union is resisting proposed mining and metallurgical job cuts by the Anglo-Swiss mining house. 
 
In North America, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) launched a campaign in northern Ontario in mid-December to preserve 676 copper and nickel smelting and refining jobs at Xstrata&rsquo;s Kidd Creek metallurgical plants in Timmons, Ontario. The company announced on 8 December that it was permanently shuttering a smelter and refinery, effective 1 May 2010, thus heaping further economic havoc on a region already beset by job losses and a strike. 

<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="74" />
The proposed job losses come on top of 725 mineworker layoffs by Xstrata in February 2009, when it temporarily shut three mines in the region. CAW Local 598 of Sudbury, Ontario, which is currently engaged in negotiations with Xstrata Nickel toward a 1 February contract expiration, has made recall of those jobs its number one bargaining table priority. 
 
In Timmons, CAW Local 599 has started a public campaign aimed at drawing business and government pressure on Xstrata Copper Canada to reverse the Kidd Creek closure. A major part of the campaign is aimed at the federal government, which, the union contends, must protect Canadian jobs as part of the C$19 billion sale of these former Falconbridge assets to Xstrata in 2006. 
 
That issue is similar to one included in the campaign by the United Steelworkers (USW) in its strike against Brazilian Vale. The CAW has supported USW Local 6500 on picket lines and with financial support in its current six-month strike against Vale, and it has also joined USW in calling on the Canadian Parliament to enact legislation that would give transparency to deals made under the Investment Canada Act. 
 
In the corporate takeovers of both Vale buying Inco and Xstrata paying a premium to get Canadian-based Falconbridge, many details between the federal government and the foreign mining houses were kept secret, and the job-slashing now &ndash; the unions feel &ndash; could have been prevented had more disclosure come in 2006. 
 
CAW Local 599 is pursuing an aggressive petition campaign calling for both retention of the Kidd Creek facility and for government action on the proposed job cuts. Visit the union&rsquo;s website <a href="http://www.caw599.ca">here</a> to learn more and to join the petition. 

<img alt="" src="" width="183" height="150" />
In Australia, CFMEU&rsquo;s campaign against Xstrata in New South Wales on redundancies and lack of a current enterprise agreement continues. Last summer, Xstrata announced it was cutting 180 coal-mining jobs at two collieries, Tahmoor and Ulan. 
 
The union has been engaged in lawful industrial actions at Tahmoor over the past several months (see past ICEM coverage <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/">here</a>), with miners conducting a march through Tahmoor on 21 December to coincide with a 24-hour work stoppage. Other industrial actions included the refusal to load coal on to trains for shipment to Port Kembla. 
 
Early in the new year, the industrial actions were halted so coal could be loaded on to trains and eventually shipped to German steelmaker ZKS. That request came from metalworkers in Germany due to low inventories and in order to keep operations at ZKS in production. 
See the CFMEU's campaign website <a href="http://www.xstratafacts.com/">here</a>.

Mine Unions in Australia, Canada Reject Xstrata’s Job Cuts

Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/p&acirc;te et de papier/pulp y papel 
Urgent Alert, Sappi/South Africa: Voice Opposition, Support CEPPWAWU 
 
ICEM is calling for immediate action to a union-smashing affront by Sappi at its Enstra mill in Springs, South Africa. Sappi suspended 19 shop stewards and 23 other workers due to their union affiliation with Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood, and Allied Workers Union (CEPPWAWU), a longtime ICEM affiliate. 
Starting on 6 May, SAPPI systematically and maliciously began taking disciplinary actions against CEPPWAWU leaders inside the 650-worker Enstra sulfate pulp and printing papers mill. The allegations: inciting workers (90% of whom are CEPPWAWU members), harassment, and use of company property for union purposes. At a 28 May meeting, SAPPI said it would start disciplinary hearings on them, hearings that will be one-sided and unfair. The ICEM urges that messages get sent and that this posting gets wide attention: union bashing will not be tolerated in South Africa! 
 
ICEM finds it reprehensible that SAPPI refuses meeting participation by CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s National Coordinator for Sappi branches, and called it &ldquo;a blight on Sappi everywhere,&rdquo; in a letter to SAPPI house in South Africa. The ICEM calls it a blatant violation of basic trade union rights and this union-bashing merits immediate condemnation. Respond! 
 
Take the message below, and send to Enstra manager Dave Glazebrook at <a href="mailto:dave.glazebrook@sappi.com">dave.glazebrook@sappi.com</a> and <a href="mailto:Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com">Wikus.van.Zyl@sappi.com</a>, <a href="mailto:Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com">Jan.labuschagne@sappi.com</a>, and then pass it to others to do the same: 
 
Sappi: Hands Off Union at Enstra. 
 
NO!!! &hellip; Union Bashing in South Africa! 
No &hellip; no suspending Union Rights in South Africa! This is malicious, anti-democratic, and anti-people &hellip; there is no room for it in economic recovery. Sappi cannot afford disrepute now or ever in its paper businesses. Reinstate the workers&rsquo; representatives and others at Enstra Now. These trade union members have been incriminated because they represent Sappi&rsquo;s biggest trade union in South Africa. It is deplorable labour-relations and employment conduct &hellip; and a cancer inside South Africa. Trade union rights at Enstra &ndash; anywhere at Sappi &hellip; Europe, North America, or in South Africa &ndash; are guaranteed and will never be denied! 
 
