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Progress was made 10 September in negotiations between the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) and Debswana, the diamond mining operation in the southern African nation. The two sides agreed to a 10% wage hike for 6,000 miners that is retroactive to 1 April 2004, plus a maximum 10% production bonus for 2004-05 with a minimum of BWP 3,500 (US$790). 
In a separate and thornier issue&mdash;the fate of some 500 strikers&mdash; Debswana has agreed to reinstate 100 and continue dialogue on the remaining. BMWU Gen. Sec. Donald Lebotse termed this second set of face-to-face negotiations in the six-week dispute &ldquo;positive engagement&rdquo; and said the firm, a joint venture between DeBeers and the government, has agreed to void the housing eviction notices for all those who were fired while the dialogue continues.

Botswana’s Mining Union Hopes Debswana Dialogue Will Continue

Placer Dome, the world's third-biggest gold miner, faces a global trade union campaign over its retrenchment of 2,895 South African workers. 
 
South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will table a resolution to that effect during the World Gold Forum in Durban on 28 October. 
 
At the global level, the NUM is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ICEM is organising the World Gold Forum, which will bring together representatives of gold industry unions and companies and of gold consumers. Together, they will examine the future of the sector and propose action to safeguard it. 
 
The forum precedes the ICEM World Congress (Durban, 3-5 November), which will be mapping out a trade union response to globalisation. 
 
Through the ICEM, the NUM is already receiving pledges of support from unions in other countries where Placer Dome operates. This will include picketing in Australia to coincide with an NUM rally in South Africa on 31 October. 
 
&quot;Placer Dome is a transnational,&quot; commented NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe in Johannesburg today, &quot;so we in the unions cannot fight separate battles. We can win only if we campaign globally. The problem facing us today is a problem for our colleagues in the unions of all countries where Placer Dome operates. That's why, at the World Gold Forum, we will be asking the ICEM to declare a global campaign on Placer Dome.&quot; 
 
Placer Dome, which also produces significant quantities of copper and silver, has operating mines in Australia, Canada, Chile, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. 
 
In recent years, it has been involved in a number of environmentally controversial projects. These include planned operations in Central and South America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Venezuela), as well as mines in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. 
 
The Marcopper mine, a Philippines site part-owned by Placer Dome, discharged tons of toxic mill tailings into the Boac river in 1996. Since then, the mine has ceased to operate. ICEM Philippines affiliate the National Mines and Allied Workers' Union (NAMAWU) carried out a study on the social impact of this disaster, which was widely publicised in the country. The study, which highlighted the plight of the communities affected by the accident, was sponsored by the ICEM with the support of donor organisations. 
 
In South Africa, the NUM is organising a rally on 31 October to protest against Placer Dome's sackings. The rally will be held at Western Areas, the site near Johannesburg where Placer Dome operates. 
 
Placer Dome originally argued that the South African sackings were necessary because of the low gold price. Since the recent massive recovery in the price of gold, the multinational has changed its story and is now blaming the retrenchments on the NUM's refusal to accept the introduction of full calendar operations (FULCO) on the company's own terms. 
 
Job losses on this scale are a potentially explosive issue in South Africa, which has an unemployment rate of over 30 percent. 
 
&quot;Our South African brothers and sisters are right to oppose these retrenchments,&quot; said ICEM Vice-President John Maitland in Sydney today. He is National Secretary of ICEM Australian affiliate the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). 
 
&quot;I will certainly address the NUM rally and bring to it a message of solidarity from workers in Australia and worldwide,&quot; Maitland said. &quot;The CFMEU will also organise a picket of Placer Dome offices in Australia on the morning of 1 November - just a few hours after the South African rally.&quot; 
 
&quot;The ICEM has considerable experience of coordinating global campaigns against irresponsible multinationals,&quot; stated ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe in Brussels. &quot;We shall not hesitate to use that expertise in the case of Placer Dome if needed.&quot; 
 
&quot;Placer Dome must live up to its global social and environmental responsibilities,&quot; NUM President James Motlatsi insisted. He is ICEM Vice-President and President of the ICEM's African region. 
 
&quot;If the company does not shoulder its responsibilities,&quot; Motlatsi warned, &quot;then the ICEM together with its affiliates in Placer Dome mines worldwide will apply global pressure.&quot;

Placer Dome Faces World Union Campaign Over South African Sackings

An ICEM Nuclear Power Union Network is out of the starting blocks after 14-15 April meetings in Brussels. The network will be formalized at a conference tentatively set for 27-30 August in Romania. Unionists from affiliates in Belgium, Canada, Romania, UK and US attended the Brussels meetings.

Nuclear Power Network Forms with ICEM Assistance

Workers at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations will launch an indefinite strike on 22 March over unpaid wages. 
 
Their union, the ATU, confirmed this in a message received today by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The ATU is an ICEM affiliate. 
 
