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Latin America&rsquo;s largest company by market value, Petrobras, was hit hard by a one-day warning strike on 3 September. Eighty percent of ICEM-affiliated Federa&ccedil;&atilde;o &Uacute;nica de dos Petroleiros&rsquo;s (FUP) 35,000 members shut refineries, distribution terminals, offshore platforms and rigs, and administration offices across Brazil last Friday in a stern message to the largely state-owned company that it will not be shortchanged in current negotiations. 
 
In a statement, the FUP umbrella grouping of unions &ndash; by far the largest at Petrobras &ndash; said workers&rsquo; intent was to &ldquo;interrupt the main operations, keeping only the essential activities operating for the maintenance and security of equipment.&rdquo; 
 
The union was angry that Petrobras had granted large bonuses to senior managers while negotiations were in progress, and then suddenly halting talks. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="122" />
Some seven refineries in Brazil stopped producing, as did 30 offshore drilling platforms and countless other facilities. FUP is seeking the Brazilian inflation rate from September 2009 to August 2010, or 5%, and also seeks productivity pay totaling 10% for undertaking training and development programmes. 
 
The union federation also wants guaranteed safeguarding of labour standards and establishment of a national forum as a dialogue platform to discuss structural changes with management over health, safety, and the environment. 
 
The company&rsquo;s response to the warning strike was that it would conduct an &ldquo;open and transparent&rdquo; set of negotiations with workers&rsquo; representatives. 
 
The warning strike came on the same day that Petrobras announced it would conduct a massive stock offering in order to raise US$64.5 billion in capital funds.

FUP Launches Day-Long Warning Strike Against Petrobras

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Australian building materials maker James Hardie Industries lost a tax appeal case in a courtroom on 1 September that likely will inhibit the troubled company&rsquo;s ability to make payments under terms of the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund. Under a mandatory agreement with the state government of New South Wales, Hardie must pay 35% of its annual cash flow to the fund. 
 
A federal court judge ruled last week that James Hardie owes back taxes to the government in the amount of A$357.4 million, plus interest, for dodging taxes in 1998 when it formally moved ownership of US subsidiaries out of Australia. 
 
The 1 September decision by a federal court judge in Australia, upholding a Taxation Office ruling from that 1998 case, means that Hardie will need a fresh infusion of money to meet its liability commitments to victims of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases, according to the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Lawyers who represent victims also expressed fear that the company will completely default on immediate and future obligations. 
<img src="" width="180" height="128" alt="" />
The AMWU said prior to last week&rsquo;s ruling that if James Hardie were to win the appeal, it would demand that the A$275 million cash windfall due the company go directly to the compensation fund. The AMWU said James Hardie has not made a payment into the fund in 2009-2010, and the bottoming-out of the home-building market inside the global financial crisis seriously jeopardizes the compensation fund. 
 
The AMWU further states that victims&rsquo; claims average A$110 million per year, but that James Hardie has made sufficient profits only once in the past seven years to cover a full year&rsquo;s of liability. 
 
Last week&rsquo;s case involved the company&rsquo;s wholly-owned affiliate RCI Pty. using a tax avoidance scheme, as determined by the Tax Commissioner, for the purpose of the subsidiary gaining a tax benefit. 
 
One Australian press account said last week&rsquo;s verdict &ldquo;cements the reputation of James Hardie&rsquo;s board and management of the 1990s and early 2000s as putting more effort into minimizing liabilities than was good for the company. 
 
&ldquo;James Hardie has been mired in scandal after using legal arguments in 2004 to deny liability to pay asbestos compensation,&rdquo; said the press report. &ldquo;The furor over asbestos, which forced the company to resume responsibility, was prompted by a global restructure in 2001, which built on a 1998 restructure that is at the centre of the tax dispute.&rdquo;

Asbestos: James Hardie’s Failed Tax Appeal Clouds Victims’ Payments

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Bargaining again will be held in efforts to resolve the bitter 13-month strike between United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 in Voiseys Bay, Labrador, and Brazilian-based mining company Vale. Two days of talks will open on 19 September in the eastern Canadian province of Labrador/Newfoundland. 
 