 
Please send solidarity messages to CEPPWAWU: <a href="mailto:secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za">secretariat@ceppwawu.org.za</a>

SAPPI: Act Now!!

Sappi: pulp &amp; paper/pâte et de papier/pulp y papel

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The roll-out of the revised Global Framework Agreement between EDF, French and other national unions, and the ICEM and global federations did not come without workers&rsquo; representatives airing the shortcomings to the electric company&rsquo;s application of its social responsibility principles. In Paris last week, from 12-14 May, EDF senior managers and the trade unions reviewed performance of the agreement through an established joint Consultation Committee for Social Responsibility (CCSR). 
 
A renewed global pact was agreed to in January 2009 for a four-year period. Last week marked the official unveiling and signing of the improved agreement by the social partners, which included the presence of EDF Chairman and CEO Pierre Gadonneix. The meetings also saw the election of a secretary for the workers&rsquo; representatives, selection of a six-member bureau to oversee the agreement, and a thorough review of the 22 articles contained in the social responsibility document. 
 
During the review, the 22 workers&rsquo; representatives from seven countries did produce a declaration of dissatisfaction on recent corporate performance. It was read to Gadonneix during an extensive question and answer session on 13 May. The declaration specifically cited workers taking industrial actions in France over social degradation, and a break-down in social dialogue at EDF&rsquo;s four businesses in Poland which caused workers to stage a manifestation at the French embassy in Warsaw on 5 May. 

<img alt="" src="" width="342" height="185" />
EDF&rsquo;s CCSR Workers&rsquo; Bureau, with Pierre Gadonneix (centre), from left, Guoping Zhou, CCAP, China; Pascal Lambolez, CGT, France; Dominique Tavera, FO, France; Lee Parris, Prospect, UK; Marc Ferron, Secretary, FCE-CFDT, France; and Walentyn Sasim, Solidarnosc, Poland 
The declaration also called EDF&rsquo;s restructurings and financial deals expensive, with workers suffering adverse effects. We &ldquo;note a general worsening of the social conditions within all subsidiaries of the group, a worsening in job security due to outsourcing, a worsening of both living and working conditions, and a worsening of social dialogue, particularly when it comes to salary negotiations. We cannot accept that workers pay the price for the strategic choices made by the company.&rdquo; 
 
The workers&rsquo; representatives of the CCSR said it refuses to let the agreement be used as mere &ldquo;social window dressing for EDF&rdquo; and demanded that managers at all levels of the company &ldquo;agree and respect without restrictions&rdquo; the general spirit of all the articles of the global agreement. 
 
Gadonneix responded by saying that he heard the pronouncements of the declaration. He also said he wants the social responsibility agreement to be window dressing for EDF, but that he desires to have &ldquo;substance inside that window.&rdquo; 
 
Workers&rsquo; representatives on the CCSR come from five different unions inside France, three from the UK, and representation from trade unions of Poland, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Vietnam, and China. 
 
Marc Ferron, representing ICEM French affiliate FCE-CFDT, was re-elected as secretary of the CCSR, and will serve a two-year term leading the global workers&rsquo; representatives to ensure EDF compliance with the agreement. The company is rapidly expanding operations both inside Europe and around the world.

EDF’s New Global Agreement Unveiled, Complete with Company’s Social Errors

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A week of industrial actions against AngloGold Ashanti by miners aligned with ICEM affiliate Ghana Mineworkers&rsquo; Union (GMWU) was avoided late last month when the union and company came to a Memorandum of Understanding that settles a three-year dispute over an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP). 
 
The dispute dates back to November 2006, when Ashanti Goldfields fully merged with South Africa-based AngloGold. Then, GMWU proposed an ESOP for Ashanti staff at the Obuasi and Iduapriem gold mines who did not receive a US$1,000 &ldquo;goodwill package&rdquo; at the time of the merger. 

<img src="" width="159" height="88" alt="" />
AngloGold refused to take up the proposal, resulting in a two-and-a-year stalemate. In October 2008, the two sides resumed talks on the ESOP with GMWU giving the negotiations process six months to produce an ESOP. By 24 April, when Ghana management of the mining house still would not move toward ESOP parity for the Ghana miners with their South Africa counterparts, GMWU issued a press release calling it &ldquo;morally wrong for AngloGold Ashanti to discriminate in its employee relations,&rdquo; and stating a week of protests would result. 
 
But on 28 April, the two sides, meeting in Accra, agreed to an ESOP called for the 5,000 affected miners to receive 20 shares each of AngloGold stock, to be paid across four years in five-share increments. The first such award was made in May 2009. 
 
In a joint statement, GMWU General Secretary Prince William Ankrah and company Vice President for Ghana, Keith Faulkner, said: &ldquo;We are very pleased that this matter has been finalised. We see it as an important further step towards improved cooperation between the company and the union which we are convinced will advance the interests of both the company&rsquo;s employees and its shareholders.&rdquo;

ESOP Accord reached Between Ghana Mineworkers and AngloGold, Averting Industrial Actions

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ESOP Accord reached Between Ghana Mineworkers and AngloGold, Averting Industrial Actions

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