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The ICEM has been saddened and concerned by the worst flooding in Thailand for five decades. The flood is causing immediate danger, already killing 350 people, but also is threatening industrial production and the country&rsquo;s economy as waters creep toward capital city Bangkok. Rough early estimates suggest 400,000 workers will lose their employment, at least in the short term, because of the flooding. 
 
We urge affiliates and supporters to provide all possible relief aid through international humanitarian aid agencies in their home countries, such as the International Red Cross. 
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ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath
ICEM Thai Project Coordinator Aranya Pakapath&rsquo;s house is under water after large amounts of water entered the area where she lives on 18 October, she was evacuated by truck that evening. 
 
Roughly one third of all Thai provinces are affected. Authorities are attempting to drain the flood water from areas east and west of Bangkok, out to sea. However the sheer volume of water building from heavy monsoon rains since the end of July have forced authorities to open the sluice gates outside Bangkok and northern parts of the city are now under water.

Thailand Floods Kill 350, Threaten Industry

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Unions organising employees of the world&rsquo;s largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd., achieved a significant hike in profit-linked annual bonuses for 300,000 members on 17 October. The annual bonus for permanent employees will now be INR21,000 (US$438), up from 17,000. 
 
Negotiators also achieved a bonus for contract and agency workers, who have never before received bonuses at Coal India. Unions compromised on their original 23,500 INR demand. 
 
The settlement, which also includes an INR1,000 INR Diwali gift to all workers, avoided a proposed three-day strike last week. 
 
When negotiations broke down at earlier stages, all five trade union confederations in India, INTUC, BMS, HMS, AITUC and CITU, jointly organised large actions, and jointly backed strike actions. Strong unity throughout the campaign is a positive development for all Indian workers. 
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INMF General Secretary B. K. Das
Talks were brokered by the Indian Coal Minister, between Coal India, and the ICEM affiliate Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) and other unions, following a concerted campaign which included a one-day strike by 300,000 miners on 10 October at eight coal producing subsidiaries of Coal India. In reaching settlement, all parties agreed to seek to finalise negotiations for the next national annual wage agreement by 31 December 2011. 
 
Coal India&rsquo;s decision to reward shareholders with a 39% dividend pay-out on profits strengthened the workers&rsquo; resolve with all 400,000 employees standing to share only 13% of all profits. 
 
Coal India is India&rsquo;s largest employer. Last financial year, it posted a 12.9% (US$2.4 billion) jump in net profit. 
 
There was more positive labour news in India on 17 October, as the government&rsquo;s Minister of Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge, told the Standing Labour Committee in New Delhi that the Labour Ministry is making efforts to extend all benefits now available to permanent workers to contract workers. Specifically, unions campaigned for amending the Contract Labour Act of 1970 so that contract workers would be automatically absorbed into permanent employment, especially when contract labour is blocked. 
 
The Minister also gave positive indications on the need for a National Labour Code for minimum wages, maximum hours of work, and minimum standards of safety and health at the workplace.

Strike Averted as Indian Coal Miners Win Improved Bonuses

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Queensland mineworkers employed by the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) soundly rejected a direct company enterprise agreement proposal by 92% on 12 October. The 4,000 miners, represented by three Australian unions that are negotiating as the Single Bargaining Unit (SBU), then launched the longest work stoppage since strikes began in June. 
 
They staged a 30-hour walkout from midnight on 18 October to 06h00 on 20 October. 
 
The strike cut production at the world&rsquo;s largest supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal. The strike and contract rejection also sent another sharp message to BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi that miners at BMA&rsquo;s seven collieries in central Queensland will not accept compromises on work-life balance, or to their job security. 
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&ldquo;The result shows that our members currently have little trust in the company as a whole, and they have seen through the waffle and spin,&rdquo; said Stephen Smyth, District Vice President of the Construction, Forestry, Mine and Energy Union (CFMEU), the largest of the three unions. 
 
