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The initial conference of ICEM&rsquo;s ExxonMobil Workers&rsquo; Global Network has been set for 3-4 November 2004 in the US city of Houston, Texas. US affiliate PACE is the lead union of the network. Unions representing ExxonMobil workforces are encouraged to attend. A call letter went out last month and trade union leaders can contact Gino Govender at ICEM or Keith Romig at PACE for further information.

First Global Meeting of ExxonMobil Network to Meet in US

Australian affiliate CFMEU criticized building firm Kavernar Clough for reprehensible conduct following an accident in which a crane dropped a 75-tonne steel vessel through a smelting tower. The accident occurred 1 June at Rio Tinto&rsquo;s Hi Smelt nickel plant in Kwinana, West Australia. The CFMEU halted work for 48 hours to insure the smelting tower was fully inspected and certified safe. The construction firm, however, instructed its men to continue with a concrete pour just minutes after the accident directly beneath the tower.

Union Critical of Firm’s Safety Procedures at Rio Tinto Jobsite

ICEM&rsquo;s Global Agreement, as well as US affiliate PACE&rsquo;s strategic accord with Swedish paper producer SCA were instrumental in bringing union representation to state of Arizona workers. In a two-day vote 27-28 May conducted by the US government, workers at a tissue plant in Bellemont, Arizona, voted for PACE 88-50. The union and SCA agreed to a &ldquo;principles of behavior&rdquo; code during the election campaign, which came as a result of ICEM&rsquo;s Global Agreement signed with the company in April, as well as PACE&rsquo;s cooperative accord signed with SCA in October 2003.

PACE in US Wins Union Recognition for SCA Workers

Rio Tinto Australian subsidiary Energy Resources may face prosecution in the Northern Territory following a March incident in which contaminated water from uranium processing was connected into workers&rsquo; drinking and showering supplies. Some 30 workers took ill. A report by the Northern Territory government identified serious breaches of regulations and NT&rsquo;s Mines and Energy minister said a &ldquo;lack of duty of care&rdquo; by management exists at the Ranger Mine in Kakadu National Park.

Rio Tinto May Be Prosecuted over Australian Water Contamination

Settlement has been reached in a Canadian mining dispute that had cut world nickel supplies. 
 
Members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in Thompson, Manitoba, yesterday voted to accept a new agreement with Inco. The vote - 66 percent in favour - ends Inco's 12-week lockout of 1,100 employees at its Thompson nickel mine. 
 
The three-year agreement, which will run till Sept. 15, 2002, is a victory for the union in that it addresses the wage and pension issues that Inco had refused to negotiate when negotiations broke down in September. The agreement maintains the pattern of increases established among USWA members in other Inco Canadian operations. 
 
The settlement includes wage increases of over 5 per cent, and 13 per cent in pension improvements. Along with an immediate signing bonus of 1,000 Canadian dollars, wage increases over three years will bring the average wage up to C$24.48 an hour by the end of the contract, up from C$23.31. 
 
Pensions will increase so that the minimum monthly benefit for a retiree with 30 years of service will be C$2,675 by the end of the contract. 
 
A negotiated Success Sharing Plan will divide the positive results of a co-design programme aimed at improving efficiencies in the operation. That plan, along with a Savings Fund Plan and the maintaining of the Nickel Price Bonus, could mean a payout over the life of the agreement of as much as C$9,000 per employee. 
 
&quot;The support of the membership for this agreement is proof of the workers' resolve to settle this dispute on their terms,&quot; said Bob Desjarlais, President of the union's local in Thompson. &quot;We are equally determined to work with the company in a way that will maximise the potential benefit to our members during the next three years.&quot; 
 
Lawrence McBrearty, the USWA's National Director in Canada, added that maintaining the pattern of bargaining with Inco in Manitoba &quot;is an important building block in upcoming negotiations with Inco in Ontario.&quot; 
 
At McBrearty's request, the USWA campaign for a just settlement at Inco had been supported by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the USWA is affiliated.

Canadian Nickel Dispute Settled

Canadian-based Inco will have to declare force majeure on some of its deliveries, the company admitted yesterday. 
 
The defaults on shipments result from Inco's lock-out against workers at a Canadian nickel mine in Thompson, Manitoba. 
 
Inco's blunder in Thompson will seriously weaken its credibility as a supplier, observers predicted. The company's sales slogan is Stronger For Our Experience. 
 
&quot;The total quantity of products that the Company is currently expected to be unable to supply as a result of the continuation of the work stoppage represents about 15 percent of the Company's average monthly primary nickel sales for the first nine months of 1999,&quot; Inco said yesterday. 
 
On its own figures, Inco supplies about 26 percent of the world's nickel demand. It is also an important producer of copper, precious metals and cobalt. 
 
1,040 workers at the Thompson mine have been locked out since 14 September. They are members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). The lock-out followed the union membership's rejection of the company's final offer. The Inco offer did not include any improvements in pensions, wages or benefits. USWA members at two other Inco Canadian operations have suspended their participation in joint labour-management design projects until the lock-out at Thompson is settled. 
 