Two previous days of negotiations on 19-20 July proved futile, with the company continuing its harsh push to lower the living standards of Canadian miners. Some 230 members of USW Local 9508 have been on picket lines at rich copper, nickel mines and port and processing plants in eastern Canada since 1 August 2009. 
 
The strike now exceeds, by 42 days, the 360-day strike brought on by Vale in its assault against 3,500 USW miners and nickel processing workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, which was settled with a compromise on 8 July but not without much bitterness lingering. 
 
In Voiseys Bay and remote Goose Bay, where many of the USW strikers are First Nation people, Vale is boasting that it is at or near full production by using scab replacement workers and contractors. The company displayed abominable social behaviour following public comments made by USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove after the break-down of the July talks. 
<img alt="" src="" width="134" height="130" />
USW Local 9508 President Darren Cove
Cove said Vale was treating Local 9508 members like second-class citizens because Vale refused to offer similar terms that ended the strike by USW Locals 6500 and 6200 in Sudbury and Port Colborne. Vale responded by filing a defamation lawsuit in Canadian courts against Cove for making that statement. 
 
Besides the 230 members of three bargaining units of Local 9508 on strike, 50 workers employed by Ushitou Maintenance have been on strike since 1 June 2010. These workers are also members of Local 9508, and perform electrical, pipefitting, instrumentation, and other functions for Vale at its Voiseys Bay operations. 
 
The ICEM reminds trade unions across the globe that the high-profile Canadian labour dispute with hugely profitable Vale will not be over until justice reaches the courageous Steelworker strikers of Labrador / Newfoundland Province.

Canadian Negotiations to Resume Between Vale, USW in Bitter Voiseys Bay Strike

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Six weeks after an earthquake and tsunami decimated the six nuclear reactors inside the Fukushima power plant in northeastern Japan, union members and staff of Denryoku Soren, the ICEM-affiliated Federation of Electric Power Related Industry Workers&rsquo; Union of Japan, work voluntary week-long shifts to contain radiation leakage. They work inside a 20-kilometre zone in which Japanese rescue teams searching for the dead are prohibited from entering due to radiation levels. 
 
Few know it, but inside the offices of Denryoku Soren in Tokyo most work stations are empty. The reason is most union staff workers have volunteered to fill the shortage of workers needed at Fukushima. 
They sleep on concrete floors at Fukushima and consume only bottled water and biscuits for fear that food sources are contaminated. <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/Japanese%20Nuke%20Measures.pdf">Denryoku Soren&rsquo;s letter</a> to the ICEM describing what it is up against can be found here. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="172" />
Last week, ICEM Asia-Pacific Contact Person Phee Jungsun visited Denryoku Soren offices in Tokyo and filed this report: 
 
&ldquo;It is&nbsp;painful to see union officers here in Tokyo, who are exhausted and worried about their fellow workers at the Fukushima site. Those who have returned after their one-week voluntary shifts are calm and doing paperwork, but signs of fatigue show on their faces. 
 
&ldquo;President Seiichi Taneoka, who himself has been to the site, is working hard every minute, organising volunteer shift teams and talking to TEPCO control centre officials on a dedicated telephone line. He is also trying to get assistance from local units of government and local police to locate and reach those union members and their families who are missing and haven&rsquo;t been heard from.&rdquo; 
 
Although the exact total death count is impossible to know, some ICEM affiliates in Japan have started to make assessments. JEC Rengo, the Japanese Federation of Energy and Chemical Workers&rsquo; Unions, confirms that well over 100 of its members are missing, with destruction of members&rsquo; homes totaling over 1,000 in the northeastern Prefecture. The same number is estimated by Zenkoku, the Federation of Gas Workers&rsquo; Unions in Japan. 
 
Other ICEM affiliates in Japan have registered plants and workplaces that have been affected. The Japanese Pulp and Paper Workers&rsquo; Federation has reported mills of Nippon Paper, Mitsubishi Paper Mills, and Oji mills closed or running on limited production. The same is reported at Sumitoma Rubber by Gomu-Rengo, the Rubber Workers&rsquo; Union. UI Zensen, the Textile, Chemical, Food and Commercial Union, also has reported damages and vast devastation to workers, their homes, and places of employment. 
 
