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Global worker No1 2022

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The Botswana court case in which diamond-mining company Debswana pressed forward in order to extract maximum punishment on some 450 workers who struck last August was dismissed 24 March. An Industrial Court judge issued a detailed, 79-page ruling that said the court had no jurisdiction over criminal matters. Debswana, jointly owned by DeBeers and the government of Botswana, is on a ruthless campaign to destroy the lives of these workers who struck after the company used a new labour law to declare any strike at the 6,000-worker mining operations illegal. Debswana has forcefully evicted the strikers from company housing, and has closed educational opportunities to children of strikers in company-sponsored schools.

Mining Union Wins Court Case Against Debswana in Botswana

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About 120,000 South Korean workers staged a four-hour strike Friday, 1 April, that should serve as a prelude to a larger, nationwide strike if the National Assembly passes legislation to liberalise the use of contract and agency labour. 
Some 231 workplaces took part in the four-hour shutdown called by the Korean Federation of Trade Unions. 
In addition to the bill on the use of non-regular workers, unions are calling on the government to come down hard on companies abusing South Korea&rsquo;s so-called &ldquo;anti-illegal dispatch law,&rdquo; meant as a control to illegal employment practices but a statute continually violated by multinational companies.

Korean Workers Strike Over Labour Reform Bill

Industrial action by Transport &amp; General workers at a Michelin tyre plant in Stoke, UK, ended last week when union members voted 75% to accept a revised pay offer from management. But the union warned that Michelin would now have much work to do to regain the trust and respect of workers. Managers raised threats on the future viability of the plant at the time workers took decisive industrial action. And after revising the pay offer two weeks into the job action, the company tried to impose a voting deadline on T&amp;G&rsquo;s branch, prompting the T&amp;G to call it &ldquo;an attempt to bully our members.&rdquo; Some 500 T&amp;G members engaged in the industrial action at the tyre plant in the Midlands.

Settlement Ends Industrial Action at Michelin in UK

ICEM affiliate Power Workers&rsquo; Union (PWU) of Canada is protesting the province of Ontario&rsquo;s decision to close five coal-fired power plants by 2007. The public-sector union took ad space in major provincial newspapers to say the US$8.2 billion in shutdown costs will be a further burden on price rates&mdash;already up 25% for most provincial customers&mdash;and the answer to Ontario&rsquo;s energy future is a combination of nuclear power and better clean-coal technologies.

Canadian Power Workers Seek to Keep Power Plants Open

The Oil Workers Federation of Brazil (FUP) staged a 24-hour warning strike at Petrobras 31 March that saw 90% participation by the state-run company&rsquo;s workers. Oil workers are seeking a higher dividend from the company&rsquo;s profit-sharing plan. FUP had been conducting a series of two-hour strikes up to the 31 March action, and now has given the company until 10 April to meet the demands or face escalated strikes. The 24-hour strike last week came a day after Petrobras set a historic daily output record, hitting 1.65 million barrels of oil, a 0.6% increase over the prior record set on 14 March 2003.

Warning Strike Launched by Brazilian Oil Union at Petrobras

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The worst US refinery explosion in over a decade happened at a BPAmoco complex in Texas City, Texas, on 23 March. PACE represents some 1,100 workers at the refinery with a total workforce of 1,800, counting contract employees. 
A total of 15 workers&mdash;all employed by contractors&mdash;died in the blast that occurred near an isomerization unit that boosts octane levels of petrol. The unit was being restarted at the time of the explosion after undergoing scheduled maintenance. 
Over 100 other workers were injured and about 80 of those are employed by contractors. Major contractors, who together with BP will share responsibility for the explosion, include Jacobs Engineering, JE Merit and Fluor.

BP Explosion in US State of Texas Deadly for Contract Workers

FCE-CFDT also announced the draft of a social responsibility agreement with Electricit&eacute; de France (EdF), discussions which have involved the ICEM. Besides standard language upholding health and safety standards, social conditions and consistent policies on worker training and mobility, the draft contains commitments by EdF to provide access to electricity to those least able to afford it, careful and demanding selection of contractors, and stringent defence of the environment with the necessary equipment to promote energy efficiency.

French EdF Signs Social Responsibility Pact in Electric Sector

French union and ICEM affiliate FCE-CFDT has all along suspected that the August 2004 takeover by Aventis of Sanofi-Synthelabo creating Sanofi- Aventis, the world&rsquo;s third largest pharmaceutical maker, would have dire consequences on employment. The French union did not have to wait long for proof. In order to meet its goal for shedding &euro;1.6 billion in operating costs by 2006, the merged firm&rsquo;s first attack on workers will make redundant 431 pharmaceutical sales representatives and support staff, close Aventis&rsquo;s Strasbourg headquarters idling 230 workers, and the spin-off of Research and Development of infectious diseases will cost even more jobs. FCE-CFDT says the company&rsquo;s selective approach to early retirement is wrong, and the French company must negotiate with the union on age-related and across-the-board early-out packages.

Chemicals Merger Between Aventis and Sanofi Will Cost Jobs

Members of ICEM affiliate BMWU took to the streets in Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana, 3 December over another mining dispute. This one is with Bamangwato Concession Ltd. (BCL), a copper, nickel and cobalt miner in eastern Botswana that sacked the entire 16-member bargaining committee of the BMWU branch last July following negotiations. 
The company sacked the union team because they possessed financial information on the firm&rsquo;s mining operations. Such information is generally considered essential for unions in bargaining. 
Although most of the branch leaders have been recalled, BCL still refuses to rehire four&mdash;bargaining chairman and Deputy BMWU National Chair Golekanye Mogende, Kabelo Oitsile, Abel Bukha and Kealeboga Keakantse. BMWU timed the mass protest in which 2,000 turned out with BCL&rsquo;s unveiling of a new company logo.

Copper, Nickel Dispute Now Concerning Botswana’s Miners

Union leaders at DeBeers&rsquo; operations in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa met in Cape Town the week of 22 November for a globalisation school, and concluded the week with strong support for workers victimized by Debswana, the joint venture between DeBeers and Botswana&rsquo;s government. At a Diamond Employees Network meeting on 27-28 November, the leaders pledged to work through individual DeBeers worksites in the three countries to urge the company to drop charges against 451 Debswana workers, members of the Botswana Mining Workers&rsquo; Union (BMWU) who participated in a strike last August.

Union Leaders from DeBeers Hold Conference

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