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Nepal&rsquo;s national labour centers GEFONT and NTUC, along with ICEM affiliates, had received permission from the district administrator to conduct silent commemorations on International Women&rsquo;s Day, 8 March. Banners and placards declaring support for gender equality in the workplace and in society were to be displayed by hundreds of trade union activists in Katmandu and in towns and cities across Nepal. But late the night of 7 March, security forces cancelled the permit and intermittent demonstrations the next day were met by baton-charging riot police. Some 226 arrested.

Nepal Cancels International Women’s Day Celebrations

German affiliate IGBCE used an innovative collective bargaining agreement with BASF to win 500 jobs for Berlin. The jobs and a new worksite, to be created late 2005 when BASF centralizes its financial, accounting and human resources into a shared service center, were possible after IGBCE proposed a forward-looking plan to the German chemicals producer, which had been considering many different sites. IGBCE President Hubertus Schmoldt said the social partnership the union has with BASF doesn&rsquo;t just exist on paper, but has evolved into lateral thinking on how the two parties do things. The new service center &ldquo;benefits everybody concerned: the people who find work (at the Berlin site), the company that can run a cost-effective business operation, and it is an important testimony to Germany&rsquo;s industrial competitiveness,&rdquo; said Schmoldt.

IGBCE in Germany Achieves Innovation Agreement with BASF

UK affiliate Transport &amp; General Workers&rsquo; Union suspended industrial action against Michelin 2 March for seven days after the company determined it could do better on a pay offer. Action was to begin 4 March at a tyre plant in Stoke, Midlands, and 400 T&amp;G members were set to begin a ban on overtime, forego any cooperative efforts with management, and start a work-to-rule campaign inside the factory. On that day, French unions at Michelin were to stage a manifestation at Michelin&rsquo;s Paris headquarters in support of the UK union, while the Stoke workforce planned a mass protest at their factory. Industrial action will commence 11 March if Michelin does not improve on a non-consolidated offer of &pound;650 or 3%, meaning the pay hike would not count towards the formula for pensions and other benefits.

Michelin Returns to UK Bargaining Table to Avoid Industrial Action

Australian affiliate CFMEU sent a clear message to the Howard government last week on how it would resist proposed radical industrial relations reform: together with the Maritime Union, it dispatched 400 trade unionists from Perth to Collie in Western Australia to support striking construction workers at BHP Billiton&rsquo;s new Worsley alumina refinery. Throughout February, strikers&mdash;including CFMEU members and members of ICEM affiliates Communications, Electrical &amp; Plumbing Union (CEPU) and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)&mdash;downed tools over pay and dispute over their classification as individual contractors under the federal awards system, a system already denying them basic workplace rights. Under the proposed Howard reform plan, among other regressive measures, such individual workers could be sued for taking strike action. Last week&rsquo;s 200 km solidarity caravan to Collie convinced two of BHP Billiton&rsquo;s site contractors to settle the pay dispute and if another agrees to the higher pay, construction workers could be back to work early this week.

CFMEU Will Resist Howard Government’s Labour Reforms

A new ICEM Workers' Network of SAPPI paperworkers will be formed 30-31 March near Hannover, Germany. ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union (CEPPWAWU) of South Africa will be the lead union for the network. SAPPI, headquartered in South Africa, has paper mills in Austria, Germany and the US.

South African CEPPWAWU Affiliate to Head ICEM’s SAPPI Network

US affiliate PACE has re-introduced a website dedicated to tracking the ongoing labour dispute in America with French-based Imerys. The website, www.imerys-solidarity.org, will cover the dispute at the company's Sylacauga calcium carbonate plant in Alabama, as well as upcoming talks between PACE and Imerys at a kaolin operation in Dry Branch, Georgia, USA.

PACE in US Renews Website Dedicated to Imerys’ Abuses

South Africa affiliate NUM has called the Harmony/Gold Fields decision by the South Africa Competition Commission last week &ldquo;heart warming&rdquo;, as it took a number of the union&rsquo;s concerns to heart. As part of an ongoing saga featuring two South African gold companies, where the Harmony Gold Mining Company wants to take over Gold Fields, the Commission set a condition for the merger: it shall eliminate no more than 1,500 managerial or supervisory jobs. &ldquo;The recommendation to save jobs, particularly at the bottom of the ladder, is most comforting&rdquo;, said NUM.

Preserving Jobs Chief Concern to Harmony’s Goldfields Takeover

US affiliate United Steelworkers of America (USWA) ratcheted up the bargaining pressure on Bridgestone/Firestone 16 February by conducting handbilling at some 200 Nissan auto dealerships across America. The &quot;Day of Action&quot; at non-union Nissan North America was meant to remind Nissan customers of quality problems the last time the Japanese tyre manufacturer imposed a labour dispute on 6,000 USWA members employed at Bridgestone/Firestone. The union and company are currently locked in intense talks on the master rubber agreement in the US.

USWA Pressuring Bridgestone Over new Tyre Contract

China was regrettably not alone in mining disasters of late. In Russia as well, mining accidents are the order of the day. Here too, they are frequently the consequence of aging equipment, lack of safety regulations and economic pressures. On 9 February, 22 miners died in the Yesaulskaya mine in the Kemerovo region in Siberia where an explosion in a mine was fatal for most of the 30 workers that were present in the shaft at the time.

Gas Blast Kills 22 in Siberian Mine

Over 200 workers have died in what has been the biggest mining disaster in China for more than half a century. In spite of promises by the Chinese authorities to increase the overall safety in mines, through legal efforts as well as through education, the 15 February explosion in the Sunjiawan mine, near Fuxin in northeast China, stands as further proof of the continuing dangerous conditions inside Chinese mines. China accounts for 80% of deaths in the mining industry, while only producing 35% of the world&rsquo;s coal. 6,000 workers are said to have died in 2004 in Chinese mines. The accident also shows the necessity and timeliness of the ICEM-led effort on safety in Chinese mines. According to a memorandum signed as a result of this effort in December 2004 by eight different parties, more technical cooperation with the Chinese mining entities is urgently needed to start improving the safety and health situation in the mines in China.

Massive Mine Disaster in China Kills Over 200

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