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10:00 
Opening and Welcome 
Introduction and the background of the meeting 
Jouko Ahonen, Chair ICEM Pulp and Paper Industry Section 
10:15 
Global Pulp and Paper Sector, Major Trends, and the ICEM Response to the Sector Challenges 
 
Global industry overview: statistics for 2005-2006, restructuring, mergers and closures, GFA reviews, company networks 
Dick Blin, Information and Publications Officer, ICEM 
 
Country Reports 
 
Main points to cover: 
&middot; Pulp and paper MNCs in the country 
&middot; Bargaining and organising challenges and breakthroughs 
&middot; Use of Contract and Agency Labour 
&middot; Health and Safety in the sector 
&middot; Country-specific sector issues 
 
Jouko Ahonen, Chair ICEM Pulp and Paper Industry Section 
Dick Blin, Information and Publications Officer, ICEM 
11:30 Coffee Break 
12:00 Continuation of the Country Reports, Discussion, and Conclusions 
 
Jouko Ahonen, Chair ICEM Pulp and Paper Industry Section 
Dick Blin, Information and Publications Officer, ICEM 
13:00(30) Lunch 
14:30 Discussion of the ICEM and Affiliates&rsquo; Activities before the next ICEM World P&amp;P Conference 
 
Points for discussion: 
<ul>
 <li>The next ICEM World P&amp;P Conference </li>
 <li>Latin American Regional ICEM P&amp;P Conference </li>
 <li>Health and Safety </li>
 <li>ICEM P&amp;P Industry Newsletter </li>
 <li>identifying 2-3 MNCs for focused networking activities&nbsp; 
 * informational support for MNC union networks:&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- contribution from affiliates&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- contribution from the ICEM&nbsp; 
 * educational and training support for MNC networks:&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - contribution from affiliates&nbsp; 
 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- contribution from the ICEM&nbsp; 
 * EWCs as hubs for wider networking for Europe-based MNCs </li>
 <li>Research support required 
 </li>
</ul>
Adoption of the ICEM P&amp;P Section Meeting document 
Jouko Ahonen, Chair ICEM Pulp and Paper Industry Section 
Dick Blin, Information and Publications Officer, ICEM 
 
16:00 Closure of the Meeting

4th ICEM World Congress - Draft Agenda ICEM Pulp and Paper Section Meeting

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Trade unionists from a number of countries in which mining-energy multinational BHP Billiton operates attended an initial forum in Brisbane, Australia, on 9-11 October. The conference was aimed at constituting a formal network of unionised workers at BHP Billiton. It was jointly conducted by the ICEM and the International Federation of Metalworkers (IMF).
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Unions attending included the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU), the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia, the Australian Workers&rsquo; Union (AWU); the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), both of South Africa; Confedera&ccedil;&atilde;o Nacional dos Metal&uacute;rgicos (CNM/CUT) of Brazil; Sindicato de Trabajadores de Escondida of Chile; Sindicato &Uacute;nico de Trabajadores de Compa&ntilde;&iacute;a Minera Antamina (SUTRACOMASA) of Peru; Community (formerly the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation) of the UK; and the United Steelworkers (USW) of the US. 
 
The conference was highlighted by two panel discussions, one detailing collecting bargaining within the Anglo-Australian company, as well as plant closures, industrial actions, and strategies in dealing with a company making unprecedented profit. The second dealt with building union strength in the face of massive labour outsourcing and other attacks on collective agreements. 
 
In country reports, the effect of imposing individual work agreements in Australia in place of collective agreements was discussed, as was health and safety concerns. Several unions reported on the company&rsquo;s failure to report lost-time injuries in order to be able to report positive sustainability data, and South American unions reported on widespread environmental problems from mines and smelting operations in those countries. NUMSA reported on a high incidence of occupational illnesses stemming from a manganese operation in South Africa. 
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Company representatives were invited to discuss employment concerns and problems, but declined the invitation. 
 
The unions agreed to hold a demonstration and speak at a November AGM of the company in Adelaide, Australia, and they also agreed to each prepare and distribute written dossiers on work conditions at BHP Billiton mines and other workplaces. 
 
The ICEM and IMF agreed to oversee the running of the workers&rsquo; network over the next year. ICEM was represented at the meeting by President Senzeni Zokwana of NUM in South Africa and Joe Drexler, the director of Industry and Corporate Affairs. IMF was represented by Rob Johnston, its director of Steel, Shipbuilding, Non-ferrous Metals, and Health and Safety.