After some 32 bargaining days dating back ten months, BMA used a part of the Fair Work Australia law to take its unwanted contract proposal directly to miners. The mail ballot, conducted between 29 September and 12 October, was rejected by a vote of 2,432 to 201. &ldquo;(BMA) can&rsquo;t ignore the message that the workers themselves have delivered,&rdquo; said Smyth. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t get a clearer picture than this.&rdquo; 
 
SBU and BMA resumed bargaining over this past weekend for three days in Rockhampton, Queensland. The other two unions comprising the SBU are the Australian Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union of the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU). All three unions are ICEM affiliates. 
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Even though BMA says it will put a 5% pay rise on the table, the SBU first wants agreement that there will not be a lowering of working conditions or diminished quality-of-life standards. SBU is resisting unwanted extensions on work rosters, which will negatively affect family life, and they oppose BMA in its will to gain contracting out flexibility. BMA wants to move from a five-day weekly roster to a seven-day one, and also seeks greater rule over operators&rsquo; jobs. 
 
Past ICEM reports on this crucial Australian labour struggle can be found <a href="-BMA-Tries-to-Bully-Aussie-Labour-Law-Back-to-Howard-Era">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4463-Aussie-Coal-Miners-Vote-92-to-Strike-BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi-Alliance ">here</a>. 
 
The Bowen Basin mines of BMA have aided BHP Billiton in giving the world&rsquo;s largest extractive resource company fiscal 2011 net profits of US$23.65 billion, 86% higher than in 2010 and a record for an Australian-based company. BMA&rsquo;s seven mines produce 58 million tonnes of coking coal annually.

Australian Miners Reject BMA’s Contract Proposal by 92%

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The ICEM Norwegian affiliate, IndustriEnergi (IE), announces 2012 nominations are now open for its third annual Arthur Svensson International Award for Union Rights. The award, which comes with a cash prize of NOK 500,000 (&euro;63,000), is given to a person or organization for outstanding contributions for promoting trade union rights and strengthening of trade unionism on the international and national levels. 
 
The deadline for nominations is 31 January 2012, and the award will be bestowed to the serving recipient on 14 June 2014. Nominations must include valid arguments on behalf of the nominee, and it must be made clear the organization or person making the nomination, and the nominator&rsquo;s relationship with the candidate. 
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Arthur Svensson
Nominations, in Norwegian, English, French or Spanish, must come from representatives or employees of Norwegian and international trade unions. The nominations should be made to Espen L&oslash;ken at <a href="mailto:espen.loken@industrienergi.no">espen.loken@industrienergi.no</a>, or faxed to +47 23 06 1360. 
 
The inaugural winner in 2010 was <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4056-Zimbabwe-s-Wellington-Chibebe-Receives-First-Norwegian-Labour-Prize ">Wellington Chibebe</a>, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, while this year&rsquo;s winner was <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4418-Palestine-s-Shaher-Sae-d-Winner-of-Norwegian-Arthur-Svensson-Union-Rights-Award ">Shaher Sae&rsquo;d</a>, Secretary-General of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). 
 
Arthur Svensson was the longtime leader of Norsk Kjemisk, the Norwegian Chemical Workers&rsquo; Association, which merged with NOPEF in September 2006 to form IE. He died in 2008, but left a legacy in Norway and beyond as a man who promoted peace, disarmament, and a nuclear weapons-free world. 
 
Mr. Svensson was a driving force from his various leadership positions with the Chemical Workers&rsquo; Union for implementation of Norwegian environmental law and a proponent of clean energy in driving clean industries.

2012 Nominations Open for Norwegian Arthur Svensson Trade Union Award

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The strike by 32,000 Finnish metalworkers that began on 21 October could end tomorrow following a new proposal presented by National Conciliator Esa Lonka last night, 23 October. ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro, the trade union of salaried workers in Finland, and Metalliliitto, the country&rsquo;s Metalworkers&rsquo; Union, will consider the proposal later today in separate meetings. 
 
The two unions began a first wave of strike actions last Friday against 45 metal and engineering companies that was to run until 7 November, with a second wave of strikes against another 35 firms to begin on that day.
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Lonka&rsquo;s new proposal addresses the unions concerns on a wage package over the next two years, while Finland&rsquo;s government is expected to legislate the other key issue in the dispute &ndash; a three-day annual training and education leave in which employers sought to use its own discretionary control. 
 
