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The refusal by oil service companies doing business in Norway&rsquo;s oil patch to harmonise a national agreement with other collective agreements in the oil industry has caused selective strikes. The strikes began on 21 June by ICEM affiliate NOPEF, and threaten to disrupt North Sea oil production, as well as impacting development and well maintenance work. 
 
NOPEF called 87 workers out on strike after arbitration between the union and the Oil Industry Association (OLF) failed on 20 June to achieve a new two-year pay deal. The oil service companies struck include Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, Weatherford and Oceaneering. The companies affected primarily maintain wells, aid new drilling exploration, and assist drilling production operations in the North Sea. 
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NOPEF's Lars Myhre
NOPEF is seeking to harmonise the oil service agreement with other national agreements covering testing, drilling, tug-piloting, catering and other operational areas, agreements that already have common working conditions. &ldquo;Oil service companies do not want staff on regular weekly schedules and regular rotations,&rdquo; said NOPEF&rsquo;s Lars Myhre, ICEM&rsquo;s Energy Section chairman, adding, &ldquo;They are only interested in their own flexibility demands.&rdquo;

NOPEF Seeks Harmonisation of Norwegian Oil Contracts by Striking Service Companies

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In the US, ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) is combating unprecedented mining accidents that have occurred this year in unorganised coal mines, with both court room action and legislative efforts. The UMWA, on 8 June, filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., against the Bush administration&rsquo;s Mine Safety &amp; Health Administration (MSHA). 
 
The lawsuit seeks to compel MSHA to begin conducting random checks of oxygen devices used in underground mine emergencies. The lawsuit also seeks to force the mine safety bureau to train miners on the use of such devices. 
 
A day before the lawsuit was filed, the US House of Representatives voted 381 to 37 to approve stricter mine safety regulations. The proposed law would mandate mine operators to provide two hours of oxygen in underground mines, and would give them three years to install communication and tracking equipment in underground mines.
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It also requires companies to report any life-threatening accident within 15 minutes of occurrence and requires all mines to have on-site rescue teams, something only UMWA-staffed mines have at present. In May, the US Senate approved the measure, strongly backed by the UMWA, and it now must go to President George Bush for his signature before becoming law. 
 
To date in 2006, 33 deaths have occurred in US coal mines, all of them in non-union worksites. The majority of those deaths have been caused from carbon monoxide poisoning following explosions, a fact compounded by faulty breathing devices and insufficient oxygen supplies in underground mines.

Mine Workers in US Take Steps to Improve Safety

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Led by ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union (EPMU), New Zealand&rsquo;s labour movement began weekly pickets on 2 June against proposed legislation in which employers could fire workers with impunity during the first 90 days of their employment.
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The EPMU established pickets outside the electoral office of bill sponsor Wayne Mapp in Takapuna on that day. Further protests, planned for every Friday morning, will happen in Auckland and at selected targets as seen fit. A mass rally is slated for Whangerei on 21 June, and the campaign to block the amendment to the Employment Relations Act will culminate with a march and rally on Parliament in Auckland on 20 July. 
 
The legislation, if passed, would also remove all grievance rights for workers during their first 90 days of employment. The bill passed a first reading on Parliament with a narrow 63-58 vote on 15 March 2006 when Mapp&rsquo;s National Party was joined by MPs from four other political parties: New Zealand First, ACT, United Future, and the Maori Party, in which three of four MPs voted against workers&rsquo; interests. The governing Labour Party and the Green Party are standing with trade unions in opposing the measure.

New Zealand Labour Launches Protests Against 90-Day Probation Act

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ICEM German affiliate IGBCE and the country&rsquo;s chemical employers&rsquo; federation, BAVC, announced in Berlin today, 12 June, a joint declaration toward implementing family-friendly policies in the workplace. The agreement is the first of its kind in any sector in Germany.
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The initiative serves as the pioneering effort toward achieving the necessary balance between work and family life. &ldquo;This is a significant step to better compatibility between occupation and family duties,&rdquo; said IGBCE&rsquo;s Edeltraud Glaenzer. She added that the basic principles contained in the position paper will now need to be put in practice in chemical industry worksites. 
 
German Family Affairs Secretary Ursula von der Leyen, who was present for the signing, stated, &ldquo;For the trade union and employers&rsquo; organisation to declare this family-friendly personnel policy, is a decisive prerequisite for a better balance between work and family life.&rdquo;

IGBCE, Chemical Industry Announce ‘Family-Friendly’ Protocol Agreement

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Three French unions will join together on 20 June in a strike aimed at backing the government from its proposed merger of state-operated Gaz de France with Suez, a French-Belgian water and power company. Energy sections of CGT, FO and CFE-CGC have planned work stoppages and mass demonstrations for that day. 
 
The government-brokered merger, proposed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in order to block a hostile takeover of Suez by Italian energy company Enel, would break a pledge contained in a 2004 French law stating that at least 70% of Gaz de France would remain in state hands. If the &euro;72 billion merger with Suez does occur, only 34% of the combined enterprise would remain under state control.
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Trade unions in France received a boost last week in their efforts to block the merger when French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the proposal was losing support among lawmakers and government leaders. The day-long strike and demonstrations are timed to coincide with debate beginning this week in Parliament over legislation to authorise the merger.