Six days after the disaster, the ICEM put a call out to affiliates to provide funds to the ICEM Japanese Affiliates&rsquo; Federation (JAF) for disaster relief. The response was unprecedented, with over US$1 million sent to date to JAF. ICEM Asia-Pacific Region Vice President Kiyoshi Ochiai and JAF General-Secretary Yoshio Sato, through the ICEM, expressed gratitude for the solidarity and generosity: &ldquo;We got heartfelt sympathy and encouragement from all over the world. We deeply appreciate the solidarity and fraternity of ICEM affiliates. We really feel that ICEM is one big family.
<img alt="" src="" width="177" height="156" />
&nbsp;Kiyoshi Ochiai
&ldquo;Our brave members of Denryoku Soren are working hard to speed up recovery efforts in a very difficult situation. The Japanese people are working together to overcome numerous hardships and to get things back to normal with effort and patience. And ICEM JAF keeps engaging in the reconstruction effort.&rdquo; 
 
In typical Japanese fashion, on 28 March, Denryoku Soren withdrew its wage demands on TEPCO that was part of the spring offensive &ldquo;shunto.&rdquo; The union&rsquo;s decision reflects the belief that it cannot continue negotiations for now because of the ongoing tragedies of human life and the devastation in the electric power sector at Fukushima.
Due to a misunderstanding of information that ICEM received there was an incorrect description of events in this article, for which ICEM apologised. See the <a href="/wp-content/migration/icem/ICEMletters/37.ICEM.IMFJC.Japan.27April.pdf">letter to IMF-JC</a> here.

Workers of Denryoku Soren Face Dire Plight at Fukushima Nuclear Site

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The General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers&rsquo; Union (GMWU), Prince William Ankrah, was elected regional chairman of ICEM&rsquo;s Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Organisation (SSARO) at mid-month. Over 100 delegates from nearly all sub-Saharan African countries attended SSARO&rsquo;s 14-15 April regional conference and meeting in Accra, Ghana. 
 
Comrade Ankrah replaces Rayford Mbulu of the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) as the ICEM Vice President for the region. Mbulu resigned the position at the meeting. 
 
The meeting also adopted three resolutions and put forth an action plan based on those resolutions. One resolution called for political stability and sustainable development for creation of jobs, especially for the youth of Africa. Noting the political upheaval and suppression of citizens by despotic rulers in several countries, the resolution condemns military and police repression on people who peacefully advocate for a political system based on economic and social justice. 
<img alt="" src="" width="200" height="150" />
The resolution also condemns &ldquo;the role of the United Nations and the international community which seek to influence the African political landscape to the benefit of the West at the expense of the African people.&rdquo; 
 
A second resolution calls on governments to create an environment for economic growth and job creation, including a realization that 10% of national budgets be allocated to agriculture for food security. It also states that MNCs be allowed to invest in Africa on terms favourable to improving economic growth, preventing environment degradation, creating employment, and improving working conditions. 
 
The third resolution noted African trade unions being weak in membership, collection of fess, and other union-provided services, and calls for continuation of trade union organizational building to reverse those stigmas. It also signaled the proposed integration of the ICEM, International Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers&rsquo; Federation (ITGLWF) as &ldquo;a progressive move that unites workers and builds international solidarity.&rdquo; 
 
The body pledged to continue current campaigns, including HIV/AIDS awareness and testing processes, decent work and decent pay, continued safety training on radiation in mining, shop steward and other interchanges between unions of different countries, promotion of the ILO&rsquo;s Maternity Protection Convention 183, and pressing countries to ratify the Mine Safety and Health Convention, ILO No. 176, a campaign in which the GMWU is charged with heading. 
 
