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The mining and maritime unions, under the umbrella of the Mining and Maritime Initiative, met in Los Angeles, California 16-17 February, to discuss ongoing global campaigns in the sector. The ICEM plays a central role in the initiative, with seven ICEM affiliates in attendance: CFMEU (Australia), ILWU, USW (USA), NUM, NUMSA, CEPPWAWU (South Africa), and Maden (Turkey). The International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF) also attended. 
 
Meeting delegates discussed the struggles at <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3607-Rio-Tinto-Engaged-in-Savage-Union-Busting-at-California-Borates-Mine">Rio Tinto in Boron California</a>, <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3608-Cananea-Miners-Reject-Grupo-México-Severance;-Strike-Continues ">Grupo Mexico</a>, and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3589-Talks-Prove-Futile-in-Ending-Vale’s-Eastern-Canada-Mine-Strike ">Vale Inco</a>, and the global campaigns around these disputes, led in part by the ICEM, as each conflict involves ICEM affiliates. 

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The meeting issued a statement on the violations of worker rights in Boron California by Rio Tinto and by Grupo Mexico and the Mexican Government. View the statement here. Many of the unions involved in Mining and Maritime have had conflicts with Rio Tinto in the past, and stand in strong solidarity with the members of ILWU 30, who have been locked out by the company, as they refuse an extremely concessionary contract. The unions present pledged to &ldquo;escalate the campaigns in defence of workers at Rio Tinto and Grupo Mexico immediately, dramatically and strategically to make them global battles&rdquo;. 
 
A Campaign Committee was created, which includes ICEM Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs Joe Drexler. 

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Meeting delegates then attended a large march and rally in support of the Rio Tinto miners in Boron. The participation of Maden, the main mining union in Turkey, was of special significance, since Rio Tinto uses the state-owned Turkish mining company as a supplier to its customers. Maden is a strong supporter of the Boron strikers.

Mining, Maritime Unions Meet

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The ICEM-Lukoil Global Framework Agreement, first negotiated in May 2004, was updated and extended last week for a further year at a meeting at Lukoil&rsquo;s headquarters in Moscow. 
 
By signing the document, OAO Lukoil confirms its adherence to the principles of the UNO Global Initiative, as well as to the basic labor and environmental principles specified in the conventions of the UNO and the ILO. Under the agreement, Lukoil intends to keep its employees&rsquo; lives and their health protection as a top priority in relation to production performance. 
 
Signing the agreement were ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov, Russian Oil, Gas, and Construction Workers&rsquo; Union (ROGWU) Chairman Lev Mironov, and Georgy Kiradiev, Chairman of the Council for the International Association of Lukoil Trade Union Organizations (OAO LUKOIL IATUO). 

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From left, Georgy Kiradiev, Vagit Alekperov, Manfred Warda, Lev Mironov 
Photo: Lukoil
Following the signature ceremony, the parties engaged in a detailed question and answer session, outlining each other&rsquo;s views of the present situation in the global oil and gas industry, as well as forthcoming activities. Lukoil also presented an overview of recent investment decisions and challenges posed by the world economic crisis. 
 
Both the ICEM and company and ICEM concentrated at first on the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a disaster so serious it was already impacting on both production and further exploration decisions in deep and ultra-deep water deposits worldwide. 
 
ICEM discussed its program of social dialog in the Caspian Sea region, where Lukoil had recently brought on-stream the Yu Korchagin field in the Russian offshore of the Caspian Sea. The field was discovered by Lukoil in 2000 and the maximum expected output is 2.5 million tons of oil and 1 billion cubic meters of gas annually. 

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Between 2004 and 2009, LUKOIL invested a total of RUR 34.4 billion into field development. The company expects to extract 343,000 tons of oil by the end of the year. 
 
There was also a discussion on the company's recent investment in Iraq, as well as the ICEM World Energy Conference, slated for Stavanger, Norway, from 6-8 September 2010. 
 
Lukoil, ICEM, and the Russian trade unions present agreed that there should be further detailed discussions on all of the issues raised.

ICEM, Lukoil Renew Global Agreement for Another Year

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The horrid twin explosions inside mine shafts in Russia&rsquo;s Kuzbass basin on 8-9 May that killed 90 underscored the need for more countries to ratify ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. Since Convention 176 was adopted in 1995, only 24 nations have ratified it. 
 