ICEM, IMF Hold Initial BHP Billiton Workers’ Meeting

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ICEM affiliate Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) successfully brought 600 new members into its fold recently. Senior staff at AngloGold Ashanti&rsquo;s Obuasi Mine joined the GMWU, and will become the Professional and Managerial Staffs Union of the GMWU. 
 
At an inaugural event on 5 October, Ghana Trade Union Congress General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwa called the integration a milestone event for the 65-year-old GMWU, a union, he said, that has dramatically improved work conditions and community life in Ghana&rsquo;s gold belt.
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GMWU General Secretary Prince William Ankrah stated that having senior staff in the union will go far in healing the colonial legacy of the 50-year-old west African nation that once saw senior and junior workers pitted against one another by the divide-and-rule dictums of labour relations by mining companies. 
He welcomed the senior staff of the South African-based company into the GMWU, stating they will now be offered the same excellent services built over many years, including job security, career development, dependent educational opportunities, and other social programmes. 
 
The Obuasi Mine is AngloGold&rsquo;s most productive of three mines in Ghana, and the only one that is underground. Gold mining, which accounts for 30% of all revenues derived from the country&rsquo;s exports, occurs at 1.6 kilometres deep at Obuasi, with a current project now underway to dig deeper, expecting to extend the mine&rsquo;s life span beyond the year 2040.
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This mine was the major catalyst behind the 2004 merger of AngloGold and Ashanti Goldfields of Ghana. The company also operates open cast mines at Iduaprim and Teberebie. With several other gold producers operating in Ghana, including Goldfields, Newmont Mining, Red Back Mining, and Golden Star of Canada, the country is Africa&rsquo;s second largest gold producer behind South Africa. 
 
The Professional and Managerial Staff of GMWU has an eight-member executive, including Chairman Seidu Adam Bogobiri, Deputy Chairman Charles Owusi, Secretary Samuel Dwamenah, Deputy Secretary Isaac Newton Kusi, First Trustee Collins Ankomah, Second Trustee Eric Obeng Foshuhene, Chaplain M.C. Turkson, and Women&rsquo;s Representative Doris Apem.

Ghana Mine Workers&#039; Union Organises Senior Staff of AngloGold Ashanti

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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) petitioned South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) last week to conduct a one-day strike. The strike would call attention to severe safety deficiencies by mining houses operating in South Africa in the wake of the near catastrophe at Harmony Gold&rsquo;s Elandsrand Mine on 3-4 October. 
 
Some 3,200 miners were trapped there when a piece of steel pipe dropped 2.2 kilometres down an elevator shaft, severing electrical cables and shattering the framework of the mine&rsquo;s main elevator. Fortunately, all were rescued, but it took the company 38 hours to complete the rescue.
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But even after that near tragedy, the death toll in South African mines&nbsp;has risen. On 10 October, three miners were killed at Goldfields Kloof gold mine near Westonaria when a rope hoisting a skip loaded with rock snapped, sending the load back down a shaft and crushing the three miners. On the same day, another Goldfields miner was killed by falling rock 2,700 metres underground at the company&rsquo;s South Deep Mine. 
 
Three NUM members at Northam Platinum in Thabazimbi lost their lives in accidents recently. The NUM said the company had failed to report the deaths. The company responded by stating that its policy has been not to report single fatalities. On 17 October, one miner at AngloPlatinum&rsquo;s Paardekraal Mine in Rustenburg perished and another was critically injured and remains hospitalised from an underground rock fall. 
 
A day earlier, Reuters in Johannesburg reported that the subsidiary of Anglo American was contemplating reducing the number of contract workers in its mines because the safety record of such workers is not as good as for permanent staff. &ldquo;We have identified this as the key challenge,&rdquo; stated AngloPlats head of Strategy, Frances Petersen. 
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NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
The NUM formally applied to the CCMA for a certificate to strike on the same day of the AngloPlats Rustenburg tragedy. The strike could come as early as next week, or the first week of November. It would mark the first time in 20 years that the ICEM affiliate took strike action across the country&rsquo;s entire mining sector.
In a statement, the NUM said a &ldquo;genocide is unfolding, and the NUM is preparing for a strike that seeks to divert attention from the obsession with production targets to the one that deals with realising the sacrosanct human life.&rdquo; 
 
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni added that the loss of black miners has come at the expense of enormous profits made through continuous operations.

