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Ukrainian nuclear workers' wages have been paid in full for the past three months, and reimbursement of the wage backlog owed to them is about to get under way. 
 
Alexander Jurkin, President of the nuclear workers' union ATU, confirmed this to ICEM UPDATE today. 
 
The back pay owed to Ukrainian nuclear workers is put at over 15 million US dollars. This March, the union threatened an indefinite strike at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations unless measures were taken to pay this debt. As a result, Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma ordered the government to settle the dispute and put the country's debt-ridden energy sector back on a sound financial footing. 
 
Jurkin had further talks this Monday with Deputy Prime Minister V. Kurachenko, at which it was agreed that the National Bank would provide the security for new private bank loans to the Ukrainian energy ministry. These funds will be used to pay off the outstanding wage debt. 
 
Jurkin is now in Brussels for the Executive Committee meeting of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the ATU is affiliated. This morning, his union confirmed that the agreed process is getting under way. A planned protest march on Kiev has therefore been cancelled. 
 
&quot;I told the government exactly where I would be this week, that I would be in meetings with our International, and that the situation must not deteriorate again in the meantime,&quot; Jurkin commented this morning. &quot;The government took the point.&quot; 
 
The ICEM had organised strong international backing for the Ukrainian nuclear workers' campaign. 
 
&quot;This is an important victory for trade unionism in Ukraine and beyond,&quot; ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe emphasised. &quot;In many transitional economies, the scandal of unpaid wages has driven workers and their families into deepest poverty. The Ukrainian nuclear workers, through their strong but responsible campaign, have secured a repayment plan for what they are owed. The ICEM will be watching to see that this promise is kept. And we will continue to press the governments and employers of Ukraine, Russia and other countries to ensure that all workers receive - in full and on time - the wages that are rightfully theirs.&quot;

Ukrainian Nuclear Wages Paid

Trade unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the oil and gas industry in South America, North America, Central America and the Caribbean met in Port of Spain, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, today and announced the formation of a new oil and gas union solidarity network in the hemisphere. The meeting was held under the auspices of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which will coordinate the new network. 
The unions that met represent oil and gas workers in twelve countries - Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad &amp; Tobago, the United States and Uruguay. 
 
They organise workers in all parts of the industry, from exploration and development to refining, distribution and marketing. 
 
As part of their effort toward greater collaboration in the region, the unions elected a six-member steering committee to guide the new network. Errol McLeod, President of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad &amp; Tobago, was elected as the chairman of the steering committee. 
 
The unions recognised that they faced many common challenges, including the privatisation and threats of privatisation of state-owned energy companies; violence by governments and employers against union leaders and activists in several countries, and attempts at union-busting in many others; low commodity prices for oil and gas; over-capacity, reorganisation, and corporate mergers and acquisitions, leading to increased concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands; decreasing employment levels due to corporate downsizing; unsafe and unhealthy working conditions; and common multinational corporate employers attempting to play workers in different countries off against each other. 
 
The unions put forward a joint plan of action to confront these challenges, including the sharing of information on working conditions and collective bargaining in their respective countries; the formation of global union networks at targeted multinational corporations; and joint efforts to assist unions engaged in collective bargaining, disputes, and organising efforts at common multinational corporations. 
 
&quot;The multinational corporations have strengthened their stranglehold over the natural resources and oil and gas markets worldwide, without regard to national borders,&quot; said McLeod. &quot;Oil and gas workers have no choice but to unite with each other on a regional and a global basis for the common cause.&quot; 
 
&quot;Oil and gas workers are tired of being the victims of globalisation,&quot; he said, &quot;and the creation of this network is the beginning of a new, organised resistance.&quot;

Americas: Oil And Gas Unions Form Regional Solidarity Network

The union representing workers at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations has postponed the start of an indefinite strike in order to leave time for current conciliation efforts to be completed. The strike was to have begun on 22 March. 
 
However, the ATU union warned that the nuclear workers' wages have still not been paid. The national nuclear power utility Energoatom owes them more than 15 million US dollars. 
 
