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After Thailand&rsquo;s energy minister rejected a proposal by EGAT-LU that would prevent the privatisation of that nation&rsquo;s electric power system, the ICEM affiliate announced it would resume mass demonstrations to mobilize the public against next year&rsquo;s planned privatisation. EGAT-LU is seeking government backing of the electricity market so private firms will not dominate. The union also called on the government to help finance Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) construction of new power plants and not to use public debt as the excuse to sell EGAT to the private sector.

Thai Government Rejects Logical Plan on Electric Privatisation

French unions again will demonstrate next week, 15 June, the day their government will take up and debate legislation to partially privatise the country&rsquo;s gas and electric industries. The ICEM&rsquo;s Executive Committee on 27 May resolved to fully support French affiliates FCE-CFDT and F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT FO in their resistance to the measure. On 27 May, 80,000 French workers marched in Paris against the government&rsquo;s bill to remove Electricit&eacute; de France and Gaz de France from state control, a status the utilities have had since 1946.

French Unions Take to the Streets Over Utility Privatisation

Protests continue by affiliate EGAT-LU in Thailand against privatization of the electric industry. A meeting 17 March between union leaders and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not resolve the standoff. Mass public opposition to the sell off of the Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has taken hold, and has created equal opposition to privatizing other essential services. EGAT-LU said efforts to block the initial offering of electric stock would continue for the next several months, but that electric supplies during the peak summer season will not be affected. &ldquo;We are protesting in the country&rsquo;s interest and we will not stop until we succeed,&rdquo; said EGAT-LU Gen. Sec. Sirichai Maingam

Thai Affiliate EGAT-LU Resists Electric Privatization

New address for ICEM 
 
54bis route des Acacias 
1227 Geneva, Switzerland 
 
Tel: +41-22-304-1840 
Fax: +41-22-304-1841
&nbsp;

ICEM - where we are

A bitter chrome dispute in South Africa in which security guards fired tear gas at strikers of affiliate National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) ended last month. Ferrochrome workers at Rustenburg and Wonderkop won remuneration, leave and attendance bonuses and provident fund benefits. The strike against Xstrata plc. began 29 July and involved over 1,000 NUMSA members. At the strike&rsquo;s outset, guards fired tear gas at 250 protestors in Rustenburg who were trying to preventstrikebreakers from entering the worksite.

Chrome Strike in South Africa Won by Affiliate NUMSA

ICEM affiliate Mineworkers of Namibia conducted its 9th National Congress over the weekend in Windhoek, and pledged to expose all forms of corruption in the mining and energy sectors of the country. The Congress also drafted statements on black economic empowerment in Namibia, reviewed a four-year activities report, and gave special tribute to founding members who have built and bettered membership of the union through early and tedious work. The theme of the Congress was &ldquo;Building a Stronger Union Through Education, Solidarity, Networks and Economic Empowerment.&rdquo;

Mineworkers in Namibia Aim to Eradicate Corruption

Eighteen Russian miners have been underground now for nearly a week, engaged in a hunger strike against mine operator Sakhalinugol in Uglegorsk area on Sakhalin Island over unpaid wages. The miners are due 34 million roubles (US$114,000) dating back to 2002. They have mined 44,000 tonnes of coal so far in 2005, yet have been paid nothing by interim management following financial failure by the company. The miners, protesting 142 meters below the surface, got the support of Sakhalin Governor Ivan Malakhov, who declared, &ldquo;The failure to pay the wages miners&rsquo; have earned is a direct violation of law.&rdquo; Wives and children of the 18 were expected to join the protest today at the mineshaft.

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

Another USW metals strike, now entering its eighth week in the Canadian province of British Colombia, will get a chance for resolve with renewed mediation on 9 September. The union and Teck Cominco Ltd. At a zinc, lead and metals refinery in Trail, BC, are locked in dispute over wage and pension benefits conceded in the 1990s. USW maintains the current windfall of high zinc and metal prices has lifted Teck&rsquo;s bottom line, and such profitability warrants adequate adjustments for the 1,300 strikers. British Colombia provincial leaders, however, have turned a deaf ear to legitimate demands by the USW that it halt the company&rsquo;s sale of hydrogenerated power across the border to the US while Canadian steelworkers of Teck Cominco are on strike.

USW&#039;s Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

The 1,550 USW copper-mining members who are on strike in the states of Arizona and Texas against Grupo Mexico&rsquo;s Asarco got a boost last month when thousands of Mexican mining and metallurgical workers engaged in hour-long stop-work actions in support of both the American trade unionists, as well as Mexican steel mill workers on strike in L&aacute;zaro C&aacute;rdenas, Michoac&aacute;n state. The US copper strike, begun at different locations in late June and early July, has now been complicated by the Mexican subsidiary filing bankruptcy in US federal court in Texas. That action, the USW says, is result of non-investment in facilities while copper prices were low, thus restricting Asarco&rsquo;s ability now &ldquo;to reap the full rewards of the ongoing copper boom.&rdquo;

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

Today marks Labour Day in North America and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) Local 484 in Meredosia will more than double the 1,100-populated town in west-central Illinois with a march and rally. 
The union has been locked out since 6 June by Celanese, an emulsions, adhesives and polymers producer owned by corporate trading goliath Blackstone Group. The rally will feature pro-labour Illinois State Governor Rod Blagojevich. An ICEM Circular last month produced scores of Solidarity messages to the 148-member branch union. 
<img height="147" src="" width="125" alt="" />
&ldquo;The support letters from all around the world really mean a lot to our members,&rdquo; said IBB Local 484 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Craig. &ldquo;It let us know that we are not fighting this battle alone.&rdquo; Blackstone bought the plant in February and when workers rejected harsh health care concessions and company plans to cut 41 jobs in favour of contractors, management locked out workers. 
Following Local 484&rsquo;s second rejection of the same company proposal in late June, Celanese came to the bargaining table in July demanding 20- 40% in pay cuts.

US Boilermakers&#039; Lockout Gains Global Attention

Archive

Thai Government Rejects Logical Plan on Electric Privatisation

French Unions Take to the Streets Over Utility Privatisation

Thai Affiliate EGAT-LU Resists Electric Privatization

ICEM - where we are

Chrome Strike in South Africa Won by Affiliate NUMSA

Mineworkers in Namibia Aim to Eradicate Corruption

Russian Miners in Far East Stage Hunger Strike

USW's Teck Cominco Strike in Canada Continues

Stop-Work Actions in Mexico for US Miners

US Boilermakers' Lockout Gains Global Attention

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