English

Español

Français

Aerospace

Automotive

Base metals

Chemical, pharmaceutical and bio-science

Energy

Glass, cement, ceramic and associated industries

ICT, electrical and electronics

Mechanical Engineering

Mining and DGOJP

Pulp and paper

Rubber

Shipbuilding and shipbreaking

Textile, garment, shoes, leather and textile services

Sectors

Action on textile and garment industry

Clean up shipbreaking

Ratify ILO C176

United for a just future - time to pay up!

Disinvest from Myanmar

Action Plan 2021-2025

Global Framework Agreements

Union building

Women

Youth

White-collar workers

Health & safety

Industry 4.0

Just Transition

Organizing with industriALL

What we do

Affiliates

Statutes

Elected Officials

Executive Committee

Geneva head office

South East Asia

Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus

Latin America and the Caribbean

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

Regional offices

About us

Global worker No1 2022

Global worker No2 2022

Publications

Resources

Press

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A new 10,000-member was born early in the new year when the ICEM affiliate Forestry, Logging, and Industrial Workers&rsquo; Union (FLIWUL) and the National Mine Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia merged, creating the United Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia (UWUL). 
 
The merger, after two years of discussion, was formalised by delegates of both unions at a convention in Monrovia on 5 January. The new union has 2,600 members in mining, 1,250 in forestry, as well as 6,000 members employed at the Firestone Rubber Plantation. It also has 550 members working for the National Transit Authority, the public bus system. 
 
The union has five collective agreements and that will increase to eight in the near future. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
FLIWUL brings ArcelorMittal mine and railroad workers into the merger, workers employed at the state&rsquo;s Forestry Development Authority, as well as the Firestone workers. The National Mine Workers&rsquo; Union represents miners in the country&rsquo;s western cluster of mining activity. The union is closing in on organising iron ore miners of a Chinese company. 
 
The 5 January merger convention elected four leaders from each trade union to guide UWUL, including FLIWUL David Sackoh as Secretary-General. &ldquo;The mission of this merger is to unite Liberian workers to build bargaining power for decent work, mutual respect, and sustainable development at the workplace and in communities through collective action and social dialogue,&rdquo; said Sackoh. 
 
The other union officers include: Aloysius S. Kie, President, who served in that capacity with the Mine Workers and as President of the Liberia Federation of Labour Unions; Oretha Tarnue, Vice President, who led FLIWUL Union No. 1, or the Forestry Development Authority Union; Dave Seneh, Deputy Secretary General for Administration; James D. Sorboh, Deputy Secretary General for Operations; Sakou Sirleaf, Treasurer; Tenneh Y. Nagbe, Chair of the Women&rsquo;s Committee; and Mohammed Guss, Advisor. 
 
Sackoh&rsquo;s tenure as leader of FLIWUL dates back 2003 and before that with the union&rsquo;s predecessor, FLAWUL, where he organised a logging company in the West African nation. Prior to that, he headed the United Seamen&rsquo;s and Port Workers&rsquo; Union of Liberia, where he landed after a career as a marine engineer. 
 
In a statement read at the early January merger convention, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda congratulated the two unions, calling the marriage &ldquo;a great accomplishment and one in which the adage &lsquo;In Unity There is Strength&rsquo; we know will prove true in Liberia.&rdquo;

FLIWUL, Miners’ Union in Liberia Merge to Create United Workers’ Union

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
An indefinite strike by a branch of the Peruvian National Miners&rsquo; and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (FNTMMSP) was averted just hours before a strike deadline on 14 January when managers at the country&rsquo;s third largest copper mine finally addressed and corrected a set of seven grievances. 
 
Some 1,200 miners of the ICEM-affiliated FNTMMSP&rsquo;s Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde union had downed tools twice in late December &ndash; once for 24 hours on 24 December, the other time on 31 December to 1 January for 48 hours &ndash; over violations in a three-year collective agreement that will expire on 30 August 2011. 
 