NUM Files for One-Day Safety Strike in South Africa’s Mine

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ICEM Affiliates: HIV/AIDS Activities Pick up 
 
ICEM affiliates in Botswana organised a series of meetings on HIV/AIDS policy, peer education, and voluntary counselling and testing. The National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) has shown an interest in the unions&rsquo; programme. 
 
In Tanzania, ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO organised training workshops for peer educators at the Mbeya Labour College and in Dar-es-Salaam. A separate seminar was held for members from the Kiwira Coal Mine. 
 
Workplace union representatives were the target group of a training seminar in C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire which dealt with behaviour change communication, the rights of HIV-positive workers, and the essential elements of workplace policies. 
 
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, two training workshops for peer educators were held in Kinshasa and Moanda, which is a town on the border with Angola where prevalence is high. 
 
All these activities were supported with funds for national activities from the LO/TCO-FNV Mondiaal HIV/AIDS project.
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ICEM Regional Meetings in Africa 
 
At the Regional Women&rsquo;s Conference in Johannesburg, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) of South Africa presented a resolution on the gender dynamics of HIV/AIDS. Women need to be empowered to take control of sexual behaviour, especially condom use. HIV/AIDS and women workers has been made one of the priorities for the work of the women&rsquo;s committee in the coming years. 
 
Several speakers at the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, referred to the importance of behaviour change, the need for testing, and the necessity for a wider availability of anti-retroviral drugs. HIV/AIDS must be considered a disease like any other. Only then can stigma, which prevents people from knowing their status, be eliminated. 
 
The host unions in Botswana reported on a successful campaign when, on one day, 350 people were tested in Silebe Phikwe, a mining town with one of the highest prevalence rates in the country. Sadly, however, a delegate from Zimbabwe described a bleak situation where people prefer not to be tested because ARVs are not available.
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Tanzania: Hope to AIDS Sufferers 
 
As more and more people visit Care and Treatment Centres (CTC), the number of HIV patients on anti-retroviral treatment has doubled in just over a year. 
 
The increase has been attributed to the introduction of &ldquo;fellows&rdquo; trained by the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/AIDS Foundation, an NGO jointly initiated by former presidents of Tanzania and of the US, Benjamin Mkapa and Bill Clinton, respectively. 
 
These so-called fellows address the gaps in human resources for the public health sector, which is key in scaling up HIV/AIDS care and treatment. 
 
Setting a good example, the current President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, publicly took an HIV/AIDS test. 
 
(Source: East African, Nairobi, 24 July)
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India: 2.5 Million People Living with HIV, According to New Estimates 
 
The new 2006 estimates, released on 6 July by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country. These estimates are more accurate than those of previous years, as they are based on an expanded surveillance system and a revised and enhanced methodology. 
 
The revised estimates will be used to improve planning for prevention, care and treatment efforts. &ldquo;While it is good news that the total number of HIV infections is lower than previously thought, we cannot be complacent. The steady and slow spread of the HIV infection is a worrying factor. The better understanding of India&rsquo;s epidemic has certainly enabled us to have more focused HIV prevention and treatment strategies and more effective deployment of resources,&rdquo; said Mr. Naresh Dayal, Secretary of Health and Chair of the National AIDS Control Board. 
 
Commenting on the new estimates and guarding against their misinterpretation, Sujatha Rao, Additional Secretary and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization said, &ldquo;The calculation of figures for several years, using the new model helps us understand that the new lower estimates do not mean a sharp decline in the epidemic.&rdquo; She cautioned against easing off the momentum of the HIV response. 
 
Comments by the editor of this e-bulletin. Hans Schwass: The 2006 UNAIDS epidemic update put the 2005 figure for India at approximately 5.7 million with a variance of 3.4 to 9.4 million. This made India the country with the highest absolute number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world. 
 
Prof. James Chin, former unit chief at the WHO Global Programme on AIDS, says that UNAIDS has overestimated HIV prevalence in a large number of countries. He goes on to say that exaggerating the numbers will cause a backlash and damage support from the public and policymakers. He acknowledges, however, that the pandemic is severe in a large number of regions and countries and that it requires that AIDS programmes continue to receive the highest public health priority and funding. 
 
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 6 July and The Monitor, Kampala, 28 July)
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HIV: A Time Bomb for the Mining Industry? 
 
Mining companies all over the world have belatedly realised that at a time of booming demand for minerals, HIV/AIDS is hampering their operations. 
 
