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ICEM&rsquo;s affiliated mining union Sintracarb&oacute;n is calling for pressure to be increased local management of food multination Aramark, to follow their legal requirement and enter into bargaining with the newly formed union. 
 
The 90 workers at Aramark formed a branch of the national Colombian union of food workers, SINAILTRAINAL on 21 February, elected the leadership, and drafted and approved the list of demands which was presented to management the following day, 22 February. 
 
Colombian labour law requires the employer to respond and enter bargaining with the nascent union within five days. This step has not been taken by local Aramark management. 
 
The absence of any mechanism for industrial relations at the contractor had lead workers to frustration on salary, and shift scheduling especially. 
 
Sintracarb&oacute;n has escalated its campaign to organise outsourced workers at Cerrej&oacute;n over the last two years, following a congress vote to change the organisation&rsquo;s statutes and allow inclusion of outsourced workers.

Organised Outsourced Cerrejón Food Workers’ Call for Bargaining Ignored

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The formation of a strike committee by ICEM-affiliated Federation of Chemical, Energy, and General Workers&rsquo; Unions (VDSZ) at Hankook Tyre Magyarorsz&aacute;g Kft. in Hungary prompted the Korean-based company to increase wage rates by an average of 8%. 
 
That happened last week, after the VDSZ Tyre Manufacturing Workers&rsquo; Union threatened strike action ten days earlier on 3 March. They did so because management had failed to raise salaries to compensate for Hungarian tax changes that went into effect 1 January. 
 
Some 1,700 workers at the 1,800 workforce will receive an average 8% pay hike retroactive to 1 January. In addition, workers will receive HUF 20,000 (&euro;73.40) yearly in non-wage benefits. Hungary&rsquo;s National Interest Conciliation Council was recommending 4-6% increases to offset the tax change. 
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VDSZ President Tam&aacute;s Sz&eacute;kely
The average 8% wage increase surprised many due to the negative labour climate made by Hankook since opening the R&aacute;calm&aacute;s factory near Dunaujv&aacute;ros in 2007. Only last year, Hankook Tyre Magyarorsz&aacute;g was fined by the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate for obstructing VDSZ&rsquo;s legitimate duties of representation inside the plant. And shortly after production began in 2007, Hankook was charged or found guilty of non-payment of overtime remuneration, forcing a six-day work-week, making work mandatory on public holidays, and interrogating workers over their lawful union activities. 
 
Hankook, 10% owned by French Michelin, is the world&rsquo;s seventh largest tyre producer, capable of making 87 million tyres a year from five plants &ndash; the Guemsan and Daejeon factories in Korea, the Jiaxing and Jiangsu plants in China, and R&aacute;calm&aacute;s in Hungary. It is expected to jump to the world&rsquo;s fifth biggest producer after factory start-ups in Liang Jiang, Chongqing province, China, and the Bekasi, Java, Indonesia, over the next few years.

Hankook Tyre Averts Hungary Strike with Pay Rise

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The mineworkers of Collahuasi, Chile, won a heroic strike dispute in November, December 2010, against the third largest copper miner. Now local management is taking legal action in an attempt to crush the union. The 32-day strike was the longest ever in Chile&rsquo;s private copper sector. 
 
Settlement, accepted by a 521-398 vote on 6 December, gave 1,551 miners a 16.3% wage increase and a bonus of US$25,160, as well as other advances in housing, education, and health. Union President Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz said at the time that the contract&rsquo;s outcome would increase monthly benefits by 120,000 pesos, or US$252 per month. 
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Collahuasi miners, during the strike
This price has clearly been deemed too expensive by management, whose courtroom attack of last week will make it very difficult for the current leadership of the union to continue effectively representing workers. The employer posted net profits in 2009 of US$1.56 billion. 
 