Branch union Chairman Leoncio Amudio Pe&ntilde;a said miners were preparing for a strike contingency planning meeting on the evening of 13 January when the company called union leaders in and pledged correction of contract breaches. The two sides had been meeting with officials from the Peruvian Labour Ministry throughout last week to resolve the issues. 
<img alt="" src="" width="363" height="153" />
Cerro Verde is 53.56% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan, 21% by SMM Cerro Verde Netherlands, a subsidiary of Sumitoma Metal Mining Co. Ltd. of Japan, and 19% by Compa&ntilde;&iacute;a de Minas Buenaventura of Peru. The operation, in the southeastern region of Arequipa, sells 50% of its annual copper concentrate production to Sumitoma Metal in a contract that runs until 2016. 
 
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde produced 283,750 tonnes of copper in 2010, and it also produces molybdenum concentrates as a by-product. 
 
The grievances centered on shortcomings to family members in private medical coverage, inadequate transportation to and from the open-pit mine, and food rations while at work. The union was also in dispute with the copper producer because many workers were forced to work extra hours without added pay. The normal work-week at Cerro Verde is 45.5 hours. 
 
The FNTMMSP has a number of labour agreements coming due this year in Peru&rsquo;s mining and metals sector. One lapsed contract, with Barrick&rsquo;s Gold of Canada, was resolved two weeks ago, covering workers of Minera Barrick Misquichilca at the Lagunas Norte gold mine in northern Peru and the Pierina mine in the Amcash region. 
 
The three-year contract gives workers a 7% increase retroactive to 1 June 2010; 6.5% effective 19 June 2011; and 6.5% on 19 June 2012. A signing bonus was also agreed to, giving miners with ten or more years of service 27,000 soles (US$9,620); those with five to ten years, 26,000 soles; two to five years, 23,500 soles; and those with one to two years, 21,500 soles. A quarterly productivity bonus also was won. 
 
On the metals side, FNTMMSP met on 14 January with management of Metallurgical Peruana SA (Mepsa), a manufacturer of steel grinding balls and smelted metals used in the mining and agricultural sectors, to resolve a 2010-2011 dispute. Some 400 metalworkers staged a ten-day strike in early December and besides 2010 pay awards, Peru&rsquo;s Labour Ministry is now mediating FNTMMSP&rsquo;s demand to reinstate 14 workers who were sacked in last month&rsquo;s strike.

Grievances Settled, FNTMMSP Calls Off Peruvian Copper Strike at Cerro Verde

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The attack by U.S. Steel against 900 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 and even more retirees &ndash; 9,000 in total &ndash; will receive a boost 29 January when thousands of Canadian trade unionists converge on Hamilton, Ontario, for a Day of Action. A lockout was derisively imposed by the American steelmaker there on 7 November after Local 1005 refused to vote on steep cuts proposed in a renewal contract. (See prior ICEM report <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4101-Flawed-Investment-Canada-Act-Again-Seen-in-Steel-Lockout ">here</a>) 
 
The manifestation, organising by the Ontario Federation of Labour (CLC), will begin with speakers at 13h00 on Saturday, 29 January, at Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main Street West, and then a march will wind through the streets of the city centre. 
 
The lockout ten weeks ago became the latest affront by a multinational to the Investment Canada Act. When U.S. Steel received Canadian government approval to buy Ontario-based steelmaker Stelco three years ago, it pledged to maintain job and production levels. But within a year, it had levied layoffs on USW members at both of Stelco&rsquo;s mills, in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario, and began supplying Canadian customers with products made in its US mills. 
<img alt="" src="" width="365" height="123" />
The Canadian Attorney General in 2009 brought a lawsuit against the company for failing to comply with the Investment Canada Act. U.S. Steel&rsquo;s obstruction and delay in addressing the suit was set back late last month when a federal appellate court judge upheld the right of the union and other parties to intervene in the breach of the Act. 
 
In bargaining last autumn, U.S. Steel pressured Local 1005&rsquo;s bargaining committee to accept a two-tier pension scheme in which new hires would be closed off from a longstanding defined benefit plan. The company also proposed de-indexing the pension benefits for retirees, a losing proposition for 9,000 retirees against inflation. U.S. Steel sought as well cuts to active workers&rsquo; cost-of-living adjustments, and proposed cutting two weeks of vacation time. 
 
