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The methane gas explosion on 23 February that killed 13 Turkish coal miners in northwest Balikesir Province could have prevented, according to the ICEM and its affiliate, Maden-Iş. The private mine, owned by Erhan Ortakoylu and his Şentaş Mining Company, had experienced a similar gas blast on 2 June 2006 killing 17 miners, and indications this time reveal that warning safeguards used to detect methane accumulation was inadequate. 
 
As well, it is suspected that a ventilation system failed to clear the deadly methane gas. 
 
The explosion injured 33 miners. Five of the 13 victims died in a hospital after rescue due to severe burns. The tragedy occurred 250 metres deep in the Odakoy mine, some 20 kilometres from the city of Dursunbey. 

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Maden-Iş stated that the mine had undergone insufficient safety audits. Even though the government claimed an audit had occurred in the weeks prior to the explosion, the union said that infractions detected were not corrected. Oftentimes in Turkey, safety audits of mines by the Labour and Social Security Ministry are not done on-site, but rather through queries to mine owners from afar. Nizamettin Tiryaki, a mining engineer for Maden-Iş, said that it is also not uncommon for mine inspectors to be paid off by private mine operators. 
 
The ICEM believes that expenditures on modern and efficient safety equipment by private miners are also sacrificed in order to maximize profits. At the time of the explosion, the ICEM, together with the ILO, was leading a symposium in Ankara on the necessity for Turkey to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
In a letter of condolence to Maden-Iş Presidnt Ismail Aslan, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda said, &ldquo;The explosion illustrates the importance of our shared work in improving safety standards in Turkey&rsquo;s mines, and moving the Turkish Government towards ratification and proper implementation of ILO Convention 176.&rdquo; The complete letter can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/19.Maden-Is.Condolences.24Feb.pdf">here</a>.

Gas Blast in Turkey, Killing 13, Needs Thorough Investigation

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Swiss specialty chemical company Clariant has announced a further 400 job cuts at the Muttenz site, near Basel, as the company seeks to move production and increase profits. Clariant CEO, Hariolf Kottmann, oversaw the cutting of 137 jobs last year. Clariant turnover is around $8 billion and the company is a world leader in the supply of chemicals and colors for the textile, leather, paper, packaging, plastics, and printing. The proposed further job cuts will be made between now and 2012, as the company seeks to relocate production to Asia, where production costs are lower. 
 
The mass job cuts would be in breach of the collective agreement and of Swiss labour law. Workers are legally entitled to a period of consultation where alternative employment opportunities can be examined, before any jobs can be cut. 

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ICEM Swiss affiliate UNIA, together with the Clariant Workers Council, is pressing the company to first preserve these jobs, or at least provide acceptable redundancy packages. Demands include replacement jobs for every worker affected by the cuts, practical training and education programs, and no further cuts at the Schweizerhalle pharmaceuticals site. 
 
UNIA and the Clariant workers are organising a demonstration at Clariant headquarters on Thursday 11 March, starting at 5.15am. From there the demonstration will move to Liestal, meeting at the train station at 9am, before marching to the local government building &lsquo;Landratsgeb&auml;ude&rsquo; to call on district councilors to step in to preserve local jobs. 
 
The protesting Clariant workers have a Facebook page with more information.

Swiss Chemical Workers Protest Job Cuts

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The negotiations towards a new national collective agreement for the manufacturing industry in Denmark had been deadlocked, see ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3634-Danish-Contract-Negotiations-Deadlocked-on-National-Level">here</a>, but the renewal of the agreement was signed on Monday 22 February by the ICEM-affiliated general union, Central Organization of Industrial Employees in Denmark (CO-industri) and the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI). However the HK private trade union rejected the agreement. 
 
Gains for workers across the sector include two additional weeks for parental leave, improved redundancy pay, improved monitoring of health and safety for night-shift workers, improved working conditions for shift workers, and newly created authority on equal pay. 
 