In Moscow last week, while rescue efforts at the Raspadskaya Coal Co. mine were underway 3,500 kilometres to the east, both ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Russian Independent Coal Employees&rsquo; Union (ROSUGLEPROF) President Ivan Mokhnachuk went on BBC World Service Radio to plead for Russia and other resource-rich countries to take up the important call for ratification of Convention 176. 

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ROSUGLEPROF President Ivan Mokhnachuk
ROSUGLEPROF represents workers at Raspadskaya, a mine jointly owned by Russia&rsquo;s second largest steel and metals group, the Evraz Group, and Cypress-based Corber Enterprises Ltd. A union vice president made his way to the mine immediately following the tragedy. 
 
But it is still not clear if ROSUGLEPROF will be allowed to participate in an investigation that hopefully will lead to the cause of the blasts. At the end of last week, the government halted investigation efforts because mine shafts are still too dangerous. 
 
It is still too early to speculate about cause. What is known is that the mine in the Kemerovo region of western Siberia does have some of the best methane gas detection and ventilation equipment available. And that the first blast, occurring just before midnight local time on 8 May, killed at least 50 miners. The second explosion, four hours later, killed other miners as well as all 19 rescue workers who were sent in. 

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What is not known is did a negligent Russian pay system contribute? That system sets an extremely low flat-rate monthly wage, with the vast share of all mining salaries based on production. Volume, productivity, and profits drive wages higher. This means that detection equipment, safety procedures, and other protection devices are oftentimes disabled or ignored in order to boost monthly pay. 
 
That was the case on 19 March 2007 when 110 miners died at the nearby Ulyanovskaya mine, owned by another mining subsidiary of Evraz. It was the worst mining tragedy in 60 years in Russia and the former Soviet Union. The Raspadskaya disaster of eight days ago stands as the second worst. 
 
ILO Convention 176 improves mine safety and health by forcing improved national mining laws. But Convention 176 does something else; it places responsibility on employers to not only correct hazards, but remedy the cause of the hazards themselves. In Russia, that could well be construed to mean corrective laws to fix a faulty pay system in coal mining.

Russian Mine Disaster Restates Immediacy for ILO Convention 176

Strike actions in April and a flurry of trade union activities over the past two weeks have succeeded in bringing formal recognition to the ICEM affiliate, Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Georgia, at the Zestafoni Ferroalloys Plant and the Georgian Manganese mines, some 40 kilometres from Zestafoni in Chiatura. 
 
That was reinforced on 13 May after the union, backed by the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), and top managers met for a second conciliation commission session and made headway towards resolving a host of demands put forward by workers. 
 
Miners and metalworkers were buoyed massively when, ten days after a three-day strike ended on 25 April that got management&rsquo;s rapt attention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda and Chemicals and Rubber Officer Kemal &Ouml;zkan travelled to western Georgian to meet with workers. 

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(LtoR) Irakli Petriashvili, President of GTUC, Manfred Warda,&nbsp;GTUC interpreter, Kemal &Ouml;zkan 
Bringing pledges of solidarity from the ICEM and the International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), Warda told Georgian workers they were not alone. And speaking before regional news media and to workers directly, Warda assured all that the combined strength of the two federations was ready and willing to take this fight beyond central Asia if that was needed. 
 
The message underscored a resolve borne through several months of struggle, culminating in a series of April incidents, including grievous intimidation tricks (see prior ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3731-Miners-Metalworkers-Not-Intimidated-by-Georgian-Manganese-Managers">here</a>) by management that served only to bring more staff into the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; fold. 
 
Initially in the 13 May negotiations, managers and their attorneys sought involvement of an existing but dying &ldquo;yellow&rdquo; union in the talks. But the seven union members of the joint, bilateral commission threatened to walk out and begin renewed strike actions. The union and GTUC representatives then showed managers a large number of power-of-attorney statements by workers that expressed their allegiance to the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union. 

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Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union Members
Recognition was achieved. The numerous petitions that workers demand to improve their working lives were then open for discussion. Foremost among them were wages. In the hours leading up to the talks, the ICEM and IMF scrambled to gather and succeeded in delivering wage rates from associated ferroalloy plants in Ukraine, owned by the metals arm of PrivatBank. 
 
Miners at the Georgian Manganese complex are paid an average monthly wage of GEL (lari) 450, or US$238, &euro;192. Metalworkers at the ferroalloy plant in Zestafoni earn a monthly average of GEL 562, or US$298, &euro;240. With both sides having already agreed to 1 May as the effective date for salary adjustments, management proposed a 15% increase for shift workers and 8% for day workers. 
 