Mining areas regularly have a higher prevalence rate than the national average. In South Africa, the infection rate is nearly double that of the general working population; in the Russian mining town of Irkutsk, it is three times higher than the national average. To a large extent, this is due to the working and living conditions of mine workers and the high rate of migrant workers who are employed in the industry and who have to leave their families behind. Remote mining sites also attract commercial sex workers. 
 
Brian Brink, Senior Vice President Health of AngloAmerican mining house in South Africa, admits that despite all their efforts, they did not stop the epidemic. A lot of cases still go undiagnosed and do not get reported. In India, where the prevalence rate is still low (see previous article), there are areas where the rate is around 1%. &ldquo;In the early 1990s, that is where we were and then it is very difficult to stop,&rdquo; declared Brink. &ldquo;Other countries must not fall into the same trap as South Africa, said Lennox Mekuto, Health and Safety Officer of the ICEM-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). 
 
(Source: The Namibian, Windhoek, 13 July)
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News from ILOAIDS 
 
Edwin Cameron, Judge at the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, gave a talk at the ILO on 19 June on &ldquo;Legislating an Epidemic: The Challenge of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace.&rdquo; The talk was given on the background of the ILO having started work on developing a Recommendation on HIV/AIDS in the World of Work, following a decision of the Governing Body in March 2007. 
 
On a workplace perspective, Judge Cameroon made three propositions: that the effects of the epidemic on the workplace are distinctive, and must be distinctively addressed; that in countries where the epidemic has taken hold or threatens, the response by unions, employers, and governments to workplace issues has not been sufficient; and that the workplace offers a particularly appropriate location for addressing HIV-related issues. 
 
He went on to say that since the adoption of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work in 2001, the epidemic has moved fast and that some aspects of the Code seem outdated now. He gave two reasons: the Code elides treatment and its approach to testing is antiquated. 
 
On treatment Judge Cameron argued that since 2001, large-scale provision of anti-retroviral treatment, even in resource-poor settings, has proven to be effective and feasible. 
 
The Code is fully five years behind. Encouraging access to anti-retroviral treatment should now be a cornerstone of every employer&rsquo;s policy in every country where the epidemic has taken hold. Although it probably remains too ambitious to want to oblige employers to provide ARVs, they should certainly be obliged to assist and to provide information on ARVs, and to provide assistance in accessing them. The fact is, the workplace is an ideal environment for treatment literacy campaigns, for partnering treatment roll-out programmes, and even for directly observed treatment supervision. 
 
On HIV testing, he maintained that the Code&rsquo;s approach is out-dated. In the present climate of continuing stigma, amid the availability of treatment, the Code&rsquo;s approach to treatment is even retrogressive. It was valid before large-scale treatment became available and at a time when testing was all too frequently merely an excuse to discriminate and exclude. 
 
Thus the Code cautions that testing should not automatically be carried out in the workplace and that it should be strictly confidential and with informed consent. The debate about testing has moved far beyond these constricting parameters. Where non-discrimination protections do exist, and where confidentiality is assured, testing should be actively encouraged &ndash; not hedged around with impediments. The ability to establish your HIV status should be celebrated as a means of self-knowledge, self-empowerment, and as a portal to treatment. According to Cameron, the Code&rsquo;s approach badly needs an over-haul. 
 
Judge Cameron declared his HIV positive status publicly some time ago and is, as he stated, &ldquo;proudly and openly gay.&rdquo; At the ILO, he went on to say, &ldquo;I owe my own presence with you here in Geneva today to anti-retroviral medication. I started taking ARVs nearly ten years ago, in November 1997, when I was very sick with AIDS and facing death. I have been on the same drug combination for nearly seven years &ndash; since early 2001.&rdquo;
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News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations 
 
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (Nos. 24 and 25 of 1 and 15 July) the International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITF), <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">www.itfglobal.org</a>, reports, among other items, on plans by India&rsquo;s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to increase the number of condom vending machines from 600,000 to 3 million. Condom promotion is one of the priority areas for NACO in HIV prevention. It also reports on a new public/private partnership to use cell phones to bolster care and treatment in ten African countries.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 &amp; 23

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The Workers&rsquo; Actrav of the ILO and the ICEM urges union leaders to announce to trade unionists that applications to the Global Labour University&rsquo;s upcoming degree programmes are now open. The programmes will be held in South Africa, in January 2008; Brazil, in February 2008; and in Germany, September 2008.
<img height="93" src="" width="100" alt="" />
The ILO&rsquo;s Workers&rsquo; Actrav will award a limited number of scholarships. Deadline for submissions to the Brazil and South African sessions: 1 September 2007. Deadline for the German programme is 1 April 2008. 
 
