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Trade unions in Thailand&mdash;led by affiliate EGAT-LU&mdash;continue to resist the government&rsquo;s plan to privatise the electric and water services of the country. The ongoing stalemate will likely now be the key issue in government elections set for February 2005. Unions, now in their 119th consecutive day of protest at the headquarters of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, have embarked on a &ldquo;Scattering Bees Strategy&rdquo; in which they will conduct educational forums and brochure drops in all parts of Thailand leading up to those elections.

Thai Government, EGAT-LU Stalemated Over Electric Privatisation

EGAT-LU, the heroic Thai affiliate that is fending off privatisation of the country&rsquo;s electric industry, has declared 24-28 May as &ldquo;International Week of Action&rdquo; against the government&rsquo;s rush to privatise. ICEM is central to accessing global action for the week, and more information will be posted this week through an ICEM Circular, with specific activities announced in an ICEM press release next week.

EGAT-LU Declares Week of Action Against Electric Privatisation

French affiliate FCE-CFDT and other electric power workers&rsquo; unions sent a strong message against privatisation 8 April with strikes in three French cities that shut down electric supplies. The strikes in Toulouse, Marseilles and Lille were response to the government&rsquo;s intent to spin off Electricit&eacute; de France (EDF) and Gas de France into private utilities. In northern France, workers also pulled the plug on power supplies for a brief period in four cities. And in Paris, demonstrators pelted EDF headquarters and France Conseil d&rsquo;Etat with used light bulbs. FCE-CFDT is calling for a full debate in Parliament over energy policy. It is advocating security of power supplies, promotion of renewables and reductions in general consumption.

French Affiliate FCE-CFDT Opposes EDF Privatisation

Application has been made to begin formal dialogue in the chemical sector of Europe. At a conference in Helsinki, Hubertus Schmoldt, president of both ICEM affiliate IGBCE and EMCEF (www.emcef.org), and Hans-Paul Frey, president of the European Chemical Employers&rsquo; Group, announced to trade unionists and employer representatives that dialogue between the social partners would begin this year. The chemical industry is Europe&rsquo;s second biggest industry, employing two million workers.

European Chemical Unions, EMCEF Seek Social Dialogue

The unaffiliated Bahamas Electrical Workers Union (BEMU) rallied last week and commenced industrial actions against government-run Bahamas Electricity Corporation. Industrial actions officially began on 1 September. About 150 of the union&rsquo;s 900 members rallied on that day outside the utility&rsquo;s headquarters in Nassau. The company has failed to reach compromise on five key issues separating the two sides: safety, a pension scheme, salary disparities, management of work hours, and contract breaches. The union, part of the National Congress of Trade Unions (NCTU) of The Bahamas, is now conducting sit-down actions, go-slow procedures, and action might escalate to power cuts if management remains unwilling to address the concerns of electrical workers

Electric Workers in The Bahamas Start Job Actions

About 400 members of ICEM affiliate Fiji Electricity Workers Association (FEWA) are preparing to strike this week over Fiji Electricity Authority&rsquo;s (FEA) refusal to address pay demands and grievances. The union gave managers a 28-day strike notice on 11 August and insisted that failure to enter meaningful negotiations would cause a walkout. Talks did occur last week, but FEA did not address the wage issue or failure to pay past cost-of-living increases that were due. Fiji&rsquo;s minister of Labour entered the dispute by issuing a letter declaring any strike illegal under the country&rsquo;s Trades Disputes Act, despite the fact that FEWA has been in compliance with all strike notice and secret ballot provisions.

Fiji Electric Workers Threaten Strike

Gold miners at Ghana Goldfields Ltd&rsquo;s Tarkwa mine briefly struck early last week over a dispute on a newly implemented profit-sharing plan. The 1,500 miners of ICEM affiliate Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) struck 29 August but were back on jobs 30 August after negotiations between national leaders of GMWU and regional political leaders. The Tarkwa operation is Ghana&rsquo;s single largest gold producer that now has output of nearly 600,000 ounces annually, up from 530,000 in 2003. In 2004, Goldfields stopped utilizing contract miners at Tarkwa. The Johannesburg based mining house created a permanent workforce and introduced profit sharing that was aimed at supplementing full-time workers&rsquo; salaries.