This is unsatisfactory to the union side of the commission. But they are confident that further negotiations on 17-18 May, and again on 20 May, will bring long overdue percentage increases higher. The union did get a commitment at the 13 May set of talks that the enterprises will begin to comply with Georgia labour law regarding sick leave payments, including retroactive compensation for those workers who have been denied such pay. 
 
&ldquo;It is a big step forward,&rdquo; said Gocha Aleksandria, Vice President of the GTUC, who is a member of the 14-member conciliation commission. &ldquo;The administration now accepts our union, but the hardest part is still ahead. We intend to achieve the obvious, meaningful, and tangible results for our members and that is permanent labour contracts that address all issues.&rdquo; 

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Some of those issues include raising the number of yearly paid leave days from 30 (metal) and 32 (mining) to 35; creation of a joint contributory pension fund to supplement a miserly state pension; better safety and health conditions; and an upgrade to medical facilities. 
 
Even prior to the first commission negotiations, on 7 May, management reacted to workers&rsquo; militancy and ICEM&rsquo;s mission statement of that week by agreeing to permanent work contracts, as well as reinstatement of two union leaders who were discharged for strike activities. (At the 13 May session, management agreed to pay the two their full April salaries.) 
 
Another accomplishment in the recent bargaining is that union leaders will bring their demands directly to Georgian shareholders of the enterprises. The complex ownership of the ferroalloy plant and manganese mines has stock ownership by privately-held Stemcor Holdings of the UK, with shares also traded publicly on the Georgian bourse with Georgia entrepreneurs and the Ukrainian oligarch Gennadiy Boholyubov and his manganese empire that is tied to PrivatBank holding vast sums. 
 
For now, the 3,600 miners and 2,200 metalworkers have a free and democratic union they can call their own &ndash; the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Industry Workers&rsquo; Trade Union of Imereti Region. But as Aleksandria states, the journey now begins in earnest: erstwhile dialogue to gain the wage levels, benefits and work conditions that they justly deserve.

Recognition Realised for Georgian Miners, Metalworkers at Manganese Operations

The UK Equality and Human Rights Commission recently published the damning results of an inquiry into the recruitment and treatment of agency workers in the meat and poultry processing sector in England and Wales. 
 
Although the investigation focused exclusively on the meat and poultry industry, it was said that &ldquo;...the Commission has no evidence to suggest that supply chain practices in the meat processing sector are more detrimental to workers than in any other sector that makes significant use of low-paid, agency migrant labour.&rdquo; 
 
The Commission found evidence of widespread poor treatment of agency workers, especially among those who are migrants or who are pregnant, both by agencies and by user enterprises. In particular, the Commission found evidence of practices that contravene legal requirements, ethical trading standards, and basic human rights. Other types of treatment were described as being &ldquo;an affront to dignity.&rdquo; 
 
One-third of agencies told the investigators that they had acted unlawfully by recruiting workers of particular nationalities, by giving preference to candidates with particular nationalities they judged the user firm would prefer, or by discriminating against certain nationalities at the direct request of the user firm. 
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While flexibility is often cited as being an advantage of agency work by the industry, only two workers cited the flexibility of agency work as a positive aspect. Almost all workers said they would prefer permanent work due to the security and rights it offers. More than 80% of the interviewees said that agency workers were treated worse than permanent workers in every aspect of their job. The agency workers said they received poorer pay, were allocated the worst jobs, and were treated like inferiors. Not a single interviewee thought that agency workers were treated better than their permanent counterparts. 
 
Workers reported being refused toilet breaks, and enduring physical and verbal abuse. Concerns about health and safety were raised in over half the interviews, and many interviewees expressed concern that their personal protective equipment was poor quality, ill fitting, shared with other workers, or missing altogether. 
 
The Commission found that abusive treatment was less common in organised factories, and said that &ldquo;In workplaces where unions are recognised, or have a strong presence, we found that they provide a significant degree of protection for workers.&rdquo; However, some workers reported that their right to Freedom of Association had been restricted and reported instances where hostility of companies towards union activities discouraged people from joining a union for fear of retribution. 
 
The report concludes with a set of recommendations to key bodies in the industry to &ldquo;encourage a systematic change in behaviour,&rdquo; and improve the operations of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority (GLA). Although outside of its remit, the Commission said &ldquo;...that there is a case for broadening the GLA&rsquo;s remit to include other sectors where low-paid agency workers are at risk of exploitation&rdquo; and urged the government to positively consider this proposal. 
 