The African Regional Organisation Secretary-General of the International Trade Union Confederation, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah of Ghana, addressed delegates. 
<img alt="" src="" width="118" height="132" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<img alt="" src="" width="114" height="132" />
Christine Olivier&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kwasi Adu-Amankwah
Christine Olivier, Second Vice President of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), was elected as SSARO Women&rsquo;s Chairperson, replacing Jane Ragoo of Mauritius, while Frans Baleni of South Africa, Achese Igwe of Nigeria, and Paul Felex Bayiha of Cameroon were confirmed as ICEM Executive Committee members for three of SSARO&rsquo;s seats on the governing body.

ICEM’s African Region Elects Prince William Ankrah as Chairman

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Glyphosate, known by its International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name phosphonomethylamino or acetic acid, is manufactured for use as a herbicide. Depending on specific purpose, it may be used as such, or as an ammonium salt, isopropylamine salt, or potassium salt. 
 
It is most well-known as the main active ingredient in the chemical company&rsquo;s Monsanto's &quot;Roundup.&quot; But since the Monsanto patent has expired, it is also used in similar formulations by a number of manufacturers. It works as a plant hormone inhibitor, by interfering with this metabolic process in plants, it kills the plants. 
 
In handling glyphosate, it is essential to have an up-to-date Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which can be obtained from a company that manufactures products with it in it. It is also essential to minimise exposure through engineering controls, isolation, effective ventilation, and where worker exposure is unavoidable, personal protective equipment. 
There are two stories on glyphosate, one by its original manufacturer, Monsanto, and unfortunately accepted by most regulatory agencies worldwide, the other by opponents of glyphosate use, who claim much information about it has been suppressed. 
 
As Monsanto tells it, glyphosate is generally considered to be one of the safest herbicides. There is a fairly well-established potential for temporary skin and eye irritation, and gastrointestinal irritation if ingested. These can even be severe if the chemical is encountered in its pure form and not promptly washed off the skin. A survey of recent MSDSs reveals that it is officially considered practically non-toxic, and, in several animal studies, has produced no officially recognized evidence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or teratogenicity. 
 
However, MSDSs are often less than complete. There are some rather alarming suggestions of a link between glyphosate exposure and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) by some researchers. Monsanto's claim that there is no severe adverse effect has been traced back to Swedish researcher Hans-Olov Adami, who in turn has been linked to a consulting group called Exponent. 
 
Exponent has ties to Monsanto and other chemical companies and is known for its rebuttals of concerns about chemicals in the environment. Findings about glyphosate that contradict Monsanto have rarely been given much attention. 
 
There are suggestions that it may be an endocrine disruptor or a genotoxin. For example, Gilles-Eric S&eacute;ralini, a French biochemist, has claimed that his studies of the effects of glyphosate on human embryonic cells, fetal cells, and placental cells; and that glyphosate is likely an endocrine disruptor in humans. This effect was shown for &ldquo;Roundup&rdquo; formulations, rather than pure glyphosate. Indeed, one of the issues with any chemical testing is how it will affect humans or the environment in the complex mixture of chemicals encountered in the real world, as compared with its study in isolation in a laboratory. 
The statistical significance of the association between glyphosate and NHL is low. Monsanto's defenders have suggested that errors in the assessment of exposure levels, or chance, are the likely explanations for the association between glyphosate exposure and NHL. As for S&eacute;ralini's observations, it is unclear whether the effects S&eacute;ralini observed were due to the glyphosate, or the surfactants (detergents) that are always part of a pesticide formulation. 
 
Regardless, from a pure occupational health point of view, the best way to handle any chemical is with caution. Minimise the opportunities for worker exposure with the best possible engineering designs that isolate the chemical from human contact. Install effective drainage and ventilation systems to safely remove any chemical that escapes from the closed system. Finally, since despite these precautions some chance of exposure may remain, appropriate personal protective equipment must be provided and maintained. 
 
The safest level of exposure is always no exposure.

Handling and Use of Pesticide Glyphosate: Things to Know

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A preliminary hearing of the Royal Commission over the Pike River mine disaster opened in Greymouth on April 5. The inquiry, which will begin hearings and full deliberations on 23 May, will run for 15 weeks. 
 
On November 19, 2010, a massive methane gas blast inside Pike River Coal Ltd.&rsquo;s colliery killed 29 miners, including 11 members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), in the worst Kiwi mining disaster in 119 years. 
 