Metalliliitto&rsquo;s 38-member Union Council will consider the proposal at 16h today in Helsinki, while Ammattiliitto Pro&rsquo;s Executive Committee will meet at 17h to take up the government conciliator&rsquo;s proposal. If both bodies accept, the 32,000 workers &ndash; 25,000 metalworkers and 7,000 represented by Ammattiliitto Pro &ndash; will be back to work tomorrow, 25 October. 
 
The major discord was over a 4.3% wage increase for two years, an amount Finnish social partners agreed to on 13 October. Metal and technical employers, under the auspices of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, or Teknologiateollisuus, sought to structure that pay rise whereby many metalworkers and white-collar workers would not get the full amount. The new proposal given by Lonka last night, 23 October, proposes that it be granted across the board to all 200,000 workers in the country&rsquo;s metal and engineering sector. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s industrial actions also included an overtime ban across all employers in those industrial sectors. An <a href="/en/23-Nordic-Countries/4723-Strikes-Begin-in-Finnish-Metal-Technology-Sector">ICEM report</a> on the start of the strike from last week can be found here.

Conciliator’s New Proposal Expected to End Short Finnish Metalworkers Strike

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With the United Steelworkers (USW) currently voting local-by-local on adoption of a US National Oil Bargaining Policy, one thing is certain when talks with oil refiners get underway early in 2012: union-initiated process safety improvements will lead the agenda. 
 
Some 300 local USW leaders convened in Dallas, Texas, in late September and adopted a bargaining policy. That policy is now up for ratification by USW branch unions representing oil workers and once 75% of local unions agree, the agenda will be tabled when bargaining begins early in 2012. A current three-year labour agreement between USW and a majority of US downstream oil and petrochemical employers expires 1 February 2012. 
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Gary Beevers
USW Vice President Gary Beevers, who heads the sector, said achieving process safety will be the main issue in this round of talks. &ldquo;We must have meaningful and enforceable safety provisions if we are going to save lives, and we are prepared to strike, if necessary, to get that,&rdquo; said Beevers, an ICEM Executive Committee member. 
 
Process safety refers to a safe and functioning engineering and management controls system that prevents explosions, fires, and toxic releases caused by the highly hazardous chemicals used in refining. USW will strive to get a union-trained safety specialist in each of the 69 refineries where it represents workers as part of that process safety system. 
 
The USW reports that during the term of the current labour agreement, up through early September 2011, there were 131 reported fires in US refineries, about one per week. The USW lost seven union members, including some who were Local 12-591 leaders, in the deadly 2 April 2010 explosion at Tesoro Corp.&rsquo;s Anacortes, Washington, refinery. 
 
The Tesoro explosion was caused by a heat exchanger in a naphtha unit that blew apart due to cracks in a welded area, an obvious flaw in process safety. The Washington State Department of Labour and Industry determined that the Texas-based company failed to test equipment for cracks and fined Tesoro US$2.39 million, a fine the company appealed. 
 
The USW represents 30,000 workers at a total of 168 production, refining, marketing, transportation, and pipeline installations, and its membership in the US&rsquo;s 69 oil and petrochemical refineries gives it representation covering 64% of all workers in the US downstream sector. 
 
Oil bargaining in the US is termed pattern bargaining in which USW selects a lead company to negotiate with and then those terms are presented and expected to be accepted by other companies. Traditionally, the USW and its predecessor unions have selected Royal Dutch Shell as the lead company.

Safety Central Issue in Upcoming US Downstream Oil Talks

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Over 200 Global Mining and Maritime trade unions representing millions of workers around the world met in Durban, South Africa at the fourth International Mining and Maritime Conference. The conference has previously been held in Australia and the USA and was being held for the first time in Africa. The conference was hosted by the South African Trade Unions participating in the initiative. These Trade Unions are NUM, SATAWU, and CEPPWAWU. Most of the National Unions participating in the Mining and Maritime initiative are affiliates of the ICEM and participate in their individual capacities. The Mining and Maritime initiative is an independent loose alliance of national trade unions across the globe in the Mining and Maritime value chain, committed to global solidarity across the value chain of the Mining and Maritime industries. 
 