When the steel producer demanded the bargaining committee put the concessions to a vote of active members and union leadership refused, the lockout began. U.S. Steel immediately cut off all health and disability benefits. Under Ontario provincial labour law, a company has the right to mandate a one-time only vote on a final contract offer. But U.S. Steel has not exercised that option, knowing full well that Local 1005&rsquo;s 2010 contract mobilisation campaign would produce a decisive &ldquo;no&rdquo; vote. 
<img alt="" src="" width="140" height="77" />
In fact, at a union meeting on 8 December, when a motion was put forward to put the company&rsquo;s proposals to a vote, a full 90% of Local 1005&rsquo;s members defeated it. 
 
The union already has received overwhelming support from Canadian unions, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Union. At a Hamilton picket line on 5 January, CUPE National President Paul Moist presented the locked-out local with C$10,000, and said, &ldquo;Defending Steelworker pensions is a fight CUPE and the entire labour movement must be part of. If private sector pensions are eroded, the public sector will be next. 
 
CAW also has contributed to USW Local 1005 and President Rolf Gerstenberger addressed the CAW National Council of Delegates in early December. Gerstenberger called for a nation-wide campaign to resist the growing strength of international corporations in Canada and a political overhaul in order to revamp the loopholes in the Investment Canada Act. 
 
(See the mobilisation call for the 29 January Hamilton Day of Action <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/20110129USSteel.pdf">here</a>.)

Rally Slated 29 January in Canada to Support Locked-out Steelworkers

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Trade unions in Tunisia played a central role in the social uprising that last week toppled the autocratic and corrupt rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 24 years in power. The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), an affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), conducted a two-hour general strike on Friday, 14 January, in protest of the government&rsquo;s violent suppression of the uprising. 
 
Tunisian citizens refused continuance of a 24% rate of unemployment, corruption, growing inequality, and limited access to the political process. 
 
With over 60 protesters killed in two weeks of clashes with the police, unions are demanding justice for the killers of the protestors. Throughout the clashes, the UGTT headquarters were repeatedly blockaded by police, who then stormed and ransacked the union&rsquo;s offices on 12 January. 
 
Reacting to the events, the National Commission of the UGTT held an extraordinary session on 11 January and called for public investment, improvement in the basic needs of the people, and a rebalancing of regional inequalities. A further important demand was for the establishment of an unemployment fund, which would provide a badly-needed social safety net for workers who lose their job. 
<img alt="" src="" width="198" height="149" />
Further, trade unions articulated the demand for democracy and freedom of the press. Privatisation of public services over recent years had increased the above stated unemployment level, which is now double for the country&rsquo;s youth. 
 
The violence used to suppress the Tunisians right to peaceful protest attracted condemnation from trade unions around the world, as well as from governments. The Sarkozy administration of France, however, attempted to help President Ben Ali retain power in the former colony, by providing additional military equipment. 
 
Speaker of the Parliament, Foued Mebazaa, was sworn in as interim president on Saturday, 15 January. He must now work together with social partners to find solutions to the inequality, unemployment, and corruption in Tunisia, ensuring that trade unions can operate freely and safely. 
 
Similar social problems are being protested in Algeria, bordering Tunisia to the West, where riots in seven cities have lead to five deaths, and over 1,000 arrests. European countries have increasingly closed their borders to North Africans looking for work, exacerbating the problems.

Tunisian ‘Jasmine Revolution’ Ousts Autocrat; Unions Call for Social Justice

Click to hear RadioLabour's daily broadcasts.
RadioLabour is the international labour movement's radio service.

RadioLabour

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
ICEM ve Uluslararası Metal İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu (IMF), ekonomik, &ccedil;evresel ve sosyal krizler arasındaki ilişkileri ele alan, &ldquo;Emisyonu Azaltmak &ndash; İstihdamı D&ouml;n&uuml;şt&uuml;rmek&rdquo; konulu ortak bir panel d&uuml;zenledi. 7 Aralık'taki panel, COP16 &ccedil;er&ccedil;evesinde, &ldquo;Emek D&uuml;nyası&rdquo; genel başlığı altında, Meksika'nın Cancun kentindeki Universidad del Sur'da ger&ccedil;ekleşti. 
 