This month&rsquo;s preliminary hearing began with a one minute silence in memory of the 29. It was also marked by the unsettling announcement by receivers of the bankrupt company that it did not have the funds to fully participate in the inquiry. An attorney for the receivers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said its priority is to repay secured creditors, not to provide witness briefs and compilations of others documents to the Royal Commission. 
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="80" />
The Commission, headed by Judge Graham Panckhurst and including Stewart Bell, Queensland, Australia, Commissioner for Mine Safety and Health and a recognised expert on methane gas in coal mines, will conduct the inquiry under four phases: context, search and rescue, what happened at Pike River, and policy aspects. 
 
Parts of those issues were introduced on April 5. An attorney representing the EPMU said New Zealand&rsquo;s mine regulations were two decades behind developed mine safety programmes, such as what exists in Australia. &ldquo;Our members want to see a significant increase in the safety and health standards required for working in mines,&rdquo; said Nigel Hampton, representing the EPMU. 
 
The EPMU is also asking that the expertise and counsel that exists in Australian mineworkers&rsquo; unions and the mining industry be heard before the Commission. One question that surely will arise is why an Australian mine rescue team that was on-site 36 hours after the blast occurred on 19 November was sidelined by local police who were supervising the rescue. 
 
Another will be the location of large ventilation fans inside the Pike River mine, an unusual placement for electrical charged equipment when methane gas is prevalent. Initial reports state that an electric outage shut the two ventilation fans in the minutes before the explosion. 
 
The issue of deception and disrespect to families in the days following the November 19 explosion will also be heard. An attorney for the families said at the opening that families only want the truth and clarity on how and why the disaster happened. 
 
In his opening statement, Judge Panckhurst said the mission is to find out &ldquo;what happened at the mine, why it did happen and what can be done to prevent it happening again. In short &hellip; why and what must change for the future good.&rdquo; 
 
The mine was sealed in January and the bodies of the 29 have not been recovered. PricewaterhouseCoopers has assessed the mine, which contains seams of premium coking coal, to be worth NZ$6 million, but it could take 20 times that to re-start it. The global firm is hoping to have it sold in June.

Royal Commission Convenes over Pike River, New Zealand, Mine Deaths

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While basking in world admiration following the successful rescue of 33 workers from inside the San Jos&eacute; copper mine, Chile President Sebasti&aacute;n Pi&ntilde;era announced on October 18, 2010, on BBC&rsquo;s HARDtalk, to a global television audience, that his country would ratify ILO Convention 176 and reform a disjointed national mine safety programme &ldquo;within 90 days.&rdquo; 
 
It turned out to be a lie. 
 
Near that 90-day mark in mid-January, ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda met with senior government officials in Santiago and were told there is nothing on the agenda to reform internal safety standards or to adopt global standards. And, indeed, since there has been no movement inside Chile for reform, except from the trade union federations there who are now working hand-in-hand with the ICEM. 
 
In February, the ICEM organized a three-prong campaign to pressure Pi&ntilde;era to fulfil his promise. Over 4,000 messages were delivered by ICEM affiliates and our friends in the labour movement! The Pi&ntilde;era government is being forced to answer embarrassing questions about why his government has so far reneged on a promise made in the celebratory aftermath of the San Jos&eacute; rescue. 
 
The ICEM continues to be optimistic that the Chilean government will remember how important reality is; that the country is only one mining accident away from losing the good-will and technical credibility it won by marshalling a rescue of historic dimensions. 
 
And the Pi&ntilde;era government must face another reality: if it is world-class in any way, it is as a world-class producer of minerals, especially copper, and that means it must develop and implement world-class safe mining practices. So far it hasn&rsquo;t. 
<img alt="" src="" width="191" height="128" />
San Jos&eacute; Mine Rescue
In the days just preceding Pi&ntilde;era&rsquo;s brash HARDtalk declaration, the President fell back on a culture dating to the Pinochet regime. In the commission he set up to investigate San Jos&eacute;, no trade union representatives were invited to sit on it. ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, states that workers and their trade unions shall participate in mine inspections and accident investigations. 
 