The collective bargaining round directly affects 240,000 workers in the manufacturing industry. But it also indirectly affects an additional 350,000 workers in the private sector. As previously reported by ICEM, historically, the manufacturing agreement is used as a blueprint for other negotiations. 

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Both Hans Christensen, the negotiator for DI business, and Co-industri President Thorkild E. Jensen, were content with the renewed agreement, after negotiators worked through the night to beat a deadline which would have moved negotiations to a tribunal. Jensen described the agreement as &ldquo;balanced and guaranteed our members&rsquo; jobs&rdquo;. The agreement is valid for the period 1 March 2010 to 1 March 2012. 
 
Night workers were a priority for trade union negotiators in the talks, with free health exams provided every two years and for those employees who are advised against night work, their employer must find them another job. Night workers will also be eligible for up to ten extra days off annually. Changes to the rules on pension contributions will discourage employers from moving to precarious contracts. Apprentices see a 4.5% pay increase over the two years. 
 
The deal has been described as a &ldquo;crisis agreement&rdquo; and sees trade unions agreeing to only a small pay increase and for the first time since 1991, no increase in pension contributions.

Danish Manufacturing Collective Agreement in Place

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ICEM Hungarian affiliate, the Federation of Chemical Workers Union at the MOL B&aacute;ny&aacute;sz Szakszervezet (MOL RT), held its Congress in Budapest, 27 March. 
 
The Congress unanimously elected L&aacute;szl&oacute; Biri as the new President of the union. He replaces the outgoing J&oacute;zsef Kudela, who has retired. In letters between outgoing J&oacute;zsef Kudela and ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, each of the two thanked the other for a long period of friendship and close cooperation, protecting the interests of Hungarian oil and gas workers, and developing international trade unionism in the region. 

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ICEM congratulates L&aacute;szl&oacute; Biri on his election, and looks forward to continuing good relations and successful work together. 
 
The MOL Group is an integrated oil and gas company, also present elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. With 34,000 employees in total, MOL is the second largest company in Central and Eastern Europe.

Hungarian Chemical Workers’ Congress Elects New President, József Kudela Retires

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ICEM General Secretary, Manfred Warda, in a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Petroleum, condemned the recent decision of the government-owned Southern Oil Company to transfer four trade union leaders, in an attempt to silent the union. 
 
The key leaders of the Basra-based Refinery Workers&rsquo; Union find themselves out of their jobs, transferred to remote locations, as an apparent punishment for trade union activities. Those targeted are Ibrahim Radhi, President of the Refinery Workers Union and Vice President of the umbrella Iraqi Federaton of Oil Unions (IFOU, an ICEM affiliate); Ala&rsquo; Sabah Miri&rsquo;e, Refinery Workers Union Vice President and President of the Central Council of the IFOU; Faraj Rbat Mizba, Refinery Workers Union media officer and IFOU Central Council member; and Khez&rsquo;al Kadhim. 
 
This is a clear attempt by the company to block the union from continuing their campaign for reforms. Since March 2010, the trade union has been organising peaceful protests, calling for fair pay, payment of overtime owed since 2007, an end to the recruiting of CAL workers into permanent jobs, a transparent recruitment process, modernisation of production equipment, but most importantly the recognition of the union. 

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As Manfred Warda states in the letter to the Oil Minister, these actions by the company constitute a clear breach of the Freedom of Association, recognised in Iraq&rsquo;s Constitution, as well as in the core ILO Convention. 
 
This latest case is yet another example of the urgent need for new labour legislation in Iraq, legislation that is fair and ILO compliant. 
 
ICEM Director Jim Catterson was part the international delegation to hand deliver the ICEM letter to officials at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington D.C. last week. The letter was delivered with a similar letter from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. This followed a rally, last Wednesday, outside the Iraqi Consulate in the American capital, under the slogans &ldquo;Democracy for Iraqi Workers&rdquo; and &ldquo;Labour Rights are Human Rights&rdquo;. 