Commenting on the findings, Nicola Smith, Senior Policy Officer at the UK&rsquo;s Trades Union Congress (TUC), said, &ldquo;This strongly evidenced based report demonstrates the scale of mistreatment that continues across low paid industries, where temporary workers with insecure employment status face some of the greatest risks. The TUC remains concerned that such exploitative practices are not confined to the meat processing sector.&rdquo;

Report on Abusive Treatment of Agency Workers in the UK

Lacking job security and decent working conditions creates a great deal of stress, particularly in people who are struggling to support a family. Medical researchers discovered, in the 1930s, that stress by itself could produce physical effects. Since then, there has been an ongoing effort to better understand the stress response. 
 
The strict scientific definition of stress is &quot;any stimulus, or group of stimuli, that provokes a physiological or psychological response.&quot; A more useful definition of stress in the work context might be &quot;conditions that exceed a person's normal coping capacity.&quot; In occupational health, we are particularly concerned with the stressful effects on workers of conditions in the workplace. 
 
What are the negative effects of excessive stress on health - and by health, we mean all aspects of physical, mental, and social well-being? 
 
The symptoms of stress are generally thought to arise from the &quot;fight or flight response.&quot; In our evolutionary history, human beings were adapted to respond to a threat by preparing to either fight, give chase, or run away. The body instinctively reacts in certain ways designed to prepare itself for a sudden, short-term, all-out effort to survive. 
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At first, the sense heightens, blood pressure goes up, heart rate accelerates, respiration increases, blood flow to the muscles is increase, muscles tense, and the digestive system shuts down. Your body temperature may change, provoking sweating. In our evolutionary past, these responses prepared you mentally and physically to meet a threat that would be resolved, for better or for worse, within a few minutes. 
 
The problem in modern terms is that our bodies seem unable to distinguish between the &quot;threat&quot; posed by a cave-bear, a bullying boss, or perpetual fear of job loss. The fight-or-flight response, maintained or repeated too often, results in chronic or long-term damage. These can include hypertension and cardiovascular disease, ulcers, colitis, compromised immune systems, headaches, and psychological changes. 
 
To further complicate things, different people respond to chronic stress in different ways and with different symptoms. Faced with the same workplace stressors, Jane may experience diseases of her digestive system while John may develop high blood pressure. These inconsistent symptoms have made it very difficult to get stress symptoms recognized as a legitimate occupational disease. 
 
All working people experience some degree of career stress; but workers who toiled under Contract and Agency Labour (CAL), who lack even minimal job security and often work for lower wages and in poorer conditions than their full-time counterparts, experience much more. Career stress should be thought of as adding to all the other stresses caused by every aspect of a person's life. 
 
To control stress in the workplace, the same hierarchy of controls that are considered in the control of any other hazard should be used. Control the hazard at the source, if possible; failing that, control the hazard before it reaches the worker (along the exposure path); and as a last resort, control the hazard at the worker. 
 
CAL workers have less scope to seek these controls. They may be subjected to heavy work demands, a poor workplace environment, harassment or bullying, shift work, role uncertainty, a lack of training, unrealistic expectations, lack of input or control over the work, poor ergonomic factors, a high degree of scrutiny or monitoring, and of course job insecurity. Stress at work can have a synergistic effect on stress away from work, capable both of exacerbating and being exacerbated by: family problems, financial problems, sleep and fatigue problems, financial problems, and a feeling of powerlessness and low self worth. 
 
Unlike full-time workers, who often experience a level of loyalty to their employer and their work, CAL workers can feel less commitment. In the long term, this can increase the risk of burn-out. Job performance will come to consist of doing just enough to get by, and this can spill over into personal life as the burned out worker fails to look after their own health, relationships, and families. 
 
Stress is not a trivial condition that can be dealt with simply by willing it away. It is a serious problem, and a proven cause of a wide range of medical conditions 
 
Control of the hazard at the source, would in this case mean the conversion of contract and agency jobs to secure, decent work. 
 
Contract and Agency Labour can and does make workers sick.