At San Jos&eacute;, Union No. 2 of Campa&ntilde;ia Minera San Esteban repeatedly warned of safety hazards and once even presented a legal challenge to close the mine. But the common refrain from both government and industry when unions warn on safety and health conditions is that the union&rsquo;s duty is to negotiate economics, not to take part in safety or health matters. 
 
After a miner was killed in 2007, San Jos&eacute; was shut for a brief period by SERNAGEOMIN, the National Service of Geology and Mining. But it quickly reopened on orders from another government official who failed to read the closure report, and relied on the owner&rsquo;s pledge that deficiencies would be corrected. 
 
One such pledge was to install a ladder through a ventilation shaft as a second exit, a standard in Convention 176. That was not done, there were no follow-up inspections, and the lack of a second exit, in fact, led to the 69-day entrapment of the 33 miners. 
 
SERNAGEOMIN is not a health and safety inspectorate. It plays that role, but so do bureaus inside six Chilean ministries. Chile has overlapping safety agencies inside the six that cover all sectors of work. None of them have judicial powers to enforce the few regulations there are in mining and all are without the technical capabilities to inspect and prevent accidents before they happen. 
 
In short, all prerequisites of Convention 176 are missing in Chile: regular inspections, set procedures to report and investigate dangerous occurrences and accidents, trade union consultation, regulatory bodies with the authority to shut dangerous mines, the right to refuse unsafe work, workers&rsquo; ability to select their own safety representatives, and employer obligations to provide training. Convention 176 places responsibility on employers to not only remove workplace hazards, but to remove the causes of those hazards. 
 
Despite the Chilean government&rsquo;s &ldquo;head-in-the-sand&rdquo; approach to mine safety now that the cameras and microphones so prominent at San Jos&eacute; have disappeared, the ICEM will continue to press Pi&ntilde;era alongside a renewed coalition we have developed with the mineworkers&rsquo; federations of the country.

ICEM Will Continue to Press Chile over Mine Safety Standards

<img alt="" src="" width="50" height="65" />
ICEM, as the pre-eminent global union for miners, continues its campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 176 on Safety and Health in Mines, and the adoption of its associated Recommendation 183. 
 
Although progress is slow, the Ukraine was finally persuaded to ratify Convention 176 in February of this year. The ICEM has meetings fixed or planned in several countries this year to push for ratification of this important ILO instrument. 
 
The year 2010 saw the world witness the dramatic rescue of 33 trapped miners from the depths of a mid-sized copper mine in Chile. It also saw the gruesome deaths of 29 miners at the Pike River coal mine in New Zealand, caused perhaps by ventilation fans located inside mine shafts instead of outside. Twenty-nine miners also died in the US on 5 April 2010 at the Upper Big Branch mine in the state of West Virginia, a tragedy that saw mine owner Massey Energy and its CEO shift blame &ndash; unbelievably &ndash; to the stringent safeguards enshrined in the US Mine Safety and Health Act. 
<a href="/en/209-ILO"><img alt="" src="" width="175" height="247" /></a>
Click here for ICEM 176&nbsp;Campaign
There were also mass mining deaths in Russia, Turkey, and the Ukraine in 2010. Mine deaths still occur on a weekly basis in China, and in South Africa, despite a somewhat decline from the highs of 2006-2008, mining deaths still occur regularly and public statements of satisfaction and accomplishment by the Chamber of Mines is delusional and fraught with contempt. 
 
The tragedies from 2010, as well as the deadly coal mine blast in Pakistan just last month, prove there is much left to be done to make the world's mines safer. It can start with ratification of Convention 176. But it can only occur with full implementation and then practice of the convention&rsquo;s principles. 
 
Convention 176 demands that employers perform risk assessments, and control identified hazards at source, through good engineering design and through personal protective equipment. Mines must be properly engineered, designed, and constructed for safety, with provision of at least two separate means of exit and adequate communications systems. Sufficient ventilation with monitoring for contaminants and fire prevention, detection, and firefighting systems must be provided. Emergency response plans must be developed and maintained, and if serious dangers are detected, operations must be stopped and workers evacuated. Workers are to be provided with information and training on the hazards and how to work safely. 
 