Protests are therefore continuing. In particular, the &quot;canvas cities&quot; of tents pitched by thousands of workers around the nuclear power stations are being maintained. The union is continuing to insist on payment of the wage debt in full, and the nuclear workers remain ready for a full strike if needed. 
 
At the global level, the ATU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
In a statement, the ATU Presidium said it shared the ICEM's view that the various international financial institutions and intergovernmental agencies which are supporting the renovation of the Ukrainian nuclear industry must give immediate priority to targeted assistance for the settlement of the wage debt. On 17 March, the President of Energoatom and the Energy Minister told the ATU Presidium that the necessary funds were still not available. 
 
The ATU also asked the ICEM to continue the information campaign on the dispute via the Internet and other media. 
 
&quot;By postponing full strike action for as long as possible, the Ukrainian nuclear workers have proved their high sense of responsibility to the international community,&quot; commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe this afternoon. &quot;The world's major governments, financial institutions and agencies must now show a similar sense of responsibility and make full funding immediately available for the payment of the nuclear workers' past, present and future wages. Otherwise, industrial action, with the attendant safety risks, could become inevitable.&quot;

Ukrainian Unions Postpone Strike As Conciliation Talks Continue

US affiliate United Mineworkers of America is standing firm behind 73 non-union miners in Huntington, Utah. The 73&mdash;mostly Mexican nationals&mdash;were sacked last year for protesting horrid coal-mining conditions during a recognition strike. Family-run Co-op Mine pays miners US$5-8/hour, 40% the average US mine wage, and three of the last eight mine fatalities in Utah State occurred at the Kingston family&rsquo;s Co-Op Mine. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re committed to this until they win,&rdquo; said UMWA&rsquo;s Mike Dalpiaz. &ldquo;These people need justice. Nobody should be exploited the way these people have.&rdquo;

US’s Mineworkers Union Backs Striking Utah Miners

Workers at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations are still on course for an indefinite strike, beginning next Monday. 
 
The Ukrainian government has now taken a few preliminary steps towards tackling the nuclear sector's enormous financial problems. Those problems are the root cause of the workers' main grievance - the wage backlog of more than 15 million US dollars that is now owed to them (see UPDATES 13/1999, 14/1999 and 16/1999). 
 
But the nuclear workers themselves have not yet seen the colour of any money. Their union, the ATU, has declared itself &quot;dissatisfied&quot; with the government's action to date, and has maintained its call for strike action from 22 March onwards. 
 
Protests continue to grow, meanwhile. By 12 March, 2,638 nuclear workers had moved into the &quot;canvas cities&quot; of tents pitched around the nuclear power stations. 
 
At the global level, the ATU is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). 
 
Today, ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe repeated his call for the international community to help achieve a rapid settlement of the dispute. 
 
Thorpe stated: &quot;The world community, and in particular those governments and intergovernmental agencies that have been supporting the renewal of the Ukrainian nuclear industry, must now move without further delay to ensure targeted assistance, specifically earmarked for the financing of the Ukrainian nuclear workers' past, present and future wages. Social justice, but also international nuclear safety, requires this.&quot; 
 
Ukrainian Prime Minister Valery Pustovoichenko met the ATU leadership on 11 March, and it was agreed that such meetings will now be held at least once a week until the dispute is resolved. 
 
The commission established at the beginning of March to tackle the problem of Ukraine's massive unpaid electricity, heating, gas and coal bills is continuing to meet under the personal supervision of Deputy Prime Minister V. Kurachenko. The commission is empowered to cut off all supplies to major defaulters. According to information received by the ATU, some 18,000 Ukrainian enterprises are at risk. 
 
The government claims that the crackdown on non-payers will bring in new revenue that will help resolve the wage dispute. 
 
It has also floated the idea of new increases in the energy prices charged to individual consumers. This would undoubtedly cause further hardship at a time when many Ukrainians already face severe financial problems - due, amongst other things, to the non-payment of wages in many sectors. 
 
The ATU has therefore clearly rejected the price hike proposal. &quot;The workers do not wish to resolve their problems at the expense of other citizens,&quot; the union stated. 
 