The company&rsquo;s criminal charge against union leaders Manuel Mu&ntilde;oz, Juan Barraza, Loncol Espinoza, Victor Cubillos, Cristian Arancibia, Carlos Rojas, and Jaqueline Cerda, argues that under articles 417 and 418 of Chile&rsquo;s penal code, these trade unionists are guilty of libel against the company for statements made during last year&rsquo;s dispute in the May Six Atipa&ntilde;a newspaper online and in print, and should all serve three years in prison. 
 
The Collahuasi copper mine, in the Atacama Desert of Chile&rsquo;s northern Region I, some 285 kilometres from the port city of Iquique, is jointly owned by multinationals Xtrata and AngloAmerica, each with a 44% stake. The remaining 12% is owned by Japan&rsquo;s Mitsui. 
 
The hypocrisy of the charges is highlighted by the strong smear campaign that the company conducted in the media during the conflict, and the illegal offers of bribes to workers to leave the union, both strategies clearly against the law.

Chile Miners Attacked with Flawed Libel Case

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On 14 September, the ICEM will sponsor a two-hour panel discussion on ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, in Istanbul, Turkey. The panel is in conjunction with the 19th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (WCSHW) and will be held in the Kasimpaşa-2 Room, Kuleli Building, of the Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre from 14h to 16h. 
 
The panel will highlight the urgent need for Turkey to ratify Convention 176 and will include Dr. Fikret Sazak, Director of Education for Maden-İş, the Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Turkey; Radha Gobinda Mohanty of the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation; Glen Mpufane, ICEM Mining/DJOGP Officer; and Brian Kohler, ICEM Health, Safety, Sustainability Officer. 
<a href="/en/209-ILO"><img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" /></a>
Click here for information on ILO Convention 176
Turkey is notorious for unsafe coal mines, with many of the mines in government hands but operated by contractors utilizing sub-standard equipment and practices. 
 
The ICEM event is open to everyone but those interested should visit the <a href="http://www.safety2011turkey.org ">WCSHW website</a> for information on the entire Congress, which runs from 11-15 September. The address for the WCSHW at Hali&ccedil; Congress Centre is S&uuml;tl&uuml;ce Mah. Eski Karaağa&ccedil; Cad., 34445 Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

ICEM to Hold Mine Safety Forum in Turkey This Week

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On 31 August, Finnish paper company UPM announced closure of two mills, the shutdown of a paper machine at another mill, the intended sale of a French mill, and the sacking of nearly 1,300 workers in total. The announcement came within months of the world&rsquo;s third largest integrated pulp and paper company buying Myllykoski, another major European paper producer based in Finland. 
 
The decision does not sit well with the blue-collar and white-collar trade unions representing workers in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector, Paperiliitto and Ammattiliitto Pro. Specifically, did UPM engage in the proper and correct dialogue with European Works Council (EWC) members in accord with an EWC directive on social dialogue? 
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UPM said the plant closures, machine shutdown, and job losses would occur by the end of the year, leaving little time for workers and their union representatives to obtain re-training funds, seek other job opportunities, and negotiate adequate redundancy packages for the soon-to-be displaced workers. 
 
Strike action is also a possibility. But at a Paperiliitto executive board meeting on 6 September, union leaders put that option on the back burner in order to engage the company &ndash; and Finland&rsquo;s government &ndash; in obtaining the very highest re-training and redundancy packages. The union began that process on the local level at one mill &ndash; the Myllykoski mill in Kouvala County in eastern Finland &ndash; late last week. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro has begun connecting with victimized workers and their unions and EWC representatives on the European level to apply pressure on UPM. 
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Myllykoski mill
At the Myllykoski mill, an operation with three paper machines producing magazine or lightweight coated papers, the planned redundancies amount to 371 full-time blue-collar jobs, 71 fixed-term jobs, and 101 full-time white-collar jobs. In addition, maintenance contractor ABB will see 106 permanent workers leave the rural mill. Also, other Finnish jobs staffed mainly by Ammattiliitto Pro members will be eliminated at UPM workplaces in Lahti and Pietarsarri, bringing the total job loss in Finland to 650. 
 