Intensive deliberations were held over three days of the conference on a wide range of issues across the mining and maritime value chain. A declaration was adopted at the end of the conference that commits the initiative to a plan of action in the next three years before the next conference. 
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Unlike previous conferences, the Durban conference reflected the influence and articulation of African Trade Union issues and agenda and this was extensively covered in the Declaration. Noteworthy in the declaration was the establishment of a truest fund to support the SATAWU initiative to recognize, albeit posthumously, Akhona Geveza, a victim of sexual assault and murder in the workplace, while on a Maritime scholarship in Australia 
 
The ICEM President, Senzeni Zokwana opened the conference and ICEM General Secretary, Manfred Warda, was one of the key note speakers at the conference. Both leaders gave the assurance of the ICEM&rsquo;s support for the initiative&rsquo;s solidarity campaigns and programmes. 
 
The ICEM&rsquo;s Mining Officer, Glen Mpufane gave a presentation on the State of the Current Global Extractive Resources Industries, which was well received by the conference delegates. The Chairperson of the Initiative, Mick Doleman, recognized the presentation as an invaluable resource material for the Mining and Maritime. 
 
Conference delegates declared continued support for the global campaign for Los Mineros in Mexico, development of a global network of unions at mining multinational Vale, and to reenergise the Rio Tinto global network. The declaration prioritised the fight for women&rsquo;s rights and participation. Specific support was pledged to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 in their fight for good jobs at EGT Development&rsquo;s grain terminal in the Port of Longview, Washington, USA. EGT Development is a joint venture of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Korea&rsquo;s STX Pan Ocean and Bunge North America. The ILWU President Robert McEllrath surrendered himself on 26 September to authorities, as police abuse their powers to harass the Longview strikers. McEllrath was arrested on the same day as another ICEM North American trade union leader, Dave Coles of the CEP in Canada was arrested on Parliament Hill, Ottawa during a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Mining and Maritime: Durban, South Africa 5-7 October 2011

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Former ICEM Sub-Sahara Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO) Chairman Rayford Mbulu was named on 1 October to be Deputy Minister for Labour, Sport, Youth and Gender in Zambia. He enters the new government of Michael Sata and the Patriotic Front Party (PF), which won Zambian elections on 23 September. 
 
Mbulu takes the government posting along with the head of the reconstituted Labour Ministry, Fackson Shamenda, former President of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and once the African Regional Secretary of Global Union Federation Uni. 
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Rayford Mbulu
Mbulu is past President of the Mineworkers&rsquo; Union of Zambia (MUZ), a position he was elected to in 2005 after serving as MUZ Deputy General Secretary in 2004. He left the MUZ late last year after challenging for the presidency of ZCTU. On the day of the election, he was disqualified by the Labour Minister under the previous Movement for Multiparty Democracy Party after his mining employer, state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), terminated his employment. 
 
Mbulu worked for many years at ZCCM&rsquo;s Nkana Division. He served as ICEM&rsquo;s SSARO Chairman from 2007 until his resignation in March 2011. Mbulu also becomes a Member of Zambia&rsquo;s Parliament from the Kalululushi constituency in the Copperbelt. 
 
On his swearing-in, Labour, Sports, Culture and Gender Minister Shamenda said the PF leadership would work to raise the minimum wage, reduce casualisation of employment, and strive to get better working conditions for all Zambians. President Sata reduced the number of government ministries from 23 to 19, combining some ministries including Sports, Culture and Gender with Labour.

Rayford Mbulu Named Deputy Labour Minister in Zambia

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A branch union of the ICEM-affiliated National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) of Peru is continuing its struggle for a decent new collective agreement at the Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde copper and molybdenum mine in southern Arequipa region. For the first time in the 40 year history of the mine, national government declared industrial action to be legal, as all 1,220 FNTMMSP members downed tools on 29 September for indefinite strike action. 
 