The courses take place at the University of Witwaterstrand in South Africa, at Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and at Germany&rsquo;s University of Kassel and the Berlin School of Economics. The course titles are &ldquo;Labour and Development&rdquo; (South Africa), &ldquo;Social Economy and Labour&rdquo; (Brazil), and &ldquo;Labour Policies and Globalisation&rdquo; (Germany).
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The ILO scholarships are open to applicants from developing and transitional economies. Applicants need to have the endorsement of a trade union to apply for a scholarship. The grant is conditional on a contribution from the supporting trade union, or other donor. 
 
The courses are endorsed by COSATU in South Africa, CUT in Brazil, and DGB in Germany, and backed by Germany&rsquo;s Hans Boeckler Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Scholarship Submissions Due for Global Labour University’s Classes in Brazil, South Africa, Germany

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ICEM affiliate Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ), together with another mining union, won a 20% pay increase for 9,000 miners at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in early July. The pay increase matched what the unions achieved for miners at KCM in 2006. 
 
Negotiations began in mid-May, but KCM, a company that is majority held by London-listed and Indian-owned Vedanta Resources, was slow in meeting the unions&rsquo; demands. In early July, the company did increase its pay offer from 16% to 20%. 
 
The average salary for the lowest paid miner at KCM had been US$400 per month. The other union negotiating the MUZ is the National Union of Mining and Allied Workers (NUMAW). The 20% increase was awarded effective 1 July.
<img height="130" src="" width="130" alt="" />
Meanwhile, last week, Canadian gold and copper producer First Quantum sacked four strike leaders &ndash; including two shop stewards &ndash; over a wildcat strike at the Kansanshi mine near Solez in mid-July. MUZ intervened to halt the strike by 400 miners in the North-Western province of Zambia, and succeeded in getting negotiations back on track. 
 
But the company took the action to terminate the four and place six others on final warning notices. Appeals are expected. 
 
At KCM, a business dispute between Vedenta and minority shareholder Zambian Copper Investments (ZCI) has gone to arbitration and awaits a ruling. Vedenta has an option to buy ZCI&rsquo;s 28.4% stake in KCM, lifting its ownership to 79.4%, but the dispute over share price has blocked the deal. The Zambian government maintains a 20.6% share of KCM.
<img height="115" src="" width="250" alt="" />
KCM comprises copper mines at Nkana, Nchanga, and Konkola, as well as pyrite mining at Nampundwe and a copper smelter at Nkana. This smelter is the biggest in Africa, and is now currently undergoing expansion. Vedanta also has invested at a new site, the Konkola Deep Mine Project, which will be operational in 2010 and will extend KCM&rsquo;s mining life by 30 years. 
 
Vedanta Resources is a major global producer of aluminum, zinc, and copper, and was founded and is currently run by Indian industrial magnate Anil Agarwal.

Zambian Miners Get 20%; Canadian Firm Sacks Leaders of a Copper Strike

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Unless an eleventh hour solution is found today, thousands of members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa will strike six diamond mines of DeBeers on Tuesday, 31 July. A walkout will mark the first full-scale mining strike in South Africa this year as current bargaining across a number of mining sectors remains bogged down in wage disputes. 
 
The NUM issued a strike notice to the world&rsquo;s largest diamond miner on 26 July, following certification from South Africa&rsquo;s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) that talks had hit a standstill. A day earlier, NUM members voted to strike the company, which is 45% owned by AngloAmerican.
<img height="131" alt="" src="" width="130" />
NUM members at DeBeers, numbering about 6,000, are adamant that an 11% pay increase is due them. DeBeers is only offering 8% and a contract for two years. 
 
&ldquo;DeBeers continues to preach 8% and a two-year agreement, and we had said &lsquo;No,&rsquo;&rdquo; stated NUM&rsquo;s lead negotiator for diamond mining, Peter Bailey. He added, &ldquo;Workers have told us in no uncertain terms that double-digit&rdquo; percentage increases are necessary in order to get a settlement, said Bailey. 
 
DeBeers stated that it intends to operate mines with a contingency plan if the NUM takes strike action.