Ghana Miners Strike Goldfields over Profit-Sharing

<img height="55" alt="" src="" width="138" />
Striking Canadian Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Union members at Invista, a global DuPont spinoff now owned by privately-held Koch Industries of the US, got a meaningful sign of Solidarity 27 August. Brother and sister CEPers employed at two other Invista chemical plants came to picket lines of striking Local 28 in Maitland, Ontario, with 380 black shorts bearing the union logos of all three branches. 
The 380 strikers have been out since 4 June over Invista&rsquo;s unwanted benefit cuts and company insistence to eliminate job security language in the contract to make room for contractors. A mediation session in mid-August did produce some progress, and the two sides are back before a provincial mediator on 12 August. CEP members at local branches in Ajax and Millhaven, Ontario, move closer themselves to initial bargaining with Invista in the coming months.

Invista Unions Rally Behind CEP at Canadian Chemical Plant Strike

North American affiliate USW responded rapidly last week to the disaster along the US Gulf of Mexico coast brought on by hurricane Katrina. By mid-week&mdash;before US government relief could get into the death-stricken region with emergency supplies&mdash;the union had designated and begun disbursing US$100,000 through it&rsquo;s Steelworkers Charitable and Education Organization, reported ICEM NA Chairman Don Langham, a vice president of USW. Some $50,000 of that came from the USW&rsquo;s Humanity Fund of Canada. For information on the special fund, log on to www.uswa.org and visit &ldquo;USW Katrina Disaster Fund&rdquo; which is on the homepage. Further information can be obtained by contacting USW Secretary-Treasurer Jim English at jenglish@steelworkers-usw.org.

US Steelworkers Respond to Gulf Coast Hurricane

Hundreds of demonstrators braved heavy rain in Perth, Australia, this morning to protest against human rights abuses by the world's biggest mining company, Rio Tinto. 
The demo took place as shareholders filed into the company's Annual General Meeting. Demonstrators included trade unionists protesting over Rio Tinto's industrial relations policies in Australia and elsewhere. 
 
Rio Tinto is currently embroiled in a number of industrial disputes in Australia, essentially over the company's attempts to deunionise its mining operations there and move away from collective agreements. 
 
Inside the AGM, 90% of the questions raised by shareholders were critical of Rio Tinto's financial performance and policies. Questioners cited the company's links with human rights abuses, its failure to honour internationally recognised labour standards, its continued environmental destruction and its deteriorating record on health and safety. 
 
Despite the concerns which dominated the meeting, Rio Tinto chairman Robert Wilson refused a request to make a transcript of the AGM available. 
 
A transcript would have enabled Rio Tinto shareholders and stakeholders throughout the world to read what the directors reported to the Perth AGM and what concerns the shareholders expressed there. 
 
Tony Maher, General President of the Mining and Energy Division of Australia's Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), attended the AGM. He condemned Rio Tinto's refusal to make the proceedings publicly available. 
 
&quot;Rio Tinto claims it has a policy of transparency,&quot; Maher pointed out. &quot;So what is it afraid of? It is no big deal these days to post the transcript on the Internet or indeed to make copies available to its shareholders and other interested parties. 
 
&quot;What is Rio Tinto trying to hide? Why won't it come clean?&quot; 
 
At the global level, the CFMEU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Maher warned that the CFMEU and the ICEM will continue to work with human rights, indigenous and environmental organisations to campaign for Rio Tinto to accept UN-backed international standards at all its operations.

Protests At Rio Tinto&#039;s Australian AGM

Archive

Thai Government, EGAT-LU Stalemated Over Electric Privatisation

EGAT-LU Declares Week of Action Against Electric Privatisation

French Affiliate FCE-CFDT Opposes EDF Privatisation

European Chemical Unions, EMCEF Seek Social Dialogue

Electric Workers in The Bahamas Start Job Actions

Fiji Electric Workers Threaten Strike

Ghana Miners Strike Goldfields over Profit-Sharing

Invista Unions Rally Behind CEP at Canadian Chemical Plant Strike

US Steelworkers Respond to Gulf Coast Hurricane

Protests At Rio Tinto's Australian AGM

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