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Jim Catterson told the rally &ldquo;Workers are being sent into exile to places where their lives are in jeopardy, just because they are unionising for better conditions. It&rsquo;s time now that Iraq accepted freedom of association&rdquo;. 
 
Pressure was placed on the Iraqi Government last week by TUC (UK) General Secretary Brendan Barber, who protested against the latest union busting to the Iraqi Embassy in London. 
 
See the ICEM letter, sent to Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani, Iraqi Minister of Petroleum, <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/31.ICEM.Letter.Iraq.Oil.12April.pdf">here</a>. 
 
Support the LabourStart campaign for new labour legislation in Iraq <a href="http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=669">here</a>. Similar tactics, against Iraqi trade unionists have been reversed in the past, thanks to international solidarity and pressure.

ICEM Condemns Transfer of Iraqi Oil Trade Union Leaders

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RadioLabour, the online news radio service of international trade unionism, interviewed ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, last week, on the ICEM Global Campaign on Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). 
 
As companies throughout the world, and in every sector, continue to outsource their workforce in the race to lower costs, the significance of the campaign grows. As directly employed jobs are lost to sub-contracting companies or agencies, workers find themselves with little or no job security, inferior benefits, and with substandard working conditions. This is leading to a two-tier workforce with fewer and fewer directly employed workers, and increasing numbers employed through contracts or agencies. 
 
As Warda stated in the interview with RadioLabour presenter, Marc B&eacute;langer, &ldquo;In some countries, we must unfortunately say that contract and agency labour has almost become the &lsquo;regular&rsquo; employment situation&rdquo;. 

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Marc B&eacute;langer
Use the audio player below to listen to part of Manfred Warda&rsquo;s interview with Marc B&eacute;langer, or click <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/ICEM/cal-warda.mp3 ">here</a> to find the interview on the RadioLabour website. 
 
RadioLabour reports on events of interest to unionists via &quot;The Solidarity Report&quot;, a half hour audiocast of international union news every Sunday morning. Part of Manfred Warda&rsquo;s interview can be heard on yesterday&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/">Solidarity Report</a>. Marc B&eacute;langer also presents &quot;RadioLabour 5&quot;, a five minute global labour news update, every Friday morning. 
 
RadioLabour is an important instrument in the building of international solidarity amongst unionists, also serving as a model and source of expertise for unionists who want to start a service similar to RadioLabour in their country or for their organization. Contact us if you need advice or assistance in developing a labour-based audiocasting service. 
 
Canadian national, Marc B&eacute;langer, producer and host of RadioLabour, is a labour union educator. He worked for the Workers' Activities Programme of the training centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy, from 2000-2008. He was head of the Programme from 2007-2008. The Programme operates the largest international union education school in the world.

RadioLabour Interviews Manfred Warda on CAL

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Each of the three Industrial European Trade Union Federations has given their leaders a mandate to move towards a merger. ICEM&rsquo;s sister organisation, the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF), and the European Trade Union Federation for Textiles, Clothing and Leather (ETUF:TCL) seek to create a single European industrial trade union federation. 
 
On 25 March 2010, the presidents and general secretaries of the three organisations met in Berlin, to discuss next steps in the merger process. A merged organisation will bring together 8 million workers in the manufacturing industries, and united they will be stronger. Other factors cited include continued integration of countries in Europe, globalisation, the recent financial and economic crisis, and several significant recent mergers at the national level. 

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The three presidents and three general secretaries, present at the Berlin meeting, underlined their belief that the combining of their resources would increase efficiency and strength, in their role of representing and protecting European workers throughout the industrial sectors. 
 
The leaders of the three federations agreed to oversee intensified discussions within their statutory bodies over the creation of a joint EMF-EMCEF-ETUF:TCL organisation. 
 
A joint Working Group for building the new organisation was created, and will now produce a timetable for the process.