NUM Set to Strike DeBeers Tomorrow in South Africa

<img height="48" src="" width="120" alt="" />
The tense situation in New Zealand&rsquo;s coal pits has eased. But the end to hostilities came only after a wave of sympathy strikes shut down coal production following the lockout of 200 miners by Australian-based contractor HWE Mining on 18 July. 
 
The New Zealand mining industry&rsquo;s collective talks, between ICEM affiliate Engineering, Paper, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) and state-owned Solid Energy and its contractors, already had been tense before the three-day lockout. Talks began in April for the 800 miners at some dozen pits but when little progress was made, EPMU miners began taking industrial actions late in June.
<img height="60" src="" width="120" alt="" />
&nbsp; 
The situation intensified when HWE Mining locked out workers at Solid&rsquo;s Rotowaro mine near Huntly 13 days ago. EPMU members at other Solid Energy mines &ndash; particularly Huntly East, Spring Creek, Terrace, and New Vale &ndash; immediately took action and stopped production. 
 
The lockout reminded New Zealanders that Australian mining companies are only too anxious to export the agenda of Prime Minister John Howard of Australia. 
 
The sympathy strikes of other companies put enough pressure on HWE Mining to come to terms in its portion of the Mining Industry Multi-Employer Collective Agreement. Some half-dozen of the other mining contractors also settled two-year agreements. The EPMU has won yearly pay gains of 5% to 5.5% in this round of talks.
<img height="133" src="" width="200" alt="" />
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little said the HWE Mining lockout was broken because of &ldquo;huge support from miners across the country.&rdquo; 
 
He added, &ldquo;Our members at Rotowaro stood strong in the face of some extreme employer militancy, and they&rsquo;ve managed to end the lockout and win the decent pay rise and improved conditions they were after. This was only achieved through the collective strength of miners.&rdquo; 
 
To date, the only contractor that has not come to terms with the EPMU is Doug Hood Mining, which operates Solid Energy&rsquo;s Stockton mine near Westport. EPMU members there took a 24-hour strike action on 27 July in protest to the contractor&rsquo;s stall tactics.

NZ Coal: Sympathy Strikes Counter Lockout, Pave Way for New Contracts

The European Works Council (EWC) of Alcan Packaging, facing imminent spin-off by new owner Rio Tinto, won a&nbsp;commitment that an Extraordinary Meeting of the Works Council&nbsp;would be held within 14 days&nbsp;after&nbsp;any announced sale of the company is made. Following frank discussions during EWC meetings on 25 July, where Alcan President and CEO Richard Evans reiterated Rio&rsquo;s intent to sell Alcan&rsquo;s packaging businesses, the commitment to hold a further Works Council meeting immediately following an announced sale is&nbsp;welcome news to packaging industry workers&rsquo; and their trade unions. 
 
The ICEM, a global union federation of 389 trade unions in 119 countries, applauded the commitment, calling it &ldquo;an important check-and-balance on corporate governance.&rdquo; The ICEM also congratulates the EWC and the trade unionists on the EWC for gaining this commitment. 
 
Evans told the EWC that Rio Tinto was hopeful of selling the collection of packaging businesses of as block, that there are serious buyers, and that a sale agreement could be completed soon. Peter Ellis, National Officer of ICEM UK affiliate Unite, welcomed the company&rsquo;s commitment.
<img height="138" alt="" src="" width="110" />
Rio Tinto&rsquo;s newly acquired flexible and specialty packaging businesses throughout the world are vast. The Australian company could realise &euro;5 billion from a sale. In 2003, the Canadian-based company purchased Norsk Hydro&rsquo;s packaging units, and the following year Alcan took over French-based Pechiney in a US$3.9 billion stock and cash deal. Alcan&rsquo;s packaging businesses produce products for the food, personal care, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Alcan Workers Win Commitment from Company at EWC

Archive

4th ICEM World Congress - Draft Agenda ICEM Pulp and Paper Section Meeting

ICEM, IMF Hold Initial BHP Billiton Workers’ Meeting

Ghana Mine Workers' Union Organises Senior Staff of AngloGold Ashanti

NUM Files for One-Day Safety Strike in South Africa’s Mine

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - Nos. 22 & 23

Scholarship Submissions Due for Global Labour University’s Classes in Brazil, South Africa, Germany

Zambian Miners Get 20%; Canadian Firm Sacks Leaders of a Copper Strike

NUM Set to Strike DeBeers Tomorrow in South Africa

NZ Coal: Sympathy Strikes Counter Lockout, Pave Way for New Contracts

Alcan Workers Win Commitment from Company at EWC

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