İnsana yakışır ve s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilir istihdamın korunması ve yaratılması ve iklim değişikliğiyle m&uuml;cadelede sendikaların rol&uuml; konusunda bir&ccedil;ok tanınmış sendikacı g&ouml;r&uuml;şlerini dile getirdi. 
 
IMF Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko, &uuml;lkenin teknolojik ilerlemeden yararlanarak karbon emisyonlarının denetiminde kaydettiği gelişmeyi ve &ouml;nerilen iklim fonuna verilen desteği vurguladı. Ne var ki, Kaneko, yeni anlaşma b&uuml;t&uuml;n b&uuml;y&uuml;k emisyon kaynaklarını kapsamayacak ve uygulanabilir nitelik taşımayacak olursa, karbon sızıntısının s&uuml;rebileceği kaygısını dile getirdi. 
<img alt="" src="" width="233" height="166" />
Soldan sağa: ICEM'den Brian Kohler, CFMEU'dan Michael O'Conner, ITUC'tan James Howard, IMF-Japonya'dan Şoi&ccedil;iro Kaneko
Avustralya İnşaat, Orman, Maden ve Enerji Sendikası (CFMEU) Ulusal Sekreteri Michael O'Connor, Tasmanya'da yeni bir k&acirc;ğıt ve k&acirc;ğıt hamuru fabrikasının ekonomik potansiyelini ortaya koymak i&ccedil;in &ccedil;evre gruplarıyla kendi sendikasının nasıl bir &ccedil;alışma ilişkisi kurduğunu anlattı. 
 
O'Connor burada dikkat edilecek noktanın, sendikanın iş&ccedil;ileri temsil ettiğini hatırlamak ve iş&ccedil;ilerin sesinin duyulmasını sağlamak olduğunu s&ouml;yledi. 
 
Uluslararası Sendikalar Konfederasyonu'ndan (ITUC) James Howard, ITUC'un Adil Ge&ccedil;iş politikası konusunu ele aldı. Adil Ge&ccedil;iş hi&ccedil; de basit bir s&uuml;re&ccedil; değildir; ancak araştırma, diyalog, sendika-işveren anlaşmaları, g&uuml;&ccedil;l&uuml; sosyal programlar, sanayi yatırımları ve iş&ccedil;ilerin eğitimiyle ger&ccedil;ekleşecektir. 
 
Ana konuşmacı, Japonya'nın Ekonomi, Ticaret ve Sanayi Bakanlığı'ndan İzura Kobayaşi idi. Kobayaşi devam eden iklim g&ouml;r&uuml;şmelerini a&ccedil;ık s&ouml;zl&uuml; bir tavırla &ouml;zetledi.
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="128" />
İzura Kobayaşi ve Michael O'Connor
İzura Kobayaşi, Japonya'nın g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;n&uuml; (ki Japonya, Kyoto s&uuml;recinin karbon sızıntısını &ouml;nleme konusunda yeterli &uuml;lke desteğine sahip olmadığı g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde) a&ccedil;ıklamasının yanı sıra, &ouml;nemli bir&ccedil;ok &uuml;st d&uuml;zey g&ouml;r&uuml;şme ve &ouml;zel &ccedil;alışma gruplarının &ccedil;alışmaları hakkında bilgi de verdi. 
 
Nihai sonucu tahmin etmek zor, ama bazı &ouml;nemli konularda ilerleme kaydedildi. Japonya, elbette, imalat sanayilerinde verimli enerji kullanmasının ve yeni teknolojilere yatırım yapmasının ilerlemeyi sağlayan ana y&ouml;ntemlerden biri olduğu g&ouml;r&uuml;ş&uuml;nde. 
 
ICEM'den Brian Kohler ve IMF'den Kan Matusuzaki her iki k&uuml;resel federasyonun politikalarını ve Uluslararası Tekstil ve Deri İş&ccedil;ileri Federasyonu'yla (ITGLWF) birlikte Haziran'da d&uuml;zenlenen S&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilirlik &Uuml;zerine D&uuml;nya Konferansı'nın sonu&ccedil;larını a&ccedil;ıkladılar. Ayrıca, &ldquo;Değişimi &Ouml;ng&ouml;rmek&rdquo; konusunda bir sunum yaptılar. 
 