Discussions Advance in Building Single European Industrial Trade Union Federation

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ICEM energy and mining affiliates in West Africa set ambitious priorities and work commitments in Dakar, Senegal, on 7-8 April. In workshops sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) of Germany, unions of the region focused on specific growth strategies, the increasing threat of use of casual labour by multinational enterprises, and the necessity of West African nations to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Health and Safety in Mines Convention. 
 
Representatives from 13 trade unions in 11 countries participated in the two-day forum. The workshops were unique in that individual unions stepped forward and pledged to lead cross-union efforts in specific areas. 
 
&quot;The entire resolve coming from the workshops underpins the commitment by ICEM West African affiliates to build strong and democratic unions in which to challenge multinational companies,&quot; said ICEM Sub-Saharan Representative Fabian Nkomo. &quot;We have committed to challenge the exploitation of workers that leaves both communities and countries very poor. 

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Fabian Nkomo
&quot;It is a commitment to help democratic countries improve the lives of ordinary people, but also a challenge to non-democratic governments to democratise,&quot; added Nkomo. &quot;In short, it is a call for better lives for all citizens in West African countries.&quot; 
 
All ICEM trade union affiliates of the region will consolidate their three- and four-year plans on growth strategies with each other. Those plans will center on leadership accountability to trade union members, and ownership of trade union structures by rank-and-file members. 
 
With West Africa fast becoming a hub of upstream oil and gas production, the Nigerian trade unions, NUPENG and PENGASSAN, took on responsibility to lead a campaign against casualisation, or the growing use of Contract and Agency Labour (CAL). The two unions will lead a mobilisation to build formidable trade unions in oil- and gas-producing nations of West Africa. 

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The Ghana Mine Workers' Union (GMWU) will lead the push for adoption of ILO Convention 176 in West African nations, as well as to develop and mobilise a cross-region campaign toward that end. 
 
A further commitment was made by participating trade unions to propose a Social Charter to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). That charter will specifically include adherence to all core ILO labour standards. ICEM Sub-Saharan African CAL Coordinator Joseph Toe and Ayikoue Teve of CSTT in Togo will head that effort. 
 
Finally, West African trade unions promised to spread training and education activities throughout their unions, and not to limit such opportunities only to individual leaders. 
 
The ICEM is grateful to FES for sponsoring the workshops; a forum that ICEM believes can be a turning point in trade union development in West Africa.

West African ICEM Unions Formulate Specific Goals in FES Workshops

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Negotiations to end a national dispute across Sweden's pulp and paper sector failed last night, 18 April, at midnight when ICEM affiliate Svenska Pappers and the employers' Forest Industry Association (SFIF) adjourned bargaining. 
 
The two sides are to try again today, 19 April, at 18h00. 
 
The union held true to its promise to strike six pulp and paper mills on 16 April. Those six mills, employing 3,000 of Sweden's 18,000 paperworkers, are now facing ongoing strikes. 
 
They include: Billerud Skarblacka; Holmen Braviken; the Holmen Iggesund mill in Korsnas; Stora Enso&rsquo;s Skoghall Mill; SCA Packaging in Munksund; and Sodra Cell's Varo pulp mill. 

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On 15 April, two days following a marathon bargaining session also failed, the Swedish Paperworkers' Union (Svenska Pappers) announced that workers at six more mills would strike at 18h00 on Monday, 26 April, if no agreement is made. 
 
Those mills include: Smurfit-Kappa's mill at Pitea, the SCA Obbola mill, Stora Enso's Fors mill, the Korsnas Frovi mill, Billerud's Gruvon mill, and Sodra's Monsteras pulp mill. Those six mills employ 2,800 Pappers members. 
 
The central issues are pay and ensuring that Swedish paperworkers receive a 2010 salary increase backdated to 1 April, the date of a prior three-year contract expiration; items related to a pension scheme; an adequate increase for the lowest paid workers in the industry; and an assurance on union consultation when temporary workers or labour agencies are used for employment. 
 