UPM will also shutter the Albbruck mill in Germany that produces uncoated magazine papers, costing 557 jobs. It will shut one of three paper machines that make uncoated paper and newsprint at Germany&rsquo;s Ettringen mill, as well as temporarily shutting one paper machine producing uncoated fine papers at the Nordland mill. 
 
In France, the company will seek a buyer for its Stracel mill that makes coated magazine papers and specialty newsprint. In total, UPM intends to take 1.3 million tonnes annually of paper out of the marketplace and it is now clear that the company&rsquo;s spring 2011 purchase of the Myllykoski company was all about capacity reductions and job curtailments. 
 
The ICEM will assist the two Finnish unions, as well as German and French unions representing workers at UPM, in all ways possible. A major tenet to ICEM&rsquo;s Pulp and Paper Sector work plan, adopted at the Uruguay conference in 2008, is to extend full practical support to paperworkers of the global North who are victimized by the rampant shutdowns or paper operations in developed nations. The priority will now be to exert as much pressure as possible on UPM in order that job losses the company has created through consolidation do not escape correct and ethical social treatment.

Finnish Paperworkers’ Unions Critical of UPM’s European Mill Closures

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From 4-6 September 2011 the BASF South American network met in Sao Paulo for extended social dialogue with the presence of BASF management and IGBCE President Michael Vassiliadis. 
 
The meeting opened on Sunday for an internal meeting of the worker representatives from Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The meeting was conducted by Sergio Novais, ICEM Vice-President. 
 
There had been some turbulence in the relations between the network and the company after 2009. 2009 was the year when the 10 year anniversary of the network was celebrated and at the same time a strike was called causing a breakdown in relations for the following two years. In the meantime both sides admit that they reacted in an exaggerated way to the problems that had arisen. From 2010 on the unions and the company set up a working group to iron out the problems and to get dialogue back on track. The work in the group bore fruit and led to a resumption of dialogue. 
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The first day&rsquo;s meeting agreed to focus on the following 6 points: 
 
1. Unify the company&rsquo;s policy toward the fire brigade and first aid providers across the region 2. Ask the company to provide information on ISO 26000 3. Ask the company to provide information on nanotechnology 4. Work on a pattern contract for outsourcing in the region - outsourcing is a permanent issue in the network 5. Ask the company to provide information on restructuring in the region 6. Ask the company to present its policy on health and safety with a view to creating unified standards in the region 
 
Certain points were still pending because of the suspension of the regional dialogue. The workers felt that points pending at national level should be resolved even though the regional dialogue was stalled. The policies and practices need to be the same for everyone. The company should be prepared to discuss these issues at the next meetings. 
 
BASF management has a new team. It is very hard for BASF to keep qualified and loyal workers and to compete in the global labour markets. New investments are planned for Brazil. Workers benefit from the company&rsquo;s results, but these benefits need to be standardised worldwide. 
 
The BASF network has been and will continue to be a reference for social dialogue in the region. The company and the unions are proud of what it has achieved and will continue to make the most of the dialogue.

BASF Network Meets for Extended Social Dialogue

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In Chile's northern Region 1, a planned 24-hour strike at the world's third largest copper mine, Dona Ines de Collahuasi, on 2 September did not happen. The 1,500 miners of Sindicato de los Trabajadores, affiliated to the Chile Federation of Miners (FMC), voted the day prior to forego striking when managers extended a satisfactory albeit temporary resolve to the dispute. 
 
That resolve included an adjusted bonus for the last two quarters of the fiscal year, the first half of 2011, of two million pesos (US$4,345) to each miner, and recall of two of the six miners who were sacked for strike activity on 30 July. 
 
The FMC branch Chairman at Collahuasi, Manuel Munoz, told the ICEM that three of the six miners desired not to return to work high in the Atacama Desert, while the union will continue to fight for the rights of the sixth miner. 
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FMC branch Chairman at Collahuasi, Manuel Munoz
Dons Ines de Collahuasi, jointly owned through 44% stakes each by AngloAmerican and Xstrata and a smaller share by a consortium of Japanese firms controlled by Mitsui, offered to rehire the sixth miner, but is attempting to deny him several benefit entitlements, including health insurance. 
 