The legal status for the strike means the ministry of labour will arbitrate negotiations, with both sides meeting this afternoon, Monday, for talks. Striking miners are being replaced with 600 scabs and management staff in company efforts to continue production, breaching Peruvian labour law. If company negotiators continue to push regressive proposals, the union will demand the government and Congress send labour inspectors to determine operations are in line with regulations. This would paralyse all production. The branch union general secretary Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a alerted labour authorities to the pending request for inspections on 8 October. 
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Cerro Verde is offering workers a rise of less than US$1 per day, whereas the union seeks US$3. Local management also wants to replace future salary increases with a production bonus. As well as improved wages, strikers are demanding improved working conditions and better health and safety conditions. Branch general secretary Pe&ntilde;a reports that the company only offers solutions to 4 out of 40 union demands. Union and management positions are also far apart on the length of the agreement, with the union wanting a one-year duration and the company originally seeking 5 years, now 3. The previous agreement which expired 31 August was 3-year, but that was extended as a one off in exchange for company concessions. 
 
The strike was preceded by a 48-hour work stoppage in early September and an indefinite strike mid-September that was suspended due to a technicality making it illegal. 
 
Cerro Verde produced 312,336 tonnes of copper in 2010, 2% of the world&rsquo;s copper creating a net profit of US$1.05 billion. The open-pit mine is owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan (53.7%), SMM Cerro Verde Nederlands (21%), a unit of the Japanese Sumitomo Corp., and Peru-based Compania de Minas Buenaventura (19.3%). Mining profits are soaring on global markets due to increased metals prices, with massively increased profit margins not shared with workers.

Peruvian Cerro Verde Miners Launch Legal Indefinite Strike

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Several hundred garment workers conducted a hunger strike in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on 29 September, demanding payment of outstanding wages and allowances of workers at five garment factories. Protestors also sought legal compensation for dismissed workers from four garment factories. The pressure exerted achieved payment of the moneys owed by some, but not all of the employers. 
 
The strike was organised by the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), a highly active member trade union of the International Textile, Garment &amp; Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF). The hunger strike action was followed by the submission of a memorandum to the Ministry of Labour by a five-member delegation led by NGWF General Secretary Ms Safia Parveen. The memorandum called for immediate government intervention. 
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Each of the five garment factory employers had failed to pay wages since July, with overtime and other payments also outstanding. This affected 900 workers at S Nahar Garments of Kawran Bazar in Dhaka city, 200 workers at Bristi Garments of Tikatuli, 200 workers work in Jas Fashion of the Dab Star group in Arambagh, 1000 workers of Reo Fashion of the Dab Star Group also in Arambagh, and 350 workers at Millennium Garments of Tikatuli. Following the protest, Bristi, Jas, Reo, and Millenium groups made the payments, with Nahar promising to pay by today. 
 
Protestors also called on the government to intervene in the struggle for compensation to illegally dismissed workers of four garment factories, 97 at Benson Apparels of Tejgaon, 30 at Riz Fashion of Matuail, 25 at Aditi Apparels of Mirpur, and 45 at Bristi Garments. All saw their jobs disappear in cost cutting efforts over the last two years. Bristi has since paid, while Aditi promised to make payments by today. 
 
Focus now concentrates on Benson and Riz fashion. 
 
Speakers called for more action from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) to whom the NGWF submitted a grievance on 15 July. See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4557-Bangladesh-Garment-Workers-Take-Hunger-Strike-Actions-over-Delinquent-Employers">ICEM report</a>.&nbsp; 
 
NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin presided over the hunger strike. Speakers included, Coordinator of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council Salauddin Swapan, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Trade Union Centre Ruhul Amin, NGWF leaders Ms Safia Parveen, Mohammad Faruk Khan, Mrs Sultana Aktar, Mohammad Kabir, workers&rsquo; representatives of the affective factories spoke on the occasion, and Harun Chowdhury of the Bangladeshi Communist Party.

Bangladeshi Garment Workers’ Hunger Strike Achieves Owed Wages

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