For ICEM's solidarity call in support of Swedish paperworkers, click <a href="-Travailleurs-du-secteur-pâte-et">here</a>.

Swedish Paper Strike Continues

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Some 70 protestors from the UK, Netherlands, and Belgium demonstrated with locked-out members of the US International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in London last week. The venue was the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Rio Tinto, the global mining company that maliciously, on 31 January, locked 560 members of ILWU Local 30 off their jobs in Boron, California, before reaching impasse in collective bargaining. 
 
The manifestation at the AGM was organised by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), with support from the ICEM and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF). Several NGOs, including the London Mining Network, joined the labour rally, bringing with them a host of Rio Tinto's environmental atrocities from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia, to Madagascar, and Mongolia. 

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Dick Blin, Dave Irish, Ray Familathe, Tony Burke
Inside the meeting, Rio Tinto CEO Tom Albanese fielded questions regarding the company's conduct for nearly two hours. Local 30 bargaining committee member Dave Irish queried why Rio Tinto was willing to take deep revenue drops through lost production brought on by the lockout, while at the same time imposing economic hardships on 560 working families. 
 
Albanese's answer was polite, but succinct in capturing the general philosophy of corporations everywhere: prioritising profits before people. He said Rio Tinto's rollbacks on working terms and conditions at Boron were necessary in order to bring ILWU Local 30's collective agreement more in line with other company enterprises in North America. 
 
That answer was clear. Despite massive profits driven mainly by iron ore, copper, and coal -- and even by the relatively small Rio Tinto Minerals, which controls a 45% market share of the global borates business -- the London/Melbourne-based mining house subscribes to &quot;the race to the bottom&quot; philosophy of suppressing human and social benefits. 

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Dave Irish left, locked out Local 30 worker, and ILWU VP Ray Familathe
Following the meeting, ILWU Vice President Ray Familathe caught up with Albanese in a corner of the Queen Elizabeth II Convention Centre. He told him the company's strong-arm bargaining methods in California will surely backfire, including galvanizing the global trade union movement to pressure the company in any way possible. 
 
The ILWU has already begun that backlash by vigorously lobbying the US government to delay a land swap between the government and Rio Tinto in the state of Arizona in which the company was to gain valuable copper deposits. 
 
For the ILWU, the European trip also meant a strongly worded resolution in support of Local 30 be the European Works Council of Alcan, a Canadian-based metals producer that Rio Tinto acquired in 2007. That effort was spearheaded by the Metalworkers' affiliate of French CGT. 
 
A day after the London AGM of April 15, the American union also did protest actions against Rio Tinto at British consulate offices in the US cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and in Vancouver, Canada. 

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Perhaps not coincidentally within last week's trade union actions, Rio Tinto Minerals and ILWU Local 30 did return to bargaining on 14-15 April, the first set of talks since the lockout began. It was a fact noted by Albanese from the dais of the AGM, but clearly missing was any willingness by Rio Tinto to budge from its concessionary proposals. In California, the two sides adjourned late on 15 April without making any meaningful progress. 
 
This week, on 22 April, Rio Tinto is scheduled to replicate its AGM in Melbourne and the ILWU will be there. Shareholders will hear Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams and locked-out Local 30 activist Terri Judd tell of the anguish faced by Mojave Desert, California, families. They will have the support of the Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) and the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). 
 
Again, Albanese will be questioned on why the company he heads needs unprecedented givebacks by workers of their holidays, their seniority rights, their health care protections, and why Rio Tinto needs to infringe on full-time, direct employment in seeking to gain greater latitude to outsource jobs. 
Hear the RadioLabour interview with Dave Irish <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net/ICEM/rio-tinto-180410.mp3">here</a>. 
 
See a short video of the demo in London <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsK2iwccL7k">here</a>.

US ILWU Members Take California Lockout to Rio Tinto AGM

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