Accidents must be investigated and corrective actions taken. Workers have the right to report, and receive reports on, accidents and dangerous occurrences and hazards. Workers can request workplace inspections from employers and the regulatory authorities. Workers have the right to refuse unsafe work, and remove themselves from dangers. In addition, workers can select workplace health and safety representatives and they have the authority to participate in investigations and inspections, monitor health and safety matters, have recourse on advisers and experts, and consult with the employer and the government regulators. 
 
Within Convention 176, governments are expected to create a legislative and regulatory framework that protects workers&rsquo; safety and health. This is to be accomplished by requiring employers and workers to comply with the specifics of ILO Convention 176. In addition, the responsible authorities are expected to maintain adequate regulatory mine supervision and inspection, and require the reporting of accidents and maintenance of statistics. 
<img alt="" src="" width="120" height="150" />
Mining is one of the world&rsquo;s most dangerous occupations and regulatory safeguards are essential. The following list prepared using mostly ILO statistics from the UN agency&rsquo;s LABORSTA database indicates the most dangerous countries for miners and workers in quarrying, as ranked by fatal injuries per 100,000 employees for a period from 1999-2008. 
<blockquote dir="ltr"><blockquote dir="ltr"><blockquote dir="ltr">
1. Turkey 
2. Korea, Republic of 
3. China 
4. Pakistan 
5. Cyprus 
6. Kyrgyzstan 
7. Togo 
8. Hong Kong, China 
9. Ireland 
10. Taiwan, China 
11. Costa Rica 
12. Lithuania 
13. Portugal 
14. Ukraine 
15. Philippines 
16. Spain 
17. Nicaragua 
18. Chile 
19. Argentina 
20. Malta 21. Moldova, Republic of 
22. India 
23. Brazil 
24. Bulgaria 
25. United States 
26. Tunisia 
27. Estonia 
28. Zimbabwe 
29. Slovenia 
30. Burkina Faso 
31. Denmark 
32. Romania 
33. Czech Republic 
34. Canada 
35. Finland 
36. Italy 
37. Kazakhstan 
38. Myanmar 
39. Austria 
40. Poland 41. France 
42. Latvia 
43. Slovakia 
44. Croatia 
45. Azerbaijan 
46. Australia 
47. Egypt 
48. Japan 
49. Sweden 
50. United Kingdom 
51. Sri Lanka 
52. Hungary 
53. Norway 
54. Trinidad and Tobago 
55. Bahrain 
56. Belgium 
57. Luxembourg 
58. Macau, China 
59. Mauritius 
60. Singapore
</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
The list, however, does not contain relevant statistics for all countries, thus the rankings of China, Ukraine, and Chile are estimated based on reports from private websites. There are no reliable estimates for Russia even though Russia is an extremely important mining country. 
 
A few explanations are in order in assessing the list. First, even the ILO database which is the most authoritative on such matters, is extremely unreliable. The ILO can only cite what member countries send them. And then there are difficulties from under-coverage, such as most countries report only compensable deaths, to under-reporting, such as many deaths, even traumatic ones, are simply not recorded as occupational. Then there is outright fraud, since without question it is in the economic interests of employers to under-report. It is also in the political interests of many countries to under-report. 
 
Furthermore, occupational disease claims more workers' lives than traumatic accidents &ndash; even in hazardous occupations like mining. Occupational cancer alone almost certainly kills more miners than accidents, and there are many other diseases (lung, skin, nervous system) that are fatal but are not cancer. These diseases are universally under-diagnosed and under-reported. 
 
In the country ranking above, Turkey and Korea become the countries with the most dangerous mines, ahead of China. This may seem surprising, but Turkey, which is not a major mining country has both an extremely poor safety record and perhaps a better record of reporting than other countries on the list. As for China, the statistics are estimated from on-line sources of unknown origin and can only be assumed to be gross underestimates. The real number could be double, or even triple, the reported rate. 
 