The nuclear workers are now owed more than 15 million US dollars' worth of back pay. They have repeatedly warned that serious underfunding of the sector poses a threat to nuclear safety. 
 
The strike decision was taken after an arbitration board ruled that the nuclear power utility Energoatom is in breach of its collective agreement with the workers. Subsequent attempts at conciliation failed. 
 
The number of protesting workers in the &quot;tent villages&quot; around the power stations has now grown to more than 2,000. They launched a hunger strike on 6 March, and workers in various other Ukrainian sectors have demonstrated in support. 
 
Strikes and underground sit-ins are also continuing in Ukraine's coalmines, where miners are owed pay totalling more than 700 million US dollars. The ICEM-affiliated miners' union MITU has said the strikes will continue indefinitely. 
 
Cash-flow has slowed to a trickle in most parts of the Ukrainian economy. In consequence, most bills go unpaid - or are part-settled with bartered produce. This also applies to the energy bills run up by industrial and other consumers. 
 
After repeated appeals from the nuclear workers' leaders, a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko finally took place on 5 March. He was informed about the escalation of the union action, and was told that the campaign had gained international support through the ICEM. 
 
It was agreed to set up a special commission, which was due to begin work today. The commission will examine the non-payment of electricity, heating, coal and gas bills and has the authority to cut off supplies to major defaulters. 
 
Further talks are scheduled for tomorrow. 
 
The Ukrainian miners and nuclear workers can count on full international union support, ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe repeated today. 
 
&quot;The situation in Ukraine gives cause for real concern by the world community as a whole,&quot; Thorpe said. &quot;The world must insist that these wage debts be paid off without further delay. Major international funding has been pledged for the modernisation of the Ukrainian nuclear sector and the restructuring of Ukrainian mining. As large a proportion of that funding as is necessary must now be earmarked for settling the wage debts in those industries. The workers' wages must have first call on the finances available. Natural justice - and international safety - demands this.&quot;

Chernobyl Strike Starts 22 March

Australian affiliate Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers&rsquo; Union (LHMU) won a verdict on agency fees in South Australia. The Industrial Relations Commission ruled non-union members must pay a fee for worklife gains through the enterprise bargaining process. LHMU Branch Sec. Mark Butler called it a &ldquo;landmark decision&rdquo; and vowed that all LHMU collective agreements in South Australia will include the new language.

Australian Affiliate LHMU Wins Agency Fees Case

South Africa&rsquo;s NUM and Harmony Gold Mining Ltd., along with two other unions, agreed to establish a task force composed of geologists, financial experts and labour and management officials to ward off the company&rsquo;s announced intent to shutter six mine shafts that could have cut the jobs of 5,000 workers. The compromise centers on the principle of saving jobs and not closing the shafts, and the task force will deliver its assessment on 3 May. &ldquo;We are pleased that a process to ensure we meet these objectives is in place and acceptable to everyone,&rdquo; said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe.
But strikes due to retrenchments and pay could occur by the NUM at two other firms in South Africa&rsquo;s gold and platinum sectors. Goldfields has indicated it intends to reduce its workforce at the Driefontein gold mine, and talks have failed over economics at Modikwa Platinum, a joint venture between AngloPlatinum and African Rainbow Minerals. NUM states it would like Goldfields to follow Harmony&rsquo;s approach by getting all parties seriously engaged to find a collective means to save jobs.

NUM of South Africa and Harmony Will Evaluate Job Cuts

92,000 South African workers have united within a union spanning a wide range of major industries. 
 
CEPPWAWU (Chemical, Pulp and Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers' Union) was created at the end of last week by the merger of the chemical and allied workers' CWIU and the paper and allied workers' PPAPWU. As well as the sectors listed in its name, the new union covers glass, rubber, plastics and pharmaceuticals. 
 
Elected as CEPPWAWU's General Secretary was Muzi Buthelezi, with Bengeza Mthombeni as Deputy General Secretary and Pasco Dyani as President. 
 
&quot;Our membership will benefit from this merger through better service, improved finances and human resources, and more bargaining power,&quot; Buthelezi told ICEM UPDATE. 
 
The new union will be harmonising its collective bargaining this month and expects to have its local and regional structures in place by May. 
 
It urged its members to contribute today's (3 March) wages to the Job Creation Fund set up by South Africa's national labour confederations to tackle the unemployment crisis. 
 
At the global level, CEPPWAWU will be affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). The new union has taken a resolutely internationalist stance from the start, and specifically notes that &quot;unions internationally from the chemical and paper industries have aligned themselves to form single organisations.&quot; 
 
&quot;This strong new union will be a further boost for the ICEM's important organising drive in Africa,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe. &quot;South Africa is crucial to out efforts to unite the world's workers - a fact that we will recognise when the ICEM holds its World Congress in Durban this November.&quot;

South Africa&#039;s New Super-Union

&quot;Meet the everyday needs of people everywhere.&quot; Few would argue with Unilever's central aim. But the food-to-toothpaste mammoth has forgotten one big human need - job security. 
 