ICEM ile IMF'nin Emek D&uuml;nyası adlı etkinliğine katılım iyiydi ve panel son derece olumlu tepkiler aldı.

İklim Konferansı&#039;ndaki ICEM-IMF Forumunda Sanayiye Yaklaşım Tartışıldı

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
Ge&ccedil;en hafta İstanbul'da yapılan Kimya Sekt&ouml;r Konferansı'nı a&ccedil;an ICEM Kimya İşkolları Başkanı Tomas Nieber k&uuml;resel kriz nedeniyle d&uuml;zenleyici kuralların ve standartların artırılması &ccedil;ağrısında bulundu. ICEM &uuml;yesi IGBCE'nin Ekonomi B&ouml;l&uuml;m&uuml; başkanı olan ve yeniden ICEM'in kimya ve ila&ccedil; sekt&ouml;r başkanı se&ccedil;ilen Nieber, sekt&ouml;r&uuml;n 2010'da hafif bir toparlanma g&ouml;sterdiğini, politikacıların ve h&uuml;k&uuml;metlerin krize yol a&ccedil;an eski politikalara d&ouml;nmemesi gerektiğini s&ouml;yledi. 
 
27-28 Ekim g&uuml;nlerinde İstanbul'da yapılan ICEM'in kimya konferansına 40 &uuml;lkeden 250 delege katıldı. Konferansın evsahipliğini T&uuml;rkiye'deki petrol, kimya ve lastik iş&ccedil;ilerinin sendikası Petrol-İş yaptı. 
<img alt="" src="" width="218" height="163" />
Petrol-İş Genel Başkanı Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın
Nieber k&uuml;resel kriz nedeniyle d&uuml;nya &ouml;l&ccedil;eğinde istihdamda 34 milyon kayıp olduğu s&ouml;yledi ve -akaryakıt fiyatındaki artış ve her iki sekt&ouml;rde s&uuml;rd&uuml;r&uuml;lebilir politikalar uygulama zorunluluğu gibi- sekt&ouml;r&uuml;n karşı karşı bulunduğu zorlukları vurguladı. 
 
Nieber, &ldquo;Sendikalar olarak d&uuml;zenlemelerin artırılmasını talep etmeliyiz&rdquo; dedi. 
 
Petrol-İş Genel Başkanı Mustafa &Ouml;ztaşkın delegelere hoşgeldiniz dedikten sonra, &uuml;lkesinde sendikaları etkisizleştirme politikaları uygulandığını vurguladı. &ldquo;Sendikal hak ve &ouml;zg&uuml;rl&uuml;klerle ilgili uluslararası s&ouml;zleşmeler sistemli olarak ihlal ediliyor&rdquo; diyen &Ouml;ztaşkın ş&ouml;yle devam etti: &ldquo;&Uuml;lkemizde sendikal faaliyeti d&uuml;zenleyen mevzuat baskıcı ve yasak&ccedil;ı &ouml;z&uuml;n&uuml; koruyor.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="135" />
Konferansa Japonya'dan 27 delege katıldı
&Ouml;ztaşkın, referandumla kabul edilen son anayasa değişikliklerinin aslında sendikal hakları bir&ccedil;ok y&ouml;nden geriye g&ouml;t&uuml;rd&uuml;ğ&uuml;n&uuml; belirtti. Petrol-İş başkanı, T&uuml;rkiye'nin kimya &uuml;retiminde d&uuml;nyadaki ilk on &uuml;lke arasında yer almasına rağmen, yıllardır s&uuml;ren &ouml;zelleştirmenin istihdamı y&uuml;zde 60-70 d&uuml;ş&uuml;rd&uuml;ğ&uuml;n&uuml;, sendikasız ve g&uuml;vencesiz işg&uuml;c&uuml;n&uuml;n kural haline geldiğini s&ouml;yledi. Ayrıca, T&uuml;rkiye'de sendikaların sosyal sorumluluk standartları, atık y&ouml;netimi, iş sağlığı ve g&uuml;venliği standartları ve temiz teknoloji alanlarında &ouml;nc&uuml;l&uuml;k yapmaya başladığını vurguladı. 
 