&quot;We will continue to wage a stiff fight for our comrade to ensure that fairness and justice prevails,&quot; Munoz reported to the ICEM. 
 
There are several other issues still to be resolved that were behind the 29-30 July strike. They include housing benefits, bonuses based on weather conditions in the extreme altitudes of the Atacama, and a clocking-in, clocking-out process at the mine and copper processing operation that stands as a regression of miners' working conditions. 
 
Labour relations between Dona Ines de Collahuasi and the Mineworkers' Union of Collahuasi have been frayed since the end of a 33-day strike last December. The company filed a criminal lawsuit against the union a month after the strike ended, charging union with libel over items the union posted on its website during the strike.

Collahuasi Miners Partially Resolve Dispute without Striking

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In a contentious Congress that almost collapsed without being completed, South African ICEM affiliate Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers&rsquo; Union (CEPPWAWU) re-elected Simon Mofokeng as General Secretary 2 September in Durban. Some 299 delegates represented the union&rsquo;s seven regions at the 4th Congress from 31 August to 2 September. 
 
Mofokeng was the only one of six national office bearers to win re-election, besting former General Secretary Welile Nolingo 178-114 in a secret ballot delegate vote. Thamsango Mhlongo, a shop steward at Mondi&rsquo;s pulp and paper mill at Richard&rsquo;s Bay, KwaZula-Natal, won election as President. He defeated incumbent President Jacob Mabhena by a margin of 200-97. 
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CEPPWAWU President Thamsanga Mhlongo, General Secretary Simon Mofokeng
The Congress was marked by heated debate on the final day over a Secretariat Report that was one day late in distribution per statutory requirements. The union has been mired in a years-long conflict with the investment manager of its investment arm, CEPPWAWU Investments, a conflict now in South Africa&rsquo;s courts that has frozen most of CEPPWAWU&rsquo;s assets. 
 
The final day&rsquo;s debate caused all of the Congress&rsquo;s resolutions to be postponed, as well as proposed constitutional amendments and other important statutory business. Following a recommendation from an officer of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), delegates moved to hold a Special Congress to complete the business of the 4th Congress. That likely will be held in the first quarter of 2012. 
 
The final day&rsquo;s business concluded with election of officers, with all seats being contested. 
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Earlier, the Congress heard from COSATU President Sidumo Dlamini and South African Land and Public Enterprise Minister Malusi Gigaba, who represented the African National Congress (ANC) at the Congress. Gigaba told delegates that the ANC political party &ndash; together with South Africa&rsquo;s trade unions &ndash; must enforce the revolutionary discipline that toppled the apartheid regime in reference to the current split in the party caused by the ANC&rsquo;s Youth League. 
 
Gigaba also reminded delegates that land reform is still incomplete in South Africa and said the supply of food to the nation&rsquo;s impoverished depends on water development and rural land re-use. Dlamini urged CEPPWAWU delegates to overcome its current stalemated position, and he reminded that the union was the first union in South Africa to won the 40-hour work-week. 
 
Dlamini also praised CEPPWAWU for being the leader in engagement of foreign capital in order to create jobs, affirmative action, and respect for workers&rsquo; rights. Dlamini also said CEPPWAWU must be the leader in forging a state-owned pharmaceutical company in South Africa, a persistent theme throughout the Congress. 
 
Results of elections for other national office bearers: Lucas Mashego, First Deputy Vice President; Eunice Dlodlo, Second Deputy Vice President; Samuel &ldquo;Chief&rdquo; Seathlolo, Deputy General Secretary; and Thulasizwe Nsibande, National Treasurer.

CEPPWAWU Holds Heated 4th Congress in South Africa

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Movement finally occurred in the ten-and-a-half-month lockout by U.S. Steel Corp. of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 members in Hamilton, Canada, but too little of it by the concession-seeking company by all accounts. The American steelmaker tabled an offer one week ago, but little in it has changed from US Steel&rsquo;s original demands. 
 