At the global level, the USWA is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Earlier this month, USWA Canadian National Director Lawrence McBrearty asked the ICEM World Congress to back the Inco workers' campaign. Inco's behaviour is an example of a &quot; heartless corporate culture that puts profits before people,&quot; McBrearty told the Congress in Durban, South Africa. The USWA would take &quot;the struggle for justice&quot; to &quot;the four corners of the globe,&quot; he declared. 
 
&quot;We will mobilise our affiliates worldwide to communicate their solidarity with the USWA,&quot; responded ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, &quot;and we will use every means to urge Inco to reach a settlement with the union expeditiously.&quot; 
 
Inco is present in 14 countries, and has production operations in Canada, the UK, Indonesia, Japan, Guatemala, France, China, New Caledonia and the United States.

Inco Lock-Out Hits Nickel Supplies

About 3,000 South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases are pressing for their compensation claims to be heard by courts in Britain. The claims are against British-based asbestos multinational Cape. 
 
&quot;These claims should be heard in Britain and should be settled quickly,&quot; said Fred Higgs in Durban today. Higgs, who is General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), is himself a British citizen. He is in South Africa for the ICEM World Congress, which ended yesterday. 
 
&quot;It is a disgrace that Cape is even contesting the claims,&quot; Higgs said. &quot;It treated these people atrociously, and it should pay up immediately and in full.&quot; 
 
Many of the compensation claimants were employed in Cape's mining and milling operations in South Africa when they were children. That was during the apartheid era, and the children were forced to work in appalling conditions, with no protection against the deadly asbestos. 
 
In the latest round of the long legal battle between Cape and its victims, a British court ruled last month that the claims could not be heard in Britain. However, the claimants are now likely to take the matter to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court of appeal. &quot;We believe that the rights of the victims have been ignored in favour of commercial interests,&quot; their British lawyer said in London. 
 
The child labourers who survived Cape's ill-treatment are now adults, and many are desperately ill. This week, South African TV showed pictures of their emaciated bodies. 
 
The case took a macabre new turn on Thursday, when between 200 and 250 unmarked graves were discovered next to a mine dump in Prieska, near Kimberley. South Africa's ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is backing the claimants, believes the graves are those of asbestos workers who died during the apartheid era. 
 
&quot;Delegates to our World Congress were outraged to hear about this case and about the latest discoveries,&quot; Higgs said today. &quot;There were immediate consultations between British delegates and the NUM, and they agreed that the cases must be heard in Britain without further ado.&quot; 
 
Both British and South African ICEM delegates went on South African TV last night to call for the immediate hearing of the claims in Britain and the payment of full compensation. 
 
The asbestos victims and their supporters in the Northern Cape are planning a protest march to urge the House of Lords to allow their case to be heard in Britain.

Asbestos: South Africans&#039; Case Should Be Heard In Britain

Just as Australian unions, asbestos victims and renegade building materials firm James Hardie were getting close last week to resolving an A$2 billion shortfall in an asbestos liability fund, the company&rsquo;s CEO and CFO resigned, taking a combined A$10 million severance package. Peter Macdonald and Peter Shafron still face Australian criminal charges on misleading investors and other deceptive stock market practices by establishing and then underfunding an asbestos victims fund. Hardie had cut its own liability in constructing the fund.

James Hardie’s Executives Take Massive Severance Payouts

A Swiss mega-union was created 16 October with the merger of four unions. The new union, called Unia, includes ICEM affiliate Syndicat Industrie &amp; Batiment (SIB) and now represents over one million workers. Unia covers Swiss workers from engineering to construction industries, and also in retail and catering sectors.

Four Unions Merge in Switzerland to Inform Unia

Affiliate CEP in Canada held its 6th National Convention in Quebec City and pledged to raise C$500,000 for HIV/AIDS relief in Africa. The money will be channelled through CEP&rsquo;s Humanity Fund which union members support by payroll deductions of one cent per hour. CEP also made a firm pledge to keep open the Mirimichi, New Brunswick, kraft pulp mill currently being shut by Finnish UPM Kymenne. By acclamation, Brian Payne was re-elected president of the 150,000-member CEP and Andre Foucault as secretary-treasurer.

CEP’s Congress in Canada Moves on Providing HIV/AIDS Relief

Archive

First Global Meeting of ExxonMobil Network to Meet in US

Union Critical of Firm’s Safety Procedures at Rio Tinto Jobsite

PACE in US Wins Union Recognition for SCA Workers

Rio Tinto May Be Prosecuted over Australian Water Contamination

Canadian Nickel Dispute Settled

Inco Lock-Out Hits Nickel Supplies

Asbestos: South Africans' Case Should Be Heard In Britain

James Hardie’s Executives Take Massive Severance Payouts

Four Unions Merge in Switzerland to Inform Unia

CEP’s Congress in Canada Moves on Providing HIV/AIDS Relief

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