Konferansta iki g&uuml;n boyunca altı panel yapıldı. Bunlardan biri &ldquo;&Ccedil;alışma İlişkileri, Sosyal Diyalog ve Sosyal Sorumluluk&rdquo; &uuml;zerineydi. Bu panele şu kişiler katıldı: Uluslararası Kimya İşverenlerinin &Ccedil;alışma İlişkileri Komitesi Genel Sekreteri Lutz Mugl, Rhodia Kimya Başkanı Bernard Chambon, Umicore İnsan Kaynakları ve Gelişme M&uuml;d&uuml;r&uuml; Mark Dolfyn ve ICEM Kimya İşkolu Sorumlusu Kemal &Ouml;zkan ile eski IGBCE Başkanı ve EMCEF Başkanı Hubertus Schmoldt. 
<img alt="" src="" width="215" height="161" />
Rusya Kimya İş&ccedil;ileri Sendikası heyetinin başında Başkan Alexander Sitnov, sağda, vardı
Konferans &ouml;n&uuml;m&uuml;zdeki d&ouml;rt yıllık d&ouml;neme ilişkin 11 maddelik bir eylem planının kabul&uuml;yle sona erdi. Eylem/&ccedil;alışma planına <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Chems%20Conf%20ActionPlan%20TURK%20.pdf">buradan</a> ulaşılabilir. 
<img alt="" src="" width="219" height="164" />
Irak Petrol Sendikaları Federasyonu'ndan (GFIW) Hasan Cuma Avad Sdave &ldquo;K&uuml;resel Sendikal G&uuml;&ccedil; ve Dayanışma&rdquo; konulu panelde konuştu
Kimya Konferansı, ayrıca, kemer sıkma politikalarına ve &ouml;nlemlerine karşı greve giden Fransa, Romanya ve diğer Avrupa &uuml;lkelerindeki sendikaları destekleyen bir kararı onayladı. Bu karar &ouml;nce 26 Ekim'de yine İstanbul'da toplanan ICEM Presidyumu (Başkanlar Kurulu) tarafından kabul edildi.

Rekor katılımlı ICEM Kimya Konferansı sonuçlandı

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
A colliery in northern Notre de Santander state, Colombia, again became a death trap for miners. The La Preciosa coal mine in Sandinata municipality, where 38 miners have already perished over the past three years, was rocked by a methane gas explosion at the morning shift change on 26 January that saw 21 miners die. 
 
The locally-owned mine by La Preciosa Ltda. employs 110 staff and was ordered closed by the National Institute of Geology and Mines (Ingeominas) following the explosion. Twenty miners were killed inside a 600-metre horizontal shaft, while one worker died in an ambulance on the way to medical care. Six miners were rescued and are hospitalised in the city of C&uacute;cuta. 
 
The bodies of 16 miners were retrieved on the day of the disaster, while four were received on 27 January. 
<img alt="" src="" width="209" height="145" />
La Preciosa Miners Worry About Future
In unexpected candor, the Colombian government admitted that its mine safety laws and resources for stricter mine safety regulations are inadequate. Mining Minister Carlos Rodado arrived in Sandinata on 27 January and said the government lacks funds and staff &ndash; Ingeominas exploys only 17 mine inspectors &ndash; to monitor 6,000 legal mines. 
 
La Preciosa, which produces 3,000 tonnes of coal per month, is a legally-operated mine. But in October 2010, six miners died due to gas asphyxiation. In 2007, 32 miners died in a similar gas explosion to the one that occurred last Wednesday. In 2007, the mine stayed close for five months. 
 
A representative from an ICEM-affiliated miners&rsquo; union at another mine in Colombia said the government is too quick to award operating licenses to small- and medium-size companies which do not have the necessary mechanisms in place to monitor safe mining practices. Colombia has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention. 
 
At a funeral service in the mountain town of San Roque on 28 January where ten of the 21 miners were remembered, thousand of residents turned out to mourn, with most residents of the mountainous town affixing Colombian flag to their homes. The mayor of Sandinata, Yamile Ragel, called the tragedy &ldquo;a crime&rdquo; that will &ldquo;not go unpunished.&rdquo; The ten were buried in a local cemetery following a Roman Catholic service. 
 
Ingeominas said that in 2010, Colombia recorded 84 mine accidents in which 173 workers died.