Unilever will present its annual results in Rotterdam tomorrow (23 Feb.). They are unlikely to be small. It currently claims to be the world's second-biggest consumer goods business and 19th-biggest manufacturer. And on the company's own figures, its operating profit has so far been &quot;approaching 4 billion [US] dollars.&quot; 
 
As for the workers, Unilever says it has &quot;270,000 employees worldwide&quot; - but for how much longer? 
 
Immediately after the company's media event tomorrow, the Unilever European Works Council will hold its own press conference in Rotterdam [at 13.30 in the Hotel Restaurant Engels, Stationsplein 45]. 
 
There, the story will be very different. For Unilever employees, 1998 was once again a year of painful redundancies and job losses. In the 7 years between 1991 and 1997, Unilever closed 57 factories in Europe. In many of the plants that remain, jobs and pay have been cut. 
 
The unions' press conference is being organised by their European-level industrial federations, the food and allied workers' ECF-IUF and the chemical and allied workers' EMCEF, and is supported by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). 
 
In a campaign backed globally by the food and allied workers' international IUF and the chemical and allied workers' ICEM, the works council is demanding: 
 
An end to divestments and sales of companies 
An end to factory closures 
The use of Unilever's cash reserves for investments rather than for further downsizing and restructuring.
An ICEM/IUF cybercampaign to back these demands is online now. It includes facilities for lobbying Unilever by e-mail and fax. 
 
Action by Unilever workers across Europe tomorrow will include leafleting, protest rallies and workplace assemblies. It is likely that short work stoppages will take place in a number of locations.

Unilever: Unions&#039; Action Day Tomorrow Over Plant Closures

Czech Republic affiliate Union of Mining, Geology and Oil Industry (OS PHGN) held its 5th Congress recently against a backdrop of rampant restructuring and privatisation of the coal industry on the eve of the country&rsquo;s entry into the EU. Job loss in mining has been particularly steep in the Northern Bohemia region. Promises made by the ruling coalition government, led by the Social Democrats, to financially assist the unemployed have gone unfulfilled creating serious social and political tensions in mining communities. OS PHGN resolved to continue a campaign for a social plan and will consider withdrawing support for the SDP in the next elections if obligations are not met. Jan Sabel was elected president of the union and Frantisek Nekola vice president.

Czech Mining Affiliate Holds Congress

France's electricity and gas utilities EDF-GDF will introduce a 35-hour week under an agreement signed yesterday with unions in the sector. 
At the same time, EDF-GDF committed themselves to take on an extra 20,000 young workers over the next three years. Since about 15,000 of EDF-GDF's 142,000 employees are due to retire during that period, the agreement means a net gain of around 5,000 jobs. This is viewed as a sign of confidence in EDF-GDF's future at a time when parts of their market are about to be opened up to competition. 
 
The strong emphasis on shorter hours and more jobs is due in large part to the bargaining policies of the FCE-CFDT union, which is affiliated at the global level to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Today, the FCE-CFDT stressed that the new agreement builds on previous EDF-GDF experience of reducing work times while simultaneously boosting employment. 
 
In fact, more big cuts in working hours are on the cards. The agreement also provides for voluntary moves to a 32-hour, four-day week. 
 
It is up to each work unit to decide whether they want this and, if so, how they will put it into practice. For this reason, the work time cuts will not come into effect until October. 
 
Those who opt for the 32-hour week will receive 97.1 percent of full pay (99.1 percent for the lower wage categories). 
 
FCE-CFDT is arguing strongly in favour of the 32-hour option, because &quot;the employment effects are greater. This is an opportunity for everyone to organise their work on the basis of a four-day week. A 32-hour week is also the best route to an innovative work organisation that reconciles individual aspirations with the requirements of public service, in the context of the opening up to competition.&quot; 
 
The new measures are to be financed partly from EDF-GDF's resources, partly through state schemes and partly through wage restraint. Together with the accord on shorter hours and new jobs, the FCE-CFDT yesterday signed a national pay agreement which provides for a basic rise of 0.6 per cent as from January. Bonuses for 1997 and 1998 were retroactively increased by 2.6 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.

French Power And Gas Deal Boosts Jobs Through Work Time Cuts

Archive

Botswana’s Mining Union Hopes Debswana Dialogue Will Continue

Placer Dome Faces World Union Campaign Over South African Sackings

Nuclear Power Network Forms with ICEM Assistance

Chernobyl Strike Starts 22 March

Australian Affiliate LHMU Wins Agency Fees Case

NUM of South Africa and Harmony Will Evaluate Job Cuts

South Africa's New Super-Union

Unilever: Unions' Action Day Tomorrow Over Plant Closures

Czech Mining Affiliate Holds Congress

French Power And Gas Deal Boosts Jobs Through Work Time Cuts

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