Contract and Agency Labour … and Stress

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The ICEM was saddened today to learn of the passing of Neil Kearney, the General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). Kearney died of a massive heart attack in his sleep last night in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 
 
Kearney was a tireless advocate in halting ill-willed sweatshop practices around the world, child labour in its worst forms, and the horrid working conditions he saw throughout the developing world, conditions that Neil saw as a disgrace on humanity. 
<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="100" />
&ldquo;He was a friend, a fighter for workers&rsquo; rights, and an extremely dedicated trade union leader,&rdquo; said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. &ldquo;His passing must now stand as a juncture where all of global labour re-dedicates itself to the causes he strongly championed, the dignity, compassion, and justice for the dispossessed who work in the worse scenarios imaginable.&rdquo; 
 
Kearney, 59, became the General Secretary of ITGLWF in 1988. Born in Donegal, Ireland, he started his trade union career with the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers in 1972. In 1998, he received the &ldquo;IL Natale, La Notta della Vita&rdquo; International Award for his work on the elimination of child labour worldwide. A year later, he received the &ldquo;Work and Environment Award&rdquo; of the Associaiazione Ambiente e Lavoro for his work to improve working conditions in the developing world. 
 
He is survived by his wife, Jutta, and two daughters, Nicole and Caroline. Funeral arrangements are pending. The ICEM mourns the loss of a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word.

ICEM Mourns Death of Neil Kearney, ITGLWF General Secretary

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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 ICEM participated in the Congress of its affiliate the Vdsz, the Hungarian chemical workers union, in Budapest, 18-20 November. Tamas Szekely was elected as the union&rsquo;s new president, replacing the retiring Gyorgy Paszternak. Tamas, who is 40 years old has served the union as vice-President for several years. Bela Kiss, 53 years old, was elected Vice-President. 

<img src="" width="130" height="173" alt="" />
New Vdsz President, Tamas Szekely 
Congress reports showed that there are still many uncertainties about economic developments in the sectors that the union covers. However, although the chemical industry made 40 percent of the workforce redundant earlier this year, many companies have started to rehire. The tyre sector seems to be profiting from the German car-scrappage program, and has in recent weeks even started with overtime work. 
The union was successful in the Works Council elections in Hankook, but still faces problems about trade union recognition with that company and with Bridgestone-Firestone. Tamas and the union contributed considerably to action against Unilever, as part of the 7th October World Day of Decent Work activities in Budapest. He is planning now to start a campaign to organise Unilever (foodworkers are very poorly organized in Hungary and split into several very small unions). 

<img src="" width="155" height="152" alt="" />
Retiring President, Gyorgy Paszternak
Another future plan of Vdsz is to develop cooperation with the construction workers union and seek a future merger with them. Vdsz serves as a bridge between various splits between unions in the manufacturing industries of Hungary, as they are affiliated to the autonomous confederation but maintain close cooperation with the major confederation Mszos. Both confederations were invited to the congress and made speeches, as did ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

Hungarian Chemical Workers’ Congress Elects New President

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A subsidiary of Russian multinational RuSAL, the world&rsquo;s largest producer of aluminium and a major mining house in key resources, has terminated a labour agreement for 600 Guyanese workers over a wage dispute. Rusal announced it no longer recognizes the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers&rsquo; Union, something illegal under Guyana&rsquo;s law and deeply condemned by the ICEM. 
 
General Manager of the Guyanese subsidiary, Sergey Kostyuk, sent a letter to Union President Charles Sampson, stating that the collective agreement between the two entities, and through the Labour Ministry, was &ldquo;terminated with immediate effect.&rdquo; 

<img src="" width="120" height="114" alt="" />
Guyana&rsquo;s Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir reacted by ordering mandatory arbitration, citing the importance of the bauxite industry to the economy of the country. The Bauxite and General Workers&rsquo; Union began a lawful strike on 21 November and that strike is on-going, thus hampering production at a processing plant. 
The union called the strike when RuSAL managers failed to give a promised 10% pay raise to workers in Berbice, located in the centre of Guyana. RuSAL also angered workers and their union by sacking 56 for &ldquo;insubordination, refusal to obey instructions and misconduct,&rdquo; a dubious charge considering workers were engaged in a lawful strike action. 

<img src="" width="250" height="115" alt="" />
A Guyanese political party, Working People&rsquo;s Alliance (WPA), has intervened by pressuring the government to protect the workers&rsquo; constitutional rights. WPA stated that the conflict has &ldquo;grave implications for the entire trade union movement in Guyana,&rdquo; if RuSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI) is not stopped in its total disregard for trade union rights. 
 
The ICEM condemns RuSAL for its ignorance of essential global labour standards and for the negative influence this conduct brings to Guyanese labour relations. The ICEM is calling on RuSAL to reinstate the discharged workers at its bauxite plant and to immediate adopt better industrial relations practices in Guyana.

RuSAL’s Labor Conduct in Guyana’s Bauxite Industry Strongly Questioned

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