Methane Blast in Colombian Coal Mine Kills 21

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
An ICEM and Public Services International (PSI) affiliated trade union, Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), has raised issue with the insolent social conduct of US managers of a subsidiary of GDF SUEZ. The conduct is pointedly contrary to standards GDF SUEZ only in November agreed to in a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with three Global Union Federations (GUFs). 
 
The matter involves a US subsidiary of French-based GDF SUEZ, United Water Services Inc., a private utility that employs about 400 UWUA members in the US. UWUA called on the ICEM and PSI to rebuke United Water over an environment indictment levied in December by the US Justice Department, as well as troubling public comments made by United Water executives to minimize the seriousness of the alleged crimes. 
<img alt="" src="" width="112" height="112" />
After consulting with the third GUF that is signatory to the 16 November 2010 GFA, Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), the ICEM and PSI on 19 January issued the first complaint of this particular agreement, calling United Water&rsquo;s overall conduct a breach of GDF SUEZ corporate social responsibility. (That complaint can be found <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/2.GDFSUEZunitedwatLet.pdf ">here</a>.) 
On 8 December, the US government issued a set of 26 indictments against United Water for conspiracy and felony violations of the US Clean Water Act. The GDF SUEZ subsidiary and two of its executives are charged with tampering and manipulating water quality measurements at a Gary, Indiana, wastewater treatment plant that it had operated on behalf of the municipality&rsquo;s Sanitation Board. 
 
Specifically, over a five-year period, the US Justice Department charged United Water with a scheme that increased chlorine input levels immediately before US government E.Coli monitoring samples were taken, and then lowering the input levels afterward as cost-savings measures. United Water is accused of doing this 68 times. 
<img alt="" src="" width="220" height="69" />
The practice, the US government claims, poses a serious health risk to the public. 
 
The UWUA, ICEM, and PSI also took serious issue following the US Justice Department indictment with public comments made by United Water&rsquo;s president and senior vice president for Corporate Communications downplaying the charges. They stated that the indictments are mere technical disagreements, with the president of United Water, Robert Iacullo, calling the government&rsquo;s environmental charges &ldquo;an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.&rdquo; 
 
In the addendum to the GFA, GDF Suez states that it has &ldquo;responsibilities to society&rdquo; and that &ldquo;it will respect national law and regulations.&rdquo; The agreement also states: &ldquo;Among it activities, GDF Suez distributes energy and water, essential to the health and well-being of society.&rdquo; The ICEM/PSI intervention notes, &ldquo;If the US government&rsquo;s charges prove true, the discharge of untreated, or sub-standard wastewater into waterways poses a serious public health threat.&rdquo; 
 
The GUFs are currently awaiting reply from GDF SUEZ over the complaint.

US Affiliate, UWUA, Challenges GDF SUEZ Inside Global Agreement

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The lockout by U.S. Steel against 900 active workers and 9,000 retirees and widows at a steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario, gained national Canadian attention on 29 January when over 10,000 trade unionists assembled and manifested in wet snow in Hamilton. Some 75 busloads of citizens came to what&rsquo;s known in Canada as &ldquo;Steeltown,&rdquo; angry at their government and manifesting under the slogan &ldquo;The People vs. U.S. Steel.&rdquo; 
View video footage of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAb_uR-UFv0">Hamilton Rally</a>. 
 
The Hamilton Day of Action for locked-out members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 served as a national rallying cry against the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Harper and other parliamentarians have failed to make accountable foreign multinationals which buy Canadian assets and then immediately furlough workers and cut living standards. 
 
Both the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL/CLC) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) lent heavy support in making 29 January this rallying cry, as well as national signal that this unprovoked lockout marks undeniably that Canadian investment law is deeply flawed. 
<img alt="" src="" width="269" height="179" />
Quebec Steelworkers in Hamilton 
Photo: John Maclennan
The day&rsquo;s speeches, placards, and slogans stated just that that. Local 1005 is defending workers, retirees, and widows against an American predator that three years ago bought Ontario-based steelmaker Stelco but immediately began side-stepping a weakened Investment Canada Act. The OFL claims that contrary to provisions in the Investment Canada Act, U.S. Steel has cut 2,200 jobs Stelco jobs in Hamilton and the Nanticoke Works in those three years. 
 