The lockout of 900 steelworkers in the province of Ontario began on 7 November 2010 when USW Local 1005 refused to put a concession-laden proposal before proud union members. US Steel is demanding closure of the defined benefit plan to new hires, an end to pension indexing for 9,000 retirees, cuts to cost-of-living adjustments, and elimination of two weeks vacation time. 
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Negotiations commenced on 13 September for the first time since the lockout began and Hamilton Works managers tabled the offer. The union took it to an information meeting on 21 September, but Local 1005&rsquo;s Executive Committee reviewed it days earlier, and passed a resolution declaring it &ldquo;substantially the same as the offer presented prior to locking the workers out on November 7, 2010, as concerns the demands to give up indexing of pensions and permitting new hires to go into a defined contribution plan instead of being part of the defined benefit plan.&rdquo; 
 
Local 1005&rsquo;s committee also said parts of the new offer actually &ldquo;make it worse,&rdquo; proving &ldquo;that (U.S. Steel) continues to refuse to bargain in good faith.&rdquo; 
 
A major sticking point reportedly is the offer contains call-back language in which the company will only re-start certain operations with a very limited number of workers. The new offer also contains a modest ratification bonus. 
 
USW Local 1005 and U.S. Steel are expected to continue talks under the guidance of provincial mediator Simon Clark.

Talks Begin but Relations Still Frozen in Canadian Steel Lockout of USW Members

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United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6166 in Thompson, Manitoba, ratified a three-year labour agreement with the mining company Vale on 15 September, the same day that a prior three-year pact expired. Following a strike authorisation vote by the 1,100-strong unionised workforce a week earlier that passed by 95.3%, the USW bargaining team negotiated excellent gains in wage, pension, cost-of-living, and other payment schemes. 
 
But most importantly the union diminished the harsh effects to workers in expected 2015 closures of a nickel refinery and smelter at Vale&rsquo;s Manitoba Operations. 
 
The new contract contains annual 2.5% wage increases, plus a C$.35-per-hour cost-of-living increase that will lift earnings C$2.72-an-hour over the life of the agreement. USW Local 6166&rsquo;s defined-benefit pension plan also will increase, to C$3,450 monthly for full work service effective this year and to C$3,550 in September 2013. 
 
The union won &ldquo;preferential hiring&rdquo; language for workers that will lose their jobs in 2015 when Vale pares the Thompson workforce by 45% with the refinery and smelter closures. Vale&rsquo;s Thompson operations exceed new federal Canadian sulphur dioxide standards that will come in 2015. The Brazilian company is building a new C$2.8 billion refining complex in Long Harbour, Labrador/Newfoundland, near Vale&rsquo;s Voiseys Bay and Goose Bay mine operations in eastern Canada. 
 
The new contract language will mean workers likely to be furloughed will have preference in employment opportunities at Vale&rsquo;s Canadian operations in Ontario and Labrador/Newfoundland. The company will continue mine and milling processing in Manitoba and also will continue development of new nickel deposits in the western Canadian province. 
 
Other gains in the 2011 to 2014 collective agreement include a transition and retention payment to be paid over the three years. That will total C$10,000 and include a C$4,000 pay-out on 15 October 2011, and C$2,000 pay-outs in each of the next three years. The new agreement also contains an incentive scheme. 
 
&ldquo;Obviously, the gains we have made are bittersweet, given Vale&rsquo;s plans to close our smelter and refinery in 2015, eliminating 500 jobs,&rdquo; said USW Local 6166 President Murray Nychyporuk. The company and union came to terms on 12 September. A senior Vale manager called the negotiations &ldquo;respectful throughout.&rdquo; The agreement stands as the second labour accord between USW Local 6166 and Vale, the first coming in 2008 two years after Vale bought Inco Ltd. operations in Canada and elsewhere.

Canadian Steelworkers, Vale Agree to Terms at Manitoba Nickel Mine

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