French Unions to Stage 20 June Strike Over Planned Gaz de France, Suez Merger

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Saturday 17 November 2007&nbsp; 
10.00 &ndash; 17.00 Women&rsquo;s Conference 
 
Sunday 18 November 2007 
09.30 &ndash; 17.00 Women&rsquo;s Conference 
 
Monday 19 November 2007&nbsp; 
09.00 &ndash; 17.30 Presidium 
19:00 Dinner for ICEM Presidium Members and accompanying persons 
 
Tuesday 20 November 2007&nbsp;&nbsp; 
09:00 - 17:00 Executive Committee Meeting 
19.00 Dinner for ICEM Executive Committee Members and accompanying persons 
 
Wednesday 21 November 2007&nbsp;&nbsp; 
09:00 - 17:00 Contract and Agency Labour Conference 
17.00+ Meeting of Congress Credentials Committee 
 
Thursday 22 November 2007&nbsp;&nbsp; 
10.00 Opening of Congress 
17.00 Congress Sessions close 
17:00+ WFIW Integration 
19.30 Dinner 
 
Friday 23 November 2007&nbsp;&nbsp; 
09:00 Congress Sessions continue 
17:30 Congress Sessions close 
19.00 Dinner 
 
Saturday 24 November 2007&nbsp;&nbsp; 
09:00 Final Congress Sessions 
14:00 Congress Closure 
15:00-17:00 New ICEM Presidium meets 
<a href="/en/?id=184&amp;doc=2430&amp;la=EN">Click here for the detailed draft 4th World Congress Agenda 
</a> 
Departure of Delegations

Provisional Programme for the Fourth ICEM World Congress

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On 19 May, ICEM&rsquo;s French affiliate F&eacute;d&eacute;chimie CGT-FO elected, unanimously, Herv&eacute; Quillet as its new general secretary at an extraordinary National Committee meeting. 
 
The new general secretary replaces long-serving and popular general secretary Michel Decayeux, who is retiring, but will remain on as a member of the organisation&rsquo;s Bureau F&eacute;d&eacute;ral as well as of its Commission Ex&eacute;cutive Conf&eacute;d&eacute;rale until the union&rsquo;s next congress. He also remains in charge of European and international relations. Decayeux is a former ICEM Materials Section chairman and an Executive Committee Member of the ICEM.

Michel Decayeux Steps Down as GS of Fédéchimie CGT-FO in France

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ICEM Norwegian affiliate NOPEF and other unions achieved a 2006 wage increase of 4.5% in the offshore oil sector. The accord came on 17 May after offshore workers rejected a 2.5% offer from the Oil Industry Association (OLF). 
 
The agreement covers 6,200 workers and also lays a framework for further dialogue on work conditions including the rising demand for skilled workers in Norway&rsquo;s offshore oil sector. A total of 2.4 million barrels of oil daily is pumped from rigs off the Norwegian continental shelf.

Norway’s Offshore Energy Workers Negotiate 4.5% Raise

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In Russia over the past ten days, three miners were killed and one is still missing in two separate accidents 
in the coal-rich Kuzbass area of central Siberia. The accidents involve the same company, Prokopyevskugol coal mines, a subsidiary of the metallurgical company Novo-Lipetsk. 
 
At the Voroshilovskaya mine the town of Prokopyevsk, a roof collapsed on 22 May, causing two deaths. Fifteen miners managed to escape. On 18 May at the Ziminka mine, one miner was killed when water broke through a clay wall. One other miner is still missing, while 12 managed to escape. 
 
The accidents prompted the governor of the Kemerovo Region of Russia, Vladimir Lisin, to write to the chairman of the board of Novo-Lipetsk to increase financing of measures to ensure proper industrial safety and mineworker protections.

Separate Mishaps, Same Company in Russian Coal Fatalities

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Two strikes in the Colombian coal mining sector broke out recently, giving 3,000 miners of unaffiliated Sintramienerg&eacute;tica a loud voice to express disapproval over working conditions in this resource-rich sector of the South American country. 
A strike by 1,000 miners broke out at Swiss-owned Glencore International&rsquo;s Carbones La Jagua operations in Jagua de Ibirico, Cesar state, on 17 May, and one numbering 2,000 miners started on 22 May at US-based Drummond Coal&rsquo;s LaLoma mines in Cesar, and spread to the company&rsquo;s transport and export terminal operations in Cienaga and Santa Marta. 
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The Drummond strike centers on subcontractors. The privately-held US company refuses to extend collective bargaining rights to thousands of contract workers, mostly at the transport and terminal sites. Sintramienerg&eacute;tica is insisting for these jobs to be made permanent, with full social rights as well as the necessary health care benefits both on and off the job. 
 
Wages are also a major issue with both companies, since coal&rsquo;s high prices and the rich value of Colombian&rsquo;s high-grade resource in America and Europe has left miners short-changed. Miners&rsquo; demands also include significant investment, particularly by Glencore, on environmental projects, and for both companies to begin providing medical assistance to communities that have been adversely affected by the mining enterprises. 
 
Columbia&rsquo;s national labour center, Central Unitaria de Trabajores (CUT), has warned that company security units have made the strike scenes extremely volatile, and has called for constructive dialogue from both the national government and the two companies. CUT, saying the two strikes are lawful, said the companies refused to find solutions to the union&rsquo;s demands over the past two months, and that the demands have the overwhelming support of the miners. 
Glencore recently sold its 33% share in another rich coal mining and export operation in eastern Colombia, Carbones del Cerrej&oacute;n, to Xstrata, a global mining house in which Glencore owns a 15% stake.

Colombia’s Coal Industry Hit with Two Strikes

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