One of the main speakers of the day, USW President Leo Gerard, minced no words in describing the head-lock that corporations have on workers and governments: &ldquo;Everywhere on earth, these corporate bastards are trying to pick our pockets. I&rsquo;ll be damned if I&rsquo;m going to stand by and let them take our pensions. We have to demand that Harper stand up for Canada.&rdquo; 
<img alt="" src="" width="231" height="169" />
USW President Leo Gerard. (At right, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann) 
Photo: John Maclennan
The Investment Canada Act is supposed to provide a &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to Canadians when foreign ownership acquires Canadian-based assets. Steelworkers of Local 1005, along with retirees and widows from the Hamilton Works, made the strong statement Saturday that they are victims, thrown off their jobs because they refuse to have their rightful benefits stripped from them.
The U.S. Steel lockout, now beginning its 13th week, centers on the company&rsquo;s demand that retirees and widows lose pension indexing calculations, a sum meant to meet inflation costs amounting to C$30 per year, depending on different pension levels. U.S. Steel also wants to close off the defined benefit plan for new workers, certainly no &ldquo;net benefit&rdquo; to young Canadian workers. 
<img alt="" src="" width="369" height="161" />
Photo: John Maclennan
Bus-loads of loyal steelworkers from Quebec arrived and made USW Local 1005 supporters proud that such national unity crosses provincial boundaries. Buses of steelworkers also came from Sudbury, Ontario, where a foreign multinational also has slashed jobs and living standards, as well as from U.S. Steel&rsquo;s Great Lakes mill in the US state of Michigan. 
 
Union delegations turned out in full from the Canadian Autoworkers&rsquo; Union (CAW), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The OFL and CLC led the larger call across Canada. Scores of trade union delegations from teachers&rsquo; unions, to the Ontario Public Service Union, to ICEM-affiliated Power Workers Union (PWU) and the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union also lent their support. 
<img alt="" src="" width="218" height="163" />
Bill Mahoney
Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina, an outspoken critic of U.S. Steel&rsquo;s conduct in his city, spoke at Saturday&rsquo;s &ldquo;The People vs. U.S. Steel&rdquo; manifestation, as did MP Chris Charlton, the leading national politician currently out to refine the Investment Canada Act. Other speakers included CLC President Ken Georgetti, OFL President Sid Ryan, and Bill Mahoney, a victim himself who has put to words what Local 1005&rsquo;s fightback symbolises. 
 
Called the &ldquo;Protest Poet,&rdquo; Mahoney has been retired from Stelco&rsquo;s Hamilton Works for five works and has penned some 25 poems on social erosion. One, entitled &ldquo;Scrooge Comes to Town,&rdquo; reads: 
We are fighting for our dignity, united young and old 
All across the country, the story is being told 
Of our proud community whose dignity won&rsquo;t be sold 
We are fighting for our country, Canada is our home. 
Prior ICEM reports on the struggle by USW Local 1005 in Hamilton can be found <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4101-Flawed-Investment-Canada-Act-Again-Seen-in-Steel-Lockout ">here</a> and <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4190-Rally-Slated-29-January-in-Canada-to-Support-Locked-out-Steelworkers ">here</a>.

Over 10,000 Manifest in Hamilton Against Canadian Government, U.S. Steel

Archive

FLIWUL, Miners’ Union in Liberia Merge to Create United Workers’ Union

Grievances Settled, FNTMMSP Calls Off Peruvian Copper Strike at Cerro Verde

Rally Slated 29 January in Canada to Support Locked-out Steelworkers

Tunisian ‘Jasmine Revolution’ Ousts Autocrat; Unions Call for Social Justice

RadioLabour

İklim Konferansı'ndaki ICEM-IMF Forumunda Sanayiye Yaklaşım Tartışıldı

Rekor katılımlı ICEM Kimya Konferansı sonuçlandı

Methane Blast in Colombian Coal Mine Kills 21

US Affiliate, UWUA, Challenges GDF SUEZ Inside Global Agreement

Over 10,000 Manifest in Hamilton Against Canadian Government, U.S. Steel

About IndustriALL

Follow us

Contact us