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The clock is ticking on the Nigerian government to reverse rising fuel prices or face a general strike. The Nigerian Labour Congress met in emergency session last week and called for a mass strike on 9 June if a rollback in prices isn&rsquo;t instituted. ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN, the blue-collar and white-collar oil workers&rsquo; unions in Nigeria, respectively, are central to the action and the two affiliates are also calling on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. to revive the country&rsquo;s refineries.

Nigerian Fuel Price Hikes Met with Union Protests

Australian affiliate CFMEU strongly opposes the Howard government&rsquo;s plan to dissolve the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission in favour of a stripped-down ministerial advisory panel. The tripartite NOHSC coordinates campaigns to prevent workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses, and its research is vital in setting national health and safety standards. Many employers have joined CFMEU in lodging protests against the government&rsquo;s cost-cutting measure that is sure to undermine initiatives for health and safety standards.

CFMEU Opposes Howard Government’s Health/Safety Plans

Ukrainian nuclear workers' wages have been paid in full for the past three months, and reimbursement of the wage backlog owed to them is about to get under way. 
 
Alexander Jurkin, President of the nuclear workers' union ATU, confirmed this to ICEM UPDATE today. 
 
The back pay owed to Ukrainian nuclear workers is put at over 15 million US dollars. This March, the union threatened an indefinite strike at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations unless measures were taken to pay this debt. As a result, Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma ordered the government to settle the dispute and put the country's debt-ridden energy sector back on a sound financial footing. 
 
Jurkin had further talks this Monday with Deputy Prime Minister V. Kurachenko, at which it was agreed that the National Bank would provide the security for new private bank loans to the Ukrainian energy ministry. These funds will be used to pay off the outstanding wage debt. 
 
Jurkin is now in Brussels for the Executive Committee meeting of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the ATU is affiliated. This morning, his union confirmed that the agreed process is getting under way. A planned protest march on Kiev has therefore been cancelled. 
 
&quot;I told the government exactly where I would be this week, that I would be in meetings with our International, and that the situation must not deteriorate again in the meantime,&quot; Jurkin commented this morning. &quot;The government took the point.&quot; 
 
The ICEM had organised strong international backing for the Ukrainian nuclear workers' campaign. 
 
&quot;This is an important victory for trade unionism in Ukraine and beyond,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe emphasised. &quot;In many transitional economies, the scandal of unpaid wages has driven workers and their families into deepest poverty. The Ukrainian nuclear workers, through their strong but responsible campaign, have secured a repayment plan for what they are owed. The ICEM will be watching to see that this promise is kept. And we will continue to press the governments and employers of Ukraine, Russia and other countries to ensure that all workers receive - in full and on time - the wages that are rightfully theirs.&quot;

Ukrainian Nuclear Wages Paid

FCE-CFDT is challenging Electricit&eacute; de France&rsquo;s (EDF) plan to reduce maintenance services in the utility&rsquo;s hydraulic division. EDF wants to cut maintenance activities 20-30% which would include redundancies of 500 jobs in this 3,700-worker area. FCE-CFDT condemns the decision and calls on EDF hydraulic workers to stand and resist the rationalization.

French Unions Seek to Preserve EdF Maintenance Levels

Tomorrow, 22 March, marks a global day of solidarity for Nepal&rsquo;s trade unions. On 1 February, King Gyanendra issued a decree suspending the government and declared martial law. The decree also banned trade union activities. ICEM has issued a Circular to all affiliates containing a sample letter and urges trade unions to register protests to Nepal&rsquo;s embassies. ICEM affiliate Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers&rsquo; Union had received permission from a district administrator to conduct its national conference 1-2 April, but security forces have now cancelled that written permission.

Nepal’s Unions Rallying Global Labour Movement Against King

Frank Hanley, president of US affiliate International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) since 1989, retired effective 1 March. Secretary-Treasurer Vincent Giblin will serve the remainder of Hanley&rsquo;s term to April 2008.

Operating Engineers President In US Retires

Canadian nickel mining concern Inco Ltd. has caused a labour dispute at a mine and processing operation at Saroako on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The company sacked 250 workers on 25 January and has refused dialogue with the legitimate union, FSP KEP, the Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers&rsquo; Union affiliated with the Indonesian Trade Union Congress. Although none of the workers are members of SPSK, a rival, former Suharto-aligned union, Inco contacted this group on the reductions in efforts to undermine FSP KEP. The ICEM will continue to investigate Inco&rsquo;s unfair treatment of the miners and FSP KEP.

Dispute Caused by Canadian Inco Mining in Indonesia

UK&rsquo;s BPB Paperboard announced suddenly 3 March that it was closing a plasterboard liner-paper mill in Aberdeen, Scotland, throwing 276 workers out of jobs. The announcement of the closure, to occur in June, brought sharp rebuke from ICEM affiliate Amicus. The UK union&rsquo;s Graphical, Paper and Media Section recently went through a 90-day consultation period with paper mill management of the building materials company, and no mention of the closure occurred. &ldquo;The decision to close had evidently been made well before the formal consultative period started,&rdquo; said Amicus&rsquo; Scottish Branch Secretary Jimmy Robertson.

Amicus in UK Resists Paper Mill Closure

ICEM Belgian affiliate CG-FGTB has condemned Glaverbel Glass and its Japanese parent Asahi Glass in management&rsquo;s continued refusal to engage in dialogue on irrational restructuring at AGC Automotive Fleurus in southern Belgium. The union, along with white-collar SETCa-FGTB, has been on strike now for three months after the company announced in December 284 job cuts at the 840-worker flat glass factory. Glaverbel has unilaterally said it would relocate some production from Fleurus, drastically rationalize both production and maintenance, insert forced flexibility by use of agency labour, and now has discredited and even blacklisted union delegates in their efforts to achieve dialogue over the restructuring. CGFGTB insists that only through real consultation with workers and their delegates will the operation become &ldquo;liveable, profitable and productive.&rdquo; ICEM is applying maximum pressure on the Japanese company to resolve the strike and begin good-faith dialogue with the Belgian unions.

Belgian Union Resisting Asahi’s Glass Plant Restructuring

An eight-day lockout of CFMEU miners at an Xstrata coal mine operated by Thiess Contracting Pty. ended a week ago when Thiess and the union agreed to a three-year deal. CFMEU won 4% pay hikes for the 250 miners in each year, higher superannuation increases and a payout to workers living in their own homes in Collinsville, Queensland. The miners were locked out after they had planned a four-day strike.

Lockout of CFMEU Members at Australian Coal Mine Ends

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