Finally, mining statistics often can be found in the form of deaths per million metric tonnes of ore/coal produced. This type of reporting tends to skew the statistics so that low-productivity mining nations such as China look relatively worse compared to highly mechanised mining nations such as the US, because more miners are required to produce the same number of tonnes of product. An example of <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2007/08/two-chinese-coal-miners-lived-179-did.html ">this type of rating</a> can be seen here. 
 
The ICEM prefers to look at mining fatalities per 100,000 workers because what matters to a miner in considering whether a mine is safe or unsafe is whether he or she goes home intact at the end of the day. The number of tonnes mined in that day is secondary to that fact. 
 
Overall, safety statistics revealed above should be considered to be of only the most marginal value.

Mine Safety and ILO Convention 176: A Continued Priority for the ICEM

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Every April 28, the labour movement remembers the fallen. April 28 is known as International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers and is marked by trade unions and safety and health groups in over 140 countries. 
 
Globally, 2.3 million workers die as a result of their work every year, according to the ILO. The ICEM considers this number, shocking as it is, to be understated by at least a factor of ten. Many millions more are injured or made ill due to occupational disease. Every one of these deaths, injuries, and illnesses is needless; in fact, senseless. 
 
ICEM affiliated trade unions work in some of the most dangerous and toxic workplaces on the planet. High-profile tragedies such as explosions and fires at oil and gas facilities, out-of-control nuclear power plants, methane gas blasts and cave-ins at mines, and untold number of equipment failures in manufacturing that cause death, limb loss, other injuries are all part of a sad culture that the ICEM aims to reverse. 
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The continuing toll of deaths, injuries, and illnesses is quite simply unacceptable to the ICEM. That is why the ICEM is there to assist its affiliates on any occupational health and safety issue. It is the reason that the ICEM has led the way in bringing occupational health and safety into Global Framework Agreements. It is why the ICEM has an ongoing campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention 176, a long-standing project on HIV/AIDS, and it is also why the ICEM engages other international organizations for better standards and better cooperation in occupational health and safety. 
 
What would make workplaces safer? While employers and governments spend enormous sums seeking magical solutions, the ICEM knows that the answer is really quite simple, although burdensome to some in implementing: workers have rights, employers have obligations. 
 
Here then, is the answer. 
 
&bull; Unions make work safer, therefore the first and most important workplace health and safety programme stems from a strong union. To achieve this, we demand respect for the ILO Core Labour Conventions, especially those protecting freedom of association, the right to organize unions, and the right to collective bargaining. 
&bull; Workers&rsquo; rights: the fundamental rights of workers with respect to occupational health and safety include: the right to know about the hazards of work and to receive training in how to do the job safely; the right to refuse &ndash; and shut down, if necessary &ndash; unsafe work; the right to participate in the formulation and implementation of workplace health and safety policies, programmes, and procedures. This right is best achieved through a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC) that plays a central and obligatory role in an employer's internal responsibility system. 
&bull; Employers&rsquo; obligations: Employers should concentrate their efforts on making work safer. This means process safety management, identification and use of best available technologies, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, occupational disease recognition and investigation, and a precautionary approach to chemical, biological, physical and other hazards. 
&bull; Employers&rsquo; prohibitions: Employers should not be allowed to use methods and practices whose principal purpose is to blame victims, or suppress the reporting of accidents and artificially improve statistics in order to gain improved workers' compensation experience ratings, premium reductions and rebates, and public relations points. This includes prohibiting behaviour-based safety programmes, workplace drug and alcohol testing (particularly post-incident), safety incentives that encourage under-reporting of accidents, and waging fights against recognition of workplaces diseases. 
 
The theme, &ldquo;Unions Make Work Safer&rdquo; on April 28 and on every work day, is sometimes known as Workers&rsquo; Memorial Day. It is fitting because a major role that trade unions play in everyday work-life is to monitor &ndash; and improve &ndash; occupational safety and health. Trade union activists are encouraged to find an activity and to take meaningful action to better safe work practices through the strength of their union.

Commonality of April 28: Unions Make Work Safer

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