Meanwhile, the country's energy ministry seems likely to receive a new loan of 120 million hryvnia from the commercial banks [approximately 30 million US dollars at today's official rates]. 
 
And one big electricity customer has finally paid its bill - in its own way. The Ukrainian agricultural industry has just delivered 62,400 tonnes of grain to the national nuclear utility, Energoatom. It will now be up to Energoatom to get the best price that it can for the cereals, in an attempt to raise some desperately-needed funds.

Chernobyl Strike Call Maintained - World Community Must Help Achieve Settlement, ICEM says

New Zealand affiliate Engineering, Printing &amp; Manufacturing Union has mounted a campaign to preserve NZ&rsquo;s Employment Court. An employers&rsquo; group is out to gut the effective labour panel, saying all appeals from the Employment Relations Authority should go to NZ&rsquo;s High Court.

New Zealand’s EPMU Seeks to Preserve Employment Court

The Ukrainian government has transferred some new funds to the country's cash-starved nuclear power stations. However, the sums involved are far from enough to resolve the ongoing crisis over the non-payment of nuclear workers' wages. 
Information on the payments and other government moves has just been received by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) from the Ukrainian nuclear workers' union ATU, which is an ICEM affiliate. 
 
Workers at Chernobyl and Ukraine's four other nuclear power stations will launch an indefinite strike on 22 March unless the wage backlog of more than 15 million US dollars is paid off by then. 
 
A decree to provide new credits for the power stations, specifically in order to pay off the wage debt, was signed into force yesterday. But the total earmarked in the decree is 120 million hryvnia - and the sector's total debt has now risen to 150 billion hryvnia. Credits actually transferred to the power stations' bank accounts between 1 March and 9 March amounted to 4,319,000 hryvnia. 
 
Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko met the directors of the nuclear power stations yesterday, and a further meeting between the Prime Minister and the unions was scheduled for today. 
 
The ATU Presidium will meet on 17 March to examine the government's measures to date. 
 
Meanwhile, the commission established last week to tackle the problem of Ukraine's massive unpaid electricity, heating, gas and coal bills has started work under the personal supervision of Deputy Prime Minister V. Kurachenko. The commission is empowered to cut off all supplies to major defaulters. 
 
According to information received by the ATU, the commission has already decided to cut off some 18,000 Ukrainian enterprises.

Ukrainian Nuclear Crisis - Government Transfers Some Wage Funds - But Not Enough

The Uribe government and the Colombian oil firm Ecopetrol has escalated a 19-day strike by Union Sindical Obrera (USO) by sacking another 40 workers. The government has ruled the strike illegal on the &ldquo;essential service&rdquo; theory of oil refining. The ICEM argues that ILO jurisprudence regarding that definition proves differently. The government has now sacked 60.

Colombian Government Declares War on Oil Union

In Nepal, the ICEM has been informed that GEFONT&rsquo;s offices have been searched by the police on 18 February. At around 10.30 AM, 15 to 20 policemen entered the building during a union meeting. The police officers searched the premises thoroughly, up to the rooftop, intimidating the trade unionists present and forcing them to leave the building. When they apparently didn&rsquo;t find what they were looking for, the police left, but not without locking up the GEFONT office, taking the key with them. The offices were kept closed for the whole day and the key was only returned in the evening. The ICEM fears that the invasion by the police was in search of particular high-ranking GEFONT leaders, who the ICEM fears are in danger of being arrested. The ICEM wrote to the Nepalese authorities last week, voicing its concern about the labour rights situation in the country after the sudden dismissal of the Nepalese government, and asking for the protection of trade union leaders from arbitrary arrest.

Nepal’s Government Continues Rights Abuses Under Martial Law

ICEM Japanese affiliate UI Zensen&rsquo;s Central Committee has announced it will launch a Spring Offensive this year aimed at achieving basic wage increases. Japanese workers have faced double trouble in terms of battered family finances after years of wage neglect, and heavier tax and social security burdens placed on working class citizens. UI Zensen&rsquo;s courageous leadership is calling for a unified wage hike of &yen;1,000 or 2.5% as the goal for the offensive.

Japanese Affiliate UI Zensen Aims at Wage Increase

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